A/N: Chapter one; REVISED. Warning: This story is AU. This story is not an OC-insert. Please remember that certain canon facts will be different in this story. Thank you. Enjoy.

Haruno Kizashi grew up in Konohagakure with his mother, father and little brother. Aside from their peculiarly pink shades of hair colour and their jovial personalities which brought forth a tonne of horrible puns, they were like any other civilian family within the village.

When Kizashi became interested in ninjas at a young age, he had learned that he had a special talent in chakra control. It was then that he wanted to learn more about being a ninja and using chakra, so he was enrolled into the academy and the Haruno family had received a ninja as a member for the first time in the long time. The road to being a civilian-born shinobi was hard when there were many prestigious clans within the village, but Kizashi's nature had allowed him to become a successful jounin with a smile in spite of the war that had descended upon them.

And though he had his family who supported his decisions, there was some part of him that made him feel lonely. That was, until he met a woman named Mebuki whom had come to Konohagakure from Tetsu no Kuni as a vacation of sorts as a means to get away from her hometown, even though a war was raging on.

Mebuki had come from a long line of samurai, but she herself had remained a civilian whilst her four brothers and sister went on to embrace their heritage. Although, underestimating the blonde woman was definitely a mistake as she seemed to possess an unnatural amount of strength for a civilian. Of course, even though she had decided not to take up the sword, her family had felt it proper to teach her their ways of training the body so she would have a better chance at life. So, they had taught her how to use the naginata because the world was a fierce one.

So, because of her heritage and family teachings, the young woman had become rather serious in personality which heavily clashed against Kizashi's when the two had first met. She found his sakura-shaped hair ridiculous, whilst he found her large, singular bang that hung in her face rather endearing even if it was to hide the size of her forehead. The two had argued over many things that people found to be so trivial, but it brought them together and even seemed to become something of normality. To her, the jounin's personality was almost like a breath of fresh air and allowed her to let loose since she had been surrounded by many stone-face relatives all her life.

When Mebuki had to leave, they had become rather close and found that perhaps, they had fallen for one another. It was abrupt and done in such a clumsy manner that the woman had thought he was pulling another one of his jokes when he went on one knee and presented a ring made of rose-carmine agate, asking her to marry him. Shocked, but otherwise unable to say no since she had realised that despite his annoyances, she had come to love him in such a short amount of time; she had said yes and hugged him after getting a little teary.

First, they went to the Haruno family and broke the news, which brought on a lot of horrible but amusing puns about marriage, weddings and the like. So then Kizashi had decided to come along to her home, to introduce himself to Mebuki's family and to keep her safe.

After a long and tiring test of sorts brought onto him by Mebuki's family to see if he was worthy to wed her, Kizashi had successfully received blessings from his fiancée's kin. He was charismatic and was able to bring smiles to many of her blank-faced relatives that seemed to always be uptight. After a series of celebrations and farewells, Mebuki then packed all her belongings for the move to Konoha.

Due to Kizashi's earnings as a shinobi, they were able to live in a comfortable two-storey house that had a master bedroom and three other bedrooms. It was located in one of the better parts of the village, where those with enough money could live, whether you were a rich civilian or a hard-working shinobi.

They married within the year and Mebuki became pregnant. During her pregnancy, she was even more scarier and fatigued than when Kizashi's mother was pregnant with his brother.

Their first child was born in February whom they decided to name Saki. Saki had fair, almost pale skin, with carmine-coloured hair and dark, jade-coloured eyes that seemed to tell the beginnings of an intelligent girl. During her birth, she hadn't cried at all and only made minor sounds the entire time; which brought on the worry if something was wrong with her and the mother when Mebuki had suddenly passed out as she first held her child. Kizashi was panicking in more ways than one, but he had immediately calmed when his wife had woken up and his daughter had been checked and diagnosed as perfectly healthy.

Saki was almost too quiet for a newborn, but she was generally rather active in that she would be calmly staring at ceilings for hours on end or reading the learning books scattered around her. Her parents felt a little tired after coming into contact with her even though she was an easy child to look after, it was a strange and fairly unnoticed experience. Her development seemed to come in leaps and bounds, to their surprise, as she seemed to be developing faster than what a normal baby would. And yet, her parents couldn't help but admit the fact that they were worried about her never crying and simply making displeased sniffles or mumbles.

All in all, their first child was a peculiar girl whom they thought was smart and quiet, but she seemed to shy away from affection after attempting to embrace it.

Their second child was born a year later, in March whom they named Sakura. Sakura's skin was also fair, whilst her hair was the shade of bubblegum or cherry blossoms (hence her name) and her eyes the colour of shamrock that held the brightness of the sun. Her forehead was a tad larger than normal, something that she had inherited from her mother but it brought forth no health issues so it was promptly ignored by her loving parents. Her birth was more normal than her sister's, as she had cried loudly and her mother didn't pass out after holding her. She brought more trouble to the table what with her ability to cry so much over everything as she was just a baby, and since Kizashi and Mebuki were used to the quiet nature of their first, it was quite the change.

