Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. I was running, throwing my head back and convulsing with laughter, and clumsily knocking into people every-so-often. We were outside for some reason, in someone's yard.

"Sakura! Slow down!" But my legs were made for running - it was something that I excelled at, even trained for. I ignored the cautious voice and kept running, exhilarated, through the mingling people. It was like I couldn't stop.

"She's drunk," someone complained. A familiar voice that I couldn't put to a face.

Everything went blurry then. I remember going into the road to retrieve someone's... something. I'm not exactly sure what it was anymore.

Suddenly the atmosphere turned to panic.

"Sakura!" The same voice shouted. "Sakuraaaaaa!"

I woke up before dawn the next day. It was darker than usual, and there was a thick cloud cover that morning that hid the moon and stars from my view. Without turning on the light I trudged downstairs, remembering the days when there were the comforting voices of my parents in the kitchen. But there were no lights on when I got to the kitchen - had I forgotten that they were supposed to go out of town?

There was something different about the kitchen, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It felt like I had been sleeping for awhile, although I was sure that it had been only one night. Still, the change was unsettling.

Mom wasn't at home that morning like usual. They must have left for Dad's work somewhere, although I couldn't remember Mom telling me anything about a conference... or awards ceremony. Without eating breakfast, I set off for school. It was conveniently walking distance - I didn't have a car yet, and Ino usually took me. I imagined that she would be sleeping in this morning with a hangover, so I decided to get a head start. About halfway there I remembered that I had left my bag at her house; maybe she would bring it when she came to school later.

On my way I didn't notice that I wasn't clumsy like I usually was. I did not trip or stumble on my way, which is what I would do any day. Occasionally leaves would fall from trees around me, turning yellow and red already. I loved this time of year.

To my surprise, Ino was already standing at her locker when I got to school.

"Hey." I put my hand on her shoulder. "Do you have my bag?"

She ignored me, and continued searching around in the locker that we shared.

"Ino?" I said, louder. Still no response. Was she mad?

Our friend Shikamaru appeared from behind the corner - I asked him what was wrong with Ino, but he didn't answer me either.

"Do you have the trig homework?" Shikamaru asked nonchalantly. I rolled my eyes, he always copied off of Ino or me - not because he couldn't do the homework, but because he was too lazy.

"Will you please acknowledge my existence now?" I asked them both. "Please, I don't know what I did!"

Ino snorted and handed him a slightly battered copy of her homework. "It took me forever to find that in the bottom of my locker!" She told him. "Don't lose it."

He smirked, and then pecked her on the cheek before he went to his classroom.

I was so shocked by this that I forgot to ask why they were taking trigonometry when we were still in sophomore math. Were Ino and Shikamaru secretly dating now? Did they even see me?

"Hey!" I said, louder than usual. Ino was looking into a compact and retouching her make up.

What was going on?

I followed Ino around that day in a daze, she was a junior now - she and Shikamaru both. No one seemed to see me, and I remained invisible to everyone, no matter how I tried to get their attention.

However long I had been sleeping, I had missed a lot. Ino and Shikamaru were dating now - they were only close to it as far as I remember. I guess whatever happened pushed them closer together. It was unnerving going around Ino's new junior classes with her. I always knew she wanted to be a psychology major - like her favorite aunt that always had the stories about her work, but I had never seen her take any initiative. Through most of her high school life Ino had only cared about her cheer-leading, friends, and boys - particularly the dumb-but-cute ones on the football team.

Now, however, she was taking a psychology class, instead of her beloved cheer-leading. I noticed that she payed more attention in class, instead of talking to everyone in the radius that cared, and took notes as eagerly as Rock Lee.

It was at lunch, when I first saw him. Sasuke Uchiha.

"Look." Karin's lips turned up into a smirk, and she leaned in the direction of where she was looking. "The new guy."

I had never liked Karin for numerous reasons. One, being that she always jumped at the opportunity to make fun of my abnormal hair color or forehead. As a result of Ino having two - very diverse - groups of friends, I was stuck with Karin on occasion.

Ino rolled her eyes. "You look like you want to eat him, Karin."

They watched from afar as Naruto Uzumaki approached a dark-haired boy, that I later found out was Sasuke Uchiha. As he got closer to Naruto, I noticed that his features were nearly perfect. I could already see a group of girls watching him lustfully from their tables. Apparently he and Naruto were old childhood friends, but it didn't look like it from where I was standing. In fact, it sounded like Naruto was proclaiming Sasuke his enemy...

And then his eyes turned toward the direction of our table, first passing over Ino and Shikamaru (who were now in a very intense conversation about the soy product in lunch meat), Karin, who's shirt looked even lower all of a sudden, and then me.

