AN: Wow. My first multi-chaptered fic. I never expected this to happen - like ever - but this idea wouldn't escape me so here it is. It won't be very long, but I'm pretty confident this will be finished. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sakura wakes up in an alternate reality which seems so different from her own. But is it really?

Also, a little note: this chapter goes a bit slowly because it sets the scene, but things will get very heated, very fast.

Flowers of Evil

Prelude

"Shh..."

"She's waking."

"Good girl. Come on Sakura, you can do it."

Sakura's eyes slowly drift open.

"She's awake," Shizune breathes. Next to her, Hinata smiles softly.

"Good," she says, bobbing her head. "I'll go tell Naruto before he has an aneurysm."

Sakura smiles weakly as Shizune chuckles and props her up.

"You feeling better?" Shizune asks wryly, handing her an ice pack for her head. "Hidan king hit you in the corridor. We thought it was going to be pretty bad but it turned out alright - you have a harder head than I thought."

Sakura chuckles weakly, flexing her hand experimentally before wincing. Her wrist is bandaged and throbbing and her head's not feeling much better. She tries to adjust her position on the hospital bed but pain shoots up her body. She grimaces, and a look confirms her thoughts – her body is littered with various bruises.

"Hard fall," Shizune says, patting her on the head. She grabs her notepad and quickly pens a note. "For your next class," she says kindly. "Hinata told me you've Ebisu. He'll chew you out for being late."

"Thanks Shizune-nee," Sakura says with a smile. Her mentor smiles and hands her back her books, reaching over and helping her up.

"I'm glad you're alright. Those seniors really are trouble - this is the third time Hidan's gone overboard. Quite unlucky you happened to be in his firing range but you won't have anything to worry about now - Sarutobi-sama will talk to him."

"That'll be good," Sakura says softly before the door bursts open. Naruto runs in, chest heaving, a sighing Hinata standing behind him.

"Sakura-chan!" he shouts. She smiles weakly but before she can tell him the usual 'I'm alright' and that 'a bear hug is quite unnecessary thank you very much' he has already leaped forward.

"You suck Sakura! Don't worry me like that ever again," he mumbles as he engulfs her in a hug. Behind him, Hinata shakes her head bemusedly.

"I'm sorry," Hinata says sheepishly as the older woman pries Naruto off his friend. "I tried to hold him back."

"That's alright," Shizune says with a sigh, shaking her head at Naruto. "No hugs. She's still fragile."

Naruto lets her go quickly and rubs his head guiltily. "Sorry Sakura," he mumbles.

Sakura laughs weakly and scoops her books up from her desk. "No worries. And shouldn't the two of you be in class?"

Opposite her, the two freeze.

"Oh no," Hinata says quietly before blushing, "I completely forgot." She whirls onto Naruto and grabs his arm. "And you!" she says, "I know you have Kurenai-sensei. If you're late again this will be your third strike."

Naruto curses under his breath, quickly pulling Sakura up.

"We gotta go Sakura-chan!"

"Yes," Shizune sighs, shooing them out of her office. "You do."

"Be safe," she calls one last time before closing the door, leaving the trio in the deserted school hallway.

"Hate class," Naruto mumbles, quickly ducking Sakura's swipe.

"Naruto," she admonishes, "You know-"

"Class is important yeah yeah."

He shoots her his best puppy-dog look and she relents, reaching forward and giving him and Hinata a hug.

"Go on now you two. Hinata? Take care of Naruto?"

"Of course," the girl says with a smile. Naruto gives Sakura an enthusiastic wave before linking his arm through Hinata's.

"See ya later Sakura! Stay safe!"

"Have fun!" she calls back, waving as the two round the corner.

When they finally disappear she drops her hand and grins. They'll be getting together sooner or later, that she's sure of. Sakura chuckles quietly under her breath, turning to get her book.

Shizune's note is safely tucked into her pocket, and she's just contemplating the right way to do Asuma-sensei's essay when suddenly, her head explodes with pain.

For a moment, she wonders if she's balancing on the brink of insanity and euphoria before it hits.