Sakura was practically the opposite of her elder sister, she was loud and laughed and giggled at many things and always seemed to always need someone to play with her. Saki would often sit across from her little sister, doing her best to teach her sibling how to spell with the toy blocks. More often than not, playing with Saki seemed to tire out Sakura far more quickly than when she played with either of her parents.

Their second child was a bright and happy girl who was drawn to affection from others, even from her sister.

The Harunos were a strange but happy family, with nothing having gone wrong until the day the Kyuubi had attacked their village. Sakura was only seven months whilst Saki was one year and eight months when it happened. Kizashi had to go with the other ninjas whilst Mebuki held her daughters like a lifeline, trying to comfort them as even Saki cried along with her sister for the first time.

Kizashi had lived, but there were so many casualties that it was hard to smile with the atmosphere. His father had unfortunately been one of the many who had lost their lives in the attack, but Konoha tried to pull itself back together and the jounin had to move on in order to support the family he had now.

As his two daughters grew, he and his wife began to grasp hold of even more evidence to their contrasting personalities. Mebuki believed that Saki was alike those in her family who always kept a straight face and was generally quiet whilst Sakura was like Kizashi's family, where they radiated cheerfulness and smiles. Sakura liked to play a lot and basically resembled a rather normal child with a strange hair colour, whereas Saki tended to ignore the thought of playing in favour of just sitting and reading books that should've been far above her level.

When talking to new people, Sakura was the one who became shy and unsure of herself because of her larger-than-average forehead, often hiding behind one of her family members. Saki, on the other hand, had absolutely no trouble communicating with others to the point that she was the epitome of the word 'blunt'. It tended to give her a bad impression with new people as they were unused to such a thing, but the elder Haruno sister didn't seem to care about others' opinions of her and simply continued about her day.

Because of other children's reactions to Sakura's forehead, Saki had grown to dislike the concept and act of bullying. In an attempt to make her sister more confident about herself, the elder sister had given her a red ribbon to accentuate her cuter features; and because of this, they had become much closer.

The two of them were like night and day, to the point that it was reflected in their clothes. The little pinkette liked wearing bright clothes like sundresses and red-coloured shorts and no-sleeved shirts that bore the white circular symbol that represented Mebuki's family. Her sister would often wear dark clothes that included fully sleeved shirts, long pants, gloves, socks and scarfs no matter what the season, since she disliked skin-to-skin contact to the point that she would make an effort to dodge any attempts. They were like winter and summer, but somehow, the two were incredibly close despite that.

On the other hand, they did resemble each other closely. It was easy to tell they were siblings, with their similar hairstyles with the most difference being Saki's bangs parting from the left and her darker shade of hair whilst Sakura's bangs parted at the middle and was obviously a lighter colour. Saki's features were like an aristocrat; with high cheekbones that had shown through her young face, sharp and intelligent jade eyes that showed little of her true emotions, a slender nose and moderately-sized lips that were nearly always set in a line.

Mebuki realised that this was another thing that reminded her of her family; her eldest looked more like the blonde woman's sister than her, because even if she was a member of that family, she never did look like one of the elite. Sakura's features were softer and resembled Mebuki more, with her lower cheekbones that hadn't quite formed through the remaining baby fat, wide and lively shamrock gems that were inviting, the same prominent forehead, small nose and small lips that were nearly always formed into a smile.

Saki liked to teach Sakura about the things within the overly advanced books she had, about the chakra pathway system, tenketsu and so on. The elder Haruno had surpassed her parents' expectations of being intelligent, as she had become fluent in their language so quickly at her young age that it was almost creepy how she used large words not many children would know, let alone understand the meaning behind them. And even though Sakura wasn't on her sister's level, she herself was a bundle of intelligence as well, since the information given to her by Saki was taken in with fervour. Even if the younger sibling liked to play a lot, she didn't mind just sitting and bonding with her sister on topics that children usually didn't bond over.

Because of their potential, Kizashi had asked them if they were interested in becoming ninjas, which brought on contemplative expressions on their youthful faces. Saki was the first to respond, agreeing to wanting to become a ninja as she felt it would further help her goals to learn of medical ninjutsu and the like. Sakura, encouraged by her sister's response, had then also agreed, saying that she wanted to help people by protecting them and healing them.

And so, Kizashi was pleasantly surprised to find that his daughters had inherited his ability to control chakra on an almost perfect level. Though, because of their age, they still needed to refine it even if there weren't many ninja who could reach that level of control at all. Upon hearing this, both his daughters showed him genuine smiles that warmed his heart.

