Naruto 1. Stranger in a Strange Land

_**A:N:/ Well, I've finally got enough nerve to post a story. That I've been planning for three months. That blank microsoft page stared at me for literally about 5 hours today. Not joking. It destroyed me today. Tell me if I should continue or burn the story. **_

_**Guilty Until Proven Innocent**_

**CHAPTER 1:**

**Stranger in a Strange Land**

During 1745, in a self-respecting town named Konoha, nestled deep in Massachusetts, the citizens mirrored their city, being kind, honest, and polite in all acts they commited. Everything was normal and peaceful in this little village, every wife's and husband's dream. Young girls played mirthlessly near the stone paved street while the boys played upon the stone paved street.

All was as it should be. Though the large green forest surrounding Konoha scared Sakura Haruno, _just a little bit,_ she was perfectly happy here. She was always back in bed at a certain time, exactly at 9:00, and even though she thought it was a tad ridiculous, she still obeyed it, like a perfect little girl. Never complaining, sweet to everyone around her, and just plain out adorable described Sakura Haruno.

She was nicknamed "Konoha's Cherry Blossom" for reasons painfully obvious. Her hair color for one was a dead giveaway; a bright shade of pink that could be spotted from mile's away. When asked if it was heriditary, she would always reply cheerfully with a "Yes, is yours?"

From a young age, Sakura had always been taught manners. No elbows on the table. Not speaking out of line. Respecting her elders. She obeyed each and every single one, like a perfect little girl.

Back then in the late 1800s, usually a girl's life evolved around fashion and etiquette. Long hair, dresses with corsets, embellished with lace and ribbon, smoky eye shadow, pink lip gloss, blush, and elbow length gloves were the new 'it'. Sakura found everything _but _the skin tight corsets to be paticularly endearing, but makeup was sometimes such a pain. When she was in a hurry, she had no time to apply it, earning a nice scolding from her mother afterwards.

Another thing she found annoying was her hair. Her hair was "unique" in many ways, from its bizarre color to the Rapunzel like length, but everytime she would step outside, the knee length, yes, knee length, hair would blow arround her in a cascade of rose sometimes blinding her vision for a few seconds.

There was no way humanely possible for hair to grow this fast in a period of 14 years, so Sakura's mother ordered her some odd-tasting plants and conditoners from Egypt. Every night before bed, the young Haruno would eat some herbs and wash her locks throughly with the soap like conditioner.

Sakura hated that none of this was natural. But, as her blonde best friend said, you suffer for beauty.

Speaking of hair, it was now the time for her bath. She could hear the water being put into the large 8 man tub by her maids as she scribbled out something hastily in her journal so she wouldn't forget it later. From the tender age of seven, the pink haired Rapunzel (as her friends had so kindly nicknamed her) had been fascinated by medicinal affairs. She dreamed of being a doctor when she turned 18 and wasn't going to give that up anytime soon.

A gentle shout came from the other room as Sakura shoved her journal underneath her bed. She responded as loudly and padded to the other room, eager to get the tight fitting piece of clothing hugging her torso off. The maids left with a polite smile and left Sakura to her own affairs. Childishly checking both ways, the way one would do as if checking the road for carriages or horses, and noting that all was clear, she ripped off the lacy garment and threw it carelessly across the room.

She disobeyed in secret. Her mother, Mebuki Haruno, had made it specifically and perfectly clear that she never wanted the corset to come off of her body until she reached the age of 20. But Sakura swore that it was out to get her. Everytime she would sit down it would be painfully tight to breathe, to the point where she would stand up in her classes to get away from the cloth restricting her lungs. Luckily nobody asked her any questions afterwards.

The roseate haired girl sunk further into the depths of the warm water. Before she knew it she was nose deep and immaturely blew a bubble under the liquid.

A wave of exhaustion hit her like a hurricane and she closed her eyes intending to rest for just a few minutes. From personal experience, Sakura Haruno knew she could never just rest for a few minutes. Or when she closed her eyes for a few minutes that meant for a few hours. Not wanting to get scolded for taking the cursed black corset off, her eyes snapped open.

Dabbing a handful of strawberry scented shampoo into her palm, she applied just the right amount to each individual lock which took an estimation of 45 minutes, judging by the way the sun outside of her crystalline windows had just fallen behind the dominating pine trees that enveloped Konoha. Sakura always craved this time of day; whenever the glowing yellow orb in the sky would shine exactly right upon the fuzzy green substances that grew upon the trees and create a mirage of colors.

Before she stepped out of the tub, she coated her skin with lotion, strawberry scented of course. The yellow light mixed with the dark red outside and created a nice reflection off of the water sloshing in the bath. Small feet softly padded to the nearby mirror. The girl in the mirror stared and looked at Sakura with critisizing eyes.

A button nose, large emerald green eyes, and lips that were imperfect made up her face. If Sakura could name one thing about her self that she absoulutely detested, she would say her lips. They were too small for her tastes. Then her nose. It was too small. Then her forehead was, as her dear friend Ino Yamanaka put, the size of Massachusetts. Did she forget to mention her eyes were too big?

The young girl blew out a breath and threw back on a different bodice this time; light pink and white. Her feet carried her to her made bed, courtesy of Byaku and Chihari. Sakura smiled slightly to herself as she smelled the scent of strawberries ghosting over the sheets.

Byaku and Chihari were her favorite maids. But Sakura wouldn't consider them maids; lesser her servants. She considered them the only _sane _people to talk to around here. The only ones who weren't obsessed over the latest fashion trends or the newest gossip floating around the little Massachusetts village. Sakura secretly abhorred most of her family but could find relief in her two faithful friends.

She also found relief in the heavy, warm blankets of her bed, and soon drifted off into the comfort of the soft matress.

_The wind blew her waist length hair back from her sunburned face while it toyed with her eyes. The fascinated girl, far too fascinated for her own good, ignored the stinging lingering in her corneas and continued to stare out into the endless blue. Her little knuckles, now purple from gripping the beginning of the ship's figurehead too tightly, suffered from lack of oxygen as she ignored the numb pain. _

_"It's pretty amazing isn't it?" A voice spoke from behind her, laced with barely contained excitement. She didn't recognize the tone so she quickly whipped around, her tangled mass of pink whipping behind her. Suigetsu Hozuki stood there, his arms crossed and a smirk adorning his face. _

_Sakura had seen him before; who hadn't? He was the captain's son, the esteemed son of Kisame Hozuki. Though he was far from esteemed and polite in Sakura's opinion, just the way a captain's son ought to be, she found him tolerable. She hadn't ever talked to him though because it seemed he was always busy with the ship's affairs and the people on board's complaints. _

_In a way Sakura admired him. From the annoying passengers to navigating the ship alongside his father, he never let his guard down or his concentration shatter. He looked about a year older than the pink haired girl, but towered above her by a good three inches. _

_And Sakura could also relate to Suigetsu. His purple eyes and straight white hair, tinted with light purple, and teeth as sharp as the knives he always carried around in his pocket, made him an eyecatcher anywhere; in comparison, her pink hair and remarkable green eyes made her easily recognizable to anyone she knew. _

_She didn't even know she was staring intently at his features until his rough voice broke into her thoughts. _

_"Like what you see?" His violet eyes danced with amusement as her face turned a dark shade of cherry red. _

_"As if," she replied daintily, turning back to the glimmering ocean, the blush never fading from her cheeks. The twelve year old, soon to be thirteen years, chuckled lightly and stepped up to Sakura until he was at her side. The red hue now drained from her face, she turned to him, though she didn't stare back at pools of purple.. The young Hozuki now looked back out at the endless sea with an interested expression plastered on his usually arrogant face._

_It was refreshing to say the least, to see a change of expression on the boy's juvenille face._

_"You hail from Europe, correct?" Suigetsu inquired. At least he was informal in some occasions, Sakura thought to herself. _

_"No, sir. I hail from its neighbor to the east." _

_"From Asia. And judging by your accent, I would say Japan. Am I wrong?" The pink haired girl nodded her head once. Suigetsu grinned to himself when he thought Sakura wasn't looking. Letting out a small smile of her own, she turned back to the water and asked him a question of her own. _

_"And you come from Japan also?" _

_"Yes. But I doubt you have ever heard of the name. It's a small village, Kirigakure. But maybe you have heard of Village of the Bloody Mist? I am certain your story books have taught you of the infamous Bloody Mist?" _

_Sakura turned back to Suigetsu and his trademark smirk was back on, and the amusement followed. _

_"Why, I do believe you are teasing me, sir." Sakura fumed, but secretly inside she was laughing at his jab of her self-esteem. How rude of him._

_"Was it that obvious?" He asked lightly, and continued. "Have you heard of it?"_

_The eleven year old Haruno paused. The back of her brain racked for any Kirigakure knowledge she may have read about in her childhood days, but came up to nothing. Bloody Mist, however, she had read about. _

_It was a land surrounded by water; an island if you will. It layed on the west coast of Japan, Sakura thought. When she was younger, she always wondered why Kirigakure was called Village of the Bloody Mist. Whenever she asked her maids, servants, parents, anyone she could find, nobody would tell her. _

_Sakura tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I have heard Village of the Bloody Mist. But I never quite understood why it was called that."_

_Suigetsu started to speak, until a cabin boy by the name of Konohamaru Sarutobi tugged his coat. "Sir, your father needs you. He requires your prescence in the Captain's Quarters." Konohamaru spoke in a jumble, obviously nervous that Captain Hozuki had called on specifically him for this task. Suigetsu grinned at Sakura, and that sparkle in his lavender eyes promised her that they would talk again later. _

_She sighed. She guessed she would have to wait for a while to learn about this enigmatic village of his._

_A loud thump awoke Sakura from her restless slumber in the forecastle. Her mother to her right, lying upon the bunk, was still sound asleep, and looked to be in a dream judging by the way her eyelids fluttered. Against Sakura's better judgement she escaped the comfort of her bunk and advanced towards the deck of the ship._

_This was out of her usually character. Sweet little Sakura Haruno, disobeying Mebuki Haruno's orders to stay in the sleeping quarters all night until the break of dawn just peeked over the water's horizon. Cautiously she stepped over the creaky floorboards, like a tiger nearing its prey. The hatch opened, and she climbed out into the night air._

_The water from the North Atlantic Ocean blew in her already wind blown face and her bizarre hair swirled around her in a mass array of pink. She squinted in order to see what the commotion was about._

_The wooden planks of The Samehada, the ship's name, which literally meant Shark Skin in Japanese, groaned underneath the unknown passenger's weight's. Her body subconciously edged to the wall, and she heard stranger's voices talking quietly among themselves. Well, one was quiet, while its other was just about quiet as the floorboards that threatened to give away Sakura's position. _

_"We know you are there. So come out." The quiet one commanded, obviously to the intruder lurking among the shadows. Sakura saw no sense in hiding anymore, and stepped calmly out of the shadows. It was surprising, to say the least, to see the foreigner's faces. _

_The hoarse sounding voice belonged to a scrawny boy, maybe one or two years older than herself, with unusual burgundy hair upon his head. His pale chartreuse eyes, as pale as his skin, were narrowed in distrust and skepticism, while his partner's sapphire one's were full of altruism and clemency. _

_An odd pair indeed, and as many would put, they were polar opposites. From the shock of yellow hair and tan skin to the crimson tangles and ghostly skin, they were in so many ways different from eachother. Sakura would bet good money that their personalities contrasted also. She introduced herself._

_"Hello. My name is Sakura Haruno. I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Her viridian eyes darted back and forth to the pair, seeking admission for their introduction. The blonde boy spoke first, and as Sakura thought, his voice was laced with cheerfulness, in opposition to the boy who know was narrowing his eyes even further at her. She tried, she really did, to ignore the intense glare the boy directed in her general direction; it wasn't an easy task to say the least._

