Warning: a bit of gore in this one. Nothing super bad but there's assassin stuff and some small children being abused :(
The dreams don't stop. They show no sign of even slowing down, and as Sakura grows she learns more and more about the three boys who suddenly occupy her every resting moment.
Sometimes that is a good thing.
And sometimes, it is not.
On the night of her thirteenth birthday, almost a year after her very first dream, Sakura dreams of Naruto again.
He's crying. It's isn't an unfamiliar sight, unfortunately, and she rushes to his side. Naruto is huddled in the corner of his cell, and his eyes are squeezed shut. His hands clench and unclench, and every so often they reach down to tug futilely at the chain around his ankle. Blood trickles down his foot from underneath the shackle. There's a small puddle of it beneath him.
"Naruto," she breathes, crouching next to him. He whimpers, and she wishes (not for the first time) that she could touch him, provide some sort of comfort.
She cannot. All she can do is talk.
"Sa-Sakura," he stutters, and one eye opens slowly, searching to meet her own. It's glazed over in pain.
"What did they do to you?" Sakura demands softly. He shudders and shakes his head.
"Dunno," he grunts. "In… injection. It-hurts. Burns."
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "Naruto, I'm so sorry."
He whines low and long, tilting his head back and knocking it on the wall. His body jumps and twitches involuntarily, and when he lifts his hands she can see that his fingers are shaking.
"Please," he whispers, and Sakura's heart clenches. "Please, please."
He could be pleading for anything. For the pain to stop, for the scientists to release him. For escape to be possible, for Sakura to help him.
But Sakura can't do anything at all. When he leans towards her, seeking the comfort of human contact, he still goes right through her just as he always has.
The chain around his ankle clinks when a particularly bad wave of pain makes him jolt in agony. He opens his mouth in a desperate gasp for air, trembling as poison courses through his veins.
"Sakura?" he says after a moment, eyes shooting open in panic, and she realizes he thinks she'd left.
"I'm still here," she reassures him. "Don't worry, Naruto. I'll stay as long as I can."
"Promise?" he breathes in a small voice—so hopeless and vulnerable and not like Naruto at all. Sakura doesn't hate easily, but she hates the scientists who keep the boy here-the monsters who make Naruto suffer just for the sake of power.
"I promise," she agrees. "I can tell you a story if you want, does that sound okay?" He nods weakly, and Sakura smiles.
"Yesterday at school was chaos," she tells him. "You'd think Kiba would learn to not bring his dog to school, because he's been suspended twice already because he does it so much—but he brought Akamaru in his sweater. You should've seen how crazy that dog went the second Kiba walked into the cafeteria…"
She can't touch him. But this, she can do. And if it eases Naruto's suffering, even just a tiny bit, then every moment spent by his side is worth it.
Sakura talks until her voice is hoarse, until Naruto has drifted into an uneasy sleep, and even then she doesn't stop. She speaks to him until her vision goes dark, and is still mumbling softly when she wakes up.
When Sakura is fourteen, she watches the nameless boy slit a man's throat.
His face is completely blank, and as blood spills from his victim's open wound Sakura is frozen in horror.
She knows the nameless boy. She knows his art, has watched him sketch in that grand cathedral she usually appears in when she dreams of him. She knows how strange he is, how his offensive personality can change from repulsive to begrudgingly hilarious given a little bit of time. She knows how loyal he can be, and how he struggles over finding the right name because it needs to be perfect, with just the right amount of artistic feel to it.
She knows him.
But she's forgotten what he's being trained to become.
The expressionless puppet that stands before her, wiping the blood from his tanto blade and watching his target slowly choke on his own blood, isn't him.
When the nameless boy notices her, standing silently above his most recent kill, he doesn't react at all. His training doesn't allow it, and even though Sakura normally sees him when he is free of Danzo's influence she's noticed that his rare, unsuppressable bouts of emotion are less and less common every time.
"Hello, Sakura," he says evenly. His voice is flat. It does not rise or fall. "You picked a bad day to visit."
