Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

People will change, and that's understandable. But isn't change a natural process? If it's a part of life, won't forced change completely mess someone up for the worse? The answer is yes. Yes it does. And, currently, I'm feeling pretty messed up for the worse.

I've found that, lately, life can be funny. No, I'm not talking about "haha" funny; I'm talking about the cruel, laughing-behind-your-back funny. I'm talking about the empty, emotionless kind of humor that everyone around me exhibits towards me. And, to tell the truth, it's also the kind of funny that is killing me from the inside out.

I sound like such a pitiful fool, don't I?

I wasn't always like this... no, actually, people knew me as the lucky-go-happy girl. I was the bubbly, optimistic girl who had the brightest future in all of Konoha as a medical ninja. My old friends and mentors told me that I would one day surpass the Hokage, Tsunade, in the field of medical ninjutsu. They had hope. I had hope. But hope wasn't enough to beat the compulsive power of mental transformation caused by Karin.

We were on good terms, Karin and I. I let her have Sasuke without a fight. I never said a bad word about her, to her face at least. Heck, even Sasuke and I were tolerating each other. The day that began the roller coaster effect of my emotions began, ironically, as a nice, sunny day. I woke up early, feeling ready for the upcoming few hours I had at the hospital. I arrived early and, as the only one there, decided to sweep and dust the front lobby. This is where Karin comes into the story. She sauntered through the front double doors, and then she walked up to me. As I was greeting her, she looked me straight in the eyes and... slapped herself as hard as she could. In surprise, I dropped my broom and ran over to her, asking if she was okay.

Then it dawned on me. Karin had a plan. Just then, Sasuke, of all people, walked in. Karin was cupping her swollen, red cheek, and the hand print stood out like a neon sign against her pale skin. She then ran over to her confused boyfriend and said, "Oh, Sasuke! Look at what that ugly, pink haired thing did to me!". And to add some pizzazz to her little show, she started fake-crying. I caught Sasuke's eyes and prayed that he knew that I didn't do this. I wished that he understood everything, that I was innocent. But my wishes and prayers apparently weren't answered because all he said was, "You should know better," and left the hospital with Karin.

After the whole Karin-hospital incident was when people starting looking at me with disgust; this was when people started labeling me with horrible names. Worst of all, this was when people started sending the letters. They were sent from complete strangers, most likely Karin's followers. They all wrote something along the lines of "What's wrong with you," "How can you show your ugly face," "Stop hurting Karin," and worst of all, "I hate you." In my opinion, these are the three most powerful words. They control people. They possess them and make them do things that they regret.

I know I shouldn't let one pompous teenage girl get the best of me. At first, I just ignored her. I put up a barrier whenever she would walk by, hand-in-hand with Sasuke. But ever since Konoha accepted the young Uchiha back with open arms, everything has been different. The people that I called my close friends eventually stopped talking to me, probably believing Karin's wicked tale. The saying "friends stick by you through thick and thin" just didn't apply anymore. Naruto forgot about his promise to always be by my side no matter what. Nobody would look at me; however, I could still hear their harsh words. Backstabbing. That's literally what it felt like.

I thought that I had real friends. I thought that I had achieved what everyone wants, what everyone needs: friendship. But I guess I was just misinterpreting it with the barrier they put up to keep me away. Only two people even tried to reach out to me during my time of need, and they were Shikamaru and Hinata. Eventually, even they started acting different around me. I felt like a fool, a joke, trash. Each night I became more isolated and depressed. Over time, my world started to crumble and those pieces would pelt me until my whole body ached.

I have a plan to end all of this aching though.

Currently, it's a little bit past one-thirty in the morning. I can't sleep tonight, and this time it isn't because I am crying the pain and fear away. I'm actually too excited to sleep. Yeah, this sounds bad, but I can finally end this. I can finally erase my non-existent life from this too-real world. I push aside my pale pink blanket and sit on the edge of my simple, twin sized bed. Slowly and quietly, I creep my hand for the kunai in my ninja pouch. I do it carefully, as if I would wake someone up with my slightest movement. But the sad thing is that there is no one to awake. There's no one there in the shadows of my room to stop me.

Turning the worn handle of the weapon in my hands, I feel the wonderfully sharp edges of the shiny, black metal. My eyes scan my tiny, bare one room apartment slowly before I stand up from my bed and put on my sandals. Silently, I unlatch my window and gingerly leap out. I land silently on the grass below and quickly, but swiftly, make my way into the deep part of the forest, right outside of the village boundaries. I find a large, gnarled tree that has slender, finger like branches. It's bark is starting to peel off, making it look like it is about to whither away forever. Perfect. I sit with my back against the semi-damp, rough bark. For the first time in months, I look up through the parted section of canopy and find only darkness dotted by pinpricks of white. Beautiful. The moon has disappeared. No more light, just like me. I try to listen for the slightest sound, and all I hear are the rustling of the trees. I take a deep, reassuring breath as my cherry blossom colored locks of hair swirl around my face. I then wrap my numb fingers around the kunai blade and slowly lift it up to my left wrist. In one swift motion, I can end my painful life.

Three... two... one!

Just then, I hear a loud swishing sound.

"Stop," I hear as a warm but strong hand grabs my right hand, the blade now frozen on top of my wrist, lightly kissing my skin.

I slowly look up and see two people wearing black cloaks with red clouds, blocking my beautiful, non-existent moon surrounded by the too-real sky. Did they just save my life, or are they going to end it instead?

Thank you for reading "Saved," and I hope you enjoyed it. This chapter was mainly used as a prologue to some extent, which is why not much happened. I promise that it won't be this depressing from here on too... actually, once the Akatsuki cast is introduced, there should be plenty of humor.

This story was originally published on 5-27-11 (my third story, chronologically), but it was deleted by the admins a few months ago because of one slightly bad word in the summary. Well, ignoring the fact that there are thousands of summaries (and stories in general) worse than mine and that I was never given a warning and that I lost all of my precious, motivating reviews, I will put my petty grudge aside and re-post this story for my old readers, and hopefully new ones too. Also, I am editing the entire story in hopes that my writing has improved since it's debut two years ago. This will include the removal of much of the foul language that was first found in this story... let's just say that I was a naïve youngster who thought it was "cool." However, I will make sure Hidan's vocabulary will be as abominable as ever. So, let's commence!

Also, thank you for the people who are giving "Saved" another try. I hope you see improvement since its first publication!

I would love to know your thoughts! Please feel free to leave a review if you'd like, or if you have any ideas for the story. You guys are more powerful than you know, which is why I don't beg for reviews; no, I just ask you to give me a minute out of your time to tell me your thoughts on my writing. This is how I improve, and I would like to improve for both my sake and yours.

E person :)

6-2-11

2-4-13 - edited