Pain was all that she could feel. She had a tremendous amount of pain in her head, on her arms and legs, and her chest. Sakura lay there wondering how long she had been lying in the same spot. Forever, it seemed to her. Every second dragged on like an hour. Her world had been narrowed down to 2 things; one of the pain. The other was a tickling sensation. Was it revenge? Was it happiness? Relief? No. How could it have been? Her father had beaten her, but he only caused the pain in her head. After he struck the blow and called her a good for nothing bitch, she decided to leave. After she left she ran down an ally trying to find shelter from the brutal winds. That was her first mistake. Of course she knew about the gangs that would hang around the allies at night. But she thought that they were all on the opposite side of town. She was only half way down the alley when dark figures stepped out of the shadows. She remembered them talking about how fun it would be to let all of their frustrations out on her.

'Just great' she thought. 'That's just what I wanted. First I get beat by my own father. Then by a fucking gang. What else could go wrong?' just as Sakura said that she could hear more people coming down the alley. 'I had to say it.' Sakura thought. 'I just had to say it, didn't I?'

For a moment, she stopped thinking and just concentrated on listening, her ears straining to pick up every noise they could. The footsteps gradually came closer, and Sakura's heart beat began to speed up.

"Fucking fabulous. Just what I need." She whispered under her breath. Sakura pressed up against the wall, praying that she wouldn't be seen. The first one passed without sparring her a glance. Two more followed. Once she thought that no one else was coming, Sakura darted out of her hiding place and crashed into something hard. She looked up and was met with shocking jade colored eyes. 'Fuck' was the only thing that she could think to say at the moment.

"Temari." The voice belonged to the man with the green eyes. The girl that had pasted last turned around and saw Sakura. She quickly called out to the other and they started making their way back to me.

Temari started walking up towards Sakura with another girl. Temari put her hand out, trying to touch her, but Sakura thought that they were going to beat her so she pressed herself against a wall again.

"We won't hurt you. We just want to help." This time it was the other girl who spoke. She had dark blue/purple hair with silver eyes.

'Do they really think I'm that stupid?' Sakura asked herself. The one with silver eyes began to reach her hand out. Just as she was about to touch Sakura, Sakura jumped up and bolted down the alley.



Even though her whole body was pulsating with pain, something kept Sakura going. She had been hurt so much. Did she really want to be hurt again? By a calm, harmless looking girl, no less?

"Please, come back!" She could hear the silver-eyed girl calling behind her. "We won't hurt you! We just want to help!"

The man with the green eyes just stood there, his eyes on the back of Sakura's running figure. He made no movement nor sound, while the two girls looked more concerned.

"Should we go after her, Temari?" The silver-eyed girl asked.

Just as Temari was about to answer her, the guy with green eyes stepped out of the shadows so you could see that he had blood red hair with a kanji on his forehead that said 'love.'

"No. Kankuro is in the Hikari area. Radio him and tell him to look out for her." Temari was surprised that her stoic brother had talked that much. "She won't get very far." With that Gaara took the lead and began to walk towards the base.

Temari just watched Gaara go for a few moments. "Would you do the honors, Hinata?" She asked the silver-eyed girl.

Hinata nodded as she pulled out her radio. "Kankuro," She spoke into it, "There's a girl headed your way. Pink hair, tattered clothes, really not that hard to miss."

"And...?" Kankuro's voice came over the radio, slightly fuzzy.

Temari grabbed the radio from Hinata. "Stop her. She could have a plan."

Too bad Sakura didn't know that that was exactly where she was headed.