A/N: I know, I know. It's been a crazy long time since my last update, and I feel extremely bad about it. I've been finding it really hard to write these last couple of months. But I realized that it's September and I'm way behind where I wanted to be in story progression at this point. So I'm very disappointed in myself. However, I want to say that you guys reviews are the reason way I was able to continue with this story, and I appreciate each and everyone because they remind me that I writing for more than just my entertainment. So thank you very much!

I'm hoping that in the next few months I can get hit with an inspiration/motivation arrow and become much more productive in my writing. That being said, here's chapter 6.

Warning: not beta'd.

Summary: He was a legend–strong, driven and commanding. It would only be right that she would share those same attributes. What are you to do when you were born with so much ambition, yet you lack the abilities that you once had–that once made you powerful. Simple. You become a legend in your own right. In which Haruno Sakura is Madara's Reincarnation (BAMF Sakura, AU, Reincarnation)

Chapter 6

Mebuki was concerned.

For the last few weeks, Mebuki knew that something was wrong with Sakura.

It first started with the disappearance of Sakura's bright and bubbly demeanor. She still smiled, but it was often uncertain and forced. It immediately got her attention.

The second thing was Sakura's spiraling reluctance to go out, she would prefer isolating herself in her room (or the garden or the house) with only a book to keep her occupied. Mebuki practically had to force Sakura out, whether to go to the park or to go on errands.

The third was the blank look that Mebuki would sometimes see cross Sakura's face. It was a look that signalled that she was miles away and it took some efforts to break Sakura out of it. When Mebuki would question it, Sakura would just simply shake her head, telling Mebuki that she was just thinking and would continue on doing whatever it was she was doing before.

So yes, Mebuki was concerned. She was beyond concerned, and it made her anxious. Mebuki didn't know what happened to cause the dramatic change in Sakura's personality. And she wasn't sure if it was a normal thing that happened with a child.

Was Mebuki simply overreacting and this was just a normal stages of childhood? She tried to reason with herself.

Was Sakura being more withdrawn a sign of her growing up and seeking independence? At least that was one explanation that she received from a child's psychology book.

Or was there something truly wrong with her? Something that Sakura found difficult to share with her whether because she was confused, scared, or she was unsure how to.

Mebuki could go on "what if's" forever, but Mebuki knew deep in her gut that something was wrong. Call it a mother's intuition.

Mebuki didn't have many friends with children. She had Mei Ling, but she hasn't seen her in awhile and she wasn't sure if they were even constituted as friends enough for Mebuki to include the woman in her problems. Being a homebody herself, she didn't associate with many people besides her husband, and although Kizashi was concerned, he was just as lost as she was in this situation.

Mebuki tried everything she could to get Sakura to open up. She tried talking to her, only for Sakura to continuously reassure her that she was okay. She tried several attempts to cheer her up by making Sakura's favorite food, bribing her with snacks and sweets, and taking her out to fun places. It brought a smile to Sakura's face, but it didn't hold any lasting effects.

Mebuki was at her wits end, but she knew that she couldn't be angry at Sakura because something was obviously affecting the girl. Something that no matter what Mebuki tried to do, she couldn't help her with.

So Mebuki wa simply left with two options–either continue to support Sakura and let her eventually confide in Mebuki what's been bothering her. Or if her mood continued to decline, she was going to have to seek professional help.

That was how on this particular day Mebuki watched Sakura mechanically get ready for the park. It was a stark difference to not too long ago when Sakura practically vibrated with energy trying to hurry up and leave the house.

"I'm ready." Sakura's whispy voice brought Mebuki out of her thoughts.

"Okay, let's go then." They made their way out of the house, and followed the path into the bright Konoha streets.

Sakura found herself once again at the park–the playground more specifically–at a time a day where most children hadn't arrived yet. She liked the quietness of it. What little kids were out, were satisfied with entertaining themselves and they left her alone.

So she sat alone on the abandoned swing set, while her mom sat on a bench at the end of the park reading.

The first few times that they had been here, her mom tried to get Sakura to play with other kids. When that didn't work, she insisted on playing with Sakura herself so that Sakura wouldn't be alone, but Sakura was somehow able to convince her that she liked playing by herself–which she did…unless it was with Tenten. But at this point Sakura was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen.

It's been two weeks since she had last seen Tenten and the only reason she agreed to come back time and time again was that she hope that she would have another chance to see her. She had hoped that TenTen would no longer be mad-sad-angry at her and that they could give their friendship another shot.

However with each visit, Sakura lost hope with ever making up with Tenten plaguing her with the thoughts of "was it even worth it?"

Maybe Tenten already settled with not being her friend. Or maybe Tenten was scared that she would hurt her too–which was ridiculous.

Maybe Tenten viewed Sakura as "too violent". However Sakura wasn't, she hated violence. What happened at the park was more of a reaction to her feeling threatened by those girls. She didn't even remember how she did it, and she only wished that she could see Tenten again to explain what happened. Maybe Tenten would want to be her friend again.

But each time that Sakura showed up at the park and Tenten didn't, she felt abandoned. Unfortunately, it further affected her mood. She knew that her mom was worried about her, but Sakura couldn't tell her what was wrong. She was sure that her mom would be disappointed in her for fighting and losing her first friend. Afterall kaa-san always taught Sakura that hitting and hurting someone was wrong even if they may have deserved it.

Sakura gently swayed in the swing using her feet to steady herself. Lost in her thoughts she didn't realize that she attracted the attention of a kid until it was too late. They then decided to plop down in the swing right next to her. Sakura stiffened hoping that if she ignored them, they wouldn't talk to her and eventually go away. They didn't.

