Pink

Prologue

"What's your name, dear?"

The night is dark. Ominous. Silent. The moon is shining down on me, yet it does not provide enough light to see. As if I am succumbed to the darkness. I close my eyes, whimpering silently into the night.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I am alone. Again.

"Hey, little one..."

The fear sips inside of me, as I stop in front the deadly silent house. The lights are turned off, no sounds emitting from the place.

"Stay with me."

I knock the door, believing that nothing wrong might have happened. But the feeling is here, eating me alive, forcing me to think of the worst possibilities. As soon as my hand touches the door, it slides open, revealing empty and dark hallway.

"I need help!"

I step inside, trying to push away the dreading feeling inside my stomach. My steps are slow, steady and careful. I stop just a inches away from living room, the sickening feeling inside telling me to run away from this place and call some help.

"Is she going into shock?"

Yet, I don't listen to the voice and step inside. My body freezes at the sight, blood running cold inside my body. I watch as my parents are lying down inside the pool of their blood. Mom's mouth is open, forming a scream with her lips. Her eyes are crouched out, leaving only bloodied empty eye pockets. She has large hole in her heart and I suspect that the heart is missing from the place.

"Hey, are you alright? You scared us quite a bit."

Father is lying  bit further away from her. His lips are cut off, large wound across his abdomen. The long intestine is scattered on the wooden floor. His eyes are open, glassy.

"Just breathe... Everything is going to be alright."

I stare blankly as Konoha Ninjas look around the house, trying to find anything suspicious. But nothing can be found in the darkness. One of them with dark hair and eyes ushered me outside, mumbling something about the fact, that I should not be in there.

"Hey, kid..." He looks down at me with sadness visible in his eyes. "How are you?" He asks me gently, his eyes never leaving mine.

I don't say anything. I open my mouth, but close it as soon as bile starts rising in the throat. Tears start pooling in my eyes, making everything blurry.

"What's your name, little one?" I look up at the blonde man in front of me. His pony-tail is too long to be comfortable in the battle. Yet, his eyes are kind. "You don't have to be afraid of me, little one." He whispers gently as he catches my gaze.

"Sakura...Haruno Sakura." I whisper in a low voice. The man in front of me nods, smiling.

"My name is Inoichi. It's nice to meet you, Sakura." He smiles once again. Yet, his smiles are not irritating. They are gentle and caring, like the ones, my father used to give me. "I like your hair, Sakura." He smiles at me once again. "It is unique color...Pink...like you." He whispers again and grins down at me. "Do you know what happened, Sakura?"

I nod, carefully, slowly.

"Sakura." He looks at me with large eyes. I blink at him, averting my gaze from the corpses on the floor. His emerald eyes are frozen on me. They are just a shade darker than mine. At least, that what mother used to say. She would often say that mixture of hers and father's eyes produced ours. Different shades of emerald.

"W-what... What did you do?" I whisper with fear lacing my tone. He looks at me and starts approaching me. I want to turn away and run, but I can't move. As if I am frozen in one place. He stops in front of me and ruffles my hair.

"Happy fifth birthday, Sakura."

"My brother killed my parents." I whisper blankly.

***

I blink as I stare at three powerful people in front of me. Third Hokage is standing in the middle, his hat covering his forehead. I can feel power oozing from the man in front of me. To his left is standing Uchiha Shisui. Shunshin no Shisui. A person, my brother often trained with. A person, who I think of as a part of my family. On Hokage's right is standing famous Interrogator Morino Ibiki.

I only know of this people because of my brother. His status and rank made him one of the strongest Shinobi of Konoha. And these people, they are the ones, who at some point trained him. And thus, they are partly the reason my family is dead.

"Sakura." Third Hokage starts in low, polite tone. But I can feel my respect for this man wavering. He knew everything. He knew of my brother's PTSD. The childhood trauma, he never really managed to get over with. "I am sorry." He whispers in a same voice.

I am sorry.

I nod. There is not really much that I can do at this point. I have simply given up on the idea that they will be able to catch him. And they clearly can't bring my family back.

"We...I want to know, what do you want to do now?" Third asks me sincerely.

What I want to do now...?

Before this I wanted to be Shinobi like my brother. I wanted to be strong and powerful and respected. But when I saw my parents' corpses in the middle of the living room with my brother standing over them, my desire flattered for a second. I doubted that I wanted to live that life. I doubted that I would even survive for the future to exist.

Now... I know what I want to do with my life and why. I know why I am sitting in the middle of hospital ward, staring at three most respected men of Konoha. They want to know my alliance. They want to know if this trauma will make me go insane like brother did.

"I want to become Shinobi." I whisper confidently. I look down at my hands and sigh. "I want to protect people that I love." I whisper once again. I can feel tears pooling in my eyes, but I try to blink them away. "I want to become stronger and more powerful than my brother."