Author's Note: So this is what happens when I'm bored in class..I think of new stories to write, but who said that was a bad thing ;). So enjoy!

The sound of her shoes clicking against the tile echoed in the halls, each echo only ebbing her further on to her destination. Her breathing was rapid, her lungs feeling as though they would explode with every breath she took. Sweat beaded on her forehead, but with a quick swipe of her fist the perspiration was wiped free of her skin. Her leg muscles screamed and burned for rest, but she forced them to keep moving rapidly forward. She'd lost track of how long she had been running for, but that didn't matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was that she made it to her destination on time, everything depended on her completing this mission.

She rounded a corner and stopped short, just in time to remain hidden and invisible. Making her breathing as quiet as possible, she slowly peered around the wall and her eyes narrowed. Two shinobi were standing between her and success that was waiting to be achieved.

They hadn't noticed her yet, occupied with their private thoughts.

She slowly reached into her pouch and brought out a kunai, a small click escaping the metal.

The larger man's head shot up, and he brought out his own weapon, and slowly approached her hiding place. She could feel his presence near her, and she counted down in her head.

Three.

His opened toe shoe became visible.

Two.

His torso fully visible, rounding the corner.

One.

Before he could react, she stealthily plunged her kunai directly on a pressure point behind his neck. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, un-moving.

"Hey!" another voice boomed.

She turned her head as the other male rapidly approached her location. He stopped short and took in the sight of his fallen comrade, her blade still stuck in the back of his neck. He raised his head, giving her a blinding, murderous stare.

"I'll kill you." he spat threateningly.

She smiled. "You'll have to catch me first."

And her body vanished, swirls of cherry blossom petals appearing in her absence.

The shinobi's eyes widened, and he spun three hundred and sixty degrees trying to locate her, pulling out a blade of his own.

But he wouldn't find her, not until she willed it so. After all, that was the beauty of genjutsu, and she was quite skilled at it.

His hand that wielded the blade was shaking slightly, his eyes dancing around the bare white walls. Suddenly the room was filled with the overwhelming scent of cherry blossoms, and more petals appeared above the man's head, floating down and beginning to spin slowly.

The man dropped his weapon, and his pupils widened, the scent of the blossoms taking affect. He reached out to catch a petal as it fell towards him, willing to immerse himself in the petals.

The soft and fragile petals' edges sharpened as they swarmed into his body, incapacitating him successfully in his mind.

She stood a few feet away and allowed her genjustu to completely affect him, smirking as he sank to his knees with a blank stare on his face.

She turned to the doorway that she had earned her passage through, but stopped when she heard some static suddenly erupt from her earpiece, and she turned the small dial on it.

"What happened? I heard voices." a male voice spoke in her ear.

"Just some guards I took out, and I'm fine thanks for asking." she replied sarcastically.

"Hn."

She inwardly sighed, Uchiha men are so impassive, she thought shaking her head.

And her eyes caught a gleam of metal that had been forcefully abandoned on the tile.

She bent down and twisted the navy material between her fingers, and her gloved thumb traced the unfamiliar insignia cut into the metal. She frowned in confusion.

"Their headbands..I don't recognize this village." she said

"What?" his voice grew slightly with interest. "Are you sure?"

She examined the unfamiliar design once more,. "Hai. These men…aren't from a village we are familiar with." she had her mind wrapped around the design, ingraining the image into her brain.

She stood up, shaking the thought from her mind. She wasn't sent in to this place to collect unfamiliar headbands. She looked ahead into the doorway in which she had rightfully earned her passage through.

White marbled steps wound around the walls, no doubt leading to her objective.

"It's probably nothing, but I'll inform Lady Tsunade about it. I'm going on, I need to get the pendant." she dashed into the open doorway and began to sprint up the flight of stairs in front of her, thinking of nothing but the fact that she was so close, and stalling was not an option.

"Be careful." he said in her earpiece.

She smirked. "Now you tell me."

For what seemed like an hour, she finally made it to the top of the winding marble staircase. Panting, she rested for a moment, placing her black gloved hands onto her knees. Her earpiece came alive.

"I've tracked your location, the pendant should be right in front of you in the tower." his voice said.

She groaned. No wonder it took her so long to climb the stairs, it was a tower. Leave it to these people to hide the treasure in a tower, totally not obvious. She raised her head from her knees and looked ahead into an archway, the outside adorned with rows of pink pearls, only slightly adding to the bland white walls.

