A/N: Well, I was hoping to do this one faster. But I failed miserably. It's been over two months (I think) since my last update *hides in the corner in shame*. I really ought to work on my story more, since school is out and I have so much free time (so, so much free time). But I don't, because I'm such a lazy person. Well, I did go camping last weekend, so I was busy then, but otherwise… Anyway, now for Chapter Ten!

*****

After I left Susume's office, I ran into the nurse again. She assured me, with her far-too-cheerful smile, that I was free to wander about the institution lounge (as long as I didn't jump out a window, which actually sounds more appealing now). The words "free" and "institution" should never be put in the same sentence, unless prefixed by a negative of some sort.

So I "freely" loitered around the institution lounge. Well, actually, I was trying to find my way back to my room. But instead I got lost (what are the odds of that happening?) and ended up in the lounge instead. So, I figured, I should probably just stay put for a while seeing as how I didn't really miss my room much anyway. It was no more or less bland than any other room in this place.

The lounge was actually rather bustling. Now more than ever I wasn't really up for talking to anyone, so I chose a seat in the corner to brood privately.

Two more days. After this one, that is. I've got to spend two more days in this god-forsaken hellhole and I'm already sick of it. I don't really belong here. I over-react to simple things and sometimes faint for no good reason, but I don't really belong here. The guy over there talking to the wall belongs here. So does the person trying to gnaw off their fingers (ouch) and so does the girl who keeps asking the person next to her if the goblins have found their rainbow yet.

I was out of place. I was too weird for the normal world and too normal for the weird one. I felt crushed by the realization I just might not fit in anywhere. I was indulging myself in self-pity when I first noticed it.

I saw a deep blood red color, over in one of the other corners. My eyes fallowed the red down to where it attached to a head and down to the face on that head.

Gaara? I thought in curiosity and surprise.

Just then, like he sensed my gaze, he looked up and stared into my eyes. For a slight second my insides felt suddenly weightless. But the next second they felt ten times heavier and cold, like someone poured ice water all over them.

I decided then, filled with raging stupidity, to go and talk to him.

Bad idea, my brain told me as I hesitantly got up. This is a very bad idea.

Ignoring my brain, my feet began to move.

Hello? Are you listening? I said bad idea! Stop that! Stop that right now!

But my feet just kept moving, whistling a happy tune to drown out my poor mind's frantic warnings.

Hey! HEY! You dumb feet! Listen to me! Spleen, back me up here!

What do you want me to do? I'm just a spleen.

Wow, maybe I am crazy.

Anyhow, as my brain and spleen argued, I made my way over to Gaara and plopped myself in the chair in front of him. "Hey. Been a while huh?"

He just stared at me for a few seconds longer. "One day."

"Oh." Right. It was just yesterday that everything happened. But to me it felt so far off.

"Are you alright?"

"Hm?" I was surprised by the sudden question. It wasn't often Gaara volunteered to speak without being prodded, much less ask someone if they were alright. "…Yes?"

"Should that be a question?" That very irritating smirk was back on his face. "Don't you know if you're alright?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I wish they made a pamphlet for this kind of thing. Like some kind of How to Tell If You're Crazy for dummies. I could really use that right now."

I sighed gloomily before remembering why I ambled over here, ignoring my better judgment, in the first place. "Why are you here?"

"That fight with Goki. Whenever he's involved with anything that happens to me I get sent here." Gaara glared at the chair next to me as if it were to blame for all his problems. When I shifted a little he turned his gaze back to me. "I suppose you were unconscious for the actual fight, though."

My cheeks stained red. Right, if anyone, Gaara noticed my whole spaz attack. On the ever-growing list of things I really don't need right now, getting a hard time from Gaara was pretty high up there. "That's… that's not… shut up."

Gaara just smirked some more. God, how annoying. Damn redhead. "And that happened after the crying."

I blushed even more (I wouldn't have thought it physically possible, but…). "That doesn't count! I mean…"

Whoa, calm down, time bomb, my brain told me, sensing my distress.

'Help me, will you?' I pleaded.

Oh, now you listen to me. You shouldn't have come over here in the first place, dimwit. This is all your fault.

'Oh, come on, please?'

Nope. You're on your own now, pinky. Right, spleen?

Can't talk right now. I'm doing… er… whatever it is spleens do. Like… ooze and stuff. Hey, I'm a spleen. What do you expect?

I sighed again. "I'm just… gonna…" I didn't bother to finish, but just got up and hauled my ass out of there.

*****

I swung my legs lightly as I sat on the park bench, amusing myself by watching my clean, white shoes move back and forth. Mother had put me in my favorite dress: a light baby blue with white lace and a pink ties which matched my hair perfectly. I had been so excited for the birthday party. Megumi was one of the few girls who didn't tease me about my hair color.

But here I was, sitting on the bench, watching everyone else play. I was getting a little bored, and I couldn't help feeling a little left out. It seemed like almost every seven-year-old in the city was here, but I was the only one sitting out.

