Sand Storm: in which a fast moving cloud of sand floods an area.
"There's a man in the house," Haruto whispered, shaking his older sister. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Haru, what do you mean?"
His eyes were wide with fear. "Daddy's out there with him, but Sakura…" he started shaking, green eyes tearing up. " I think the man wants to hurt Daddy."
Sakura jumped out of bed, shoving on a pair of pants and telling her little brother to wait in her room.
"Go to sleep," she told him, and he smiled. Haruto climbed into bed, so trusting of his sister.
Haruno Sakura was sure her little brother would be asleep in minutes; he was still young enough to be asleep on his feet. She scrunched her toes in her carpet for luck, and then stepped into the hall.
She knew her father had many enemies, but this was too much.
Home invasion? she thought, shutting the door behind her, What the hell has dad done?
WHAT INDEED.
She stopped moving. Had she just heard something?
YES. ME.
She shook her pink head of hair, neatly braided, and continued on. I'm under a lot of stress, she reasoned, I'm just tired.
The voice stayed silent.
She walked slowly down the dark hallway, calling softly, "Dad? Are you there?"
There was no answer.
Instead, there was swift movement, and something cold pressed against the back of her head.
"Don't move, you piece of shit," a familiar voice hissed, and she froze, hand still pressed to the wall.
"It's mine, you idiot!" The blonde screamed, arms locked with the slightly chubby boy in front of her.
"No, it's not, Ino Pig!"
Nara Shikamaru sat on his back porch, watching the clouds. Yamanaka Ino sat next to him, arguing with Akimichi Choji over the last chunk of barbeque. The dark haired boy sighed, having had enough.
So quickly that neither of them could stop him, Shika sat up and ate the last piece. They stared.
"Who do you think you are?" Ino yelled at him.
He just crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever. You're so troublesome."
Then Shika fell silent, and everyone froze.
There was smoke in the air, and not just from the barbeque.
Ino looked up and saw the source of the smoke.
"Sakura!" she screamed.
There was smoke.
So much smoke.
Sakura coughed, crawling forward.
He's only eight, she thought frantically, feeling the heat close in, He doesn't deserve to die!
Her father lay in a pool of blood a few feet away, but she didn't care. Haruto, asleep in her room, had no way to know of the danger. So trusting in his sister was he that any noises and smells would be ignored.
She opened her mouth, yelling hoarsely for him to run. Her voice croaked out, the smoke entering her lungs and making her hack up mucus.
The flames were all around, and she curled up, clutching her throbbing chest. She sobbed into her hands, and she felt her soot smeared clothes crisping in the immense heat.
"Run, Haruto! Run!" she choked out, overcome with fear and ash. The smoke, and the hazy orange color that surrounded it, had ceased to be a factor. She struggled down the hall, but there was flame there too.
Suddenly, hands gripped her arms and dragged her upwards. "No!" she shrieked, kicking out, trying to reach her brother.
"Let me go!"
Sakura twisted, hitting her captor, who was dressed in a yellow protective suit for some reason.
"I need to save my brother!"
She was still screaming as they pulled her away, moving her away from the door.
Away from Haruto.
"No!" Her voice was almost gone, but she yelled silently, shrieking her rage. She didn't even notice the tears that streaked down her face, leaving tracks in the soot.
But they didn't listen to her, and before she knew it, they were outside, and she was coughing in the cold night air.
"Haruto!" She yelled, unable to reach him.
A man, presumably one of the firefighters, had her in a bear hug, and she was helpless. Every muscle in her body, every fiber of her being, screamed for her to move, to do something!
And she couldn't.
No matter what she did, no one had gone back in for her little brother, or come out with him.
She waited there, struggling and yelling for someone, anyone, to get her brother.
No one went.
She could vaguely tell that there were people around her, trying to calm her. She ignored them, still begging every deity she knew to save him, to take her instead.
Then the roof collapsed, and there was a familiar scream.
"Sakura!"
She bit her lip so hard it bled, sobs fighting through her anger. She wrenched herself away from her captor and stumbled towards the house.
"Haruto!"
There was no answer, and the rest of the roof gave way.
Again, people came from behind, grabbing her, forcing her to stop running towards the consuming flames.
"Haruto! Haruto!"
She screamed her brother's name for as long as she could, sure that he would answer, if only he could hear her.
Then, finally, as the beams collapsed in on themselves, destroying the rest of the house, Haruno Sakura sank to her knees.
She hugged her torso, tears flowing from her eyes, as she whispered his name, uncaring of what happened to her next. Nothing mattered anymore.
Haruto is dead.
She sat there, in front of the burned remnants of her house, crying and wishing, wishing that she had not told her little brother that all was well.
THEY SHOULD HAVE LET US DO SOMETHING!
She silently agreed with the voice, acknowledging its presence for the first time.
He died for me.
Sakura sat there, drowning in pain and guilt.