She straightened up and walked into the archway, and paused at the entrance of this second room, another white walled dome like room drained of any color. Sections of the walls were carved open arching up to the ceiling, adding a colosseum like vibe to the room, sending in gusts of fresh air. Her eyes traced the architecture, entranced by the beautiful structure, but then her eyes fell to the center of the room.

There it was, the reason that Lady Tsunade had sent her and Sasuke on this recovery mission. The key to their success was resting on an ivory pedestal, atop a velvet cushion the color of an eggplant.

She approached the pedestal slowly, her eyes scanning the room for anything that was or might trigger some sort of trap. It was only when she was two feet in front of the pedestal did she relax, as no traps were sprung. Her hand reached out, but it was quickly withdrawn when she spotted it at the last minute; a very thin ring floated effortlessly around the velvet cushion that thickened the closer her hand got. She frowned and took out a small shrunken. She jumped back and threw the star at the ring. On impact, sparks flew and the throwing star dropped to the floor, the edges bent and burned. She reproached the pedestal, and doing the first thing that came to her mind, she rapidly formed a few hand signs.

"Kai!" she said assertively.

She watched in glee as the ring evaporated into nothing. Triumphantly, she once again reached out her hand and curled her fingers around the delicate gold chain of the pendant, the turquoise crystal attached shining in all its glory. She allowed her senses to be momentarily taken over by its beauty, holding it up to catch the light. She immersed her vision into the crystal, the endless ocean of turquoise swam in her eyes. She smiled, joy rushing through her veins, feeling as though she consumed ten cups of coffee.

"Sakura?" her earpiece buzzed.

"I got it! Mission complete, where are you?" she asked Sasuke, never taking her eyes off of the jewel.

"Look down and you should see me." he replied.

Sakura finally looked up from the gem, and closed it in her fist. She walked over to the open wall that held a breath taking view, her footsteps echoing in the room, and looked down. Sure enough Sasuke was standing on the ground, looking up at her with what she believed was a slight smirk on his face. But of course she couldn't be sure because of their current height difference. Sakura smiled, and enclosed the pendant in her hand, and with her other hand formed the ram hand sign. Sakura focused her chakra to her feet and successfully felt the whoosh of her successfully transferredchakra. There was no way she would make a graceful landing from this height, she'd walk down the wall more than halfway, then she'd jump the rest. Taking a deep breath, she put her foot out to connect with the outer wall of the tower.

But someone had grabbed her shoulders from behind, yanking her back into the room and spun her around.

"Sakura!" she heard Sasuke yell from her earpiece, which was rudely yanked from her ear before she could respond. It was thrown onto the polished marble floor.

At that moment adrenaline pumped through her veins, there was absolutely no way she would be leaving empty handed, or being taken a prisoner when she was so close to victory.

Sakura gathered chakra to her fist, ready to smash the face of whoever was about to stop her from taking back Konoha's property.

But her fist froze in midair as she looked into the oh so familiar eyes of the person who grabbed her shoulder.

Her eyes widened and her heart beat out of her chest.

"You.." she said incredulously.

The last thing she saw was a bright swipe of chakra.

Sasuke looked up at Sakura as she approached the opening of the tower. He sighed in relief, now they could head back to Konoha and present the ever so important pendant to the Hokage, and actually learn the importance of the pendant. All the Hokage had told them was that the pendant itself was older than Konoha, and it had belonged to the mother of the First Hokage. It had been stolen from the village years ago, and they had finally located it.

Sasuke had assumed that their lack of knowledge was a precaution, just incase Sakura or he was taken hostage and questioned by the people who stole the pendant, and having no knowledge would spare their immediate death.

Sasuke saw Sakura place the tip of her shoe on the outside wall, ready to make her descent to him.

And his heart dropped when he saw his teammate suddenly disappear, her body forcefully yanked away from his field of vision back into the tower.

"Sakura!" he yelled into his own earpiece, but he didn't get a response.

He heard a small whisper.

"You.." he heard Sakura say faintly.

Sasuke's stomach dropped to his knees.

What in the hell was happening?

"Sakura!" he yelled again, turning up the small dial on his earpiece.

And he heard a sharp scream erupt from his ear, unsettling his entire being.

His head shot up, and his eyes widened in horror as he saw Sakura's body thrown out into the air, her back arched. Her pink head tipped back followed by her legs, and she was falling head first rapidly towards the ground.

Sakura.

