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A/N: This is the first chapter to Cocoon that I promised! Don't worry about Changed though, I'm still going to work on that too. Oh, and Chocolat-Chan, my BETA, wrote a note at the bottom, so be sure to read it! Oh, and as of yet, I haven't decided on a pairing.

I don't own Naruto for this chapter and for all chapters in the future.

I knew that it would happen, but when was the question. My foster parents had always told me that one day, like my real mother, I would evolve into something beautiful, just like how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. What I wasn't planning was my change happening right in the middle of the Chuunin Exam's preliminary. One second I was glaring at Ino, the next, something smooth like glass was surrounding me like a cocoon. I can't help but wonder if I'm going to be a butterfly or a moth… (Takes place during the Chuunin Exams.)

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Kaoru and Yuki Haruno trudged through the snow, arm in arm. They had the content, serene aura of a couple whose vows of marriage were made not so long ago. It was rare for there to be snow in the fire country, so when the first signs of the white flakes were seen, Kaoru had asked his love, Yuki, for her hand in marriage. Not wanting to spend their honeymoon in Konoha, the couple decided to spend their weeks in the outskirts of the country, at a rented house. There, with the crisp air, white snow, and enchanting view, they were content. Haruno Kaoru was a handsome man, a civilian, with blonde hair and gray-green eyes, and his wife, Yuki, also a civilian, was a lovely lady with long black hair and blue eyes.

Yuki slipped out of her husband's warm arm, to childishly run ahead in the snow laughing in delight at the frozen crystals. Her husband looked on with love in his eyes, but the man's attention was jerked away from Yuki by a sudden movement in the trees. Gray-green eyes narrowed, as he frowned, before calling out, "Yuki, we should head back now, it's getting late." Even though there was prospect of danger, Kaoru's voice softened immediately as he addressed his wife.

Yuki pouted, but nodded her head in reluctant agreement, much to Kaoru's relief. As they were heading back, the man felt a prickle on the back of his neck. Kaoru wasn't sure if he was being paranoid or not, but he kept getting the feeling that they were being watched. Yuki was drowsing on his arm, letting him lead the way back home, so she didn't notice anything amiss, except for maybe the slight tenseness of her husband's arm.

As he heard a small crack of a twig, Kaoru swore softly to himself. Glancing at his wife anxiously, the man scanned the forest warily, reprimanding himself silently for not hiring shinobi to guard them. His guard was broken however, as a beautiful woman with long silvery white hair stumbled out of the forest. She was pale, and Kaoru saw that her lips were tinged with blue from the cold. The woman was wearing only a thin kimono, and the wool blanket she was carrying, was wrapped securely around something other then her shivering form. The strangest things about her were her eyes. They were a pale, gleaming blue, without any pupils, which gave her a rather divine appearance. The woman stared at them with wounded doe-like eyes, before collapsing onto her knees.

By then, Yuki had also noticed the woman, and gasped first in shock, then in concern. Unheeding her husbands warning, she hastily hurried to the woman's side. "Are you all right?" Yuki asked.

The strange woman looked up to gaze at Yuki with emotionless eyes, then dropped her eyes to gaze once more at the bundle in her arms. Wrapped tightly in the blanket was a baby girl with tufts of pink hair and large wide, frightened green eyes. Even with the blanket, the frail baby was shivering slightly, her little nose red from the cold.

"Oh my… Kaoru! Kaoru! Come over here quick!"

Kaoru was already hurrying over as she spoke. When he arrived at her side, the blonde haired man followed their gazes to the baby. When his brain managed to process what he was witnessing, Kaoru immediately felt a tremor of panic slide down his spine.

"Kami-sama! Hurry! Follow us, we'll take you somewhere warm!" cried Kaoru. He, with the help of Yuki, gently assisted the woman up and the three, plus the baby, hurried to the house. As soon as they entered the building, Yuki hurriedly turned on the heater while Kaoru aided the woman to the living room. After carefully helping her sink into the couch, Kaoru started a fire in the fireplace. The woman was still pale, but the blue of her lips were slowly fading away as the fire roared, and the heater warmed the whole house.

Yuki soon came into the living room from the kitchen with a tray of tea in her slim hands. Gently handing the woman a cup of tea, Yuki joined her husband on the second couch, which was parallel to the other. The silver haired woman sipped her tea cautiously, while avoiding the couple's curious gazes.

"Um, my name is Haruno Kaoru and this is my wife Yuki."

When the strange woman gave no indication that she was going to respond, the couple gave each other a glance, before Yuki asked carefully, "Um, and you are…?"

