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Dream

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Crash!

Suddenly the front door came crashing down with a loud thud that echoed through the night.

Team 7 had been in charge of 'dealing' with a 'demon' infestation in a small village near the Land of Waves. They had been here for a week and it was pretty quiet…up until now. Oh of all the nights for Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi to be patrol around the village. They left her with a few guards to watch over the village leader, but based on the sounds Sakura heard they were already done for.

The girl noticed that a disfigured man appeared through the hallway, smelling around like the scent of something had attracted him. Was he the one who took the door down? Was he the one who took down the 20 armed guards on the way up the building? What was he?

His eyes made contact with the pink haired kunoichi and a sinister smile crept up his crippled face.

"Shirahama-sama! Please get to your room!"

"But what about you-"

"Go! Now!"

No sooner had she screamed did the frightened older gentleman run to the next room.

Without any hesitation the broken man sped up his disturbing limp as he proceeded towards the girl. As if a poison had spread through her body, she was rendered motionless. She couldn't pull out her kunai? She couldn't even move! Genjutsu?

Her breathing accelerated, her heart beat skyrocketed and her body became drenched in sweat.

He inched forward, his grin not once disappearing. What shocked was not the fact that he was limping on a seemingly broken leg but the fact that when he entered the light he didn't seem…human. He was balding right before her eyes. His skin was bare of any moisture, it was cracked and peeling. His leering eyes were blood red. He was so much like a zombie out of a movie.

Fighting the hold on her body the girl managed to hold up her arms defensively as she screamed "Go away! Go away! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The decomposing man ignored her shrill cries, forcefully grabbing her by the arm lifting her to the skies. Like lightning he laid a quick flash of brutal hits to the kunoichi's face, torso and abdomen before he chucked her to the wall. He cracked a grin as he whispered slowly into her ear.

"We're going to have fun…"

"No…No…get away from me…GET AWAY!"

As if her prayers were answered…

Suddenly, she noticed a boy appeared between her and the monster. In a split second, she noticed that the boy had a spiraling sphere of blue chakra aimed against his chest.
Rasengan.

When the sphere made impact, he was launched into the air at an incredible speed.

With lightning fast speed, another boy appeared a few meters above his body. He raised his arm that crackled with white lightning into the air, followed by the sound of what she thought were hundreds of birds.

Chidori.

The boy thrust downwards with enough force to bring the demon crashing back down creating a bright pillar of energy erupted that destroyed the very floor beneath them. The monster was shot five stories down to the ground floor. Sakura bathed in the light of the attack that could come from only two people. The two boys walked up to the girl, who was by now barely conscious.

"You should have called for us." The dark haired boy kneeled beside her inspected her wounds.

"We're a team for a reason, Sakura-chan." The blonde boy's voice ached with worry.

"Just take the green syringe from my bag and I'll be fine."

"I don't like needles. I don't want to see needles. I don't want to think about needles." The blonde shivered.

"Dumbass, she needs it."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Fine." The dark haired boy proceeded to grab the syringe from her pack and applying it to her arm. She gritted her teeth at the injection at first but she began to ease up as the pain started to fade away.

"What do you think you were doing? You could have been killed." The boy glared.

"I'm sorry, but he used a genjutsu on me. I couldn't move." She shook the slight nausea she had been feeling and looked up to the boys. "Sorry guys, I'll…I'll do better next time…" Her eyes began to droop as the toxin was beginning to take effect.

"What…? I think you used the wrong vile…"

"No, I didn't." The raven haired boy muttered. "You're only a liability now. It's better if you were out of the mission."

"What are you doing?" The blonde screamed.

"Don't worry loser. It'll only put her to sleep. Let's bring her back before Kakashi comes to clean up."

The blonde didn't reply. He mumbled under his breath as he picked Sakura's unconscious body (princess style) and vanished into the darkness of the night. Amidst the searing darkness, a pair of blood red eyes opened up unleashing a surge of pain that washed over her entire body.

She opened her eyes, hurriedly covering her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.

She sighed heavily, wiping the sweat and tears from her face. Minutes before sunrise, only a set few in the village were astir including a certain pink haired kunoichi. As much as she'd like to get up and start the day, she didn't feel up to sneaking away. She fidgeted, tossed and turned but no matter how much she tried she couldn't find the strength to get up.

A liability, huh? The more I train the more apparent that becomes.

Sighing, she sat at the edge of the bed noticing that she wasn't alone in her room. Ino was off for the night and Tenten was currently on a mission in the Land of Waves which left Hinata to watch over her. It wasn't like Sakura needed a babysitter anymore. After two weeks of intensive house arrest since her breakdown, Sakura hadn't lost her urge for improvement but she did calm down considerably.

That only left the problem of her frequent nightmares.

She had a theory that these weren't mere nightmares. Like a stigma, they only served to inflict pain and suffering onto her body. She hadn't been exposed to any enemy jutsu since the war. This left only one possible solution; Sasuke's Genjutsu.

What had he done to her?

For all the dreams she could account for Sasuke was always present. He could've…

No…

Was this her repressed subconscious? She tried and succeeded in blocking out her thoughts of him since Naruto's presence cancelled out her memories of him. But now that he was gone, all her repressed memories and thoughts were crashing down on her. She thought she had long moved passed all of this but it was seemingly more apparent to her. She hadn't taken a step forward, she took several back.