He gathered an overwhelming amount of chakra to his feet and dashed upwards, the ground leaving him faster than he had anticipated. He met her body halfway towards the ground and quickly wrapped one arm around her torso and the other under her legs. He held on to her tightly as he smoothly landed on his feet, careful not to drop her. With Sakura still in his arms he went down on one knee and his eyes landed on her head.

A giant gash stretched across her forehead, blood spilling down her cheeks like tears, dampening her pink hair to a dark red. The wound was deep, too deep to be ignored. He gently placed his fingertips on her forehead near the gash, and he quickly withdrew them when she cried out loudly in pain, her fists tightly clenching his shirt, like she was holding on for dear life. Her entire body was shaking violently.

He had never seen her in such agony.

"Sakura! Who did this?!" he yelled in frustration, even though he knew that she wouldn't respond.

Sasuke felt something jab him sharply in his chest, and looked down at one of Sakura's hands to find it grasping something. He gently unclenched her fist and he inhaled.

The pendant shined up at him, the turquoise gem vibrant.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura, slightly marveling at his teammate. She had been attacked and thrown from a tower, yet she had still managed to hold on to the pendant, never once releasing it from her grasp.

His heart stirred at her victory, but quickly began to beat rapidly in horror when Sakura's body suddenly went limp, her hand dropping from Sasuke's shirt, and grazing the soft grass beneath him.

His mind was moving a mile a minute. Without any hesitation, he tore a giant piece of fabric off of his shirt and wrapped it around Sakura's head, to help with the bleeding. The white fabric was quickly soaked with red. He quickly stored the pendant in his pocket and hoisted her onto his shoulders and spread all of his chakra to his feet once more. With blinding speed, he dashed into the trees in the direction of the village. The trees around him became blurs of green and brown, and his eyes teared up slightly from the wind.

Hold on Sakura, hold on..

"Arigatō, Lady Tsunade. His arm is healing well thanks to your treatment, and he should be released in a few days." the blonde nurse happily reported to the Fifth Hokage.

"Excellent, thank you for the report Ayumi." Tsunade replied.

Ayumi smiled, bowed her head respectively and rushed off in the other direction, her hair flowing behind her.

Tsunade sighed, she hadn't been this exhausted in a while, not since a few weeks ago when an entire squad was ambushed on their mission, and she had dropped all of her paperwork and spent the entire day pumping chakra into their weak and dying bodies. She remembered her head spinning like a top, so weak from the over use of her chakra that she could barely move. But of course that was nothing that a giant bottle of sake and a very long nap wouldn't fix. And that was exactly what she was about to do.

A nurse hurried past Tsunade with a cart filled with hot meals and drinks. The nurse picked up one of the covered dinners and walked into one of the hospital rooms. Tsunade took the opportunity to grab one of the white polished cups on the cart, if she was going to drink for the rest of the day she would drink like a proper woman.

Just as her fingertips were about to touch the cup, a large crack split through it, some pieces instantly chipping off and falling to the ground with a small clack. Tsunade's hand froze outstretched. Being a big believer in superstitions, her eyes widened then narrowed quickly. This had happened to her before, and she thought back to when the Kazekage of Suna had been taken by the Akatsuki, and Team Kakashi had been sent out to assist Suna. The same type of cup had cracked just as she was about to pick it up, and she had the urge to send a backup squad to assist in the mission. If she hadn't, that mission may not have been a success.

She stared at the chipped cup, returning to the present. Something wasn't right, something definitely was not right.

And her suspicions were confirmed when Ayumi came running back in her direction, yelling frantically and urgently.

"Lady Tsunade!" Ayumi exclaimed running up to her, her eyes filled with intense alarm.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked urgently, her voice lowering an octave.

"It's Sakura-san! She's-" Ayumi began frantically but Tsunade flew past her, not allowing her to finish her statement.

Damn it! She knew something was wrong, but this time it had to do with her student, but Sakura was more to her than that. She was like a daughter to her.

And like a mother to her child, she would do anything to save her.

Everything happened too fast. One minute she was wrapped in his secure arms, holding her limp body possessively against his chest. It only took Sasuke to run into the hospital for the nurses to take action, a blonde nurse dashing away like a scarred rabbit only to return with none other than the Fifth Hokage.

Lady Tsunade took him in with her honey colored eyes.

"What's happened?" she asked him urgently.

And her eyes drifted to Sakura's body in his arms.

