Another new story! Hey, readers! For those who don't or haven't read my other stories yet, I'm just informing you guys that this is my third Naruto story. I haven't finished my other two stories yet but I felt that I needed to write a new one. I have a few ideas but I warn you, no real plot yet.

Ok. I only have an idea for the first chapter so don't expect a regular update.

And today is July 21, 2006, 8:15 pm. But if you look at the calendar, it isn't anymore. The reason for that is because I don't have Internet at the moment. For the full reason, read it on the 8th chapter of my first story, This Life of Mine.

Summary: Years of being alone had finally made the remaining member of the infamous Team 7 go crazy. What are these visions she keeps having? Are they simply images her mind makes up, or rather memories of the past that haunts her so? Soon, these visions will lead her to discoveries and maybe, much later, somewhere else?
Take note! I said MAYBE and MUCH later.
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Turning a corner as swiftly as she could, she entered a room, flashing a small smile to the nurses she passed by. She never saw it, but she knew that after she entered, the nurses began to whisper and give her sympathetic looks. But at last she was in her office, one of the only places she can finally take rest and get away.

A long, tired sigh escaped her pink lips as she sat down her chair. Today was such an exhausting day for her. After just arriving from a tiring week-long mission, she was brought to the hospital to perform an emergency operation the very second she stepped through Konoha's gates.

One of the chuunin teams were attacked on a mission. Two of them only received pretty much minor injuries, but the other three were in critical condition. They almost never made it to Konoha alive. The Hokage and Shizune took care of the other two, but the other one was too much for the other medics. Her arrival was good timing.

Her operation took more than three hours. The patient is fine now. Saving livesalways gave her a good feeling. If only she had been there to save them.
If only she had been there, she wouldn't have been so miserable right now.

She is a top ANBU, a high ranking jounin, and a skilled medic, practically accomplishing a lot more than a normal shinobi could have. But what was all that for?

Once it was for her family, for her teammates, her sensei. But now?

Now it is for the village. Of course. Only for the village and the people living in it. That's not bad… but not all that good either. That is the life of every ninja. They choose for themselves. She chose this life.

Another sigh escaped from her once more. Out there, she would always have to put on a façade. They return it with sorry glances, saying they just sympathize. She says they pity.

Yes, pity is a better word to describe it. But what do they pity me for? Do they not see this smile? She thought, faking in wonder.

"I am perfectly fine." She said to herself as she smiled. "That's right… I am…"

She seemed to choke on her words, not able to continue what she had been saying. She reclined back in her chair and stared up at the plain white ceiling, the smile slowly disappeared from her face.

Behind the door, a pair of dark eyes watched the younger medic. There she is again, Shizune thought as she watched Sakura stare yet again at the ceiling.

She's worried of the girl. Sakura always did that when she was alone. It was not long before a very familiar voice startled Shizune.

"You're spying on her again, Shizune?" The voice of the Hokage asked. "Tsunade-sama, you startled me!" The Hokage just smiled in return and turned her eyes to peek at the limited view of her other student.

As long as a ninja is alive, he will never escape to witness a series of deaths. May it be the deaths of your enemies, or of the people around you.

Tsunade remembers how harsh it had been for Sakura these past few years.

Sakura was one of the few ninjas who had the lack of any unfortunate events at childhood. But just as she was starting her teen years, a series of tragedies seem to happen continuously.

Barely a year together, her team already started to break apart, starting with the Uchiha prodigy leaving, and then followed by the Kyuubi's container. Not long after that, the Copy-nin was asked, or rather, demanded to rejoin ANBU due to the enormous loss of shinobi caused by the Sound/Sand attack.

A year after that, her mother died. She had no family left, her father was gone shortly after she was born. She started training with the Hokage, and that gave her something to do at least. She received no missions because she had no teammates nor a sensei to team with.

Three years had passed and people were losing trust on the return of her teammates. Uchiha Sasuke joined Orochimaru. Even if he wanted to come back, he might not get a chance to. The snake Sannin may have already taken over his body, or he might have died after failing to kill his brother.

But frankly, whatever happens, the people were not sure if they wanted a traitor back.

They doubted that Naruto would return soon. After all, he was dedicated not to stop trying until he got the Uchiha back. But they could still wait awhile. Everything was still unsure.

But three years ago, it happened. Her teammates died, their bodies found burnt to crisps inside out. You would never know it was them. They had undoubtedly used their most powerful techniques, the chidori and rasengan, on each other.

And just last month, after three years of being on coma, Hatake Kakashi died. The real cause of the coma was unknown. He had been on a mission then, all was well until his team was attacked. He was the only one left alive, found wounded and lying in a pool of his own blood.

The Copy-nin had missed a lot of things. He never got to see his students' faces one last time. He never even knew that Naruto and Sasuke died. He had been in the state of unconsciousness a few months before it happened.

"Tsunade-sama, do you think she is really alright?" Shizune asked with a worried tone. "I don't know." the Godaime answered truthfully. Even she is being deceived by Sakura's smiles. "If not, all she needs is just more time to heal."