I could tell that he saw me, because of the slightly confused look on his face when he saw my pink hair - the expression that I got from any stranger when I informed them that the color was, in fact, natural. And then, just like that his eyes left my abnormal hair, and swept over the others that had joined our table. I wondered if he had actually seen me, or if it was just a trick of the light... or me hallucinating.

I stood behind Ino, and watched as Naruto insisted that Sasuke come sit down with the small group at the table. Gaara and Matsuri were there today, as well as Hinata and her cousin Neji Hyuuga, and Tenten. Sasuke nodded politely or murmured a response at everyone that Naruto pointed out to him. Again, his eyes passed over me after Naruto's introduction, probably wondering if I was only some strange girl lurking around the lunch table.

He muttered something to Naruto, that sounded a lot like, "... her name?" Of course, it was probably because I had started to back away that I couldn't hear his whole sentence.

Naruto looked utterly bemused. "That's Ino, Sasuke!"

Sasuke gave me an odd look then, and I thought I saw an odd trace of fear in his eyes. "Ah." He said, and then sat down in the chairs that Ino had saved for him and Naruto - from then on, he never made eye contact with me.

Meanwhile, Karin was obviously trying to seduce this newcomer. Often, when she had managed to grab Sasuke's attention, she would lean forward and croon something, and toss her hair. I thought she looked extremely desperate when she preformed this mating ritual, and snorted with suppressed laughter. I could tell that Ino was about to do the same, but had tactfully started another conversation with Gaara and Shikamaru instead.

Assuming that the incident with Sasuke was just a mistake, I turned to Karin and said. "He's not going to give you half a chance if you keep groping him like that!" I had been doing this lately, telling people what I was thinking without a second thought. It was one of the perks of being invisible - one of the only ones.

Again, Sasuke's eyes briefly flashed to mine, and then looked away quickly. Could he see me?

For the rest of lunch, I considered this; if someone could see me now, then maybe I could contact my friends, and find out what had happened! The prospect of a tiny social life elated me, and I waited anxiously for the rest of the school day to end so I could speak with Sasuke Uchiha.

As it turned out, Ino had the next period of classes with Sasuke, so I could keep an eye on both of them. But when the bell rang after trig, I followed Sasuke instead - I had to keep an eye on him if I wanted him to help me.

I could tell that this disturbed him a little. As the day ended, Sasuke was growing more and more tense, which only made me more hopeful because I was sure that he could sense my presence. Shy wasn't a good word for him, he was more unsociable than anything, except to Naruto and some of his friends that he spoke to. I noted that most of the girls that had been drooling over him all day were all rejected - including Karin, to my surprise... and delight. Karin usually got every guy that she wanted.

By his last period class - AP Physics, Sasuke was one of those overachievers - I could tell that he was uneasy. All the same, I was too excited to even fathom that maybe he didn't want to see me, or talk to me.

"Sasukeeeeee!" Karin cooed from behind Sasuke. She was annoying, and I could see that feeling on his face.

"Hn." He answered, and continued writing.

"Stop it silly!" Karin almost shrieked with laughter. "You're making it seem like you don't want to be around the rest of us!"

Did Sasuke just roll his eyes?

"Karin, leave him alone," said Neji Hyuuga, a few desks away. "It's obvious Uchiha's not interested."

She looked taken aback at this, but then smirked. "That's impossible - everyone wants me."

Why that little-

"HEY SASUKE!" Naruto burst into the room with so much vigor, you would have thought the building was burning down.

"Naruto." Sasuke said, looking bored. "You're supposed to be in English."

"I know teme!" He said buoyantly. "I've come to check on you!"

"He's not a child." Karin pouted, obviously annoyed that Naruto had interrupted her flirting. "You don't have to treat him like one."

I snorted, I couldn't help it. "Told you so." I snickered. Sasuke tensed again.

Kurenai didn't seem to mind Naruto intruding on his class - she wasn't even teaching today, just letting the students catch-up, so Naruto chattered to Sasuke through the rest of the period. When the bell finally rang, I was about ready to burst. I followed Sasuke and Naruto through the crowded hallways, until they finally split up at the door - apparently Naruto had a detention because of graffiti.

"They always tell us to express ourselves!" He complained.

"I don't think they meant painting a likeness of Tsunade on the gym wall." Sasuke sighed. Tsunade was the principle of our school.

We walked through the crowd outside, and I watched Sasuke dodge numerous fan girls on our way out. I wondered if I would ever get a moment alone with him.

Finally, he began to walk home. I supposed that he didn't live far away from the school... or his car was broken.

For the first few minutes of us walking, I almost chickened out. What if something happened?

To my surprise, it was Sasuke that interrupted the awkward silence. "What do you want?" he asked rudely.

"W-what?" I said, caught off guard.