Unfortunately, Mebuki wasn't as approving of their future job careers. Even if she grew up within a samurai family and knew that even they were always at risk, she didn't expect that her own children were willingly going to become ninja where they would become cold murderers and be in even more risk. When Kizashi had attempted to defuse her by telling his wife that Sakura wanted to heal people and that Saki wanted to further her knowledge rather than kill, it turned into one of the more serious arguments that they shared. It was enough that her husband was a jounin, where he could die at any time whilst being on high-levelled missions, but having her entire family apart from herself have that kind of thing happen at any time was too much.

Sakura, being the kind-hearted girl she was, didn't want her parents to fight and was even about to tell her mother that she changed her mind. However, Saki had managed to convince her that if it was something she really wanted to do, then not even their mother could stop her.

Even though the little pinkette felt upset at her mother's dismay, she couldn't help but remember the small smile her elder sister had given her when Saki had said that she would support her in her goals.

Five-year-old Haruno Sakura was anxious, because today was the day she would start to attend the academy where youths learned all there was to being a ninja. Her father was unfortunately on an assignment and was unable to attend the orientation, whilst her mother was too busy working at the tailors to the point of staying overnight. She probably forgot, but Sakura found that she was okay with that since she had someone else with her.

"Let's go, Sakura, you shouldn't start your first day by being late." Saki commented softly with a flat tone, watching as her little sister scurried about to prepare her lunch and put on her shoes whilst the elder Haruno waited at the door.

Sakura had her big sister with her, who had already started the academy the year ago and from today onward, would walk with her to school. A smile spread across the younger sibling's lips as she ran to grasp the gloved hand that was held out in front of her.

"Okay, I'm ready to go!" she stated with a chipper tone, locking the door after they exited the house and went to walk down the street that would lead them to the academy.

The tails of Saki's scarf trailed behind her and lightly brushed against her sister's face, but Sakura paid it no mind and continued to stick close to avoid being hit by someone of the crowd. Her elder sister liked wearing the light blue scarf given to her by one of their paternal uncles. The scarf itself was incredibly long, long enough that even though Saki wrapped it around her multiple times, the tails still brushed against her boot-covered ankles.

Sakura didn't mind the way her sister always wore gloves and dark clothes no matter the season, because even if others tried to belittle her for her peculiarities, she brushed them off without even looking back. The younger Haruno admired that of her sister as she fingered the red ribbon tied around her head absentmindedly. The carminette was the little pinkette's role model, she was the reason the young girl of five decided to go through with her goals, to strive forward and improve herself.

But she still had her insecurities. "What happens if they don't like me? What if I can't defend myself if they bully me? What if I start bullying them?" she asked questions in a rushed pace, anxiety bundled up with the prospect of being in a class where she had no friends and she wasn't strong enough to stop the bullies (thereby disappointing herself and her sister for not being stronger), or she herself turned into a bully when she was trying to just defend herself (which was also unfavourable because Saki strongly disliked bullies).

The smaller child was brought out of her pessimistic thoughts when she felt the reassuring squeeze on her hand, shamrocks eyes looking to see the dark jade that had turned to her. "You will find friends who will like you for you and you are strong enough to defend yourself from others who plan on bringing you down; you are strong enough that you won't become what you dislike, because I believe in you Sakura." her sister assured her in that dull tone of hers, but Sakura found that it was enough to bring her spirits back up.

A bright, genuine smile formed upon the pinkette's lips even as Saki turned her head back to the front to manoeuvre around a few civilians that seemed to be rushing somewhere. "Thanks, aneki! I'll do my best to make you proud, okay?"

"Do your best to make yourself proud too, Sakura." Saki commented quietly, glancing back at her little sister just as the academy came into view. "I want you to do what makes you happy."

Sakura's heart warmed at the faith and support she got from her sister as they weaved through the crowd, able to ignore the other people until she realised that they were already in the classroom that she would be in for the remainder of her schooling. Her eyes darted back and forth as she shuffled closer to the carminette, doubt beginning to seed its way back into her heart until she was poked in the forehead.

The pink-haired five-year-old blinked, looking back up at the carminette who stared down at her. "Remember what I said?" Saki asked, when she received a firm nod she continued, "Alright, don't worry so much, you'll be fine. I'll see you at the entrance after school. Be good."

Then Sakura was left in a room full of kids her age by herself.

"Saki-chan, you're earlier than usual."

Upon hearing her name and recognising the voice as she walked into her classroom, her eyes locked onto a pair of piercing lemon-coloured eyes that were half-lidded in a lazy manner when she looked to the back of the class. Mizushima Naoki was sitting atop the desk situated at the very back and by the window, his lips always curved into a sly smile and his light blue hair illuminated by the sun. He always wore a thick, black headband that covered his forehead and allowed his asymmetrical bangs to frame his face; the rest of his hair looked a tad wavy and random bits poked out like it didn't want to be fully tamed by a brush. The black theme of his clothing contrasted with his pale skin, his shirt having a high collar and longs sleeves whilst he wore baggy pants and black shinobi sandals.

