A/N: Hope you enjoy! And I promise it'll get better!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Nartuo series…unfortunately :..(

Italics like this mean its thoughts in a characters head

Forgotten

Ch. 2 Tortured Hope

Sasuke blankly watched as he could see the taller female figure guiding and supporting the other. Once they emerged from the shadows his world stopped. Everyone but Sai stopped dead as their bodies went numb from shock. Sasuke's eyes horridly wide watched as the smaller female looked at them with a small weak smile. His hands began to shake and his ears rung as her small silhouette was dressed in a simple white dress an inch above her knee. His jaw was slack as she blinked her sparkling jade eyes and her long pink hair floated behind her. He took a small step forward disoriented from shock, "Sa…kura?"

Sasuke's whisper was unheard as the taller, brunette woman with blue eyes supported the pinkette as they walked down a few steps. Takakura raised his hand in a gesture, "This is Yuki and her friend Naomi who also serves as her protector. They will both acco-"

The older man was cut off as the blonde darted to pinkette and gripped her in a tight hug, "Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke slowly stepped forward, his gaze possessed by her face. He prepared to say something but stopped as she squirmed from Naruto's grasp. "W-what are you doing?"

Naruto looked up releasing her as she fell back into Naomi's arms with a scared look. Naruto looked desperately into her terrified jade eyes, "S-Sakura-chan…don't you remember us?"

Sasuke's heart cracked as the pinkette trembled in her friend's arms, "My name isn't Sakura!"

There was dead silence across the room. Naruto took a step back and fell to his knees, "But…"

Sasuke's throat was dry as the innocent, scared eyes looked into his miserable eyes. His eyebrows furrowed in emotional pain at the cruel trick being placed in front of him. Takakura looked around confused and gave a serious look at Naomi, "Why don't you take Yuki back to her room as I talk to the young men here."

Naomi quickly nodded supporting the pale pinkette up and slowly leading her out of their sight. Naruto would've reached out but his heart was numb from pain. Takakura looked out confused and defensively at the emotional people before him. He walked past them and opened a door to a vacant room, "We need to talk."

They miserably filed in as Sai dragged the two sixteen year olds back to their senses to make them finally move from their spots. They all sat on the ground as Takakura shut the door and looked down with stern eyes, "Would you care to explain?"

Kakashi looked at him with eyes glazed over in hurt confusion. Takakura cleared his throat at the silence. Sai looked at his disoriented teammates and decided to speak, "She looks exactly like a teammate who passed away. She would be the same age and everything."

Takakura's eyes widened as he sat down, "I'm sorry for your loss…but if she died there's no possible way Yuki is the same girl."

Sasuke's eyes darkened, "She didn't die…that is her…it has to be!"

Sasuke finally looked up with a cold, torn expression. Kakashi motioned his hand for Sasuke to back off, "Our teammate…Sakura's body disappeared three and a half years ago when she was dying."

There was a tense silence as Takakura's eyes widened a bit and his eyes hardened, "Three and a half years ago is when Yuki appeared."

All of Team 7's faces slammed up looking at him with small traces of hope in their eyes. Naruto felt his mouth run dry, "W-What do you mean?"

Takakura looked down with his dark brown eyes tracing over the memory in his mind, "Even…Even if it is her; she doesn't remember you."

Sasuke's eyes flickered with rage, "She will so tell the damn story."

Takakura looked up at the Team's expressions and gave a small sigh giving in, "Three and a half years ago, before Katsurou-sama came into rule, we were a happy simplistic village. My wife and I were taking a walk due to the rare snow that occurred that week. Snow only comes once every few years here. It was just past dawn and suddenly there was a bright flicker of light a few hundred meters east in the forest. Being the village leader I took pre-caution bringing a few friends with me. My wife demanded to come along as well. It took about a half hour to finally reach where the light had come from. It was fascinating…"

"Everyone stared eyes wide as a young girl laid unconscious in the snow. My wife became alarmed as the snow around her was red with blood but there were no wounds, only scars on the girl. My wife quickly dressed her with her coat since she only wore a necklace at the time. I was nervous but my wife had convinced me to bring her back to the village. We kept her in our daughter's room that passed away several years before. It was days before the girl had finally woken up. It was amazing how excited my wife became…it's like she was pretending she found our daughter alive again."

