Naruto 1. Happy Birthday to You?

**Luka1Sakura:**** I know I know I'm rewriting the story again! I just wasn't happy with it and I thought it could be better so I'm rewriting it again and adding some other stuff. I hope you great readers enjoy reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it for you!**

**Edited and Revised (6/2/12):**** I least I hope it is. It's super late here, where I live and I figured hey if I'm not gonna update anytime soon then I should at least edit the earlier chapters. The errors have been bugging the shit out of me and hopefully I found a beta that is more than willing to help out with the story in the later chapters. Anyways, I tried to keep it to the original but I added a little something when Jiraiya first meets Sakura and Sasuke. **

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

_Dreams/Flashback_

'**Voice in thoughts'**

_The echoes of shouts and screams dance along with the raging flames, engulfing everything in its path that underestimate its fury. Black smoke penetrates the nostrils and darkens the night sky. The full moon's light buried beneath the black smoke, the stars seeming extinguished for the night. A compound of some sort was making the horrible sounds, sounds that would make anyone cringe or frightened. Warm blood mixed with charred skin, declaring death._

_A house, one of the biggest houses in the compound burned as a young couple held each other in their arms. The woman had long and beautiful silver, white hair, snow white skin, and forest green irises that glowed brightly in the dark. The man had short and messy maroon colored hair, tanned skin, and grey irises staring back into hers. "Kana….please stay with me!" the man urged the woman as he held her hand tightly; dark red blood seeped into his clothes as the wound on his chest bled._

_Kana smiled up to her lover as he held her close, the wound in her stomach bleeding and rapidly leaving her body. "Tenchi….I'm sorry" she whispered to him weakly as she brushed a gentle hand on his cheek as blood rolled down her chin._

_Tears rolled down his face at her apology and shook his head slightly. "No Kana….there's no reason for you apologize. You are the best mother and wife that I could have ever asked for! Just…just please don't leave me!" he cried out to her as his strength began to leave his body._

_His wife could only smile back at him with her beautiful and loving eyes. "No…we will always be together….I love you…." Her hand fell limply as her eyes closed to an eternal slumber._

"_No….please come back…please…" he hugged her to him as his eyes began to droop. _

_"Daddy?" a trembling voice of a child reached his ears, he looks up to find his daughter staring back at them petrified. "What—is…is Mommy gone?" tears rolled down her cheeks as she took a step closer to her parents._

_"Yeah, Baby….Mommy's gone. I need you….I need you to take care of your little brother okay?" he asked her as looked back at her hopefully. She says nothing; instead she bites her lip to keep it from trembling and shuts her eyes closed. "Hey….did you hear me? Take care of your brother…." The life in his eyes began to dwindle away. "Take care of him…..Sakura"._

Sakura's eyes snap open with a short gasp; she blinks her eyes to recover her vision. She sits up on her bed and looks around at her room. Red painted walls, a desk in the corner of her room, scrolls scattered everywhere, her closet, bathroom, and her white bed backed up against another corner.

She took a deep breath as she tried to forget the horrible nightmare that she had recently had. _'That was….odd'_ she thought as she wiped her sweaty forehead. She brushes her hand against her cheeks and finds them damper than her forehead. _'I was crying in my sleep…'_ she noticed as she tried to wipe her face. She looks at her digital clock which read '6:15' in bright red block numbers.

She stares out the window next to her and sighs tiredly, then gets out of her damp sheets and into her bathroom. She walks up to the mirror and stares at her own reflection and sighs, washing her face then brushing her teeth. _'I have enough time before I meet up with the guys for training. Might as well take a shower'_ she sheds her clothes and steps into the shower to scrub herself clean. After about a half hour bathing she gets out and gets dressed. Combs her hair and catches her eyes again in the mirror.

They seemed darker than usual and it scared her, she smiled at herself in the mirror and it seemed to do the trick as it made her look more happy and proud. _'Proud? Of what, being weak?'_ she asked herself she shakes her head from side to side to rid herself of pointless thoughts. She walks back into her small bedroom and looks back the clock that read '7:04'. She straps on her ninja gear and walks downstairs quietly as to not wake her parents and into her clean kitchen. She snatches a ramen to-go from a food cabinet, pours water into the cup and places it in the microwave to heat. _'I've been hanging around Naruto too much'_ she admitted as she scolded herself. Her eyes wander around the kitchen she finds a note on the counter and reads it.

_Sakura, _

_Your mother and I are gone on a mission. We will be back by tomorrow and when we get_

_back we can celebrate for your 13th Birthday! I know you don't like celebrating but it'll_

_be fun! Happy Birthday sweetie! _

_-Mom and Dad_

"Hmm…I forgot. It's today….Awesome." she told herself sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Sakura never really cared for her birthday; this day to her seemed not worth celebrating. It was just becoming a year older, what's so great about that? Her parents (her Dad, Mom was a total bitch) have always tried to celebrate by having small get-togethers but she always told them that she didn't want any party or anything for that matter. The day of her birth just didn't feel like a day to be celebrating over, but she never understood why she felt that way.

The sound of the microwave's chime that the soup was done brought her out of her thoughts. She gets the soup out of the microwave and slurps it down quickly. She tosses the cup away and heads out to her front door, puts on her ninja sandals and walks out of her home, locking and closing the door in the process.

She squints as the sun hits her eyes but continues her walk. She looks down at her wristwatch which reads '7:20' she tsks "Man I'm going to be late for training. I'm supposed to meet them at 7:30" she muttered to herself but she continued to walk her way to her team's training grounds. On her way her thoughts lead back to the bloody dream that she had had that night. _'That man in my dream called that little girl Sakura…' _she shrugs her shoulders _'Oh well it was just a dream anyways, it doesn't matter'_.

"Sakura-chan!" an annoying yet familiar voice shouted, her eyes snap up to greet her teammate but is met with being tackled to the ground. She opens her eyes to be met with a blond idiot with ocean blue eyes leaning over her and scratching the back of his head nervously. She glares at him, making him let out a nervously laugh as he offers her his hand after getting back on his feet.

She takes a deep breath and takes his hand and smiles back at him "Thanks" she tells him for the help up.

Her smile lightens the mood "Sorry Sakura-chan! I sort of tripped. You're fine though, right?" he asked her as if nothing had ever happened.

"Yeah I'm fine" she smiled once again. He grins at her as he begins to laugh but then Sakura's fist collides with his skull and he falls flat on his face eating dirt. "Next time that happens, I'll beat you so hard you'll be left in a coma you idiot!" she steamed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I see you decided to come after all Sakura" her sensei's voice reaches her ears and stands beside her.

She rolls her eyes at her sensei "Well at least I wasn't hours late Kakashi-sensei" she told him.

Sasuke then joins the two as Naruto begins to get back on his feet with a big bump on his head. She only smiles at him brightly to the black haired and onyx eyed boy as a greeting. "What I miss?" she asks Kakashi as she yawns and stretches sleepily.

Kakashi could only shrug in response and begins to walk back to the village "Come on guys. How about I invite you guys to a snack?" the offer was so random all that the three could do is stare at his retreating back in confusion.

Naruto is the first to recover and cheer "Yes! Finally Kakashi-sensei buys us some food! Ramen, Ramen, Ramen!" and runs after their silver haired sensei.

Sakura could only roll her eyes when Sasuke could only mumble things about Naruto being a loser or a dobe as Kakashi tells him that they weren't going to eat ramen; it crushed his spirit to hear those words. Which Sakura found funny as she giggled to herself and they both caught up to the two "Hey Kakashi-sensei, what about team training?" she asked him as them stopped in front of a café.

"Who cares Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei is going to buy us food!" Naruto smiled broadly at her and frowned deeply as he mentioned ", but not ramen!"

"Oh didn't I tell you guys? Training for today is canceled" he told them in a as a matter-a -fact tone.

"Canceled? What For?" Sasuke finally spoke out, clearly annoyed by this as he let his eyes slide over to glare at their sensei.

"Yeah. Why?" Sakura looked from Sasuke to Kakashi, confused.

"Well isn't it obvious?" he asked them with a single smiling eye. The three could only shake their heads from side to side, clueless.

Kakashi sighs "I would have thought that you would have known Sakura!" he stated which made her raise an eyebrow in question. "It's your birthday! Surely you remember!" he told her.

Naruto and Sasuke look back at her curiously as Sakura groans and pouts "Well yeah I know that, but there's not any reason for you to cancel training for that!" she tried to reason with him.

"Sakura-chan, today's your birthday! Why didn't you tell me? I would have gotten you a present!" he began to blabber on which she tried to ignore as she glances in the direction of the café and sees two men having a cup of tea and sweets.

"Sakura?" she hears her name called and looks back to her teammate, Sasuke as he looks at her weirdly.

"I just thought it didn't matter. It's no big deal guys, really" she looks back to where she saw the men and all that was left was their unfinished tea and food.

"Well at least let us do something special?" Kakashi continued as he also glanced in the direction where she had.

"But I don't wanna!" she whined to Kakashi who sweat dropped and made Sasuke roll his eyes at her childish behavior.

"Oh come on Sakura-chan!" Naruto tried to convince her which got on her nerves, so she agreed.

"Fine! Fine" she finally agreed, not by choice at least.

Which made Naruto beam and Sasuke smirked and Kakashi did his famous eye crinkle and clapped his hands together, "Oh good because I know you love dango and tea!" Kakashi made to walk into the café. The two boys followed right behind him as she sighs in defeat and walks in behind them.

As they eat their sweet meal Sasuke and Naruto begin to bicker about stupid things. "Yeah right Teme! You wish you can beat me in a spar!" Naruto boasted as he chewed on a dango, it was a very loud and disgusting sight to see.

"I don't need to wish because I already did beat you in a spar you loser!" he shot back calmly as he shot Naruto a look of disgust at his eating manners.

"So…Sakura, what do you plan on doing for your birthday, any parties or anything?" Kakashi began to speak to shut the two boys up and listen to the conversation.

"Nope. Nothing." she told him as she took a small bite of her dango stick.

"Nothing?" they all repeat what she had said and looking at her skeptically.

"Yeah, why is that a surprise to you guys?" she asks them.

Sasuke actually answers "Well you seem like the type" he admitted which Naruto and Kakashi agreed to with their added nods.

"I wouldn't really call a birthday a 'special occasion' but okay…well to tell you the truth I never really liked celebrating it. It's annoying, having to keep track of something that only takes you closer to the day of your demise" taking a sip of her Jasmine Tea. All the boys could do is stare at her with indifference.

After their small snack, Kakashi pays for the food and they exit the café. "I'll see you guys later. I have to go take care of some business. Happy Birthday Sakura" and with that he disappears in his usual way.

"Hey Sakura-chan—" Naruto begins when a man with long, white and spiky hair lands right in front of the three.

"Naruto there you are! I've been looking all over for you for the mission!" the man that appeared to be like 50 yelled at the blond almost comically.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! Aw man, sorry Sakura-chan I gotta go on a mission with Ero-Sennin!"

Sakura leans over and whispers to Sasuke in hopes of him enlightening her "Ero-Sennin?" she asks Sasuke who shrugs; also not having a clue as they both stared at the two.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that!" Naruto ignores the man's shouts as he looks back at her with a goofy grin on his lips.

"Bye Sakura-chan! Later Teme!" and looks back to the man "Ero-Sennin, meet me at the gates in five minutes! I'll be right back!" and he took off.

Sasuke and Sakura are left with the man as they watch Naruto trips and fall and continue on to wherever he was going which causes Sakura to giggle at his clumsiness. "So you two are the Twerp's teammates? Sasuke and Sakura right?" the man turns to look at them.

They both nod in confirmation "You must be Jiraiya-sama, one of the Three Legendary Sannin?" Sakura smiles up to the man.

"Yeah, you know your stuff kid" he commented dryly, an odd grin on his lips that kind of creeped her out.

She blushed awkwardly at the sort-of compliment and said a quiet, "Thanks, I read a lot".

"Naruto talks a lot about both of you. Especially about you Sakura" he told her suggestively.

Sakura's face began to burn at his meaning and scowled back at the man "That Baka talks too much then" she said hotly as she crossed her arms and turned her blushing face away from the older man.

Jiraiya guffawed at her reaction and his grin grew even wider "I see why he talks so much about you, your smart and feisty." he spoke through his chuckles, which only made to make her face get even more hotter and her eyebrows furrowed from the embarrassment.

_'This old fart is flirting with me! Ew! At least I think he is'_ she thought as a shiver ran up her spine.

"Pedo" she bit out, which made his jaw drop at her proclamation. Sasuke smirked and continued to stay silent throughout the whole exchange between the two ninja.

"WHAT? NO! I- uh..." he explained lamely, and just gave up. He breathed out in defeat looking deflated "Never mind" he finished.

"Whatever you say Pedo" Sasuke spoke up FINALLY!

The genins didn't bother to suppress their amusement as they say a vein pulse violently on the old man's forehead.

"Both of you are evil, just like Naruto." he deadpanned, as he watched them laugh silently at him through their eyes. " I guess I'll see you kids later then" he said as he began to walk away from the two genin "Nice to meet the Twerps teammates" he finished sarcastically with a short wave over his shoulder took off to the gates.

"What an old perv" Sakura commented as they both watched him walk away from them. "Now I see where Naruto gets it from" she shook her head at the irony of Naruto having two perverted senseis.

"Later" Sasuke begins to walk away and she moves to call out to him but thinks otherwise as he was already too far away from her.

_'Oh well, I guess I could buy some dango while I'm here!'_ she walks back into the café.

When inside she hears Kakashi speaking just outside of the shop "Kurenai, Asuma" the silver haired sensei calls to the other two jounin.

"Kakashi why did you need to meet us?" the Kurenia's soft voice reached her sharp ears.

"There are rouge nins in the village and we need to find them. I think it might be…_**him**_ so let's hurry" they both nod in understanding and they run off in the same direction.

'_Hmm…what was that all about?'_ she walks back out of the café and checks if the coast is clear, which it is. _'Aw crap! As much as I love dango, my stupid curiosity just has to get the best of me'_ she thought. "Stupid curiosity getting in the way of me and dango" she cursed to herself and runs off in the direction that they had gone to.

"Damn it where could they have gone?" she continues to talk to herself when she hears weapons clashing and splashing water. She hides in a nearby bush and takes a peak to see what was going on. There she sees Kakashi on his knees with Kurenai and Asuma right behind him. _'You know I think something is going on between Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei, they're always together when I see them'_ she wonders as she stares at the two.

"Dynamic Entry!" she hears an all too familiar voice of a certain man with thick eyebrows similar to his student's which makes a chill run down her spine. He kicks away a tall shark looking guy with a black cloak that had printed red clouds on it that was charging at Kakashi.

She looks at the other guy with black hair and with the same cloak on as well. _'Hey those are the guys I saw at the café!'_ she realized as she stared at the two intently.

'_Whoa! These guys must be real good considering the condition Kakashi-sensei's in…'_ she watched amazed by the two cloaked men. Kakashi then passes out and begins to sink on the water they were all standing on. _'Uh oh, this is bad!'_ she looks back to the guy with black hair and stares at him as he talks, she strains her ears to hear but fails to hear anything. _'Hey that guy sure does look like Sasuke-kun….could they be related? No they can't be, the Uchiha clan was massacred and Sasuke-kun was the only one left alive well except….' _she wondered as they turned to leave.

That man who she just realized had Sharingan catches her eyes, piercing red eyes clash with emerald green for what seems like an eternity until he broke the stare and takes off. She blinks confused at what had just happened _'He knew I was here…and those eyes….'_ Guy's voice brings her back to reality and she jumps out of the bushes and next to Kakashi's limp body who was being held by his 'rival', Guy-sensei.

"Sakura?" the teachers stare at her confused "We'll settle this later. First let's take Kakashi home to rest" Guy suggests and they leave to Kakashi's apartment.

"That man….he's Itachi Uchiha right?" she spoke as they looked down at Kakashi as he rested in his bed. No one speaks so she continues on "He's the one who killed off the Uchiha clan. Sasuke-kun's older brother" she stated as the information sunk into their minds, hers as well. She sighs and looks down at her sensei "Don't worry…my lips are sealed" she reassured them as they let out breaths that they didn't know that they were holding.

"Yeah that's him. And the shark looking man was Kisame Hoshigaki. He and Itachi are affiliated with an organization called the Akatsuki and are both S-rank criminals. Which are after the hosts to all the Tailed Beasts" Asuma explained as he chewed on a cigarette. Sakura looks down at Kakashi's unconscious form in concern _'If Kakashi-sensei couldn't beat him then Sasuke-kun doesn't have a chance'_.

"Why were they even here in Konoha? They seemed to be looking for something. There aren't any Tailed Beasts here in Konoha that I know of" she looked back up to them and searched for any kind of answer on their faces.

"The Kyuubi" Guy told her with a serious expression on his face.

"The…the Kyuubi…but the Kyuubi was defeated by the Fourth years ago, wasn't it?" her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. They must be confused.

"The Kyuubi couldn't be defeated so the Fourth sealed it in a child. Your friend Naruto…." Kurenai told her as she stared at her dead in the eyes.

Sakura's eyes widen _'Naruto…he has the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside him? Goofy, idiot, and slow Naruto?'_ Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing…but then realization hit her "Wait why are you guys so willing on telling me these things? If you kept this a secret from the village then why tell me when you could just lie?" she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Guy could only smile with that special twinkle when Kurenai and Asuma looked at her appraisingly "You really are a good at observation and analyzing…" Asuma complimented and Kurenai continues to answer her question

"You're Naruto's and Sasuke's teammate and you seem like the understanding type. Sakura, we're telling you this because those two are your teammates and you can't be left in the dark about this anymore."

Sakura could only look back down at her sensei _'I have been for the past year now'._

The door opens and in comes Sasuke looking for Kakashi only to find three other jounins in the room, Kakashi asleep in bed, and Sakura kneeled beside him looking up at him.

"What's going on? What happened to Kakashi and why are you people here?" he looked at everyone in the room but his eyes lingered on Sakura the longest.

"Sasuke—" then some jounin runs in the room unaware of Sasuke's presence in the room.

"Hey is it true? Is it true that Itachi is in the village?" Guy smacks his forehead with his hand.

Sasuke's body freezes as Sakura stares at him, waiting for him to react to the news. He then runs out of the room "Sasuke-kun!" and she follows in tow.

Sasuke seems to be looking for someone but when he arrives at Ichiruka, Sakura realizes that Sasuke is looking for Naruto. _'I'm guessing since Itachi is going after Naruto then Sasuke must be looking for Naruto to get to his brother!'_ Sasuke then sprints out the village gates and Sakura is quick to stay behind him and soon arrive in a small town. "Sasuke-kun!" she calls out to him and he surprisingly stops with a look of surprise on his face his Sharingan activated. _'He must me pissed if he has the Sharingan on'_ she noticed.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" he asks her as she stops in front of him.

"I followed you, but that's not important! We need to find Naruto and I know a faster way than to look for him everywhere. Just hold on!" she explains as he continues to stare at her disbelievingly.

"How?" he asks her as she forms a hand sign and begins to concentrate with her eyes closed.

"I'm sensing for either Jiraiya-sama's or Naruto's chakra by stretching my chakra across this small town" she explained as she continued her search.

Her eyes snap back open and look back at Sasuke "He's a couple of blocks away from here on the second floor of a building. This way!" she urges him as she takes off and he follows close behind her.

_'I didn't know she could do that'_ Sasuke was fascinated by her skill of sensing chakras.

_'I didn't know I could do that!'_ she thought amazed with herself and cheered mentally that she was able to help Sasuke.

They arrive at a hotel; Sakura is left behind not being able to keep up with Sasuke's speed. Sasuke speeds his way to the second floor when he sees Itachi and Kisame in front of Naruto who was in his hotel room. "It has been a while Sasuke" Itachi greets him with Naruto between him and his back facing him.

"Itachi Uchiha" Sasuke simply says, the rage and hate clearly shown in his pale features.

Naruto takes a step back, away from Itachi in disbelief."Itachi Uchiha?"

The shark guy named Kisame seems amused by the ordeal. "Hmm….Sharingan he resembles you a lot Itachi. Who the hell is he?" Kisame mused with a sick smile on his face.

"He is my younger brother" Itachi spoke still facing Naruto and keeping his back to Sasuke.

"I'll kill you!" Sasuke remarked as Itachi finally turned to look at him. Sasuke charges him with his Chidori but Itachi dodges it by getting a hold of his wrist before it could hit and instead destroyed the wall beside him which was a hotel room since they were in a hallway or doors that led to rooms.

Sasuke glares at him hard as Sakura finally arrives at the scene "Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" she calls out to the two. Itachi's and Kisame's attention goes to her as she skids to a stop at the end of the hall.

A flicker of recognition sparks in Itachi's eyes which Sasuke finds odd "Sakura-chan! You have to get out of here! You have to get away!" Naruto warns her but she stays put staring at the two Akatsuki members.

"Damn these brats just pop out like roaches!" Kisame whines with the razor smile still on his face and securing the sword on his back.

"You're in the way!" Itachi tells his brother as he snaps his wrist, successfully breaking it and sends him flying towards Naruto. He looks back at Sakura and greets her "Sakura-san, it has been a long while".

Sakura stares at him skeptically _'What's he talking about?'_ she glances over to the two boys to find them already on their feet looking her over. "Kana and Tenchi would have been thrilled to see how much you have grown" he continued.

Sakura froze, _'Those are…the names of those people in my dream…how does he…? How does he even know __**MY**__ name!'._

"How do you know those names?" she questioned him but he didn't answer. Flashes of their faces covered in blood flash through her mind and she shuts her eyes closed to rid of the thoughts. "How?" she shouts as she stares at him in the eyes and in blind fury she charges him with her fist ready in such a speed that leaves Naruto and Sasuke in such shock that all they could do is watch and not try to stop her.

_'I couldn't see her. My Sharingan couldn't keep up with her!'_ Sasuke is lost for words; he couldn't see her movements even with his Sharingan on.

_'Wow! Sakura-chan is so awesome!'_ Naruto watched more in fascination than in shock. In seconds dust is obscuring their vision and a loud explosion is made "Sakura-chan!" Naruto calls to her now out of his shock.

Kisame chuckles "Oh…she's fast" he praises darkly.

When the dust finally settled Sakura is there with her fist inches away from Itachi's face and her wrist caught in his hand and….her fist was imbedded into the wall behind him, a large dent was left in her wake. She takes deep breaths to catch her breath but still keeps her glare fixed on him.

_'What the HELL!'_ Naruto, Sasuke, and even Kisame were completely bewildered that a small girl like her could do that to a wall and came inches away from getting a hit on THE Itachi Uchiha.

"Naruto, Sasuke" a familiar voice reaches the boy's ears as the white haired Sannin shows himself.

"Eh? Ero-sennin you're here!" Naruto shouts in his ear.

"I didn't know your teammate had such insane strength" he ignores the name and keeps his eyes on the scene before him.

"We didn't either" Sasuke admits as he stares at his brother and Sakura stare each other down.

_'Could she possibly...' _Jiraiya wondered.

'_There is seriously something wrong with this girl!_' Kisame thought with somewhat of a hint of fright.

_'Damn it! I missed!'_ Sakura cursed herself and continues to stare into his eyes when another flash of that dream came across her mind of the room covered in those people's blood again and he punches her to the wall just behind her. She hisses in pain and holds her head in her hands to stop the pain as she slides down to the floor, supported by the wall.

"Itachi….Kisame I thought you were after Naruto, what did you do to Sakura?" Jiraiya asks the criminals. "Akatsuki is quite busy right now aren't they? Looking for the Jinchuurikis and all" he commented when Sakura suddenly screams in pain and slams her head against the wall to make the pain go away, he turns back to her.

_'What the hell is going on?'_ she thought as the pain subsides for a bit and she tries to catch her breath behind gritted teeth. The tears start to burn in her eyes as they fought to come out.

"Sakura?" Sasuke calls out to her as sits there in pain, she glances at him momentarily but in that one second he saw so much pain that it made him flinch.

Her head felt like it was being ripped to shreds. **'He's coming!'** a sudden voice calls out to her .

"What?" she looks up to see Itachi pin her to the wall just in time, she tries to pry his hands off her throat but is too weak. **'Shit! We're in big trouble!' **thevoice yells again.

_'What the hell? Who are you?'_ the mysterious voice doesn't answer.

**'Don't look into his eyes!'** the voice warned.

_'What?'_ Sakura looks up to be met with the Mangekyo Sharingan red eyes and everything goes black. The last thing she hears is an annoying blonde's voice that follows in after her.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

**Luka1Sakura:**** I know that readers hate cliffhangers because I do too, but I just thought that ending it here gave more suspense! I'll try to update soon guys! Please review! **


	2. Nothing but Nightmares

**Luka1Sakura:**** Yay!! I'm so happy to have written this faster than expected. Please enjoy!**

Team 7 was currently visiting their pink haired teammate in her hospital room. What the blonde, new female Hokage had told them was that their teammate should have awakened when she dispelled the Genjutsu that was placed on her, but she hadn't awakened and that was a month ago!

Naruto was obviously worried and wasn't afraid to express that he was, Kakashi was too but he was more quiet about it and only telling his team to come visit their friend together, Sasuke though…he kept to himself and he scowled every time Kakashi brought up the subject about Sakura and them always having to visit her everyday. Sure Sasuke was worried but he refused to show or say that he was worried about Sakura. I mean she was always annoying with her infatuation with him and always flirting with him, but she was his teammate and she cared.

Suddenly that heart monitor begins to go haywire and Sakura's body started to jerk and twitch; her breath escaped her lips in a wheezing sound, obviously having trouble breathing. Kakashi moved to push her back down on the bed while Naruto and Sasuke were in a panic "Naruto call Tsunade-sama! Now!". Naruto jumped out of his skin as his sensei bellowed and he ran out of the room and called out for the best medic in the hospital, Tsunade, the 5th Hokage.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi called to his other student as he stared at the scene before him. "Sasuke, help me out here! Keep her from struggling!" Sasuke ran to his sensei's aid and held her legs from kicking them. Tsunade then runs in with Shizune close behind and some nurses on her tail as well. Tsunade pushes the two away from the girl as she began to examine her with years of experience.