Her pale blue eyes rose up to look at Yuki. The look in her eyes was impossible to read, and this ended up unnerving the couple. "…If you don't want to say, you don't have to of course…" murmured Yuki.

"My name is Yuka, and this is my daughter Sakura." Kaoru looked up with surprise at her sudden statement. Yuka's voice was hoarse, but alluring at the same time, giving the impression that her voice was usually extremely beautiful.

"Um, well, Yuka, do you need anything?"

Yuka eyed them with an analyzing look, as if measuring their virtuosity. The calm emotionless look on her face was still present but there was a different glint was in her eyes.

"I'm dying." This simple statement from the silver haired woman sent a shocked shiver down the husband and wife.

"Excuse me?" Kaoru gasped.

The woman stood up shakily, after gently setting down Sakura on the couch. Unsteadily, Yuka moved towards the couple. Kaoru and Yuki seemed to be frozen in her ice blue gaze. Unable to move, the couple watched in silence as Yuka moved toward them. She gently laid her trembling hands on both Kaoru's and Yuki's own hands, and they were immediately bombarded with information and memories.

What both of them gained was the extensive information of who Yuka and Sakura were, and why they were there. As Yuka finished, she shakily moved away from the couple and sank down once again on the couch. Breathing heavily, the woman carefully pulled out a small white book with a blue clasp, and gasped out, "W-when it happens…you must give her…this b-book."

Yuki stood up unsteadily, and grasped the small book from Yuka's hand. "We will. We promise…we'll take care of her like our own child."

Yuka looked up, a trusting glow in her eyes. "Thank you…please take good care of Sakura…please tell her that I l-love…her…" Yuka's voice faded off for all eternity as her eyes slipped shut.

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5 years later…

With tears streaming from her green eyes, Sakura thought, why do they always tease me? Mommy tells me that I'm cute, and that I'll become even more pretty over time, but the other kids tease me. Is my forehead really that big? I don't know. I just want to be friends with them. She pulled her pink bangs more securely over her forehead, and tried to pull more of herself away from reality. The child's forehead may have been slightly wider then normal, but it wasn't enough of an excuse for teasing and bullying.

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For as long as she could remember, Sakura just knew that her 'parents' weren't her real ones. At the age of two, Sakura had smiled up at Yuki and Kaoru and asked them, "Mama, Papa? What did Real Mama look like?" They had been shocked out of their wits by her innocent question, and realized with something akin to amazement that Sakura was much too intelligent for her age. Though she was naive, her IQ was most likely equal to that of a 13 year old then a 2 year old. Since then, her parents had slowly fed her the knowledge that they had gained from Yuka. Even though very young, Sakura knew that she shouldn't tell anyone her secret. Though at times it was difficult, the pink-haired child stood firm with her decision.

Her parents always told Sakura the 'tales' through stories. And every time the children bullied and teased her about her looks, Sakura thought of them.

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Flashback

Sakura age 2:

Two-year-old Sakura looked upon her foster mother with large green eyes as Yuki tenderly tucked Sakura into bed. "Mama? I want to know about Real Mama…"

Yuki smiled sadly, but decided that it was time to start. "Sakura-chan, if I tell you, you must promise Mommy that you'll not tell anyone. Ok?"

Gazing into Yuki's eyes seriously, Sakura nodded. Yuki knew that Sakura wasn't lying. She would go as far as to say that Sakura hated lies, and couldn't lie, at least not very well.

Clearing her throat slightly, she began. "Once upon a time, there was a clan of people with a Kekkai Genkai which had no name and no beginning. The power of said clan was passed from mother to daughter, but slowly, the number of people with the power started to diminish due to the fact that slowly, but surely, the female descendents refused to become kunoichi. As time passed, the Kekkai Genkai faded from memory, and the clan was scattered throughout the lands."

Sakura then interrupted her mother with a question. "Mama. Why did the power go poof if they didn't become ninjas?"

Yuki smiled, while replying, "You see Sakura, the power doesn't appear from birth. Once you become a kunoichi, the chakra-"

Once again, the pink-haired interrupted. "Chakra?" Yuki quickly explained what chakra was to the curious child. After finishing, she started her 'story' once more.

"Once you become a kunoichi, the chakra slowly begins to unlock the power. Sometimes, the power is unlocked at the age of 9, sometimes at the age of 21. What is known is that the power will unlock during your teenager period, or not at all. If you don't unlock your power, your daughters and their daughters and so on, will never be able to unlock their power as well."

"What's the power?" She asked.

"That my angel is for when it happens. It's getting late now, so go to sleep."