Sakura swallows and does not move. The boy does not speak again. It is then that she realizes that his tanto, sticky and crimson, is still unsheathed in his hand. When he turns away from her it is to stride out of her sight, down a long hallway, and his footsteps are silent in the dark.
Sakura's limbs are trembling.
A short cry of pain emanates from where the boy had disappeared, and a wet splattering sound fills the night. Sakura flinches.
"Wait, who are you? What are you—no, no please! I haven't done anything wrong—ACK!"
The voice is cut off.
Sakura wants to throw up.
"Stop right there!"
A wet thud, as if metal has been shoved through someone's chest.
A sound comes out of Sakura's mouth—a weak, disbelieving squeak that catches in her throat. She can't move.
The nameless boy returns, walking back down the hallway just as silently as he'd left.
He is covered in blood.
Sakura wakes up screaming, and it takes a few minutes before she can stop.
When she is fifteen, she appears in Sasuke's room just in time to see him be slapped so hard that his entire body snaps to the side.
She can't help the startled squeak of horror she makes, and when Sasuke's eyes dart across the room to meet her own they go wide with surprise.
"Say that again, boy. Repeat it to me one more time. Why weren't you at school today? Your teacher called and said you were ditching again."
Sasuke's body is rigid. He tears his gaze away from Sakura and narrows his eyes defiantly.
"I didn't want to go," he snarls. "And you can't make me."
The man who can only be Sasuke's father raises a hand threateningly. Sakura gasps, but Sasuke doesn't even flinch. The scent of alcohol is heavy in the air. Sasuke's father is drunk.
"You dare speak to me that way?" the man growls. Sasuke swallows, but he doesn't move, and his eyes spark with barely restrained anger.
Sakura remembers Sasuke telling her that he's homeschooled. So why is he being punished for not going to school? Has he been lying to her this entire time? And why is he purposefully antagonizing his father? His defiance is just making things worse!
"Your brother was never like this," Sasuke's father says gruffly, and Sakura winces, because if there's one thing she's learned during her visits to Sasuke's house it's to never compare Sasuke to his brother.
Sasuke's face contorts in rage.
"Of course he wasn't!" Sasuke hisses. "Itachi was the perfect son! But I'm not him, father! I never will be! Stop trying to get me to be him!"
"Oho, is that what you think this is about?" Sasuke's father rumbles. He had gone very, very still at Sasuke's words, and now he leans forwards, getting right in Sasuke's face. "You think I want you to be Itachi, boy?"
For the first time since Sakura has arrived she watches as Sasuke's expression flickers for a moment, and for a single heartbeat he looks lost and heartbroken and confused. But then he puts his defenses back up again and snarls.
Sasuke's father reaches out before Sasuke can react and grabs his son by the throat. Sasuke chokes as his head is jerked up, and his father's hold tightens. Sakura lets out a tiny cry of fear, but she knows she can't do anything to help.
"You are a failure and a murderer!" the large man bellows. "You could never be Itachi, understand me? You are nothing!" He shakes Sasuke brutally, and Sasuke is nearly lifted from the floor. The younger lets out a strangled cry and claws suddenly at his father's hands.
"Useless," Sasuke's father snarls. He lets Sasuke go. Sasuke doubles over, hands coming up to rub his throat, and with his head lowered he's unable to see the double-handed blow that comes rocketing towards him from the side.
"Look out!" Sakura screams. Sasuke jerks, but he's not fast enough to avoid his father's attack. Two large fists hit him in the side of the head, and he grunts at the impact as he's knocked to the ground. When he tries to get up, Sasuke's father kicks him in the ribs. Hard.
"Try something like this again, talk back to me like that one more time, and I'll make you wish you'd never been born."
"Newsflash—I already wish that, psycho!" Sasuke spits from the floor. His father kicks him again, and this time Sasuke can't hold back his cry of pain.
Luckily, the large man loses interest in Sasuke's suffering quickly. He turns, aiming one final kick at his son before he lumbers out of the room, leaving Sasuke motionless on the floor and Sakura silently sobbing in the corner.
Neither of them speak for a long time.
When Sasuke finally gets up, Sakura can see the finger-shaped bruises forming along his throat.