"When she came to she didn't speak, it was almost like she was sleep walking. My wife treated her as our daughter and was ecstatic when the girl finally began to really wake up. She acted just like a normal girl her age but…she remembered nothing; not even her own name. After keeping her with us for a while my wife decided to name her Yuki since we found her in the snow. It was odd at first but everyone including myself eventually adjusted to having her here. She never recalled her memory but was okay with just being Yuki. My friend's daughter Naomi was quickly chosen to be by her side at all times since she doesn't have the greatest health but became so dear to us."

"When my wife died two years ago Yuki took over caring for everyone in the village…Always playing with the children, helping villagers with daily tasks, and making everyone smile. Everyone here considers her one of us and she was overjoyed to know that. She overheard me and a few colleagues of mine talking over the dilemma of Katsurou-sama wanting our women and decided to take it into her own hands…I pleaded her not to do so but she just smiled at me and said she was glad to give up her freedom for our sake." A tear ran down Takakura's face, "She accepted the burden of our village at such a young age…It's so unfair."

There was dead silence over the room again as Takakura wiped his eyes, "Even if she's this Sakura you speak of she won't go with you. She doesn't know who you are and is determined to go through with this mission."

Sasuke clenched his fists in the fabric of his pants, "So you expect us to just give up on getting her back?"

Takakura looked at them in alarm; he quickly stood, "I know you want her back but a mission is a mission! I paid for you to escort her!"

Sasuke stood with Naruto quickly doing the same, "So you expect us to take her to some sick freak and let him do whatever he wants with her!? Like hell!"

Naruto growled under his breath as Kakashi watched them unsure of what to do, "I'll go kill that damn bastard before he touches her!"

Takakura looked at them with anger and sadness in his eyes, "Do you think I want her to go!? That I want him toying with her the rest of her life! I would rather have her return with you and lose this village before he puts his hands on her."

Everyone watched him silently for a moment as he fell to his knees. "But…even if I say that…she'll just go on her own. So please…don't abide by what I want, abide by what she wishes for. If she changes her mind the way there then abide by her changed wish. If she remembers you then take her home."

Kakashi stood along with Sai amongst the tense room. He looked at his students and back at the saddened man, "Alright…"

His two original students looked at him with horror in their eyes. "We'll abide by what Sa-…Yuki wants for now. Just let us sleep on the decision."

Takakura gave a slightly grateful nod and led them to their room. They all walked in the room tossing down their stuff as Takakura sadly thanked them before closing the door. The second he closed the door Sasuke gripped Kakashi's collar with raging Sharingan burning out of his eyes, "What the hell is wrong with you! She's your own dammed student and you're going to let her go!?"

He took a sharp angry breath, "We finally found her after all this time and you're just gonna give her away to some sick dictator!? Are you insane!?"

Sai quickly pulled Sasuke back as Naruto and Sasuke both angrily awaited an answer. Kakashi looked at them grimly, "What are we going to do? Kidnap her? Make her unhappy in a place she doesn't remember? Fail our mission? Start a war? Have her hate us and try and escape at every moment?"

The anger slightly subsided in the two chunnin. Kakashi sat against a wall with an overwhelmed sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, "The best chance we have is she'll remember us as we travel with her…or the meeting with Katsurou doesn't go well and we can protect her while killing him and his followers off."

Naruto gave a hard frown, "And what if she doesn't remember us? What if it goes well?!" There was another tense silence as Kakashi gave a regretful look at the three before him, "Then we did all we could."

Naruto grinded his teeth and slammed the side of his fist against the wall, "I can't believe this…"

Sasuke glared at the floor as memories of her flooded his mind and taunted him with the miserable trick life was playing on his team. He growled under his breath and sat against the wall after kicking off his shoes, "Go to sleep, we have a lot of traveling to do."

_in the home_

The confused pinkette frowned as she sat on the floor while Naomi ran a brush through her hair. She didn't understand, she had no recollection of the people she met but their reactions said otherwise. She shifted uncomfortably, she felt nervous traveling with them now. Naomi gave a small caring smile noticing her friend's concerned state, "Don't worry, everything will work out."

Yuki glanced back with unsure jade eyes, "How do you know?"

Naomi gave a motherly smile, "Because you're a good person doing a brave thing; fate wouldn't stop you."

Yuki gave a small nod trying to believe her friend as she crawled onto her bed. She watched as Naomi stood to blow out the candle. "Naomi-oneesama, Are you sure you don't want to stay here?"

Naomi smiled at the honorific, she was only two years older, "I'm going to be with you till the very last moment, understand?"