_____

_The sound of people screaming in agony reached her ears again as the raging flames made the dark compound seem so much more eerie than it already was with all the blood that was splattered on the walls of buildings and on the ground. _

_The sound of a little girl sobbing reached her "Kimi…Kimi-kun please…stay awake! Please don't go!" the little girl was desperately trying to heal the young boy with short silvery hair that was stained with crimson which was also spread all across his body. "Stay with me okay? You're gonna be okay I promise! You just have to stay awake!" she pleaded him as tears overflowed her eyes. _

_The boy smiled weakly up at her "Big…sister?" he called out to her in a hushed tone. "Yes Kimi-kun it's me. I'm right here with you" she assured him as a sad smile reached her own face. His silver, blue eyes seem to hollow with every passing second that it made the girl tear up more. Her lip quivered as she tried to hold in a sob that was trying to escape. Blood slowly spilled from the corners of his mouth as he choked on the metallic tasting substance, staining his pale skin. He made to speak but all that escaped was a gurgling sound until his eyes darkened to such a frightening dull color as his breath left his body. _

"_No…no Kimi-kun wake up!" her voice came out in a harsh whisper as her voice quivered. "Kimi please!!" she held the boy's body tighter. "Please wake up!! I need you with me!! You can't leave me!!" she cried out as she rocked their bodies back and forth. "No…no, no, no, no. Please….you _have_ to come back…please….wake up" she continued to beg as her voice left her as she kept her eyes closed shut. After what seemed like hours of the young girl sitting there with her three old brother in her arms she felt something warm on hands that just irked her. _

_She looks down at her small hands and finds blood on the delicate limbs _'Blood…Kimi's blood'_ she realized she was covered in his innocent blood. Her once sparkling white kimono was splattered with large and small blotches of red blood that belonged to her baby brother. She stares at her hands as the blood dripped down to her elbows._

_Then a thought hit her _'If Kimi is gone then….'_ "Mom! Dad!!" she called out franticly as she placed her brother head on the floor gently. "Mommy!!" she looked in one direction then to the other "Daddy!!" as she took a step forward and soon she was in a sprint towards her home. _

_Busting through the front door of her home she runs in "Mommy!! Daddy!!" she runs through the halls and doesn't bother to look in any other room. She reaches her parent's door that led to their room which was wide open. There she could see them there lying on the floor holding each other as their lives dwindled. _

_The woman had long and beautiful silver, white hair, snow white skin, and forest green irises that glowed brightly in the dark. The man had short and messy maroon colored hair, tanned skin, and grey irises staring back into hers. "Kana….please stay with me!" the man urged the woman as he held her hand tightly; dark red blood seeped into his clothes as the wound on his chest bled. Kana smiled up to her lover as he held her close, the wound in her stomach bleeding and rapidly leaving her body. "Tenchi….I'm sorry" she whispered to him weakly as she brushed a gentle hand on his cheek as blood rolled down her chin. _

_Tears rolled down his face at her apology and shook his head slightly. "No Kana….there's no reason for you apologize. You are the best mother and wife that I could have ever asked for! Just…just please don't leave me!" he cried out to her as his strength began to leave his body. His wife could only smile back at him with her beautiful and loving eyes. "No…we will always be together….I love you…." Her hand fell limply as her eyes closed to an eternal slumber._

"_No….please come back…please…" he hugged her to him as his eyes began to droop. "Daddy?" her voice reached his ears, he looks up to find his daughter staring back at them petrified. "What—is…is mommy gone?" tears rolled down her cheeks as she took a step closer to her parents. "Yeah, baby….mommy's gone. I need you….I need you to take care of your little brother okay?" he asked her as looked back at her hopefully. She says nothing; instead she bites her lip to keep it from trembling and shuts her eyes closed. "Hey….did you hear me? Take care of your brother…." The life in his eyes began to dwindle away. "Take care of him…..Sakura"._

_More tears roll down her face _'I can't…I'm sorry! I couldn't protect him…any of you guys! I couldn't protect anyone!!'_ she walked to their bodies and fell to her knees and hugged them tightly. Her short, pink bangs obscured her usual bright green eyes that seemed to have lost its shine. She buries her face into their chests as she sobs into them, begging for forgiveness "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry I couldn't save you guys…not even Kimi-kun. I'm so sorry!"_

_Forgetting that the house was in flames she finally stands up and looks at the burning room around her. She walks to the doorway and looks back to her dead parents "I'm sorry…" and she runs out of the room, out of the house and unto the charred streets of what she used to call her home._

_She runs into the darkness as the trees begin to hide her from the rest of the world. Run as fast and as far as she can away from her home that was destroyed. Hours seem to feel like days when her body begins to weaken and she stops beside a tree as she leaned on it. _

_Her tears still rolling down her face as she falls on the ground onto the trunk of the tree; she hugs the tree as she digs her nails into it. Feeling lonely and scared, she cries harder "It was __**my**__ fault!! I couldn't protect them! I couldn't save them!" she slams her fist on the tree but only manages to splinter it. She slips off the tree's bark and curls up on the floor with her knees on her floor and her hands keeping her body off the ground. Another retched sob escapes her and she slams her fist on the ground this time making it form a small crater. "I'm sorry…" she slumped down on the ground feeling her strength leave her._

'_**Wait!! Please don't!!'**__ she heard her grandfather's petrified voice claw into her head. She shut her eyes closed to try to block the horrible memory of his throat being slit open and the blood oozing out. She screams in agony, trying to drown out his pleas._

_Her chest suddenly feels like its being ripped open as a terrible wave of pain washes over her; she coughs out blood continuously. She clutches her chest to make it stop but all it makes her do is scream the agonizing pain doesn't seem like it would stop any time soon. She tries to lift herself off the forest floor but can only balance herself on her knees. _

_She chokes on her sobs as she tries to catch her breath _'Niisan…I need you!'_ she cried out._

________

"Granny Tsunade what's wrong with her??" a very loud blonde boy shouts in worry and concern. She ignores the boy and calls to a nurse "You guys have to get out of here!!" yelling at Team 7. A nurse suddenly screams in pain "What happened?!" Tsunade asks/yells. "S-she broke my wrist!!! Kami she's strong!!! She even bent the rails to her bed!!!" Tsunade turns back to her pink haired patient; she spots a something on her chest.

She reaches out to see it and her eyes widen she sees Sakura's chest turning black but before she can do anything she yells again "Team 7!!!" catching their attention from the dying girl. "You have to get of this room!!!" shooing them out and closing the doors. "Shizune!!! Bend her forward!!!" she did and they see that Sakura's back is also turning black and suddenly she coughs up blood.

She stops trembling and starts breathing a bit more normally and her skin begins to go back to a normal pale, they lay her back down and connect her I.V tube and place an oxygen mask above her nose and mouth for more oxygen to enter her lungs. They just stare at her as if she just had an attack or a seizure but much worse. All is silent except for the beeping of the heart monitor beeping slowly. They all sigh in relief "Tell Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi that they cannot come back into this room until tomorrow" she informs to Shizune and walks out of the room.

_______ _

"_Sakura-san, you shouldn't be alone out here" a dark voice stated. She looks up and finds a man stand in the darkness of the trees. "Niisan" she feels herself almost smile until the memories from just hours ago resurface in her mind and she looks back down to the ground. "They're gone…everyone's gone" she told him as her shoulder begin to shake. "I know…" he simply said. _

_The dark clouds thicken as the sky begins to sprinkle then rain hard. The rain pounded on their bodies. Wetting them from head to toe as they stood there in the rain as the man continues to stare down at the little girl as she cried her heart out._

_Her eyebrows furrow and she looks back up to him "Don't you understand!?! They're gone!! All because of me! I couldn't save them!!" she shouted to him. More tears roll down her face as she closed her eyes "It as __**my**__ fault…" she whispered. A crackle of lightening lightens the dark sky in short seconds soon followed in by loud thunder. "Mother and father…even Kimi-kun!! They're gone because I couldn't protect them!!" she exclaimed between sobs. _

_The man stares at the girl as she sobbed and crouches down in front of her "Sakura" he calls out for her to look at him, but she doesn't respond "Sakura!" he called out a bit louder and she snaps her eyes up to meet his. The last things she sees are the man's piercing red eyes known as the Sharingan and then she is swallowed into the darkness. _

"_I am sorry…Sakura-san" his thoughts made up he disappears into the darkness and leaves her lying there on the wet forest ground._

_____

"_Tsunade-sensei how did I do?!" a bubble headed 5 year old girl asks her sensei. "You did great Sakura!! You already reached my level in fighting and strength!!! Though you need a bit of work on your medical ninjutsu" "Hai!" she responds and smiles. With that said they continue to train in their hardcore training._

_____

Sakura wakes up to a sore body _'Where….where am I?' _struggling to move any part of her body, proving to be futile. She hears soft humming beeps that seem to drown out any other noise but she still tries to ignore it. She opens her eyes slowly feeling like a ton of weights was placed on them and finds herself in a white room. She can feel something on her face that felt like an oxygen mask and wires connected to her on her arms. She tries to move her arms but finds her left hand caught on something, so looks at her hand and finds bright yellow hair leaning on her leg and a warm hand wrapped around hers. _'Naruto'_ she smiles softly to herself under the mask that covered her nose and mouth. He had fallen asleep waiting for her to wake up; with no other thoughts in her mind she gives Naruto's hand a soft squeeze and falls into a dreamless sleep herself.

_____

Hours later she wakes up again but this time she finds herself alone in the room. _'That dream. It's seems so….real. It seems more realistic than the last time I had it'_ she wondered as she stayed put on what felt like a bed. Then she remembers _'That man, Sasuke's brother, Itachi. After I looked into his eyes everything else that happened there goes blank…what happened to me? And why do I keep having that horrible dream?'_ she continued as she tried to remember Itachi's face. She growls silently _'That bastard! He's gonna pay for what he put me through!!' _she threatened which did no good considering he wasn't there to listen to her threat to him.

'_Hey wait I remember I tried to sock him in the face, but I missed and I…I destroyed that wall! How the hell did I do that?!?!'_ she began to panic until she let herself calm down _'That technique was used by one of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade. How was I able to do that?'_ she sighs in defeat finding no answers to her questions _'I guess I'll have to look for answers later and find out where I am'_ she relaxes and open her eyes.

She lets her eyes wander around the room while still lying in bed, searching the room. _'Konoha….I'm in Konoha. Then I must be in the hospital'_ she declared to herself as she stared at the white walls surrounding her. Her thoughts were so much less foggy than the first time she had woken up and she noticed that she no longer had the oxygen mask on her face and most of the wires were off too. The humming of what she now realized was the heart monitor was still on and she figured that was the only wire that was connected to her now.

She sits up on her bed slowly with little struggle and looks at her room more clearly. The door on the left side of the room, and another on the other corner _'Most likely the bathroom'_ a drawer across from her bed, a nightstand on right filled with many get well presents and a couple of chairs around the room as well. She sighs and looks at the big window on the right of her and stares out at her beloved village as people go on with their business as the sun shines down brightly on them. _'Ugh, damn my head hurts'_ she places her hand on her temple to massage the pain away from her head.

She hears a crash down the hall from her room and followed by nurses shouting at the unknown victim. "Hey I want to see Sakura-chan!!" the loud voice complained "You can see her but you have to be quiet and not break things! There are other patients in this hospital that need their rest, including your friend!" she scolded. "Yeah, yeah…hey Teme, I bet you can't wait to see Sakura-chan huh?!?!" Sakura couldn't help but roll her eyes at the boy's loudness. "Ow! What the hell was that for Teme?!?" Naruto whined sounding like just being hit in the head "You're loud you loser. The nurse just told you to shut up" he scolded too, sounding 100 times less loud than the other. "Now, now boys we're in a hospital there's no need to—" the other much more mature voice stops talking as they enter the room. "What's wrong with you?" the two boys ask their sensei and follow his eyes to be met by Sakura staring out the window with a smile to her face.

"Sakura-chan!!! You're awake!!" Naruto exclaims and hugs her tightly. "Hai, Hai I'm awake" she giggled as he grinned madly to her. He lets go of her and she looks up at Sasuke staring at her, she smiles and a nod, which he returns. "Sakura-chan I can't wait to go eat ramen with you in Ichiruka!!" Naruto continued his rambling like always. "It's good to know that you're alright Sakura" Kakashi spoke with a crinkle of his visible showing that he was indeed smiling.

She smiles at her team "It's great to see your faces again" she tells them honestly because she would rather stare at her teammates smiling and arguing together then watching people dying in her dreams.

**Luka1Sakura:**** Yes!! I wrote this chapter in a day yay!!! Eh-hem anyways….yeah um terribly sorry to the readers that have read my story before and I ended up rewriting it. I will be updating more often so please have hope!! Please REVIEW!!! Porfabor!! Means please in spanish!**


	3. Meeting the Great Granny Tsunade

**Luka1Sakura**:** So, so sorry about my late update! My computer was in a temporary coma and I was heartbroken!!! T.T Please enjoy!**

"It's great to see you awake and okay, Sakura-chan!!" Naruto exclaimed to her joyfully as he hugged the hell out of her. "Yeah, me too" she told him truthfully but awkwardly padded his back in his hug. He let go of her and she sighed in relief from his grip. The team stood there in silence enjoying each other's company in the hospital room. A sudden slight sharp pain shot through Sakura's temples making her instinctively massage them with her fingers and an irritated look on her face. She looks back up to her group to check if they hadn't caught her reaction, which she regretted as she found her dark haired teammate called Sasuke staring back at her with cold and observing eyes.

His uncomfortable, dark stare making her look away nervously as she recognized that look from Sasuke. He wanted answers, but he didn't seem like he would begin interrogating her in front of Kakashi and Naruto. He was going to wait.

The door to her room swings open and in comes in a woman with long blond hair tied in two very loose and low pigtails, and piercing hazel eyes landing on her. "Sakura you little brat!!!" she came in insulting her and staring at the pinkette with complete annoyance.

Flashback

_The sun was set when a woman yelled at a 5 year old pinkette as they trained together in the demolished training grounds. "Come on you little brat!! Get a hit on me! You aren't leaving 'til I can't see straight!!" she taunted the little girl. The said girl was on her knees exhausted as she stared at her sensei taunt her and try to make her angry. Which worked since the girl was gritting her teeth and glaring dagger at the woman before her. "I would Tsunade-sensei but your damn face keeps on distracting me!!" she retorted back in taunting back the blond. Honey colored eyes blazed into a deep red with hatred "You damn brat!!!!" she charged at the young girl as the pinkette smirked at her succession. _

_After that whole spar which was more like war the two females lay flat on their backs and stare at the stars as they rest. "Not bad Sakura, but next time keep your little insults to yourself" Tsunade warned her student. A light chuckle beside her catches her attention "Right back at cha' you hag" Sakura continues to grin as she stared at the stars above. Tsunade could only smile and ignore what the young girl added at the end of her retort. _

End Flashback

"Tsunade-sama?? What the hell is one of the Legendary Sannin doing back in Konoha??" Sakura blurted out just as rudely as the woman had. Tsunade seemed to have taken the question as an insult as she stuck her nose up in the air in disapproval. "For your information you brat, you're annoying little blond idiot of a teammate wouldn't stop pestering me on returning so that I could heal you idiots!" she bit back as she inched closer to Sakura in the most frightening way.

Sakura could only tsk and look down at her hands as she played with the white blanket beneath them. "Boys, I'm going to have to ask you nicely to leave the room so that I can run some tests on Sakura here". Sakura doesn't bother to look back to her teammates as they scurry out of the room with quick 'byes' ,obviously afraid of the blond woman's wrath.

"Wow, they really listen to you Tsunade-sama" Sakura looked back at the medic bewildered. "Of course they do. After all I am the 5th Hokage and they have to respect my orders" she told her patient as she gathered her file from the foot of her bed and handed a glass of water to Sakura as she read the file. Sakura choked on the water she was drinking at the sudden news "What?!?! They made you Hokage?!!? They must be insane!!" she shrieked between coughs. Tsunade could feel a vein pulse violently on her forehead as her anger began to boil. "What's that suppose to mean?" she asked with a twitching brow.

"Well from what I've read from all the three Sannins is that you were a mean drinker and a crappy gambler. You could be drunk most of the time as Hokage to Konoha! We're doomed!!" she continued as another vein began to pulse on the other side of Tsunade's forehead and gritted her teeth. "I can't imagine how much in ruins the village will be under your leadership!" the pink headed ninja just didn't know when to shut up. Suddenly the clipboard in Tsunade's hands that were holding the files snapped catching Sakura's attention.

"You really think so low of me…you damn little BRAT!!!" she charged towards the bewildered girl in bed. Sakura jumps off the bed with a yelp just in time to dodge to woman's insane strength. The bed that was once being occupied by Sakura was now smashed to pieces by the enraged woman. Sakura, who was now standing next to the door that led to the rest of the hospital was sweating like there was no tomorrow.

She laughs nervously as Tsunade begins to walk towards her and she proceeds to lean her back on the door. "Would you like to repeat that?" the woman asked her murderously as she cracked her knuckles violently. Sakura's hand touches the door knob and makes to turn the knob slowly "Uh…um…bye!" and she bolts out the door and sprints down the hall of the hospital screaming with Tsunade not far behind "GET BACK HERE SAKURA!!!!!".

Sakura looks back quickly to see how far the old woman was to her _'Oh…crap…'_ she was doomed. She turns her head back to watch where she was going and was blessed with an angel sent from Kami-sama himself. "Shizune-sama!!" she shrieked and swung passed her and hid behind her just fast enough to stop Tsunade from colliding with her assistant. Shizune could only blink in confusion as she watched her master heaving in anger before her. "Umm…Tsunade-sama…is everything alright? What's going on here?" she asked as she glanced at the frightened genin using her as protection. "That good for nothing brat insulted me!!! She must be punished with a pounding from me!" she explained as she struggled to regain control of her emotions.

Sakura chose to interject and disagree with the pissed blond "It was not an insult it was a common fact!! You clearly have to admit that with Tsuande as the new Hokage and is drunk most of the time, Konoha would be doomed under her command!!" she argued back which made Tsunade growl in distaste. "Well…that is true Tsuande-sama. You do have a drinking problem…" Shizune admitted unsure of her own words with the way her superior was glaring at her.

Tsunade continues to glare murderously at the two as they sweated bullets under her frightening gaze. "Fine!" she barked, truly defeated for the very first time in years. "But remember…I will get you back for insulting me, and Shizune here isn't going to be there next time! And Shizune! You're doing this brat's physical" and with those threatening words she turned on her heels and bolted with a dark cloud following her overhead.

Sakura relaxes and sighs in deep relief catching Shizune's attention by turning to look at her. "Sakura-chan, it's you! I haven't seen you so such a long time!" she embraced the younger girl warmly. Sakura felt awkward because well…she didn't even know this woman and she was hugging her and telling her that she missed her! And the most confusing part was that she—herself knew this woman's name!! _'How is that even possible when I don't even know this lady!!'_ she freaked in her mind.

"Uh…hi?" Sakura greeted the black haired woman named Shizune still in the tight hug. "Oh, I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to freak you out!" Shizune let her go but held her at arm's length "We knew each other when you were years younger! You probably don't remember me because you were so young!" Shizune explained to her as she raised a pink eyebrow as Shizune explained nervously. "It's seems logical, I guess" she wasn't completely convinced but the story had its logic.

"So what now, my check-up or something?" she asked Shizune as she got weird looks from nurses and some patients. "Oh! Yeah, let's get you back to your room" she walked away before Sakura could warn her about the catastrophe in her hospital room. "Eh…w-wait Shizune-san!!" she jogged to keep up with the short haired woman.

When they arrived at her door Shizune could only sweat drop at the sight of the door being ripped off its hinges and leaning on the wall across from it. She walks in and she falls over when she sees the bed and the wall behind it destroyed. "Uh…yeah…she kind of chased me from the room" she told her sheepishly as her nervous laugh joined in. Shizune could only sigh, still facing the destroyed room "You haven't changed a bit".

Sakura was given another room since her room was destroyed and was done all the exams. "Okay Sakura-chan, your results will be back by late afternoon, but for now try to get some rest" she told the pinkette as she left her room. The pink haired kunoichi was left to her darkening thoughts in the too bright room, as she succumbed to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Sakura awoke to a shout somewhere close to her room, with sleepy eyes she scans the room and finds the door to her room slightly open. _'Damn…must be some patient'_ she wondered as she sat up in her bed, the sun wasn't even up yet! She looks up to check the time and reads '4:26' am. She groans as she realizes the times and smacks her head back unto her pillow _'Kami why did I have to wake up at this time!'_ she complained to herself like an idiot. "Well…there's no sense in staying in bed since I don't feel like sleeping" she muttered to herself as to not attract any nurse's attention to her room. She gets up off her bed and walks out of her hospital room.

She spent most of her time walking in the hallways when the sun began to rise and she rushed back to her room silently. Once she reaches her room she stretches her arms into the air and an unfamiliar scent reaches her nostrils making her nose scrunch up in disgust. "Ewe, I smell disgusting! I need a shower now!" she ran into the bathroom in her room and jumps into the shower faster than Lee could ever run a mile.

After a while of scrubbing and cleaning she was clean and refreshed as she exited her bathroom in search for her clothes with a towel wrapped around her body. "Damn it, where the hell did these people leave my damn clothes!" she rummaged through some drawers and finally found her clothes washed and folded neatly. "Aha! Found them!" she grinned triumphed.

"Excuse me Miss Haruno…but I believe you should be in bed resting!" a woman called out to her out of nowhere making Sakura jump in her place. _'Ah hell, I have the worst luck I swear it!' _rolling her eyes at the nurse's order for her to get back in bed. "Look lady I want out of here!" she began to nag to the nurse who was holding a tray of nutritious food. The young nurse could only frown at Sakura's behavior "I'm sorry to hear that Miss Haruno but I can't let you leave! Also Shizune-san has asked me to bring you breakfast and you must eat it!" she ordered her as she placed the meal on the side table and left the room, but not without giving Sakura a 'you-better-do-as-I-say-or-else' look.

Sakura could only roll her eyes in annoyance and snort that showed just how un-lady like she was. "Chya right lady" she muttered as she dressed herself in her red kunoichi dress and slipped on her sandals and gear. She slides the window open and takes a step on the window sill when her stomach made the most unearthly growl. "Hmm…maybe I should eat breakfast" she thought as her eyes wandered back to the plate full of surprisingly delicious looking food.

Making up her mind she ate her breakfast and finally jumped out the window of her hospital room and booked it before anyone knew where she had gone. Suddenly she heard the old woman herself growling her name out, she giggles to herself and runs off towards her home.

Not far from her home she suddenly halts just in time to stop herself from colliding into a tall figure "Goddamn it! Kakashi-sensei, can't you see I'm trying to get as far away as possible from Tsunade-baa-chan!!" she cursed out at him as she regained her balance. He could only raise a brow at her unusual attitude against him "Now, Now Sakura…shouldn't you be in the hospital resting?" he asked her, completely ignoring her earlier rants. She tsks and rolls her eyes at his nonchalant posture "I'm just fine! The only thing I need to be doing is getting the hell away from Tsunade—the she devil herself!!" she told him as she looked back to the direction to the hospital to see if she was being followed. The response only made his visible eyebrow rise higher and his eyes shine in slight amusement "Hmm? Is that so?" He continued to keep her. "Yes!" she growled out.

"That's very uncharacteristically of you" he commented her disobedience of the Hokage herself. "I also heard about what had happened right after we left from the hospital yesterday. Something about being chased around the hospital by Tsunade-sama??" he mused as her expression became one of horror. "Ugh, don't remind me of that nightmare! Now I've got to go, see you tomorrow for training you porno addict!!" and with her last words she took off leaving a very baffled and embarrassed sensei behind.

It was dark out when Sakura arrived home and headed straight to bed as she sat there to think. Her room was dark and the moonlight gave her small room an eerie look and casted a dark shadow over her form. She sighed as she sat there to organize her thoughts. _'Okay so I'm having strange images going through my head, Itachi knows me for some unknown reason, Tsunade seems quite familiar in a very creepy way 'cus I don't recall any of this! And apparently I'm going insane with all this!!' _she groaned frustrated at what she was mixed in.

She let herself relax into her comfy bed as she lied there with mixed thoughts. She stares out at the full moon before her and the stars that twinkled in the night sky and bidding her a well night. _'The question is…what does this all mean? And how am I involved in all this?'_ her eyes grew heavy as she recalled all that had been happening to her. _'I feel so…confused…'_ were her last thoughts as she drifted into the darkness.

**Flashback **

"_Sakura, you have to try harder than that if you want to be an accomplished shinobi! I want it done perfectly!" an old man told the young girl sternly. "Yes grandfather" she replied politely as she did the hand signs once again to summon her jutsu…again. "Water Style: Spiral Canon Jutsu!" she performed it as if she done the jutsu for years now, which in reality she had just learned it that exact day. A spiraling canon of water launched itself at a nearby tree and hit it dead on, successfully destroying the tree and making it splinter into tiny, sharp pieces. _

_The child could only hope her grandfather was at least happy with the result of her jutsu, as she fought to catch her breath. "It is acceptable… for now, but for now I have something to give you…a gift" he informed her as she bowed respectfully and he reached for his said gift. She came forward and he presented it to her; it was a beautiful long katana with intricate designs on the handle and sheath. "I suppose you want me to learn the art of kenjutsu, grandfather?" she asked him as she reached for her gift and held it in her small hands. "That is correct Sakura, but for now I want you to focus on your Ninjutsu training with me, you're group training with your team, and your training with Lady Tsunade's as well" he told her as he rose from his seat on the mat and stared down at his eldest grandchild. "Very well, grandfather. I thank you for your gift, it will be most useful when used in battle" she bowed to her grandfather and clan leader in respect as he walked away from her and she was left there alone. _

_She rose from her arched position and glared at her grandfather's retreating back as he left the Haruno clan's private training grounds. _'How I hate that old man'_ she told herself as her bright green eyes turned into the cold and distant eyes her grandfather had achieved with his cold attitude and harsh training and relationship towards her. She stared down at her 'gift' and held it tight in her grip _'All this brings me is more work and training'_ she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to cool off her anger towards her grandfather if that was what anyone else would call him but all he was to her was a miserable old man. _

'One day…one day…'_ her thoughts were cut short when a very familiar voice reached her senses "Saku-nee!! Saku-nee!" she turned to look back at her beloved younger brother. "Kimi-kun" she greeted him with a huge grin as she turned to face her brother. He ran into her arms into a hug and grinned up to her "Can we play?" he asked her with pleading eyes. She sighed and unwrapped her arms around her brother "I'm sorry Kimi-kun but I have things to do…" she trailed off as she watched her brother's smile fall. _**'Oh come on just spend time with him…'**_ a voice in the back of her head persuaded "But I do have time for ice cream…you want to come?" she asked him with a small smile and hopeful eyes. Her answer confirmed as she saw his eyes grow as big as saucers and a huge grin replace his frown. "Really Nee-chan, can we??" his hopeful expression made her giggle and nod to him. "Yeah, really…" she told him as he grabbed her hand with his own small one and began pulling her towards the ice cream shop. Her smile became sad as she stared at her brother dragging her enthusiastically _'Really…'

**End Flashback**

Sakura awoke from her bed and laid there as the dream or whatever it was processed itself in her mind "Kimi-kun…" she whispered to herself as she remembers his face, his slick silver hair and bright blue eyes that could rival the skies. The sudden image of his innocent face covered in blood raced through her mind and she rose from her bed and looks at the digital clock on her night stand that read '4:13' and groaned _'Why am I up so early?'_ she rubbed her eyes tiredly as she got up and entered her bathroom. She splashed her face with cold water to wake herself up fully.

