The Forbidden Game

Chapter 1- Self turmoil

Summary- Fragile, useless and annoying. According to Uchiha Sasuke these are all qualities she possessed ; 4 years later, running into him could change his perception drastically. The only problem is, she's half dead. What will it take to change an Uchiha's mind?

Words in this chapter- 2402

Rating- T

Disclaimer:

Dear Kishi,

I would like to thank you X100000 for creating Naruto. Seriously though -_-, why does Sasuke have to act like he has rabies right now? If I owned Naruto, it would honestly be called Sasuke and things wouldn't be so unfixable :(

AN: Hey guys :) I haven't been writing fanfiction for about 5 years haha. A lot of personal issues popped up one after another, and I guess I just forgot about fanfiction altogether. But who could really forget where you find some of the most interesting and emotional stories, that you can read at a leisurely pace? Yes I'm back on reading a billion fanfiction/day. Not really healthy for my academics, but hey I have time to spare.

Feeling the sun's extremely bright rays warming her damp skin, Sakura stirred in her nightmare that she was desperately trying to awake from.

Nightmare

Sakura screamed in terror as she saw him. The monster who stood there with 3 humps on his massive back, each bump bubbling as if they were ready to burst. He began to laugh so hard that his strong needle-like teeth bite of a quarter of his own black snake tongue. He quickly took the remains of his tongue to lap the red substance from his cheeks and neck.

He moaned as if the taste of his own blood gave him some kind of sexual satisfaction. Sakura's eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she heard 3 measly horrifying screeches coming from the humps on Shiro's scared back. She quickly realized that those screeching humps were demanded to be nourished.

With a wide toothy grin, he reached out with his elastic arms to pierce the eyes of her team members. Blood was sputtering out of their eyes as they frantically tried to deal with the pain and defend themselves at the same time. Shinobi where usually trained to fight through the toughest circumstances but Sai, Kakashi and Naruto where clearly at a disadvantage with no vision.

Sakura was violently trembling as she stayed sprawled on the blood covered ground. She tried to reach for a kunai, something, anything that could be used to help her team but she very quickly realized that her efforts were futile. A sharp jabbing pain was ignited in her brain and spread down to her arms. Seeing him transform from a little boy into a deformed and demonic monster quickly lead to her immobility and brought on her violent shaking.

Still being conscious, Sakura realized that she dreamt this nightmare countless times before. She quickly closed her eyes as she anticipated the next part. With one final strike to their hearts, he killed her team and rapidly spotted her sprawled form covered in deep gashes and forming bruises.

"Dear little Sakura, I'm sorry to say but my play time must be over," stated the monster with an expressionless facade covering any evidence that he was truly enjoying the past events "Please don't hate me, I do not enjoy doing this one little bit. Right now I think it's time for your nap!" With a murderous glint appearing in his eyes, he suddenly laughed maniacally and proceeded to swing his arms back. Just as this fatal blow was about to penetrate her core-

End dream

Sakura let out a blood curling scream and woke up coughing with sweat covering her face. Still being able to hear the echo from her scream, Sakura crawled to the bathroom to wash her face. This chain of actions soon became routine. Screaming only to wake up and crawl to the bathroom was how all her days began since she was at the age of 16.

Slipping out of her silk pastel nightgown, she quickly dressed in her ninja attire. Not much had changed about her outfit except instead of a pink skirt and leggings, she wore tight fitted black shorts. Her cherry pink hair had long since grown past her shoulders, the tresses laying over well defined curves. With eyes the same shade of vibrant green she scanned over the items in her closet for her kunai holster.

Quietly sipping her herbal tea, she realized that the days she was on her mission would be no different. The blood curling screams were extremely inconvenient especially when sleeping in a concealed campsite. Staying hidden was a vital part of this mission; of course she didn't want to be found by the wrong group of people. That would be wasting her precious time and chakra on evitable self defense. She would have to take a dreamless sleeping concoction on those nights.