She bit down on her lower lip, applying enough force to draw blood. "Why did I ever fall in love with a person like him anyway? He's a rogue! A criminal! A murderer!

Sakura hurriedly covered her mouth remembering the sleeping raven haired girl but it was too late for that. Hinata began to stir, tears dripping down her face.

"Sakura-san…? I-is everything alright?"

"That's my line." Sakura hastily shook off her anxiety with a shrug, walking over to her dresser for a box of tissues. "Here"

"…t-thank you." The Hyuga clan heiress gingerly accepted the box and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Bad dream?" Sakura asked.

"N-not exactly…"

Sakura always noticed that there was a painfully awkward silence that followed whenever Hinata was around.

Sakura figured that it was because they suffered similar pains; losing the one they loved. There was no doubt that Hinata loved the Naruto. It became more apparent as the years went by; the frequent blushing and faint spells could only go so far before she began to catch on. She felt immensely guilty because of this.

She took Naruto all for herself when there was someone out there who truly loved him. Not like her, who used his love to rid her of her own pain. It was only along the way did she realize that she was in love with him. But that still didn't change the fact that in her confused state she broke her friend's pure heart.

Even after the initial shock with Naruto's announcement, Hinata always kept her smiling face up but the salmon haired kunoichi knew it was only a brave face.

Surprisingly, Sakura wasn't the one to break up the painful silence this time "…I-it's just hard to b-believe that he's actually g-gone…"

Sakura hummed, not really answering. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms them. She didn't want to fall asleep in fear of another nightmare. Maybe she should strike up a conversation with Hinata in the meanwhile. But what was there to say?

Sakura knew what she had to do. She was procrastinating. She sighed heavily, focusing her gaze into the darkest part of the room.

"Hinata…I'm sorry."

"H-huh?"

"I'm…sorry. I knew how you felt about him, but I still…"

Hinata's facial expression changed from surprised; to confused then finally depression but even then she managed a small smile as she slowly shook her head. "Y-you don't have to a-apologize about a-anything. Naruto-kun made his d-decision. Even I knew s-something like this would h-happen."

"It's not so much a decision as it was chance…"

"W-what do you mean?"

"He wasn't the one who confessed to me. It was the other way around." Sakura kept her eyes focused on the darkness. She didn't have the heart to face Hinata anymore.

"Oh…but h-he was always in l-love with you, so he m-made that d-decision a long time ago." The raven haired girl turned her head to the window, looking out into the dim skies. "B-besides, he a-always said that 'I was too gloomy'. H-he will never see in the s-same light as you."

"We can't be too sure of that," Sakura sarcastically chuckled "For all we know he could have been in love with the both of us but too dumb and blinded by one person to notice his feelings for you."

"T-that seems way too f-farfetched to be true…"

"It's possible." After all, Sakura was a walking example of that.

"Even so, he'd have chosen you."

"How do you figure?"

Sakura's eyes widened as the Hyuga heiress broke away from the night sky, turning to her with a simple smile curving up her lips along with a single tear drop that fell down her cheek. The raven haired girl had the same expression that Naruto wore before he left to fight Sasuke.

"It's because you both mean the world to each other and no one can change that."

Hinata…that's not fair.Sakura hung her head was the final blow.

You…still believe that he's alive. You even sound like you're entrusting him to me. Don't do that…I'm a mess. I'm still thinking about someone I shouldn't…I'm still in love with him…I…

Don't show me that face…please…

"…you're just like him." Sakura muttered under her breath.

"I-I am?"

"You're strong, stronger than I could ever hope to be."

"W-w-what are you saying?" Sakura didn't respond.

Oh no! Hinata quickly got up from her Futon and braced herself. She took in a few short breaths muttering to herself 'You can do this! You can do this!'.

"S-sakura-san!" Hinata cried out.

Sakura found many things strange with the current situation. She felt two warm globes being squished against her face, robbing her of air. She struggled to raise her head in the space between Hinata's mounds.

"Hinata…" The pink kunoichi kept her voice leveled.

"Y-yes!"

"…what are you doing?"

"U-um, Ino-san said that 'If Sakura looks like she's about to cry, scream out her name and hug her face with your breasts. Don't mind her if she protests, she secretly likes big boobies. It's one of the reasons she loves Tsunade-Shisho."

"…I'm going to kill her."

"W-what why?"

Suddenly, as if a siren went off, Sakura heard distant screams of terror from outside her room.

A gentle breeze wafted through her open window, the cold air she anticipated never came. Instead a warm wind brushed over her body. Strange, she thought it had been the middle of the night the wind couldn't possibly be warm.

She flew off her hold on her legs and made her way to the window. She gasped as she watched the sight that unfolded before her. The sky was painted bright crimson and the forest just outside of the village was set blaze. Not only that, but the flames seemed to follow a rather large shadow. It tore through the trees leaving nothing behind in its wake.

Sakura was speechless; the fire was now spreading outwards. There was no way that Tsunade had not known of this monster.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew into her room momentarily knocking her from her train of thought. The wind blew her curtains aside and threw her lighter knickknacks around. She felt something - something familiar within that gust of wind. Chakra; a dark an evil Chakra filled the air.

No…way…

That was when her fears came into realization. As if chanting, the villagers who fled they all repeated words that continued to shake Sakura through her core each time it was screamed.

THE NINETAILS IS ATTACKING.