Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Somewhere In Time ❯ Chapter 1

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Naruto.

A/N: This story starts out sad, it's just something you have to read past. I am dedicating this story to all who read Paper Heart and asked me for a sequel with a happy ending. No, this isn't a sequel to that story, but it is a non- one sided Naruto and Sakura. So don't stop reading cause of the beginning... cause it is a NarutoXSakura. And the beginning is misleading to how it ends.

Warning: lots of violence and gore.

Some Where In Time

"Hey, Sasuke! You... want to take a walk with me?" Sakura asked eagerly, a look of adoration in her eyes I could only wish to be directed towards me.

Sasuke waved her off again. "I have to train. You should do the same."

Slowly, his form retreated from her. I saw the look of disappointment stretch across her face, hurt in her eyes. If I could erase it all, I would. And as I watched Sasuke retreat, eagerness began to surface in me. A bright smile stretched out across my face.

"Hey, Sakura!" I yelled in aniticipation. "I'll walk with you!"

Sakura glared at me, a deeper hurt in her eyes now. "Get lost Naruto! That wasn't for you to hear!"

My brow furrowed, as my smile was replaced with a look of irritation. "Yeah, well what's so great about Sasuke anyways. I could beat him."

Sakura sighed, as she stared off into the distance. A tender look appeared on her face, and a small smile tugged the side of her lips.

"You know, I can still remember when we first met. I was nine. I was being bullied again after school. The boys had pushed me on the ground and were kicking me, calling me 'billboard brow.' Everyone would pass by me getting beat up and laugh. No one ever tried to help me. And then Sasuke showed up out of nowhere, and made them stop. He saved me, when no one else would. And then he just left."

Sakura sighed again, as the smile faded, and a look of adoration appeared in her eyes, the deepest of her tender feelings shining through them, as she clasped her hands together in front of her. And in that moment she glowed.

"We didn't become friends afterwards. Because I was too shy to go up and talk to him. I didn't have the confidence I do now. So we just stayed apart. And I never told anyone this Naruto, but... That was the day I fell in love."

Chapter 1- Broken Promise

"Naruto! Naruto!"

I turned to see Sakura running towards me, tears in her eyes. The pain on her face was unimaginable.

"What is it Sakura?"

"It's Sasuke! He left for Orochimaru!"

Silence. I could only watch as tears streamed down her perfect face, her soft skin glistening with the moisture.

"Hey! Don't worry Sakura! I'll bring Sasuke back. I promise!"

I sat in a row of chairs, all clad in black. Kakashi next to me, his expression somber. I could see the pain in his eyes, because he has now lost two students. I look back to the casket. It was black as well. The pain ripped through my heart as I gripped my black slacks, knuckles white. Why didn't she listen? I promised, didn't I? Wasn't that enough?

But it was a broken promise. He never returned.

I felt the tears sting the corner of my eyes, as the rain began to fall, concealing my shame.

I walked towards her form standing on the bridge. The sun glistened her pink hair as it blew like silk behind her. That soft skin seemed to swirl with the wind as the light played shadows on it through the clouds. She was leaning slightly over the rail, dropping petals onto the water as she meticulously picked them off.

As I neared her, the light caught the stream on her cheeks, as another fell from her deep, emerald eyes. Her brow was furrowed lightly, contorted into an odd expression as she held the stem with the single petal remaining.

"Hey Sakura!" I called out, waving to her as I ran forward. A wide smile plastered on my face.

She turned her head slightly away from me, as she wiped her face, then faced me, that fake smile plastered all over.

"Sakura, what are you doing? You haven't been to practice all week. Not since..." My voice trailed off as I looked to her with concern.

She looked down to the water, wind blowing through her cherry blossom hair. She was a form of art, really. Perfect porcelain skin, cherry red lips that hung from her face like some sort of forbidden fruit. I watched in awe as the hair settled once again around her face.

"We use to meet here every morning, remember? Waiting for Kakashi because he was late." As Sakura spoke, I slowly realized we were in fact on that bridge. "When I stand here, I can feel all of us, like we were before the chunin exams."

"But we're not Sakura! We're stronger now." I wish I could just smile at Sakura, and she'd smile back, but I'm not Sasuke.

"If I had chosen not to take the chunin exams... Sasuke would still be here."