Her hands on the edges of the sink counter as she stared at herself in the mirror. There she saw the same little girl who was always in her dreams, _'It's me…when I was younger…'_ she blinked to clear her vision but the little girl was gone. She sighed then looked back into the mirror and only saw herself with a deep grimace _'Or I'm just going crazy' _she decided on the latter_. _She sheds her clothesand entered her shower to clean herself from the night's slee_p. _After a short shower she got out, wrapping her towel around her form and headed for her closet. What hung before provided her with a scowl _'I seriously need a change of clothing. This dress seems so….bleh…'_ she thought to herself as she went through her clothes to look for something decent to where.

"Hmm…." She continued to go through racks of clothing which was all a bright red, pink, dresses, or just plain….bright. The thought made a shiver run down her spine "What was I thinking wearing all these damn colors! I'm a ninja for Kami-sama's sake!" she ranted as she continued to look through her clothes. Finding herself a pink kimono shirt "No…" and then found another, though this one was a pink dress "Nope". Then another which was a fresher kimono dress in a bright gold color "Never" she grimaced and passed through the next thirty bright clothes that were horrible for a ninja of her status _'Not that I have much' _she thought darkly. "Aha! I like this one" she had found a small zip up vest that was dark red—almost blood like in color. She smiled at the old thing that was crammed in the back of her closet, it was perfect. She tossed the vest on her bed and moved on to look for her bottoms.

She didn't feel like wearing a shirt of any sort so she settled for some black cargo shorts that were a lot like what Sasuke wore most of the time, but his wear white…which was odd since it was so easy to get white clothes dirty. She shrugged her shoulders at the thought and moved to get some undergarments to wear and a white muscle shirt to go under her red vest.

Quickly slipping her clothes on and looking at herself in the mirror she discovered she didn't look half bad. The vest was comfortably tight on her but it was elastic which gave her room to move smoothly when she was on duty. The mildly baggy shorts accented her small waist, and they were extremely comfortable unlike that old dress she always wore. She strapped her gear on but she felt empty in a way like something was missing, beside her Konoha headband which lay on her nightstand. She stared at her hands, her arms, and her legs…what was missing. "Oh…maybe I can…." She opens a drawer that was occupied with many sharp shurikens, kunias, and scrolls about chakra control and medical ninjutsu.

She didn't know why she studied medical ninjutsu scrolls, the mumbo jumbo and gibberish that were written in all the scrolls or in anything that obtained that kind of information just made complete, utter sense to her. She never thought about her weird obsession until now, and until now she never thought of it as an obsession. A glance around her messy room caused her to sweat drop, brushes, dull kunias and shurikens, books and scrolls about medical ninjutsu lay all around her room. '_Umm…was it always this messy in here?'_ she thought dumbly to herself but shook the stupid thought away. Her eyes brightened when she found what she was looking for, a new roll of gauze wrapped nice and neatly tucked in together as to not fall apart.

She unrolls the clean medical tape and rolled it onto her wrists to her forearm. She tosses the roll back in its place in the drawer as she makes circles with her wrist and tightened her fists, she smiles as the bandages stayed in place and hope they would help. The thick but elastic tape was especially made to keep limbs in place and if she fell on her hands the tape would prevent her wrists from becoming seriously damaged.

With her new clothing on she headed out with only an apple in hand at '6:12'. She knew she had to book it fast before her parents woke up and began nagging at her for making them worry, and escaping from the hospital, and all that junk. She walked in a slow pace as she bit small pieces of her sweet apple when a low voice cut through her thoughts "Sakura, what are doing up so early? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?". "Hmm?" she turned her head to see her teammate with the cockatoo hair style "Oh, I just woke up early is all, and I decided to just get up early" she explained to him as he stared at her incredulously with a lifted eyebrow. "At…" he looked over to the closest clock to him which was "6:26 in the morning?" he glanced back at her as she simply shrugged in response.

"Why so curious Sasuke-kun?" she asked him slyly with a flirtatious smile. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and just began to walk past her _'She hasn't changed'_. She scowled at his lack of response to affection as she took another bite from her apple "Whatever…jerk" she mumbled as she changed directions and walked the opposite way from where Sasuke had left to. "What?" she blinked and Sasuke was just inches away from her. "Nothing" she told him as she didn't dare look him in the eye and move to walk away from his very close body. She felt his hand wrap around her arm "Sakura…" his low tone made her look him in the eyes bravely "Tell me" he told her in a warning tone.

She didn't know why but she felt angry at the boy that she had been crushing on since she was seven years old and still in the ninja academy. She felt angry at the fact that her presence matters to him only when his older brother is involved. Her nervous glance narrowed into slits as her anger rose and she yanked her arm from her beloved teammate "I said 'nothing'!" she told him as she took a hasty step away from him. Her new reaction made him raise a brow in question; she had never acted that way….at least not towards HIM.

No, Sakura Haruno has never, **ever** disrespected him or has she raised her voice to him. Never has she snapped at THE Sasuke Uchiha, one of the last of the Uchiha clan, and one of the last to posses the Sharingan. No…never has the pink haired girl in Team 7 so much as looked at the Uchiha in the group in such a distasteful way like she was now, never. Sasuke never thought this annoying fangirl could ever have spoken at him with such venom in her words, never. She had never inched away from him the way she did, like her skin burned from his touch, never.

Sasuke could only stare at the pinkette, only stare at her as she glared at him and stood her ground under his own stare. He blinks once and sees her eyes widen in sudden realization. _'Oh my…I can't believe I just did that…to Sasuke…'_ she panicked and turned to walk off, away from her situation, away from Sasuke. "I've got to go" she told him hurriedly and left before he could order her to stop.

"What was that all about?" Sasuke wondered as he continued to stare at the spot where she once was. _'There's something up with her, and I'm will find out what it is'_ he plotted as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked off.

* * *

Sakura sat under a tree as she recollected herself after what had occurred between Sasuke and herself. She groaned and hit the back of her head on the tree _'Now Sasuke-kun will never like me….'_ She pouted and cursed herself and her short temper for snapping at him. _**'Screw him! He deserved it!'**_ she heard a voice in the back of her mind reassure her. "Maybe he did…" she told herself, she knew he did but with her showing Sasuke how she really feels about his demanding requests just lowered her chances of ever him liking her and being with her.

Her thoughts were cut short when she sensed something coming her way, fast. Her reflexes taking over she titled her head to the left and felt the air sliced by the weapon and the loud whizzing sound after it. She blinked a couple of times and looked back to the tree and found a shuriken sunk into it, "Oh…" she could only say. She didn't know how she dodged that without even realizing it, it just came to her naturally. She stood from her position under the tree and looked at the shuriken that was centimeters from hitting its false target, her head.

"My apologies…my teammate and I were training and a shuriken went out of course after I reflected it" a familiar white eyed and brown haired teen said as he bowed towards her; his female teammate with very familiar brown hair and two buns walking towards the two "Sorry about that" she added with a apologetic smile. Sakura smiled at the two "Don't worry about it. There's no need to apologize Neji-san—Tenten-san. I'm fine either way" Sakura reassured them as she pulled the shuriken from its place on the bark of the tree and handed it to Tenten, who was most likely the owner of the weapon. "How do you—or you're that girl…from the Chunin exams. The one in Team 7 with Naruto and that Sasuke guy" Tenten said as she accepted her weapon back. Sakura smiled _'That girl in Team 7…'_ she contemplated. "Yeah, Sakura Haruno" she introduced herself with a curt nod and a small smile to the two.

Tenten smiled back to her while Neji only nodded back to her in acknowledgement "Nice reflexes by the way!" the brunette complimented. "Hmm? Oh yeah thanks!" she smiled to the older girl. "Well I've got to go meet up with the team. It was nice running into you two, Tenten-san, Neji-san! Maybe we can train a little sometime" she told them as she waved a hand in their direction as she walked away from the two brunettes.

Tenten could only turn to her Hyuga teammate with a scowl "Couldn't you be a little nicer?" she scolded him playfully. Neji only sent her a glance and looked back to the pinkette as she made her way out of the training grounds to meet up with her team. "I wasn't being rude" he told her simply "I simply found no reason as to make conversation, let's get back to training shall we?" he told her as she sighed in defeat and followed him back to their training grounds.

Sakura looked down at her wrist watch and saw that she had at least 30 minutes 'till Team 7 had to meet for team training so she decided to take her sweet time, walking the empty streets of Konoha as she sun slowly began to rise and start the day for Konoha's citizens. Time flew by as she made her way to 'Team 7's Bridge' as it is now known for, she didn't know why but she liked having something named after her team and herself. She reached the bridge and leaned her body on the wooden rails and let her hands hang limply off the rail as she stared at nothing in particular. A few minutes passed when she felt her dark haired teammate approach the bridge, but she ignored his presence as they stood in an awkward silence. Naruto soon came as loud and bouncy as ever greeting them both "Hi Sakura-chan!! I heard you ditched the hospital, nice!!" he smiled broadly towards her "Yeah, I couldn't stand that place!" she told him as she giggled.

"Shizune told me what happened after we left too! The old lady really chased you all around the hospital?!?!" he asked her with excitement in his features "Oh that….well… let's just say that the hospital is going to need some repairs after what happened. That woman is an atrocity!" she told him, as his eyes grew as huge as a bowl of ramen. "Whoa!! Are your serious!?!! That's awesome Sakura-chan!!" he laughed as he imagined Sakura being chased by the old lady in a rampage. "It wasn't easy, but I managed to get away" she laughed.

Sasuke happening to hear his teammates have this ridiculous conversation couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sakura apparently provoked the Hokage and was chased throughout the whole hospital?! That's just crazy! Sakura wasn't the kind of person to go on disrespecting people like that! That was Naruto's job, looks like Naruto has been a bad influence on Sakura as of late. _'That would probably explain her earlier outburst'_ he wondered to himself. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at Sakura and he finally noticed her new choice of clothes. He observed her outfit up and down and had to admit that he liked it better then that dress she would always wear.

"Hey Sakura-chan, I like your new clothes!" Naruto seemed to notice her new clothes too. "Oh! Thanks, I figured I need a change. The dress was getting really frustrating and I'm not really sure why I wore it all the time" she told him as she stuffed her small hands in her short pockets and leaned on the rails again.

They waited for hours until Kakashi finally decided to join them. We had a small delivery mission to a small town close to the village that should take about an hour or so. So they headed out and completed the mission easily without any arguments…well between Naruto and Sakura anyway. Though the arguments between Naruto and Sasuke could never be avoided, the team managed to reach Konoha in one piece.

The team decided that training was in order so they decided to have a free for all, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were to spar each other until Kakashi stopped them otherwise. Sakura was up in a tree watching Naruto and Sasuke fight contemplating her next move _'Hmm…what to do, what to do? I could wait until one of the two leave me any way to attack…or I could set up a trap and wait until that's sprung…'_ she went through different ways to get those two idiots attention. When she remembered what she had down when she fought against the elder Uchiha. _'If only I knew I how I did that in the first place!'_ she berated herself when she sensed danger coming her way.

Snapping out of her thoughts she dodged a kunai and a barrage of shurikens by slipping off the branch and keeping her feet connected to the tree as she stood on the branch upside down. "I found you Sakura-chan!! Where have you been?" he asked her as he charged her and she pushed herself off the tree and landing on the moist grass gracefully. "Well, I was planning on kicking back and waiting until you two mindless idiots knocked each other out, but now that's now going to happen is it?" she taunted him, and he pouted. "Hey! That's cheating!!" he whined as he pointed a finger at her, she couldn't help but laugh at his accusation "I wouldn't call it cheating…I would prefer it to be called using your head" she said as she threw a well aimed kunai at his face. He yelps and dodges her kunai and charges her dead on. _'Ah crap! Ima lose!!!'_ she thought as she made to dodge a punch which she did but didn't see his kick and was sent flying towards the open field.

"Ow" she could only say as she got back on her feet and lowered herself into a fighting stance as Naruto came into view with a worried look in his eye. "Are you okay Sakura-chan? I didn't mean to hurt you so bad" he told her as he searched her for any wounds. "Naruto, focus… you can't go easy on her, what if she was the enemy!?" She heard Kakashi scold him in the sidelines. _'He's right what if I was the enemy and I couldn't defend myself, then what?!'_ she asked herself as she observed Naruto lower himself into his own battle stance. _'I could attempt to try what I did against Itachi!'_ she pondered as Sasuke came at the most perfect time to show up and buy her some time. She moved to hide into the trees again until she felt she was ready and concentrated _'Okay…so I destroyed that wall back then, I did it once I could do it again. So how can I do it again?!'_, a loud explosion caught her attention and then it went silent._ 'Damn one of them is down, but which one?!_' she panicked as she tried to sense her teammates' chakras. "Pay attention to your surroundings Sakura" she hear that all too familiar voice _'Crap!'_ she moved to get some distance between them but he caught arm and held her in place as he twisted her arm behind her back. "Give up" he warned her in his deep voice that made a shiver go up and down her spine. "Hardly" her words came out of her mouth like butter, without her even realizing it and she quickly dug her elbow into his stomach hard.

The force on which she applied to that hit was strong enough to send him flying into a nearby tree and hearing him groan from the pain shocked her to her very core. "Oh my…" faster than she had Sasuke into that she he was behind her with a kunai dangerously close to her neck. "Alright, alright I give up" she told him as he released her and they regrouped with Naruto and Kakashi. "Good job you guys, you're all improving" Kakashi-sensei told him as his eyes lingered on Sakura for a cool second. "That should be fine for today you guys; you can have the rest of the day off" he told him as he disappeared his usual way.

"Alright Sakura-chan, you got the teme good!!" he laughed as he remembered Sasuke go flying from the pinkette's hit. "Uh...yeah thanks" she told him unsure of what she felt toward the past event. She turned to Sasuke worriedly "Sorry Sasuke-kun, I didn't mean to hit you so hard" she told him, but she only received his usual grunt and walked off. His reaction towards her made her frown _'Jerk…I said I was sorry'_. "Well Naruto I've got to go, see you around okay?" she told him as she began to walk away from the blond with a small smile.

Sakura entered her home with a tired sigh when the unthinkable happened "Sakura Haruno, where the hell have you been young lady!" her oh-so precious mother bellowed. "I was training with my team mom, like always" she snapped back as her father walked into the living room from what seemed to be the kitchen. "What I mean is what are you doing out of the hospital?! I heard about that little stunt you did, leaving the hospital without permission! What were you thinking!?" she continued to nag to Sakura who was getting extremely annoyed by her mother's yelling. "Why does that matter?! I fine and I don't need to be in the hospital!" she yelled back at her mother as she waved her arms around. "It matters because you disrespected our Hokage and you broke so many rules in that hospital, including the one about leaving the hospital without permission!" she continued to berate her only child. She growled at her mother's constant lecturing and stormed upstairs into her room.

She threw herself on her bed and growled loudly into her sheets and childishly pounded on her bed in anger. She heard a soft knock to her door but chose to ignore it 'Just leave me alone mom…' she was too furious to voice her thoughts and her thoughts were cut short when she heard her father call out to her in his usual quiet voice "Sakura…please try not to be angry with your mother. She was just worried is all" he tried to reassure her as she felt her bed sink to his weight while he took a seat in the corner of her small bed. She continued to say nothing as her father continued with a sigh of defeat "At least go to Hokage-sama and apologize…" he advised and left her to her thoughts as he exited her room with the silence she oh-so-loved at this very moment.

Sakura groaned into her sheets as she thought over her father's request 'Why does he have to be so…nice. Now I can't refuse to go 'apologize' to the old lady' she twisted her body as to face the ceiling and took a long and deep breath to try to calm her raging anger towards her nagging mother. She sits up from her bed and stares out of her large window, and finds herself staring at the biggest tower in the village also known as the Hokage's Tower. She slips out of bed, walks to her door and locks it; opening her window and silently slipping through it. She slides the window closed and takes off by the roof-tops to the Hokage's Tower.

* * *

She knocked on the door, each knock silent and slow "Come in" she heard the Fifth Hokage call out to her visitor and Sakura walks into the office and shuts the door behind her. Tsunade who was currently fixated on reading and signing paperwork looked up from her work and stared back at Sakura unexpectedly "Sakura? What are you doing here?" she asked the young female genin as she folded her holds in front of her and placed her elbows on her desk. The blonde woman stared Sakura down and waited for Sakura to explain her sudden visit, watching as Sakura walked forward towards her desk and keeping her eyes lowered only spiked the woman's curiosity further. Sakura mumbled something incoherent which made Tsuande a bit annoyed "What?" she bit out. Sakura finding her courage returning looked up to stare the annoyed woman in the eye and speaking boldly "I said I'm sorry for leaving the hospital without your permission".

Tsunade was shocked to say the least when the words exited the pinkette's mouth but recollected herself "Is that all you want to apologize for?" she asked her sarcastically. "That's all you get, lady" she retorted back to the short tempered Hokage; Tsunade couldn't help but crack a smile and chuckle at Sakura's hot tempered personality that reminded her about herself. She received and skeptical look from the girl "You know…you remind me of someone I knew a long time ago…" the random statement made Sakura blink confused towards the Hokage. "So you're in Team 7…with Kakashi, Naruto and that Sasuke kid huh?" Sakura doesn't bother to answer her pointless question as she continues "Kakashi has told me you have exceptional chakra control…abnormal is what he described it…" the statement causing Sakura to stare at her weirdly "Yeah, so? It's not like it helps me in any way to become a great ninja like I should be" she told her sardonically as she stared down at the floor at nothing in particular. "On the contrary actually, that kind of skill is rare to find and can possibly make you into the best shinobi" she explained as she leaned her torso on her desk to get a better look at Sakura's shocked reaction to the news. "Are you serious?" Sakura could only ask hopefully. "Yup, and I'm going to help you. From now on you'll be my apprentice" she announced.

Sakura could only blink in shock "Excuse me?" her continuous shock only made Tsunade angry "Either take it or just get out of my office, Sakura" she suggested harshly. "NO! No…I accept. Thank you" she bowed her head to the blonde respectfully for the first time "Good. Training begins tomorrow morning at six. I'll inform Kakashi that you're training will be under my supervision, now get out!" she informed her newly appointed student or apprentice and Sakura rushed out.

Walking back home realization suddenly hit Sakura like a pile of rocks and she smiled _'I'm the Fifth Hokage's apprentice…'_ her hands curling into fists in anticipation _'I won't be left behind anymore…not anymore'_ she made a silent vow to herself on that cool and breezy day.

**Luka1Sakura: I tried to make it as long as I could for all the time that I lagged on updating, so I hope you guys enjoy even though it's not an exciting butt-kicking chapter. The next chapter will be alot better since Sakura will have better ninja skills and a slight change of personality considering all that things she's going through. I hoped you enjoyed! Please review....**


	4. To the Land of Snow and who is She?

**Luka1Sakura: What is up my wonderful readers!!! Uhh.…sorry about not updating in such a long time. My computer broke down….TWICE!! And I was on a blank soo yea….sorry about that, but I hope you are still willing to read my oh-so-awesome story xP. On with the story!! **

"Thanks" Sakura told the cashier as she paid for her popcorn and left to the designated theatre. _'Hm...Theatre 14, 14….ah ha! 14!'_ she walked through the doors with a sign that said '14' in bold, block numbers. As she walked into the dark room she heard a shout that sounded strangely familiar "Alright! Princess Gale you rule!" she heard him shout "Hey what the hell do you think you're doing up there?!" another man's voice shouted back and soon after a thud followed by a groan. "Hey what's the big idea?!" Naruto groaned as he rubbed his head from his fall from the ceiling "Don't play stupid! You snuck in here without paying you lousy little freeloader!" the man who seemed like the owner as she can see, argued with Naruto "H-hey wait you've got it all wrong! We were just getting a little training in while we watched the movie!" Naruto shot back as he tried to reason with the man. "Training, for what?" the man question when Sasuke finally followed Naruto down from his position on the ceiling, but his feet actually landed on the ground unlike Naruto who was still sitting sprawled on the floor.

"We have tickets" Sasuke showed the man his ticket as the man seemed a little bewildered. "Are you ninja from the Leaf Village?" he asked as he looked from Naruto and Sasuke. "You bet we are!" Naruto finally stood from his seat and grinned madly towards the man "You're looking at the next Hokage! Oh yeah, Naruto Uzumaki, live and in the flesh!" he boasted with a slight twirl to his movements, until he was hit with a bag of treats "Hey shut up! Can't you see we're trying to watch the movie!" a man shouted.

'_Idiot'_ Sakura continued to walk towards them as she rolled her eyes at her blond teammate's idiocy. As she made her way a cup of what seemed like a soft drink was aimed at her head but she dodged it just in time by reclining her head just a few inches to avoid being splattered by the cup's contents. Sasuke seeing her approach called out to her "Where have you been?" he asked her as he stuffed his hands in his pockets as he ignored Naruto being bombarded by trash. "I had to run some errands for the Old Lady, I just arrived" she explained as she watched Naruto struggle to dodge the objects being thrown at him "What I miss?" she asked her dark haired teammate as she took more bites of her popcorn, "Just the movie. Tsunade is really working you hard" he commented lastly. "Unfortunately" she told him in a tired sigh as she saw Naruto get hit again.

* * *

Now they were waiting for their sensei to arrive for their mission in a small alley that had supplies in it and a large wooden gate right beside the trio. Sakura was getting agitated as she munched on her popcorn and stared at Naruto as he drooled at a billboard ad with a picture of the actress that played a character that she was supposed to see but arrived too late, her character's name was Princess Gale.

She was leaning on a pile of large tubes of some sort as Sasuke sat coolly on them and Naruto was crouched in front of her drooling over himself as he stared up at a movie billboard that they had seen recently (Except for her). "Kakashi's late again" she mused as she continued to munch on her corn. "So what else is new?" Sasuke asked sarcastically, she sent a small glare towards him at his snippy reply but remained quiet.

In the past months Sakura and Sasuke have been getting a bit close, as she didn't bother him as she used to when she was infatuated with him. Not close enough to become friends, but close enough to become tolerable to be around each other. Especially, after Sakura began to gain a bit of an annoyance or dislike to her previous crush from his constant jerkiness and emoness. Also they didn't spend as much time together like they used to with all the team training and all. Her training with Tsunade was going extremely well considering how fast she was learning everything.

During that time, Team 7 hadn't been able to hang out together which Naruto always seemed to whine about, according to Sasuke. They would go hang out at the Ichiraku and eat a bowl or two, in Naruto's case about 5 or maybe 10 bowls. Sakura and Sasuke always wondered where he put it all, but they could really care less. And over that time not only Sasuke and Sakura gotten a bit close but all of Team 7, including Kakashi whenever he would drop by and hang out with the three. Those times were rare now though, Naruto is off doing missions with other genin, Sasuke is training and occasionally some missions with Naruto, but Sakura was training her ass off with Tsunade, and she's also sort of become another secretary to the damn old woman.

Though Tsunade's anger issue was insufferable her training was paying off and her skills as a ninja have increased dramatically. This mission with Team 7 is actually the first mission in a long time that she has been assigned to complete with them, since she became Tsunade's apprentice. She had a feeling that she was going to enjoy seeing the faces of her team when they see what she can do…so far.

"Ah man, that movie was so cool…I don't think I've ever been so blown away in my life—" Sakura could only glare at the idiot and launched a popcorn at his face "I didn't get to see it Naruto, and thanks to you I couldn't even see the ending because we got kicked out. I even missed that hot guy in the movie…" she daydreamed with a soft sigh. Then glanced back at Sasuke "Of course he can't compare to Sasuke-kun" she teased with a fake apology of a look on her face. Sasuke could only give her an annoyed glance as she suppressed a laugh "Man I don't know where you got your taste in men Sakura, but it stinks…" Naruto commented. Sakura could only roll her eyes towards Naruto "Excuse me?" she asked a little too sweetly with her creepy smile "Eh…I'm sorry what was the question again?" he asked her dumbly and afraid. She could only smile to his reaction, not bothering to explain to him that she was just teasing their Uchiha friend. She takes a seat on the ground and munches down some more popcorn.

"Eh…Sakura?" she heard Naruto call out to her nervously. "Hm?" she responded as she chewed on the snack "You think I can have some…you know… some of your popcorn?" his voice small and unsure of his own question. "Sure" she told him as she shrugged her shoulders and passed him the bag of corn. He greedily scarves down half of the bag's contents and shyly makes to give it back to her when they hear the sound of hoofs of a horse racing towards them, coming from the direction of the wooden gate. They all move from their relaxing positions and wait for the upcoming person on that horse.

