One Small Change

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sakura had always been good at processing and memorizing information. She always got the second best score, next to Shikamaru of course, on every single test they were given. She never had issue with understanding what something meant. Right now though, for the first time in her life, Sakuras' brain was thrown for a loop. It couldn't, no wouldn't, understand the fact that Sakuras' parents were gone. It would make it too real. It would make the reality that her parents, the people she thought she could always trust, betrayed not only her, but the entire village as well. More tears slid down Sakuras' cheeks as she clenched Kakashis' Jounin vest as if it was her lifeline. How could they do this to the village? How could they do this to me? Did I matter at all to them? Was I just a mistake? A small hurdle in whatever plan they had?! Were they just humouring me when they said that they loved me?!

To them… Was I just a waste of money? Sakura sobbed louder as she clenched Kakashis' vest even tighter than before. Vaguely, she could feel Kakashis' hand awkwardly placed onto her back as a comforting gesture. Obviously, Kakashi wasn't very well versed in the art of comforting people, but to his defense, most others weren't either. Stop crying. It's not going to get answers. It's not going to make them come back. A voice that sounded sterner than Inner Sakura stated harshly. Sakura tried valiantly to stop, but the tears just kept coming no matter what she did. All the emotion she had kept bottled up over the past few months had now finally come out, in way of tears and incoherent words. After what seemed like forever, the tears finally stopped and Sakura stepped away from Kakashi, looking up to the star filled sky. It was beautiful.

"You know," Sakura started, still looking at the sky. "My parents used to love the stars, they told me that to them, it symbolizes hope for a new day. They-" Sakura let a few tears slip down her cheeks as she clenched her fists in anger. "They liked to watch them with me constantly. On the most random days, my dad would just say that we were going to go camp out and just watch the stars." Sakura shut her eyes and clenched her fists tighter as more tears fell onto the ground. "They promised me that it was our family tradition and that we would always do it together every once and awhile. They promised me that when I was six. But I suppose that to them, p-promises are no more than e-empty w-words!" Sakura yelled the last part out of sadness and fury as she fell back onto her knees, more tears falling from her eyes. Not even a minute later, she felt a sharp pinch on the back of her neck and the last thing she thought before it all went black was. Will anything ever be the same?

7-7-7

Blearily, Sakura cracked open her eyes only to shut them immediately after seeing a glimpse of the sunlight blaring through her windows. Groaning, she put her arm over her already closed eyes and grimaced, remembering the events of the night before. She then felt a small surge of guilt, how late had she kept Kakashi up? Rolling over onto her stomach, Sakura grabbed the other pillow that she wasn't using and put it over her head, hoping to block out any brightness. After laying there for a few minutes, she finally groaned and tossed the pillow, which was previously on her head, onto the floor. Stretching, she stood up and walked over to the mirror near her bed and grimaced. In one word, she was a mess. Her eyes were red rimmed and a little crusty from the amount of water that passed through them the night prior. Her hair was knotted and had random strands sticking up. Grabbing the brush on her nightstand, Sakura dragged it through her hair and flinched several times because of the pain that came from brushing out knots. After a few minutes, Sakura finished and tossed her hair into a messy bun and looked at her clothes. They were wrinkled and dirty from the night prior. Making sure the door was shut and locked, Sakura tossed her red dress and black spandex shorts off and looked into the closet near her bed, inwardly hoping there would be something she could wear.

Sliding the closet door open, Sakura gasped and saw that the inside of the closet was filled with several boxes, albeit dusty, but boxes nonetheless! Grabbing the first box she saw, Sakura lifted it and put it onto her bed. Curiously, she lifted the lid and pulled it off, coughing slightly at the dust that came out. Sakura reached in and pulled out a grey short sleeve shirt. Jackpot! Reaching in again, she pulled out a black skort that reached mid thigh with hidden pockets in it. Sakura curiously looked the outfit over again before placing it back onto her bed and putting the box back into the closet. Putting her new outfit on along with her weapons pouch and tying her shuriken holder onto her right thigh. By now, Sakura was positive that these clothes were ninja clothes, which was a good thing, because Sakura didn't particularly want to go to a store and find a new outfit. Tucking the hem of her shirt into her black skort, Sakura took one last look at her new look. It's kinda sad, there's not once trace of red on my outfit.

Sakura shook her head and walked out of her room and into the kitchen. The red was my pare- Mr. and Mrs. Harunos' favorite color, they don't deserve to be respected by me any longer. Sakura then took her seat at the kitchen table and started eating. "Sakura! I love your new look!" Naruto said with a charming grin. Sakura gave him a small smile. "Thank you Naruto." Last night had made her reevaluate what she wanted in life and what exactly she wanted to change. Sakura had been unnecessarily cruel to Naruto for several years. Sakura still didn't understand how Naruto would like someone that was that cruel to him for no logical reason.

"Kakashi-sensei wants us to meet at the training grounds in a few minutes." Sasuke stated serenely, breaking Sakuras' reverie. She just nodded and finished off the remains of her breakfast within a minute and left with Sasuke and Naruto.

7-7-7

Six Hours Later. They were all laying on the ground panting hard. Except Kakashi, he was just leaning against a nearby tree, reading Icha Icha Paradise. "Come on, get back up. Remember what or who you are doing this for. Remember your motivation." Kakashi stated as we all leaned on each other as we stood. Then we all got in position to start running again on Kakashis' signal.

My goal,

My dream,

My ambition,

Is to hunt down my parents and get answers!

Is to become Hokage!

Is to kill my older brother!

It was when that Kakashi decided to say "Go."

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've been pretty busy lately. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! -Lizzie:D