Sakura covered her unconscious mother with the tragically thin hospital blanket.
"Ino… I think you should go home now."
"Yeah, forehead, you going to be alright?"
"I will," Sakura looked down, "I'm not sure about Kaa-san."
Ino gave one last smile and left the hospital room, she walked back to her home with a slumped posture. She knew she shouldn't have witnessed that, she knew she shouldn't pity them. But she did, she did feel sorry, and she felt horrible for it.
"I'm home," Ino chimed with a sarcastic, yet joyful fake tone.
"Ino, where have you been?" her father said with a voice filled with concern, he stood in front of her with arms crossed; she worried if she could keep the cover up.
"I visited a friend, it took longer than I thought," her eyes dropped from her father to the floor, she couldn't hide her sadness, nor could she stop the tears from falling, nor ease her breathing.
"Chi-san…" she then began wailing, her father held her and attempted to soothe her.
Inoichi wondered who this 'Sakura' Ino kept sobbing about was. His daughter wasn't normally like this, did this Sakura bully her? No, that wouldn't have been it, because Ino was strong. Maybe something happened to Sakura; Ino had a tendency to get worked up over someone else's misfortunes.
"Who is this 'Sakura'?" Inoichi tried to be as gentle as possible, but he failed anyway, since the memory of Sakura only made her wail louder.
Sakura woke up again after another half hour of sleep, she lost count at the attempts she had done to fall asleep, and all she knew was that there were enough to begin the next morning. She grimaced at the sight of dawn. It was just a little too happy. Her mother was depressed, according to the doctor, and he explained that what happened was a total breakdown of stress. Her mother's happy, calm personality was a façade; she was actually depressed and stressed, not to mention her unknown sickness adding to it all. She hid her pain so well.
Sakura sat up and fiddled with her thumbs, her plan to revive the business and get stronger was harder to begin than she thought. She groggily stood up from her bed and went to prepare the shop area. Normally, she would find her mother working on her concoctions, or peacefully sleeping in her bedroom. Sakura scowled and sighed, from that day on; she would have deal with everything herself and create a new Sakura Haruno.
As she went into the shop area, she noticed an old man with a distinguishable hat; white, red, with a large rim…
The third Hokage.
Sakura smoothed her short yukata and hair frantically, "can I help you sir?" she was suddenly out of breath. How could he have entered in the first place?
The old man paused for a moment; it felt like decades on her account, "who owns this shop?"
She suddenly felt like she needed to be defensive. She walked up to him.
"I do, and please leave, the shop isn't open yet."
"You are an academy student, am I right?" he stroked his beard with two fingers.
Sakura sucked in her cheeks, "yes," she looked at him with strong eyes, "and I intend to study and maintain this shop, now please leave," she felt in power when she said that.
"Little girl, how much do you know about herbs?"
"Enough to run this shop."
He found it amusing how this little pink haired girl could be so brave, "is your mother around?"
She immediately backed away, and anger was taking in her eyes even more, "no," Sakura glared straight into the Kage's eyes, "she's sick, sick enough to be at the hospital."
He found her tone and answer shocking, she had said in a way as if she had some sort of grudge against him. He smiled again, trying to be as gentle as possible with his next question, "when will she be discharged?"
Her aura changed, "not anytime soon."
"H-How sick is Haruno-san?"
"Depression and burnout." Her sea foam green eyes no longer met the old man's, but rather blankly to the wall.
"I see. Child," he kneeled down to her level, "I want your herbs to play a bigger part in this village," Sakura looked into his eyes again in pure surprise, "I want this shop to supply medicine to the hospital, in exchange, I will clear the witch rumors."
And a deal that would help both sides was struck. From now on, she would supply specialty medication to the hospital.
"Sir, I won't let you down!" she stood up straight like a soldier.
"Sir, why did you strike a deal with witches? They are evil, you do know that?" a jonin asked, they were also afraid of the Haruno's 'witchy' ways.
"I've had enough! Who told you they were witches? The civilians? A few jealous business owners? The Haruno's have always had a gift for herb specialties; they work with herbs, not witchcraft!"
Surprised by the outburst, the jonin's jaw dropped, "I-I'm sorry sir, I won't question them again."
"Good."
It had been two years since her mother's admission to the hospital, and Sakura was doing her best to keep her priorities in line. The amount of customers had increased since she took the shop in her own hands. She read many books on how to handle a shop, and used the tactics in the books to her advantage, especially the poor young girl one. On top of that, since she was able to make a profit, she could afford basic needs and overcome her weakened state. Her mother would've never been so proud if she had been able to show it.