_"Hi Sakura!" His exuberant tone caused her to nearly jump. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. This here is Sabaku no Gaara." His voice trailed out, his eyes dancing to 'Gaara' seeking approval. What an odd name. Was Sabaku his first name, no was the middle, and Gaara was the last? Not knowing exactly what to call him and not wanting to anger him even further for whatever she had done wrong before, all she could do was mutter a "Hello. Nice to meet you." _

_"Where do you come from?" Naruto questioned, and like Sakura had done before with many others who asked, she answered him with her usual Japan. Surprisingly Naruto mirrored her answer with a cheeky grin. All the time they exchanged laughs and mindless chatter, Sabaku no Gaara gazed at the rivets carved in the floorboards. He found one to be paticularly interesting and his eyes followed it all the way up to the foremast by the figurehead._

_Unfortunately for Sakura, the tip of the cursed yellow ball of light peeped over the edge of the expanse of blue sea and it signaled her leaving. Summoning enough courage to ask him a question, Sakura looked to Gaara and in what she thought was a bout of stupidity she asked him where he lived. He calmly answered much to her pleasurable surprise. _

_"Sunagakure. I am not going to be on the ship for much longer." _

_The Uzumaki boy nodded. "Though I am staying, I am afraid my dear friend must return." He said and turned to Gaara. "Speaking of which, you and I need to go back to land and pack." He finished off his sentence with a huff, saddened by his friend's departure. Gaara nodded once and started walking away without bidding goodbye unlike his male counterpart._

_"Bye Sakura! I'll see you soon!" Naruto waved without turning around. She smiled to herself. She had found a friend on the long journey to Konoha, and maybe a friend who would last until they arrived. _

_He, Sakura thought to herself, made this trip a little more bearable._

_**A:N:/ I hate myself. I absoultely abhor every thread of my being. This chapter was AWFUL. I felt like it moved too fast. If anyone agrees, leave a review. Seriously, I live for those things. If you don't I will hunt you down. Like the Bed Intruder. **_

_**So hide yo kids**_

_**hide yo wife**_

_**and hide yo husband.**_

_**I'm such a nerd. **_

_**OH. And this is an **__**ITASAKU**__** fic. They meet later. I don't want to rush things. Don't worry if it doesn't seem romantical enough for you. I promise it will get hot a heavy in probably like 20. **_

_**lul.**_


	2. The Glass Meadow

_**A:N:/ Just finished writing chapter 1. It's three in the morning. I'm dying. Oh yes. And I forgot to mention that YES, I do know that Kisame's last name isn't Hozuki. I just thought it fitting for the two water babies to be father and son, no? Oh, and guys, review. Please? **_

_**Enjoy- Lauryn**_

_**Guilty Until Proven Innocent**_

**CHAPTER 2:**

**The Glass Meadow**

_The waves rocked The Samehada back and forth and Sakura honestly thought that the ship would break in half from anymore of this turbulent jostling it was currently suffering. She could do nothing but sit there and watch Kisame Hozuki and his younger son navigate the wheel; with difficulty of course. But everything was with difficulty aboard this ship today it seemed._

_She would have laughed at the look on Suigetsu's face if it hadn't been for the severity of the situation. The crazed expression mixed with hysteria and panic was permanently etched upon his features for the time being. Rain poured down on the passenger's and sailor's heads in bucket-fulls including the unfortunate Haruno child. How she wished she could chop off all of her hair sometimes._

_But in the Haruno family, cutting off your hair was considered a sin. At least to Mebuki. Though her hair only reached her shoulders, she insisted that her only child should grow her hair out until it touched the floor. For the first few months, Sakura enjoyed the longness and the way it swished about her when she walked, but it soon grew tiresome and troublesome to take care of. _

_The water surrounding the ship bashed against the boards and Sakura nearly fell into the arms of her hyperactive blonde friend, Naruto Uzumaki. He caught her with difficulty and they tumbled to the hard wooden ground, along with many other passengers. Naruto mumbled something under his breath and pulled her back up by her wrists. Though Sakura didn't miss that dark blush painted on his tan face._