I sighed and decided to try and get myself in the game. I stood up and walked over to them, my cheeks pink.

"What d'you want, strawberry?" One of the boys asked.

"C-can I play?"

Some kids gave each other exasperated looks. Others seemed confused, and a few just shrugged. Finally, Megumi spoke up. "Sure, Sakura. Udan has to leave anyway, so you can be the new defenseman. Or woman." She giggled and everyone resumed his or her positions.

I wasn't really good at soccer, but I found it kind of fun at times. I hurried over to the empty spot as the game started up again.

For a while the ball never really neared me, so I hung back. I wasn't really doing much more than I had been on the bench, but I felt better now. Included. Then, the ball came over to our side of the field. I trotted forward to give it a good kick.

When I reached the ball, I happily swung back my leg. Unfortunately, I forgot I was wearing a dress, which means there isn't much room for such things. So when I propelled my leg back, it slammed into the back of the dress fabric and knocked my entire body off balance, causing me to fall belly-flop into the mud with and echoing SMACK!

For a second everything was quiet. Then, suddenly, laughter erupted among the group. Some of the kids had to hold their sides laughing when I looked up with a mud-covered face.

I started to cry.

Not because of the fall itself. It hurt, but not so much to bring me to sobs. But everyone laughing at me made me feel horribly sad and alone. As the tears streaked down my face, the crowd was torn between two reactions. Some of the kids looked more concerned now. Maybe even a little upset for laughing. The rest, however, just sneered.

"Oh, come on, crybaby!"

"Geesh, you're gonna get all whiney because of that?"

"How dumb!"

Megumi came forward looking upset, but I didn't bother to look at her a second time. Instead, I got up and rushed off the field and over to my mother, who had been talking to some other parents, not noticing the whole incident. When she saw me, a worried look instantly came across her face.

"Momma!" I cried, grabbing the hem of her shirt.

"Oh, Sakura!" I could tell she was very upset, since she didn't say 'chan.' "Sakura, baby, what happened? What's wrong?"

"I-I fell, momma," I stuttered out in between sobs. "E-Everyone was l-laugh-ghing."

"Oh, Sakura!" She put her arms around me and I cried. She carried me to the car and brought me home, cleaning the dirt off my face with her sleeve.

When we got home, I changed out of my dress. But instead of giving it to my mother to wash, I threw it out. Stupid dress, it was all its fault.

I sniffled at the memory of everyone laughing at me. I decided, right then and there, never to let anyone see me cry again.

*****

I glared at the clock on my wall, this time trying to make it go slower. Still, the clock kept on ticking (perhaps faster than it should have) despite my efforts. Six o'clock was approaching faster than I would have liked.

At six was dinner. That wasn't so bad. As much as I doubted the cuisine would be up to the 'edible' standard, I wasn't so worried about the possibility of obtaining E. Coli. No, it was what came after dinner that made me feel nauseous.

Two words: Group Therapy.

Perhaps the most awful of the devil's many horrid creations (some of which are: school, Mondays, cliffhangers, and pheromones), group therapy operates under the assumption that public humiliation will somehow help the recovering from mental illness process.

So here I was, hoping time would go slower, even though I couldn't wait for the next couple days to be over with so I could get out of here.

Still, my lack of supernatural power prevented any real progress from being made. So, pretty soon, the all-too-familiar nurse with the bright smile entered the room to come and chauffeur me to the cafeteria. I sighed and grumbled the whole way there.

It was surprisingly easy to find a good spot. In the corner of the room was an empty table. Every other table in the cafeteria was filling rapidly, but for some reason this one didn't have a single person. As I sat there I began to wonder why this was so.

"What are you doing here again?"

I looked over and saw Gaara standing behind the chair opposite me. Then I realized it was just like the spot by the tree at school. No one was here to avoid Gaara. Honestly, is everyone to afraid to sit near this guy?

"You don't happen to have, like, the plague, do you?" I asked.

Gaara just glared and sat down, looking thoroughly annoyed. "Why do you keep showing up in my spots?"

"They don't belong to you," I retorted angrily. "And I don't mean to. I just go where everyone isn't and, low and behold, there you are. Surprise of all freaking surprises."

Gaara just growled in response and glared at the table.

When they started handing out plates filled with food, I noticed even the staff were a little jittery around Gaara. The woman who brought us our dinner practically dropped the plates when Gaara looked up at her. I pondered this as I poked my serving of Unidentifiable Substance X.

"So what's up with Kankuro?" I blurted out unthinkingly.

Gaara looked up from the table. He hadn't eaten anything either and seemed to have grown comfortable with the semi-awkward silence. "Kankuro?"

"Yeah, you know, your dumb brother." I wondered if Gaara would mind me calling his brother dumb…

Gaara looked at me. "What of Kankuro? Did he do something wrong?"

I looked up, half-surprised. "You mean you don't know?"

