Weakness of the Heart

Chapter 1

The Dream


A/N: I have decided to pull this out from the crypt and keep working on it. I have slightly revised it and fixed the awful grammatical errors. I hope you all enjoy! (This is AU, since I started this story many years ago, before the plot in Naruto expanded). I can't wait to finally finish this. I have some great ideas for this story.


Darkness…

Silence…

Emptiness…

The small pink-haired girl rose to her shaky feet, confusion striking her features.

Darkness…

Silence…

Emptiness…

Suddenly, her surroundings blurred into view as a pale, blood red moon caught the corner of her eye. Her glossy, emerald eyes scanned the area; nothing but echoing silence consumed her.

She was standing on a small, arched bridge overstretching a shallow creek. The path leading through the bridge opened up to two sides. On the left of her, it seemed the path had no ending. A gravel path stretched and twisted into the darkness; nothing surrounded it— no tress, no grass, no sky—nothing but the path and the void.

On the other hand, to the right of her, a dirt path stretched into the forest. The trees around it seemed to laugh at her mockingly as their branches and limbs stretched across the path. The wind shook the trees silently, but no matter how hard she tried, the small girl could not see where the path was leading.

Disturbance etched her features. She felt so lost… so empty… A stinging frigid air enveloped her body and extinguished the warmth around her.

A cold, dead rain began to fall onto the pink-haired beauty, trickling down her face and washing away her emotions. She shut her eyes and let the droplets bore into her soul. When she opened her eyes… she realized…

The sky was clear; the ground was dry…

But she continued to feel the frigid droplets penetrating her outer shell.

Suddenly, the dark, deadly silence was replaced by a soft manic cackling.

The small girl gasped, fear slipping into her mind. She squeezed her eyes tightly, hoping to escape from this silent dungeon.

"S-Sakura…"

Gasping, the pink-haired girl's eyes shot open, and her heart began to race from the sound of that voice… the cold, emotionless voice she knew too well…

"SASUKE!"

Sakura raced over to the dark figure slumped over in a bloody mess. His jet black hair was disheveled and his clothes were dirty and worn with dried blood. As she turned his body over to face her, Sakura let out a grisly squeal…

Where she was expecting to find two coal-colored eyes, there was nothing—no eyes, no mouth—nothing but smooth, pale skin…

She shook with fear as she tried her best to get away as fast as she could. She stumbled to the ground, ready to brace herself, but, instead, something caught her.

Her terror-stricken eyes traced the figure before her.

"Haruno Sakura: Sasuke was right, you are weak."

Fear… confusion… bewilderment… she shivered in the tight grip of the dark boy. Switching her eyes between the faceless figure and boy before her, Sakura searched for an answer. Which one… is the real Sasuke?

The dark-haired boy tightened his grip on the pink-haired girl. A dark, sinister smirk graced his lips as a manic look pressed into his features. His deep, crimson red eyes traced the outline of her angelic face as he pulled out a kunai knife and held the cold steel to her throat. She gasped, unable to breathe, unable to think…

"Sasuke… no!"

He cackled softly, pressing the knife deeper into her skin. Tears welled in her eyes as a soft trickle of crimson blood escaped her skin.

"Don't you understand, Sakura? I am destroying you and you don't even know it."

He licked the blood off her pale, stiff neck. She tried to push the tears out of her eyes, but they had lost their luster; they were nothing but dry stones in her skull.

Suddenly, the world around her fell away. Nothing but the paths stood underneath her. A strong wind whisked her away from the menacing boy, carrying her high into the gray void behind her.

But it was too late… her once warm flesh had turned to stone and she crumbled to nothing.

She heard nothing but the manic laughter and the echoing silence…


Sakura's eyes shot open as a look of fear overcame her trembling body. She gripped her sheets tightly until her hands became bloodless and numb.

A dream… it was only a dream…

She let out a restrained sigh of relief as the bleak aura of reality surrounded her.

That dream…

It was all too familiar to Sakura. She had had that dream many times before. Each time it was just as frightening as the last; just as graphic.

