That night, Sakura didn't get much sleep. She kept turning restlessly beneath her bedsheets, the day's events playing out again and again behind her closed eyes as she agonised over what she might have done differently.
"Itachi would never have killed Sasuke…" she sighed. "So why did I do that…"
Even in the confusion of the melee, there's no way Itachi would have made a mistake and crushed Sasuke, so it wasn't as though she'd needed to forcefully conjure her own Susano'o to save him... but even so, Itachi had seemed determined to kill her… could she really have survived Itachi trying to kill her with his dying will, with only a few wisps of nature energy at her disposal?
"My heart's really turned into that of a girl, hasn't it…?" Sakura sighed with a small, self-deprecating laugh. "I was kissed by a boy, and I didn't even hate it…"
Without even noticing, she had slipped one hand beneath her pyjama top, the tips of her fingers circling her left nipple in slow, thoughtless motions, while the other snaked down into her bottoms, seeking the warmth waiting there.
"Ngh…" she moaned. "Harder…"
Sakura's fingers twitched, digging painfully into her chest, nails dragging angry red welts across the curve of her breast.
Why had Sasuke abandoned her to finish off his already dying brother as her Susano'o dissolved around her? In her drained state, she could easily have been hurt in the fall… and if it hadn't been for Naruto catching her, things might have ended very badly indeed.
A teardrop rolled down her cheek as her loins grew moist. Why did she always give so much of herself for someone who wouldn't spare even a moment to help her?
"Sasuke, you jerk…" Sakura sniffled. "Why did you have to kiss me back then, now I don't know what to think any more…"
Which was the real Sasuke?
The one with the intense eyes, who cared for nothing but vengeance and aura farming, and who wouldn't hesitate to hurt her if she stood in his way? Or the sensitive one, the boy who'd comforted her, shared soft stories of his childhood in the Uchiha clan, the one who had saved her many times? Even now, he was too awkward to face her head‑on, slipping away when she needed him most to fetch some special Uchiha eyedrops, or whatever his excuse was…
That Sasuke made her all hot and bothered with his dangerous, bad boy side, and his sweet side left her like a lovestruck maiden… but he wasn't the sort of man who would make her happy. Even in the original timeline, Sasuke preferred seeking redemption than spending time with his family.
And besides, lying by omission was still lying. What sort of face would Sasuke make when he learned she had stolen Uchiha powers from a real Uchiha clan member? Would he hate her? Think of her in the same way as the likes of Orochimaru? It scared her to think about it.
Naruto's face suddenly popped into Sakura's head.
They were both cut from the same cloth, and they'd always got along easily. He could make her laugh with his daft jokes and ridiculous antics, and he was always there when she needed him. Perhaps he'd clung to her at first, like a lonely puppy starved of affection, but now, he truly did love her unconditionally. Even though they weren't a couple, for some reason, she always found herself acting jealously protective around him, keeping other women away from him… especially Hinata.
"Aww…" Sakura groaned, producing a slightly wet and slippery hand from under her covers. "I'm all wet down there…"
She rubbed her fingers together. Judging by the consistency, today was a dangerous day.
Sakura shook her head. What was she thinking? This wasn't the time to be thinking about sex! She tossed back her covers and swung her legs out of bed, wincing as her bare feet touched the cold floor. After spending a few seconds feeling around with her toes for her slippers, she slipped them on and trudged to the bathroom, feeling her way blindly by brushing the back of her hand along the wall.
Click!
Out of habit, Sakura flicked on the bathroom light as she stepped inside.
"Right, I forgot I can't see," Sakura grumbled.
Being blind was starting to get old rather quickly.
The Area Scanning Jutsu she'd mastered was useful enough for mapping out rooms and tunnels, but it wasn't the same as seeing with her own peepers. Sage Mode sensing worked just as well, or perhaps even better than regular eyesight, but she couldn't keep it active all the time.
Sakura slipped out of her pyjamas and kicked her bottoms towards what she hoped was the laundry pile, then ran herself a hot bath. With luck, the sound of running water wouldn't wake her parents— she'd had quite enough of their fussing and overreacting over her sudden case of blindness.
"This is just a temporary thing," Sakura assured herself, as she dipped her toes into the water to check the temperature. "My pupil prowess will be back to normal in no time, yup."
Perhaps the worst part of being blind was that she could no longer see breasts… her own pair included.
Once she was satisfied with the water's temperature, she eased herself into the bath and began toying idly with the ones floating before her, kneading them like stress balls more out of habit than pleasure.
"Maybe it's time I paid Shikamaru a lesson," Sakura murmured to herself. "I'm sure he'd be very interested to know that Danzō was responsible for Asuma-sensei's death…"
She hadn't heard much from Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji ever since that fateful day when Asuma-sensei got caught in the crossfire in Danzō's power play for the Hokage job.
Thanks to Sakura and Tenten meddling with the timeline, Asuma had died earlier than he should have, and to make matters worse, Team 10 had been denied closure, unable to avenge him while the true mastermind remained hidden behind the scenes. That being the case, if she could get Team 10 to do the dirty work for her, then surely Sasuke would be left with no reason to turn against the village, right…?
However, it had been a while since Asuma's death, so she doubted those three would act as impulsively as they had in the original timeline, when they had tried to leave the village without permission to assassinate Hidan… Convincing them to murder Danzō for her would probably be very difficult, with their lust for revenge fading day by day.
"Ugh, this isn't what a heroine ought to be doing…" Sakura sighed, shaking her head. "Naruto would hate me if I did this… there has to be some way to avoid the nuclear option…"
But she had to do something; she'd tolerated the kidnapping attempt and the bullying, but the higher-ups getting Itachi to kill her was beyond the pale. She was a good and loyal shinobi of Konoha, but if she became any more passive, she'd be no better than the weak Third Hokage that Sakura and Danzō so despised.
"Fate, huh…" Sakura murmured, a melancholy sigh escaping her lips. "Is it really possible for one girl to change the future…?"
It was definitely possible; Haku, Zabuza, and Raiga were living proof of that. And the Hidden Star's and Hidden Sand's break from the Leaf's sphere of influence only proved it further; fate wasn't set in stone.
Despite being only one girl, Sakura had altered the timeline so drastically that her world was almost unrecognisable from the original; but whether those changes were for better or for worse, that remained to be seen.