With her trademark selfless personality, Sakura was always expected to be working for the benefit of others. Everyone knew that if you needed help, you could always count on her; with that said she was used to giving and never asking anything in return. That was the very reason she had never told another soul about her vivid nightmares. Asking for help seemed out of character for Sakura. She was under constant scrutiny after the departure of Uchiha Sasuke, 6 years ago. Herself, as well as Naruto finally decided to let him ago 2 years ago. They had come to realize that it did not matter how hard they trained to get him back, he would always avoid coming back to the village. Sakura had convinced herself that if she really loved him she would let him go. And so she did. Not only did she let him go but she avoided speaking of the Uchiha at all costs. She no longer had constant memories reoccur to her of their time as Team 7; they had stopped when she stopped waiting for him.

Sakura had felt something change a couple weeks ago as she woke up from the nightmares. As time drew on, the feelings and memories triggered by these disturbing images began to become more and more vivid. You would think that having the same dream everyday would make you somewhat immune to it's effects, but everyday she would feel the same sweat running down her forehead and the same shortness of breath.

Flashback

"The purpose of a nightmare may vary. One thing is for sure, each nightmare has a meaning since thoughts are extracted from the subconscious mind while sleeping."

Sakura was now interested in this medic textbook she had found laying on a shelf in the corner of the library. She had nearly passes out from choking of dust inhalation, a thick layer covered the old binding. The spine had been torn off, removing the author's rights to the textbook.

She quickly checked that she had her proper identification and card to check-out the book. The librarian looked more then questioning when she asked to be helped with the unidentifiable book. It was as if she hesitated to do so.

"Something caught your eye about this textbook didn't it?"

"I've been so busy at the hospital that I barely have time to read anymore you know? I could always brush up on my medical knowledge." Avoiding the question like there was no tomorrow, Sakura knew she was lying through her teeth. She just hoped the librarian did not notice.

Being confused, the pinkette wondered if there was information contained in the book that revealed some sort of secret.

`No way, Tsunade-sama would have put a million jutsus or even kept it in the Konoha containment center' she thought to herself.

The librarians shrill voice broke Sakura's chain of thought, slightly making her jump. "Sakura dear, why are you taking out this old ratty book? There are far more advanced and up to date medical manuals available within this library! I'm sure all the information in this book is extremely outdated and would be no use to any medic. If you want to touch up on your skills, I could gladly lend you something else. We just received this new manual about advanced-."

Now this was beyond weird. What information could lead to such secrecy? This book was obviously not in the restricted section of the library, yet it held the same value in the librarian's eyes.

"I found an interesting article, so I thought I might as well take it out. No harm done in that now is there?"

"You know what dear, I think I might have to take it back so I can rebind the spine of the book. Do you see how it's all tattered there? It would be as good as new. In the meantime I can give you a copy of the Modern Medical. You know, the library copy wasn't supposed to be out on the shelves until next week. For you though my dear, I will make an exception." She twiddled her thumbs around nervously, her eyes darting around trying to find anything but the orbs of the pink haired kunoichi.

Something was fishy here. Something reeked of fish. She didn't like the way the librarian was questioning her, like she wanted to get some kind of information out of her. She felt as if the librarian had forgotten she was a kunoichi. Catching lies and interrogation were her specialties.

"I'm sorry but is there something wrong with taking out this manual? If you want I could get an authorization pass from Hokage-sama, not that I can see why I could need one. You only need a pass when the books are found in the restricted access area. I'm sorry but I really need to analyze the information in this exact copy ; these symptoms fill in the blanks of a puzzle I've been trying to solve for awhile."

"You know what, I will let you take out this book. Please, gather the information you need from the excerpts. Before you go home, you must visit Hokage-sama."

With that, the librarian turned around and incoherently mumbled under her breath, something about a poor child and how she had so much work ahead of her. Sakura quickly grabbed the textbook off the counter and headed to the exit.

