Piper: Getting back into my school time was hard, lol.

I don't own Naruto.


Chapter 7 - Ebony


Sakura Haruno

A flash of pink, and ocean blue eyes.

"Mommy!"

Clash of metal, the sound of two pieces being ground against each other furiously.

"Konan, take her!"

A feeling of being light as air, shaking arms around me. The wind blowing against me, accompanied by the sound of shivering leaves.

"Pein!"

Crimson. It was warm, and splattered on every surface it could reach. It was on me. I was covered in blood. I could taste it. It wasn't my own, I noticed, disgusted. My eyes felt hot, salty tears building up.

"Shh, it's alright, it's alright..."

Darkness tangled around me like smoky vines, submersing me in its depths. It was as hot as fire, and my skin was burning; melting. I could feel it seeping into my bones like acid, eating it away. I tried to scream, and my throat went raw even though nothing came from my mouth. I choked as darkness entered my mouth, still burning like fire but feeling like smoke or water pouring into my lungs. I couldn't breathe, and life was coming to end.

No Point of View

The night was still, letting those who needed it sleep peacefully in its quiet. Nothing stirred in the Akatsuki base, until it happened.

A scream ripped through the silence like the claws of a killer, causing all occupants of the base to awake in a start. All were brought to attention in a snap, the screaming still shredding the silence with its ice cold fear. Their chakra's were all creating a giant, invisible amount of power that fluxed like a giant ocean wave. All were spiked, reaching out to find the source of the scream. All found it was the chakra of their female comrade, whose chakra was shivering and expanding to it's full length like it was trying to fight something off.

Many shot from their beds, and out of their rooms. They were ready for any intruders, ready to fight any fight. Except for one they couldn't face. When most arrived at the female member's room, she was being held by the first one to reach her, and spoken to by the second. She was choking for air, shivering like a leaf in the wind. Her eyes were wide, and the pupils shrunk.

"Shh, Blossom," Tobi tried to stop the choking coming from her throat, holding the pinkette's shaking form carefully. Her fingers were clenched in his night shirt, gripping the fabric as if it were her only line to reality.

Pein sat on her other side, a hand on her shoulder.

"What the fuck happened?" Hidan asked, scratching his bare shoulder.

"Shut up, Hidan," Kakuzu spat, and the silver haired Jashinist looked at him defiantly, but did not speak.

A hand took her chin, and the contact of skin felt so much more calming then the burning threads of darkness that had held her. Pein lifted her head, making her meet his eyes, and asked her sternly, "Did you remember anything, Sakura?"

Her voice was a whisper as she spoke, seeming that her throat was to raw to speak any louder, "I did, for a moment."

Pein lifted an eyebrow, and she spoke again, "But something stuck."

He gave her shoulder a small squeeze, gently urging her to speak up, and she looked right into his mysteriously captivating ringed eyes and asked aloud, "Who's Konan?"

Sakura Haruno

Something much more noticeable then normal emotions moved in Pein's eyes, almost as if he was thinking of something and I could see it through his eyes like they were windows. Pein moved his head, looking sternly at the nightwear clad Akatsuki sternly.

"Everyone out," He said in his normal tone, and shifted his eyes towards Tobi. He said in a surprisingly strong tone towards someone as gentle and oblivious as Tobi, "Even you."

There was a shift behind Tobi's masks single eye hole, but it was gone as quick as it came and soon he and the rest of the Akatsuki were gone. Pein stood up and shut the door, before he began to work on pacing a hole in my floor. I watched him for a few seconds, studying his posture and attitude. It seemed as though he were trying to put something together.

Suddenly, Pein seemed to realize that I still existed and that he was in my room. He looked at me and then spoke, "Konan, was a friend of ours."

My attention perked, "Ours?"

He nodded shortly, and said in a slightly tired tone, "However, I cannot tell you. You have to find out most of this on your own or it could topple this whole thing and hurt you more then it could help you."

I bit my lip, looking at the floor. Then I looked back up, "I remembered something else yesterday after our training, while I was doing dishes."

Pein motioned for me to tell him, and I said curiously, "It was a name. Naruto. Was Naruto our friend, too?"

"No."

I frowned a bit at how quick he was to answer. It was odd, I thought that remembering the name so quick must've meant that it was because Naruto was someone close to me.

He looked at my face, and backtracked slightly, "...Naruto... was not my friend. He was your friend at one point in time."

So Naruto must have been close to me. Something like that, or I wouldn't have remembered him so quickly.

Pein sat down next to me on the bed, and it was silent for a few minutes. Slowly, he turned to look at me. I blinked once at him, and he asked me the question I wanted so badly to avoid, "Sakura, what exactly were you dreaming of?"

I looked down, unable to fight of the shiver of fear that electrocuted my bones. For a moment, I gathered my thoughts. It took a moment, for I hadn't quite remembered everything that went on. I tried to collect each bit of memory from my dream as possible, even the ones that left me feeling like I was drowning in a smoke so hot it was like a sting of ice. I looked at him from the side of my eyes, and I said quietly, "I was hearing voices... I heard a child, a little girl. She was...crying. Crying for her mother. There was a sound of metal hitting metal. That's when I heard someone yelling for that woman, Konan, to take the little girl. Then, suddenly I felt like I being carried. Almost like the wind was sweeping me off my feet. A different voice yelled for...for you," I said, and my eyes widened in remembrance. Someone screaming for Pein in my dream.

Pein motioned for me to continued, wanting to hear the whole thing before he spoke. I looked at the floor, and rubbed my socked toe against the slick wood floor, and began to speak once more, "Then... it was quiet. No sound, no movement. I felt I was just, sleeping soundly for a moment. Like I had woken up from my dream, but not from my sleep. Suddenly...something splattered. It hit me full force, like I just got swatted at by a large, dripping paint brush. I could taste blood. For a moment, I could only see, hear, or feel crimson, as odd as that sounds.

"I heard a new voice was speaking, trying to sooth someone or me...I can't tell, but I didn't want it. I didn't want that person anywhere near me... The last I remember of the dream was being swallowed whole by darkness, it burned so bad. I couldn't breath, and I could feel nothing but fire," Tears stung my eyes, and I quit talking in an effort to push them and all weak emotions back.

"That darkness was a seal," Pein said, making me look at him in shock.

"A...seal?" I asked.

He nodded, "It was made by-," He stopped himself, "Some people who didn't want you to remember your past. Everything you saw were a few pieces that leaked past the seal. When more tried pouring out of the cracks, the seal retaliated. That was the darkness. It was meant to discourage you from trying to find out what your past was, but I can tell that it is weakening. I can sense that it is a very powerful seal, and just the small memories coming back means that it is being broken down."

I frowned, and a bit of anger swelled in my stomach.

Pein looked towards the mirror in my bathroom, through the open doorway. He stood, and motioned for me to follow. He flicked on the light switch in my bathroom and turned me from the mirror, making me face the wall. A burst of shock went through me as he grabbed the hem on my shirt in the back and pulled it up the middle of my back.

"That's the seal," He said, nodding towards the mirror.

I had a hard time trying, but I managed to look over my shoulder at the mirror. There, on the middle of my back a square shaped design, looking as though it were printed there with crimson ink.


Piper: Bits of the past are recovered!

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