The carminette had somehow managed to catch his eye during that one time his orphanage was invited to her fifth birthday party by her mother, and she had to resign herself to associating with him when she realised that they were in the same class. She found that even though the classroom was littered with her other classmates, he seemed to draw more attention without even trying. Her footsteps were silent as she made her way to the back, making eye contact with a glaring Hyuuga Neji who sat two seats in front of her before she simply ignored him and sat in the middle of the desk she shared with Naoki and one other.

The blue-haired boy shifted so that he was now sitting in his seat beside her, his attention fully focused on his classmate as he leaned a little too close for comfort. He had an annoying habit of invading her personal space, but she tried to ignore it even as a minute frown appeared on her face.

"Is your sister starting today?" Naoki asked casually, his tone, smile and gleaming eyes telling her that he already knew the answer. It seemed to be a habit of his, where he enjoyed asking questions even though he already knew the answers just because he found it fun to listen to people's responses.

"Mm." she confirmed softly without looking at him and instead pulling out several textbooks from her large, plain messenger bag. The boy next to her leaned over to get a better look, allowing her to catch the slight faltering of his admittedly creepy smile as he read over the titles.

"These are textbooks for third years and higher. Are you moving into another class?" he inquired softly when he turned to stare at her, his smile fully back in place. To the young Haruno, she had been around him long enough to know when he asked questions he genuinely didn't have the answer to, but made it sound like he knew anyway.

"No," Saki denied as she leaned forward to grab one of the books, her face shifting into a mild grimace when his breath brushed against her cheek, "I got them myself since I wanted to do a little light reading." she supplied, gently pushing Naoki back so he wasn't so close to her face as she focused her eyes on the books in front of her. She only saw his smile widen out of the corner of her eye.

"That's good, Saki-chan. I'd be bored without you with me." the equally peculiar boy replied, grabbing one of the tails of her scarf and bringing it to his lips. "Nasu-kun isn't enough to keep me entertained." he muttered quietly whilst his deskmate crossed her legs as if she were sitting on the floor and began to read a book about human organs.

"You know we'll probably be separated after our third year since I'll be taking the crash course that they offer at the end of that year for those with high grades. Then I'll take the courses in medical ninjutsu and genjutsu most likely until I turn twelve and get sorted into the genin teams where everyone else is meant to graduate." Saki explained indifferently, apparently already having a plan for her education.

Naoki's eyelids lowered in displeasure as he continued to stare at the carminette. "… I hope we get into the same team then. Maybe with Nasu-kun, because he's fun to tease." he commented, eyes shifting to the figure that just entered the class. "Speak of the devil and it shall appear."

Oshiro Takahiro was the third of their odd little trio. He had naturally tan skin that had gotten darker from being in the sun too much, sharp aqua-coloured eyes and spiky hair the colour of eggplant (hence Naoki's nickname for him). His bangs were long enough to frame his face and a thick lock ran down the middle of his face before it shifted to connect to another that covered a good portion of his left eye and then fanned out. He wore a navy shirt, black shorts, blue shinobi sandals and both his legs and arms were covered in bandages.

His eyes landed on the two at the back, making the trek towards them as more students began to filter in. He nodded to Saki in acknowledgment with his face in that default brooding expression of his before he scowled at the blue-haired boy on the other side of her.

"Have you been training again, Nasu-kun? You'll end up breaking a bone and stunting your growth at this rate." Naoki commented casually as the girl between them leaned back to allow them to look at each other without having to look around her, since she was currently taller than both of them.

"He broke his wrist one time." she provided absentmindedly, turning the page of the book in her lap. Takahiro was always training because his father and uncle were taijutsu nuts, so it was a miracle when the boy wasn't injured in some way. Saki didn't mind, it gave her a willing test subject so she could test out the medical ninjutsu she managed to execute. She was only good enough to heal small, shallow cuts and bruises and despite her chakra control, it still took a toll on her tiny reserves. It was better than nothing, she thought, as she would improve in the future.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that." Takahiro frowned. "You call Saki by her name."

Naoki's eye lit up as he nuzzled the scarf tail in his hands. "I like Saki-chan's name the way it is. Besides, the last time I tried to give her a nickname, she remained unaffected. It's more fun when they react like you do to my nicknames." he chuckled, eyes glistening with amusement.

The aqua-eyed boy scowled. "Even if I was to get used to it, you still wouldn't stop calling me that, would you?" he asked dubiously.

"Nope!" the Mizushima replied with a pleasant smile.

Takahiro sighed in exasperation. "You're like a sadist." he muttered before turning away to stare at the front of the class.

Lemon eyes glanced at Saki, who looked up to make eye contact since she could feel the intensity within his gaze. "What do you think, Saki-chan? Am I a sadist?" Naoki asked softly, propping an elbow on the desk and letting his cheek rest on his hand as he leaned forward to listen to her answer.

