In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me

---

This darkness, it seems almost impenitrable. The silence, is equally so. How long have I been floating here? Minutes, hours, days?

"Sakura...Sakura"

A voice in the nothingness. Someone is calling out to me. But where is that coming from?

A light, just straight ahead. A way out, perhaps?

---

"Sakura, are you awake"

She looked up into a face of a certain Uchiha. a scream escaped from her lips.

"Aren't you happy to see me," Sasuke asked puzzled.

"I would've been happier five months ago," she scoffed as she headed for the bathroom. "How long have I been asleep for?"

"I'm not sure, a couple of hours. But Sakura, aren't you happy? I came back for you, Tsunade has given me full pardon -" Sakura stopped him.

"You kept your promise, but what makes you think that's good enough?"

Sasuke was confused. "Listen, I know I was gone for a year, bu-" again, he was cut off.

"I don't have time for this, I need to go to work."

---

Sakura walked into Tsunade's office.

"Rough night?" the 5th hokage asked looking up at her tired apprentice.

"You let Sasuke come back?"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Tsunade asked.

"You know he's been the cause of my stress since he left. I was finally going to move on! Now seeing him again is just making things so much worse."

"Sakura, you need to calm down. Your chakra is dangerously depleated for some reason..."

"Calm down? There is no time for me to calm down. How can you -" ...and the darkness took over again.

---

A/n:

Sorry that it was such a short chapter. R & R.