Little Sakura blinked sleepily, but before falling asleep, she asked one more question. "Mama…the other little girls say that I'm ugly. Will I be ugly forever?"

A flash of anger flared in Yuki's eyes when she heard that other children were hurting her baby. "Sakura-chan, listen to me. When you change, you'll become beautiful. You'll become a butterfly." She assured. But murmured to herself, "…or a moth…"

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Haruno Sakura: 13 years old. About to start the preliminaries of the Chuunin Exam.

Sakura splashed cool water over her face, washing away the sweat and grim from the Forest of Death. Running a hand through her newly cut hair, Sakura grimaced as she realized that her mother was going to be furious.

Inner Sakura was oddly quiet; she supposed it was from all the mental exhaustion. All Sakura wanted to do was to go home and sleep, but she had to do this, for her teammates, and for her Real Mother. Her Real Mother, who had been a Butterfly, had died after traveling hundreds of miles from her village that had chased her out when they found out what she was. If her mother had been a Moth, Sakura might have understood their fear, but she had been a Butterfly. They had chased her out, and it had ended up killing the last member, except for Sakura, of The Clan. Sakura, to this day had no idea what was the difference between a Butterfly and a Moth. She still was ignorant of what the clan's powers were, but for that they were always divided into two groups, Moth and Butterfly. What Sakura had concluded about the two was that the Butterfly was good, while the Moth was bad, but of course, this was just a bias declaration of her own, due to the fact that she didn't know the whole truth.

Frowning slightly, Sakura walked out of the bathroom, back to Naruto and Kakashi. The next match was about to be announced. She gazed at the computerized match picker like everyone else. After what seemed like forever to the contestants, two names were finally picked.

"Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. Please come down to the stadium." Everyone who knew Sakura and Ino's history flinched, while watching them head down to the battle field, warily,

The battle commenced, but when Ino had tricked her into stepping into her trap, Sakura felt a strange tremor go down her spine. Ino entered her mind, and Sakura's conscious was pushed back as Ino took control, but Inner Sakura managed to force the blonde out, to the shock of the viewers.

The pink-haired kunoichi panted, and grimaced as another wave of pain flew up and down her spine. "Ahh!" She cried out in pain, while falling to her knees, clutching herself. Kakashi frowned in concern, wondering if she was seriously injured.

"SAKURA-CHAN?!" cried Naruto.

A keening cry of pain escaped from Sakura's lips as something like ice started to cover her. It was more like crystal then ice, but the color and the texture was the same.

"What's going on?" asked Ino in shock. The rest of the people were of the same mind. The examiner didn't know what to do. Should he stop the match? Should he keep it going? Was it some technique of hers? Was it an outsider's doing?

"Hokage-sama? What should we do?"

The Hokage frowned, and sighing, finally murmured, "Let it be, for now."

The foggy oval crystal was only transparent enough for people to see the dark outline form of Sakura. Ino cautiously neared the smooth, oval shaped crystal and tried to dig a kunai into the material. It didn't even make a scratch.

Inside the crystal/cocoon, Sakura was thinking, mother and father told me this would happen, but for this to be happening now of all times. Oka-san, Oto-san, I'm afraid…

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Kaoru gasped in shock when the white book with the blue clasp that Yuka had left behind started to glow. He knew what was happening, and he was terrified. To think that this is happening during the Chuunin Exams… Calling Yuki, Mr. Haruno quickly grabbed the book, and the two sprinted towards the Hokage tower.

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The contestants started as the crystal started to crack. Soon the whole cocoon had cracks sprawled all over it. With a bang, the cocoon exploded, showering everyone in the crowd, but for Gaara, with strange material. Everyone soon forgot it though when they saw Sakura.

"Kami-sama…" gasped the Hokage.

Standing in the stadium was Sakura. Her closed eyes started to slowly open, and what everyone saw when she opened them, caused them to start in surprise. Her eyes were pale ice green and lacking pupils. The beauty that radiated from her was impossible; pale, smooth skin, large gleaming eyes framed by dark lashes, perfectly symmetrical heart-shaped face and long lush hair. Sakura's hair, which had once been bubblegum pink, and newly shortened, was now a pale silvery pink, glossy, and long, reaching her knees.

A white, velvety 'cloak', blushed with pink at the ends, was wrapped around her body. Where it came from was a mystery. Ino stared at her in bewilderment. She held a kunai in her hand limply, frozen in shock.

