The weak morning light filtered in through the dingy windows of the small apartment. It was a place where things had once been beautiful, but was now in a state of disrepair, and was in danger of collapsing any moment. Nobody went near it, which made it perfect for hiding something. Or someone.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, a shaft of sunlight fell upon the shape of the person sleeping in the bed. It highlighted the troubled expression on the persons face, and tinted their usually pink hair a deep golden orange colour. The girl turned over, and opened her eyes.

Sakura yawned and opened her eyes, blinked several times, and then shut them again. She could never be sure what time it was, the windows blocked out all but the tiniest glimmer of light, so she often found herself up at ridiculous times in the morning, with nothing to do and no-one to talk to. She never had anyone to talk to, not anymore, apart from him, who she dreaded the sight of him, whenever he came for her in the morning. She was terrified of him, but she knew there was nothing she could do, no-one she could go to, for he held so much power over her now.

Everyone thought she was dead. After Kakashi had brutally slaughtered her team-mates, he had come back into the village, saying that his team had been killed in a very dangerous mission. Everyone had believed Kakashi, his performance had been spot on, but what people didn’t know was that there WAS a member of Kakashi’s team still alive. Sakura had been there when Kakashi had killed Sasuke and Naruto, she had been hiding, waiting to see what was going to happen. At the time she was glad she was still alive, but now she wasn’t so sure. Kakashi had spotted her hiding, and had threatened to kill her as she’d tried to sneak out of the door, but she begged him not to, said she would do anything.

“Anything?” he had asked at the time, and although she couldn’t see it, she knew there would be a twisted half-smile forming under his mask as he thought of all the possibilities that this promise could hold.

“Yes, anything, but please, I beg of you, don’t do to me what you did to them!” she had cried. And for once, Kakashi had listened to her. She didn’t know why, but he had, and it was good. At the time. But she hadn’t realised at the time, how bad things would get, and how bad things could really be. Kakashi had made her life hell since that day, over a year ago now. And not a single day of that year had gone by without her thinking of Sasuke and Naruto, and how much she missed them. Sometimes, when things got really bad, she imagined Sasuke, imagined that he and Naruto were only out, that they would come back and everything would be ok. But it never would be, and although she knew this, the thought of them coming back made each day a little easier.

Kakashi had plenty of “little jobs” that Sakura could do. For most of them, she had to do them after dark, when there was no-one around, because no-one could know she was still alive. If they did, Kakashi would never see the light of day again. The village trusted him with all their secrets, he knew enough about each person in the village to bring the entire place down round about him if he wanted. But he didn’t. He wanted to keep gathering information, until the day came that he would show his true self, and take over. There was one thing he still needed though. One thing he didn’t have. The Elder Scroll. He knew what he would get Sakura to do tonight.

…

Night had fallen, and Sakura was out in the village, hiding on the roof of a building. How Kakashi thought she would manage to get the Elder Scroll from under Tsunade’s watchful eye, she wasn’t sure, but she could at least try. She had been making her way slowly through the village for the past half of an hour, but was still unsure what the best way to get into the halls of the Hokage. She crept along the roof, jumped off and sped up the next street, not pausing for even a second, not even to breathe.

Ino was moping. It had been just over a year since Sasuke died, and she was still mourning. She decided that she needed some fresh air, so she got up of her bed, and went out for a walk in the village. In a strange way she missed Sakura as well, the person she had grown up with, the person she had always taunted and taken for granted, and now that person wasn’t here. There was so much she would say to her if only she were still here. But she wasn’t. And that hurt. As she wandered along the street, she thought. Then she heard something moving towards her so she stopped, but regretted that decision almost immediately, as the thing rammed into her. It jumped up, and started to move away quickly, when Ino spoke.

“Hey wait! You cant just hit someone like that and run away!” she cried.

“Ino, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Sakura said, before turning and running away. Ino stared for a moment, and then passed out. Sakura looked back once, wiped the tears from her eyes, and ran on. There was somewhere she had to be.