NightDREAMERms: Here we go again… And the crowd gasps as she rises from the dead. Yepppppp! I'm BAAAaaaaack. Now whether this "fic" will ever see the light of day… is up to fate, and fate only. That's right, I've got no say. Just as I had no say in Starting this either. Just another story that flew into my head… this one inspired by a… rather poorly proposed fanfiction which, to me, made just about no realistic sense. So my mind went off by itself, without my consent btw, and created a chapter with the same overall setting and "crisis" (Amnesia, duh.) but blatantly different plot. And that, my friends, is what I'm writing right here today.

NightDREAMERms does not and never will own Naruto and if she did. Heh, well I doubt there'd be as many legions of fans as there are today.

Uh generally… though this story was a creation of mine and may not always follow this pattern.

"Talking"

'thinking'

More Thoughts

---

"Impeccable, Sakura!" The voluptuous red-headed woman's eyes practically sparkled, her thumb pressed down on the silver "stop" bottom.

Her head shook in blissful disbelief as the hand not holding the stopwatch jotted something down on a stack of papers placed in front of her. "As always." She finished in a calmer, yet somehow still overly cheerful demeanor.

17-year old Sakura Haruno rocked heavily back onto her knees, using a hand to sweep fly-away strands of pink back behind her ear. She sat stone still, resisting the almost overpowering urge to wipe her lips with the back of her hands (Must. Stay. Professional.), and instead gazed down at the spot on the floor she had just previously occupied.

The fixed unseeing eyes of Choking Charley stared right back up at her.

Emerald irises traveled slowly down past a barely-intact pair of pale nostrils to dear Mr. Charles' permanently gasping trap- a slightly thicker layer of plasticy rubber surrounding a fist-sized hole.

"Sakura?"

Her left eye twitched as she stared down at the dummy. Who was to know how many other STD-infested highschoolers had placed their lips upon this doll. And how many more in the years to come?

"Sakura, you need to move away from Choking Charley so the other students may have a turn."

She had scantly been able stomach it when Uzamaki had latched his gums onto the poor unsuspecting figure. You were supposed to revive the victim Naruto no baka, not eat it.

"Sakura…?"

And Inuzuka's turn had been barely better. She could almost swear he accidentally bit the doll during one of the sessions- (though he hid it well, Sakura was a very observant girl and hadn't missed the incident.)

"Sakura!"

Her so-called best friend in the world, Ino Yamanaka, had abandoned her, too! Faking a stomachache to get out of the class almost an hour prior. ( I know what you ate for lunch, woman. ) If she had been listening to the lessons she would've had no reason to skip anyway! Her last name was at the end of the alphabet so she would've gone first before any of the rest of her possibly germy classmates. What a wonderful day to decide to be different and flip the list, Kurenai-sensei!

"Haruno… stop being troublesome, some of us want to leave when the bell rings."

Now, even if Sakura wasn't such a stickler for the rules, she wouldn't have followed her pal in the realm of skipping. As it was, her dream was to become a doctor and passing secondary health class with perfect scores was one her early stepping stones.

"Sakura Haruno, get up this instant!"

But such a nasty little stone it was. It wouldn't had been such a problem if the class had mimicked her example and paid attentionto the informational video they were presented with last week instead of simply copying local genius Shikamaru Nara and sleeping. (Love you Shika, but you really are a bad role model.)

A jab in the arm. "Haruno-san I will not say this again. Get up!"

So on Pop Quiz day, what happened? Her classmates slobbered all over the mannequin in imitation of something they must've seen in a cinema. Even Hinata Hyuuga, generally an honors student, must've had a panic attack or something because she virtually demolished Charley's abdomen with chest compressions during the last half of her round. (Sakura -and probably the rest of the class- had made a mental note not to mess with this seemingly small girl.)

Sakura was most likely the only student in that period who had actually performed the breathing and compressions properly. Hence, Kurenai-sensei's energetic response.

Another poke. "…Asleep?"

"Psh. With her eyes open?"

Her pupils stayed locked on those stained protruding flaps of 'tissue'. Ick.

But still.

The fact that she had held her composure up to this point was an amazing feat for a self-proclaimed 'germaphobe'.

"SAKURA, MOVE YOUR ASS!"

---

Sakura swore the room jumped up and spun around for a moment before settling in front of her. Everyone was now staring peculiarly at her as well. She blinked sluggishly at them.

An uneasy smile. "What?"

Coincidentally, at that same exact moment the bell rang and a the entire group started, shortly after emitting a low chuckle at their own actions.