"You've been following me all day." He stopped, and I realized how much taller he was than me. His black eyes scanned the premises for any neighbors that might think he was mental, and then continued. "So what do you want?"

"You can see me." I repeated what I had been thinking all day.

"Obviously."

"No one else can... I was wondering if you could tell me what happened?" I asked him as politely as I could without screaming.

"Usually the people I see are dead."

It felt like I was filled with ice water. "Dead." I repeated, not liking how the word sounded.

"Can you help me?" I asked him. Maybe there was some way to reverse this... to let people know that I was still existing.

"No." The tone he used was final. I opened my mouth to beg, but he continued. "I moved here to get away from things like you."

And then he walked away.

I stood there for hours - maybe days. I lost track of time as I thought of how cruel Sasuke's words were. Maybe it was true, maybe I was dead. But how could I still be here?

As a little girl, I had never believed in ghosts. It was something that people would tell to try to frighten me, or part of some game that I played with the other kids at school. But to be called a "thing"... that was almost as bad as being ignored.

The next day, I didn't even show up at school. I didn't want to see Sasuke Uchiha again after our encounter. I stayed away for weeks, until the desire to see my best friends got the best of me - I went to school a month later, and followed Ino around.

To my surprise, and horror, Sasuke had become part of the group that Ino sat with at lunch - he even had almost half of her classes!

"Sasuke." Gaara said, confused. "What are you looking at?"

Sasuke had been glaring at me without knowing it. "Nothing." he said. It didn't sound like an excuse, it sounded like he thought it was true.

"I'm not a 'thing'!" I retorted. "I'm a human being!"

To my surprise, I got no response. Sasuke wouldn't want to look like a lunatic in front of his new friends. My friends.

"Ino." I said desperately. "What happened to me!"

"Shikamaru." She scolded. "What would your father say?" She indicated his current D in English.

"Nothing." Shikamaru said. "He works night shifts, and is usually too asleep to comment on my grades."

Ino rolled her eyes.

I was almost in tears, but I couldn't cry. I realized that the first night, when I realized that my parents hadn't been in our house for weeks. I still didn't know where they were. Had they meant to leave me?

I went through the day as if nothing was wrong. I commented on how Karin hadn't seemed to calm down about Sasuke since the first day of school, how well Ino was doing in her classes without me as a tutor, and how Kakashi was always late for English class - always. I also found it amusing to make fun of the fan girl's antics to get Sasuke's attention.

"Sasuke!" One of them wailed. "I don't know what to do!" She was referring to her physics homework.

I rolled my eyes, she wasn't the brightest, but I had noticed that she was making at least a B-average at most. "Right." I said. "So those other grades... they were only luck!"

Sasuke declined politely, saying that he had history to make-up.

"Sasuke!" Naruto whined. "I was going to ask her out!"

"What does me helping her with school have anything to do with that?" he asked irritably.

As Naruto gave Sasuke a very vivid description, I watched as another girl watched jealously at Sasuke from afar. She was above average in her looks, with large blue eyes that bugged out a little, but in a weird way that made her look pretty. She was turned down as well.

After awhile, I had gotten comfortable with addressing Sasuke directly.

"Does this always happen to you?" I asked him once while he was walking outside. "All these girls - it's not normal, you know."

He never answered, but I could tell he saw me, which only encouraged me more. I had decided that if I would stay like this for awhile - possibly forever, I didn't know. That it didn't hurt to ask Sasuke if he had changed his mind. I was becoming more and more desperate every day - the desire to know what had happened to me was increasing every time I thought about Sasuke figuring it out for me. Maybe there was a way for me to return.

"So I was wondering..." I said one day, when he was trying to listen to his trigonometry teacher - Asuma. "Have you thought of helping me? Just a little?" I tried not to show the desperation in my voice. I wanted to talk to Ino so much, and find out where my parents were.

I didn't know that Sasuke was actually considering what I asked of him. I hoped, but there were no obvious signs that he was taking what I said to heart.

I remember the day that Sasuke decided to help me. Or, told me about his decision.

It was getting colder every day, and the last of the leaves had fallen from their branches. I had been getting into the habit of following Sasuke everywhere, at least to his house. I always stayed at my house at night, hoping that maybe I would see Mom, or Dad, if he wasn't away for work.

Sasuke was walking home from school, and I followed him silently. I made a few remarks on Ino's new hair cut (she had opted for layers a few days ago, which surprisingly looked amazing on her).

"It's probably because she has an oval-shaped face." I explained to an uncaring Sasuke. "They always get away with everything."

We walked more in silence. I remember thinking about how lonely I would be on Christmas, when Sasuke spoke.

"I'll help you." He said.

I was so shocked, that I couldn't speak for a moment. "Did you just say-"

"Yes." Sasuke said. We had both stopped walking. He seemed to be struggling with something. "You aren't leaving me alone, and you seem really animate about finding about what happened to you."

