Disclaimer: For now and all future chapters of this fic I do not own Naruto (that means the character, manga, anime, merchandise, etc. are not mine). This is for the entire story and I'm not bringing this up again so deal with it!

Through the Soul

Summary: I've been having these dreams… these nightmares. They're full of things I don't understand… and with each passing day I find myself wanting more. Because the more I see, the more I understand and the more confused I become. –Haruno Sakura

A/N: I'll mark them for the most part but I'm not italicising entire dreams. That will get annoying. They will be told in first person by Sakura as a rather detached identity in her body. The transition from dream to awake will also sometimes be told in first person though for the most part the story will be written in third. Live with it.

Edit 20111013: Just some minor things nothing major. Changed the author notes.

Prologue

A girl's cry rang through the air. My heart was pounding a million miles a minute as I raced towards the scream. Moisture slid across my face from my eyes and flew back behind me as I ran. I felt the strain on my legs from running at speeds I hadn't known before. All I knew was I had to get there, had to save her.

But that's the question you see.

I was running at top speed towards the scream, but I wasn't doing it by choice. I just did. I felt my legs move. I felt a pain in my chest squeezing at my heart. I felt fear and worry for the little girl. But I didn't know why.

Why was I running? Who was this little girl? Why was she so important to me? Where was I for that matter? And why… why did this hallway seem so small?

As the questions flue through my head without answer, I continued to rush down the dark torch lit hallways. The doors to unknown rooms blurred past me, ignored. My line of sight stayed focus on the light ahead, not that I could have moved it if I wanted to.

"Faster, we need to move faster," a rather familiar fiery voice echoed in my head.

'Shut up I know' said the same desperate voice but without the same fire it had the first time.

At least I think it was the same voice. But then again one sounded as if it was answering the other. They sounded exactly alike but spoke in slightly different ways. Actually the first tone- voice- whatever, sounded similar to the rather annoying voice that usually echoed in the back of my head. Well, the head I was used to being in at least since it seemed both of those voices did come from inside me. I'm not sure if this could be any more confusing.

I was pulled out of my musings as I felt my/this body skid to a stop turning to the left. Now my full attention was focused on the events playing out in front of me. I felt my eyes widen, and for the first time I noted subconsciously my action of choice mirrored that which my body had done. Vaguely I was aware of my body slowly stumbling forward out of the underground passageway and into the roofless room.

In the centre of the light filled room before me lay the corpse of a girl my age. She wore an orange shirt with blue ninja pants and blue sandals. She was definitely a konoha-nin by the kunai and shuriken pouches on her right leg and konoha hitai-ate tired around her neck. She lay on her side, crimson liquid pooling beneath her.

However, it wasn't the fact that the girl was obviously dead by her glazed over unblinking eyes and unmoving chest that drew my attention. It also wasn't the fact that a girl no older than myself, and a konoha-nin to boot, was lying in blood that was pouring out of the gaping hole in her chest.

No, it was the jade green eyes… my eyes. It was the pink hair pulled back into a pony tail that should have reached just past her shoulders. It was the bangs on either side of her face that should have framed it perfectly. Who outside the Haruno clan had pink hair in Konoha? Who besides my father and I have green eyes with the clan name of Haruno?

You see the reason I was so shocked wasn't just because the girl was dead. It was because this girl was my own reflection. Looking into her face was like looking into my own. Only after studying her face did I see there was indeed a difference in our natural complexion. This green-eyed rosette was blessed with a normal sized forehead… that and she wore her hair up in a ponytail, something I rarely, if ever, did.

"No," muttered grievously the same voice as before, only this time I felt my lips moving sync. The tears already trailing down my face found new resolve in the tragedy lying in the roofless sunlit room. A sob broke through, though I had been trying to hold it back and the world when dark. I had closed my eyes if the feeling of them being scrunched up on my face was any indication. I felt my knees give way and lose the ability to hold myself upright. A dull throb shot through said limbs as I kneeled in the spacious room.

