Commissioned by anonymous

Story rated M for a reason. Age-Swap Non-Mass.

Come Undone
By: Rise of the Blossom

Prologue

While she always tried her hardest to respect the wishes of her parents and the trust they put in her when away on missions, Haruno Sakura was not able to lie about the fact she oftentimes wandered into the forest surrounding their quaint village, especially not when she returned home and found a messenger sitting outside the house like he'd been there for a few hours already. Knowing how much trouble she could get into, she'd reluctantly admitted to where she'd been the entire time.

Although just four years old, she was trusted enough to remain unsupervised for a maximum of a day and a half (anything longer and her parents would ask a friend of the family to watch over her). It was mostly down to her strict training and maturity for her age and she delighted in the trust she'd earned.

However, in that moment, she wished they'd assigned her a caregiver.

Her parents…

Blinking owlishly at the messenger, Sakura attempted to process the information, hands stiff with their death grip.

Gone.

Her parents were… gone?

How was that even possible? Surely, the messenger was misinformed? Her parents were… They were powerful shinobi! They were enviable strategists who always came out on top, even if they lacked strength.

Death in her village was not uncommon and even though they were barely even scraping the ages of four, the majority of her friends suffered the loss of one family member or another. But while Sakura tried her best to be gentle with them and supported them through that loss (because she cherished her friends dearly and it hurt her deeply to see their tears), never in all her life had she ever envisioned being in their position, because her parents were the strongest in their little village. She was always the lucky one who never suffered a single loss.

And now, suddenly, she had no one.

"What…" Words were difficult to form but Sakura barrelled forward anyway, saying the first thing that came to mind no matter how helpless or lost she sounded. "What do I… do now?"

She couldn't see the messenger's face. Couldn't really register his voice. Her mind was irreparably blanked, and Sakura was left scrambling for every ounce of control she could get her hands on.

She couldn't disappoint them by succumbing to the grief.

They trusted her to take care of herself.

"As you are just a child, I believe your parents made arrangements for a relative from Konoha to come for you, Sakura-sama."

A relative? The only one she could really think of, since her grandparents and great-grandparents were also dead, was her great-great-uncle Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage (that was if he wasn't dead already too, seeing as they were quite out of the loop where they resided just on the outskirts of Fire Nation).

Tobirama was… Well, he was just a distant relative that they never really spoke to or of. Her mother mentioned her uncle in passing, but other than his becoming the Hokage following the death of her great-grandfather, Sakura knew nothing about him. She wasn't even sure if her mother knew much about him. How would she even know it was really him who retrieved her? Would he even be the one who retrieved her?

"Sakura-sama, if I may?"

Tiredly, she returned her unfocused gaze back to him. "Hm?"

"I would suggest packing anything that means a lot to you," he suggested gently. "The arrangements put in place sound final."

And now she was losing her home too.

"…Understood."

Barely even twelve hours passed since receiving the news before a sturdy knock on the door disturbed Sakura from her numbed packing, hands continuously lingering on different items that she longed to take with her, though realistically speaking, couldn't. Already, she'd packed way too much, leaving her to wonder how she would even carry it all back to Konoha.

She kept desperately hoping to awake from her nightmare, mind playing cruel tricks as she was surrounded by her parents' belongings and their unmistakable scents. Several times, Sakura caught herself calling out for one of them during the night before deciding against sleep. There was too much to do, so much to prepare for.

They were really gone.

That was what ran through her mind when she opened the door to the team who came for her, the team that most definitely did not include her great-great-uncle. Instead, Sakura opened the door to three complete strangers whose only familiarity to her was the Konoha insignia worn proudly on their foreheads. Her mother had possessed one similar, though it had remained in her bedroom until only that morning when Sakura packed it away, intending on taking it with her.

Gods, there was so much she needed to take with her.

"Haruno Sakura?"

Nodding, because she couldn't really do much else with the suffocating grief bearing down on her, she remained rooted in her spot, terrified of leaving her family home and all the memories with her parents behind.

The only female member of the team stepped forward at the shaky confirmation, amber eyes widening by just the tiniest amount as they searched her features. "You're just a child."

"Do not lose yourself to your emotions, Tsunade," came the reprimand of by far the most sinister looking of the team, his golden eyes uncomfortable to look at. He reminded her of the nightmarish stories one of her friends always enjoyed telling as they camped beneath the stars, effectively making sleep impossible for their group as their minds repeatedly returned to his story.

"Shut up, Orochimaru," she muttered quietly in response before approaching, kneeling before Sakura with a gentler expression. It didn't help. Not really. "I'm Senju Tsunade. Even under these circumstances, it's nice to finally meet you, my little cousin."

Senju?

Cousin…?

"Your parents arranged for you to live with a member of our family, should the worst happen. I stepped up – I hope you don't mind too much?"

Weakly, she shook her head, wishing more than anything that Tsunade's teammates would stop staring because the composure she'd kept a firm grasp on was slipping. It was all becoming much too real for her to handle.

They were really gone.

Sakura bit her lip harshly, stiffening her shoulders when they tried to shake.

Tsunade's gaze softened. "Have you packed already?"

She wanted to say yes. Wanted to say that she had all she needed. But she didn't because everything was still sitting behind her, ready to collect dust as she abandoned her family home.

Apparently, she knew exactly what was going through her mind because Tsunade offered an understanding smile, hand coming to her shoulder. "Come, little cousin. I'll personally make sure we bring everything with us.

A/N - I've never even read an age swap AU before, so I'm so excited for this challenge! It's not an actual swap, since Itachi is going to remain the same age, but you get where I'm coming from haha!

Just to make sure we're all on the same page in terms of ages and relations: Sakura's mother is Tsunade's cousin and married outside of the Senju clan, into the Haruno clan, choosing to move away to a quiet village that didn't really have much power behind them. That makes Sakura Tsunade's second cousin and she's roughly about 20-25 years younger, I want to say.

I also think this is the longest prologue I've ever written haha, but there just didn't feel like there was a big enough word count for a first chapter and I wanted to keep it as a short introductory chapter so yeah!

I'm rambling.

Anyways! Hope you all enjoyed and decide to stick around!