"Are you—" she pauses to sniffle weakly, and is ashamed at her own uselessness. "Are you alright, Sasuke?"
He doesn't answer her at first, and when he does, it doesn't reassure her.
"'M fine," he grunts out. A lie. She watches him in petrified silence while he opens a drawer in his nightstand and takes out a small first-aid kit. When he opens it she isn't surprised to see that it's been well used.
Sakura doesn't know what to do.
Sasuke has always been the hardest for her to talk to. Naruto is open and friendly, and as long as she catches the nameless boy when he's visiting the cathedral he is usually approachable as well. Sasuke, on the other hand, generally doesn't want her company, usually ordering her to leave within the first ten minutes of her arrival. When he's in a particularly good mood sometimes he talks to her, but those occurrences are rare.
"Sakura."
She jumps at her name.
"Sasuke?" she says in response. He's taken off his shirt to reveal ugly purple bruises beginning to form on his ribs, joining the dull brown ones that had existed earlier.
"Why did you come here today?" he asks. His voice is different. Lifeless. It reminds her of the nameless boy, and her stomach clenches.
"Ah, it's just been a few days," she answers vaguely. He tilts his head at her.
"Is it just me?"
Sakura blinks.
"Is what just you?" He sighs impatiently even as he carefully presses around his ribs with a practiced motion, checking for any major damage.
"Am I the only one you visit?" he asks. The question surprises her, because none of the others have asked her that.
"No," she tells him truthfully. He nods slowly.
"Tell me about them," Sasuke tells her. She lifts an eyebrow but obliges him, and as he finishes tending to his wounds she begins to speak.
(It's just like how she talks to Naruto when he is half-delirious from pain.)
"There are two others that I can visit," she says. "The first doesn't have a name. He's… well…" Explaining the nameless boy's chosen career is a bit awkward, but she frowns and tells Sasuke anyway. "He's an assassin, of a sort. He's dangerous. I'm pretty sure he kills people on a daily basis."
"Sounds like a fun guy," Sasuke grunts. She rolls her eyes and continues.
"The other's name is Naruto."
"Naruto?" For some reason Sasuke seems more alert once he hears the name. "Who is he?"
Sakura smiles. Thinking of Naruto always makes her happy.
"He's bright," she says for the lack of a better word. "Bright, and happy all the time even though he's been locked up for ages." She looks at Sasuke carefully. "I think you'd get along with him well. Either that or you'd tear each other to pieces."
Sasuke seems curious, and for the first time in the three years Sakura has been visiting them he barely takes his eyes off of her as she tells him everything she can about the blond.
Her stories are just enough to distract him from his pain, but it is far from a permanent solution.
When she is sixteen, everything changes.
She dreams. She hadn't specified who she wanted to visit, so it could be any one of the boys, but when she opens her eyes she is standing in the middle of a well-lit kitchen.
Naruto wouldn't be in a kitchen. Neither would the nameless boy. Sasuke is the only option, but his chances of an unpleasant interaction with his father increases each time he spends more than five minutes out of the safety of his room—it could be him, but that's a little strange. Sakura frowns.
"Sasuke?" she says slowly, glancing around.
From behind her, someone replies. A male voice, but it isn't Sasuke.
"Ah, not quite," he says. She spins around in panic, and gasps at what she finds.
There is a table behind her, with three adults seated comfortably in chairs around it. Each are holding cards. It seems Sakura has interrupted them mid-game.
"Well, I didn't expect this," one of them says. It's the same one who'd spoken before. He has silver-grey hair that defies gravity, a mask covering his lower face, and an eyepatch over his left eye.
He's staring right at Sakura.
"You… you can see me?" she asks in a very quiet voice. She doesn't know what's going on. This has never happened before. He chuckles at that, and both his companions—a brown-haired girl and a dark-haired boy who reminds her dimly of Sasuke—glance at him in confusion.
"Kakashi, if you're cheating again, it's not funny—!" the other boy begins, but Kakashi stops him, raising one hand into the air.
"Yes," the man says. "I can see you. Are you dreaming, kid? Has this happened to you before?"
He knows, Sakura realizes. He knows what she can do.