"You show signs of a sociopath, which I believe has sadism coexisting with sociopathic personality traits." Saki replied monotonously, blinking when the blue-haired boy's eyes gleamed. His eyes were more expressive than she initially believed, but she assumed that would be because she didn't know all there was to sociopaths. "Either way," she turned her eyes to the approaching classmate that had too much energy than she liked, "I'll possibly remain as your unlikely associate for a while. You intrigue me."

"Saki-san! You're quite the loyal person, I admire you!" Rock Lee exclaimed as he reached her desk, a blindingly bright smile on his face even though he sported all kinds of injuries. His braid had twigs in them and his clothes were covered in dirt.

"Lee." Saki greeted with a deadpan. "Have you managed to break less bones this time around?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

The eccentric boy held up three fingers. "Only three fingers this time, Saki-san! I'll do my best to make it less fingers next time and become stronger!" he proclaimed determinedly, holding up a fist and sporting a determined expression.

"That's good. I'd like to try healing you one time again, but I can't heal anything that's serious so you should go to the hospital soon." the carminette advised, returning her eyes back onto her book to avoid the pitiful expression on her classmate's face.

Lee sniffed dramatically, "You're such a good person, Saki-san! I will make sure your faith in me is not disappointed!" he yelled, unable to hear the snort from the Hyuuga over his obnoxiousness. Saki's lips quirked since she knew the Hyuuga usually found such things as snorting unbecoming.

"Shut up and sit down, Lee!" their teacher demanded just as he entered the classroom, looking tired and holding a cup of coffee in one hand whilst his other held his clipboard. He looked as though he had stayed up all night what with the bags under his eyes, his glasses being crooked and his dark hair in the style of bed hair.

"Ah, of course sensei!" the child in question gave a hurried farewell to his classmate before he rushed over to his seat at the front of the classroom.

After a moment, Takahiro poked the girl beside him, prompting her to turn to him. "Hey, what's a sociopath?" he asked seriously.

Saki sighed as Naoki chuckled.

Shamrock eyes shifted left and right, trying to memorise where other people sat so that Sakura didn't accidentally sit in their seat by mistake in the future. She had chosen to sit at the second last desk on the right side of the room, beside a plain-looking boy who looked like he wanted to be at home sleeping with another student on the other side of him. That left two seats, one in the middle of the two boys in front of her and one down in the front middle desk. The seat she sat in now was her third option.

The boy in front of her was the cute Uchiha and she would've sat beside him if it weren't for the fact the rest of the female population of her class would be out for her blood. She had managed to remain rather unnoticed thanks to the commotion he brought to the table, but she could've easily taken the spotlight by sitting next to him. He wasn't the only one who seemed to be the focus of attention either, since the boy who sat a seat over from the Uchiha was being noticed by all, except the attention he received was the polar opposite.

Sakura had ignored what Iruka-sensei was saying, since he was merely repeating what he had said to the adults that were there only a few moments ago and instead focused on the two in front of her.

The raven-haired boy looked rather broody, his eyes focusing on their sensei but she could see him shaking his leg in irritation due to the admittedly annoying amount of hushed whispers from the girls about his person. She felt pity for the Uchiha, since she assumed it would be annoying if the opposite gender kept talking about her and staring at her with metaphorical heart eyes. As her eyes then landed on the blonde boy again, she could hear as the entire classroom whispered harsh things about him being some kind of demon. He seemed to ignore it, focusing entirely on Iruka-sensei and happily bouncing around in his seat whenever the chuunin mentioned something he deemed cool.

Her eyes shifted from the two, one dressed in dark colours and the other in light. The air around them was the complete opposite, where they received different kinds of attention but reacted how the other should've reacted. It was almost awing how they sat at the same desk like a scale holding opposites that were somehow equal to each other.

Sakura silently thanked her sister for her influence, allowing her to be aware of her surroundings and the people within it. If she hadn't have known any better, she felt as though she would simply conform to everyone else's behaviour, which she found displeasing. The little pinkette had no idea who the blonde boy was and she only knew the raven-haired boy was an Uchiha, but she basically knew nothing and found it completely unfair to treat them the way her classmates were treating them.

"Alright!" Iruka-sensei clapped his hands together with a smile. "It's time to introduce yourselves." he explained, which earned varying sounds of protest and reluctance.

The young Haruno agreed wholeheartedly about not wanting to do such a thing. She'd have to stand up and introduce herself to the entire class when she'd be fine having no presence whatsoever.

"Tell everyone your name, what you like, what you dislike, your hobbies and your dreams for the future." the chuunin went on. "I want you all to be nice and respect each other. Okay, starting from the front row, left."

Where was a hole that she could jump into and curl up into a ball? Sakura sighed, pulling out a notebook and pen so that she could record her classmate's information and their most prominent feature in case she needed it for the future. She wouldn't have done this initially, but since it was advice from her aneki, she decided that it couldn't hurt. Sakura wasn't sure how she'd use the information, but it was only the first day.