The horse and its rider which seemed to look like Princess Gale from the movie came galloping over the tall fence. "Was that the what's her face actress?" I asked dumbly as the two stared at me like I was stupid "What I forgot her real name" she snapped at the two. Suddenly the wooden gates close to them slam open as a group of men on more horses chased after the 'princess' the swinging door shoves Naruto to the ground, along with the bag of popcorn. Sakura and Sasuke jump away in time to dodge the swinging door and Sakura stares at the wasted popcorn "Bastards" she muttered grimly as she mourned for her buttery snack. She and Naruto take off after them angrily _'They'll pay for what they did to my popcorn!'_ running after them as she made her silent threat to them, and Sasuke following behind them.

The chasers toss oil for her horse to slip on and she does and falls off her horse "Get her!" one of them with glasses ordered as some men jumped on her to put her down. In the struggle she elbows one of the men in the head and her appearance transforms into a short pink haired girl with furious jade green eyes. And they automatically become confused "Hey, where did the princess go?" one of them stupidly question. Sasuke appears behind the one that called the shots with the small round glasses and hit him in the neck unconscious. The other men cower and try to make a run for it when they run into a very pissed off Sakura "You'll pay for what you did!" her creepy face makes Sasuke roll his eyes at his childish teammate.

Sasuke and Sakura tie up the men "Oh dear…what are you guys doing?" the two genin look up and see Kakashi looking at them disappointed "Killing time" Sasuke informs him as he dusts his hands "What he said" Sakura said as she looked at her sensei with a very bored expression on her face . He disappears and reappears before them and releasing the men they had just tied up from their bindings. He helps the one that seemed like the leader to his feet and apologizes "I'm…really sorry about this" Kakashi told the middle aged man awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.

Kakashi looks back at the two "Guys this is the gentleman that hired us for our mission today. Sakura you knew that, why did you do this?" he asked her truly curious to his students actions. Sakura could only shrug her shoulders "Hey they dropped my popcorn, I needed to make them pay somehow" she told him nonchalantly as she put all her weight on her right leg and put her hands on her waist defiantly. '_All this for some spilled popcorn?'_ all of the men could only ask themselves as they all sweat dropped at the crazed girl's reason and sighed in defeat.

* * *

"Our mission is to guard Yukie Fujikaze, the actress known best for her role as Princess Gale" Kakashi explained to his two remaining team "Guard?" Sasuke asked as he sat on his plastic chair lazily and as 'cool' as ever. "Well maybe not guard, but escort her" Kakashi clarified, his response only made Sakura's brow rise in question, but ignored it and looked around the room they were in. They were in a studio of some sort and many people bustled as they did their job to move the props and things like that around.

Sakura's eyes moved to a wall next to her filled with framed photos of the actress as a picture of a cliff made of ice caught her eye _'That seems familiar somehow…'_ she wondered as she stared at the beautiful scene. "Big cliffs" she commented as she continued to stare at the photo "Oh, that's the rainbow glaciers in the Land of Snow" a male voice informed her she turned to look at her informant to find a bald man who played one of the characters in the movie and another who also played an important part in the movie.

"Hey, you guys are some of the lead actors in the Princess Gale movies" she realized with a thoughtful look on her face. "Land of Snow? Long way to go shoot some scene for a movie" Sasuke commented with a bored expression on his face as he didn't even bother to look at the two actors. "Yukie's manager here Sandayu recommended it. Apparently he tells us this rainbow glacier turns seven different colors during the springtime" the producer told them, as Sandayu bowed his head respectfully at his name's mention.

"No…that's just an old legend" Kakashi denied as he continues "The truth is there isn't any spring in the Land of Snow". Sakura and Sasuke look back at their sensei "What not ever?" Sasuke questioned "Does that mean its winter all year long?" Sakura waited for his reply. "Uh huh, you got it" he answered with a short nod if his head.

"Kakashi wasn't it?" the director called out, but Sakura had heard enough and zoned out into staring back at the photo and wondering if she's seen it before.

* * *

It was night time now as they searched for Naruto and Yukie when Sakura hears a woman shout "Shut up! Go bug someone else" she stops dead in her tracks "Was that Yukie?" she asked her manager Sandayu, as he simply takes off into the bar and bumps into a man but ignores him to confront Yukie. "Miss Yukie! Our boat to the Land of Snow is about to sail! Please, we don't have much time…" he urged her as he approached her and Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura followed in the bar.

"No thank you…" the woman slurred and wobbled a little "I'm bailing out as the princess" she confessed as she put a small shot cup to her lips, Sandayu could only gasp as well as Naruto. "What on earth are you talking about?!" he panicked. "Ah, don't worry…it happens all the time, okay. I mean lead actors are changed from sequel to sequel. Com'on, directors change every five minu—" her manager cuts her off. "That's enough! You listen to me; there is nobody on this whole planet that can play Princess Gale other than you! Nobody!" he scolds her as she drunkenly stares down at her sake and downs it in one gulp. Sakura can't help but grimace in disgust at the reeking smell of the strong alcohol and imagining the bitter taste in her mouth.

"Besides if you blow this off, your place in this industry will be gone!" he reminded her again, she sighs tiredly "So…who cares?" she slumps in her seat. "Well, I guess there's no other choice" Kakashi finally speaks as she turns to look at him, he activated his Sharingan and she falls unconscious and he immediately catches her before he hits the ground. "What a troublesome woman" Sakura commented as she crossed her arms. "You've been hanging out with Shikamaru too much" Sasuke commented towards her and she smirked "I have no choice, He's one of Tsunade's advisors and i have no choice but to do errands and paperwork with him" she replied with mild interest as she caught a glimpse at the man that she had bumped into, standing outside and listening in on their conversation, but he was gone as soon as she turned to look back at him. _'Who was that?'_ she wondered as she grew suspicious of him, but shrugged it off.

They were on the ship now and sailing the ocean, the movie people running around everywhere as they tried to put things in order. All the while Team 7 watched the crew work, Sasuke was slouched on the railing of the boat staring at the sea beneath them, Naruto crouched and staring at the crew run around, Kakashi reading his book as always, and Sakura leaning her back on the rail and reading a book about the wonders of the human body. All was loud and buzzing with chatter when the sound of a door slamming open and Yukie came running out of her cabin looking bewildered and so shocked she looked like she would faint from the anxiety. Then followed by aloud shriek from the damn woman "You have got to be kidding me!?!" which made Sakura cringe in annoyance _'Argh…shut up!'_ she tried to ignore the woman and stuck her face into the book as to try and concentrate more.

* * *

"I don't know…I don't think I can deal with this lady" Naruto commented as he sat on the deck of the ship and stared at Yukie get ready for a take. "Ditto to that" Sakura mumbled as she continued to read her book, but it was certainly heard by her teammates. "What are you talking about guys? You have to deal with her; you've just sworn to protect her. Come on this is an important mission" he tried to reason with his students as he finally took his eyes off his precious book. "Mission?" Naruto questioned as he gazed at Kakashi curiously. "Yes, an A-ranked mission" Kakashi explained to the blond in his usual bored tone. "This is an A-ranked mission?" Naruto stared at the silver haired jonin in fascination. "I don't really think our babysitting a little pampered actress would be all that difficult" Sasuke commented as he looked over his shoulder to gaze at his sensei. "That's not true, Sasuke. Big celebrities are targeted all the time. Besides, it's hard to predict whose after them, just be on your guard" he finished with a warning. "With her attitude, who wouldn't target such a rude woman" Sakura commented again with a sneer but still continued her book, which also earned her a smirk from Sasuke and a suppressed laugh from Naruto.

Soon a take was getting ready to be done and Sakura decided to watch how the woman worked and closed her book shut. The woman wasn't bad on camera, "Whoa, I don't even feel like I looking at the same person anymore" Naruto awed at the woman's acting skills as Sakura and Sasuke continued to watch the scene unfold. Her manager explains to Naruto mostly that she's an amazing actress when the camera is rolling. Apparently one of the partners of the Princess Gale in this scene called Shishimaru was dying as she cried out to him not to die and all that crap, but when she called her manager to bring her, her teardrops Sakura immediately opened her book again. "Shishimaru!!!" she could only hear Yukie cry out as Naruto slumped his shoulders in disappointment with a twitch on his lip.

* * *

The next morning, Team 7 wake up to the producer's shouting in a panic as it seemed that a problem was that a large piece of ice land was in the way of their destination. She groaned as she sat up from her bed and heard an echo of her groan from her blond friend as well. The director suddenly gets the brilliant idea of shooting a scene on said ice land "This man is insane…" Sakura groaned as she got ready to go out into the snow.

So now Naruto, Yukie, and Sakura herself were standing close to a small heater trying to get warm, they all yawn at the same time as they stood in the cold…in the ungodly early hours of the morning. _'Damn cold weather…'_ Sakura cursed to Mother Nature's creation on this land and breathed out a deep breath that came out as hot air in the cold air around them.

She was wearing a burgundy colored t-shirt with a white long sleeved shirt under that, a pair of black cargo pants similar to Kakashi's, her black oh-so-warm,closed ankle length boots, her new black gloves that Tsunade had given her as part of her training and her tan colored coat (Or cape or cloak …idk) with red trimming at the bottom of it. She looked over at Naruto as he wore his usual orange jumpsuit, but the only difference was that he wore the same kind as ankle length boots as she did but he had on navy blue ones on, with the addition of the similar tan colored coat on as well only his had brown trimming at the end.

Then she looked at Sasuke who was watching his surroundings a little too seriously and saw that he was wearing a navy blue t-shirt with a blue faded out long sleeved shirt under that, his usual white shorts, his exposed legs wrapped in white bandages, and similar gloves, closed ankle boots, and coat on as Naruto. Her eyes then slowly traveled to the slouching sensei of theirs, the only difference in his outfit was the brown scarf around his neck and the closed ankle length boots.

"Alright people!! We are good to roll!!" the producer yelled out to the crew. And everyone got to their places "Okay, scene thirty-six, cut twenty-two, and…ACTION!"

As the camera started rolling some old guy that Sakura presumed to be the evil guy in the film began bellowing idle threats and boring speeches at Princess Gale and her teammates. Sakura stared at the scene for a minute until she caught a slight spike of chakra behind a mountain opposite from them. "Hmm" she hummed to herself in lying content as she continued to stare at the mountain for any sudden movements. _'Must have been my imagination….'_ She proposed as she looked in another direction of the god forsaken land of ice they were standing on. _'So…boring'_ she whined to herself.

A blast suddenly came from behind from where the 'evil man' was standing and Sakura looked over in that direction and then glanced in another as she felt that familiar chakra spike again. Suddenly, Kakashi was lowered in a stance in front of Yukie, staring at the direction where part of the mountain was destroyed due to the explosion. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" the producer asked bewildered by Team 7's sensei's sudden action as the camera continued to roll. "Everyone get back!" he warned as he waited for the unknown enemy to show himself.

A man with lavender colored hair and an unusual armor under a white sheet emerges, his cocking smirk in place and his posture straight and confident with his arms crossed lazily. "Welcome friends, to the Land of Snow" he greeted cynically. "You..." Sakura hears Kakashi say as his eyes widen just a fraction. A woman with a different shade of pink hair than Sakura's also appears on a tall icicle with a hand on her hip with the same unusual armor as the first guy. "Greetings Princess Koyuki, I do hope you're still carrying around the hex crystal" she spoke out cockily as well. Kakashi seems surprised and looks back at Yukie in shock.

"Princess…Koyuki?" Kakashi stutters out momentarily as she simply looks at him bewildered. "Who the hell's Koyuki?" Sakura questioned stupidly with a raised brow as Sasuke just sent her an annoyed glance at her. "What?!" she asked him as he just shook his head and looked back at the enemy "It's Yukie…and I thought Naruto was an idiot" he commented lastly. Sakura's cheeks burn into a deep red in anger "Hey, watch yourself Sasuke! Don't make me sock you in the face" she threatened with a raised fist as Naruto just snickered in the background, but shut up as she sent him the most menacing glare she could muster.

Then another person emerges from the snow, a husky guy with brown messy hair and the same armor as the other two. Although each of their armors were a bit different, they were strikingly similar "You're as good as they say Kakashi. Unfortunately, it's not good enough!" he taunted. Sakura tsks at the man's comment towards her sensei, clenching her hand into a fist and jumps a bit when said sensei calls out to them "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura" Naruto replies with a slightly dumb "Huh?" as he seemed a bit jumpy as well from Kakashi's calling. "You three protect Yukie" he ordered and looked back at the film crew. "Everyone get back to the ship!" he ordered them as well as to not get in the way of the battle that was to come.

Then one of them charges after giving out some orders to his comrades, and Kakashi jumps up to one of the high cliffs from the mountain; accepting the unknown snow ninja's challenge. The two seem to reacquaint as they exchange short words with each other before battling, the other was called somewhere along the lines of Nadare, but the name didn't interest Sakura at the moment as she and her teammates had the other two charging towards them.

Team 7 forms a triangle around Yukie and her co actors ready to protect them. "I don't know what's in the script, but I always wanted to be in a movie!" Naruto babbled on as he got ready for his own fight. Sakura can't help but smirk and roll her eyes at his remark, "You've always liked the attention Naruto" she told him jokingly as his grin grew wider. He continues to babble and charges towards the husky looking one as he takes out a board and slides down the mountain towards them with it.

Naruto nearly gets hit by the guy on the board and jumps away for safety a couple of times. _'Well let's get started!'_ Sakura crouches low as Sasuke throws perfectly aimed kunais and a fuuma shuriken towards the guy, but they seemed to bounce right off him like some kind of barrier. Then the pink haired chick flings an ice jutsu at Sasuke which he dodges by a series of back flips and performs a fire jutsu towards her. Sakura's eyes twitches _'Great, I forgot that I'm the one always stuck with actually staying with the damn client while Naruto and Sasuke do all the work. Great, just freakin' great'_ she thought as she still stood her ground and watched all the battles around her unfold.

"Back to the ship everyone!" She told the people she was shielding and watched as Yukie just stood there and stared at the flames that Sasuke created in horror, she didn't move. Sakura furrows her brow "That means you _princess_" she called out to Yukie in slight mockery, but she still wouldn't budge. Sakura looked back to the hot flames then back to the irritating woman and tsks when a sudden flash of that nightmare she had all those months ago. All the houses burning and the sounds of screams fresh in the air, she quickly snaps out of it as she parries a kunai heading her way on reflex. "Princess!" Sandayuu called out to Yukie as she looks back at him in shock as he risks his life to save her by coming back for her.

She watches as Sasuke releases another fire jutsu and Yukie suddenly falls on her knees in fright. "Damn it lady, get up!" Sakura yells out as the black haired woman just sits there on her knees with her manager at her side. Apparently watching Yukie fall Naruto gets distracted and gets hit by the enemy, but Kakashi goes to help so Sakura stays put, even though she itches to get out there and kick some ass. She looks back at the actress then back to her comrades fighting to protect said actress then glances at the camera crew still trying to catch the fighting on film making Sakura roll her eyes.

The big guy then moves to where Yukie is on his board and launches some sort of grapple at Yukie, Sakura moves just in time to cut the rope with a kunai and launching it at him and then charging him. _'Damn! If their armor is made to deflect chakra then I can't use chakra!'_ and aims a fist in his face. Sakura growls as her fist successfully connects with his fat face "Shannaro!!" and sends him flying off his board a few yards back. Her success makes Sakura smirk in the guy's direction, cracking her right hand's knuckles. "Good thing I don't need chakra to pack a punch" she taunts him as he gets up and jumps back on his board and charges her again "Get out of the way you little girl!" he yells out which makes Sakura's eyes narrow into slits, but Naruto tackles him off his board and into the snow again. The guy makes to punch Naruto with both hands but Naruto's own hands get a hold of his fists and he stands his ground.

'_Naruto's chakra…it's incredible!'_ Sakura stared at her blond friend in awe but snaps out of it to see Yukie still not in the ship "Yukie get in the damn ship already! You're in the way!" but she just continued to stare at nothing which made Sakura tsk again. _'My patience has its limits lady!'_ Sakura grounded her teeth against each other. "What are you doing?! Get out of here!" Naruto shouted at her as well as he struggled to hold down his opponent.

"Princess, please we must get to the ship" Sandayuu tried to reason with her as he spoke. "No…" she could only respond in a desperate tone. "We've got to go now! Your life is—" he raised his voice to her finally but she cut him off. "I don't care if I die! I won't…I won't go back to the Land of Snow!!" she said as she put her head in her hands and shook her head violently. "We don't have time for this, okay!" Naruto yelled but the fat dude swung him around and into the snow "Naruto—!" Sakura made to help him but the enemy shot his grapple again but she didn't have enough time to get Yukie out of there so she ran into the thing and let it take her. He yanks the wire to the opposite side and makes Sakura slam into some hard ice as it lets her go. Pain shoots throughout her arm and back to her most likely dislocated shoulder, as she squeezes her arm to stop the pain and hisses as more pain shoots throughout her whole body this time at the contact. "Sakura-chan!!" she hears Naruto call out as her vision dims but she fights back as the black dots penetrate her vision.

On the ice floor Sakura feels the tremors of Kakashi's battle with the other snow ninja and then a larger one after that as she feels muscled, warm arms snake under her knees and around her shoulders which makes her winces in pain. "What the hell?" she looks up and sees her sensei carrying her back to safety "Put me down Kakashi!" she told him through gritted teeth as she yelped from the pain. He just ignores her and finally sets her down when they make it back to the ship "That hurt you scarecrow!" she hissed at him and she gripped her shoulder tightly.

"Ne Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked her as he stared at her pained expression "Yeah, Naruto just fine. Don't worry about it" she reassured him as she stood up from her seat on the deck and walked into her own cabin. Naruto could only scowl at her dismissive tone "What's wrong with Sakura-chan?" he wondered out loud. "She's hurt loser, she's just in pain" Sasuke told him as he walked inside of their shared cabin as Naruto followed.

Sakura walked in her small room and sits on her bed with a grunt and sighs and slips off her shirts over her head and was now left with a mesh tank top. _'Alright…one, two, three'_ she snaps her shoulder into place as she squeezes her eyes shut and biting her lip as not to scream, and quickly moves to heal her arm from the ripped tendons that the dislocated bone had made. Her room was silent aside from the soft humming of her healing chakra_ 'I'm still not strong enough to even protect myself'_ she thought darkly as she continued to heal her arm. _'All I did was get my ass hurt like an idiot!!'_ she scolded herself as she grounded her teeth together angrily, when she hears her door creak and looks at her audience consisting of Naruto and Sasuke. "You guys need something?" she asked them as she stops the flow of her healing chakra and looks back at the boys lazily.

"Sakura-chan that was so cool what you did right now!! You think you can teach me? Did Old Lady Tsunade teach you that?!" Naruto babbled as forgot to answer her question. "We wanted to know if you were okay" Sasuke spoke so Naruto could shut up. Sakura cracks a smile at the two and ushers them to come in the room with her hand. They walk in reluctantly, afraid of what the pinkette would do to them because of their snooping. "I'm fine guys and yeah the old drunk taught me to heal Naruto. I could try to teach you but you need precise chakra control and a lot of studying, Naruto. Some thing's you lack in" she told them with a small smile as she slipped her shirts back on which made the two blush and look away from her. "Well…we just wanted to make sure…later Sakura-chan" and they both walked out quickly.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and gets up from her bed and moves to put her medical things away when a light knock catches her attention. "Yeah?" she called out not looking back at her door "Kakashi is asking for you, he needs you to attend a small meeting about the client and we reached the harbor" Sasuke informed her in his usual low voice that sounded so much like his wretched brother. The sudden thought of the eldest living Uchiha made her blood boil _'Damn him…he's more of a bastard than Sasuke'_. "Sakura" she her the familiar voice again "Yeah, yeah I'm coming teme" he narrowed his eyes towards her at the nickname mostly used by their blonde fool of a teammate as she told him as she finished putting her things away and walked out of her temporary room, but not before sticking her tongue out to her teammate to tease him some more. He only shook his head and stared back at her in amusement "I think you've been hanging out with the idiot too much too" which made Sakura grin and laughed quietly. "Nope, not enough" she corrected with a mischievous grin which made Sasuke roll his eyes.

* * *

They were in the meeting room with Sandayuu, the director, the producer, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and of course Sakura herself. They were speaking about the now known Princess Koyuki and how she was to get the Land of Snow to her people and all that junk. And let's just say Sakura was bored out of her mind _'Urgh…this is like listening to Tsunade-baa-chan's lecturing' _she coughed in attempt to hide her giggles which earned her a few looks but they looked away as soon as they saw her upcoming glare. The meeting had been going on for about a half hour when Sakura was beginning to feel her eyes drooping in sleep. The sound of a new feminine voice among all the male voices made Sakura become wide awake with the addition of Sasuke's soft jab to her ribs. It was the object of their discussion Yukie also known as Princess Koyuki, "I told you I'm not going back there" she told him coldly. "But…you must! Your people need you!" Sandayuu argued back like always. "Don't you get it?! Doesn't matter how hard you try you can't defeat Dotou!" she selfishly insulted her loyal servant.

The chair to Sakura's right screeched as it was pushed back by its blonde occupant "Don't give up so easily!" he growled out and glared at Koyuki. Sakura stared at her teammate from the corner of her eye as he continued "This old man is risking his life to make that dream come true, and all you do is insult him?". Sandayuu can only stare at Naruto in admiration "Naruto-dono" he mumbled out.

The old director started yammering on about a dream coming true and that their movie would be changing and becoming greater than first expected. With the producer also agreeing with the white haired old man Kakashi couldn't help but burst their bubble. "Unfortunately, there is only one option left. There's no place to hide now that Dotou has discovered you. We have to fight in order to live".

Sakura couldn't help but breathe tiredly "So I take it we're still on with the mission?" she drawled out with half lidded eyes. "Obviously, Sakura-chan! Princess Gale will go on to Snow Country and defeat the bad guy!". "Don't be such a fool!!" Koyuki shouted as Naruto's grin faltered "This is real life, not a movie. There is no such thing as a happy ending in this damn world!". "Not if you're willing to fight for it!" the director shouted back. Sakura couldn't help but let her eyes open at the statement. "I would recommend that we return to the village for back up for this kind of mission" Kakashi spoke. "That would be a waste of time. We're enough for this mission" Sasuke spoke after so long of silence "I agree with the teme" Sakura finally spoke as well. "So it's decided, the movie will continue!" the director spoke with finality. Sakura stood from her seat "Well if this meeting is over and done with, I'll be leaving" she excused herself and walked towards the door and glared the 'Princess' down, who was in the way "Can you move…._**Your Highness**_" she stated more than questioned, also adding a slight taunt at the end. She made no move to get out of her way so Sakura tsks and pushed passed her while bumping shoulders.

As Sakura made her way out onto the deck of the ship she couldn't help but take a big breath. A cold shiver ran down her spine as the cold air seemed to slap her in the face. She made for the rails and leaned on them with not much of a care in the world. She stared at the beautiful glaciers that were to come in their journey by snow mobiles. "That was unlike you" she heard the all too familiar voice of her teammate speak behind her. "Yeah, well I don't like her" Sakura admitted without hesitation "That's obvious" he chuckled which made Sakura boil with anger "Shut up Sasuke" with a pout. They stood there in silence as the wind blew through their messy locks "We're heading out real soon, so you should go get your things" he told her as he walked back inside**.**_ 'What was that all about?'_ she wondered as she stared back at him as he went back inside, soon following she went to her room and got her things to head out.

* * *

They were driving on the edge of the road as they made their way towards their destination, where ever that was. Naruto was babbly on about random stuff and occasionally getting into an argument with Sasuke who was sitting beside her and getting into the occasional argument with Naruto but kept to himself, Kakashi would smile towards them and go back to his provocative reading, while Sakura stayed quiet the whole time and read her book about extracting poisons. There was a while that the car was completely quite because Naruto had fallen asleep during the ride….well more like knocked unconscious after asking Sakura if her book contained anything about the woman's human body. _'He should learn to read the title of the book before asking such stupid and perverted questions'_ her action caused an unexpected 'Thank You' from Sasuke and a sigh of relief from Kakashi, which she shrugged off. After a couple more hours of traveling they decided to make a stop, which a now awake Naruto ran out the door and joined the producer and the cameraman to take a leak. "Idiot" Sakura muttered with a roll of her eyes.

After their short brake they got back into the cars and preceded in entering a dark, cold cave "I can't see the exit" Naruto commented as he leaned on the glass window to look outside. "Long time ago, this place used to be a railroad" Sandayuu told them. Sakura stared out and saw no railroad on the snow covered ground. "Doesn't seem like it" she told him as she shoved Naruto off of her as he looked outside and she was seated next to the window. He could only grin sheepishly at her as she scoffed at his stupidity. "Right now it's covered by ice, but there really are tracks underneath" he replied as she stared back at him then back to the window. "Hmm" she could only say as she went back to reading her medical text.

After exiting the cave the vehicles stop to start filming again when the most irritating and most frustrating problem was found. Now team 7 was out in the snow looking for a distressed and stubborn woman who refused to be anywhere near Snow Country. "This damn woman is officially on my list of 'Most Things I Dislike', next to perverts, jerks, and idiots" she mumbled to herself. She was currently walking, more like stomping her way through the frozen woods when the sound of a twig snapping made her senses alert. She expertly slipped a kunai out of her holster and sent the weapon hurtling towards the direction where the sound came from. A loud yelp came from behind a tree where she sent her kunai "Alright, alright you found me" a woman's voice came from the tree. "Get down here" Sakura ordered the unknown woman.

Down came a woman with night black hair and beautiful yet unique colored eyes that consisted of a hazel color and an azure blue outlining her black pupil. She was wearing a gray coat that covered her entire body and a ninja headband that had the symbol of the Hidden Snow Country engraved on the smooth metal. Once those eyes met with her own she couldn't help but notice how familiar they looked. "I see you've grown, Sakura-chan and your aim hasn't failed yet" the woman grinned towards her.