Kurenai-sensei sighed to herself, and gathered her papers. "Thank you, Tenten-chan." The bunned brunette, that Sakura just noticed was standing directly next to herself, nodded with a smirk. "But, as we've run out of time everyone who was unable to go today will have to perform on Monday." Her teacher gave a small smile. "Have a wonderful weekend, minna!"

As their classmates gathered their bags and exited, Tenten offered a hand to Sakura who gratefully took it and rose to her feet. Her tomboyish friend slung her book bag (or as Sakura had termed it, the Sack, as it rarely contained textbooks) onto one shoulder and effortlessly picked a book off of her desk as Sakura went to retrieve her own items.

"So do you two think she went home?" Shikamaru asked idly from the wooden doorway as soon as Kurenai-sensei had excused herself and entered the adjoining classroom.

Neither Tenten nor Sakura needed to ask who he was speaking of.

"Nah, she's probably at her locker." Tenten replied, beginning to walk towards him as Sakura finally finished setting her multitude of books in her arms.

"Wherever she is," she started after giving both of her brown-haired friends disdainful looks at the lack belongings they had to carry. (Both had grinned and shrugged. Jerks.) "She can go home all by herself, I refuse to sit in a car with a… a skipper!"

The pony-tailed male raised an eyebrow at her statement while Tenten just laughed heartily. (Lucky girl. Apparently, Sakura's own laugh sounded like a dying hyena.) "Mad that she's going to wikipedia the procedure this weekend and ace the test?" She winked before standing up straighter. "Well thanks to you and your spacing-out tendencies, I don't have to kiss the dummy 'til Monday." The teen put a finger to her unglossed lips as if in a pondering pose. "Mm. Think I'll go ask Ino to have a no-surprise-CPR-test sundae with me… thanks again, by the way!" She then grabbed Shikamaru's wrist and towed him down the hall with her("Hey wait, slo…-slow down, woman!") before Sakura to retaliate.

She glared out the into the hall in anyway. Cheaters! All of 'em!

---

Konoha was a very pretty city.

It was safe to say, that Sakura viewed her home as the most beautiful place on earth- and not just because she had lived there her entire life there.

Konoha was a place where ancient met modern. Nature met civilization. Fire met Water.

It's stone walls had stood for thousands of years and had not even began to show signs of deterioration. It held one of the world's more prospering medical research center, developing the most advanced healing techniques known to man, and yet only a few miles away ages old temples stood proud and erect.

Pollution was a foreign thought in her city. As a historical sight, many precautions had to be set up to protect their government's major source of income: tourism. True, waste disposal and crime was still a significant problem in the blossoming area, but that mostly seen in the overly industrialized north. Not her soft, homey, section of the south.

Although tourist seasons, did tend to irritate her when they came, she could understand why people flocked here. Gray, sturdy centuries-old archways crossed over cobblestone walkways gracefully. Old-time bakeries, restaurants, and outdoor markets littered the streets in the most positive of ways. Huge, clear lakes were able to be seen sporadically. Drive a bit farther south and you hit the white sandy beaches of -no, not the coast- but an inland saltwater sea. (Not a good place to go to during summer tourist season though, sadly.)

Sakura sighed contentedly as she took in all the smells, sights, and sounds. (Fresh dango, small clusters of people heading in different directions, murmur of light-hearted chatter.) She forgot about how relaxing it was to do this straight out of school. She should go back to walking home more often. It was healthy, after all.

It seemed that everything in Konoha was always peaceful. Foreigners joked that if you stayed too long you could forget about the real world.

Sakura always frowned at this. This was the real world. Maybe with a nicer energy than most other places, but still real.

The odor of ramen hit her senses in a sudden gust, and suddenly the pink-haired girl remembered just why riding with Ino was preferable to walking the trek home. (You know, other than the whole riding-with-a-million-and-two-books-in-the-back-seat vs. walking-with-a-million-and-two-books-in-her-hands thing.)

'Another bowl, Ayame-chan!' A familiar shout pierced clearly through her ears.

Her trail went straight by Ichiraku Ramen a. k. a. Naruto Uzamaki's number one hangout.

She froze in her tracks, quickly ticking off possible ways to avoid a confrontation.

Okay so, despite what it might seem like Sakura didn't despise the blond orange-loving boy. On the contrary, she thought the class clown was quite funny, if not a tad too far on the irritating side. She could picture them being... Friends…

maybe.

If he didn't annoy her too much.