Her bones collapse, non-existant, cadaverous, and she tumbles onto the floor. Her eyes blur and then her head is pounding, rhythmically and painfully as if a thousand needles are being weaved in and out of her scalp. Splotches of red begin to encompass her vision and then the muscles in her face are contorting, twisting. She's screaming silently and then suddenly-

She's standing in a battlefield. The ground is hard and rough and burning and the trees are collapsing around her in rhythmic thumps and there's dead bodies everywhere and suddenly her hands are immersed in some guy's bloody chest and she's shouting and there's screaming and a decapitated head lands next to her and there's blood blood blood and is that Naruto-

Sakura gasps, heaving heavily.

Her eyes snap open and she's back in the deserted hallway, all alone. Gradually, she begins to feel her legs again and her vision clears. Her head's still pounding but the pain has softened drastically. Her chest is still heaving though and she feels as if every breath she takes she is swallowing black slime.

Except she can still feel the blood on her hands even if they're clean and these aren't trees they're just lockers.

She stands up shakily, picking up the books that lay splattered around her. She stumbles for a second and her vision turns a splotchy green before she manages to reorientate herself. Her heart is still beating a million times an hour and she can still hear the screams, feel the blood, the panic, the terror-

Sakura blinks rapidly before she can finally focus on the book lying on the ground in front of her. Advanced Calculus II.

She picks it up, stands up straight, fixes her tie and smooths out her skirt.

These hallucinations are not real, she reassures herself. The punch must have done more damage than she'd expected. That world is not true. This one is.

And so, she continues to class.

.

.

.

Five Years Later

"Hey Ino-pig," Sakura says brightly as she plops down next to her best friend.

Ino doesn't acknowledge her, simply currently glaring at her salad, spinning her fork around her fingers menacingly.

"Forehead-girl," she finally replies.

Sakura grins as she unwraps her sandwich, eyeing her friend's scowl.

"Shikamaru?" she asks innocently, casually maneuvering herself out of Ino's hitting range.

"That bastard," Ino hisses. In a flash she twirls her fork and slams it into the salad, breathing heavily.

"Woah," Sakura says, hands up in the air as she tries to suppress her grin. "Just asking."

Ino doesn't look pleased - not in the least. Sakura takes a bite of her sandwich, eyeing Ino from the corner of her eye. "Wanna rant?"

Ino grabs her fork and begins to stab her salad.

"I hate" -stab- "that annoying" -stab- "ungrateful" -stab- "sonavabitch!" - stab stab stab stab stab- "Papa says he's going to be there 'indefinitely' and you know what that means? That means he's going to be there forever! I'm going to be stuck working with him forever!"

"Woah," Sakura repeats, finally giving into her grin. Ino continues to stab her salad with ferocity. Behind her, Hinata pauses at the door, eyeing the pair uncertainly.

"You're freaking people out Ino-Pig," Sakura says. Laughing - softly and subtly, of course - at Ino, Sakura waves Hinata over.

Hinata takes one look at Ino - and her decimated salad - and sighs.

"Shikamaru?" Hinata asks as she drops to her seat next to Ino.

"Yep," Sakura says happily.

Ino growls at them both and finally starts to eat her battered salad, shoving each mouthful violently into her mouth.

"You know," Hinata says cautiously, keeping an eye on the volatile blonde, "He is very smart. It's no wonder your dad wants to keep him at the company. Together you'd make the best intelligence gathering team in Japan."

Ino turns her nose up snootily. "We already were."

Sakura smiled into her sandwich - Hinata always knew how to please people, not that it was that hard with Ino. Her best friend had the biggest ego she'd ever seen.

"Hold on," Hinata says, nudging Sakura, "Is that Tenten? From high school? With a boy? On a date?"

Sakura quickly pinpoints the pair. Tenten had been in the year above them and had briefly collaborated with them on an arts project.

"Wait," Sakura says slowly, "Is that your cousin?"

Hinata's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh wow," she breathes.

Ino perks at the sound of that and whirls around. "Oh my god," she gasps, "That's Hyuuga Neji. Hyuuga Neji.She is such a lucky bitch. Fuck. He is so hot."

"Ew," Hinata grimaces, "He's my cousin."