**Luka1Sakura****: I finished this chapter so long ago and I wasn't able to update O.O Shame on me!!!! Well I hope this chapter was okay and I will be updating the next one soon! Thanks for reading and please review and if you've got flames…please be gentle! **


	5. Hurtful Truths and Missions to Complete

**Luka1Sakura:**** SORRY SORRY! Sorry about the super late update but here it is! I hope you don't hate me for lagging! **

**Flashback**

"_Sakura this is your squadron, and your sensei Luka" Sarutobi introduced the 5 year old girl to them. She could only cross her arms and glare them down as she looked Luka over from head to toe. The young woman consisting of black curly hair, similarly to a chunnin known as Kurenai in the village, and had hazel eyes with a touch of azure blue just around her pupils, pale smooth skin and wore a regular black skin tight muscle shirt and black cargo pants, black ninja sandals and her leaf headband on her forehead. "Sakura, at least __**try**__ to get along with them. This is your grandfather's wish after all" the old man warned her as her eyes backed down and she settled with glaring at her feet like the child she was. _

_He left and Luka-sensei approached her "My names Luka Miyuki from the Miyuki clan and I'm your sensei" she introduced herself cheerfully towards the young girl. "Obviously" Sakura mumbled as rolled her eyes at the woman she now deemed as an idiot in her eyes. Luka ignored the smart remark at turned to her students "Alright guys introduce yourselves ….and be nice" she warned them as they just stared as she lowered her voice in the end dangerously. _

_The boy with messy, silver white hair and deep green eyes stepped forward and grinned broadly towards her; he wore a sandy colored t-shirt with a loose dark brown vest with short sleeves over it, and wore tan colored cargo shorts and the regular ninja sandals and wore his leaf headband on his forehead proudly. _

"_What's up, my names Satoru Miyuki! I like training, hanging out with Kasumi, and I like summer! And my goal is to become just as strong as Kasumi here!" he introduced himself a little too enthusiastically for Sakura's taste which made her scowl. _

_The girl with shoulder length, silver white hair and also deep but a lighter shade of green eyes, shewore a grey muscle shirt and a black vest that looked similarly to the one Satoru wore. _

_She looked Sakura in the eye steadily and spoke calmly "My name is Kasumi Miyuki as Satoru said earlier. I like to read, and my goal in life is to become ANBU" never moving her gaze from Sakura. Sakura continued to glare at her new female teammate "Sakura Haruno" she said simply as she narrowed her eyes even further towards Kasumi. _

_She heard Luka cough to gain their attention Kasumi kept her gaze on Sakura and she did the same; but they both backed off and looked over to their sensei. "Well how about we start our team training you guys. Let's give Sakura-hime time to adjust to her new team" she told them. Sakura hated that she called her 'princess' only because of her position in the Haruno clan, everyone in the Haruno clan called her it because she was superior to them because her grandfather was the clan leader, even though she was a mere 5 year old. She didn't want that here, not with her new team and she was not going to allow it because she had no right in being superior to her sensei and teammates. _'I might not want to be in this team but I don't have a choice, and I might as well try to be nice and friendly'_ she thought reluctantly as she took a deep breath._

"_Luka….-sensei?" She called out uncomfortably uncrossing her arms and letting them fall to her sides slowly as Satoru and Kasumi stopped walking towards their designated places to train. Luka seemed surprised by Sakura's uncertain voice but responded either way "Yes, Sakura-hime" she answered with a smile, and Sakura grimaced "Can you please not call me that; just Sakura is fine, sensei. I only want to be a student to you, not someone from the Haruno clan" she didn't order her like others would have done in her position, she asked kindly. Which made Luka and Satoru smile widely "Of course, is Sakura-chan alright with you?" Luka suggested and that made Sakura smile towards her new sensei for the first time "Yeah, I don't mind". _

_As she caught her teammates smile towards her as well "I can't wait for you to hang out with me and niichan here!" Satoru exclaimed as he took her hand to pull her gently towards him and then swung his arm around her small shoulders, Sakura blinked and looked between the two "You two are brother and sister?" she asked curiously with a finger on her lips thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, yes" Kasumi said with a tired sigh but held a glint of amusement in her light eyes. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean, sis?" Satoru whined as his sister chuckled and Sakura let herself laugh quietly. _

**End Flashback**

Sakura blinked and the images faded back to the snow covered forest and a young woman grinning back at her "Luka-sensei" Sakura spoke just above a whisper. "A+ for you Sakura! You've always been known as a little genius!" she smiled broadly towards the stunned pinkette. Sakura could only stare at her ex-sensei in shock "But…but I thought you were…gone. Why are you here in Snow Country?" she stepped forward and continued to stare at the woman, observing. "Well after what had happened, we thought you were dead with the rest of the Haruno clan—" she began but Sakura cut her off "What do you mean, what happened to the Haruno clan? What clan?" she barked back.

"Sakura…" Luka stared at the teenager bewildered "What are you talking about? The Haruno clan—you're family, your clan…their gone. They were massacred…" she told her sadly as she searched Sakura's eyes for any sign of recognition. "No, no my parents aren't dead…they're fine, they're safe in Konoha. And what the hell are you talking about?" she spoke in a hush tone, not knowing what to say. She couldn't stand to keep looking the woman in the eyes, so she yanked them away from sight and settled with staring down at the blanket of snow beneath her feet. "Sakura, what's happened to you? Don't you remember… your parents, your little brother? Your entire clan! They died…and we thought you did too". "I don't have a clan! And I never had a younger brother!" Sakura glared at the woman and threw kunais at her but she dodged it and moved to get closer to the pinkette. "How can you **FORGET** your little brother?" Luka took a hold of her shoulders and shook her lightly as she kept a stern eye on her.

"What?" Luka looked down at her with sad eyes and loosened her grip on her shoulders "How can you forget little Kimi-chan". Hearing the all too familiar name made her look up to the woman with wide eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek "Kimi…chan…"

**Flashback**

"_Nii-chan, nii-chan! Let's play!" a 4 year old boy yanked on his sister's arm to drag her to the courtyard of the compound. "Alright, alright Kimi-chan! Just stop pulling me!" she giggled as her brother just smiled and continued to yank her away to her demise of playing….ninja. _

_Everything goes white when she finds herself once again holding her limp brother in her arms and flames dancing their way through houses.__ Her brother smiled weakly up at her "Big…sister?" he called out to her in a hushed tone. "Yes Kimi-kun it's me. I'm right here with you" she assured him as a sad smile reached her own face. His silver, blue eyes seem to hollow with every passing second that it made the girl tear up more. Her lip quivered as she tried to hold in a sob that was trying to escape. Blood slowly spilled from the corners of his mouth as he choked on the metallic tasting substance, staining his pale skin. He made to speak but all that escaped was a gurgling sound until his eyes darkened to such a frightening dull color as his breath left his body. _

**End Flashback**

"Kimi…no…my otouto…he's gone. He can't be gone!" she pushed away from Luka's hold and fell to her knees as she felt herself suddenly weaken_. 'No…then those dreams they're all real. That all really happened. My parents…my brother…'_ another tear rolled down her face _'Kimi-chan…they're all dead'_ she bit down on her lip as she held in her sob. **'You have to open your eyes…'** she heard a soft voice echo in her mind _'It's you again, the one from before when I was fighting Itachi…'_ Sakura stiffened as the voice spoke again. **'Yeah, and it's time you accept that those dreams that you've been having…aren't dreams'** she continued as her voice began to grow stronger. _'Then my parents back in Konoha aren't really my parents…'_ the thought angered her. _'They've been lying to me this whole damn time!'_ her hands turned into fists and her body shook, "They lied to me…" her voice quivered as she tried not to cry, then she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looks up and finds Luka looking down at her in an expressionless look. "Sakura" she called out to her as her face soften into a smile.

She heard an all too familiar voice screaming and shouting, and she shot to her feet "Naruto! You idiot what have you gotten yourself into this time!" she exclaimed as she let the cold wind wipe her tears as she took off towards her friend. _'Damn'_ she cursed as she stumbled across a wall _'Where the hell is he?'_ she let her eyes roam as she heard him shouting "Hey shut up! I can make it!" followed by the sound of a train moving at top speed. "What the…" she leaned on the wall and felt it vibrate uncontrollably as she heard the roar of an engine grow louder. "Oh crap!" she took off following the wall of the cave that they had traveled through with the crew.

She sprinted all the way to the entrance of the cave and she saw Naruto sprawled out on the floor and laughing as the annoying actress just stared at him in awe "Hey, what's going on here? Who are these people?" Luka came out of nowhere and startled Sakura.

"What the hell? Luka, what are you doing here!" she growled as she finally realized the train that had been chasing Naruto had stopped just in front of where they had parked the vehicles.

She felt herself being yanked from her arm and taken just behind the train "You didn't have to pull me like I was a damn ragdoll!" she hissed quietly. "Hush! The so-called-Lord-Dotou is after princess Koyuki again. Geez that man is irritating!" Luka spoke as she peaked to see who the intruder was. "It's been a long time Koyuki" she heard a deep voice sound through a microphone "So it's been ten years? Now let's see your face" he continued as Sakura tried to listen, but Luka seemed to push her as she tried to lean in to listen as well, which annoyed her.

"Hey! Watch it! You know I am sick and tired of you following me around!" she whispered harshly into Luka's face as a loud rumbling crash sounded, but she chose to ignore it as Luka stared at her strangely. "Umm…I think—" she began but Sakura just shoved her a little "I don't need this right now Luka! I seriously don't need this right now! I'm currently on a mission and I can't concentrate on it if you're here reminding me of what I wish didn't happen!" Sakura told her as her anger began to rise. "I understand that but—" Luka was once again cut short by Sakura "I'm not done yet! As I was saying…only because you were my sensei once doesn't mean you can push me around and junk! I don't even know you anymore, how can I? Apparently I don't even know myself and—" Luka finally lost it and covered Sakura's mouth with her gloved hand. Sakura can only glare at her past sensei "Right now is not the time for this Sakura…" and she took a deep breath as she removed her hand from Sakura's face and shifted her eyes away from her and in the direction of all the loud commotion on the other side of the train.

"Looks like—" she was cut off when she heard the sound of men yelling; the sound of kunais whizzing and slicing and stabbing and all was silent. "Son-of-a-Crappers!" (-_-'…idk I say that sometimes lol) Sakura cursed and moved back and charged chakra into her fist "Shannaro!" she yelled her battle cry and slammed her chakra packed fist onto the rough metal of the train and it was sent flying, well….most of it. Apparently, they had unlatched the connections to the main car that had survived her brutal attack and had driven off on the tracks "Damn it! That's cheating you jerks!" she whined while shaking her fist in a silent threat. She looked up the hill of snow and froze at what she saw; hundreds of men were lying there dead as their blood tainted the pure, white snow, and watched Sandayuu as he lay on the snow where he had fallen.

The flashes of the people she once deemed as family crossed her mind but she was brought back to reality by a kunai aimed for her head. She flipped away from the attack while shaking her head to clear herself of the memories _'I have to stay focused or I'll get myself killed'_ she reprimanded herself as her feet touched the snow and she took a deep breath. The kunai had come from the train car that had launched the kunais before and had exploded causing some kunais to be launched.

Sakura shook herself from the adrenaline still active on her body and ran over to the old man that was dying there as he spoke with Yuki. She skidded to her knees next to the man but saw that it was too late and once again reprimanded herself for not being focused. She looked to her left and saw that Yuki had not spared a tear for the man that had given his all in trying to keep his country and his princess safe. "You should be satisfied" she began as she stood to her feet and Sakura did the same as she moved aside and a step away from the small group.

"Let's go home. If we stay in this country any longer, you won't survive. We're heading back" she stated firmly as she began to walk away and brushed shoulders with Sakura who grimaced at the contact.

"What are you going back to? This is your home, how could you just leave it the way it is now!" Naruto barked out as he narrowed his blue eyes towards her. She only stared at him blankly over her shoulder and spoke "You don't know anything. There's no spring in this country. It's a place where your tears freeze and your heart will turn to stone!" she shot back coldly as she turned away from them. _'This woman just doesn't get it after so many gave up their lives for her'_ she thought angrily "But you can change that if you fought back. At least…" Sakura looked back at the pale man lying on the wooden board dead "That's what the old man believed, so why can't you?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" she stubborn woman countered as she walked away from them. "Hey, wait!" Naruto kept trying as he ran to her and took a hold of her wrist and held her there. Sakura felt a prickly feeling at the tip of her senses and shifted her eyes away from the two momentarily and became alert. "Leave me alone!" Yuki shouted and pulled her arm away from Naruto.

Then a huge blimp thing appeared just beside the cliff "What the…?" Sakura took a step forward and then the big dude with the grappler sent his grappler at Yuki and pulled her with him up in the air and into the blimp. The chick with the mechanical wings shot kunais with little bead looking things hanging off of them which summoned large icicles where it landed. "Oh shit!" Sakura cursed as she jumped away to safety along with Kakashi and Sasuke. Also successfully destroying their vehicles and the enemy flew away while they were busy getting themselves to safety. "Sakura, where's Naruto?" Sasuke called out to her and she looked around "He's…" she looked up and saw him hanging from the blimp as it flew away. "Argh! That idiot!" she blurted out she a vein pulsed on her forehead.

"Well that went well…we lost the princess, the oh-so-intelligent Naruto went after her without us, and now we have to save both of their butts" Sakura muttered as she walked towards Kakashi and Sasuke as they finished up on making sure everyone (the film crew) was okay, and getting them to safety. "Stop complaining Sakura" she jumped at the sudden voice that came out of nowhere and whipped her head to where it came from.

There she saw Luka in all her glory smiling back at her "What the HELL! You're still here! Stop following me, I swear I'll—" she stopped her ranting as she caught Kakashi and Sasuke staring at the two. "And who might this be Sakura, a friend?" Kakashi looked between the two a bit awkwardly. "Who? Her?" she threw her thumb towards the woman beside her "Yeah, we met up while I was searching for the damn woman. Don't tell me you forgot her Kakashi? You knew her once" Sakura spoke as she wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

"Yeah Kakashi I believe we knew each other in the past. Luka Miyuki never forgets her long lost friends!" she shouted randomly as she grinned like an idiot. "So that's where Sakura get's it…" Sakura heard Sasuke mutter to himself. "Excuse me? Did you say something?" her hands on her hips and her pink hair flowing as a breeze passed by, her emerald jewels glaring back at him with so much intensity he thought he would burst in flames in the cold. "No…" he said unsure of his own words as he looked away from the frightening pink haired girl. "That's what I thought you stuck up Uchiha" she huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes away from her teammate.

She looked back at her sensei and ex-sensei and cleared her throat loudly as they began to make idle chit-chat "If the chit-chatting is done and over with, we should really come up with a plan to save Naruto and the snobby woman" she suggested as they both blushed lightly and cut the 'chit-chat' as Sakura called it. "Actually, I need to speak with you Sakura-hime" Luka informed her as she stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

Sakura scowled at the woman distastefully "Don't call me that" she told her sternly as the two male in the group stared at the two curiously. "Sakura-hime, I really need to speak with you about something!" Luka pressed on as she stared her down with her calculating hazel eyes. "Just stop calling me that!" Sakura ground out as she clenched her hands into fists angrily and took a deep breath "Please…" she finished calmly. "I'm sorry…I need to speak with you about something….Sakura" she rephrased quietly without formalities this time.

Without a confirmation towards the woman Sakura just turned to walk off as she spoke over her shoulder "I'll be right back you guys, it won't take long" she reassured them as she walked on and Luka followed close behind.

* * *

"So what's so important that you had to delay my mission Luka?" Sakura began as they came to a halt when they felt they were far enough from her teammates, and looked back at her old sensei. "If it's about moving with the Miyuki clan than don't bother; I have some things to settle and my life is back in Konoha." Luka could only stare back at her best student with sad eyes. "No, as much as I would love that, that's not what I needed to talk to you about. The thing is, Siren-sama…sorta…well she sort of knew you were out there somewhere and she told me that if by some miracle that I would run into you that I would give you this…invitation if you will. She asked me to invite you to come back to finish your training with the Miyuki clan like it was agreed, she also said that she wanted to see how much you've grown" Luka chuckled at the last part of her message but quickly let that fall.

"Siren…wow I haven't heard that name in a long time. I'm not sure if I can accept this invitation Luka, like I said I have things to settle and I need to be in Konoha for those things to happen" a light smile lightening her tired features ",and I miss everyone, but I can't…at least not now" she finished.

Luka nodded in understanding as she approached her more "Well the offer will be there and well will be waiting Sakura. Just remember that you can't learn what you need to learn back in Konoha, you are one of us after all" she grinned down at the pre teen and ruffled her pink locks and shoved something into her gloved hand. "I think you forgot this by the way, you still are part of the team" she told her sweetly. Sakura looked down at her hand and stared at one of the most prized possessions form when she was younger. In her hand lay a silver necklace a gold circle symbolizing the Haruno clan and connected to that, a white gold circle symbolizing the Miyuki clan.

"My necklace…the one that my gennin team gave me" her voice shook at the memory of Kasumi and Satoru argued on who would be giving it to her, but in the end Luka just snatched it from them and just gave it to her stating that she was officially part of their team.

She fought to gulp down her tears as she looked back at Luka "You kept it after all this time…" Luka could only laugh in her face "Now, now I didn't give it to you so that you could get all sentimental! You've gotten soft Sakura-chan, what happened to the tough little girl that wouldn't let anyone put her down!" she continued teasing her. She smiled to herself as Sakura continued to stare at the necklace and held it firmly in her hand as she curled in her fingers. "Well I—" she gets cut off when she feels the wind knocked out of her, she looks down and finds Sakura hugging the hell out of her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squeezed her mid section affectionately as she continued to snuggle her face into her shirt. Luka could only settle for patting her gently on the back of the head and hugging her with her other arm "No problem kiddo. Now go back to your team, they need you" she let her go and wiped her joy filled tears away.

Sakura made to wipe more of her tears with her sleeve and laughs at her stupidity but nods either way "I'll see you again sensei, and tell Kasumi and Satoru that I'll I see them one day too" she told her old sensei as she placed her necklace around her neck and tucked under her cloak so that it wouldn't hang out and get lost by getting caught on something. "I'll make sure to tell them" with one last hug and a goofy grin from her sensei they parted ways and they both hoped they would see each other again.

"Where's Luka, Sakura?" Kakashi questioned her when she returned to the two alone. "She had to go back to her village. But enough of Kakashi's crush…what's the plan for finding and retrieving Naruto and Koyuki?" She waved the subject away and grinned mischievously at her sensei, glancing towards Sasuke as he smirked in amusement as their sensei's face began to redden.

* * *

"Both of you understand the plan right?" Kakashi asked his students, he only received a do-we-look-stupid-to-you-look, and a grunt from the other. Kakashi sweat dropped at his students odd personalities. _'Why must I put up with this?' _he wondered as they took off to their destination. "Guys, they're doing something to Naruto…something to his chakra. It keeps fading little by little. I can't explain it…" Sakura told them as she closed her eyes and tried to sense Naruto flickering chakra. She opened them and looked at the two solemnly "In that case…then we need to hurry it up" Kakashi told them, as they readied for the battle to come, "Hai".

* * *

'_Damn it's cold! How can people stand to live in a place like this?'_ Sakura tried to refrain from chattering her teeth as a cold wind blew, she felt Sasuke on her left move "Would you stop shivering. You'll give us away" he reprimanded her coldly. Sakura scowled at his assholeness "Shut it Teme, at least I have feelings to feel the damn weather. You're a popsicle enough so you can't feel shit" Sakura whispered to him harshly. He tsked and she could feel the roll of his eyes.

Sakura mumbled curses to myself as they waited for the signal "Stupid….Teme….Damn…Weather…Asshole…Popsicle…". An explosion on the side of the castle went off she jumped slightly before Sasuke and Sakura took off into the castle to follow on their plan.

They ran corridor after corridor, hall after freaking hall looking for a way to get to Naruto. He was on one of the top floors, Sakura could sense him there but they couldn't get in with all the guards running around as well. Sakura gasped as she felt Naruto's chakra began to move fast "Sakura, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked her as he looked at her from over his shoulder "Naruto seems to have escaped, he's heading up higher. I'm sure he has Koyuki with him." She told him as they stopped running and looked up, the elevator was moving and going upwards and narrowed her eyes _'That must be him'_. She took off and climbed up the metal bars that held the elevator shaft together, Sasuke in tow. She spotted a guard on a side platform and could see that Kakashi had found Naruto and Koyuki, she jumped high and kicked him swiftly, and the guy flew to the small bridge where her team was chatting and into a hall, knocking him out in the process.

Naruto looked up with a smile "Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme!" he called out in awe. She jumped down next to them "I see you got yourself out Naruto" she nodded towards him as he smiled. "Enough chit chat, we need to go" Kakashi cut in as Koyuki ran off to show us the way out. _'Strange…'_ Sakura narrowed her eyes as she stared at the back of the woman as she led them into a large throne room.

A man's chuckle sounded as we stopped in the room, a light was turned on and they saw Dotou standing from his seat on the large chair on a platform that was led by a set of stairs. "Dotou" Kakashi called out to the man as we readied ourselves for anything that might happen. "Well done, Koyuki" he began as we looked back at the woman standing in front of us _'I knew there was something wrong…the traitor' _I fisted my hands as I watched her run up the stairs "Wait!" Kakashi made to run after her but was held back by the three Snow Ninjas. We watched as she handed the real hex crystal to the damn man.

"This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you-!" Sakura crossed my arms and rolled her eyes "Not really" Sakura said smugly "-After all I am an actress aren't I?" she told us with a taunting edge to her voice. I uncrossed my arms as I noticed something strange from when she said that last part. _'Her eyes twinkled as she stared right at me, then that means…'_ Sakura smirked as she grasped the true meaning to her words.

"And there you have it! Another brilliant performance by the great Yukie Fujikase" Dotou bellowed as he smiled triumphantly at us. Sakura glanced towards Naruto and she could see the betrayal in his eyes, Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder but looked onwards towards Dotou and Koyuki with the smirk still on her face.

"Yes, it was ALL an act!" she unsheathed the knife that had once belonged to Sandayuu and stabbed Dotou with it and he grunted. "I told you didn't I? I'm an actress!" she shouted as she kept the knife in place. "Damn You!" Dotou slams his right hand on her throat and wraps his fingers around her neck and squeezes. "I knew about this, Naruto. I knew when I came here; I knew I was going to die" she wheezed out as Dotou continued to squeeze the life out of her. "That's why…at least…" she began to force Dotou into taking steps back as he began to growl at her annoyance.

"Stop it, Princess!" Naruto shouted as he moved his hands wildly around himself like usual when he shouted.

"Naruto…it was all thanks to you…I was always running, till the very end" her voice began to get weaker as she was kept in the strangle hold. "NO! What you're doing right now, it's the same as running away! You can't die!" Naruto continued to shout loudly as Dotou and Yukie neared the edge of the platform. Koyuki mumbled something else but it went unheard to them down below. And then they tilted and time slowed as Team 7 continued to watch as they fell. Sakura felt herself lean forward in a jerk as they fell to the ground with a thud.

"PRINCESS!" Naruto ran to Koyuki's body and reached out to her as he neared but Dotou violently punched him hard in the face and sent him flying backwards.

The damn man chuckled as Naruto landed away from him with his fist still in the air. "Like I'll die from this weak weapon" he began as he untied his robes and made the knife fall to the ground with a clinging sound. And he slowly slid off his robes to reveal his chakra armor underneath. Sakura held herself from shouting about putting his clothes back on but this was not the time. "That's right, this is the new advanced model of chakra armor!" he told them with a cruel smirk on his lips.

Koyuki's sudden coughing caught her attention as Dotou approached her and grabbed her around the waist. "Keep your filthy hands off of her!" Naruto made to stand up as he charged him but he was hit in the face again with a back handed punch and sent skidding on the floor. "Naruto!" Koyuki shouted as she tried to struggle her way out of his hold. "It's pointless. You're chakra is completely sealed" he stated as Koyuki started pounding him as to let her go.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she glanced towards Naruto to finally notice the device that was on his abdomen _'So that's what was messing with his chakra!'_ Sakura looked back at the man and glared at him _'The bastard!'_ she crouched as to charge at him too but she was distracted by the ceiling exploding and Dotou was taken up towards it by a wire on his back. Naruto shot a kunai with a rope attached to it as it caught around Koyuki's arm and he was taken with them through the ceiling.

The place began to collapse as Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura jumped out of the way of falling debris. They made their way out as they watched the place burn and Dotou flying away with their client as Naruto fell into the trees after Dotou cut the rope.

"I swear that woman is going to be the death of Naruto" Sakura grunted as she landed next to her team. "Let's go" Kakashi ordered as they took off after them.

* * *

"Can you locate them Sakura?" Sasuke glanced back at her as they traveled through the forest covered in a blanket of snow at night. Sakura focused her chakra and searched the area for any unknown chakra signatures. She found none and confirmed it with Sasuke "It's clear for now". They needed to locate them for the plan to go smoothly. The plan was simple, all they had to do was get rid of two of the snow ninjas working under Dotou and after that they were to relocate with Kakashi and then go after Dotou and Naruto who was sure to be on the man's tail. Then they would hunt Dotou down and mission over, then back home to Konoha. Well, the heading back home wasn't the plan but it was defiantly something she was planning on doing right after this mission, that's for sure.

A spike of chakra caught her attention "They're here" she informed Sasuke as she nodded toward the direction where she sensed the chakras. She heard Sasuke grunt confirming that he felt them now too. They sent their ice bombs at them from above as they continued to run through the forest. "Sakura, now?" Sasuke asked her as they dodged the explosions of icicles that were thrown their way. "Not yet!" she shouted back as she calculated just how far away they were from the enemy. Sakura tumbled forward, down a hill as the woman fly over her head. Sakura watched and observed as the woman flew away from her and behind a tree. "I get it" she mumbled as she shouted towards Sasuke's direction "After five seconds, turn twenty degrees left and run thirty meters ahead! That's where it is!" she ordered him "Alright!" he sent a wire towards the branch she was talking about.