Letting her legs swing over the side of her bed, Sakura sighed. She needed some fresh air. She needed time to think.

After quickly slipping on a dull, red kimono, Sakura slipped out of her dead, lifeless apartment.

She was tired of loneliness.

She was eighteen years old. It had been years since Sasuke left Konoha to avenge the Uchiha clan. Life was different for her. Team 7 no longer existed. She had become a medical ninja under the aid of Tsunade, yet…

She still thought about Sasuke.

Nonetheless, her thoughts of Sasuke were different… her awestruck, clumsy, puppy love for Sasuke had grown into devotion. Some days would pass slowly with no thought of him, but nighttime was different. Nighttime was always different.

The moment she laid her tired body down, her mind was flooded with painful memories of the cold Uchiha. She would wonder where he was, what he was thinking, if he was still alive.

And often, that dream would come to her in the midst of the night, troubling her.

She hadn't been one to sleep much since Sasuke left that cold, silent day.

Wrapping her arms tightly around her shivering body to contain her warmth, Sakura shakily walked towards the forest. Her emerald eyes flashed with dark emotion as troubled thoughts danced across her mind.

This was routine for Sakura most nights. After two or three hours of sleep, she would awake to darkness. Everyone in Konoha would be asleep but her. The drab surroundings of her apartment would force her and her thoughts away. And most always, she ended up in the same clearing in the forest.

It had become her safe haven from the pain of loneliness.

A few years ago, Sakura's mother passed away from an unknown illness, leaving her only daughter nothing but solitude. Her father had died in the war years before. Her mother was gone…

Sasuke had abandoned her…

She had few people left—Ino, Naruto, Lee—but it wasn't the same…

She was slowly suffocating on the inside.

Finally reaching the small clearing in the forest, Sakura collapsed on the soft grass below her, taking in the sweet scent of cherry blossoms. The pearly luminescence of the moon enveloped her in a comforting embrace. For a moment, all of her sorrow slipped away and melted into the relaxation of the nature around her. All she felt was peace as her mind slipped away into a drifting slumber.

Gazing at the pink-haired girl with a look of confusion, the silver-haired man slipped his kunai back into his pouch.

Sakura? Haruno Sakura? What is she doing out this late?

Taking a few soft steps towards the sleeping girl, the silver-haired man studied her.

Has it really been that long since I have seen her?

She looked so different to him. The usual heart-shaped face beaming with kid-like excitement had elongated, showing off exquisite, mature features. Her pale, pink hair had grown into a cascade of long, silky rose-colored locks. She wasn't a little girl anymore…

The curious man stepped forward until he was hovering above the lifeless girl. He studied her even closer. Her chest puffed in and out in low, soft breaths. She held a handful of pale pink cherry blossoms to her chest tightly.

Maybe I shouldn't bother her now…

The silver-haired man tugged on his hitai-ate, pulling it farther down the left side of his face. He shrugged lazily and turned to quietly escape from the small girl's slumber. But before he could move…

"What are you doing here?"

The silver-haired man felt a small hand grasping his ankle tightly. He turned to the once sleeping girl, giving her a lazy look. A fierce look graced her face as she held a kunai to the back of his calf.

Her emerald eyes flashed with an unknown emotion, until finally, they lit up with surprise. Dropping her kunai, she stood up quickly, looking the silver-haired man straight in the eye.

"K-Kashi-sensei!"

The small girl jumped forward, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness as she gave the silver-haired man an unexpected hug. His half-lidded eye seemed unperturbed as the girl clung onto him.

"Sakura… it's been awhile."

Stepping back to get a good look at her sensei's face, Sakura smirked widely…

He hasn't changed a bit…

Hatake Kakashi still held the same air around him; the same lazy, uninterested air Sakura had seen the first day she met him. His hitai-ate still seemed to droop casually over his left eye, a trait that always seemed to make Sakura laugh on the inside. His emotions still seemed hidden behind that familiar black mask that covered the lower half of his face.