And the look of guilt upon her face tore me. I looked down to the single petal on the flower, threatening to rip off in the wind. I motioned to the flower.

"So does he love you."

And she closed her eyes from the pain.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the death of Sakura Haruno, who died at the tender age of thirteen...."

The sky had since darkened, sending an eerie shadow across the grave yard. The rain scattered across the ground blanketing us in a mist, slowly drowning out the man's voice. I let the rain roll over my skin, slowly soaking up every spare bit of dry cloth I had. And there was her casket, protected from the rain by a small canopy.

But I could not protect her in life...

I walked along Sakura through the market. She squeezed the small handle between her tiny hands which seemed almost engulfed by the bag. It was filled with fresh fruit.

"Sakura, I'm really worried about you. I mean, it's been ten days since he left-"

"I'm fine Naruto. Really."

She sent me a reassuring smile. Her skin was even paler now taking on a ghostly glow in the sun. Her eyes were sunken, the green much darker than it had been in the past, the life slowly sinking deeper and deeper into her through those hollow sockets- and the light was fading fast. Her hair, a dull lifeless pink that matted to her skull like a cap, hugging her small frame. She was quickly becoming a ghost in my life,... just like him.

"Sakura-"

"I said I'm fine. I've never felt better. Because Sasuke is coming back to us tonight."

Sakura turned and smiled to me, a wide smile that stretched her ghostly glistening skin, and her cheeks hollowed out at the ends of her lips. The devout loyalty, blinding happiness, complete confidence that her words were the truth above all others. And a cold chill ran up my spine.

We slowly filed up past the casket, viewing her body for the last time. I watched a couple cry as the reached into the casket past her view. That must be her parents...

More people filed past, shaking their heads, wiping the tears from their eyes, and then Kakashi. He did not cry, did not move, made no expression of sorrow. He stood for the longest time, simply staring at the body. And then he closed his eyes hard, and walked away.

And then it was my turn. With each step, I could feel my heart sinking far into my feet. I could feel my pulse beat harder, deeper into my ears. I closed my eyes, and sucked in a deep breath, carefully positioning myself before the casket, resting my hands on the cold wood frame that held her body. And then I slowly opened my eyes.

And there she was. Just as I remembered her before she was taken from me. Ten days after Sasuke was taken from me. The dull pink hair gripping her head, holding her deep in its lifeless form. The unearthly pale skin hugging her bones. The white lips, void of all life's blood. A deep cut spread from one ear to the other across her neck. But her eyes were closed... I thanked any gods I could count that her eyes were closed.

I raced through the crowd, pushing aside the crying forms as I ran up to the house. A jonin tried to stop me, but I dodged his arm, his voice fleeting in the wind, as I ran through the threshold into Sakura's house.

The house was a mess, trashed, tables turned over, shelves emptied. I pushed open Sakura's room to find her body laying on the bed, blood pooled around her motionless form soaked deep into the bed tainting it red. And the blood caked to the deep cut across her neck.

I stood there, quiet, as my heart slowly caught in my throat. I listened as the droplets of blood played a grotesque melody as they hit the floor. Even in death, her form was beautiful, skin a perfect porcelain smooth as ever. She wore death beautifully.

I sat beside Kakashi, his eyes distant and blank. I felt the water that had pooled in my chair crease into every available part as I sunk deep into it. Then they slowly lowered the casket six feet deep into the earth, and I felt my heart sink six feet down to her.

"Naruto, what are you doing here." Kakashi's voice boomed, demanding an answer.

I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I had become frozen in time, and her body was now existence.

"Who did this. I am going to..." My voice was hollow as it drifted through the room aimlessly.

"Nobody did this. It was suicide. I'm sorry." He motioned to the note on her bedside table.

"But the house..." My eyes still couldn't leave her.

Silence.

"We were... looking for something." Kakashi's carefully chosen words came into me and left just as quickly.

I slowly crossed the room, eyes never moving from her body, as I came to the bedside table. My shoes settled in her life's blood, making a sickening smacking sound as they settled to a stand still. My eyes, I painfully ripped them from her body, as they settled on the note.

"I couldn't bring him back to us, so now I will wait for him." I read her last words, and my mind spun.

Silence.

And the blood played out its sickening melody to the floor.