The guy with a board went down a hill towards Sakura "Whatever you do, it's useless!" he told them in his rusty voice. Sakura stood up from her crouch and lifted her arms up to reveal her hidden kunai with pink ribbons on the ends of them. She shoots them towards him but as usual, none of them hits him as they turn into tiny pieces of paper. "I told you it's useless" he grounded out as he continued onwards to her. She ignored him and continued to throw her kunai. He suddenly jumps off his board and looks around as the papers float down to the ground scattering around him. One lands on his arm as he glances at it. "Sakura Blizzard Jutsu!" she sends one last kunai at him and on contact the whole area explodes and sends the other woman flying backwards and into the trap that Sasuke had laid earlier with his wire.

She flips and lands on a tree branch with her arms and torso tied with wire. And jumps off of that branch "We Snow ninja aren't that weak!" she shouted with a feral grin. "Maybe" Sasuke appears right behind her and catches her by surprise "Lions Barrage!" he sends her flying downwards as he lands his final kick on her and sends her rocketing into her partner. A strange purple light shines as they come in contact and scream as their bodies explode. Sasuke lands next to Sakura and looks back where the explosion had taken place. "What the hell happened?" he questioned hoping she would know. "I'm not sure…" she contemplated all the possibilities as to why they would have exploded. Then it struck her "..but maybe.." she zeroed in on the light purple orb on the back of the woman's armor.

She walked toward the two bodies and kicked the guy away gently to keep them away. And kneeled next to the girl "What are you doing?" Sasuke asked as he approached her as he eyed her curiously. She wrapped her fingers around the purple orb and yanked it out of the armor. "This is what made them explode on contact" she opened her hand and showed him the shining rock. "I can't believe I never noticed it. They always stood apart from each other because they knew that if these orbs came in contact with each other or near each other, that they would cause a reaction" she began as she stared at it in her hand. Sasuke looked back at her as he caught on to what she was trying to say. "Their powers are so strong that if they get too close they cancel each other out, thus causing the explosion" she finished as she smiled in triumph.

Sasuke smiled one of his rare smiles at her and chuckled "I guess that big forehead really does come in handy" he told her as his smile turned into a mischievous smirk. Sakura's cheeks flushed in anger at his insult/compliment. "You..you…TEME!" she shouted as she made to tackle him but stopped as he spoke again. "We should go and help Naruto, we might just help him win against that guy now that we know the armors weakness" he told her seriously. She glared at him but agreed nonetheless "Fine, let's go help the idiot" she said as they took off towards where they saw a bright light.

* * *

"Hmm?" she looked back from the direction where they came from as she sensed Kakashi chakra spike and his opponent's chakra fizzle out. "What's wrong?" Sasuke asked her as he glanced back at her. She looked back forwards and smirked "Kakashi's done" she told him, he smirked as well and they continued on. She felt Dotou's chakra spike which meant he was facing off Naruto and not soon after she felt an inhumanly strong chakra coming from the direction where Naruto and Dotou should be.

'_Could it be the Kyuubi? I can't believe how strong it is! Then back at Wave that weird feeling I had…it felt just like this one…does that mean that Naruto lost control or if the seal was broken?'_ she shook her head she just didn't know, but she was going to find out when they got to him.

"There they are" she heard Sasuke speak as she snapped back down to Earth and stared at the beautiful place before them. Six huge ice like mirrors glowed with chakra and made the area warmer, and much brighter from where they once were. She looked back at Sasuke who was about ready to join the fight when she stopped him. "Sasuke, wait!" he relaxed a fraction and looked back at her with raised brows "Here, take it. Use it first against his to weaken it and then shatter his with Chidori. It should work" she told him as she placed the orb into his hand and nodded for him to go. He nodded back, understanding the plan and took off, charging up his Chidori.

He did as she instructed but he was only able to make it crack as he was punched into a wall of ice. Sakura tsked in annoyance "Damn, he was low on chakra so he wasn't able to use the jutsu properly" she searched the area for Naruto but he was nowhere on sight. '_Where is he?'_ she wondered as she felt his chakra spike again with the Kyuubi's power underneath them. "Naruto!" she called out to him which gained the attention of Dotou. She jumped down to face the guy and tossed a kunai towards the guy with something attached to the end of it. He smiled and stood as he waited for the kunai to bounce off of his armor but was surprised to have it struggling to get passed the barrier with the same reaction that the other orb did with Sasuke. He slapped the thing away and stared at the kunai that had a piece of the orb attached to it. "You little BRAT!" he fumed as he glared Sakura down.

"Son of a Whore! Why won't you just die already old man!" Sakura growled as she noticed that she just made another crack to his armor's chakra armor. She jumped back just as she felt Naruto's chakra spike again, got Sasuke out of harm's way before getting her butt out of there. Hundreds of Naruto's shot out of the water "I'll pay back what you did to me, with interest!" he threatened.

'_Such chakra, it seems like Naruto is in full control of the Kyuubi's chakra. It seems Naruto just keeps surprising me'_ she thought as she smiled at her friend's improvement and his way in making her in awe of him. _'That idiot'_ she smirked at her insult.

Dotou created some kind of tornado with a jutsu that destroyed all of Naruto's clones. The guy starts laughing maniacally to himself, thinking it was over and that he had won. "I told you, it's not over yet" Naruto growled as the smoke began to clear as he appeared charging his Rasengan "If you say something is over, it means that justice prevails and evil loses! It's obvious that the story will have a happy ending!" he grinned at the evil man, Sakura in her position away from the battle and holding an unconscious Sasuke in her arms couldn't help but roll her eyes at her teammate "How corny can you get Naruto" she snorted with a grin of her own.

"Naruto, I believe in you! You're a great ninja!" she shouted to him with a light smile. "I already know that!" his grin widened as he charged Dotou with his Rasengan in hand. The sun began to peak out of the clouds that were constant in Snow Country and reflected it's light off of the huge mirrors surrounding them. The light that bounced off the mirrors shined down on Naruto making his chakra glow into seven colors brightly. "The seven colored chakra, just like in the movie" Sakura looked on in awe as Kakashi joined her.

"Take this! Rasengan!" and with that he thrust his chakra ball into Dotou's chest, successfully breaking the armor's source of chakra and making Dotou's body spin out and slamming into one of the mirrors, his entire armor gone from his being and breaking the mirror as he fell.

Instantly, the skies became a beautiful shade of day blue, the snow became green, lush, grass, ice became clear water, and snow was replaced by fields of wild flowers. The sun was shining down on them as the winter day became spring. Sitting on the warm grass with Sasuke on her lap, Sakura watched on as Koyuki soon realized that she was a true princess to this land and stared as Yukie laughed to herself. She felt Sasuke groan as he struggled to wake up; she placed her hand on his forehead and let her medical chakra relax his body. His eyes soon opened to find his pink haired teammate staring back at him with a gentle smile on her face and her soft cool hand on his forehead. "You finally waking up from your very much needed beauty nap Sasuke-kun?" she drawled out and exaggerated the way she said his name with the mocking formality. He smirked and shot back "I don't need it as much as you do" she chuckled as they both found themselves staring into each others eyes, her warm emerald eyes stared into his own dark coal eyes as she moved her hand form his forehead to his chest, and she looked away with that same smile on her face. But he kept his eyes on her and noticed just how beautiful she was as her hair swayed in the light breeze and how her eyes sparkled in happiness, and they stayed that way; enjoying the warm feeling of the sun on their skin and the tickling grass underneath them.

The night was long as the mission was completed successfully, recuing Naruto and the Princess, Naruto defeating Dotou, bringing spring to the Land of Snow. Now here she was seated on the new warm grass with Sasuke lying on her lap. Naruto was passed out on the other side from where she and Sasuke were and Kakashi was standing close by, smiling up to the sky. Sakura looked towards the laughing Princess as she cried tears of joy, and Sakura couldn't help but smile at the woman. _'She'll be a great leader for the Land of Snow'_ Sakura pondered as she breathed out tiredly. And reached for the necklace that Luka had given her, she stared at the pendant and frowned at it; the memories of what had occurred so many years ago flashing in her mind and the invitation that was given to her from Luka to train with her sister clan again. She was at loss at what to do but that thought was for another time. She let the necklace fall from her fingers and onto her chest as the sun reflected its light on it, making Sasuke stare at the unique necklace and wondered when she had gotten that, but brushed it aside and relaxed under the sun.

Sakura sighed in relief _'Now it was time to go home and relax after their hard mission'_.

* * *

Sakura shrieked as she made to dodge another dodge ball that her Tsunade had sent flying towards her at high speed with the help of her terrifying strength. Sakura leaned on her knees as she desperately tried to regain her breath "What's wrong Sakura, Tired? You know stopping for a break will only get you…HIT!" she sent a ball soaring at her again and it hit its mark. That single bouncing ball sent Sakura flying backwards about 20 ft. and into a couple of trees. "God damn it! This old hag is trying to kill me!" she choked out as she rubbed her abdomen, which was where the ball had hit her.

She tried to sit up but failed miserably and fell onto her back again. "And I thought I was going to have some time to relax after a mission. What was I thinking?" she asked herself sarcastically. She groaned when she heard Tsunade yelling at her to get her skinny little ass up, as she put it. "This old woman is going to be the death of me" she muttered as she tried to sit up again and stared back her blond sensei grin back at her.

"Who said it was break time?" she asked her as she tossed a ball in each hand up in the air. "Shit" and she continued to dodge her godmother's tirade of dodge balls.

**Luka1Sakura****: Sorry AGAIN! About the super late update, I was in my final semester of high school and I was stressin' over the last grades or the year and graduation stuff; and then major writers block, lol. I'm so happy I was able to update after so long. Don't be mad…and I hope the small SAKURA and SASUKE moment wasn't too much or disappointing to you. Truth is I don't plan on having her pair up with anyone, but who knows I might just change my mind. lol Anyway, just hope I get enough nice reviews that will INSPIRE me to write these next chapters! PLEASE REVIEW! Ja ne ^u^ **


	6. In the Darkness there is always Light

**Luka1Sakura:**** Now I know what you guys are gonna say, and I'm sorry about pretty much being on and unspoken hiatus for over a year. Started college last year and I have been super busy. And when I was just days from updating, my hard drive died and I haven't been able to recover all of my stuff. I was pissed that I just didn't want to write it again. But alas I have come back. This is shorter than my usual chapters but I just had to give you guys a lil something. This is I just a small filler, if you can call it that, but it still connects to the story. Enjoy! **

It's been about 3 weeks since Team 7's mission to Snow Country. And throughout those 3 weeks Team 7's members were each doing their own thing. Naruto was out training with that perverted old man Jiraiya. Sasuke was being busy brooding and training with the other perverted old man, Kakashi. And Sakura, well she's been busy too. Getting the shit kicked out of her by the one and only Hokage, Tsunade— or what Sakura calls her, The Drunken Old Lady, or Drunky, or Granny.

So on this sunny day that was the usual for the great Hidden Village in the Leaves, the birds continue to sing, the citizens continue to chatter in the busy streets and a pink haired kunoichi is once again… running away from an enraged Drunken Old—eh I mean, a young and beautiful (looking) blond woman.

"BRAAAAAAAATTTTTT!" **BOOM!**

A strangled cry fell from the pinkette's lips as she failed to dodge the crazy (old) woman's punch and flew across a clearing that just so happened to be there. Skidding on the dirt and tumbling to a halt by a nice, firm tree. She groaned weakly as she tried to get up but fell right on her face with a thud.

She heard the familiar clacking of the heeled ninja sandals that her mentor was known for as well as her assistant (Shizune). The sound coming to a sharp stop just inches from where the pinkette's head lay. Said pinkette slowly lifted her head up to look at the assaulter with another groan escaping her lips.

Looking up to be met by enraged hazel colored eyes of her sensei. The –now, constant vein protruding on her forehead when she was around her young apprentice. A weak smile stretched across the younger girl's face and she couldn't help but put more fuel to the flame "Hey Drunky, I didn't see you there." she laughed but it was cut short by a sandaled foot being stomped on the back of her head; slamming her face back to the dirt floor.

"You little brat!" the woman twisted her foot painfully onto her apprentice's head earning herself and whimper from the poor girl, to her utter delight. "You should know not to insult me during training. And I know you ratted me out to Shizune on where my secret sake stash was. I will make you regret that!" she bit out dangerously as she twisted her foot in a jerk for a more painful effect to the one afflicted.

The movement earning her sharp yelp from the poor victim beneath her, Tsunade sighed and released the poor kid from her unusual torture method. Sakura let out a relieved breath as she felt the pressure on her head disappear. She slowly moved her arms to pick herself up onto her knees. She slipped into an Indian style position as she rubbed the back of her head with a scowl on her face.

Tsunade couldn't help the smile that came to her face at the sight before her. The preteen was a mess, her clothes where ripped to shreds but she was still decently clothed. She had scrapes and bruises throughout her whole body. And her whole front half was covered in dirt. Her face being the worse out of all of her injuries, she was scraped painfully on her cheekbones, forehead and the tip of her nose was a bright red from being squashed in the dirt. And of course the dirt that littered her face. The scowl that she sported was the cherry on top which made such an adorable sight that Tsunade laughed outwardly at her student's dismay.

"Shut up! That hurt!" she whimpered as she rubbed her nose which made Tsunade's laugh ten times harder. Sakura let out a pout and tried to desperately rub her face clean from the dirt.

Finally quieting down Tsuande spoke with a restraining smirk to her face "Serves you right. Next time, keep your nose out of my stash and my business concerning Shizune." She warned seriously, with a warning glare.

'_Geez! And I thought I was bipolar!'_ Sakura thought, scared shitless out of her mind.

"You got that Brat!" Tsunade continued loudly as she leaned her chest forward almost in a bow with her hands on her waist.

"Hai!" Sakura's voice quivered in fear and breathed out in relief when the blond woman leaned back to full height.

"Good. Trainings over for today, I think I've taught you a very valuable lesson today." She said as she turned to walk away towards the direction of the Hokage Tower. "Oh and…" she stopped suddenly and looked over her shoulder "Kakashi asked me to tell you to meet up at the bridge at noon." She smiled and continued walking.

Sakura looked to her wrist red wristwatch which surprisingly was not destroyed or tattered on the material which read '2:24'. Looking back to her mentors back she screeched "But it's already past 2 o'clock!" as she leaped to her feet.

"Then you better hurry!" Tsunade advised with a lazy push of her hand in a 'skedaddle' way. Sakura whipped her head around and took off, hearing her mentor laughing evilly behind her.

Sakura reached the village in minutes and was jumping from rooftop to rooftop as fast as her bruised legs took her. Occasionally, waving a quick hello to certain villagers or ninjas that came her way. Finally catching sight of the familiar red bridge that was Team 7's meeting spot, she could faintly see a blob of yellow and orange, another of black and blue, and the last of silver and green. Distracted momentarily, her foot got caught to a loose shingle from one of the rooftops and she plummeted towards the bridge with a loud yelp. Falling through a nearby tree and finally reaching the ground, along with a branch that she had fallen into.

She groaned as she sat up and rubbed her arm from the trip in the tree and the impact to the ground. Opening her eyes, three curious gazes stared at her incredulously. "Uhhh…" she looked at every one of them and smiled nervously. "Sorry I'm late…" she started.

Naruto was the first to break the awkward silence when he smiled his most adorable smile "Nice entrance Sakura-chan!" he laughed as she clutched his stomach. Sasuke rolled his eyes but a small smile graced his small lips and Kakashi offered his hand to her with an eye crinkle. She took it gratefully and a quiet 'Thank you' and patted her tattered clothes down from the dirt from her fall and from her training with Tsunade.

"In any other situation I would have said that my tardiness is rubbing off on you but I'm sure there was a good explanation for you" Kakashi inquired as he took notice of her ruined clothes and the injuries adoring her small but fit frame.

"Uh, yea…" Sakura couldn't help but grin as she began "Tsunade felt she had to 'teach me a lesson'—" making air quotes as she said so ", for telling Shizune where her secret stash of sake was. I was just doing my duty in keeping Konoha safe from her drunken state" she explained with a light giggle, which Kakashi shook his head to, and Naruto gave her a high five, and Sasuke once again rolled his eyes. "And she decided to tell me that I had to meet you guys at noon after she beat the crap out of me" she finished it with a nervous laugh this time and rubbing her cheek at the horrible memory.

"I see…" Kakashi began as he seemed to be deciding if her explanation would suffice. "Well, I was going to have you guys freshen up on your team work since you guys have a mission tomorrow, but if you don't feel like you're up for it…"

Naruto and Sasuke seemed like they were about to protest but Sakura beat them to it, since the question was directed to her.

"No! No, I'm okay. It was just a beating and a little bit of running for my life. I can handle some real training." She assured him with a confident smile.

"Alright then. If you say you can handle it" a silver brow rose at that but he shook his head with a chuckle and they took off to their training ground, Training Ground 7. Kakashi gave her a questioning glance "You don't want to get a change of clothes before training…" he began to suggest.

"Nah, I'll be fine with these. Stop worrying so much sensei!" she whined with simple roll of her eyes.

"Fine" Sakura swore she heard that had come out of her sensei's mouth in a pout, but she shrugged it off as her imagination playing tricks on her.

"So what are we gonna do, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto just couldn't keep in in any longer, his sudden loud outburst kinda scared Sakura and she saw Sasuke smirk in her direction. Obviously, seeing her flinch and enjoying it too.

Sakura scowled as she crossed her arms and looked away from the cocky—_**'Stupid Uchiha'**_she heard a tiny voice in the back of her head say. She nodded inwardly in agreement to the voice's comment but froze _'Wait, was that my thought or someone else's?'_ she waited for some kind of response but there was none. _'What the hell am I thinking? Of course it was my own thought. Tsunade must be knocking my head too hard these past few weeks'_ she shook her head at her own stupidity.

"You guys got that?" Sakura was pulled from her thoughts at Kakashi's question.

"Wait, what? Got what?" she looked between her team for answers but they just looked at her in amusement.

"Spacing out like always, Idiot" Sakura glared at the cockatoo in her team.

"Shut up, you stupid bird butt!" she shot back, which earned her a glare from Sasuke. She smirked as she knew he hated being called a bird butt.

"You shut up! It's naturally like that!" he defended with a scowl.

"Then you're a natural stupid bird butt, BIRD BUTT!" she got in his face as she shouted. He growled and she growled right back as lightening shot between their eyes.

"And you're an idiot with a BIG FOREHEAD!" Sakura gasped and stumbled back at the insult as if she was shoved.

"That was mean, Bird Butt" she pouted and her eyes watered.

"Alright, alright you two, cut it out. Sakura we're going to be doing a free-for-all between all of you. Pay attention next time. You can't let your mind wander during a mission, it can jeopardize you and your team" he reprimanded.

"Hai, sensei" she scratched her forehead with a single digit ashamed and was upset that Sasuke didn't get any reprimanding. "Hm. Teacher's Pet" she mumbled as she strolled past Sasuke and grinned at Naruto as he had also heard the quiet insult. She reached Naruto's side as they both cackled as Sasuke fumed.

"Now, get ready" he told his young team. They suddenly became serious, except for Naruto. He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. They each moved away from each other and took their stances.

"Go!" Sasuke took off running into the forest, Naruto after him like always, Sakura laughed loudly as she took off after them through the trees. Kakashi smirked proudly at his student's improvement of personality and skill from when they first met. Especially, Sakura; she had improved the most out of the three, it wasn't his complete doing, but he was still proud. As weird as it was to see her insult Sasuke, he was proud of her. He chuckled to himself as he heard a girlish scream who he suspected to be Naruto's and a loud explosion after that. The ground giving a short tremor, he shook his head and took out his favorite book and began to read.

The sun was setting, and Naruto and Sasuke were still going at it. Sakura was beat figuratively and literally. Kakashi had to break them up before they spared into the next day. Sakura sighed as they walked to the ramen stand for the usual (or often, since the team rarely saw each other now) get-together after training.

After all of her training she still couldn't keep up with the other two. She was still behind, she was still…weak. Her eyes darkened as the thought came to mind _'I'm still weak.'_ her eyes moved from the ground she was walking on to the three that were walking just a bit ahead. _'Watching their backs like always Sakura'_ she mused to herself darkly, as she watched them chat between each other. They didn't need her. And they wouldn't miss her if she wasn't there. Her eyes narrowed as her thoughts continued to sink deeper into the darkness. Her feet stopped moving as they continued to walk to the restaurant, her hands fisted; her bangs fell over her eyes as she gritted her teeth against each other. _'Who was I kidding? To think I could get strong. To THINK I could get even close to their levels'_ her mind resounded in a dark chuckle that she knew was not her own but she ignored it in her silent rage.

"Sakura?" the concerned voice of her blond friend broke her out of her darkening thoughts. Her head snapped up, her fingers loosened from under her palms, jaw falling open in a silent 'Huh?'

"Is something wrong? Why did you stop walking?" it was Kakashi who spoke this time, his voice sounded wary. He was almost…hesitant. Sasuke remained silent but he gave her a 'What's wrong with you?' look.

'_I wonder why?'_ she thought. What was there to be wary about? Was it so odd to just stop walking? Maybe.

"No nothing's wrong" she lied without batting an eye. "Just forgot I had an errand to do for Tsunade" she told them. "I should go get it done before she kills me" she laughed in a fake nervous laugh.

"Aw, Sakura-chan! But we haven't eaten ramen together in so long!" Naruto whined cutely.

Kakashi didn't look convinced at her lie, he was suspicious of her. Of what? Even she didn't know. But she ignored the look he was giving her and turned to Naruto, smiling apologetically "I'm sorry Naruto. Maybe next time, we do have a mission tomorrow after all" that sure did the trick in bringing the smile back to his shining face.

"Alright then Sakura-chan! I'll see you tomorrow then" he exclaimed loudly with a huge grin as he turned to run to his favorite restaurant.

Sakura shot Kakashi a small smile as he returned it with a nod and Sasuke just turned and began walking away after Naruto. Sakura then began walking the opposite direction to where they were going. Just to get away from them. She walked to the empty park and sat on a bench as the park lights began flickering to life as the darkness began to settle in the village.

Sakura knew. Kakashi suspected something was up, but she couldn't care less. He has been sending her very odd looks since they had come back from the mission in Snow Country.

He knew her first sensei. That she knew. But the things she learned about herself in that mission had been gone from her memory as if someone had suppressed them somehow. So if he knew Luka from when she herself was young then he must know about what had happened to her family.

Her heart clenched at the thought of her deceased family. She had kept herself busy these past few weeks, that she hadn't given herself a chance to mourn their deaths. Her real family was dead, and they were replaced by the man and the woman that have been pretending to be her birth parents. Her sorrow was quickly replaced by anger. She felt anger towards the imposters living with her. Anger towards the now dead Third Hokage, for even allowing this and keeping something so important from her, and anger towards herself, for her weakness. She clamped her eyes shut as they began to water, and she let out a shaky breath.

She had told no one of what she had recollected of her memories. Tsunade also seemed a bit suspicious, because Drunky was the nickname she had for the woman when she was younger as well. She had given Sakura a very odd look when she first said it to her. Kakashi of course was also on the very small list. Along with Sasuke who always gave her weird looks when she acted completely different from what she would have acted when they were in the academy. Naruto was oblivious to everything that was happening around him let alone her.

She felt lonely with the knowledge of her dead family and clansmen. So lonely, knowing that she was the last one left from the Haruno clan. She had no one to comfort her like Sasuke was when he lost his clansmen as well. She understood his pain, even though he didn't know it. She sniffed as a tear rolled down her face and then another, as she lifted her legs to her chest and hugged herself and let her tears comfort her. She stayed there for what seemed like hours wallowing in her grief.

"Sakura-san?" a quiet voice called out to her.

Sakura stiffened at the voice. _'Who would be at the park at this time?' _she thought.

'_Besides you?'_ that now constant voice questioned almost mockingly. She felt a hand brush up on her shoulder and she looked up, her eyes met with worried lavender—almost white eyes. The girl's eyes became wide as she was met with a tear stained face. Sakura didn't move but she just couldn't look into the girl's eyes and let her eyes fall to the ground.

"Sakura-san?" she called out to her again, her voice shook just a bit but Sakura caught it. Sakura remained quiet but she was too ashamed to speak. No one was supposed to see her like this.

Just as her shoulders were beginning to relax, she felt thin, gentle arms wrap themselves around her. A quiet gasp escaped her chapped lips and she lifted her head up. Her chin brushed up against the girl's shoulder and she felt the girl's arms tighten just a tiny bit.

The warmth that this girl that she barely knew made new tears come to her eyes "It's alright" she continued to speak in her timid, but comforting voice. The tears fell from her eyes and she whimpered as she held onto the girl. She held on to her, like she was her only support.

'_Thank you…'_ she thought as a sob ripped through her throat _'Thank you…Hinata.' _

Hours after her breakdown, Sakura finally let go of Hinata who had settled down beside on the bench. Sakura smiled at the dark haired girl and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. "I'm sorry Hinata. I'm sorry you had to see me like that. You must have felt awkward, with you not knowing me and me not knowing you all that well." She apologized as a light blush came to her face. Hinata looked surprised by what she had said.

"Oh no, Sakura-san. It's all right, I didn't mind. You just seemed so lonely and sad…I couldn't leave you all alone like that" she smiled towards the pinkette shyly.

Sakura choked on a laugh at how sweet Hinata's simple gestures were. "You're too sweet Hinata, Thank you" she told the girl as she sniffled. She moved her fingers over her eyes and sent a soothing chakra to calm the swollen eyelids that were to give her away of her breakdown. She opened her eyes to see Hinata looking at her in awe. She seemed to snap out of it as Sakura blinked her eyes to feel her eyes had gone to normal.

"Ah…I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare!" her hands were folded into her chest as her eyes snapped to look to the floor. Sakura smiled fondly towards her as the other girl fiddled with her thick jacket.

"Are you interested in healing Hinata-san?" Hinata seemed shock by the question.

"W-well I never thought about learning it, b-but it was amazing h-how you were able to do that", she answered as she poked her index fingers together.

"If you want I can teach you some basic healing. It should be simple for you. You are a Hyuuga after all", she suggested as she slid her feet to the ground and leaned forward a little.

"Oh…I'm not that very skilled Sakura-san. I don't think I would be able to do it", she sounded so ashamed that Sakura just couldn't take no for an answer.

"That's not what I saw in your fight with Neji-san." Sakura crossed her arms and gave her a 'What do you have to say about that?' look.

"B-but I lost that match", Hinata told her sadly.