I could have kissed him. "Thank you!" I shouted gleefully. "Thank you so much Sasuke!"

"Just, please stop talking during classes," he pleaded. "I can't pay attention with you insulting everyone."

I did just that of course, besides the occasional outburst.

We got to work immediately, Sasuke's brother Itachi (apparently he had moved here to live with his brother, who was usually in the city working anyway) was doing something for his business, so he wasn't at home.

"It's better this way." Sasuke told me, "So he doesn't think I'm going mental."

We sat in his tastefully designed living room - apparently Itachi had hired someone for this - Sasuke holding a notepad and a disposable pen and interrogating me.

"What's your full name?" he asked.

"Er..." I thought for a minute. "Sakura."

"What's your last name?" Sasuke said, incredulously.

"I can't remember." I admitted, straining my mind.

He went on to asking my parents names, which I couldn't seem to remember either. This scared me, how was I going to find them?

Sasuke sighed in frustration. "Can you remember anything about them, like their profession, or maybe anything they were known for doing?"

"My father was a doctor." I remembered finally. "A good doctor, he won a lot of awards."

"Good." Sasuke wrote something down. "Anything else?"

(from Sasuke's notes)

Name: Sakura (cannot remember last name)

-Parent's names unknown

-Father was a doctor, most likely worked in Leaf Hospital

-In school Sakura was in track (short distance), joined the chess team in freshman year, was present in the hospital a lot in seventh grade - cannot remember why

-Met a nurse named Shizune

-Says she is age 15, but friends are in eleventh grade now - accident most likely happened over a year ago, or less

-Parent's location unknown

-Smart for her age, and was in advanced classes since elementary school - was offered to move up a level in math, but opted not to

-Wanted to be doctor like her father

-Cannot remember many details about her life, unless reminded or confronted by something that reminds her of it

-Was on the track team as a sprinter

We went on like that for a few weeks. I would (still) go to school with Sasuke, where I would find Ino and Shikamaru. They never brought me up; this was a bad sign. Sasuke guessed that they wouldn't want to speak of what happened. I thought they just moved on... or forgot.

Likewise, Sasuke worked harder than ever. Every night we were working, trying to find something that I could remember about my life that he could use to my advantage. We found out that my father was a famous surgeon, that had been employed by people all over the world to fix problems. I wondered where he was now. My mother was a secretary at the hospital that he had been working at once; I wondered how they met. Sometimes, when I thought hard enough, I could remember traces of them; Mom's delicate perfume, and the color of Dad's scrubs when I would visit him.

"Why can't I remember?" I said in frustration one day. "If I could just find my parents... then maybe they could tell you what happened!"

Sasuke peered at me from his physics book. "I don't know." he admitted. "You say you woke up in your old house... but no one was there. Has it been vacant for awhile?"

"I had been waiting there every night before you said you'd help me." I sighed, "No one turned up... is Itachi coming home tonight?" I changed the subject.

"No." Sasuke murmured. "He's always so busy... it's different from when I lived with our parents."

Sasuke had moved here because he was almost suicidal. Apparently he had been followed around by worse things than me. His parents had been sending him to a psychiatrist ever since he was about eleven or twelve because of his "condition". Finally, when nothing the shrink had been doing seemed to work, they sent him to live with his brother Itachi, who had suggested that some fresh air away from the city would be good for Sasuke.

"No one believed me." Sasuke had said. "They said it was all in my head."

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

That's why he had been so furious that day when I had asked him for help.

"You were different." He said, less somber now, "All the others did was torment me - no one asked for help. You're the only... one I've seen here so far. Maybe most of them are in the city."

I nodded. "Do you know what they... I am?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I had always considered them to be some kind of spirit. Like a ghost." He saw my grimace, and then said quickly. "But that doesn't mean that's what you are."

Sasuke's words from that day flooded into my head. "Am I dead?" I whispered. It felt as if I had known this all along; just never wanted to admit it.

He thought for a moment. "It's possible, but not the only option."

"So, what you said that day..." I trailed off.

"Was only an attempt to get rid of you." he answered.

And so, I still had hope.

A/N: For those of you who have taken the time to read this, thank you! This is a weird story for me to write, so if you're confused please tell me. I kind of got some of my ideas from the movie The Sixth Sense, but not all of it. If you have any comments on the story so far, please tell me what you think in the form of a review! :D

Edit 12/4/11: It has come to my attention that there are some inconsistencies in my fanfiction (when I started writing it I had ideas that changed as the story progressed), so I'm going back to fix them. I'm still working on the newest chapter though, so don't worry! :)

Update 6/19/15: Still working on fixing inconsistencies in the story, and that pesky "Harano" stuff that I did when I was writing this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters.