A girl of twelve knocked on an open door to a classroom labeled 1-D. "Excuse me, is this the right classroom?"

The teacher, a man with brown hair up in a topknot and a scar across his face, looked at the girl weirdly. "You are…?"

"Um, Sakura Haruno." She said quietly. Sakura walked into the classroom, her long pink hair was in a high ponytail and wore a light pink tank top with light blue capris. On her back was a blue-black backpack that was, for the moment, mostly empty.

The teacher went over to his desk and looked through all of the papers, checking for Sakura's name on his attendance list. "Ah, here you are." He said as he found Sakura's name.

Sakura smiled when she realized she had the right classroom this time.

"I'm Iruka Umino, but everyone calls me Iruka." Iruka said with a smile. Sakura nodded. "Go sit beside Hinata Hyuuga. Hinata can you raise your hand to show Sakura where you are?"

A girl Sakura's age shyly raised her hand and Sakura walked over to sit next to her. The girl had short black hair with long bangs, her eyes were white with jasmine irises, and she wore a long sleeved white dress that went to just below her ankles. Sakura noticed that her dress looked like it hadn't been washed in sometime, and that there were loose threads here and there, and also that she wore sandals that looked like they were beginning to get too small for her.

Sakura sat down and smiled at the girl. "Hi, I'm Sakura."

The girl slowly looked over at Hinata and said, "I'm Hinata."

Sakura put her backpack down and held out her hand. "I hope we can be friends."

Hinata shook Sakura's hand. "Me too."

Iruka cleared his throat and continued what he had been saying before Sakura walked in and interrupted him. It wasn't too much longer later that the bell for the next class rang and everyone got up and left.

Instead of rushing off with the others, Sakura waited for Hinata before leaving. This seemed to surprise Hinata but she didn't complain at all.

"Hinata, can I ask you something?" Iruka said before her and Sakura could escape.

Hinata turned around and nodded.

Iruka pointed at the bottom of Hinata's ankle, just below where the dress ended. "You have a pretty good sized bruise on your ankle. Why?"

Hinata didn't say anything for a moment or two but said, "I ran into something when I wasn't looking."

Iruka nodded. "Okay, you can go. Sakura, I'll have papers for you to fill out tomorrow."

"Okay!" Sakura shouted back as she and Hinata walked to their next class.

The next period was period 5; Sakura had gotten there late so it was late in the day. It was lunch so Sakura and Hinata grabbed a table and started to eat their packed lunch.

Sakura pulled out her lunch – a sandwich, a soda, and some chips – and bit into a sandwich…but Hinata pulled out an apple and a juice box and started eating.

Sakura chuckled a little. "I understand your commitment to a healthier life-style but a sandwich won't hurt you."

Hinata smiled a little at Sakura but shook her head. "It's not that…it's just…I…"

Then a boy with short black-blue hair, black eyes, and all black clothing walked up. He had a piercing in both ears and he carried himself like a punk.

The boy leaned down on the table right in front of Sakura and smiled like a pervert. "Hey there, sexy, you're new…am I right?"

Sakura gave the boy a glare and said, "Yeah, so what?!"

"Oh, a girl with an attitude, I think I'm in love!" The boy said as his friends laughed.

Sakura continued to glare at him, but didn't say anything.

"You're new, so I'll tell you." The boy said as he straightened up. "Don't hang out with this no good girl, she's not good for your reputation."

Sakura shrugged. "I don't care."

Hinata looked at Sakura like she was crazy. "Wh-What are you doing?"

"You want me to be your friend, right?" Sakura asked and Hinata nodded. "And I want to be your friend, so there. We're friends."

The boy scowled at Sakura. "Listen, I'll give you one last chance to redeem yourself. Join my crew, be my girlfriend, and you're set."

"No!" Sakura shouted as she glared back up at the boy. "It's no good punks like you who this world a hard place to live in!"

The boy almost slapped Sakura, but didn't. "Fine! Just remember that Sasuke Uchiha is after you now!"

Sakura stuck out her tongue. "Bite me!"

Sasuke and his friends walked away without another glance towards the two girls.

Sakura turned back toward Hinata and sighed.

"Why did you do that?" Hinata asked.

"Why not…?" Sakura seemed confused by the question. "Besides, somebody needed to put that no good boy in his place."

Hinata sighed at that comment, not sure what she was going to do with Sakura.

Sakura laughed at Hinata's show of confusion. "What were you going to tell me before those punks showed up?"

Hinata didn't say anything, acting just as she did when Iruka asked her about the bruise. "Um, I…I'll tell you later. I don't need anybody else hearing me."

Sakura was confused, but nodded. She didn't want to break Hinata's trust already. "Okay, no problem." Sakura then handed Hinata her bag of chips: Sun Chips.

Hinata looked at the bag of chips then at Sakura with a strange look on her face.

Sakura smiled. "I never liked Sun Chips anyway."

Hinata smiled back and ripped open the chips and shoveled them down.

Sakura laughed at Hinata, not in a mean way, but in a friend way, she found it quite funny.

Once Hinata finished eating the Sun Chips, she started laughing at herself. After a few moments of laughing, Hinata stopped and stared off into space. Sakura looked at Hinata like she was crazy or something, not sure what was going on. But after a minute, Hinata was back to normal and talking with Sakura again.

…

After lunch was over, Hinata and Sakura went to their respective classes for another three periods, Hinata and Sakura had last period together too so they sat together.

After class, it was like a repeat of the end of fifth period.

"Hinata, where did you get that bruise on your ankle?" The teacher asked kindly.

"I ran into something when I wasn't paying attention." Hinata said and walked out behind Sakura.

Hinata and Sakura followed the crowd outside, then Hinata literally pulled Sakura to a part of the school grounds that no one went after school.

"Sakura, I have to confide something in you." Hinata said, almost crying.

Sakura put her hand on Hinata's arm, and Hinata flinched a little bit at the touch. "What is it?"

Hinata pulled Sakura's hand off of her arm and rolled up the sleeves of her dress to reveal bruises going all the way up and down her arm. Then pulled up the bottom of her dress to her knees to show more bruises and welts.

Sakura gasped loudly, the horror was clear on her face. "Wh-What…?"

Hinata started sobbing loudly, her face buried in her hands. "I'm lying to all of the teachers, I'm not clumsy at all." Hinata paused to wipe away tears from her eyes. "I'm being beat by my parents!!"

Sakura's eyes were wide with shock; she had never expected anything like this at all. "H-Hinata…I-I don't know what…what to do, or-or say." Sakura almost started crying herself, but knew that she had to keep her composure for her friend.

Hinata was still sobbing when Sakura's mom pulled up to take her home, but instead of going over to her moms car, Sakura hugged Hinata while trying to keep from crying herself.

"We have to do…something, anything, Hinata." Sakura said, a lump forming in her throat.

"I…we can't." Hinata said in between sobs.

"Yes, we can!" Sakura said with forced confidence. "My dad's a friend with a social worker, we can get you out of there!"

Hinata pulled away from Sakura and shook her head. "I'm a mistake…an accident. According to my parents, mistakes and accidents don't deserve to be happy."

Sakura shook her head. "We have to do something!"

Hinata shook her head. "I won't die, they won't allow it."

"Come home with me, we need to get you out of—"

"Sakura, come on! You father's going to be furious if I don't have dinner on the table when he gets home!" Sakura's mom shouted for everybody in a two-block radius to hear.

Sakura nearly shouted something back but Hinata said, "Just go, Sakura. Your mom's waiting. If I don't get home soon…my parents will be more than furious."

Sakura looked sadly at Hinata then, with her head hung, walked reluctantly to the car. She watched as her friend walked slowly across the street and into an apartment building, knowing what would be soon to come.

Sakura's mom gave her a lecture the entire way home about getting into the car as soon as she pulls up, not allowing Sakura a word in edge-wise. When they pulled up, Sakura grabbed a bucket of KFC chicken from the car floor and walked inside, her father was pulling up as they got everything set on the table.

As soon as her dad walked in, Sakura ran up to him. "Dad, I have to tell you something, now!"

Her dad – a tall man with white hair and blue eyes, wearing an Advance Auto Parts uniform – looked down at his daughter with a confused look. "What is it Sakura?"

"I have a friend, Hinata Hyuuga, she's been lying to all the teachers about her bruises." Sakura said urgently. "She told me today after school that her parents beat her everyday. She showed me her bruises, we have to do something!"

Sakura's dad patted her on the top of her head. "Come on Sakura, we can't do anything about it. Even if it were true."

"Dad, she wasn't lying! I could tell, she was crying! Sobbing, in fact!" Sakura shouted loudly.

Her dad sighed and said, "Fine, I'll call Roy tonight." Roy was the social worker that Sakura had told Hinata about earlier.

Sakura smiled a little bit a sat down to eat. "Thanks."

After she was done eating, Sakura quickly jumped into the shower and got ready for bed. Before she went to sleep, Sakura did something that she usually didn't do…she prayed.

"Dear Lord, I'm thankful for my mom and dad…and my new friend Hinata. I know she needs you bad right now… Because Hinata lies to the classroom, Hinata lies everyday at school… Hinata lies to the teachers as she tries to cover every bruise" Sakura said softly.

She didn't know that, as she sat there praying for Hinata, her dad was standing right outside her door listening to her. He hadn't realized how much this had affected Sakura, and it had never crossed his mind to actually call his friend until just now.

He walked over to the phone and dialed the number, his wife, sitting there staring at him like he was crazy, said, "You don't actually believe her, do you…?"

Sakura's dad nodded.

"Ritsuka!" Sakura's mom shouted nearly loud enough for Sakura to hear. "Why?"

"Sakura doesn't usually pray…she is tonight." Ritsuka said as the other end of the line rang.

Sakura's mom turned around and continued watching TV without another word.

Someone picked up on the other end. "Hello?"

"Hey Roy, it's Ritsuka. Sorry I'm calling so late." Ritsuka apologized to his friend.

"Eh, no problem." Roy replied. "So, what's up?"

Ritsuka took a deep breath then said, "My daughter, Sakura, her new friend is being abused…at least that's what we've all come to understand."

"Hmm…that's a problem." Roy said in a serious tone. "Luckily for you, I'm in the area."

"I had a feeling I'd reach you on your cell no matter what, even if you were with some woman." Ritsuka joked half-heartedly.

"…Are you sure?" Roy asked.

"I'm not sure, Sakura seemed pretty convinced…and scared." Ritsuka said, more serious than he normally is.

"All right. Where does her friend live? And what's her name?" Roy asked as he started writing something loudly on a piece of paper.

"I don't know. Just come with me tomorrow to the school." Ritsuka said. "Sakura seems upset tonight, so I'll let her sleep."

"Okay, where do you live?"

Ritsuka told him and said goodbye, then hung up the phone. Ritsuka sat down next to his wife and said, "Roy should be here in a few."

She nodded.

An hour later there was a knock at the door and Ritsuka opened it, greeting his friend. Roy was a short man with black hair and green eyes; he wore a formal white shirt and slacks.

"Hey Ritsuka." Roy said.

"Roy." Ritsuka replied. "You can sleep in the guest room tonight."

…

The next day Sakura woke up and got dressed in a dark green baggy t-shirt and dark blue jeans, she left her hair down. When she walked into the living room and saw Roy sitting on the couch, she smiled brightly thinking that Hinata was going to be okay.

"Mr. Roy!" Sakura said happily. "I'm so glad you're here!"

Roy smiled back at Hinata and waved. He was never really responsive in the morning.

Ritsuka walked out of him and his wife's room and over to where Sakura stood staring starry eyed at Roy. "Ready to go?"

Roy nodded and stood up. Sakura followed the two men out to the car and they drove to the school quickly. Sakura was already late, but that didn't matter. Sakura looked over at the apartment building where Hinata lived and saw a police car and an ambulance parked in front of it. She felt her stomach drop, but tried to convince herself that it was something else entirely. If only she had been right…

The three people walked into the school and saw a group of teachers standing in front of the office, all with solemn looks on their faces. The principal stood in the middle of the group, he had once been talking but now he had stopped.

Roy cleared his throat before speaking. "I am Roy Benedict, I'm here about a Hinata Hyuuga. I have reason to believe she's being abused by her parents." Roy had gotten Sakura to tell him Hinata's name and why she thought Hinata was being abused.

The group of teachers looked at the trio. Iruka was one of them who looked at Sakura with a sad look. The principal shook his head; Roy knew what it meant.

Roy turned to Ritsuka and softly said, "You have to tell Sakura now…about her friend."

Ritsuka nodded and turned to Sakura. "Sakura, I need to tell you something."

Sakura shook her head. "Hold on." She walked up to the teachers. "She's been lying to you all, she showed me the bruises and told me the truth. Hinata's been lying."

Ritsuka grabbed Sakura's shoulder and shook his head as a lump formed in his throat. "Sakura, come over here with me real quick."

Sakura nodded and followed her dad over to a side corridor that leads to classrooms.

Ritsuka steeled himself for what he had to say. "Sakura, Hinata won't be at school today." Sakura didn't understand, so Ritsuka tried something else. "She doesn't lie to the classroom, she doesn't…doesn't lie at school anymore… Hinata lies with Jesus, because there's nothing anyone would do."

Somehow that had gotten through to Sakura's mind and she started to sob, and she didn't stop sobbing until nearly ten minutes later. Ritsuka took her back over to where Roy and the teachers stood. The teary eyed Sakura was allowed to go home for the rest of the day, but she wouldn't go to school for nearly a week.

On the way back home Sakura said, "Daddy, tell me why Hinata lied…"

Ritsuka didn't say anything, but shook his head. I don't know.

…

Two weeks later there was a memorial service held for Hinata. A small angel on a pedestal, who was on her knees, praying, was the headstone. Only a few teachers, plus Sakura and her parents were gathered to pay their respects to the girl.

1993-2005

"May Your Journey

Be A Safe One"

As everyone cleared out, Sakura was left standing in front of the gravestone while her parents were walking to the car. She stared at the stone for a moment then turned to leave.

As she did so a light radiated from the gravestone, Sakura turned around and saw Hinata standing there in a brand new white dress. It had no sleeves; no bruises were on her arms anymore. Hinata smiled at her friend and mouthed the words "thank you" to her.

Sakura smiled and mouthed, "you're welcome" before she turned around and walked to the car.

Hinata walked over to where some other kids were standing – some younger than her, some older than her – and watched as the people rode away.

When everyone else had gone, the kids all started playing in the graveyard as they would've if they were still alive.