"Yeah, you lost the match, but you lasted pretty long in there. And with that will to fight, you can take on just about anything, Hinata-san! You just have to be confident in yourself.

"You really think so?" her eyes seemed to widen at the thought of herself being capable of anything.

"Of course!" Sakura let the brightest of smiles run across her face. The Hyuuga girl just smiled and nodded. "Now…" Sakura slipped her hands into the girls smaller ones and lifted her up of her seat on the bench as she jumped of herself. "Let's go eat some yummy dango. My treat!" Hinata looked like she wanted to protest but Sakura dragged her towards the nightlife before she could say anything.

**Luka1Sakura:**** I hope you guys liked it. It got a lil dark there in Sakura's thoughts so I had to shine a little light in there to make things better. And of course, a bit of comedy to make my dear readers laugh…at least I hope its funny to you guys. Lol. Well rest assured and will be starting the next chapter right after I post this up. Please Review! Ja ne. **


	7. From Their Lips it Burns

**Luka1Sakura:**** Hey my awesome readers! Okay, well first things first. IM SORRY! College is sucking the life out of me and I'm always too tired to stare at the computer screen more than for my school work. T.T**

**Well I really hope you guys like this update, I actually had to re write it a couple of times cuz I was not happy with it the first time or the second, but the third was the charm ;D. Anyways, ENJOY! **

**And I just realized I never wrote the disclaimer and that was a big oopsies on my part haha. **

**So this is a disclaimer of me not owning Naruto only this story's plot and OCs. All rights reserved to Masashi Kishimoto.**

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

_Dreams/Flashback_

'**Voice in thoughts'**

* * *

"Hey Hinata-chan!" Sakura waved wildly as she jogged to the girl that had won a place in her small circle of close friends.

She was quite a distance from her friend as she smiled broadly as Hinata waved shyly to her "Hi Sakura-chan, how are you today?" a soft smile making her seem so much more innocent to the pinkette. Sakura opened her mouth to reply to her but she was sprayed in the face by something wet, warm and...salty? She heard a gasp which she knew was Hinata's, a snort that sounded too loud for his own good. Sakura spit the offending liquid out of her mouth and scrubbed her mouth with her (thankfully) dry, red tank top. She jerks to a stop as she takes a whiff of whatever was sprayed on her face.

"What the hell is this?" she asked calmly which did not bode well for the offender, which she knew was Kiba by the way he shamelessly laughed at her misfortune. Shino remained quiet as to not disrespect her but the unnatural way his eyebrows were reaching for his hair line, she knew behind his dark shades that his eyes were smiling. Hinata was the only one who seemed to be looking from Sakura to Kiba worryingly.

"Ahahaha! S-sorry about that Sakura. Akamaru and I were out for a walk and we were practicing Akamaru's aim but he sort of shot you in the face..." he started that sentence with a wide grin but his face fell as he saw the pinkette's shoulder's begin to shake and he decided to stop his sentence right there.

"Do you mean to tell me..." she started off as she took very slow steps towards him"...that what I have on my face AND in my MOUTH...is... dog urine?" she questioned. She was eerily calm and it scared the shit out of him. Her fists began to shake as she continued to approach him.

He gulped and nervously as the girl's chakra spiked dangerously and nodded slowly with his eyes as wide a saucers; also taking a hesitant step away from her. Sakura could see Akamaru trembling inside of Kiba's jacket. _'That thing...'_ Sakura's bangs hid her eyes but the pinkette felt the top of her right eyelid twitch but it went unseen.

Hinata was truly frightened for her teammate. She had seen Sakura show her wrath towards her blonde teammate, Naruto (*insert blush from Hinata) and it was not pretty. And Shino seemed to have frozen in his place beside her. "S-sakura-chan..." Hinata spoke hesitantly. Sakura only spared her a glance letting her friend know that she was to stay back.

It was quiet for a minute and the tension was killing Team 8. Suddenly Sakura snapped "YOU'RE DOG PISSED ON ME?" they flinched back but none of them saw her pull her fist back and punching Kiba in the face until he went flying into a tree. Thankfully, Akamaru jumped into the safety of Hinata's arms just in time and Kiba was the only one to take the hit, and the other hit caused by smashing into a tree behind him. "YOU'RE GONNA DIE MUTT!" she growled out through her teeth "And that dog of yours is next to get sent flying to Suna!"

"W-wait Sakura! Don't!" Hinata tried to stop her from injuring her teammate more but all that met her ears was Kiba's wails of pain under Sakura's fury.

* * *

Sakura was walking into her bedroom from her bathroom after a nice shower. Her face was pink from all the scrubbing she did to it and she had brushed her teeth at least 15 times and used mouth wash at least 10 more times to get the taste of dog urine out of her mouth. Ew.

Hinata had accompanied her back to her place and waited inside her bedroom; sitting on her full sized futon. Sakura sighed in utter relief as she felt clean again. Smiling towards the girl in her bedroom that was curiously look about her small room. She caught Hinata staring at the picture of Team 7 on her nightstand and she moved towards the framed photo, picking it up and passing it to her friend to see it more clearly. The dark haired girl took the frame from her hands with a tender smile and looked down at the photo in her small hands. Sakura sat beside her friend as she watched her observe what she had handed to her.

Sakura smiled coyly as she noticed Hinata was staring the a certain blonde in that photo "Why do watch him from afar and not just try to talk to him?" she asked her softly. Hinata seemed surprised by the question but her embarrassment won over her surprise.

"What do you mean by that?" her eyes strayed from Sakura in shame. Sakura shook her head and took the frame from Hinata's pale fingers and looked down at the photo herself.

"You know exactly what I mean. You're a great person Hinata-chan, you should let him see that. He'll fall head over heels for you before you know it!" she smiled back at her friend.

Hinata didn't share her opinion apparently, she blushed terribly but her face lowered to such a hopeless expression. "Oh I doubt Naruto-kun will ever fall for me. He...he loves you" she smiled grimly at her words.

Sakura face fell _'Oh right...he has a crush on me'_ she thought disappointedly, but smiled once more to her friend as she brushed her hand on the girl's shoulder to get her attention off the floor. "Hinata, don't think like that. You have a great chance at winning his heart. You're super pretty, you're strong, and you're the most kind person I know" Sakura smiled widely "Excluding Naruto of course" she earned herself a small giggle from her shy friend. "But you have to keep your chin up. Don't let anyone hold you back from what you want. Not even me." Sakura smile softened as she looked back at the framed photo in one hand while she placed two gentle fingers on the glass. "I can never make him happy like you will someday. And Naruto's like a brother to me, and he's _**all**_ yours!" she finished with a laugh.

Hinata's smile widened as she stared wide eyed at her pink friend "Thank you Sakura-chan." Her pink haired friend could only grin at her in reply.

"Aw its nothing" Sakura stood from her seat on the bed and placed the frame back where she had it on the nightstand.

"Um... Sakura-chan?" Hinata began as Sakura turned to face her as she set it down.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan?" Hinata eyes roamed over to the torso mannequin that held a really nice piece of fabric on it in the corner of her room.

"I-I don't mean to be nosy but I couldn't help n-noticing that robe. I've never seen you wear it before. Is it special to you by any chance?" she asked uncertainly as she gestured over to the white robe. It was well taken care of she could tell, and she could tell that there was kanji written on the back but she couldn't read it well.

Sakura's eyes also moved to the hanging robe in her room. She's had it for as long as she can remember and she treasured it dearly.

**Flashback**

"Sakura-hime, you're gonna start your very first ninja training tomorrow with your grandfather and your okaa-san and I are really proud of you!" the grinning man's hair was fiery red in the sunlight. The woman next to him could only smile with him as she rubbed her swollen tummy.

"Thank you Mommy and Daddy! I can't wait to be a great kunoichi!" the little girl of just four years old grinned excitedly from ear to ear.

"And also since you're gonna be a big sister to your little brother really soon, you have to train really hard okay?" he told her as he kneeled to reach her eye level.

"Hai!" she told him with a perfect salute. The only thing out of place from the stance was a grin still on her chubby face. Her father couldn't help but laugh at his daughter's antics.

"Sakura-hime, your father and I have a gift for you." the kind woman finally spoke with an a certain gentleness. Stepping towards her husband and her child, she knew she had their full attention. The older woman's gestures were so graceful she seemed almost unearthly, Sakura sometimes wondered if her okaa-san was a angel from Kami himself.

"A gift? Really?" her wide doe eyes widen in amazement as she let her hand rest on her chest in a loose fist.

The silver haired woman laughed a whimsical sound to her daughter's ears "Hai. A gift, but you must promise your otou-san and I that you will take care of this gift. From this day on you will be shown responsibility. Not only with your ninja training but also from everyday life. That is also including your little otouto." the woman lifted a hand to her daughters pink cheeks and let her gentle fingers glide over her little face and reached her chin. "Can you do that my little Cherry Blossom?"

Sakura couldn't help but stare at the face that she recognized as her beloved mother. The beautiful woman before had a waterfall of silver hair with small bangs that swept to the right of her face. Her skin so beautifully white, she glowed. Her dark green eyes that were framed by her long dark lashes looked at her with so much love and kindness, it was almost unreal. And those thin lips that were always smiling at her they always warmed her heart.

Sakura looked back to her father's grinning face, he could certainly be mistaken as a mad man with how wide his smile was. His bright grey eyes smiled at her happily like they always did. His short, dark yet bright red hair danced in the breeze and fell on his slightly tanned skin. Laugh lines on both sides to his face accentuating his white smile more. His huge smiles always made her want to laugh for no reason.

She could never let her parents down. Especially now, when they were asking such a simple thing from her. She could never deny them that.

"Hai" she finally spoke. Yet her smile was gone, replaced by such a serious face that almost shocked her parents. "I promise. I will take great care of my gift."

She didn't notice her parents glance at each other but she ignored it as a square wrapped gift appeared in her father's strong has out of nowhere. He set it into her open hands and finally stood to his full height as he hugged his wife towards him.

Sakura looked at the red wrapping paper around the light gift and looked back to her parents with a wide smile. Her father nodded to her to open her gift and she did so. Slowly unwrapping the paper as not to damage it and proceeded to unfold the bright paper as it revealed some kind of fabric inside. Looking back to her parents in question they could only smile to her in encouragement as she lifted the fabric from the paper to extend into a beautiful silk, white robe. The collar lined with fiery red satin, along with the ends of the rob and on the cuffs of the robe. The inside of it covered in silver colored satin and on the very back of the robe. The kanji of 'fighting spirit' was stitched on boldly in black. Lined with orange and red flames.

Sakura couldn't contain the small gasp that escaped her mouth as she stared at what she had been given. "This robe was given to me by my okaa-san, and her okaa-san passed it down to her. It has been passed down in the Miyuki clan for many generations before you, and when you are a true kunoichi you will be able to wear this robe. As a symbol. A symbol to all who oppose you that you have a fighting spirit, and no one can take that from you. The Miyuki Clan will be proud to know that you are passing down that legend. The legend of The Fighting Spirit."

Tears slid down Sakura's face at her mother's words. "Okaa-san, I am honored" bowing to her mother, low bow that signified respect. Raising her torso and head she continued to talk as she stared into her mother's eyes "I will make the Miyuki clan," she paused and looked to her father as well ",and the Haruno clan proud." her parents could only smile down at their daughter.

_'I promise I will treasure this gift that you have given me. Okaa-san...Otou-san. I will make you proud'_ she thought in her vow as she stared at both of their smiling faces. And she wasn't just talking about the robe they had given her.

**End Flashback **

"Sakura-chan?" a soft voice snapped her out of her revere. Her green eyes fell on the fragile girl in her room and smiled a nostalgic smile.

"My...parents gave me this as a gift on the day that I first started my ninja training. I've treasured it ever since" she finally spoke as she walked towards the beautiful robe. Running her fingers against the fabric, it ran through her fingers like water.

"I-it's beautiful" Hinata spoke as she walked towards her. "And w-what does it say there? On the back." she spoke a little more loudly as she gathered up more courage to speak.

"It says 'fighting spirit'. My mother said it was passed down in her family for generations. She told me that when I became a true kunoichi, that I can wear it and make her proud." she spoke so softly as not to shatter the moment. Hinata felt like she was talking about her mother as if she were dead, but she knew Sakura's mother wasn't dead. She saw her herself, downstairs in the kitchen. But why did her friend sound so nostalgic as she spoke?

The silence after that seemed like it went on forever to Hinata as she stared at the pink haired girl caress the silk robe lovingly. Her thoughts went back to when she found said friend crying all her lonesome self. She never questioned the girl for the reason to her distress and Sakura seemed thankful for it. Hinata didn't mind it so much. She was just happy to have been there to be her support through whatever she was going through. And she was glad that through their short time together, they had become great friends. The last thought made a small smile befall on young Hinata's lips as she put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder in whatever comfort she seemed to need.

Sakura turned her head towards the hand on her shoulder then let her eyes trail up to her friends lavender eyes. She was a great friend.

* * *

It had been a week since the day that Hinata had come to comfort her in her time of need and only a day from their other bonding moment in her room. Sakura thought to herself as she made her slow trek towards the Hokage Tower to meet Tsunade for the day.

She sighed as she thought to herself. She was relieved that Hinata hadn't pushed her into telling her what was the reason for her breakdown. But she also felt kind of guilty that she didn't have it in her to tell her newly acquired friend the truth of her distress. She was so kind to her that night she just couldn't tell her that she was frustrated and angry that she was so weak compared to her teammates.

The thought made her sigh to herself sadly. Even after she saw her team for the mission, she didn't talk much to them. And she left early from their meal at Ichiraku's, making up another excuse to get away from them. How pathetic. She chuckled to herself at herself. Truly pathetic. She couldn't take being a weakling so she ran away from them, to hide her shame. _'Well there's no time to sulk. Tsunade's got a mission for me'_ she thought, so she cleared her thoughts and counted the steps she took to get to the top of the tower her teacher and her village leader was located at.

Knocking twice she walked in without waiting for a response "Hey Tsunade" she greeted halfheartedly. Her steps slow and her smile not reaching her eyes. Sitting herself on the chairs in front of her mentor's desk. "You have a mission for me?" she asked as she slouched into the chair.

Tsunade having looked up from her paperwork raised an eyebrow at her out of character student. Usually the weird kid would come barging into her office without even knocking and greeting her rudely resulting in a pissed Tsunade destroying her office furniture in an attempt in chasing the little minx. Today she seemed so solemn that it almost scared the woman.

"Hello? Granny! Are you going to give me a damn mission or are you just gonna sit there gawking at me like an idiot who's lost in space?", it took Tsunade a couple of seconds before her mind registered that the little brat had just insulted her.

She growled through gritting teeth _'So much for being unusually solemn'_ the blonde thought. Closing her eyes and taking a DEEP breath and breathing out she opened her eyes to look at her apprentice calmly. Clearing her throat and getting down to business. "Ignoring the insult so that I could just make this briefing short" she began as she opened a file and handed it to the young girl. "You're mission is to go to the western border of the Fire Country and collect a number of herbs that grow around that area".

Reaching over to receive the small paper that was handed to her and looking it over. "I'm guessing you want a good amount of these" she more like stated as her eyes continued to scan the list.

"That's right. You have a week, max. That should be more than enough time for travel and to gather what I'm requesting" she told her as she put her elbows on her desk and crossed her fingers together under her chin. "Should be easy enough. You can take this as a week off from training. Just make sure you get what I need".

"Hai, Hai. I'll be back before the deadline" Finally looking up from the list Sakura nodded and slipped the list into her short's pocket. Smirking she sat up from her seat "Finally got tired of beating me up every morning Granny?" catching her mentors twitch and knowing she hit the right button she laughed. "Calm down, I'm leaving before you decide to give me a 'pop quiz' ", walking towards the office door.

"Don't tempt me brat" the Hokage could barely say between her gritted teeth as she watched the girl open the door to her office.

"Oh and let the boys know that I'm on a mission for me will you" waving her hand lazily toward the blond woman.

"Why can't you tell them yourself?" raising a perfectly shaped brow "You're a big girl" she added as a tease.

"I'll be leaving Konoha right after I pack. I don't really feel like hunting down those idiots just for a farewell. Just tell em' for me Tsunade. See you in a couple of days" smiling over her shoulder as she walked out and closed the door before her mentor could say anything else.

Walking into her home Sakura walked as silently as she could so as not to have a confrontation with her... 'guardians' let's call them for now. Sakura never had that great of a relationship with her parents. Ever since she started the academy her 'mother' would tell her that her chosen career path was unacceptable. Her 'father', Hiroshi just let his wife nag her life away. He wasn't like Kasumi, he never put me down for my decision or for any reason really. He mostly just kept his head down as Kasumi nagged her head off. He wasn't what Sakura would call a 'father', but he was sure as hell better than her 'mother' in her book. She didn't know why Kasumi never supported her in her decision in becoming a ninja; since the both of them were ninjas themselves. _'Talk about hypocrites'_ she thought with the roll of her eyes.

Though disappointedly her intentions weren't on her actual career but on Sasuke(-teme) which she beats herself up for all the time, but she finally found her motivation in her path to becoming a (hopefully) successful Konoha kunoichi. And she had accomplished a lot in the past months in her training. Her guardians didn't really say much about her status as the Hokage's apprentice. Her Hiroshi seemed happy for me in his own silent way. And what could she expect from the woman that had raised her that was not her actual mother. Sakura had accepted that these people that had raised her were not her parents, but it was still disheartening to know that they seemed like they could really could care less of her.

Walking up the stairs and into her room with just the soft sound of her feet making contact on the wooden floors, packing the required things she would need for at least a week. Stuffing an empty sealing scroll to use for the herbs she was to gather on her mission.

Changing her plain white shirt to a maroon tank with the Haruno white circle between the shoulder blades and slipping off her grey comfortable shorts and putting on her black biker shorts and a short grey skirt with wide slits on the sides and pockets with buckles to keep them closed and secure. Strapping on her pouches onto her waist and her right thigh. Stuffing her already worn gloves into her pouch as well.

Scanning her room for anything that she had forgotten to pack in contemplation. "I think that's it" she told herself as she pulled on the ends of her Konoha headband to tighten it perfectly onto her head.

Walking down the stairs and opening her front door she came to abrupt stop as she felt for the crinkling of paper anywhere on her person "Kuso" she whispered irritated. She closed the door to her home and began her trek back to her room. She walked right into her room and retrieved the list from her other shorts and stuffed it in her pouch. When she moved to walk down the hall and down the stairs she heard a soft murmuring coming from her 'parents' room. "I think she's gone Kasumi" she heard a masculine voice speak softly to his wife.

"Good then. We can get this over with. Hurry it up Hiroshi, he won't want to be kept waiting" Kasumi spoke with a snippy tone. Sakura was actually glad she hid her chakra when she came in. They only must have known she was there from the sounds of her footsteps and the rummaging she did in her room. Inching closer to their door she listened to what they could be up to. Just then she felt their chakra spike and another presence was in their room.

"Danzo-sama" she heard the familiar voices of her guardians greet whoever this Danzo person was that had appeared so suddenly in their room.

"Where's the girl?" came the slightly distorted voice of a raspy, old voice. His voice sent shivers down her back, though the voice was sounding as though he were speaking through a radio or a mic; she felt intimidated by this mysterious man that was obviously a superior to the man and the woman in that room. His voice held nothing that could tell her what he could be feeling, so monotonous did his voice sound that it actually made Sakura not want to meet this man. Whoever he was.

"On a mission, we think" came Hiroshi's soft voice that had also sounded free of emotion as the man before him.

"You think? I cannot be counting on your guesses Hiroshi" the man chided him in an even more menacing tone.

"From our knowledge she was sent to the border to collect herbs for Hokage-sama, Danzo-sama. She left just now" came Kasumi cold voice as she corrected her partner's statement.

The room went silent as the man seemed to be contemplating something. Sakura breathed as quietly as she could as her heart beat felt like it was pounding so loud that the people in the next room might hear it.

"Report" he ordered.

"After her mission in the land of Snow, the objective has been acting stranger than usual. She may have discovered something there to cause her attitude to change between us. She's more elusive now and mostly keeps to herself when she is home." Kasumi began as she was commanded to.

Hiroshi took it from there as the older man kept quiet "She has also begun spending more time with the Hyuuga heiress Hyuuga Hinata. Sakura has also been missing a lot of her team training."

_'What the hell are those idiots doing telling this man my life! It's none of their business and it sure as hell isn't some old man's business!'_ she was boiling with anger but she had to keep her chakra. She could not afford to be caught.

"The Hyuuga girl. What a waste that girl" he commented. "The Haruno girl really needs to learn how to make friends" he continued in his rant, Sakura almost felt chastised by the bastard.

_'Son of a bitch!'_ her eyes narrowed dangerously and her hands curled up into fists as the man not only insulted her but her closest friend.

"Find out what she found out in the mission to Snow. For all we know she could have made contact with the sister clan" he ordered the two.

"Hai" they spoke robotically in front of the man.

"And keep a closer eye on her growing relationship with the Hyuuga" he finished as his presence disappeared from the house. Sakura was frozen in her spot next to the door as her mind tried to figure out exactly what just happened and what that man Danzo wanted with her. She started to move away from the door when she heard her guardians speak.

" This mission that Danzo-sama has assigned us with is getting on my nerves. It was enough raising the girl, and trying to talk to her is just more of a headache" Kasumi spoke bitterly as she shuffled around the room for some reason.

"Despite her being our mission you really think nothing of her. We practically raised her Kasumi. Do you not feel anything for her?" Hiroshi argued in his usual soft spoken voice.

"You've turned soft Hiroshi. That nuisance is nothing but a mission to us. Nothing more. Don't let her get in the way of your mission. Danzo-sama ordered us to raise her and nothing more. Not to become affectionate towards her. You better start treating her more like the mission and less like a daughter." Suddenly they heard the most subtle sound of a whimper and they were on high alert. When they went to check the hall, they found it to be empty. Kasumi narrowed her dark green as Hiroshi came beside her and gave her a pointed look when she looked back at him. "It was nothing. If she would have heard she wouldn't have had the skill get away from not only us but from Danzo-sama as well" she told him reassuringly.

He sighed and walked back into their room "If you say so" .

Sakura sprinted towards the village gates as she desperately tried to get away from there as fast as possible after hearing what she had just heard. She sniffled as a tear fell from her eye and flew back into the wind. She knew they weren't her parents and their relationship wasn't great but it still hurt. Sakura bit her lip as she suppressed another whimper that fell from her lips. _'Damn it! But it still hurt!' _she screamed in her head as she shut her eyes momentarily. Katsumi's voice was so, so cold. The way she spoke of her as only their mission and nothing close to a daughter. Hiroshi was same as her, _**'He was the same! '.**_

Her eyes shot open and immediately widened as she was inches away from colliding with one of the people that she had been working hard to keep away from. She yelped as she ran right into the poor victim in her way. They tumbled to the ground with an 'oof' and the sound of her erratic breathing. Sakura opened her eyes as she looked up at the orange menace that she had the misfortune to run in to. He groaned as he opened his eyes and stared back into her glassy emerald jewels "S-Sakura-chan?" he spoke weakly, but she heard the worry laced into his struggled attempt at her name.

She shot up from his form as if burned and looked over to her left to see that Sasuke was with him as well. Looking discreetly concerned for her as she looked from Naruto and him, like a trapped mouse. Naruto stood and stepped towards her but she took a step back just as he did "Sakura-chan? What's wrong? Did something happen?" he questioned her relentlessly as his hand reached out to her. Sasuke just kept staring at her and their looks were getting to her as she tried to calm her breathing as her eyes shot out everywhere. Looking unnervingly paranoid . Her hand fisted onto the strap of her backpack as they stood there and she kept quiet.

"I have to go" she spoke hastily as she told him and she made to speed walk right by him but as she passed them a hand shot out and took hold of her wrist with a firm but gentle touch. She turned her head around to yell at Naruto for touching her but her words died in her throat as her eyes met onyx instead of ocean blue. She froze as she stared into the black never ending pools that Sasuke called his eyes.

Sasuke stared into her panicked eyes as he held her and he wondered what could have happened that had her so out of character from her usual trash talking self. Sakura had been really out of character lately, and it had started the day that Itachi had come to Konoha on the day of her birthday. The thought of his older brother made his blood boil with hatred as he tightened his hold on her wrist. His brother had mentioned the name of a man and a woman and it had made Sakura freak. And she had refused to speak of it.

Suddenly her wrist was gone from his grasp as she yanked it away from his fierce grip. The skin where he had held her was red and he felt a twinge of guilt at hurting her. She held her wrist with her other hand and her chakra came forth to the heal what would have become a bruise. She glared back at him after eying her wrist and she closed her eyes as she took a shaky breath of air and opened her eyes.

They seemed to clear from the fog of panic that was going through them a minute ago and she straightened and looked him in the eye. "I'll be gone a week" she said she moved her eyes from his to the dobe standing not more than a foot away from them in uncertainty. She offered no explanation as she turned back the direction where she was headed before she had ran into the Naruto.

"That was weird. Weirder than usual." Naruto finally spoke as they watched her back blend into the Konoha crowd. He moved to stand right next to Sasuke who had not looked away from where she had gone. "It was scary to see Sakura-chan like that" he continued as he remembered the look in her eyes. As if she was running away from something...or someone. There was no mistaking the hurt look in them. It was the same look that came across her eyes when she used to ask him out and he would flat out decline her offer. But this time she seemed all the more torn.

