Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter I: Help
"AAAARGH! GRAARH! WAAH! DARKNESS FALLS UPON US ALL! DARKNESS SURROUNDS US! DARKNESS… DARKNESS!"
The mad man grasped the bars of the little window he could see through from the room he had been locked into. Two bypassing nurses looked at the man and started to whisper.
"That is the work of the Uchiha, right?"
"Yes… the latest psychiatrist…"
"I can't still fully understand why they're trying to revive his long gone senses."
"They say the boss used to be his best friend in high school…"
"The boss? No way! Best friends… with Uchiha?"
"The one with the rumored past…"
"The one with the brother who's a murderer…"
A pair of obsidian eyes glared at the chitchatting women before his lips curled into a sinister, crazed smirk. "You're going down next…"
"Why her?"
"It's a terrific choice. Either way, we win."
"How?"
"If she does succeed, the boss will be pleased. He'll of course promote you, instantly, for finding such a wonderful psychiatrist. And he'll advertise for my clinic, for helping you in the process."
"And if she does not?"
"Well… our clinic becomes one of Japan's top ten best, since we're eleventh place, and if she stops being a psychiatrist, causing that little pathetic clinic of hers' demise. And you don't have to worry about anything, because then you can just say that you were against the entire idea in the first place. My clinic doesn't get affected either, since I did nothing but make a suggestion."
Frown. "The boss will not be pleased."
"Why not? She's a fantastic psychiatrist, for sure."
"There's another problem."
"Oh? What would that be?"
"He used to know her. Or that's what I've been told. He didn't want to 'cause her pain'. I don't quite understand what that's supposed to mean, but…"
"So what if she's his ex-girlfriend? We'll succeed for sure. Together, we shall cause the downfall of Haruno Sakura!"
"B-b-b-but then he ch-cheated on me!" The woman burst in tears. Sakura looked calmly and sympathetically at her.
"He cheated on you because he's trying to find love. You may not have given him the attention he needed. Have you?"
"Well…" The woman hesitated. "No… but I've been awfully busy at work. He knows that."
"Yes, of course he does. He can probably understand you, but… how long have you been busy?"
"For… for half a year," she responded cautiously.
"Yeah. Don't you think that you should give him some attention? Don't you think that you kind of deserve this? Sorry, but don't think of it as a punishment. More as a… alert."
"An alert?" The woman looked at Sakura suspiciously. "You think that accepting that somebody has cheated on you is that easy, huh?!"
Sakura didn't answer. Then, "… No. I know it's difficult. But it's a sign. I believe that everything happens for a reason. Being a psychiatrist means that you're trying to find that reason and make things good again, so bad signs won't appear again."
"How're things going to get good after this? Our relationship is broken!"
"By what standards?" Sakura questioned. "It's broken if you consider it broken, of course. If you don't even try to fill the gaps that have appeared in your relationship, how do you know if it can recover or not?"
"So you mean… that if I just give him his attention…"
"Yes. Humans say that they grow. From infants to children, from children to youths, from youths to adults, and finally from adults to elders. But what seems to be hard to understand for many is that you don't forget what has happened in your previous phases. With other words, when you grow from one phase to another, you won't be able to clear your past entirely. It will still leave traces… like foot prints in the snow. But you still have it in you, deep inside. The childish you. And besides, with his messy childhood, it's natural that his reactions are more childish than intended. When he doesn't get the attention he desperately seeks, he searches for a new source of attention, for a replacement. It's a psychological instinct."
"I didn't understand that."
Sakura laughed. "Well, more easily expressed, he hasn't stopped loving you. He was looking for a replacement, to fill in the gap you had left, the gap you hadn't cared to fill. It's an instinct, so you can't blame him for doing so."
"So I should just be with him some more, and everything will be okay."
"Yeah, don't get mad too easily. Give him the attention he wants, but not too much, and not too little. Everything will be okay in the end. Haven't you heard that expression, 'everything's alright in the end… if it isn't alright, it isn't the end'?"
The woman smiled. "Thanks, Haruno-san."
"No problem."
Sakura heaved a sigh as the woman exited her office with a goodbye. Suddenly, somebody clapping their hands could be heard as someone else stepped through the door; looking up from the documents messily spread on her desk, Sakura found a too familiar pale-skinned, black-haired man.
"Nice job as always, ugly. Had the little 'everything's alright in the end' speech again, huh?"
A vein popped on Sakura's temple. "Sai…"
"For talking to people everyday about controlling your temper, you sure have some problems yourself. Why don't you go see a psychiatrist?"
"Ha, ha, ha," Sakura laughed sarcastically. "What're you doing here anyway? I thought you had work to do, Mr. I'm-Too-Busy-To-Go-See-A-Movie-With-You?"
"Well, excuse me for having a parent-teacher conference. It's not my fault that almost 50 percent of all the students I have flunk art, however impossible it seems."
"Parent-teacher conference, again? Don't tell me you asked one of those single moms out? I feel so sorry for them. Like it wasn't enough with one problematic kid, now they had to deal with two."