"I dream all the time," she admits. "But normally I see others. Not…"
"Not me?" he says, and his visible eye crinkles in what Sakura assumes is amusement. His companiaons still look confused, but the girl suddenly blinks, and her mouth opens in surprise.
"Is someone dreaming nearby?" she asks. "And you can see them, 'Kashi?"
Kakashi nods.
"She's got pink hair," he says. "That's pretty interesting. How old are you, girl?"
"My name is Sakura," she says. "And I'm sixteen." He hums, and glances at his friends.
"She's sixteen, and her name is Sakura," he repeats. The brown-haired girl nudges the dark-haired boy.
"Help me out, Obito," she says. "Do the thing."
"Sure thing, Rin," Obito tells her obediently. His grabs her shoulder, and narrows his eyes. Sakura gasps as his eyes suddenly change. Instead of black, they are red, and three dots swirl around the center. He had been focusing on a point just above Sakura's head, following Kakashi's gaze, but suddenly his red eyes snap to meet her own.
"Oh, hello," he says. "You weren't kidding. She really does have pink hair."
"It's cute!" Rin chirps excitedly. Apparently she can see Sakura now too. "I like her already!"
"Of course you do," Obito says fondly.
"Um," Sakura says hesitantly. She feels terribly out of the loop. "Not to be rude, but… how exactly can you see me? Can you hear me, too?"
Obito grins, and motions toward his eyes. The dots spin lazily in circles, and for a moment Sakura is transfixed by the pattern.
"Sharingan," he says smugly, as if that should explain everything. Sakura's confusion must show on her face, because Rin elbows Obito quickly.
"Hang on, she probably doesn't know what that means. Ah, basically… well, Kakashi could probably explain it better. He's going to be your Guardian, after all."
"You're not doing a very good job of explaining anything to her, you two. You're probably making it worse," Kakashi drawls lazily. Obito sticks his tongue out at him.
"You do it then, jerk! You're the only one who can see her naturally, after all!"
Kakashi sighs and stands, scooting his chair back. He sets his cards down.
"How many other people do you see, and how long have your dreams been going on?" he asks her. She gives him a wary look, because she has no way to know if she can trust him. But then again, he's the only one who's ever been able to see her besides Naruto, Sasuke, and Nameless.
"I see three others," she tells them. "And it's been going on since I was twelve. Four years."
"That's a long time," Obito says, glancing at Kakashi. Something like worry flashes across his face. "That can't be healthy." Kakashi ignores him. His attention is fully on Sakura.
"Sakura, the three others you see in your dreams are connected to you. They're real. Together the four of you will form a team, and each of you will have a specific role to play to support each other. Do you understand so far?"
She nods, but her head is spinning. The four of them are… connected? What, exactly, does that mean?
And… they're real.
The force of that thought hits her like a train, and she has to concentrate to stop herself from staggering at the horrific implications of that knowledge. Naruto, imprisoned, is real. Sasuke, abused, is real. Nameless, a human weapon, is real.
"We," Kakashi continues, gesturing to his two companions, "are another connected team, like yours. We have a fourth teammate, too, but he's running a few errands right now. Since you appeared to me first," here he pauses and sighs heavily. Rin laughs at him. "I have been assigned to be your Guardian. Which means I'm in charge of training your team."
"Ha!" Obito bursts out. "The one who least likes responsibility is the one stuck with another team! Karma is at work, here!" Rin frowns at him, but it's half-hearted.
"Be nice," she scolds. Obito grins, entirely unrepentant, and Kakashi rolls his eye.
"I'm trying to be responsible right now and teach my new student, but someone keeps interrupting me," he says dryly. Obito makes a face at him.
"Anyway, Obito can see and hear you because he has his power activated," Kakashi explains. "And while he's touching Rin, some of his power will run through her as well, so she can see you too."
"Oh," Sakura says. She feels just a bit overwhelmed. Rin tilts her head and offers Sakura a kind smile.
"Don't worry, Sakura," she says. "It's a bit crazy at first, I know, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of crazy things. But I promise everything will be fine. You aren't alone anymore, and no matter what Obito says we'll help Kakashi train you, too."