The cold sensation of a sharp blade pressed just lightly enough not break the skin, hovered over the already sensitive skin of my neck. My eyes shot open with the accompaniment of a small gasp, and without moving my head the scene shot downward as my eyes locked on the shadows cast to my left. According to the absence of sunlight, a figure stood behind me holding what appeared to be a katana to my neck. If I had to guess though, I would say he or she was standing there casually but deadly all the same. It was as if this frightening person couldn't care less about my life. I was like an insect in comparison to a colossus.

The dead silence was broken by the monotone voice coming from the person behind me. It was deep and masculine, and strangely enough, it too was familiar. "It's been a long time," said the monotone voice of the man.

I felt my body tense and a sudden rage coursed through my veins. It appeared this body had recognized this man and had identified it as someone I hated with a passion and would have given anything to unleash my wrath upon.

"You," my lips growled out, disgust and malice dripping from the simple word.

"Hn," grunted the man indifferently. The reply only seemed to fuel my rage as I felt myself let off the most frighting attack I had ever felt. This man however didn't seem to have even batted an eye, completely unaffected by my jutsu.

…But the rage in me was subdued. Another aura entered the area. Though I had believed my killer intent and been the most frighting attack just moments before, it was nothing in comparison to this. My bloodlust jutsu was broken by the same attack from the newcomer. The wrath and bloodlust of the aura was feral, animalistic.

However, the surprising part was I didn't feel scared. No, not in the slightest. On the contrary I felt slightly satisfied in a cruel and sadistic way. Outside of that, seemingly pushed slightly aside in my mind, was the feeling of worry. This worry though wasn't for the threatening man behind me with a blade pressed against my neck… a man who had suddenly become tense at the presents of the aura.

No, oddly enough, it was for the man from which the killing intent was coming from.

And that too was confusing. I didn't know how I knew this newcomer behind me was indeed a man as he had yet to speak. I didn't understand why his incredible bloodlust wasn't affecting me. And most confusing of all, I had no idea why I was worried about this enraged newcomer.

My thoughts were broken again and everything seemed to become covered by a hazy mist. A soft, steadily loudening ring shattered the tension and the silence as the mist became a dense fog. Then the fog darkened into a black oblivion. I lost feeling before a new warm sensation engulfed me… I now recognised the ringing as my alarm clock.

Reaching over without opening my eyes I pressed the off button. I didn't need to open my eyes to tell where I had returned to. I was within my own house, in my own room, in my own bed with comfortable Suna Cotton sheets surrounding me.

End Prologue

The Suna Cotton thing is suppose to be the equivalent of our Egyptian Cotton but encase you haven't realized Egypt has not been mentioned in Naruto and I doubt it ever will be. Thus I figured I should rename it… And I didn't feel like calling it Wind Cotton, Sand Cotton sounds better to me.

Now you're all smart people… well some of you hopefully, I want to see if any of you can actually guess why Sakura questioned why the hallways were so small, who the dead girl was and also, who the two guys were.

A/N Edit: I've tried to fix some of my grammar mistakes so if there are anymore, point them out to me.

A/N 20111013: Ok so this story was created in 2007 and last updated in 2009... yeah, it's been a while. Over the past month I've been doing some re-evaluating on my life and trying to do some last minute things before I pay up on the soul I sold away. I have till the 26th to do some revamps and to hopefully get the long awaited 8th chapter out. Who knows maybe I'll even get out a ninth. After that, I ship out to boot camp and I don't know when I'll be back to do anything or what will happen in general. Since they say what I'm doing is one of if not the toughest fields to go into mentally it might be another two years before I can post another chapter so yeah... Now I'm just hoping my writing hasn't gotten two rusty as I haven't actually written anything since just before I posted the last chapter in 2009.

Preview

"You're thoughts, I have to listen to those ramblings all the time and you expect me not to comment on them?"

"You… you didn't?"

"Sakura-sensei."

"Hai, but unfortunately I didn't come here for a social call, Sakura."

Next time: Inner

Ja