_She knew that he wished to court her; but he never spoke it aloud. Many hints of his infatuation followed from that night he met her, and Sakura didn't know if she should be happy or sad. She liked him as a friend, of course; who wouldn't? He was happy, cheerful, optimistic, and just an all around good person to be around. Sakura silently urged him to meet other girls, girls that were far better than Sakura herself. It worked to no avail; his sights were set specifically on her._

_Over the past few nights, she thought quietly to herself while she tossed and turned in bed. Should she accept his betrothal on the day he proposed? She was soon to be married; as was the custom when a girl turned 13 in a royal family. Her heart was in confusion over this boy. Once he asked her hand in marriage, it was a one time thing. He would move on if she said no, but if she said yes, there was no going back. _

_In a dark, twisted little corner of Sakura's heart, she hoped that he was the persistent type. She hoped, in that twisted little corner, that he would continue to ask her until she turned 15. Maybe then her mind and heart would be in order and not utter confusion and chaos as it was already in. _

_Like Sakura's heart, the ship was also in anarchy. Voyagers scrambled everywhere, attempting to find their loved ones or family. While as Sakura stood comfortably in Naruto's arms, Kisame and Suigetsu steered The Samehada, drenched completely from their heads to their toes in sky and ocean water. The rain contined to fall from the heavens without any relent on the passengers. _

_Sakura didn't know how or why or when or where she got there, but she soon reliazed that she wasn't outside anymore; she was inside, soaked, but not anywhere near the rain. A warm hand, unusually warm in the cold night air that they were surrounded by from the outside, gripped her frigid one. The Uzumaki must have brought her, she deduced, using her other avaliable hand to brush her hair out of her eyes to clearly see her rescuer. She was not dissapointed when she saw the blonde hair and aquamarine eyes._

_They were now in Kisame's quarters, enclosed by beige boards and maps. The large room was littered with navigational items such as compasses, diagrams of land and sea areas, and sextants. The deluge continued outside and created a drumming rythm on the ceiling. Sakura gave Naruto a grateful smile and sat down on the nearest chair. Her fingers found their way into her tangled mess of hair and combed out the knots while Naruto watched in complete fascination._

_Without thinking properly, Sakura let out a laugh. It would've been fine, except for the fact that that laugh was very unladylike. In her opinion, it was a horrific cross between a snort and a guffaw. Her hand flew up to her mouth, and with eyes wide open, she looked to Naruto and expected to see that usual sense of dissaproval she always saw whenever she did something uncouth._

_Sakura was taught to be perfect. Her body needed to be shaped the right way. Corsets would curve her quite nicely, as many had told her. So she tied it to the tightest string it would physically go. Her voice needed to be soft and appealing, so she took singing classes and had a personal instructor. She practiced when no one was listening, and she found singing to be quite fun actually. Moving the 'correct' way was in no way possible for her, though. She was naturally clumsy, but she was taught for years to balance on the tips of her toes whenever she walked. _

_And last was her personality; civilized and affable. Whenever someone displeased her of made an offensive statement to her or anyone arround her, she would count to five and bite her tounge to control her outbursts. Sakura hated doing this; she saw it as a stab to her real personality. She never told her mother, or anyone for that matter, because she would get disciplined._

_She compared herself to clay many times; able to be bended and altered any way to fit the potter's pleasure._

_What she didn't expect to see was the boyish grin glued on his juvenile face. Her face turned a dark shade of red when she noticed his cobalt eyes dancing with mirth at her unexpected change in character. She scowled, hoping to fend off that amusement he derived from her mistake, but that only proved to make his grin stretch even further. She turned away and was about to stomp back upstairs, but a grip on her wrist held her tight._

_"You should smile more, fits you." He said truthfully, a light pink dusting his cheeks. Sakura couldn't help herself; a smile cracked her facade and she erupted into a fit of light bubbly laughter. This boy was truly something. _

_"We will see." She said but was interupted by her unstoppable giggles. Naruto smiled, scratched his head shyly, and looked down at the flooring. The pink haired eleven, almost to be twelve year old, padded to where he stood and let her mind take over for her. She hugged him in gratitude. It was a pleasant but odd feeling to say the least._