There were quite a few clan members within her class. The two in front of her were named Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Curiously enough, Sakura was sure that she had heard the name 'Uzumaki' somewhere before but couldn't quite remember where from. Naruto liked ninjas and ramen whilst Sasuke liked his clan, tomatoes and his brother. The blonde wanted to be Hokage, which caused many of her classmates to laugh whilst the ravenhead wanted to become the chief of the military police.

By the time she finished writing down information of the newly revealed Inuzuka Akio beside her and the Hyuuga named Hinata beside him, she realised that it was her turn to introduce herself. A grimace appeared as she felt her face go pale. Taking a deep breath, the young girl remembered the faith her aneki had in her and stood up; she fiddled her fingers anxiously and tried to look at the front of the classroom.

"My… my name is…" she began softly, until she was cut off by her sensei.

"I'm really sorry," the chuunin apologised with a sincere smile, "but could you speak up please so everyone can hear you?"

A blush appeared on her face as she nodded shyly, trying to ignore the small snickers of her classmates. Taking another deep breath, Sakura touched the ribbon in her hair to remind her to be herself and to have more self-confidence. When her eyes opened, they were firm and determined.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. What I like are my family, training and sweets. I don't like any kind of bullying and when people judge without knowing who the other person really is. My hobbies are playing trivia games, memorising new materials for training and well, training. My dream for the future is to become a great kunoichi so that I can make my onee-chan and myself proud, as well as help people and protect the village." Sakura introduced herself with an unwavering voice and eyes that were lit with the vision of becoming an awesome ninja that would bring her family pride.

Unbeknownst to her, the class was momentarily stunned by her introduction. She made many of her classmates remember that they were at an academy where they would become ninjas to protect their village, where there dreams of having perfect hair every day or looking beautiful for all eternity seemed trivial. Then, when the pink-haired girl sat down, the spell was broken and introductions resumed even as the pink-haired girl had caught a few staring eyes.

Sakura smiled to herself, believing that she had done well for her introduction. Aneki would surely praise her for her self-confidence, she thought. When the blonde boy in front of her had his head turned to look at her, she noticed the vibrant blue of his eyes that were like the sky as they held some kind of awe in them. A light blush dusted her cheeks as she gave him a small smile and wave. His eyes seemed to widen in surprise before a wide and goofy grin plastered itself onto his fox-like face and he waved back. She just then noticed the whisker marks on his cheeks and found them intriguing.

Her eyes shifted to see a pair of onyx eyes looking at her too, which caused her to widen her eyes in surprise. The Uchiha boy was looking at her too! Then she felt rude for possibly gawking so she smiled and waved at him too, causing it to be his turn for a look of surprise before he slowly gave a nod of acknowledgment and turned back to the front of the classroom.

Maybe she would make friends after all.

"Tadaima!" Sakura called out excitedly, hurriedly removing her shoes and then running towards the kitchen with her feet loudly impacting with the wooden floor to signal her approach.

"Okaeri!" Mebuki replied, smiling as she hugged her youngest who had entered the kitchen just as the older woman was going to get something from the fridge. Her eyes looked up to see if her eldest would make an appearance, but when she didn't, the woman frowned in disapproval at her daughter's rude antics.

Saki had hummed almost inaudibly in a greeting when she walked through the entrance, but never bothered to do more than that. Even more so today since the carminette was not pleased with her mother's absence from Sakura's orientation. So Saki had removed her shoes and silently made her way upstairs and to her room, ignoring her mother.

The blonde woman focused her attention back to the youngest Haruno. "How was your first day, sweetie? I'm sorry I couldn't make it, my client wanted his clothes early today." she apologised, giving the small girl a bag of konpeito as an apology. The tailors was right beside the confectionary store and Mebuki was good friends with the owner.

"It's okay, kaa-chan!" Sakura forgave her easily, thanking the woman for the sweets. "The others were nice to me and I might've made a friend or two!" she explained excitedly, pulling a chair out in the dining room so she could sit.

Her mother smiled as her child continued to recount her first day at the academy, but Mebuki couldn't stop the festering irritation and worry at being reminded that both her children were enrolled in the ninja academy instead of the civilian one. The only reason she agreed was because it was three against one, with even Kizashi's family supporting the two children's goals. They would grow up and become jaded, become murderers in cold blood. How could she support that? She would've had an easier time supporting them if they wanted to become samurai, since samurai were neutral and didn't go out of their way to go into enemy territory and kill everything.

"Do you have homework?" Sakura's mother asked as she turned back to the stove where she had been working on dinner. Mebuki's eyes lost a small bit of light at the thought of their family dinners. Some days Kizashi wasn't home and so it was mostly Sakura and her talking whilst Saki remained silent and stuck leaves to her. The tension between herself and her eldest was growing, she could feel it.

"Yup. Just some simple maths and stuff since it's only the first day. I'm going to go see aneki and borrow one of her books though to learn more about medical ninjutsu, she has lots of them." Sakura replied, putting a blue konpeito in her mouth.