"Sorry," Ino says unapologetically, peering unabashedly at the pair before turning back to the pair. "Speaking of hot guys, did you know that Uchiha Sasuke is coming to Japan?"

Sakura freezes before blushing furiously. "Oh my god. No way. Really? To Tokyo? How many concerts is he doing?"

Ino grins, leaning forward with her newest piece of juicy information. "Four here, and he's doing a meet and greet!"

"No way," Sakura repeats, blood rushing to her head, "Oh my god."

Ino's calm facade finally cracks and the two share a grin before squealing.

Hinata sighs, watching the two bounce up and down in their seats. "You guys..."

"Oh shush you," Ino says, waving her away, "Not all of us are lucky enough to meet our dream guy in high school. Speaking of Naruto, how is he? I haven't met him yet. I need to."

Hinata's cheeks tinge pink at this. "He's in America," she says dreamily, "He's overlooking the opening of his ramen restaurants there." Suddenly Hinata turns to her two friends, a gleam in her eye. "Speaking of which, when Uchiha Sasuke was doing his tour in Australia, he ate at one of Naruto-kun's restaurant in Sydney!"

Sakura and Ino freeze.

"No way. Now I have to meet him."

"Naruto that bastard... he never told me!"

Hinata grins, twirling her napkin innocently. "And..." she adds, "Apparently Karin went to high school with him."

Sakura freezes.

"Karin? The Karin we work with at Konoha hospital?"

"Yep," Hinata says, popping the 'p'. "She told me when she came over to the maternity ward."

"Well fuck," Sakura breathes, "I'm actually jealous of her."

Ino groans, stuffing her salad in her face. "This sucks," she bemoans, "I'm so out of things. The two of you going to highschool together, working at Konoha hospital together-"

"Different sectors!" Sakura pipes in.

Ino rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to retort when the TV in the cafe suddenly flickers on with a boom.

"Breaking news," the television speakers blare. The noise in the room simmers down as everyone turns to watch the coverage.

Sakura puts down her sandwich and scrapes her chair back to watch. Except suddenly her head is on fire-

And then the pain hits again and again and her eyes glaze over and she's doubling in on herself-

Blood again. Except this time they're on her gloves. She has scalpels - except they're like energy that just oozes from her hands. She's running forward, feral like a rabid cat, and she systematically slices person after person in half. The faces are blurred - as always - and she continues her relentless massacre when suddenly forest explodes and someone appears before her with dark blonde hair and the strangest hands-

Sakura's eyes snap open.

"Oh my god," Hinata breathes.

"Yeah," Ino echoes.

Both are staring at the television which is switching between scenes of running people and police.

"What happened?" Sakura asks quickly. These hallucinations have been occurring ever since the rowdy senior punched her way back in her freshman year, and she's learnt to deal with them, to hide them. Hinata and Ino have gotten used to her 'blanking out', as they call it.

"Some crazy guy bombed the Sydney Opera House," Ino says in horror, "Collapsed half the structure. None dead – luckily – because of repairs going on in the wing. Luckily – so luckily – the workers had been on lunch break and- and-"

"-the area is being evacuated just in case more explosives are found in the vicinity," the reporter on the TV continues, "the bomb squad has been deployed and police are trying to empty the whole harbor. The perpetrator has still not been caught but police are investigating possible suspicious items including an unattended backpack..."

Sakura's head strikes again and she sees bombs - bombs going off everywhere and weird, animal-shaped clay-.

"-and they are also trying to locate a man whom witnesses have reported to have been acting suspiciously. He is described as having long blonde hair with blue eyes-"

The bombs are getting closer but someone throws an arm over her shoulder. Suddenly, the man with the bomb appears in front of her and he's not alone. He's with someone shorter, with fiery red hair-

"-with red clouds and an eye patch of some sorts-"

The man chuckles and suddenly she has swords in her hands and she's fighting but she's clumsy and she doesn't know how to properly wield one so heavy-

"-and if anyone has any information they are strongly encouraged to come forward. You can call CrimeStoppers on 1-800-"

"-have identified the bomber as a man under the alias of Deidara. CCTV footage indicate he was last seen at Milson's Point. All airports, docks and other transport links are being monitored with the strictest-"

"Sakura!'

