Truth and Friendship

She examined the seal unlike anything she had ever seen before: five concentric circles, a regular hexagon inscribed in the third circle divided into 6 equilateral triangles, six mysterious arcane symbols around the outside of the hexagon's vertex, an large regular inscribed inverted triangle, with three larger arcane symbols at the perpendicular intersection of the large inverted triangle and the smaller triangles. Three concentric semicircles where the large inverted triangle and the middle circle meet. Contradictorily amazing in both its simplicity as well as its complexity.

She then turned to study a journal filled complex mathematical solutions. Many pages without any mathematical questions, just the answers. Exactly how much energy is required for iron to be spread throughout a mass perfectly from a pile on the ground, exactly how much energy is required for copper to be spread throughout a mass perfectly from a pile on the ground, etc. , the energy required for many other elements. The energy required to break the molecular structures into their base elements. The equations for the structures of a very large number of different molecules. The energy required to bond those base elements back into many different kinds of molecules and then bond those molecules into cells.

After going through them thrice while nodding to herself, she then puts her hands onto the seal and activates it. It glows a bright blue. The piles of materials started to form together just as they were supposed to. At that moment she feels that everything is going exactly according to her plan, that all of her hard work had finally paid off, that she is victorious. However, in the very next moment something unexpected happens. Everything goes completely out of her control.

"Rebound!?!" She exclaimed in dismay and dread. The bright blue glow then turns into a dark red glow with a very ominous quality.

Then her hands and feet start to dissolve extremely painfully, headed inward towards her body from her extremities.

She opens her mouth in pain and terror, unable to even voice her terrible suffering.

"AHH!"

Sakura bolts upward in bed with a scream, her hand on her pounding heart.

She takes deep breaths trying to calm down.

When she snaps out of it, her dark room is what she finally sees. Her soft pink sheets, her pink wallpaper, her pink lampshade, her pink every room.

It is still nighttime.

She turns and focuses hard on her clock to see it in the darkness, after a moment she discovers that the hour hand is pointed towards 3.

She falls backwards into her bed, puts her arm over her eyes, and breaths deeply in relief.

She waits for a moment to see if her parents come into her room.

However, after a half an hour of restlessness she falls back asleep.

-=-=-=-=- -=-=-l=l-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-

The slightly cool winter has just passed. The fresh flowering plants awaken from their slumber, blooming in countless colors with great cheer. The gentle breeze blows through the green leaves carrying with it a fresh fragrance. It is the rebirth of life.

Sakura's nightmare from earlier that morning finally seems to release its hold on her.

"Ok girls, you may be wondering what we are doing outside today," A Kunoichi says with a mischievous smirk, "Today, we are doing flower arrangement!"

This brings great excitement to many of the little girls and some even cheer in happiness, "Yay!"

"Ok, quiet down. You are going to go out into the field, pick some flowers, and then bring them back, when everyone gets back I will go over what every flower is, what they mean, and their uses. Then, you can take the flowers you gathered and set them into an arrangement of your own meaning."

The little girls run to their friends and then rush out to the field to look at the pretty flowers.

However, one remains alone, a certain pink hair little girl with deep green eyes.

You would think that the girls would rush to group with the one who has shown themselves to be extremely knowledgeable and that this girl would be very popular.

However, sometimes the answer you expect to be most correct turns out to be the least correct one. No one seems to want to be friends with someone who always answers every question perfectly.

At least that is what she has discovered.

She goes off on her own, looking over the flowers that she has seen in her books, but ignores them. If her sensei is going to teach them what the flowers they carry back are, it would be a waste to take flowers back that she already knows.

Her pursuit takes her far from the group, searching for the unknown flowers.

Then she hears someone approaching.

She looks up to see three girls, the lead girl had purple hair and brown eyes. Sakura recognizes her as Ami, a very boastful and arrogant girl who cannot stand to ever be wrong. Sakura has never once spoken to her nor ever tried to correct her when she was loudly incorrect within Sakura's hearing. This is because she has met many kids with this attitude before such as Shinta when playing ninja. She knows better than to try to help them by correcting their errors.

What Sakura didn't know is that even if she had never once spoken to Ami, that doesn't mean she has not corrected Ami. Every single time in class that everyone raises their hands and Sakura answers a question correctly that Ami didn't know herself makes Ami feel like Sakura is insulting her directly. And after so many months of being insulted, Ami felt like she could not take it anymore and finally decided to do something about it. In fact, Ami feels that she has shown great restraint by waiting for so long and receiving so many insults without any retaliation.

"Forehead!" She points at Sakura and yells out. "Do you need such a huge forehead to get every question right? If I would rather be wrong sometimes than have such a huge forehead. No wonder you don't have any friends! Forehead!"

At that the two girls next to Ami point at Sakura and chant, "Forehead! Forehead!"

After a while of this Sakura mumbles something.

"What? I didn't hear you!" Ami sticks her finger in her ear taunting.

"...I said buttercups." Sakura reveals and points to the pretty yellow flowers in Ami's hands, "They mean childish behavior, ingratitude, and unfaithfulness… They are also poisonous…"

"Poison!" Ami yells dropping the buttercups on the ground and looking at her hand in horror. Ami's two friends back away from Ami and the buttercups in fear, instantly abandoning Ami in her time of trouble.

Finally, tears accumulate in the little girl's eyes. She then spins around, runs away with one arm over her eyes and the other held as far away from her as possible, and cries, "Sensei! Sensei! I'm poisoned!"

Then Sakura mutters, "… They are only poisonous if you eat them…" However, neither Ami nor her 'friends' were there to hear it.

"Hahahaha!" Sakura turns to see a girl behind her, pointing and laughing at the purple haired girl's misfortune. She had blonde hair and a purple outfit.

"You got Ami good!" She praises, obviously disliking Ami greatly. "I'm Ino!"