Her words are comforting. Sakura takes a deep breath.
"Okay," she says slowly. It comes out too weak-sounding, so Sakura tries again. "Okay. So, what happens next?" she asks. "Do I get, uh, training now?"
Kakashi steps closer to her. Behind him, Obito and Rin have abandoned their cards as well and are watching closely.
"Do you remember what Minato did, when you first dreamed of him?" he says softly. Sakura blinks once in confusion before she realizes that he isn't talking to her.
"I do," Rin says, rising from her seat. "We can help you if you'd like, too. Obito?"
"Yeah," Obito agrees. He lets go of Rin's shoulder, and suddenly her gaze slips from Sakura's face, hovering just a bit too far to the left. Rin can't see her anymore.
"I would appreciate it, thanks," Kakashi murmurs. He looks at Sakura carefully.
"I'm going to make your bond with your teammates stronger," he tells her. "You'll be able to… sense them, in a way, even when you aren't asleep. They only know you right now, and they'll be able to sense each other after this, too. Is that okay?"
"If this is too much, you don't have to accept it, Sakura," Obito chimes in grimly. "We could also get rid of the connection, if you don't think it's right."
"No!" Sakura blurts out before she can even think about it. Get rid of the dreams? Never see any of her boys again? Abandon them to their terrifying fates? Not a chance! "No, I know this is right. We're supposed to be connected." She sets her jaw and meets Kakashi's eyes firmly. "Do it," she tells him determinedly. He smiles.
"Good choice. Hear that, Obito?" he asks. "Whenever you're ready."
Obito nods silently, striding up to Sakura as well, and Rin slips in between them, placing one hand on each of their shoulders.
"This would be easier if Yamato was here," Obito says mournfully. "But he won't be back for a few hours, and by that time you'll have woken up. Alright, here we go."
He lifts his head. His eyes narrow in concentration, and the tomoe pattern of his eyes swirls faster and faster. A strange shiver runs down Sakura's spine.
"Now, 'Kashi," Obito hisses, voice low. Kakashi's hand flashes out, and Sakura yelps in startled surprise as his hand taps her forehead and stays there.
He's touching her—but it seems like it's only because of Obito's power that he is able to do so.
"Now, Rin," Kakashi orders. Rin's eyes flutter shut.
Sakura gasps as something in her mind is shifted by an unknown force, sending a wave of awareness through her that she hadn't been aware of beforehand. Her senses sharpen, and Kakashi's hand on her forehead is a grounding sensation.
"Again!" Rin cries. Sakura feels something shift again, things at the back of her mind being pulled up into the front. She closes her eyes.
"One more!"
For the last time, the unknown force—Rin and Kakashi's combined powers, she realizes—grabs at her mind. Sakura winces at the intrusion, clenching her hands, and then—
Oh.
Suddenly, she can feel them.
Naruto. Sasuke. The unnamed.
She… senses them. She can feel Sasuke's self-loathing, his sadness, his fear. She can feel a bright optimism from Naruto, one that masks a sea of hopelessness and depression beneath. And there is a vague, almost blank space where the nameless boy is—and it makes Sakura's heart throb in sympathy.
And they… they can feel her, too. They can feel each other. All three of their minds flicker, wavering in surprise and almost fear as the connection settles, solidifies. Sasuke's mind recoils, but Naruto's is already curious, scooting forwards and reaching out to poke at his new companions. The nameless boy can't stop the brief flash of surprise that darts through his mind, that is followed quickly by horror. Sakura chases the emotion as he struggles to suppress it and gets a quick burst of feedback for her efforts: Whatisthistoomanypeople emotionsnotallowed stopstopSTOP—
Kakashi makes a startled noise, and Sakura realizes that she can sense him, too. It must be because of his status as their Guardian. It's much dimmer than the others, but his mind is there as well-carefully shielded. He obviously knows what he's doing.
She opens her eyes.
Rin, Obito, and Kakashi are all staring at her, and Kakashi's face is grim.
"You okay, Sakura?" Obito asks. She nods in response.
"Those three boys," Kakashi says. His eye is narrowed. "Something is wrong. Why are they like that?"