End Flashback

The sun was shining brightly throughout Konoha, a swift breezed passed through her hair lifting them from their cherry roots. Walking throughout the streets of her home city, she felt a sense of belonging. There was no way she could live in any other city and feel the same sensations she felt when the sun was shining, the birds were singing and life was perfectly good in Konoha. This was her home, something that would never change no matter what offers were given to her by pedo snakes.

`Damn.` She thought to herself, a direct Sasuke reference. To make it worse it was subconscious too.

She quickened her pace as she was near the Hokage tower. Entering the circular building, she encountered the love sick gaze of Lee. Although she had gained a world of respect for the green beast of the Leaf, she still couldn't understand his unconditional love for her. She didn't see herself as anything special, he had fallen in love with her during the Chuunin exams. At that point in her life, she was probably the weakest kunoichi physically, and mentally. The love Lee must have seen at the time must have been based upon her physical appearance, because she remembered clearly not showing the best side of her personality.

"Lee-san, I see you have returned from your mission in Land of the Waves. I hope everything went well?"

"Yosh! Of course my youthful blossom of youth! The retrieval mission for princess Yunziki was successful, our bonds with the Land of Waves must have fortified significantly! The whole country is filled with youthful youth!"

"I'm extremely glad to hear that Lee-san. Make sure if you have any injuries to report to the hospital. I'll come later to check up on you if you do."

`Shit why did I do that? Now he is going to go to the hospital even if there is no injury. Think fast Sakura...` Sakura mentally cursed her ability to speak before thinking. That habit got her into a load of different situations, which she usually used her creativity to get out of. It didn't help that her inner would stop giving an opposite opinion to whatever she was thinking. Basically if she was debated over an issue, her opinion would guide her to be the angel, and her inner would be a devil. Good thing she had a conscience, otherwise her inner would have the dominant personality.

"You know what Lee-san, let me just assess you over here."

Before Rock Lee had the chance to reply, Sakura grabbed his arm and lead him over to a bench. His eyes suddenly started to form small, growing pink hearts. Trying to keep him focused on the task at hand, she switched her state of mind into medic mode.

"Any fights or blows I should know about? Do you recall any weird occurrences, gases or smells? If so you should tell me in case any types of poisons were expelled during battle."

"Actually Sakura-chan, the weirdest youthful gas expelled was from Naruto`s youthful butt crack. Other then that, we encountered some chuunin level ninjas. The princess was kidnapped from her morning stroll by a bunch of inexperienced ninjas trying to get a bit more money. Pretty easy, if you ask me ; I guess Hokage-sama thought the princess would be held hostage under extreme surveillance."

"I'm glad that is all Lee-san. Sometimes these missions are overrated." a chuckle escaped her parted lips. "Since the mission involved a princess as a hostage, I guess Tsunade-sama wanted to make sure the mission went well. If not, war would break out between the two countries."

`Most wars break out for the smallest reasons. It doesn't help that the Fire country has a tense relationship with Oto and Lightning. We can't afford another war after Akatsuki`s repeated attempts to capture Naruto`s Jinchuuriki.` she thought grimly to herself.

"Yosh! Well I should be going to write my youthful report! I must write down all 100 pages of our youthful mission before sunset! I must go now youthful cherry blossom! Adieu!" With that, Lee's arms rested at his sides, and started to run towards the exit.

`Geez. That guy really doesn't give up does he? How does he manage to stay so happy all the time? I don't mean to be a killjoy or anything, but that's really unnatural.` Sakura quietly walked towards the iron doors barricading her sensei's office. Suppressing her monstrous strength, she knocked upon the cold metal ; anymore pressure and she was sure the door was going to dent. She would have hell to pay if she damaged the door for the 3rd time.

"Ah Sakura-san", Shizune's face peered out of the door. "Please enter, Tsunade-sama is ready to receive you now."

Softly closing the door behind her, she strutted with confidence towards her sensei.

Sakura deserved the truth, that much she knew already. Nothing could prepare her for the words she was about to hear.

AN: Thanks for reading guys :) Review Review Review!