_He was warm, way too warm in this freezing room. Compared to her chilled to the bone body, he was a human sun. Why hadn't she thought of this earlier? The blush spreading to every area of his skin only proved to be even more alluring and Sakura's arms tightened a little. _

_But a corner of Sakura's mind knew this was __**wrong. **__She should not be leading him on like this, just breaking his heart when she pulled away. This was purely phyiscal, she told herself. It was quite cold in this room and she hoped he woukd understand her intentions and not misinterpret them for something more intimate. Naruto's scorching arms snaked their way behind Sakura's back and returned the platonic, or Sakura hoped it was, embrace. _

_That was until the door opened and a grinning Suigetsu waltzed in. _

_Sakura let out a mouse like squeak and untangled their limbs quickly. She knew she had already been caught, there was no denying that he had seen them. It was dead give away when his eyebrows rose to the top of his forehead and his shark like teeth protruded from his smirk. Cutting Suigetsu's no doubt unneeded comment about their relationship status off, Sakura's next words came out in a jumble. She was far too embarrassed to form coherent sentences at this moment._

_"It was strictly friendship and it was cold in here and he was warm so I hugged him problem solved." Later she would slap her wide forehead for this and mumble about her stupidity, but right now all she was focused on was the door leading to the nearest exit. The young, white haired Hozuki boy chuckled and cleared his throat, intending the awkward conversation to be over._

_"We're in port. The rain has cleared up. Feel free to go outside. Especially you, Sakura. It is quite warm outside, seeing as you were so cold a moment ago."_

_She was already out the door before Suigetsu could finish his sentence._

_ ..._

Sakura groaned quietly to herself. Though she would probably never see that cocky boy from three years ago again, she still wished she could get the last word in from that day. Lately she found her mind wandering back to Suigetsu for some unknown reason. Maybe she missed his teasing attitude and brash ways or the way his lilac eyes would light up when he looked out at the ocean or any water in general.

She also missed her oddball friends she had made on _The Samehada_. Sure, they were an odd group of people, but that was the way that Sakura liked things. She enjoyed the way they went about their daily life; like they had no care in the world. She wished she could say the same thing for herself but unfortunately she could not.

Her life was like a plateua; flat, with no curves or bumps to throw her off. She had the occasional shock, but it wasn't anything life threatening or serious. She found herself restless as of late, like there was something more out there for her than this sheltered life she was forced to live in.

Thus was the life of nobility for Sakura Haruno.

Sometimes, when she was feeling particularly intermittent, she would go outside at night, at about 11:00.

This night was one of those nights.

During these little escapes to reality, she would go outside, via her crystal window that her mother would keep tightly locked, and go to a meadow. A meadow that was surrounded by glittering ponds and rivers, all intersecting until they reached the middle of the grassy field. They crossed like a train and created a curly X. Enveloping the natural wonder would be dozens of topiaries and ancient pine trees, which swayed with the wind on exceptionally windy nights.

Her little rendezvous with the meadow went unnoticed by Byaku, Chihari, and Mebuki, and she silently thanked God for that. If her mother or her maids, especially her mother, was to find out about these little meetings with her pasture, she would not have a second chance. She never tested her luck, and only went out about once every week.

Sakura liked to call it "The Glass Meadow", because when the moon shined on the clinquant flowing water just right, it created a reafraction and would bounce off the rapids much like glass would; a parallel universe that she never seemed to be able to get enough of. Simply put, it was the only way to escape from her seculded reality.

On these escapes she would bring mortars and pestles; she was interested in alchemy. It was one of those few things she enjoyed. Medicines, diseases, and viruses fascinated her, and their cures she tried to decipher. She found she was actually quite good at it; she had found seven cures to nine diseases so far.

She arrived at The Glass Meadow at 10:45 and the stars in the black sky danced in the heavens upon her approach. Her 'secret place' had grown prettier each day, the pine trees growing a little taller and a little larger and the water rising a little higher. She removed her hood.

She found the cloak in the sitting room; dark crimson and long, just reaching the heel of her foot. Sakura planned to ask her mother whose it was and what it was doing draped over the ottoman, but never got around to it. Her twelve year old self, driven by curiosity by this piece of clothing she had never encountered in the Haruno mansion, took it into her personal care and it had been stored under her bed each week.

After the hood followed the blood-red cloak, and she set it by the intersecting rivers. The foliage obscured her vision from any wildlife, though she could clearly hear and make out distinctive chirps and scuttles of robins and squirrels. The large green timberland encased her in a warm embrace, unlike her mother who never had. Sakura felt completely at ease in this wonderland and relaxed into its embrace.

Before she could drift off into a deep sleep which she so frequently did, she crawled on her hands and knees, something she wouldn't be caught dead doing infront of nobility, over to her alchemy supplies, which perched innocently on her cloak, unaware of any danger lurking in the trees. Though she heard a few noises, her keen apple eyes scowered the emerald forest for any threats. She found nothing, and continued to search through her supplies.

A squirrel hopped out out of the plants and scared the fourteen year old Haruno to death. She jumped slightly and almost landed in the pond behind her. The furry animal cautiously bustled up to the teenager until it was three feet from her outstretched hand. She beckoned for it to come closer until its nose was within finger touch.

Then it scampered away.

Shrugging to herself, she rose to her feet and began to pick flowers and herbs she could use later. She put them in a her brown apothecary satchel and lied back down on the bank belonging the pond. Right now, all she wanted was to listen to the nature around her, so she closed her eyes and folded her arms behind her head, contented with the comforting green scenery encasing her.

She drifted off into an abysmal slumber, and would not awake until exactly five hours later, on the forest floor, wondering why in the world a squirrel was perched on top of her forehead the next morning.

And when that time came, she would rush as quick as humanely possible back to the Haruno mansion.

...

If you could say one thing about Sakura, it was that she absoulutely loathed introductions. She hated the awkwardness of meeting someone you had never known before, and they would proceed to continue the conversation like they were the best of friends. She endured it though, because that was what her mother wanted.

The rich men and their sons that Mebuki Haruno would introduce Sakura to never peaked her interest. Most of them were too arid and bland for her, always rambling on about the latest business trade they had done or the bet that their friend had lost to them last week. Sakura feigned interest and smiled politely at each point she was supposed to and laughed whenever he made a joke. And she hated it. She hated it with every fiber of her being.

Everytime she would meet a person, her mind would immediately revert back to a blonde haired blue eyed boy. She would compare his personality to others, and to no avail and no surprise, none of them matched.

Her mother, one day, had thought about her daughter for once, and inquired what kind of boy Sakura was looking for.

_Mebuki Haruno and her daughter walked into the flower shop, and the little bell attached to the door chimed and signaled their arrival. Flurries of 'hellos' 'how are you?' and 'nice to see you today, Mrs. Haruno and daughter' bombarded Sakura's ears as she approached a bouqet cheerful yellow daisies. She smiled cordially at the people in the aisles whenever they greeted her._

_Mebuki took note of her daughter's action; she was intrigued by the bright, yellow flowers. Not the exotic purple or pink ones, the somber blue or green ones, or the mysterious black and grey flowers. She thoughtfully looked to her only child. Now would be an opportune time to ask her._

_"Sakura, dear. May I ask you a question?" Mebuki asked Sakura as she turned around with a daisy in her hand. She nodded. She needed to word this carefully in order to not scare Sakura away. _

_"What attracts you to those yellow daisies?"_

Sakura knew what her mother was going after from the beginning; she knew Naruto and her were close friends. Though she didn't know if she appoved of him or not. After all, the Uzumaki was not born of royal blood, so Sakura did not have high hopes.

The Uchiha clan, however, were.

And this was Sakura Haruno's undoing.

**A:N:/ Please bear with me guize. I know it's slow, I know, trust me. I just need to get Sakura's background and personality out of the way. The Uchihas should be mentioned in the next chapter, though I don't know if they're going to meet.**

_**REVIEW.**_

**I live for those things.**


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Romance