The blonde then realized that the match was still going on. Giving her head a quick shake, Ino got into an offensive position. "I don't know what you did to yourself…but I'm finishing this." Pushing the last bit of chakra into her legs and right arm, Ino rushed toward Sakura, kunai glinting maliciously.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!" cried Naruto as she just stood there, staring at Ino blankly. When Ino was a foot away from Sakura, the pink-haired kunoichi suddenly disappeared in a blur of faint color and wind. Ino skidded to a stop and turned to glare at her opponent who was somehow standing behind her.

Naruto's eyes widened with surprise. "Kakashi-sensei, what kind of jutsu was that?"

Kakashi, who had his Sharingan out, frowned. "It wasn't any kind of jutsu…Sakura just moved really fast." Kakashi glanced at the fox-like boy's stunned expression. He didn't blame him. Kakashi himself was worried, and very bemused by the situation.

"Sakura…" growled Ino.

Said girl stared blankly at her before shakily stuttering out, as if it was her first time speaking, "S-s-sak-kur-a?" Ino gaped at the pink-haired girl.

"What's wrong with you? You're acting as if you don't know how to speak!"

Sakura just cocked her head slightly, signifying confusion. Believing that her opponent was playing with her, the blonde-haired girl flung her kunai at Sakura.

As the kunai headed toward Sakura, an instinctive fear shot down her spine. She didn't know what was happening, or what that shiny thing was, but she just knew that it was dangerous. It was dangerous, and the one that threw it at her was dangerous as well.

Her ice green eyes narrowed, a wary look in them, then suddenly she disappeared to arrive behind Ino again. But unlike last time, Sakura stretched out one hand and grabbed Ino's neck with it. Her grip was light, but as soon as Sakura's pale hand landed on Ino's neck, said girl's eyes rolled into the back of her head and collapsed.

"INO!!" cried her team. Hayate, realizing that the battle was over, coughed out, "Due to Ms. Yamanaka's conditions, this match is finished and Haruno Sakura is the victor. Immediately, a team of medics headed over to Ino and quickly checking her, then told the blonde's worried teammates that she was poisoned, but it wasn't fatal, just enough to knock her out for awhile.

By then, Naruto and Kakashi had arrived at Sakura's side. "Sakura-chan…what happened to you? You look…different…" Naruto murmured while staring at said girl with a glazed look. She stared right back with a slight confused and nervous gaze. She seemed lost, as if she didn't know what was going on. In reality, that was exactly what was happening.

"Sakura-chan?" inquired Naruto hesitantly again.

Kakashi took a step toward her, but raised his eyebrows in astonishment when she backed away from him fearfully. Her breathing was in short gasps, and her form was trembling.

"Sakura?" Kakashi whispered, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible. He took another step towards her. His eye narrowed at her condition. Kakashi wasn't sure what was going on, but he thought it best if he knocked her out. Uncovering his Sharingan once more, Kakashi focused them at her. What happened next caused an incredible uproar in the crowd. Sakura cried out in fear, and her 'cloak' 'burst' apart. But that's when everyone realized the truth. The 'cloak' wasn't actually a cloak, but it was in fact wings. Moth wings to be specific.

"Sakura?!" gasped the people who knew her. The beautiful 'moth' was still wearing her original clothes, but it was clear that her body had changed. She was slimmer, more flexible with leaner muscles and beautiful curves. But the thing that was most different was the white wings, with a pale pink blush at the ends causing it to look like flower petals. They erupted from her back, and from a distance, people would have mistaken her for an angel. Pale silver powder flowed from her wings, and the people who inhaled it immediately felt tired and dizzy. Hayate blinked sleepily, before falling to the floor fast asleep.

The rest of the shinobi hastily backed away from Sakura, who was sitting on the ground, her head bowed, and arms wrapped around her knees. She was trembling, while her wings flapped lightly.

"Hokage-sama." an ANBU lightly whispered into his ear, after arriving in a blur.

"Yes?"

"Haruno Kaoru and Haruno Yuki are here."

"What? Here?"

"They came to the Hokage tower demanding to be brought to their daughter. It's apparently an emergency."

Kaoru and Yuki suddenly burst onto the battlefield, a pulsing book in their hand. "Sakura!" cried Kaoru, as he desperately tossed the book to her. The beautiful girl looked up faintly, to see a book flying towards her. In a blur of movement, she grabbed it out of the air, and everyone shielded his or her eyes when a blinding light flashed from the book, engulfing Sakura, wings and all.

"What in the world is happening…?" Kakashi inquired to himself weakly.

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Beta's Note

Oh man, was I excited for this little baby. I'm just gonna inform you all that's I'm the one who's drawing Sakura, so I'm gonna give Layla-chan the picture so she can post the link. But, oh boy, is this exciting. It gives me little giggles spasms. And I get to design Sakura's clothes. 8D –happy dance-