"Tch. Annoying..." he said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and began walking away with a reluctant

* * *

**Luka1Sakura:**** Well I hoped you guys liked it! I decided I would add some more sakusasu fluffiness (kinda). Sill deciding if they would ever become a couple of a sort, but if that were to ever happen it would happen after the soon to be coming time-skip. Well please review. And once again a apologize profusely. College really is a big pain in the butt. **

**Oh! also I'm thinking of making some sketches or final drawing of Sakura's 'new' style for the fic. And maybe some drawings of Luka, Sakura's parents, and Kimi. Hiroshi and Katsumi I don't really feel like doing sorry.**

**AND hopefully I will be able to make an update soon. If school doesn't get in the way and I don't get lazy. lol please Review! It will inspire me if you do. Please! **


	8. Ghosts in the Night

**Bloomz: Hey guys! FIRST OF ALL, YES! I changed my penname (whatever you call it). I hated the old one, and this one felt more appropriate for me. Hope that didn't confuse you guys in any way.**

**Second. Okay before you great, awesome, cool, eh…wonderful? People try to kill me, let me explain! It's schools fault! It should be burnt to the ground! (eh-hum) I've been so busy, that I just really haven't found the time, and this was a really hard chapter to write.**

**Well, I hope you guys like it, sadly it's another depressing chapter but I need to get this out of the way. Hope you enjoy the emo-ness lol. READ & REVIEW (please!)**

* * *

The forest on the edge of the border of Fire Country was once a serene sight. Filled with lush, green grass and sturdy trees standing over 50 ft high. The sound of Rain's constant showers far from the line of trees that symbolized the border between Fire Country and Rain Country rang softly in the distance.

"Argh!" BOOM

Bird's scurried away from the trees that were crashing upon them, seeking new places to find cover. Cover from whom you ask? Well from some crazy pink haired girl destroying all that was in her sights. That's who.

BOOM!

Another flock of birds scurry away along with the small critters in the area. Some stayed behind to chirp insults to the assaulter.

"Screw off!" the girl shouted at the top of her lungs. And it grew silent.

She breathed out loudly and sat herself down very un-lady like, with her legs spread out wide. Her arms shook as they held her upper body from falling flat on the ground, and her chest out as she tried to catch her breath from the 'little' rage fit she just had. Her knuckles were shredded and held so many splinters from the smashing of the trees she did.

She choked on a sob, her shoulders shook and her chest hurt. It felt like someone had torn through her chest, broken through her rib cage, squeezing as they wrapped their hands around her vital organ and ripped out her heart. She wheezed as she tried to control her breathing, but she choked again as the tears kept on coming. Her arms shook as they kept her up; she had her head facing the sky as the tears fell down to the sides of her face.

"Fuck you!" She screeched suddenly.

"All of you!" Her words echoed in the empty forest. She hated her damn guardians for being a bunch of liars, she hated that Danzo-what's-his-face person even though she didn't know him, she hated Tsunade, she was a liar, and the old hag could care less even though Sakura felt like she was the closest thing she had to a family. She hated Naruto because he was always so damn happy as if he didn't have a care in the fucking world. She even hated Kakashi for playing favorites with the emo bitch and the annoying idiot, and Itachi for being so fucking mysterious! But her blood boiled in her veins for that damn Chicken Ass, piece of shit, Sasuke.

Fucking thinks he's all high and mighty 'cause he's in the oh-so-awesome Uchiha clan. _'Fuck you Sasuke. Fuck you and your damn Uchiha clan. If your Uchiha clan were so high and mighty, then why are they almost all dead!?'_ she ranted.

All was silent as she just sat there letting the anger cool down to a simmer. Her arms gave out and she plopped down on the ground with a soft groan as her head hit the ground as well. She lay there for what seemed like hours as she let her eyes lift up onto the sky. Her hands pulsed angrily; she let the pain wash over her in waves.

Her head lulled to the side and she stared at her abused hand. It was limp and it pulsed with every twitch that her fingers made. Pale and bruised, small and slightly worn from her recent training. A tear slid to the side of her face on her temple and into her hairline as she stared blankly at her tired hands. They didn't look like a ninja's hand, they didn't even look like a worker's hands, they looked like feminine frail hands and she despised them for it. Her hands balled up into a fist and she breathed out a sigh. Her hands looked better this way.

A fist signified power, strength, resilience; so many things that she was not. But she liked how the lie made her feel. She was okay with lying to herself for just a moment, just enough so that she could gather her thoughts and forget about the pain. Soon when she grew as a person and as a ninja she wouldn't have to lie to herself, but just for now she'll let the lie give her strength.

She finally removed her eyes from her clenched hand and let them roll back up to the skies, longing to join the clouds as they drifted by so lazily, ignoring the pain as she lost herself. Wondering how soft those clouds were and if the skies blue, blue color could rival with Naruto's bright blue eyes. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly in the beginnings of a smile. 'Now I know why Shikamaru likes cloud watching so much. The clouds are lazy just like him!' she thought as the clouds continued to distract her. _'If only I had a teammate like Shikamaru'_ she thought solemnly.

Her hands which were at her sides clenched, she ignored the stinging pain of her raw hands, as her thoughts brought her back to why she was so angry_. 'Stupid Sasuke…he thinks he can barge into my business. Pff…as if he cares…'_ she thought sadly as her eyes turned glassy. _'All he cares about is getting his stupid revenge on Itachi'. _

Her eyes grew dark as her thoughts fell deeper into the dark places of her mind _'Naruto may not see it, but I know Sasuke couldn't care less about us, about Team 7'_ her eyes slid shut and the memories of their first mission in Wave came to mind. When Naruto made his oath to never be useless, meeting Tazuna and his family, the time when Naruto almost fell on his head and Sasuke saved him from killing himself like an idiot. She laughed softly at the memory but she sobered up when the memory of when she found Sasuke lying on the ground looking as pale as a ghost came to mind. She remembered the beautiful sunset when they gave their respects to the deceased Zabuza and Haku. A tear slid to the side of her face on her temple and into her hairline.

She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and let the memories drift on by. Because she knew, Sakura knew that soon those memories were only going to be just that, memories. Because soon, Sasuke will become fed up with not getting any closer in becoming strong enough to defeat his brother, and he was going to look for his power elsewhere.

That mark that, that disgusting pedo-Orochimaru had given Sasuke is going to do its job. _'It's going to make Sasuke, even more hungry for power and he's not going to let us get in the way of his goals'_.

And she was fine with that now, because she knew what it was like. To lose your family and wanting some kind of retribution, revenge. But Sakura didn't know who took her family away from her and made her forget. The only clue, the only lead that she had was her teammate's brother, Itachi eyes slid open as she came to a realization of her goal.

She would start there; she didn't know what she would ask him or demand of him exactly. She didn't even know how to find him, but she will and she was going find out how he knew her parents and what had happened that night. And neither Sasuke nor Naruto were going to get in the way of her goal.

Her fist clenched and her eyes shined in determination. _'Because they could mind their own damn business and worry about themselves.' _

* * *

3 days have passed since the beginning of her mission and she was almost done with collecting all of the herbs that were on the list Tsunade hadprovided for her. It was just late morning and the sky was beginning to clear from the stars.

Pulling an herb out with its roots and gently placing it into the small jar labeled 'Ashitaba'.

'_That should do it'_, she thought relieved as she crossed out the herb in her mind, and looking for the last one on the list. She huffed out tiredly as she hugged her tan cloak closer to her body, the cold air that Rain Country provided with its rain seemed to drift on over. The village not too far from here glowed faintly from its street lamps and the lights from inside of the homes. The rain that never let up made the town look so dreary and the clouds made it seem like a deep depression would wash over you.

But Sakura loved the rain. The rain made things look so sad but it made things look so clear to her. Like all her sins and her guilt would get washed up in the rain. Standing in the rain let her mind wander, it relaxed her. It was one of the things she loved to do when she was a child, after a long day of training with her prude grandfather.

**Flashback**

_It was past midnight and a young Sakura with navy blue t-shirt and dark green capris was relentlessly kicking the trunk of a tree, with bare feet. She had been counting at one time, but she had lost count after she hit 463. Her goal was 800, according to her grandfather who was sitting comfortably on the ground drinking tea. The reminder of her grandfather made her kick the tree just a tad bit too hard which made the wood splinter on to her bare foot. She winced but she didn't stop her high kicks, even if her thighs felt like they were going to detach themselves her pelvis and her calves were so stretched and sore from her long exercise that she had grown numb from the stinging pain that came with each high kick to the trunk of the tree. She kept her pace, and she continued for quite a while until she heard the old man behind her speak. _

"_That's enough" he spoke so leisurely, it was as if he hadn't made his granddaughter suffer from the extended exercise. Sakura's foot stopped in mid air, she grinded her teeth together at the pain the abrupt movement had caused. She made sure to not make a single sound come out of her mouth at the pain. Letting her foot down onto the ground, her jaw set on keeping her lips closed. She was breathing hard through her nose, she felt faint as she tried to catch her breath. Her tiny body was hurting, and she knew her grandfather knew of her pain; yet he refused to show any compassion._

'Stupid old man'_ she thought bitterly, as her eyes glared holes at his wrinkled forehead. She took a gulp of the cool night air and breathed it out just as quickly as she had breathed it in. Her chest was heaving with exertion as she stood stock still with her arms to her sides, and her feet parallel to each other. _

_He stood from his comfortable seat on the tatami mat on the ground and stared her straight in the eye. _

_His eyes, so similar to her own in color, yet so different as they were as empty and as cold as his heart. He was a bitter old man, the leader of the Haruno clan, father of her father, and the man she loathed with her entire being. _

"_1000" he simply, spoke as his dull eyes continued to bore into her own emeralds. "You lost count" he told her._

_Sakura's wide eyes narrowed considerably at his words. She understood exactly what he was implying by those words. She had lost count during her exercise and he punished her for it. Her grandfather was a perfectionist and if Sakura were to make but the smallest of mistakes as in lose count of something, he'd be sure to punish her for it. He did not tolerate mistakes, and he made sure they weren't made again. _

"_Hai, gomen." she breathed out tiredly as she bowed in a perfect 90 degree angle to him. She heard his feet shift and begin walking away from her as he spoke once again. _

"_Be sure to be on time for training tomorrow morning." He informed her as he made his way back to the compound. _

_She grimaced and rose from her formal bow. "Hai, Ojii-sama" she bit out, her voice cracking just a bit. She knew her grandfather had heard the slight weakness that had slipped through her words but he had ignored it and continued to walk away. _

_She was boiling inside, she wanted to punch his dispassionate face in so bad, but she knew she would be punished severely for it. Like last time. She winced at the unforgettable memory, the pain; and the dishonor that had come with it was just as unbearable. She bore the scars as a reminder from him, to never make the mistake of talking back to him again. Her shoulders shook as her sadness began to consume her._

_Suddenly she felt a cool drop of something fall onto the top of her head, and then another, and another. It wasn't until the sky was crying fat drops of water that she realized that it was raining. Her small six year old body shook from the cold on instinct but the cool rain that wet her to the bone in a matter of minutes felt great with how exhausted she felt. The hate that was boiling in the pit of her stomach began to simmer as the rain began to wash it away. Her hands that had balled up into tight fists fell limp as she closed her eyes and lifted her face up at the dark skies. And she started to cry. She cried silently to herself, letting the rain hide her tears. Letting every negative emotion that flowed through her be washed away, along with the pain. _

**End Flashback**

She blinked away the sudden rush of the once forgotten memory, and glanced back at the rain still pouring down on the small village. Longing to feel the shivers that came with standing in the cold rain, but she was on a mission and she had to get going, and she still had to pack up her camp sight.

That was one of the sad memories she was forced to remember. She had, had a sad life as a child, she realized. She felt the hot tears surfacing but she held them back,_** 'No, stop your crying you idiot'**_ she heard the chastising voice in the back of her mind.

That tiny conscious of hers was really starting to speak to her more often, sometimes it felt like it had an entirely different personality from her own, but it must be her imagination. Ones conscious couldn't possibly have a mind of its own, it was impossible. A person's conscious was formed from their minds, a figment of one's imagination. Maybe she was just going insane from all of the events that were currently happening in her life. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Suck it up you idiot" she spoke to keep the emotions at bay. She breathed in deeply and turned away from the depressing view. _'It's all in my head'_ she reassured herself and kept back over her shoulder once more she turned and started her trek back to her camp.

* * *

She had been traveling for almost a day and a half, Sakura was about an hour or so away from Konoha and the sun was just barely starting its descent into the trees. She was taking the long way home; she didn't want to be back so soon, not yet at least. She had taken as many breaks as she could just to stall her homecoming, and it worked for a while. Until she realized that she was to be back in Konoha in her week deadline. She had been away for almost six days already and she was already pushing it close to the deadline as it is. The huge weather change from Rain to Fire Country was making her trip back home more tiring than it should be; she had to relieve of herself of her cloak a while back. It was now folded and neatly put away in her pack as she traveled.

Sighing loudly to herself she continued to walk onwards, to her destination. Suddenly she heard screams coming from a denser part of the forest to her right.

She hesitated, _'What if I can't handle it?' _crossed her mind, self-consciously, she heard another wave of screams coming from the same direction and she took off towards them. Taking to the trees, she sprinted towards the screams that were getting louder as she got closer. Soon she heard the crackly sound of fire mixing together with the screams, her heart wrenched at the horrible sounds, but she continued on.

She could already see the dark smoke from above the tree line, with eyes set in determination she made one big push from a branch and landed roughly on the dirt. Looking up at the disaster that was sure to be, she froze. Her eyes grew wide and the air left her lungs as she stared at what was before her. Bodies of the young and the old lay strewn across the ground of what seemed like a compound of some sort. The large houses still burning from whatever or whoever had set them ablaze.

Sakura was frozen, she couldn't breathe, and her eyes were almost unseeing as the chaos continued. The screams of the victims rang through the air and the loud moans of the ones not quiet dead muddled her the worst of it all was the blood that was everywhere she looked. What used to be a path was now a river of crimson. Smeared hand prints now decorated the half burnt homes. The once warm bodies that were everywhere were now covered in their own blood, cold and limp.

Sakura finally coming back to what was her current reality blinked back tears and took off in search of anyone she could help at all. Sprinting through the streets hoping to find anyone she could save. Her breathing was ragged and her feet tripped over themselves in her panic.

She groaned with her eyes closed shut, her hands felt wet with something warm and sticky. Whatever it was, it had splattered all over her arms and her legs. Her eyes opened and she gasped and literally saw red. She yelped and scrambled to her feet and tried to wipe the blood off herself, but there was too much to clean off. Trying so hard to control her breathing but failing miserably in doing so. She looked up and then she saw it.

There sitting in the middle of it all was…herself.

It was herself as a child holding her limp brother in her arms. Crying her heart out, the sound she had made was so heartbreaking that she felt like she was reliving those overwhelming emotions all over again. The cry was so broken that Sakura's heart clenched as she tried to step closer to her younger self.

Reaching out with her bloodied hands, _'No, this isn't real.'_ she walked towards the sobbing girl. She knew this wasn't real, her brother, her clan was destroyed years ago, but she couldn't stop herself from reaching out to the young girl before her. Her trek towards her younger self agonizingly slow, the sounds of her brethren became but a distance sound to her ears as her eyes stayed trained on the younger girl's hunched form before her. _'This cant' be real...'_ she thought to herself as she grew nearer to the sobbing girl. _'But i can't let her go...'_ Her tears finally fell onto her cheeks as she kept walking; her hand was just inches away from brushing her small trembling shoulders, _'I can't let her see them...' _

When suddenly her younger self jerked and ran off further into the burning compound. "No! Don't Go!" she tried to warn her, but her words were left hanging in the thick air.

She looked down but her brother was gone from where he lay, looking up seeing a wisp of her younger self's pink hair, making her way through the chaos.

So she ran after her, the sounds of the flames crackling passed by her along with the fading sounds of screams. Catching a glimpse of a half dead woman—Aunt Kira holding onto her dead child—cousin Daichi for dear life made her stumble but she kept on going. Her feet soon lead her to the most familiar house in the compound; she stopped to stare as the fire ate away at the wood of the house and melted the glass off of the window panes. Tripping on a bent wooden floor board she ran to her destination, her feet took her to where she wanted to go unconsciously and when she came to the room she felt her legs almost give out from under her.

There on the bloodied ground were her precious parents, bathed in their own blood. Faces pale and tear tracks on their faces. Her breath caught in her throat as a sob fell from her lips. More tears came forth and fell from her overflowing eyes.

Her hand flew to her mouth to keep anymore sobs from leaving her throat but the tears kept on coming. She fell to her knees, her eyes running up and down their bodies. Hoping—praying for any signs of life. Her hand reached out to them, the fire surrounding them forgotten; she knew this wasn't real. Her brother, her mom and dad…they have been dead for a long time now, this was just another nightmare.

Her eyes finally managed to squeeze themselves shut as the pain kept on barreling down on her. Her heart was constricting, she was having a panic attack but she held on. _**'They're dead'**_ the most menacing voice echoed into her head, it was never ending, unbearable. She sobbed uncontrollably as the feeling of something coming up her esophagus, burning her as it ascended up her through, like acid. _**'And it's all your fault' **_the voice finished.

She felt eerily cold as the taste of metal met her tongue, overflowing and dribbling down her lips and chin. She coughed wetly as more seemed to come up her throat and spill itself on the ground. Her body shivered as she heaved through a fit of her coughs. Her eyes shot open as she caught a glimpse of the dark red saliva that spilled from her mouth before closing them again. The entire left side of her chest and her left arm felt like it was being burnt off. She cried out through her pain as she fell on her side, fighting to stay conscious as black dots began to swarm her vision.

'_What's happening to me?'_ she panicked as her hands clenched tightly at her burning chest, "W-what's wrong with me?" she slurred in between coughs. The blood wouldn't stop spilling from her mouth, that she felt she was going to die right then and there.

Suddenly the coughing had stopped, leaving her in a severely weakened state. She heaved as her lungs tried to reach for air, but her vision was blurry and the black dots were beginning to form a blanket. "Nii-san…" her lips moved in their own accord as she tried to call out but the darkness consumed her and she lost consciousness.

* * *

**Bloomz:**** So I hope you guys liked it. I know it's not great cuz it didn't really have that much of a plot development, but hey I liked it.**

**And I'm sorry it's short from my usual long ass updates, but I figured since I usually don't have a lot of time these days, that I should at least update shorter chapters.**

**Hopefully, if my plans for this story go as planned; things for next chapter will be more action, and interesting.**

**So I hope you enjoyed it, and last but not least. Review please! Guys I need to know what need you think about the story! Not just my grammar mistakes, as much as I appreciate them, I would love to hear what you guys think about the story! And if you guys have any suggestions about anything concerning the story, I would like to hear them. Flame if you want to just be gentle about it, please.**

**I don't want to be continuing this story if no one actually likes it, so reviewing would be nice. Honestly authors strive off of their reviews and I feel that if most of my readers would review more, I would feel more motivated and compelled to write. So please, please (yes I'm begging) Review! :D**


	9. Wind Chimes

**xbLoOmZx**** : My Readers! If I still have any…I just wanna start off by apologizing big time for the really late and SHORT update. **

**Life has been tough for me this past year and I was and am still going through some stuff, and I know this chapter is super short but I felt like I should give you guys SOMETHING! Hopefully I can start updating more (short) chapters or long chapters depending on my time and mood more often and soon.**

**ALSO! I've got my own cover art created by yours truly. Hope you guys love it (hate it?) and I will be creating more art (whether it be related to the story or not) on my deviantart page. So if you guys/gals are interested in seeing that just head on over to my bio page and the link should be there. **

**P.S. Might be in the market of a Beta-(Reader), so if interested in helping grammar or plot-wise, shoot me a PM. Thank You!**

**Disclaimer (That I keep forgetting to put it on here): I don't own Naruto. Now if I did own Naruto then Minato, Jiraiya and Itachi would still be alive and Sasuke would be less of an annoying prick. **

* * *

The Hokage's office was eerily quiet from the usual banter between the blonde and the brunette. No furniture breaking or sake bottles shattering. The blonde Hokage was actually doing the paperwork that was laid out for her and anyone who came in or out of the office was tip toeing around the woman like she was ready to explode at any second.

Shizune was worried, not only for Tsunade— who looked more irritated than usual; knocking back more sake bottles than usual and the vein on her forehead ticking like crazy, but for the reason of her Hokage's irritation, Sakura Haruno.

The young girl had yet to arrive from her week long mission—now nine days, and Shizune knew that if Tsunade had a reason to worry then she knew she also had a reason to worry for the young apprentice as well.

TonTon also seemed tense as she sat on Tsunade's lap and her ears laid flat on her head as she watched her master furiously writing on important documents.

The loud sound of pen scribbling on paper stopped and a low growl broke the silence and Shizune stiffened "Shizune," the busty blonde snapped, the tiny woman squared her shoulders even further as she came to Tsunade's side.

"Lady Tsunade" she readied herself for what was to come as she held her breath.

"Call in Team 7" she ordered, it came out slow with a small bite to it.

"Are you sure you want to call them in Lady Tsunade? Maybe she just had a hard time finding some of the herbs and she's just running late? I'm sure she's on her way back now" she offered warily.

There was a short pause before her mentor finally answered her with a strange calm "She said she would be here before the set time frame, and Sakura is a smart girl should would have no problem finding what she needed. She should have been back by now, I can't wait any longer." She set her elbows on her desk and laced her fingers together in a snail's pace and Shizune gulped "So call them in," she banged her interlaced fists onto her desk "NOW!"

With a squeal, TonTon scurried off of her lap at her outburst and away from the now shattered desk, and scattered papers; hiding behind Shizune's legs with a soft whimper.

"H-Hai!" Shizune scrambled out the door not before sweeping the distressed piglet in her arms.

The office fell silent again as Tsunade swiveled her office chair to face the large window that overlooked Konoha, the sun high in the sky and not a cloud in sight. Taking a deep, slow breath in, and shakily breathing out, she just hoped Sakura was being an idiot again.

* * *

"Saku-chan" a soft voice called out like the twinkling sound of spring showers. The voice sounded so far away yet it managed to find its' way to her.

Who was calling her? she wondered.

"Wake up, wake up my little blossom" it called out again, the voice louder this time. Yet it remained a soft tone.

A warm, bright light fell over her closed lids and a feather like touch caressed her temple. A groan escaped the girl's lips in her slumber as the voice called out again. "Come on now. Wake up" it tried again filled with mirth this time.

Who wanted her to wake up, calling out to her so lovingly? She felt compelled to listen to this woman's kind request, as well as find out who it was that was waking her from whatever place she resided in.

Her eyes slid open slowly, but she shut them just as the bright light blinded her awakening vision. She heard a soft laugh and another caress on her face.

Urging her to open her eyes again and to just…

"Wake up" it whispered in her ear, and she opened her eyes ever so slowly until she finally met the eyes of her awakener.

The soft dark green eyes that stared back at her watched her lovingly, with a small smile on her nude lips. Her long silver-white hair fell down her shoulders like a frozen waterfall, and her pale blue kimono made her pale skin glow making her look almost ethereal. The soft light that shined from somewhere behind her led Sakura to believe that the woman before her was an angel.

Another soft laugh escaped the woman's lips "I suppose I could be this time…" she said softly with the smile still on her lips.

Sakura had not realized that she had said it out loud but she didn't concern herself with her little slip. She was too enthralled, too awed by the beautiful woman.

And then it hit her; this woman was….

"Mom…?" her voice was raspy from her sleep and exhaustion. Her eyes widened as she continued to stare "M-mom?" her voice broke, she still didn't move her body from wherever she was lying; too weak and too shocked to do anything but to stare at her supposed dead mother.

The woman smiled a sad smile down at the shocked pinkette as she brushed her pink bangs out of her eyes with gentle fingers. Her small mouth opened to speak again "Wake up…"

Sakura blinked and then she was gone.

The bright light in her dream was really the sun's rays shining through a large gaping hole in the ceiling of the structure she was currently resting in. Sakura still didn't move as she continued to stare at the same place where she had seen her mother. Birds were chirping somewhere outside and the sound of trees being rustled in the wind joined their song.

Her eyes began to sting as they welled up with tears and her body shook, "Mom". It came out in a broken whisper and followed by tears "Mom!" chocking on a sob that finally made its way from her throat and out of her dry mouth.

The feeling in her hands slowly came back as her fingers reached out to where she had seen her mother, but curled into fists as she only grabbed air "Come back!" she cried out as she curled in her legs to her chest and hugged herself "Please come back!".

When she heard no reply, she cried out again in desperation "At least take me with you! I'm all alone down here!"

Still no reply.

"PLEASE!"

Nothing.

All was silent as her sobs quieted down and her trembling turned to tremors, and her tears became damp tracks along her face.

So she just lied there, until it all just stopped. Eyes blank and unseeing, body numb and her heart filled to the brim with loneliness. _'Please…'_ she begged one last time.

The distinct sound of a wind chime was the only reply she received; because when the wind chime had rung there had been no rustling of the trees outside.

'_Mom loved wind chimes…'_ she thought absentmindedly.

She felt it in her heart that she had been heard, and that one day she would join them.

"Not yet" she echoed, hopefully.

That's all it took for the loneliness to subside, only for the moment.

She had hope.

Taking a deep breath she finally had the will to slide to her hands and knees, slowly and shakily she rose to her feet. Taking a deep breath in and out and finally taking the time to look around the ruins around her.

"How did I get here?" she wondered aloud.

Though most of the room was intact except for the hole in the ceiling and the dark scorch marks that surrounded it, the only thing that survived the fire was a large chest that was just across from where the bed used to be. And a few things cluttered around that room and were somewhat distinguishable of their burns and had been affected by time.

"Where is here?" she walked towards a half burnt desk that was scooted to the corner of the room.

She ran her hands over the desk's surface, an image of papers scattered across the cherry wood and brushes, pens, and crayons lain across the surface came to mind. She knew what this room was, she realized.

"It's my room," she murmured, she lifted her eyes to look around the room again ", but how did I get here?" and then the memories or whatever they were that happened to her resurfaced along with a sudden dizziness. She steadied herself against the desk and shut her eyes to clear her head. Just the thought of the horrid events that happened in this home made her want to throw up. She ran her shaky hands over her eyes and through her tangled hair to calm her nerves.

"It's home" she breathed out shakily. Opening her eyes and taking one final breath "It's my home".

* * *

**xbLoOmZx****: Please don't get mad at me more than you already are! I tried my best in actually making this chapter a little bit more interesting than the last one. **

**I know, I know it's still very depressing. But Sakura is still figuring out about her past life and considering the circumstances of her past life I would think that finding answers about them would be a downer. But there was a little light shining through, I think.  
**

**Thoughts? Ideas? Readers? **

**Oh well, I hope you guys/gals give a little time to review and at least let me know if I should keep going with this or not. **

**Thanks for reading. :)  
**


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