"Like what?" Rin asks nervously, but Sakura knows what he means.
Naruto, imprisoned and experimented on.
Sasuke, abused and hated.
Nameless, suppressed and objectified.
"Why didn't you go to someone sooner?" Kakashi asks incredulously. "They're suffering. You didn't think to ask anyone for help?"
Sakura stares at him and shakes her head, ignoring the brief flash of anger that shoots through her at his accusing tone.
"Who would have believed me?" she points out. "I didn't know if it was real myself. And on the off chance that someone did end up believing me, what could we have done? This is too much for any normal person to fix, and they need help."
Kakashi still looks furious, but his anger isn't directed at her. It rattles in her mind and makes their connection shudder for a brief moment. Obito and Rin both wince, fully connected to Kakashi as his teammates and much closer to his emotions than Sakura is.
"They need help," Sakura repeats. "Please, can you do anything?" For a moment Kakashi's anger continues to lash out, but then Obito puts a hand on his shoulder, and Kakashi deflates.
"That's an understatement, they need more than just help. They need to be rescued," he huffs. "All three of them. Obito, Rin. Call Yamato. Tell him his errands can be put on hold. We're leaving."
"Leaving? To go where?" Obito asks, and Kakashi spins around to face his team.
"We're going to get the rest of Sakura's teammates," he answers, and Sakura feels a sudden burst of hope, as if the sun has come out from behind the clouds.
In the back of her mind Naruto sends an answering pulse of happiness through their link. Sakura giggles as Sasuke's annoyance follows, and Nameless ignores them both, but already she can sense that his mind isn't as dull as it had been before.
This is going to work. They're going to save her team.
"So, Sakura. Do you know where any of your teammates are?" Kakashi asks. Sakura opens her mouth to reply, but before she can say anything, a foreign force jolts through her entire being. The world trembles unsteadily around her. She blinks, and Kakashi's eye narrows.
"What—?"
Sakura cries out as the thing tugs at her again, tightening its grip on both her mind and body. It feels as if a giant claw has wrapped around her, and is pulling her out of the dream.
"Sakura—!"
"What's happening?" Sakura shouts in panic. The world flickers and flashes. Obito's eyes begin to spin, and Kakashi and Rin both reach for her—but they're too late, and Sakura screams as she is forcefully pulled out of the dream, and shoved back into the darkness of sleep.
She wakes up with a cry of alarm, bolting into a sitting position. It takes her a moment to remember where she is—at home, in her own room, in bed. But she knows that it was all real, because the boys still there in the back of her mind, as is Kakashi. All four of them are reacting to her sudden surge of panic, sending her incessant impressions of worry and terror and Sakuraareyouokay?
Someone sighs. Sakura turns, and frowns when she sees her mother standing in the doorway of her room, lowering her arms as if she'd had them outstretched.
"Mom?" Sakura says in a small voice, and Sakura's mother sighs again.
"Sakura, dear, I thought you said you stopped having those strange dreams years ago." Her mother's voice is not accusing, or angry—instead it is weary, and accepting. Sakura shakes her head, because she has no idea what's going on.
"Mom, what—?"
"I had suspected, of course, but when you stopped talking about it I assumed they had been just regular nightmares," Sakura's mother continues. "It was too much to hope for that you would be normal. Are you fully connected with your team now, or is it still just the dreams? If you tell me, it'll be easier for me to break the connection."
And then Sakura's whole world shatters.
A/N: Shout out to the amazing Rose Rain 7 for being an awesome person in general and leaving really nice reviews! You're fabulous my friend, thank you so much! Your comments always make me laugh!
Hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'm not apologizing for the cliffhanger. Find any mistakes, please don't hesitate to point them out! Also, if you enjoy my writing I have tons of other Naruto stuff planned as soon as this fic is finished (which should happen soon, I'm in the process of editing 4 more chapters for this story, and it should have eleven in total assuming everything goes as planned).
I really don't hate Sasuke's dad, but I needed bad guys. I don't hate Orochimaru either, but he's still pretty evil.
Until next time, guys! Leave a review if you liked it!
-meridianpony