"You're doing it wrong." A boy's voice, she realized.

"Wha…" She questioned turning towards him.

"You're swinging wrong. You have to do it like this." He was a dark haired boy with skin even paler than her own. His hair and blue shirt ruffled as he swung, kicking his legs up and down. Sakura stared clutching the chains of her swing to prevent herself from getting up and running away.

He slowed when he realized that Sakura wasn't swinging.

"Come on. It's fun I promise." But Sakura didn't swing only clutched the chain's harder.

The boy stopped swinging turning his attention towards her. Sakura noticed just how dark his eyes were, they were almost like the onyx gemstones in her mother's favorite pair of earrings.

Sakura's staring seemed to make him uncomfortable, but he didn't leave like she wanted him to. Instead he smiled brightly at her, taking her off guard. He then proceeded to kicked out his feet and swing once again. Sakura glared at him, although he probably couldn't see.

"Come on, it's easy. You just have to lean back and kick your legs up like this." He demonstrated. "Then only you move forward, put your legs under you and lean forward."

Sakura realized that her glare wasn't working to deter him. It only served to make him talk more, and he kept repeating himself making Sakura wonder if he thought that she was an idiot. Regardless, he did look like he was having fun and Sakura didn't want him to think that she was simple minded.

Bracing herself she took his advice and kicked her legs back then forth while moving her upper body as well. She ignored the encouragements that the boy beside her was throwing, instead feeling relaxed the higher she swung.

Higher and higher she went, she couldn't stop the laugh of happiness that escaped her.

She couldn't remember the last time she felt so relaxed, so carefree. For the first time in the last weeks, she didn't think about Tenten. She didn't think about proving that she would be a good friend. She didn't think about worrying her mom. She didn't think at all. She let the wind, air, and the lightness take all of of worries away. And suddenly she felt like letting go.

Before she knew it, she pushed up as high as she could go. The swing almost parallel to the bar as she released the chains and let her body soar away.

That short amount of time spent in the air felt like minutes, hours even as she was enveloped into this feeling of happiness and peace. It was a feeling that felt old and almost undeserving as if she spent a lifetime in order to achieve it. Suddenly she felt that all of her problems were petty and insignificant. She spent so much time worrying her mother and worrying about whether Tenten was still her friend. Well Sakura would no longer do that.

She felt like she could finally breathe. She briefly closed her eyes and moved through the air feeling her body arch lightly before gravity set in and she was falling.

But she didn't panic, somehow she trusted her body to know what it was doing as she twisted and landed perfectly on her feet. She slowly opened her eyes.

It felt like a fog lifted in her mind.

"Woah, that was cool!" A voice called out from behind her, and suddenly she was back to reality.

The dark haired boy appeared beside her, both swings abandoned some feet way.

"It looked like you were flying!"

She expected to see her mother running towards her with her face twisted in worry ready to yell at her for being reckless, but when she turned around she noticed that her mother was talking to a tall dark haired woman.

As if sensing her eyes, her mother turned around and caught her eye. She smiled.

Sakura was relieved, at least she didn't have to deal with her mother being even more worried.

"Is that your mom?" The boy asked recapturing her attention.

"Uhh, yes?" Sakura berated herself for her first words to the boy being so unintelligible, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Oh, that's great!" He sounded ecstatic. "You see that's my kaa-san that your mom is talking to. I wonder what they're talking about. Oh, by the way my name is Sasuke. What's yours?"

"It's Sakura." She said slowly taken back from how energetic he was. For the first time Sakura really looked at the dark haired boy, noticing just how familiar he looked, but she couldn't figure out why.

Everything about him was achingly familiar. His small pinched nose. The way his brow wrinkled in concern. The way his eyes brightened in happiness and furthered slanted upright when he closed them. His unruly hair that spiked around him like a halo, especially in the back. It made her heart ache.

"What is your name again?" Sakura asked the boy.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" He repeated brightly. And suddenly the familiarity was gone. Standing in front of her was the same happy kid, the only thing familiar being his surname, Uchiha.

Sakura knew about the Uchiha's from her father, and from what she's seen and heard, he definitely looked like one.

"Can you show me how to do that?" Sasuke excitedly asked. "I tried to jump off the swing like that before, but I ended up hurting my legs. Kaa-san had to heal me. But it doesn't look like you're hurt so that means that you can teach me how to jump without hurting myself too."

Sakura stared at the very talkative boy in surprise wanting to tell him no, but she couldn't find it in her heart to deny him, especially when he looked at her like that.

"Sure." And Sakura showed him.

It didn't take long for her to teach Sasuke and the rest of the day they had fun swinging and seeing who could jump the farthest. They even moved from the swings to the rest of the playground, chasing each other and playing survival games. Sakura couldn't remember a time she had so much fun as she chased after the boy. Again a feeling of longing engulfed her. And suddenly she was no longer seeing Sasuke.

Iz… Dark eyes staring adoringly.

Izu. His small body engulfed in clothes far too big for him. A bright smile plastered on his face.

As quickly as it happened, it disappeared.

Sakura didn't even realized that she stopped running as she felt something wet slid down her face and land on her shirt leaving a dark spot. She looked up at the sky expecting to see it raining.

It wasn't.

A/N: So we are finally seeing the very first sign that Sakura is starting to remember her past! I wanted it to be a very gradual progression, so I hope it wasn't boring for you. Let me know what you think!

Also you should follow me on tumblr under my same pen name xxakatsukisbanexx. I'm definitely more active on there than I am on here, so you'll be able to see more tidbits about other things I'm working on and also fanart!

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