Her emerald eyes caught a glimpse of the moonlight, causing them to sparkle with exuberance. "How long has it been, sensei?"

He shrugged. "Two… maybe three years."

Sakura continued to smile cheerfully. "How was the mission?"

"Long."

She rolled her eyes. An answer she would expect from the great Kakashi. "What were you doing anyway, sensei? A mission that long only comes along in a great while."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets casually. "Spy and research… but it doesn't matter anyway." He shifted his gaze away from her expressive emerald eyes.

Where her eyes always this animated?

"What about you, Sakura? What are you doing out in the middle of the night? Shouldn't you be at home sleeping?"

Sakura blushed with embarrassment. "I-I j-just needed… some time to think."

The silver-haired jounin raised a pale eyebrow. "Oh? Something troubles the Haruno genius?"

He smirked at his comment, but Sakura didn't notice… the warm, greeting smile on her face had slipped in a somber frown.

"I-It's nothing… really…"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the fumbling girl. Her emotions haven't changed a bit…

"Okay, then… well, I am going to get going. See you around!"

Kakashi turned his back on the kunoichi. With a wave, he began to make his way out of the clearing.

An image of the faceless Sasuke flashed in her mind as Kakashi turned to leave…

No…

"Wait!"

Ashamed, the rose-haired girl turned her gaze to the ground as the tall man turned to face her again.

"Hnn?"

What am I doing! He can't help me… let him leave… let him leave… let him-

"Will you help me… with something sensei?"

Damn! Too late now…

The silver-haired shinobi raised a brow. Haruno Sakura… is asking for my help? Damn… He didn't know how to handle her emotional problems. He was so much different than her… reserved… quiet… nonchalant. He never knew what to say to help the poor girl.

He spoke up. "Depends on what that something is."

She blushed, but she wasn't sure why. Kakashi had been her sensei in the past. He knew her more than anyone else, and they shared the same daunting history of Sasuke. He might be able to help her…

She fell to her knees and grasped a handful of pale pink cherry blossoms. Letting out a nervous sigh, she began. "I have been having this dream…"

Kakashi stepped forward in interest. "Ah.." He motioned her to continue as he took a seat next to her.

Taking a deep, shallow breath, Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and recited the dream to the silver-haired man. She told him every detail… every emotion… every sensation she felt during that reoccurring dream. It was weird for her to spill anything to Kakashi; especially that dream considering she had never told anyone about it… not even Ino or Tsunade.

And Kakashi was actually… listening. It wasn't a reaction she expected from the inattentive man.

Nonetheless, it felt good to get that darkness out of her mind and into the light. Even if he hadn't been listening, Sakura wouldn't have cared; just being able to speak her feelings was helping her to feel better.

After every last bit of Sakura's emotions had fallen out in the open, a long, heavy silence slipped between the two comrades. Sakura gave Kakashi a wary look as she played with a handful of Sakura blossoms. He seemed very lost in thought.

After what seemed like ages, Kakashi spoke up. "And… what do you want me to do about it?"

He gave her a casual look as she fumbled for the right words. "I don't know. I just want to overcome this weakness and move on with my life."

The silver-haired jounin cleared his throat. "Well, then, it seems like you need to get stronger, eh?"

She shot him a wary glance. "How so…?"

"Well, that's what you said, isn't it? You want to overcome weakness. Then, inevitably, you need to get stronger, right?"

She nodded, sending him an apprehensive look. "I suppose that is what I said…"

He smirked at the lost look on her face. "So then you want me to train you, right?"

"Ermm… yeah, I guess so. If I want to overcome weakness, I need to train to get stronger. But Kakashi-sensei… how can you-.."

He stood before the uneasy girl. "Well then it's settled. Meet me at the training grounds in the evening at five."

He turned to leave. "Oh, and Sakura, make sure Tsunade doesn't train you too hard before our session. I won't take any excuses."

She nodded quietly in his direction. What had she just done…? Sakura watched as the silver-haired jounin retreated into the darkness.

If only she knew what she had just gotten herself into…