Yuki gave a calm smile before Naomi blew out the candle. The pinkette wouldn't say it but that's what she wanted. Honestly she was a little afraid but she refused to let that stop her. She smiled as she heard Naomi get into her near by bed, "Thank you…"

_morning_

Sasuke sat unhappily in a kitchen chair with his belongings at he sat waiting for the rest of his team to pack up. He was too irritated and overwhelmed to sleep. He stiffened feeling a presence closing in. He clenched his jaw as the door a few feet in front of him slid open. He clenched his hand against the table as he looked up. The young seventeen year old woman looked at him with a nervous smile; "Good Morning"

Sasuke shoved a few thoughts to the back of his head, "Morning…"

She stood there nervously swaying for a moment, "I-I'm sure you're hungry, I can make something to eat!"

Sasuke was going to tell her not to bother but the pinkette was already shuffling through the kitchen beginning to mix ingredients in a bowl. Sasuke frowned a bit as she easily mixed some batter together; Sakura never liked cooking. He grumbled to himself unable for her to hear, he wasn't sure what to do. He glanced as she mumbled unhappily while fiddling with the old stove. He watched her for a moment and stood up. The nervous girl looked back at him, "You don't need to get up, I'll get it in a minute."

Sasuke ignored her protests and stood before the stove. The pinkette watched confused as he did a few hand signs and placed his fingers against his mouth. Sasuke lightly blew flames onto the stove burner letting it finally light up. Yuki blinked a few times in surprise, "Wow…thank you…"

Sasuke nodded and sat back in his seat at the awkward silence. Sasuke watched as she placed a pan on the stove and began chopping things up. "What do you like in an omelet?"

Sasuke sat silently for a minute watching her chop, "Tomatoes…"

The teenage girl looked back a little surprised but his avoided gaze said to not question it, "Okay, tomatoes then…"

The pinkette stared at the extra egg batter in the bowel, "Do you know what um…you're friends like?"

Sasuke's heart cracked slightly that she wasn't aware of their names, "Naruto, Sai, and Kakashi-sensei…and no."

Yuki nodded, "Right…"

Sasuke parted his lips during the tense silence to try and recall her memories but stopped at the door was slammed open. Naruto walked in yawning, dragging his stuff across the floor, "Teme, do we really have to leave this early?"

Naruto stopped at Sasuke's glare and turned to the presence he didn't bother to notice before. Naruto stood stiff and clenched his jaw as 'Yuki' nervously glanced at him from in front of the stove. The pinkette's body tightened slightly over the event that occurred the night before, "Good Morning…"

Naruto slowly inhaled clenching his hand against the chair he prepared to sit himself in, "Good Morning!"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto slightly impressed by his happy façade. The teenage girl loosened up and smiled at his happy personality, "I'm making omelets, do you want one?"

Naruto gave a perfect fake smile, "Heck yeah! I'm starving!"

Naruto watched as she turned around with a smile and his expression fell dull. His eyes darkened as he watched her go about her life that didn't involve them, it was heartbreaking. The pinkette smiled to herself as she shook the contents on the pan. Maybe I was wrong to be nervous…They seem nice. She took a peek in the corner of her eye and frowned seeing Naruto's dull face and Sasuke's cold expression. She glanced back down at her food feeling disheartened. Her expression fell sad as she thought over when they met last night. She wasn't sure why but they seemed so shocked and desperate.

She began pulling plates out of the cupboard as Sai and Kakashi walked in. They both glanced at her while Kakashi tried to keep a straight face. The teen girl didn't look back hoping not to see more sad faces, "Good Morning"

Sai nodded and sat down as Kakashi's expression tightened but he fought to keep his voice normal, "Morning…"

Kakashi took a strenuous breath and sat down at the small, crowded table. Kakashi glanced around at the tense silence, "Uh…Yuki, where's you're friend?"

The pinkette didn't notice his trouble pronouncing her name. The young woman smiled, "She's packing our things."

Kakashi nodded as she turned around with a smile and some plates in her hands. She placed them in front of them and then walked back to the stove for the food. The unfamiliar men watched her as she casually placed the omelets on their plates with a smile. She prepared to sit down but suddenly stop, "Oh, you must want a drink!"

Naruto tried to tell her it didn't matter but she jogged back over to the cupboard gathering glasses as fast as she could. She filled them with water and quickly walked back to the table.