She dashed over to him and slipped her arms under Sakura's torso, but he pulled on her slightly, not wanting to let go of her. Sakura took a sharp breath from the movement, her closed eyes squeezing more tightly shut. Tsunade met his eyes, any signs of compassion or sentimentality non existent.

"Uchiha Sasuke, let go of this girl or I'll break your neck." she said threateningly.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura who's breathing, to his utter horror, was lessening quickly. He looked at her pale face, and something stirred inside his body. He found himself at a loss, then submissively loosened his hold on her and she was lifted out of his arms. He watched as Lady Tsunade handed Sakura over to a group of awaiting doctors, who gently took her into their care and rushed into the doors leading to the operating rooms.

Sasuke's chest felt uncomfortably cold behind his cotton shirt without her body pressed against it. He crossed his arms as a substitute, but nothing could warm him, nothing except the assurance that his teammate was alive and well. He looked down at the tear he made of his shirt, some of the threads hanging loosely where the fabric was ripped.

Lady Tsunade put her arm on his shoulder. "She will not die. I swear on my life."

Sasuke hated any physical contact, and would have normally slapped anyone's hand away, but let her hand linger on his shoulder, her words dancing in his mind.

And somehow, he brought himself to believe her.

Soundlessly, he dug his hand into his pocket and his fingers were greeted by the wretched amulet that may have cost Sakura her life, and held it out in front of him, the crystal swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

Tsunade's eyes widened, her hand reaching out to cup the hanging turquoise. She hastily took it from him, enclosing it in her palm. She looked at Sasuke with approval shining in her eyes, but that light quickly dimmed as she turned to head deeper into the hospital, no doubt to heal her student.

How she had managed to remain calm at the sight of Sakura bleeding to death was beyond him.

She pushed the metal door open, then paused. She turned to Sasuke, "And put away your sharingan. You're starting to scare everyone." Before disappearing behind the doors, she gave Sasuke a look that said, "We'll talk later."

Sasuke blinked. He stared into the small windows of the hospital doors, and his reflection looked back at him, his Mangekyo Sharingan fully active, the red star flashing through his eyes violently. Sasuke hadn't even realized that he had activated his bloodline, having been so caught up in adrenaline and stress. His eyes began to tingle with the same burning sensation that occurred whenever he used the mangekyo. He sighed and closed his eyes, allowing them to return to their normal black color. He opened his eyes and noticed that the nurses that remained in the waiting room were cautiously staring at him, whispering among themselves. Sasuke shot them glares, and they all instantly averted their eyes, some rushing away, saying to each other that they had patients to attend to.

Sasuke stood in his spot, unmoving.

That is until the front entrance to the hospital slid open, or flew open to be more exact.

Sasuke felt a pair of hands clamp down on his shoulders and spin him one hundred and eighty degrees, and he found himself facing the one person who he knew would confront him.

Uzumaki Naruto.

"Sasuke! What happened?! Is Sakura-chan ok?! Who attacked her?! What's going on?!" Naruto forcefully questioned Sasuke, his face filled with worry and anger.

Word sure travelled fast.

Sasuke only looked at his best friend, feeling the same pain as Naruto, only Naruto seemed to make the pain in Sasuke more prominent. Naruto had already been out on a mission with Kakashi and Sai when Tsunade had assigned Sasuke and Sakura on their mission, so it had been just the two of them who were available from Team Seven.

So Naruto knew no details of the situation, and it must be killing him inside.

Sasuke sighed and sat down. "We just got back. The Hokage is healing her now." he said, hearing his own voice sounding gloomy. Naruto stood un-moving next to Sasuke, his blue eyes showing hues of red from anger, Sasuke feeling wisps of the strong chakra of the Kyuubi.

"Sasuke, you're going to tell me everything that's happened, no details spared."

Tsunade looked down at her student, examining her head. The gash spread across her whole forehead, her hair and cheeks stained with her blood. Sakura's body was shaking, and she was barely breathing. Tsunade placed her fingers above the gash. Her head was hot, very hot. Tsunade's expression turned grim.

The wound's deep, she told herself, and her fever is rising.

She lifted her fingers and began to form various hand signs, signs too complex for any medical ninja to master quickly. The nurses around Tsunade looked on waiting for instructions as Tsunade's hand began to glow green with her chakra. Tsunade inhaled as she bid her chakra to increase, forming a cloud of green that floated over Sakura's head. She lowered her hand, the chakra settling on top of Sakura's forehead like a blanket. The chakra glowed, and began its work on healing her wound. Tsunade turned to the nurses.

