REMEMBER ME

REMEMBER ME

CH 1: Accidents happen

I could have done this mission by myself. I didn't need all of my ex-students tagging along. Sure it's a class-A mission, but to me it's a day's work. They're all jounins now, we don't have to stick together like we use to on team 7.

Kakashi jumped ahead through the trees, as is natural for the team leader to do, and because he was just use to it. The mission was simple, retrieve a stolen scroll that the hidden village of grass took. Even though Orochimaru and the Akatsuki were all destroyed, it still didn't mean that all evil in the world had vanished. The only man that they needed to worry about now is the same man that stole the scroll, Wei Yunxu. He is the leader of the same organization in the village hidden in the grass that has been stealing certain forbidden scrolls from every village in every country. He is also number one on every hit list in every country. We know that the small squad that stole our scroll hasn't made it out of the Fire country's border line yet and that we need to apprehend them before they make it across the border line. Now that Kakashi thought about it, the older he seemed to be. Naruto has matured and knows how's to control Kyuubi. Sasuke has returned after the death of his brother and managed to rid himself of the curse mark. And Sakura has surpassed Tsunade in the medical field and in strength, of course only when she's angry enough. All of them seem so grown up that Kakashi sighed sadly at the thought.

After this mission I think I'll take up Tsunade on that vacation.

Sakura jumped not too far behind her quiet ex-sensei.

I wonder if Kakashi's alright, he's been awfully quiet even for him during the last few months when Naruto, Sasuke, and I became jounin. Maybe he's feeling old…well; I guess I don't blame him since he was our sensei since we were 13. But, he's the only one that never seems to age. He's looked 24 since he was 24.

Sakura noticed a shadow move a few meters away from the team's position, and before she and others could react, they were ambushed. This took them by total surprise since they thought they'd be running away from them. They were forced to be defensive since the other ninja were overwhelming them with so many forceful attacks. There were only 4 of them, but they were giving team 7 all they had. Sakura was locked in a fierce kunai battle with the other ninja that she didn't realize that they were slowly heading to a nearby cliff. Sakura wasn't thinking straight, she only had time to block each strike as other came. She felt the cliff's edge, but couldn't move because the ninja had her caved in. The ninja smiled as he gave one final strike that was powerful enough to knock her off the cliff. Sakura screamed as she started to fall. None of team 7 could rescue her in time as they watched Sakura helplessly. Sakura remembers the glow of green chakra, and then, nothing….

Sakura slowly opens her eyes and blinks to the light and to the severe headache.

Huh, a hospital? Why am I here?

Then she noticed a blond headed boy that was asleep in a chair beside her bed. He awoke and smiled from ear to ear. "Sakura! You're finally awake!" Sakura blinked, "I'm sorry, do I know you?" Naruto's smile faltered for a second, than he laughed, "Oh Sakura, you're funny. You almost had me going there." Sakura said, "Am I suppose to know you? How do you know my name?" Then Naruto's face became deathly pale as he holleared at the top of his lungs, "NURSE!! COME QUICK!!" The nurse came rushing in and Naruto screamed, "She says that she doesn't even know who I am!" The nurse came over and read Sakura's chart, then she looked at Naruto with her face full of pity. "Make sure all of team 7 is here and the doctor will talk to all of you shortly." Once all of team 7 was gathered outside of Sakura's room, Tsunade walked down the hall to them. Her face had seemed to age because she had the constant frown on her face that brought out all of her creases. It looked as if she was gathering herself as she looked at the distraught team. She sighed and finally said, "Sakura has a severe case of amnesia that may end up to be permanent, it's too early to tell at this point. Right now she doesn't even know who I am. She only seems to know her name. She must have taken a few nasty bumps to the head on her way down the cliff, but she is lucky to even be alive. The only thing I can do now is send her to rehab center for mental conditions near the village and wait it out to see if she gets better." The team was too shocked to speak at the moment. Finally, Kakashi choked out, "What do you want us to do now?" Tsunade said, "Two of you need to carry out the mission, and one of you needs to stay with Sakura when she goes to the rehab so that she'll be with someone familiar and maybe then she can recover quicker." Kakashi said, "I'll stay, I thought about having a vacation after the mission, but now it would seem like the best of times to do so." They all nodded in agreement and Tsunade said, "It may be best if you two didn't see her Naruto and Sasuke, it will only cause more confusion on Sakura's behalf if you try to tell her that you know her. I think it may be best if you recover from the battle and continue your mission tomorrow." Without even saying good-bye, Naruto and Sasuke quietly left. Tsunade then looked at Kakashi and said, "Go home and pack enough for about a week. You will pick Sakura up in the morning and escort her to the rehab. Then, you need to stay with her for a week and report on her progress once the week is over. If she can remember us by the end of the week then our problem is solved, if not…well, I don't want to think about it. Try as much as you can to get her to remember at least something without pushing the limits." Kakashi nodded and started to walk away, but Tsunade called out, "And Kakashi." He stared at her with hollow eyes and she stared back with the same look, "It wasn't your fault."

Of course it was my fault! Everything I do seems to only bring havoc to my teams! I can never protect the ones I'm responsible for! Everything I do is wrong!

Kakashi slams his fists repeatedly into the ground, causing it to crack like a small earthquake broke loose. The rain fell heavily as he looked up at the memorial that held the list of ninja that died for their village, some Kakashi knew all too well. His mismatched eyes leaked from the overwhelming sadness of letting his team down, again. He continued to kneel on the ground and just stared at the names as the rain continued to pour.

Why is everything that I do wrong? Oh Sakura, I'm so sorry that I let you down. I'll make it up to you…I promise it with my life.

Before any of the reader's that are reading "Life's hardest lesson" can ask, no, I have not forgotten the story and I'm still working on it. It's just that I thought about this plot out of nowhere and decided that I should start writing on it before I forgot about it. Please review, tell me your opinion, and continue to read. If you've never read any of my other stories, I recommend that you read those as well. Peace!

Your friend,

Darkened petal : )