Sakura jumps in her seat, switching the TV off before turning around.

"Ino," she says weakly, "You scared me. What are you doing in my clinic?"

"Tsunade let me in. I told her I was on official business and all that. Konoha hospital's not that hard to break into. Anyway, you won't believe this." She drops the magazine on top of Sakura's lap.

"Isn't that-"

"Uchiha Sasuke? Yep. He got to Tokyo a whole week early."

"Hold on..." Sakura says slowly, "That means-"

"Yep!" Ino grins, "Uchiha Sasuke is here in Tokyo right now."

"That is awesome," Sakura says, leaning forward in her chair to inspect the magasine cover.

"Yep," Ino replies happily. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Sakura grins. "Stalk him?"

The two grin and high five, giggles overcoming them both. It's just what she needs to push the horrific incident of last week to the back of her mind.

"Anyway," Ino says, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder, "As enjoyable as this has been I need to head back. Papa'll chew my ass out if I'm late, even though Shikamaru never gets into trouble, that bastard. I'll call you later to organise the stalking."

Sakura grins and waves, leaning back in her chair. "Go on, go on."

"By the way," Ino adds as she leaves, "That's just like you to be sitting in your clinic watching TV during lunch break!"

Sakura rolls her eyes as the door shuts, picking up the magazine and scanning through the latest gossip. Looks like the Sand Siblings are starring in another spin off of their reality TV show. You would think that one family wouldn't hold the world's attention for that long but-

Pain.

Suddenly her head is stabbing itself again, ricocheting across her vision. The magazine falls from her hand, the faces of Temari, Kankurou and Gaara staring up at her with blank smiles. Her vision blurs, and then there's-

Blood mixed with gold and sand is everywhere in her eyes scratching her body and its flinging everywhere then it's a shield and there's a red-head and suddenly there's a man with dark hair and red red eyes and she's jumping onto the lake and her fingers are forming some sort of seal and the water's rising and is that Karin-

Sakura gasps as her eyes snap open.

"Shit," she mutters. She quickly grabs the remote and switches the TV on again, placating herself with its monotonous tone.

"-continuing with our extended broadcast on this shocking event. Recapping the new information, the bomber has been confirmed as Deidara, a fanatic who is calling on others 'just like him' with the same 'strange powers' to 'escape this world and return to their own'. Police received a note from the missing bomber, detailing how he is supposedly so powerful with skills 'beyond their imagination' that they can never catch him and how there are others just like him. After the break we will speak to Dr. Andrew Brennan, a psychologist and an expert in criminal behavior..."

The screen switches to a car advertisement.

Biting her lip, Sakura eyes the TV. She's been thinking about getting a car, but she doubts she'll need it since Konoha Hospital is only ten minutes from-

Suddenly her head splits and her eyes star. Sakura begins to heave and rock backwards and forwards in her chair. Her hands begin to tingle and jolts shoot up and down her legs. Her muscles begin to spasm and she starts to choke, then this weird powerful feeling begins to flow through her veins and it's electrifying and soothing and-

But just as suddenly as the pain had appeared it disappears. Sakura coughs heavily, trembling as she clenches her fists. The strange feeling coursing through her veins is still there, but lighter, but at least the pain has mostly disappeared. Sakura curses and grabs some tissues, dabbing her forehead. She hasn't had such a strong reaction since her freshman year.

Her fingers begin to tingly from the strange feeling. Sakura reaches for the remote to shut off the TV - buy one get one free - however an idea suddenly hits her.

Sakura stands up slowly and cautiously makes her way to in front of the television screen. What if she...

She takes a deep breath and begins to gather that strange feeling into her fingertips. It's surprisingly easy to control and she manages to direct a sharp hit-

She pokes the TV screen.

It shatters.

Two men in Tokyo

In his luxurious, five star hotel, dressed to kill for his first media appearance, Uchiha Sasuke tenses.

In a small, desolated church on the border of Tokyo, Hidan smiles.

AN: So... now that I've gotten the customary scene setting out of the way... the real fun starts!