"All of you continuously supply my chakra with your own, focus on her head and her head only. That's where the most damage is."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!" the women said in unison.

"So you have no idea who attacked her?" Naruto asked incredulously, his fists tightly clenched and resting on his knees.

"No, she was grabbed from behind and…." Sasuke took a breath, "Thrown into the air.." he finished difficultly, leaning his head back against the wall. He closed his eyes, but whenever he did so he would see the terrifying vision unfold in front of him.

Her voice, first so happy and triumphant with success, then the sharp scream of pain. Her body thrown into the air, the deep, threatening gash on her forehead..

Naruto's intake of breath pushed away Sasuke's terrible visions, which he was thankful for.

"If she…if she dies.." Naruto barely spoke, sobs threatening to explode out of his body.

Sasuke said nothing, slightly shaken by Naruto's unusual seriousness. For once Sasuke had nothing to say, nothing to reassure, nothing to calm his best friend down. Because inside his own heart there was a terrible pang, pain so emotional that he didn't know how to handle himself. And there was something else.

Anger, pure anger and fury rushed through his veins, and he felt the same as Naruto did, the same pain and fury.

It was enough to help him make his decision. If Sakura died, he would find out whoever had murdered his childhood friend.

And he would kill that person for taking away the light in her eyes.

Sasuke's head shot up as he heard an opening door. His eyes were glued to her honey ones, not showing any emotions or anything to indicate that something had gone wrong. Naruto jumped from his seat, not wasting anymore time.

"Bāchan! How is she?! What's happening?!" Naruto exclaimed grabbing the Hokage's shoulders.

"Is Sakura-chan…alive?" he asked desperately, his eyes fixated on hers.

Lady Tsunade gently took Naruto's hands off of her shoulders. She looked at Naruto for a few more seconds, saying nothing. Then she leaned over slightly to Sasuke.

He looked back at her, his insides exploding with nerves and anxiety, dreading to hear the words that he feared would come out of her mouth.

But she smiled. "I made you a promise, and I've kept it."

Sasuke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, the stress that was eating away at his body was suddenly drained, and in its place came relief. It flooded through him like a new rainstorm in the desert.

Sakura was alive, and in that moment that's all that mattered to him.

There was pain, so much endless pain. She felt as though she were floating in blackness for days, with not a single ray of beam of light to guide her. Her mind was numb, oblivious to anything that happened around her, if anything had happened at all. She allowed herself to continue to float freely in the dark.

Sakura.

And the pain was gone, the everlasting pain was finally banished from her senses. She heard a voice call, activating something inside of her.

Sakura.

She felt the floating sensation abruptly end, feeling her body register a soft material underneath her.

She was confused, who was Sakura? And who was calling her?

Sakura, wake up.

Oh right, that was her name, but who was calling her here?

She felt the darkness brighten around her, small blurs of color slowly appearing in her vision.

Sakura-chan, wake up!

She was tugged out of the darkness, and her eyes opened.

Sasuke's heart leapt when he saw Sakura's eyes open, her green eyes full of life. Naruto had laughed with relief, his blue eyes shining. He was sitting at the end of Sakura's bed, helping her sit up. His arm was supportively wrapped around her back as she slowly rose.

Her hand instantly flew to her head, touching the giant bandage wrapped around her forehead, and she grimaced.

"Be careful, Naruto. She's alive but not fully healed. The wound will need time to fully heal." Tsunade said as Sakura turned to look at Naruto, her eyes studying him as if this was the first time she had ever laid eyes on him. Naruto smiled brightly at Sakura, who was still taking him in.

"You scared us Sakura-chan, I'm so glad you're safe." Naruto said, smiling at his friend.

Sakura said nothing, her eyebrows knitted together as if she didn't understand a word Naruto had just said. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, something was off.

"Sakura." he simply said.

She turned to him, and gave him the same look that she gave Naruto, a confused and intrigued look.

She took a small breath. "Who…" she began.

Sasuke's blood ran cold.

"…are you guys?" she finished.

Nobody moved a muscle.

"Sakura-chan? You…don't know who I am?" Naruto asked, his voice quiet yet daunting.

Sakura looked at each of them, and shook her head, sending Sasuke's heart back into its rapid beating.

Her eyes were widened in confusion.

"I've never met any of you before in my life."

New story for the new year :) Let me know what you guys think! xoxo

P.S. The design on the headband and the pendant will be explained soon, I have it all planned :)