"She does," Mebuki replied, turning to her daughter and pulling out another sweet, "give this to her, I know she loves chichi dango."

The pinkette slid off the chair and grabbed the sweets with a beaming smile. "We'll come down for dinner!" she assured, turning to run through the dining room to get to the stairs so she could go to Saki's bedroom.

A sigh escaped the blonde woman. She wondered what it would be like if her daughters had decided to remain civilians. They would be safe… but would they be happy?

Saki's room was the biggest aside from the master bedroom that Mebuki and Kizashi shared. Sakura's room was beside hers and smaller, but she had an inbuilt closet unlike Saki who instead had a wardrobe. The walls were a very light green, like all the bedrooms but the furniture within it were neutral or dark shades of black and grey. The door was at the right corner of the room, with the wall opposite of it holding a large window with black curtains in the middle. She had a dark, simple cabin bed against the wall with the window at the corner, the connected desk against the adjacent wall where her black bookshelf took up the rest of the wall. The wardrobe was against the wall on the other adjacent wall where the window was, with an old scientific skeleton that her father had managed to snag from the hospital along with a smaller shelf that held her scrolls. At the end of her bed were three bean bags of varying dark shades with the walls that weren't covered holding posters of diagrams of nerves and tenketsu.

Which left the low, black kotatsu table in the middle of her room where the two sisters were sitting at. The table was filled with various books that were open at random pages as Saki was reading multiple things that interested her whilst also doing the extra homework she had asked for from her teacher. Every so often, she popped a chichi dango in her mouth as she worked.

"So you're going to use medical ninjutsu when you become a shinobi too, aneki?" Sakura asked curiously as she sat across from her sister and worked on her own homework.

"Yes. It suits my interests, along with genjutsu." Saki replied without looking up, turning the pages of three books as she wrote things down at an admirable pace. "It requires high intelligence and refined chakra control and I have both requirements. I want to know how to put people back together as well as be able to tear them apart. Therefore, I plan on becoming a battle medic-nin."

Her little sister frowned. "You can use it to hurt people? Why would you want to hurt people with it?" she asked childishly, bemusement written on her face.

The elder Haruno ceased in her multitasking to properly look at her sister. "We will become ninjas. Ninjas have to hurt others in order to protect the things precious to them. I can use medical ninjutsu to both heal and kill. I can become skilled in torture or assassination missions. I have no qualms about taking other people's lives if it meant the things precious to me remain alive." she explained with a dull tone, even talking about a serious topic such as the taking of lives unable to bring forth emotion within her voice.

Sakura's brow was creased as she thought deeply upon the subject. She didn't want to hurt people, she wanted to help people… but sometimes there would be someone who's not her friend and they would try to hurt those she's trying to protect and heal.

"I don't want to use medical ninjutsu to kill people… I want use it to save people." the pinkette said after a while, her expression serious. "But if I have to… I would. Only if I have to."

Saki's eyes softened slightly as the corner of her lips tilted upwards as she stared at her little sister. "I will support you no matter what you choose Sakura. You are your own person and not my shadow, so don't worry too much about trying to follow me in my methods of being a ninja." she stated truthfully.

Sakura was naturally very kind-hearted, to the point that she would heal a stranger in the middle of the street out of the goodness of her heart. Saki knew that she wouldn't heal someone out of the goodwill, she would do it to test herself, to remind herself that she could heal a wound as well as inflict it.

"You really are the best, aneki." Saki's little sister replied, smiling genuinely at her. "I'll become a great medic-nin one day! I'll be awesome!" the young girl exclaimed, throwing a fist in the air enthusiastically, unintentionally reminded her elder sister of Rock Lee.

"I have no doubt." Saki replied. "I'll lend you some of my books, so take care of them."

"Of course!"

"Why do you try when you will always be weak, Haruno?"

Saki sighed in exasperation. She had hoped Hyuuga Neji would've given up in his attempts to force his beliefs on her, but that was merely an impossible dream it seemed. Their first year together was eventful when they had first become sparring partners and they also had to join in teams during the team building exercises. Of course with him being a Hyuuga, it wasn't surprising when he had beat her the first time around, nor was it surprising when he thought he was too good to work with her and that one other kid. What was surprising and utterly annoying was the fact that he liked to ramble about how her being born a civilian meant that she would always be weak no matter what and should simply accept that since it was her fate.

For a child to be spouting nonsense, she assumed that he must've gone through some kind of traumatic event which might've included the Hyuuga Affair all those years ago. She knew for a fact that he was in the branch family of the Hyuuga clan, since he had decided during an angry rant to show her the brand mark atop of his forehead which signified his fate of always serving the main family. It was something she genuinely found unfortunate and wouldn't have minded associating with him if it weren't for the fact that he was trying to constantly convert her to his fatalistic views.