Sasuke's eyes widened as her face suddenly turned pale and she stumbled letting the glasses shatter on the floor. Everyone around the table eyes widened and stood as her legs gave out. Everyone reached for her but Sasuke was the one to catch her to prevent her from hurting herself on the broken glass. They were all nervously stunned as she didn't move in his arms. Sasuke lightly shook her in alarm fighting the urge to call her Sakura as he leaned her against him and away from the glass, "Hey!"

Her weary jade eyes lightly fluttered as Naomi slammed open the door from the sound of shattered glass. Naomi quickly ran over lightly pushing Naruto out of the way ignoring the glass under her sandals, "Yuki!?"

The pinkette hazily glanced over breathing lightly. Naomi immediately pulled a pill out of her jacket pocket and pressed it against Yuki's lips, "Eat, you forgot to take your medicine."

Sasuke watched with slight nervousness as the girl in his arms swallowed the pill. Medicine? The color slowly began return to her face and her eyes began to brighten a bit. Sasuke helped her sit up and she rubbed her forehead. Naomi gave a firm glance, "You were being too active again weren't you?"

Naruto watched as she gave a weak smile, "Sorry, I was moving around too quickly."

Naomi sighed as her and Sasuke helped the pinkette stand up, "Just try not to over do it during the trip; you need to stay healthy as possible."

The men watched as she nodded calmly and sat down since Naomi refused to let her clean the mess. Naruto stared blankly at the girl with jade eyes. That was too active for her…Is she really that sick? Sai analyzed the girl. It doesn't make sense for her to be so inactive if she spent the majority of her life training and being a shinobi.

Sasuke watched as the still lightly dizzy pinkette sat in her chair; he was so confused. He didn't understand why she was so unhealthy. He moved his furious eyes downward as he sat back in his chair; that disgusting dictator would destroy her in minutes. After Naruto helped Naomi finish cleaning the mess on the floor they all silently began eating. The atmosphere was too tense for anyone to dare speak. Naruto chewed on his food; it was delicious. He snuck a glance at the pinkette; it only made sense for her to cook a lot after living in a remote town for three and a half years. He gave a small sigh to himself; she really wasn't the Sakura he used to know.

After they finished eating Naomi did the dishes as the pinkette went to finish packing. The shinobi waited dully in the kitchen waiting for Naomi to finish the dishes. Naruto chewed on his lips watching the brunette go about her day, "Hey Naomi, What…what is she like?"

The blue-eyed girl turned slightly, "You mean Yuki?"

Naruto clenched his fists a little at the name and nodded. Naomi gave a calm smile, "She's very unselfish, always trying to do the right thing, and can make anybody smile. Her health has slowly declined since we found her but she does what she can and sometimes pushes her limits as a result."

She went back to scrubbing dishes. Team 7 absorbed the information, trying to imagine what their long lost friend had turned into. After a few moments packing was finished and everyone awkwardly made their way to the village's border where Takakura and almost all the civilians were waiting. Team 7 watched as many sad goodbyes were given to 'Yuki' and regards for Naomi to keep her safe. The jade-eyed girl took a hesitant step forward as she stood before Takakura. That goodbye was the hardest; he and his deceased wife took care of her the past three and half years, he was basically her father. The pinkette put forth a brave smile as she could see grief passing through her caretaker's eyes, "Thank you for taking care of me the past few years."

The middle-aged man gave a bittersweet smile, "Thank you for coming into our lives."

The pinkette clenched the travel bag she was holding; she was about to leave everything behind. Her fatherly figure's chest tightened and he quickly pulled her into a tight hug and after a moment of surprise she hugged back. He clenched his jaw as tears started to form in the corners of his eyes, "You are my daughter, don't forget that."

Yuki's eyes widened, he never called her that before. She felt her throat tighten and gripped her hand on the back of his shirt, "I'll miss you…Father."

After the painful parting the crowd of villagers yelled their goodbyes again and Team 7, Naomi, and 'Yuki' went their way. The journey had begun.

_author's notes_

So I hope the Yuki/Sakura thing wasn't too confusing. I hope you liked the chapter and are enjoying the story idea. This fanfic won't be as long as the others but should hopefully have a really good story line, I already have the ending in my head :) Please Please Please review! I wanna know what you think.

As form my other fanfics I'm in progress of finishing What If, writings been a little hard since my grandpa passed away two weeks ago, this one was already written. I'm in progress of the next chapter of A New Life as well. I get out of college for the summer next week so within a couple weeks I should have one or both of the new chapters up. Again, please review!