Thank you readers, reviewers pillowwolfpup and SasoLOVE111, and those who have put my story on their alerts/favorites.


Sweet Dreams

Chapter 2


Sakura rested her forehead gently against the window pane as the bus tipped forward, creaking as the wheels started to turn and exit the pathway.

Another school day.

She sighed, closing her eyes lightly as she clutched her backpack next to her. Loud laughter and talk surrounded her densely as kids chattered with their friends. No, it wasn't that she minded the noise. She was used to it anyways, having ridden the bus ever since first grade, when her dad—

Well, since she was seven.

It wasn't the space either. Normally, she would be claustrophobic. God knows how much she hated small space- including bathrooms, elevators, closets, any place with no window and a door that sealed shut.

She suppressed a shudder.

No, it wasn't the space.

The brakes screeched as the bus paused. Stop sign.

Sakura's forehead slid against the window and she removed it, tucking her knees and resting her cheek there instead.

It wasn't the aloneness either.

None of her friends took the bus so every day she sat in the same old seat in the back, around the three last rows, her and her backpack. Occasionally an I-pod, but most of time, it was just the two of them. Her sweet magenta tattered backpack and herself.

No, she didn't mind she was alone. It was early in the morning anyways, and she was definitely not a morning person. She liked the quiet.

The time to think.

So it wasn't that either.

What was it?

Sakura's arm wrapped around her knees tightly.

There was something she felt… something she's been feeling for a while now every time she sat on the bus and sat there with her backpack alone with loudness and everything surrounding her on the way to Konoha High.

Something she dreaded.


The saying 'people learn through their mistakes' was something Sakura could never quite agree on.

History was the compilation of past events, mistakes and triumphs, a recorded story of humanity. At the beginning of the year, usually a teacher or a student brings up the question, why do we learn history?

What is the point?

The answer more or less is always: Learning the past gives us insight to improve the future.

Sure, after a mistake, one can understand the situation, the consequences…

But can one truly learn?

Wars will perpetually start and end. Civilizations will always have an end. Humans will always feel. Humans will always lose control over emotion. Humans will always be humans, even in the end. It is a constant cycle, and though one can teach oneself to understand the mistakes, it is unchangeable. Its constant cycle is the one thing constant.

When Kakashi-sensei finished his lecture on WWII, he turned to face the class and lifted a droopy eyelid, "Even after the Great War and its heavy consequences and the suffering it bought, WWII emerged. Do think it was predictable? Or perhaps inevitable? Why do you think there was a second total war, when the whole world experienced the devastating outcomes of the Great War?"

And then Kakashi's one good eye (his left eye was punctured in the Vietnam War and was later replaced with an artificial eye that needed to be covered in the daytime) swung to the back of the room.

"Gaara."

Sakura stopped doodling. He never volunteered an answer before.

Talking ceased as silence swept into the room.

His cool, detached voice floated to the front of the room.

"People are too stupid to learn from their mistakes. Too obstinate, too ignorant, too emotionally hindered. Humans will never be able to learn from their mistakes."

And while people gasped in shock and murmured their disapproval, all Kakashi did was nod, his dark eye solemn. "Any other opinions, thoughts?"

Sakura could not help but turn around to catch the twin jade eyes. His red locks sat on top his head, his hands folded under his chin. There were no emotions on his face. Just utter peace.

No one else understood.

But she did.


The loud chatter from their table fell into hushed whispers as the cafeteria doors opened and the hottest senior walked in.

Coal eyes, dark raven hair, pale skin.

His biceps and muscles were visible through his dark T and the god walked down the hallway through easy strides, a smirk perpetually planted onto his face.

As if he was laughing at all of them on a sick little joke only he knew.

His eyes stared straight through all his fan girls.

Sakura heard Ino suck in her breath as he passed their table, a misty, dark aroma settling around their shoulders.

Sakura took a bite out of her turkey sandwich, watching as her friends all let loose their shoulders and blush colored each and every one of their cheeks.

She took another bite.

Okay, at first, she was crazy for him. All day he was the only thing she thought of. Whenever she was in class and looked down at her notebook, she saw doodles of faint hearts all over the page. Itachi xoxoxo was scrawled over binders, almost every girl's status. He was the heartthrob of Konoha High. The one girls easily throw away their dreams for.

He was her top priority,

Once.

And when she came to the point where she realized she was in competition with the other two hundred five other girls of the school, her priority settled onto Sasuke, his little brother. Not the real thing, but a decent copy.

Sakura crumpled her empty sandwich bag. She was still hungry. She got up and left the bench, heading towards the vending machine.

He was just an obsession,

One that grew old.

It wasn't that she gave up.

It just didn't matter anymore.


Yesterday night she had a dream.

She was in a forest, a dark green forest with towering trees and dry old wooden trunks everywhere she turned. The dark musty scent of nature was pungent in the air. It was night, a thin pale crescent hanging limply in the sky.

She was running.

Wolves howled, and creatures stirred.

In the whole dream, all she did was run.

When she awoke, her heart was thumping, fast and heavy under her chest.

Thump-thump-thump.


There was something she needed.

But she didn't understand.

Something was different about her.

In a good way or a bad way she did not know.

All she knew was how she felt.

She felt trapped.


A/N: ah, good ol' angst. anyways, i know this chapter seems like fluff and there isn't much going on. it's more just to set the story. Next chapter will definitely have some interaction between Gaara and Sakura.

Review!