Chapter 1: Dreams

The water was calm, serene even, as I sat on the banks of the river. This river flowed right through the village into a grove of orange and cherry blossom trees. In the spring the flowers were beautiful and inspired many up and coming painters. I dangled my feet in the water as I leaned back on my hands and enjoyed the summer's breeze that swept back my pink hair. With pretty pink hair, bright green eyes paired with a body that man men would kill for I was a catch, one almost any man would want to bring home to meet his mother. Pair my looks with the monstrous strength and medical ninjutsu and many men would go running for the hills. Me, Sakura Haruno, me, the pupil of the fifth Hokage, had yet to find love. And love is something I wanted deeply; I had dreamed of it when I was little but now being a fully fledged Jonin at the age of 19 and a half I was still looking. My one love had left me years ago and I had only seen him a few times on missions where myself and my teammate, the future Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki had tried to bring him back. You try you fail you try you fail, and yet the only real failure is when you stop trying, that's what I told myself.

The breeze stirred my hair again, which was now down to my shoulders; I needed to cut it sometime soon. I lay back until my body hit the soft green grass below me, still allowing my feet to dangle within the cool water. I closed my eyes listening to the leaves on the trees rustle and the giggles of little kids nearby. I was at peace, it was perfect.

The breeze picked up again, only harder, stronger. I opened my eyes to realize the sky was darkening. Storm clouds started to roll in and I could hear the thunder and see the flashes of lightening. The ground felt as though it was shaking; wait a minute, it was! I scurried to my feet and pulled my hair back into a ponytail so it would be easier to see around me. I took off running, looking for a safe place to take cover as the ground rumbled and shook under my bare feet.

As I came closer to a more populated part of the village I saw other's scrambling for cover and screaming. I wanted to help them, I ran faster, only to trip and land hard on my knees. A huge fissure appeared before me as I was on my hands and knees biting my lip in pain. My knees where badly scrapped and starting to bleed. From the fissure a shadow rose high, and then higher and higher still. I took form of a man with black hair and dark eyes. I flinched in both fright and pain; in front of me stood a man who had caused me so much pain, mentally and physically. It was Orochimaru, in all his snaky evil glory. He stood like a skyscraper in front of me.

"Come with me," he hissed.

"Over my dead body," I spat back.

"You will come," he hissed again. He grew more until he was fifty feet tall, his giant hand reached for me. I screamed and tried to crawl away from him.

"My Sakura," he hissed as he grabbed me.

I felt someone shaking me, "Sakura! Sakura, wake up," a frantic voice came.

I opened my eyes and sat up with a start slapping the person who had been calling my name.

"Ow, Sakura, what was that for," my overly hyper companion asked.

"Oh, Naruto, It's you," I said dumbfounded.

"Yeah it's me; Tsunade wanted to see you earlier than scheduled this morning so I came to get you. When I first walked in I could hear you screaming, I came into your room and you where thrashing around in bed. You looked as though someone was torturing you. What happened," he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," I said waving him off, noticing how his eyes never left me; I was starting to feel like a bug under a microscope. "Let me get dressed and then we can both go see Hokage-sama."

Naruto nodded but I could tell from his eyes he did not believe me. He knew me better than anyone else and he knew something was wrong with me. Naruto closed my bedroom door behind him as I climbed out of my bed running my fingers through my hair. I felt cold and clammy as I thought back to my dream; the same dream liked to reoccur, it was always the same. I would be sitting in my favorite spot in the village only to have disaster strike and Orochimaru showing up telling me to come with him and calling me his. It was beyond creepy and it made me feel sick to my stomach. I stretched and walked to my floor length mirror only to gasp in shock at what I saw. My arms had large red marks around them like someone had cut off the blood circulation there. The marks had not been there when I had gone to bed. How is it they appeared so suddenly?

I thought back to my dream, the snake man who had been fifty feet tall in my nightmare had grabbed me around the torso.

"It's not possible," I said to myself. There was no way that I would have sustained these huge red welts on my arms from a dream. That is unless it was not really a dream.

A knock came on my door, "Sakura are you okay," I heard Naruto's voice ask.

"I-I-I'm fine," I stammered.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, Naruto. Just wait for me; I'll be ready in a few."

I heard his footsteps resound as he walked away from the door. I examined my arms again; the redness was fading but my arms looked a little pink, kind of like sunburn after you have started peeling yet not begun to tan. I hurriedly dressed and ran out of my room catching Naruto by surprise as I grabbed his hand and started running out the door of my house and towards my master's office. I wanted to get my mind off of the dreams; I did not want to see that face again. I did not want my dream to become reality, so I simply ran. Ran with someone I knew would protect me if anything went wrong, I was safe with him, and if I could help it I would keep him around forever.