Room three-oh-three is where Sachiko resided; it was a room her daughter visited every night. Sakura often brought food with her, small gifts from customers, and happy stories from the shop. But her mother never appeared to listen, her mother always had a blank face on, she always stared blankly at the wall, never welcomed her child, or even uttered a word. Sakura got used to the fact; she brought flowers, and new herbs she developed from experimental growing all in hope that one day Sachiko would be broken from the spell that the people had put on her. A spell of depression and sickness…
She wasn't the witch, they were, and still, look who ended up where.
Sakura hated it, but what was the point of revenge?
She didn't want to live a life of solitude; she didn't want to make people hate her even more.
That was that.
Oh, and Sakura was running late for the academy graduation ceremony. She jumped over a few crates and took a few shortcuts on the roofs. A few people yelled at her to get off their properties, but that was the only consequence.
At least that she knew of.
She arrived at the academy unscathed, just a little short of breath, and luckily, on time.
"Well, well, well, forehead… you're just on time…" her best friend clad in her ninja uniform, which consisted of a purple skirt, bandages on her abdomen, and a belly top, which matched her skirt.
"Pig," Sakura stuck out her tongue and sat down in a desk, "forehead…" Ino whimpered.
"What?"
Ino pointed to the person beside the pinkette, Sasuke Uchiha, the very handsome soon to be ninja in his thinking pose. She sat there, thinking of ways to get out of this.
Before she realized it, a few angry girls gathered beside Sakura and started bickering about how she was in their seat. Running on roofs caused this.
"Your seat? It's my seat!" they began their pathetic argument amongst themselves. To think, these were the same girls that bullied her, if they knew how idiotic they looked right now.
"What's so great about him anyways?" a blond soon-to-be ninja squatted on Sasuke's desk, he squatted low enough for them to butt heads, "Naruto! Get away from him!" one of the girls yelled.
Suddenly, a kiss.
Well an accidental one, Sakura sat there, shocked, as the two males beside her gagged. How scary would it be if they were her teammates? Sasuke was nice looking and all, but something about him made her squirm on the inside and it was not in a good way. Naruto had the shining personality, but was quite the trouble maker. Since the two were polar opposites, it would be hell to be on their team.
"Team seven: Haruno," Sakura listened up when she heard her name, "Uzumaki," she blinked in surprise when Naruto cheered, "… and Uchiha."
Many girls screamed in horror, their pretty, pretty prince Sasuke was on a team with a girl they hated. However, Sakura didn't worry about that; she was more concerned on how many fights those two would get into.
This was so karma for running on the roofs.
"Sensei, could you at least switch one of us from the team?" karma or none, Sakura was pretty sure she could get out of a lifetime of irritations.
"It wouldn't work, plus your abilities fit together like a puzzle. Those two fill in the abilities you lack and vice versa."
Right, Sakura recalled her lack in physical strength, speed, and accuracy. In fact the only reason she passed was because of her intelligence. Sasuke had excelled in all, but Naruto…
"Wait a minute, how does Naruto fit in the puzzle?"
"Well…" Iruka awkwardly scratched his head and laughed nervously, "It's just how it works." Iruka's arm drew back from his head, "Go outside and take a breather, it won't be that bad, maybe your jounin sensei will have a nice hook to knock Naruto-kun out." He chuckled.
"Yeah," the tween sighed dejectedly, she felt as if she was being sentenced to death.
"Sakura-chan!" the blond knucklehead came running towards her, "since we're on the same team and all, come and eat lun- eh?" he put his arms behind his back.
"Naruto-kun?" she saw a strange look on his face, the look she knew all too well with her other customers, "food poisoning, here," she took a small bottle from her messenger bag, "this should make you feel better."
His bright blue eyes brightened as he took the bottle, "Thanks! So… how many should I take?"
"Two."
He shook the bottle and let two small and circular pills in his palm and gulped them down. A sigh of relief came through, "That feels so much better, and do you want to eat now?"
"I already finished my lunch."
He thought he actually had a chance.
"Do you want to head back to class?" the break was soon over, and she really wanted to meet her new sensei.
"Yeah," It wasn't lunch with his crush, but they were still walking back together.
My chapters are normally longer, but this will suffice for the time being, reviews have been great and I hope they continue! Oh and Sakura is meant to be ooc.