However, she was in no way attracted to him.

Too bad, he didn't feel the same way.

With a quick check left and right, Sakura began the perilous journey across and behind all seven of Ichiraku's stools.

With one suitor, Rock Lee, all lined up she no stranger to the unending "Date-me!" speech. However, being young, naïve (she was just 12 when she had met him), and incapable of flatly turning down such an earnest boy, she had proposed being simply friends with him. Let it be known, that Rock Lee has no understanding of what the term "Just Friends" means when it comes to her. It took many months and a few drilled-in lectures by mutual friend Tenten for him to tone down his -ahem- declarations. (Think Buckets of Candy, Lockers filled with Cards, a complete Rose Bush, Enough Chocolate to end World Hunger, Inappropriate use of the Intercom system, the works.)

Sakura had made a new rule after that episode. When it comes to boys with unrequited crushes- avoid, avoid, avoid!!!! So when hot-shot freshman Naruto Uzamaki was rumored to have set those heart-filled eyes on her two years ago she did just that.

"Mam? Would you like to come in?" A feminine voice firmed by the continual task of shouting out orders but still pleasant to the ear, rang through the air.

'Crap!' Sakura flinched downwards, before looking up and sure enough questioning dark brown eyes were trained on her. Luckily, Naruto's blue eyes had not found her crouching body and were still searching the surrounding area.

She stood up a notch taller, but not much, and hurriedly shook her head before fast-walking past the stand.

Sakura held her breath during the next few seconds but several steps past and nothing occurred. She slowed her pace. No need to look like a weirdo.

Parts of the conversation back at Ichiraku were still perceivable, though it grew fainter with every step.

"That was… different." Sakura grinned. It was kind of funny now that it was over.

"…"

"…"

"Who were you…"

"…some looney girl with odd…" The grin slipped. Pardon Me? Looney?

"…Pink hair…? Sakura!"

The sudden exclamation perforated her grumblings and her eyes widened, before she could even think her feet automatically switched into a track-running mode long before the squeak of someone jumping from a metal stool breached her ears.

And so, she ran.

Away! Away! Away! Get out of sight and he can't drag you back to Ichiraku with him and you won't have to suffer!

Listening to her own inner reasoning, Sakura ducked into the next narrow alleyway she saw. It wasn't a very good hiding place, as it was still daylight and she had her glorious pink hair as a shiny target, but it turned out it to be just the spot she needed. For she waited a good fifteen minutes not a single blond whiskered boy passed by her lovely little alley.

She let out a little cheer and allowed her books to drop to the floor below her. (Clean, of course because Konohans took good care of their streets.) There would be no declarations of love, nor awkward conversations, nor longing looks for her to endure through today!

…

But there may be tomorrow.

And gone was her victorious mood.

---

She hadn't realized it, but somewhere during her fifteen minute wait for something to happen, she had slid down the wall and was now seated on the floor alongside her books. She contemplated sitting there for a few more minutes- it's not like she had anything better to do, and, as fun as walking through Konoha's streets were, those books were heavy and made her arms hurt- but decided against procrastination. Gathering her belongings for a second time, she rose up off the ground, this time with the wall for support, and treaded back out the way she had came and continued her journey home.

Or rather, she would've had not she crossed paths with a mongoose.

That's right. You heard right, she saw a mongoose. (An occurrence, which, she later realized, in all reality isn't too odd considering this is Konoha we're talking about here. And Konoha was also a veryquaint place.)

A tan furry animal. Walking around as if it owned the place.

It had stared at her with baleful eyes for a long moment, before simply walking around her as if she was simply an obstacle in it's way.

Sakura was too baffled to understand the gesture as the rude act it was supposed to be. What was a mongoose doing on the streets of Konoha? Those things aren't even native to this country!

Curious, and a little worried that someone may have lost their pet, she followed the dog-sized mammal a few blocks. It noticed her the second she began trailing after it but had only swung it's head dolefully back, studied her once more, then walked on.

Eventually, she was led right back towards the Ichiraku stand and Sakura had made the decision to turn around and leave the random animal alone when it suddenly blinked out of sight. Sakura jumped in pure bewilderment, before realizing that it had turned into the alley she had hidden in several minutes before. She now realized why Naruto probably hadn't found her. From yards away, the small opening blended in with the surrounding texture of stone.

When she reached the alley's opening she took one look in and immediately turned back out like a swinging door.

