Sakura dragged herself into her bedroom, exhausted from her mission earlier that day, and threw herself onto her bed. It felt blissful setting her sore back on the bed; it was like lying on a cloud. Her head pounded in her skull, giving her a massive migraine. She hadn't been this tired after a mission before, so all she wanted to do was lay there on her soft bed for a while. Turning her head sluggishly, Sakura gazed out at the evening moon. It sent its natural light in through her window and onto her bedroom floor. The slight shadow of a picture frame caught the kunoichi's eye and she shifted to examine the photo. It was her picture of Squad 7 from three years ago. The Squad 7 before it was separated. The Squad 7 before Sasuke abandoned them.

Thinking back, Sakura remembered the day when the two of them were alone for the first time. It was the day when they were assigned to be on Squad 7 together. They were so close to sharing their first kiss, but Sasuke ran off before she had a chance to, meet his lips. Once Sasuke came back, he turned cold and relentless. She remembered the exact words he had said to her that day.

"Because, you're annoying."

Those three small but painful words echoed in Sakura's memory. Even after Sasuke had said that, she continuously pursued him in hopes that he would change his mind. But no matter how hard she tried, nothing had changed. He still refused her love, and when Sakura realized that he never even liked her, she knew it was never meant to be. She knew that Sasuke's only reason for living was to get revenge on his brother, Itachi, for destroying the entire Uchiha clan, but that didn't matter to her. Even after offering to help him get his revenge, those same words pierced through her ears.

"You haven't changed. You're still annoying."

At this point, Sakura couldn't hold in her tears anymore. She could feel them coming, but nothing she could do would stop them from falling. Feeling for a pillow, she pulled it to her chest and held it tight. The hot tears streamed down her cheeks like raindrops on a window and fell on her pink silk pillow.

"Sasuke…" she sobbed. "Why did you have to do this?"

Sakura began to feel a sudden warmth surge through her body. It was the familiar warmth of fury that she had experienced before.

"Sasuke…you bastard!" The now infuriated kunoichi shot up and threw her tear-stained pillow at the picture sitting underneath the window. The picture fell to the floor with a crack and shattered glass dispersed around it. The pillow soon followed it and landed on top of some of the glass. Trying to calm herself down, Sakura took deep breaths between angry sobs.

"Get a grip, Sakura," she told herself. "It's been three years. I don't understand why you're still hung up on this."

It was getting really late, and Sakura could feel it. The moon was already high in the sky and the streets were now dead silent. She sat on the edge of her bed and kicked off her shoes. Once her bare feet met the cold wood of the floor, she walked to the bathroom. The cherry-haired ninja turned her head back to the broken photo. Shards of glass rested on the faces of her former teammates and sensei, and there was a tear in the paper in between her and Sasuke. How coincidental. She had a good mind to just rip the picture up completely, but she decided against it. Sakura simply turned back toward the bathroom and left it there, glass and all.

After a relaxing shower, she emerged from the bathroom still wrapped up in a fuzzy white towel. Water dripped from the back of her legs and down to her ankles as she walked to her dresser. She selected a comfy pair of leopard-print pajamas and slid them on. The towel wrapped around her hair slid off her head, so she picked it back up to finish towel drying her soaked hair. Once it was damp, Sakura tossed the towel onto the floor and crawled into bed. Her duvet encased her cold body like a cocoon and warmed her up in an instant. The heat of her blanket was quite relaxing, and the warmer she got the more tired she became. Her eyes soon felt very heavy and she began to drift off. She was well aware the contents of her rage were still sprawled out on the floor but she didn't care, especially since she was already half asleep. Pulling her duvet cover up to her chin, Sakura closed her eyes and hoped not to have another dream about Sasuke.

"Sasuke, please! I'm so in love with you, I can't even stand it! Please stay with me! I'll help you get your revenge if I have to! I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen, I promise! So please don't walk away!"

Sakura felt like she was screaming at a ghost. No matter how hard she cried or how much she pleaded, Sasuke continued to walk away. His figure became smaller and smaller as she began to lose sight of him. Her throat was so dry she couldn't seem to voice her possible last words to the man she was in love with.

"Don't leave me!" she finally croaked. "If you go, I'll scream and-"

Suddenly, Sasuke was gone and Sakura could feel the presence of someone standing behind her. A gentle breeze blew threw her pink hair and the chill nipped at the back of her neck.

"Sakura…" Sasuke whispered. His warm breath against her ear sent chills down her spine. "Thank you for everything."

At these words, Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Her tears had stopped pouring down her cheeks and her mouth was bone dry. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if there was anything she could do. But suddenly, a sharp jab in her neck caused her vision to blur and her head to feel light. As she fell to the ground, he watched Sasuke fade away as her eyes fluttered shut.

"Sasuke, no!"

"Sakura's eyes shot open. She was no longer on the only road out of the village; she was back in her own bedroom. Letting out pants, she scanned the room to be sure that's where she was. Sure enough, she had had another dream about Sasuke. No, it was more of a nightmare.

Cold sweat ran down the back of her neck. She reached behind her and rubbed the sweat away. Just before she was about to lay back down, something caught her attention.

The picture. It was sitting on the window sill.

How could that be? There was glass all over the floor along with the pillow and the picture. How could it suddenly be gone?

Not only was that different, but her bedroom window was wide open, letting the summer breeze blow into the room. Someone had broken into her home.

Sakura reached under her bed and pulled out her weapon pouch. She rifled through it and took one of her Kunai out from the inside. Whatever the intruder was doing in her house, she wasn't going to let him get away. Crawling out from underneath her covers, she tiptoed toward the door ever so quietly. Her fingers began to shiver as she slowly reached for the handle.

"Hello, Sakura."

The frightened girl spun around quickly toward the mysterious voice. She didn't want to believe it, but that voice, that low and smooth voice, sounded so familiar to her. In the shadows, she could almost make out the figure seated on the edge of her bed. A sword, a snake-like sash, jet black hair. No, it couldn't be. It was impossible. Sakura lowered her Kunai slightly, her hands still shaking. In the darkness, she stared intently at the figure and croaked out the most impossible reaction that she'd ever think of giving.

"…Sasuke?"

*To be continued in Chapter 2*