The Godaime walked away after that to return to the tower, followed by Shizune a second later. People did admire Sakura for her trust, but it lead to nothing, all were futile.

Back at her office, Sakura waited for the Hokage and Shizune to leave before standing and walking to the window. She had the view of the outside entrance there and later spotted the two older women disappear from her range of vision behind the walls of the hospital's gates.

The clock read 8:16 PM. It was still pretty early to sleep, but what else was there to do? She took off her white medical coat, revealing her black ANBU suit.

She was about to turn the doorknob, but some kind of shock passed through her and images began to appear. She held a hand to her head and leaned on the wall for support. Her head started to hurt profusely. What? Everything is dark. She could not see a thing. Is she blind? No, wait.

Where is she? The place is all too familiar. There is a slide, over to her right is a sandbox, beside her a seesaw. Of course, this is none other than the playground outside the academy.

Slightly startled by a sound, she turned around and then regretted doing so because the headache increased. There was a boy, blonde and lightly tanned sitting sideways on a swing. He wore a simple white shirt and black shorts. She could not see his face for his head was bowed low. All the more, he was shadowed due to the light of the setting sun.

All of a sudden it was night time and she was no longer in the same place. It was like the scene changed. She looked down from a hill, hearing muffled cries and uttered obscenities. Before she could completely see anything, she fell on her knees shutting her eyes tight, the pain in her head increasing once more. It was too painful to stand up but managed to open her eyes. She sees the boy being beaten up. Again, she could not see his face but she could imagine that it was scrunched up in pain.

The men finally left the boy and he was slowly about to face her, then it rewound until all was black. It took a few seconds before she could see again, still in her office kneeling with her hands still clutching her head.

Beads of sweat ran down her face and she breathed hard. What was that? It had happened before, she remembered. She saw it all before in her dream not long ago. It was exactly the same.

She grabbed her coat from the rack beside her door and went out the hospital, heading straight to her apartment. On her way there, there were those looks again from the people she passed by, which she chose to ignore. She is used to them. She just wished that they would stop doing that. But there was no doubt it would continue for a long while more. After all, they have been doing it for three years.

One of the things she hates is when she passes by that place. And there it is again, the Ichiraku Ramen, just a few feet away from where she stood.

It has changed, now being a large restaurant. Though the stools they sat in when they still ate there 6 years ago remained, probably to have a sense of nostalgia. Or maybe the owner wanted to save it, just in case he was still alive.

She intended to just quickly pass it by, but she found herself not able to move from the sight she saw. "This can't be happening!" She whispered in disbelief.

On the stool, a blonde sat on that same stool where he usually sat. His back was turned to her. Come on, Sakura! She said in her head. Just because he is wearing an orange suit that looks exactly the same as his doesn't mean it is him! And it's a 12 year old boy! If he were alive he is supposed to be 18!

The blonde's head started to turn her way. It was just like her dream, only this boy is older. Could it be that the boy from earlier was also Naruto? Time never seemed so slow before. Her green eyes slowly widened when the boy faced her. It can't be!

The boy had the same face, the same blue eyes, the same chubby cheeks and whisker lines. He smiled at her the very same foxy grin only Naruto possessed.

She covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a gasp. There couldn't be a mistake, that boy is Naruto! But, how…? He waved at her excitedly, like he always did before. She thought whether to wave back or not but someone's figure obstructed him from her view.

"Sakura-san…" the man started, but was unpleasantly interrupted when the female pushed him away slightly to look at something behind him.

But she saw nothing. She blinked a few times but the stool remained empty. The man spoke again, and evident by his tone, he was trying strenuously not to sound angry. "Sakura-san"

Sakura looked up at the man and was surprised to see who it was. "Neji-san! I.. I'm sorry I pushed you!" Said man sighed, his anger diminishing slightly. He nodded, meaning he accepted her apology.

"Can I help you with anything?" Sakura asked, looking to be in a hurry. Maybe she could still catch up with the boy.

"Actually, Tenten, Lee, & Gai-sensei sent me to ask you if you wanted to have dinner with us?" Neji said with a bit of rush. There, his job was done. No, wait! He had to wait for her answer. Curse his teammates for sending him to do this!

"Uh… I have to… uh" She was unsure if she wanted to have company tonight. But maybe that was what she needed seeing as she was hallucinating. Probably because she was hungry, remembering she hadn't eaten yet.

"May I ask where you are having dinner?" The coffee haired jounin/ANBU simply stepped to the side and faced at the direction of the Ichiraku Ramen restaurant. By the window, she saw Tenten and Lee gesturing for her to join. How could she not have noticed them before?

"Um… I guess I could…" Neji headed to the restaurant before she even finished her sentence. She took it as a sign to follow him and to just get this over with.

Sakura trailed behind him to their table, all the while looking at the stool. Actually, she wasn't that hungry, the only conclusion was that she must be losing her mind! That was it!
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A boring first chapter. But I promise it will get better! Please review! I have a few ideas, I just don't know if I should put it here or in another( meaning in a new one) story