Evidently, it was little mongoose's afternoon snack time. And he was tearing apart a mouse with it's teeth. Sakura swallowed, her lips twisted. No matter how small, nor natural it was, it just wasn't pleasant to see a living thing being torn apart.

She tried to train her mind elsewhere but it stayed on the dark-coated mouse- and a thought hit her.

There were mice in that alley.

And she had just been sitting there.

Self-consciously, Sakura wiped the back of her red jean capris off with her hand.

She groaned as dark material flaked off.

Wow! Spacing out in class, getting caught looking like a creeper, running away from crushers, and sitting in rodent droppings(though it could've been just dirt). Today just seemed to be her day, did it not?

Screeeech!

Sakura shot to attention, as the sound of a car braking hard echoed from the other side of the alley. Sakura stood stiff once again as car doors opened and slammed. Vaguely, she recalled the mongoose scurrying out and away from the alley, meal still in mouth. As it was, she was still out of sight and she intended to stay that way. The light hair on her arm was prickling up, the atmosphere had changed into something tense and you can bet she was going to figure out why.

Male voices- relatively young, maybe in their twenties- reached her eardrums.

"Just dump… here."

"This is… pid… why… daytime?"

"… ight… too suspicious… 'sides, …we're already… I ain't driving all the… south 'gain."

A groan.

"He's … kickin'."

"…n't matter… dead by five." Sakura stifled a gasp at that word. Her fist tightened as her pulse quickened.

There was a huff followed by a sickening thud (She winced.) followed by another groan and the sound of feet moving.

Before long, the vehicle's engine revved up and a secondary screech informed her that it and the men had hightailed it out of there.

Sakura waited one long minute, sixty seconds, for someone to go explore the alley. 'Cause that's what happened. Some adult was supposed to come across the person in the hallway and shout for help which would inevitable come running. Then the victim would tell the police who their captors were, they'd be arrested and everyone lived happily ever after. That's how things were done in Konoha.

But. No one came. Nothing changed. Except that the person in the alley's breathing became more and more labored.

That's when the enormity of the situation bestowed itself upon Sakura. The sixty-first second after the vehicle left the premises.

The one who was supposed to save this person. Was her.

She, a freaked seventeen year-old girl, was the only one who could help.

And that thought alone, propelled her forward into the alley.

Even so, the sight that met her paralyzed the pink-haired teen- her books and binders falling in a mess on the floor. A man, turned in on himself, seemingly trying to cradle his stomach lay on his side. From what she could see he had dark pitch black hair, ruffled maybe from the scuffle that must've occurred earlier, and a red and white bandana. He wore a large red jacket with black flames for an outlining and cuffs. His shirt underneath was just a regular white t-shirt. Baggy dark blue denim jeans completed the look. She had the time to observe all this, because it seemed all she could do was watch.

MOVE YOUR ASS!

The memory of just an hour ago hit her hard, and sent her stumbling forward.

But w-what was she supposed to do? Did she call first? Or check his pulse? Who would she call? He wasn't moving…

He appeared to be completely unaware of her presence so after an inner battle, she took a step forward looking for a reaction, any reaction.

She got nothing.

She took another tentative step forward, her Nikes making a soft padded sound against the ground. Still nothing.

She took another step, then called out, quite possibly the most stupidest thing she ever had. "A-are… are you okay?"

The man on the ground moaned. In pain? Due to her stupidity? She would never know. But the man's cry enhanced her resolve to move forward and soon she was on the ground next to him. It was now, close enough to properly view his face did she realize his age. With aristocratically defined eyebrows, deep lashes, gracefully angled chin, and not a wrinkle in sight, he couldn't be much older than herself! Beautiful. The thought flooded in and out of her mind in less than a millisecond as he screwed his eyes farther shut and sweat collected on his forehead. This was not a time for superficiality. (Though a part of her was stressing that her appreciation of him wasn't superficial in the least.) She bit her lip- tasted cherry- and placed a light hand on his arm and almost took it right back up. He was burning up! "C-can you talk?" she sounded out carefully.

Eyelids slowly opened in narrow slits and a dark heated gaze met hers. (Everything about this m- boy seemed to be dark.) Sakura could feel her cheeks tingle but disregarded the sensation in favor of trying to understand what words his lips were forming as sound could no longer reach her ears; a loud buzzing noise was filling them.

'I-ta…'

'I-ta…i'

'I-… I-ta…'

"Itai? Oww?" she whispered to herself then mentally face palmed. Of course he'd be saying that! He was in pain!

