"Once upon a time, there was a fox spirit that fell in love with a Senju Princess," Mebuki told her three-year-old daughter.

"A princess?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, she was the daughter of Uzumaki Ashina, the leader of Whirlpool Country. Her name was Uzumaki Mito and she later became the wife of the first Hokage."

"But what about the fox spirit?"

"Well, they turned into a beautiful young woman and became the princess's best friend. It is said that those who are born with hair the same shade as the cherry blossoms are blessed by the fox spirit with strength and beauty."

Sakura gasped, "I have hair like cherry blossoms!"

"Exactly," Mebuki laughed, "That's why we called you Sakura."

"Does that mean I'll be really strong like the fox spirit one day?"

Mebuki pulled up her daughter's blanket and tucked her into bed properly, "I'm sure you will."

—

Sakura entered the academy when she was five years old. She had begged her parents to allow her to attend, who had not originally been too fond of the idea but gave in eventually.

To her delight, Sakura was classmates with her best friend Ino.

She had met Ino when she was four and had followed her lead ever since then because Ino was really smart and really pretty and grown-ups often listened to her because she was important. Sakura wanted to be like her.

Then one day it all stopped.

"Who do you have a crush on?" one of the girls they ate lunch with asked.

In all honesty, Sakura had never even considered anyone she knew that way. Most of the boys she knew were pretty weird. There were those two loud blondes that always got in trouble for breaking things and a boy who always ran around with a dog on his head. Not to mention the guy who had literal bugs inside him.

But everyone had a crush, right? Sakura didn't want to be the only one without one so she thought quickly and pointed at one of the more normal boys in her class, "Him," she told the girls determinedly.

The girls exchanged glances, "Uchiha Sasuke?" one of them asked.

"Yeah," Sakura nodded and with another look at the boy added, "He's cool."

"But don't you know that Ino has a crush on him as well? She won't be happy to hear that."

Sakura's eyes grew wide, "You can't tell her!"

"Of course not. I promise I won't tell."

—

Sakura was buying a snack at a street vendor on her way home when Ino showed up next to her.

"I guess we can't be friends anymore," the blonde told her.

"What?"

"Well seeing as we'll be rivals now."

Before Sakura could answer, Ino gave a final nod and stalked off. Sakura forgot all about her snack as she walked home.

"What's wrong honey?" her mother asked.

"Ino doesn't want to be my friend anymore," she told her as her eyes started to sting with tears.

Mebuki hugged her crying daughter, "I'm sure the two of you can make up."

But Sakura did not believe her. She went to her room to work on her homework but her head kept spinning about the loss of her best friend.

"If she wants a rival so bad, she can have a rival," a voice in her head said.

Right. Usually, when Sakura was unsure of what to do, she asked herself What Would Ino Do? Ino was as headstrong as they came and never backed down from a challenge.

So Sakura would just have to out-Ino Ino. She had said that she had a crush on this Sasuke guy so she was going t go through with it! She'd make him fall in love with her and show Ino that she didn't need her!

—

Over the years Sakura had convinced even herself that she was head-over-heels for Sasuke. Fawning over him came to her like second nature and she was genuinely happy when their team assignments were announced.

The voice in her head gave the laugh of a mad scientist as Sakura inwardly cheered about being placed on Sasuke's team.

"One step closer to victory!" Inner Sakura crowed.

Team Four's sensei was a strange man (who showed more cleavage than Sakura had ever seen of a person) but he was a pretty good sensei. He also had an amused sort of smirk on his lips whenever she tried to flirt with Sasuke, almost like he knew something she didn't.

"Say sensei, how did you get that eyepatch?" Benetto asked their sensei one day.

"I bought it in a shop, of course," Gaia-sensei grinned.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as Benetto and Sakura gave him a deadpan stare.

"If you have so much time to ask questions I guess we haven't trained enough!" Gaia exclaimed and they groaned as he led them on to another fifty laps around Konoha.

They learned that day both not to ask personal questions of their sensei and that Konoha seemed a lot bigger if you were forced to run across its outskirts.

—

When Sasuke left the village, it seemed like everything had changed.

She had spent half her life working towards a single goal which had suddenly vanished. The day Uchiha Shao was admitted to the Konoha hospital with his brother's hitaiate in hand was forever seared into her memory.

But Sasuke's absence brought other people into her life.

Naruto had somehow blackmailed Senju Tsunade into coming back to konoha and the legendary kunoichi actually took on Sakura as her student! Not only that but with Sasuke gone and the timid friendship they had started to rebuild since the chuunin exams, Ino was back in her life as well.

In some ways, Uchiha Sasuke leaving was one of the best things to happen to her.

—

By the time Sakura was seventeen she was one of the best healers in the Elemental Nations, along with Sangonomiya Kokomi, who had studied underneath Tsunade with her.

She was also a war veteran and one of Konoha's renowned jounin.

On this day, she was waiting for her date at Ichiraku's. There was just something about Uzumakis that couldn't resist the noodle dishes the old man served.

"Waiting for someone?" a smoky voice asked from beside her.

Sakura turned to see a beautiful purple-eyed woman take a seat beside her. Most noticeable, however, was her hair. It was the same shade as Sakura's.

Teuchi turned to the two women and gave a startled laugh, "You two wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"

The unknown woman laughed, "Not that I know of."

She turned to Sakura, "I'm Yae."

"Sakura."

"Pleasure to meet you," the woman gave her a small smile, not unlike the secretive little smirks Gaia-sensei was known for, and turned back to the cook, "Do you still serve udon?"

"We do," he paused, "I don't mean to be rude but have we met before?"

Yae waved him off, "It's been a long time since I've been here. Do you take to-go orders?"

Teuchi nodded and Sakura noticed how the woman hadn't actually answered his question. She was torn out of her ponderings when Yae stood up with her food in hand.

"I will leave you to it then. Wouldn't want to interrupt the two of you."

Sakura hadn't even noticed her girlfriend arrive.

Yae left the stall, her long pink hail fluttering in the wind and Sakura could have sworn she saw the outlines of fox ears between the woman's hair before she blinked and lost her out of sight.

What a strange encounter.