Chapter Text
It took one sentence to throw her life into complete disarray.
“Sakura-chan, do you still remember why you wanted to be a ninja?”
The question wasn’t even asked with any kind of malicious intent, only a melancholic reminiscing of the past from her father.
Yet it felt as if a chunin had punched her in the gut. She had graduated the academy today and unfortunately knew how that felt like.
Wide-eyed, her head swiveled from her dinner plate to face her father.
Oblivious to her inner tumult, he continued talking.
“I still remember the day like it was yesterday. We were walking home from the park, crossing that street near the market when suddenly one of the passerby’s started shouting at that middle-aged woman. He was totally red from anger, I tell you, like a tomato. So he started shouting and gesturing and the woman seemed to argue back when suddenly…”
Here her father waited for the tension to increase, dramatic as he liked to be.
“the guy pulled out a knife from sage knows where!”
An exaggerated hand gesture followed, nearly knocking over his glass of water. Her mother sighed, trying to fight the smile tugging at her lips from her husbands antics.
“Now other people started shouting too because, obviously, that guy had just pulled out a knife in the middle of the street. I had only enough time to grab you and back away to get us out of danger! Then, as if called by the kami, but more likely by the tumultuous crowd, a ninja, one of those high ranking ones…What where they called?”
“Jonin”, was the prompt answer of the pink haired girl. Her father nods sagely in acknowledgement and continues.
“He shows up and disarmed that guy faster than one can look. And then, after that ninja took the bad guy away and the crowd started cheering, this young lady here,”
A meaningful look courtesy to her father was thrown her way.
“tugged at my sleeves, looks up with those gigantic green eyes”
Her mother fails to contain her laughter any longer at the sight of an embarrassed Sakura sinking into her chair with glowing red ears.
“and tells me: Daddy, I wanna do that too. When I am bigger I want to be a ninja and protect people!”
The last part was voiced in a comically high pitched voice to try and imitate a young Sakura.
Said Sakura crossed her arms with a huff, the picture of mock offence.
But when her father joined her mother in her laughing fit, the teen cracked all too soon and started giggling too.
The dinner at the Haruno house came to a jolly end and after lounging around in the living room with her parents, the teenage girl went to bed because, as Ino liked to put it, beauty sleep was important.
At the thought of her former best friend, a bang of guilt made itself known. But it was suppressed as soon as it appeared. Why would she feel guilty now? After more than a year of rivalry? It must have been triggered by the trip down memory lane…
She sighed plopping down on her bed.
To say she had a crisis was an understatement.
While she had ignored it or pushed it away during and after dinner, now in the silence of her room, her thoughts caught up to her.
She had forgotten.
Completely forgotten her reason for being a ninja. It nagged at her relentlessly.
But how could she? That had been her reason for joining the academy for kami’s sake! When had she lost sight of her goals?
A sudden chill crept up her spine.
Sasuke-kun.
She had forgotten her goals after falling in love with him. But still, why had she forgotten? It wasn’t like her at all. Sure, Sasuke-kun himself was the answer to everything but couldn’t her goals coexist? Surely she couldn’t be as shallow as to discard her life goals for a boy?
Ouch.
She had.
Damn.
But she wouldn’t give up on Sasuke-kun! She like- no she loved him. Arrggghhh!!!
She felt a massive headache coming.
And she needed to get her priorities straight.
Taking a deep breath she sank back on her bed, sprawled out like a starfish. Exhaling she tried to get her thoughts together.
Ok, she could do this. For once the logical part of her mind, the one her teachers always praised her about, took control.
What was more important, her life goals or a boy? As much as her heart ached at the thought, if one looked at it from a logical angle, the answer would be clear as day.
So, if push comes to shove, I WILL prioritize my career and goals. Especially now that I am a genin!
That’s what she told herself over and over again until her heart stopped throbbing all that much.
A sudden epiphany lifted her mood considerably. Who said she had to give up on her Sasuke-kun? Once she was a strong and accomplished kunoichi, she would surely impress him with her elegant moves and her beauty!
BUT! First I will be- no. I AM a kunoichi first and foremost.
Having dealt with her little identity crisis, she rolled out of bed quite enthusiastically, stretched a little and made her way to the bathroom.
There she stared into the mirror for a couple of heartbeats.
Blinking, she thought.
Huh?
Since when had her hair grown that long? It nearly reached her midback.
Maybe…should she cut it?
A vague memory in the back of her mind told her that too long hair could become a target for enemies. And now that she was a shinobi, that wouldn’t be very fortunate.
At the same time, the thought of cutting her silky locks made her heart ache. She spent hours caring for it!
With a start, she realized, that maybe that was the problem… had she cared too much for her crush? For her looks?
A short bitter laugh escaped her.
Today’s rollercoaster of feelings had only happened because her dad had burst her pink bubble of happiness and blissful ignorance.
Maybe… just maybe she was a little too invested in her love life. For kami’s sake she was only in her early teens! What had she imagined would happen in the case Sasuke-kun reciprocated her feelings?
Okay stop that train of thought!
Right now, when she had only recently decided to take a step back (speak minutes ago), she was more than a little sore about the seemingly lost opportunity. But hey! At least she didn’t plan on reverting back to her old ways!
Probably.
Back on track. Did she want a haircut? Hmmm. The picture of a young Ino appeared before her inner eye.
Chin long hair… but did she really want to imitate Ino any further?
Ahhggg scratch that! The hairstyle looked cute! And if she had to give an argument for her choice she could always claim to either having thought of their younger, happier days or that she had gotten the idea from somewhere else.
There.
Now she had a plan. The trip to the hair dresser would have to wait until tomorrow.
Ohh they also had to take the photograph for their paperwork tomorrow! She could go to the hairdresser and then straight to the photographer to get her picture taken.
A satisfied smile stretched across her face and she nodded at herself in the mirror.
She finally had a plan.