A feverish hand relocated itself onto her arm, and Sakura's eyes snapped from his lips back to his eyes, only to see that he was no longer looking at her but towards the ground.

He was trying to heave himself off the ground. "I-I don't think you should move!" the nervous stutter wouldn't leave her voice as she tried to keep her arm steady for him. She wasn't sure if he had anything else wrong with other than that furnace of a fever but she was positive that a drop to the floor, even just a foot, would not be good for his body.

He didn't say anything but he stopped the his movements, collapsing against her shoulder.

Sakura's gaze softened as she stared down at the worn out man and with skilll and balance she didn't know she had, maneuvered her hand into the back of her pants and pulled out her Sidekick. "I'm going to call 911 for you now." She murmured in motherly tone. But instead of calming her partner, it instead set him off the edge, suddenly he was jerking away from her and back onto the floor. Immediately, Sakura was over him, shooting questions in concern.

A hand flew out of the heap of a boy and found it's brutal grasp on her neck. Surprise, fright, and mystification etched into her. Sakura wasn't sure if her eyes could pop out of her head any farther.

The raven-haired boy's pupils had melted into a crimson red. And a pain-filled yet stoic expression had filtered itself onto his face. It was hard. It was deep. It was disgust-ridden.

The boy… the boy she was trying to save. Was threatening to choke her?

"Don't…" he rasped, his eyes were beginning to lose focus but it seemed he was determined to look lethal for he tightened his grip even more, causing her to let out a whimper. It hurt. It hurt. "…Don't call." The boy's eyes fluttered shut and when they reopened his pupils were so dark that Sakura began to think in her panic and lack of fresh air she had imagined the color shift. The hand around her neck released itself (Sakura gobbled down a deep choking breath.) and trailed back down to it's former spot on her elbow. His gaze left hers once again as he rested his head against her newly sweat-soaked shoulder.

The pink-haired girl didn't budge. Her mind was still in a state of disarray about the attack- her attacker leaning on her. Just what… was she to do now? Sakura shook visibly, her still lit-up Sidekick in hand.

She was going to call. She was definitely going to call.

Never had a man lay a physical hand on her before and now this boy… this boy who she had done nothing but helped… had given her the most hateful look she had ever received in her life… had started to strangle her.

She inched away from the teen resting against her- his body moved with her. No longer was she concerned with his health.

The answers came flooding to her all at once as she stared blankly at the heavily panting man next to her. This stranger was dangerous. He didn't want her to contact the police. He tried to hurt her. He was a criminal! There was a reason those men wanted him dead. She had to tell authorities.

But first she needed to get away. Away! Away! Away!

Slowly and with quivering hands she lifted the dark-haired male's arm off her elbow and back onto the ground. There was no protest on the man's part. Then she heedfully removed his head from her shoulder, his sticky hair tickling her in a way that brought no giddiness to her eyes. She set him carefully down on the ground so that he was now in almost the same position she had first saw him in.

Once again, not even a groan of objection.

She was scooted away from him in an instant, her knee up in the air to make a run for it and Sidekick on the "Ready to Dial" option.

Abruptly, the same fist that had latched itself onto her throat, grabbed her hand this time, tugging her backwards and into an impromptu Indian-style position and then flat onto the ground. Sakura let out a gargled squeal, rose a blocking arm, and shut her eyes in preparation for a whatever was to come.

Justlemmego! Justlemmego! Justlemmego!

No exchange occurred, except the now ragged intake of breath by the male laying beside her. She timidly lifted her eyelids only to greet the same red eyes that had moments ago glared so coldly at her.

So close…!

But now they were searching her own, without an ounce of hope, but oh so full of distress. Dampened bangs crowded the gaze.

Sickly-warm fingers loosened their hold.

"… Please." An utterance so broken that if it wasn't dead silent in the alley she wouldn't have heard anything.

Her Sidekick closed with a chime.

And… somehow. That one pleaded word turned her entire world upside down.

And to think, this all happened before 5 o'clock in the afternoon in the amicable little town of Konoha.

---

Ah. Sakura's such a sucker for

Eh, so what do you think? Personally, I'm rather proud of it. Although, I didn't get nearly as far as I had hoped for the first chapter. You see, in my mind I'm already way past this seen. Now, that doesn't mean there's gonna be a sequel (though obviously this wasn't meant to be a one chapter story). Because I did sorta quit fan fiction … but we'll see… That's only, of course, if people actually like it.

P.S. Wow, I just realized the irony with the CPR and the strangulation. Dang, my subconscious is pretty witty!