"Of course I didn't ask them out. I think it's the other way around." Sakura rolled her eyes at this. "And by the way, why do you wonder? Jealous?"
A faint tint of pink appeared on her cheeks as she threw a piece of crumpled paper at her friend. "No! Why would I be?"
"Because I'm so hot and have a full-sized penis, compared with some of your other non-existent male friends?"
Another piece of crumpled paper flying his way, but Sai ducked easily, used to Sakura's attacks. "You're so childish, Sai. Maybe you're hanging around too much with the kids, after all… and don't you dare insult Neji-kun! He's a lot more mature than you!"
"Neji?" Sai smiled goofily. "Who talked about Neji? And don't you have any other male friends… for instance, Lee-san?"
"I-I just assumed y-you were talking about N-Neji-kun b-b-b-because…"
"Because?" Sai repeated with a raised eyebrow, teasingly.
"Well, you're teasing me about him all the time!" Sakura's cheeks were on fire by now. "He's just a friend!"
"Oh, really." Sai rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, really –"
"Sakura," a voice interrupted them as a new man stepped into the office, with long, brown-black hair and pearl-colored eyes.
An amused grin twitched in Sai's lips as Sakura looked almost faint by now. "Err… yes, Neji-kun?"
"New job."
"What?" Sakura's faintness disappeared.
"The boss informed me. You're getting moved."
"Moved? Where?"
"To the psych ward. They need emergency help. It's a temporary job."
"Oh…" Sakura smiled softly. "Who's the patient?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
The name continued to echo in her mind as the pink-haired woman proceeded on her way home alone, after having said goodbye to Sai. It felt so oddly familiar… yet so distant.
Like a ripple among thousand others that the sea is trying to recognize…
Sakura laughed for herself. Philosophy? Where did I get the sea part from?
A scene appeared in her mind. Sunset. The sound of the waves softly crashing to the shore. Two children sitting on the beach… a pink-haired girl…
… and a dark-haired boy…
"Hey, Forehead Girl!"
Spinning around, Sakura stood face to face with a blue-eyed woman with her soft, blonde hair collected in a neat ponytail. "Oh. Hi, Ino."
"Hi? Hi??!?!?! Is that what you say to your defense when you've just abandoned somebody?" Ino's eyes flashed with fury, flames set ablaze in the background as she towered over her friend.
Sakura blinked. "What?"
"Yeah! You just abandoned me right there, with Shikamaru of all people! That boring teacher! Geez!"
"Oh… that…" Sakura grinned. "But he's not that bad, you know."
"Not that bad? Oh, please, Sakura, what do you expect of someone whose main hobby is watching clouds? Er, hello! It's okay to watch clouds when you're trying to get a suntan, but otherwise…"
"Don't complain so much, Ino. At least I got you a date –"
"A DATE? WITH HIM?!" Ino heaved a sigh. "Geez, sometimes I really don't know how you think, Sakura. And what was with that laugh a while ago?"
"Well… I'm getting moved."
"WHAT?!" Ino stared at her in disbelief. "NO WAY! Sakura, you're staying here! Konoha is the best place ever! You can't leave it –"
"Take it easy, Ino, I'm just getting moved to the other side of the city… you know Spirit of the Sakura, right?"
"Oh. Right."
Silence. Then… "WHAT? SPIRIT OF THE SAKURA? ARE YOU CRAZY? THAT'S THE PSYCH WARD!"
"Yeah, I know! But it's just a temporary job, and I'm getting loads of money. Besides, they say it's an emergency."
"Of course it's an emergency! Oh my god, Sakura, you might get killed or something! The people in there are dangerous, I mean, there's a reason why they have electrical fence around that place!"
"Yeah, but… I really want to help. If they think I'm capable to do it…"
"But what if you aren't? What if everything goes wrong? You might get killed, Sakura!" Ino stared at her, bewildered.
"Don't worry, Ino. Being a psychiatrist is a hard job. But it's good to help others."
"Sakura…" Ino sounded desperate now. "I mean, I know you've always wanted to help others, but…"
"Ino." Sakura's voice was firm when she interrupted her friend. "I could've ended up there. Do you remember how I was like seven years ago?"
"Yes," Ino said quietly. "You didn't… remember…"
"Yeah. And Tsunade-sama helped me. She helped me out of the darkness. Out of the darkness of being alone… of not knowing anyone… of not knowing even myself…"
"I know."
"What if it's the same with them? With those people in there? What if they were like me, maybe just a bit different, but also lost in life? I want to help them, Ino. I want to help them… even if it has to cost me my life."
"Yeah…"
"But about the Shikamaru thing. I'll find you a new date, okay?" Sakura grinned.
"Okay. Sure."
"See ya!"
"Later."
Ino stared at the retreating back of her friend, shook her head and then mumbled: "But he is there…"
So, the first chapter's done! What do you guys think? I just got this idea in the middle of the night (don't ask) and just started writing the day after. I've no idea where I got the inspiration, it just kind of appeared, like some kind of... I don't know, light. Or maybe it was the snow. It was kind of dark and light at the same time. That's when it kind of struck me, I guess...
Either way, I should stop ranting. And PLEASE REVIEW:D