I could only watch as the other ninja buried Sakura. The rest of the mourners have long since left, and I was now the only one seated here. I couldn't bury her. I just couldn't bury her yet. As their bodies repeated the motion of scooping the dirt, I couldn't see them.

It was only Sakura standing there, her pale form on the mound, as the blood trickled down her neck past her arm to her fingertips, and slowly dripped to the ground.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so painful if she had died happily. If her death had even been a noble one, protecting a friend in battle. Or if she had just drifted off from some natural cause. But I can picture her there, alone, in her room crying. The tears choking her throat as they choke mine now. Is that why she chose the throat? Was she trying to cut the tears out of there?

I could hear the tears of God, feel them as they hit my hand, then slide down my fingertips, and plop to the ground. And it is her blood, sliding down her arm past her tips to the ground, playing out its frightening melody to me, running my blood cold.

drip...
drop...
splat...
drip...
drop...< br> splat....

And her ghostly form called me to her grave, motioning me over with a fever, begging to make Team Seven whole again, as her blood played its dying tune.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

I could see Kakashi approaching me. I sat there, in the cold sun, on the exact bridge we use to meet as Team Seven every morning. I carefully plucked each petal from the flower, dropping them on the glass water.

It was deadly. The repetitive motion. As the petal twisted through the wind and landed on the water, ripping it violently with its currents. And when it settled, there was Sakura, staring back at me from the water, with her ghostly skin and pale white lips, and those dead seas of green eyes.

I heard Kakashi's steps stop next to me. I could feel his presence consume me, competing with Sakura's for my attention.

"You haven't been to practice all week. Not since Sakura's death."

I ignored the demanding voice, as I picked off another petal and dropped it to the damned water.

"Naruto... we're all really worried about you. You haven't been yourself since... you have not smiled, you've barely talked. You've become very... quiet, reserved..."

I felt Kakashi's fingers as they reached down and traced the line beneath my eye. I watched the reflection, as the finger slid down Sakura's silky skin across her cheek.

"And you now have lines beneath your eyes. This isn't healthy." The concern in Kakashi's voice was deep.

But I still didn't answer. And as I came to the final petal, I looked at it with distaste, as I dropped the fully stem into the water.

Kakashi knelt down beside me, and rested his large hand on my small shoulder. I felt its warmth, as it radiated into my cold skin. He gripped my chin with the other, and carefully ripped my vision from Sakura's reflection. I met his eye, his one dark eye filled with pain and concern.

"I know Sakura's death was hard for you, and I want you to know I am here if you need me. I DON'T want to lose you as well."

I nodded my head slowly. He seemed mildly satisfied, as he turned and I watched his form retreat from me. I turned my head back to the glass water to meet my own eyes. My skin had become a ghostly pale as well, with lines tracing from the corners of my eyes across my cheek. My blonde hair did not rise in spikes any longer, and it hung in soft gold rivelets around my face.

As I stared at the glass water, an image caught my eyes at the bottom of my form. The reflection held a scroll tied to the bottom of the bridge. I stared at it curiosly for a moment, and carefully I reached beneath the bridge and felt the bottom for it. I watched my hand grasp it in the reflection, as I carefully wiggled it free from the strings.

I held it in my hand, its paper worn at the edges from age, and I carefully unravelled it and read its contents. The scroll only held one jutsu.

The Shadow Time Jutsu

A forbidden jutsu.

As I read further, a sense of urgency filled my body, as a quickly dying hope began to resurface.

"It's a time travel jutsu... making you able to travel into the past... but I thought that was just a myth."

Sakura.

This must be what they were looking for. Sakura must have stolen it to save Sasuke. I bet she was going to stop us from taking the chunin exams. All she'd have to do is not sign up... but she wasn't able to perform the jutsu...

The sense of urgency grew stronger as the excitement rippled to every crevice of my body... I could stop her from killing herself. And not just that, I could make her happy.

I thought back to every look of disappointment I ever saw, as Sasuke rejected her time and time again. She didn't die happy... no, she died mourning Sasuke. Most would say the mourning began after he left, but I know the truth. She's been mourning him since the day he saved her after school. She been mourning his unrequitted love.

I stared at the scroll eagerly in my hands. I could change that. I could go back and stop him from saving her.... And then Sakura won't kill herself.

I could still hear her words, echoing to me from beyond the grave.

I couldn't bring him back to us... so now I will wait for him.