He also seemed to use his classmates as some kind of outlet, telling them he was superior whilst they were weak and there was nothing they could do to change it. Lee was one of his most prominent victims, due to the boy's inability to understand genjutsu and ninjutsu. It signified him as a bully in her eyes and she found that rather annoying.

"When will you give up, Hyuuga?" she asked monotonously, her eyes half-lidded as she looked at him as if she bored at the sight of him. The Hyuuga scowled at her, moving into his usual gentle fist stance, something that Saki herself wanted to learn since it included attacking people's chakra system directly. It was truly unfortunate that she wasn't on better terms with him. "You sound as if you're suffering by this fatalistic belief of yours."

He charged, his byakugan inactive due to the restrictions of the students using kekkei genkai. She knew that he had memorise where all the tenketsu points were, since she tended to watch her classmates to understand them better, but she also knew that he wasn't always on point compared to when his dojutsu was active.

Both children were quick, but Neji seemed to be the only one actively trying to hit his opponent whom was more partial to dodging and weaving around him. She liked to study people when she sparred with them, so she knew that by the deeper furrowing of his brow, he was getting frustrated. He wasn't the type to yell at her to keep still, since that was stupid and the Hyuuga despised stupidity.

"Someone weak will always remain weak, because that is their fate. Nothing can change that." Neji abruptly commented, unintentionally breaking Saki's concentration enough to allow him to strike at her shoulder. To his annoyance, he missed as she spun away from him, so he attempted to grab one of her outrageously long scarf tails but was unable to as she had pulled them out of his reach.

"Just like someone born in the Branch House can never be more than a servant to the Main House… right?" Saki retorted in an almost casual way, her expression remaining the same even as he managed to hit her arm but missed the node. She took that chance to grab his press down on his ulnar nerve, causing the boy to cringe and release a gasp as she pulled him forward to kick his feet and send him to the ground. Unfortunately for her, he managed to snag one of her scarf tails and drag her down with him.

The Hyuuga grunted as his back hit the ground and Saki landed crudely on top of him, her elbow pressed against his gut with her other hand entangled in his hair. Lavender eyes blinked in confusion when hair that wasn't his own brushed against his face, then he realised that it belonged to the girl on top of him. Irritated, Saki ripped her scarf tail from the limp hand of the Hyuuga and sat up as she tried to disentangle her fingers from his surprisingly silky hair. Neji sat up as well, a frown on his face and an involuntarily dash of colour on his cheeks as he grabbed her hand and began to free his hair from it. After her hand was freed, she stood up with a mild scowl and held her hand out to the brunet who reluctantly accepted it and stood up as well. They just barely bowed to each other, calling the end of the spar and then dusted themselves off as well as adjust scarfs and massage wrists.

"Next time, Haruno." Neji promised as she moved to silently step past him.

She stopped and glanced at him, finding it within herself to reply. "You know Hyuuga… I wouldn't have minded associating with you if it weren't for the fact that you seem to hurt others because you yourself are hurting." she commented softly so only he could hear. Saki blinked when his eyes widened in shock, but she had already decided to walk away to Takahiro and Naoki by the time he turned his head to face her.

Neji glared at the Haruno's back, someone whom he found to be an enigma and probably even more stoic than he. She said things that confused and annoyed him, whilst also saying things that made him feel as if he was somewhat transparent. She spoke like she knew his problems and it annoyed the hell out of him, because some part of the child knew that the carmine-haired girl was right. The Hyuuga clicked his tongue as he turned away from her form and walked away, ignoring that stares of his other female classmates. What the hell did she mean that she would associate with him, he wondered?

Unbeknownst to him, Saki was not as unaffected as he thought. He managed to get under her skin with how much he preached about her being weak. She understood that he had problems, but he had no right to take it out on her or anyone else. The carminette found that people's thoughts of her were rather irrelevant, but when one kept voicing their thoughts over and over again, it begins to get aggravating.

Fate? Every person on this planet was tied down by some inescapable fate and they should just accept it?

Saki didn't believe it or accept it. It may have been Neji's views and that would've been fine if he had just kept it to himself. Did fate cause her and her sister to become ninjas? Did fate cause her to have her weird condition? Was it fate that she had decided to associate herself with Naoki and Takahiro? Coincidence, perhaps. All this stuff about fate, about destiny was too much. It would cause unnecessarily deep thoughts on life that she wasn't in the mood for.

She was silent even as Naoki and Takahiro bantered with each other, watching their classmates finish up on the taijutsu session. Jade eyes stared at the two boys. Were they her friends? She knew the definition, but did she feel affection for them? Did they feel affection for her? That's what it was to feel mutual affection, wasn't it? To create bonds and the like that the academy is always on about.

Saki sighed heavily, one unlike the way a child should. Perhaps it was the burden of having an intelligent mind, she would always ask questions and think of their deeper meanings.

She could only hope that she would be prepared for the trials ahead.

A/N: Reviews are love. Reviews are life. It's never ogre. Thanks to my beta; Coq-on-Face the Third.