But judging by the smirk on his face, he did know. He knew exactly what I meant. Then it sunk in, how he placed particular emphasis on wrong. He didn't just ask me if he did anything; he knew Kankuro did something. But something wrong, that was the question. I decided to take the defensive route.

"Well, yeah!" I said, putting down my fork. "You can't just go up to some completely random stranger, a stranger you've never met-"

"That's what a stranger is."

"-And just… j-just…"

"Kiss them?" He was smirking so much now it almost looked as if he were genuinely smiling.

I gave him a glare before looking down at my barely-touched food. "Well, yeah." I shook my head and looked back up at him. There could be no doubt now that he was smiling. It was very smirk-like, but still a real smile. I just stared at him, surprised, until he dropped the expression.

"You can't just… kiss someone, it's an invasion of privacy," I half-mumbled, looking at him, grimacing.

A small muscle tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Well, I don't think he expected you to pass out." I glared. "That startled him."

"What did he expect to happen?" I growled, clawing at the table.

Gaara shrugged. "Probably to get slapped or something. That happens a lot. But not for you to go and faint on him." He started to smile again, very amused by my pretty pathetic situation.

I just gave an indignant huff and looked over at the clock. Dinner would be over soon, which meant it was almost time for group therapy. I wondered if feigning sick would be an option. They probably get people sick all the time when the stuff they serve doesn't even resemble food.

"Alright, everyone!" One of the nurses called out. "Dinner is over, and it's time for your group therapy sessions. Everyone, into your groups!"

Many of the patients shuffled about the room to crowd around their designated doctor. A few of them needed to be forced to go to their group (I could emphasize with that). I just stood around, looking lost, until my friendly neighborhood nurse came over to help me out.

"You're with Orochimaru-sensei, dear," she told me, leading me over to a fairly creepy-looking man with long, black hair and very white skin that looked as though it hadn't seen sunlight in years. I was actually a little glad this was group therapy; the thought of a one-on-one session with this guy was scary enough.

I looked over the other patients in my group that would be enjoying the misery with me and noticed Gaara among them. He didn't seem to notice me, as he was too busy glaring at everything.

"This way please," Orochimaru called, seemingly satisfied the entire group was there. We all fallowed him down the hallway and into one of the many boring rooms. Only this room has various beanie bags, chairs, couches, and mats for people to sit on. Orochimaru himself decided to sit on the love seat, and was shortly joined by one of the patients, a boy who was prematurely gray and wore glasses.

"Alright," Orochimaru called, his quiet, snake-like voice easily carrying through the room. "We'll start off as we usually do – I will ask a question and everyone will take turns giving his or her answer."

Seemed simple enough, but also fairly pointless.

Orochimaru shuffled through his papers. "Today's question is… what do you want to be if – when – you become healthy again?" He turned to the boy next to him. "Kabuto, you're first."

"Right, Orochimaru-sama," the boy said with eagerness. "I want to be just like you, Orochimaru-sama. I want to be a person who studies the mind."

No one really seemed surprised or interested in this. Many of the patients were doing their own thing, a few actually talking to each other. Only someone seemed to be paying enough attention to snort at Kabuto's answer.

Orochimaru just nodded and scribbled something down (I hate it when they do that, it drives you nuts just wondering what they're writing). He turned to the next person. "Next, Hidan."

"I'll be killing people in honor of Lord Jashin!" the man proclaimed. "And I sure as hell won't be stuck in this fucking institution any longer! Kakuzu won't just leave me here. He better not fucking leave me here, or I'm gonna shove a fucking stick up his-"

"Oh, shut up, Hidan," Orochimaru hissed, writing something down.

"Why don't you shut up, mother fu-"

"You're next, Yura."

As the dark-haired man pondered his answer, Hidan tried to make a lunge for the doctor. A man with black hair and black eyes restrained him and murmured something to him before going back to his seat.

"I want to be a police officer," Yura eventually decided. He seemed pretty normal. I wondered why he was here.

Orochimaru continued down the list. Sora wanted to learn how to fly (good luck with that), Tayuya just ranted about her flute, and Itachi, the man who stopped Hidan earlier, didn't say anything at all. He actually looked very similar to Sasuke. I wondered if they were related. And, like Yura, he seemed pretty normal (not too talkative, but still) and I grew curious as to how he ended up here.

"You're turn, Gaara."

The room went quiet. Well, except for some guy who kept punching the wall and Hidan, who was muttering curses under his breath.

Gaara sighed. "I don't know."

"Come now," Orochimaru prodded, sounding annoyed he had to do so. "Just say anything you'd like to do or be."

"Free." I looked at him, surprised by that reply. The mental visits were a bitch but he wasn't shackled up all the time. I didn't understand his meaning. Gaara met my stare for a few seconds before glancing away.

A couple moments passed before anyone said anything. Orochimaru sighed and scribbled something in his notes before continuing the drill.

After the next four gave their answers, it was my turn.

"You're new here," Orochimaru commented.

"Er, yes."

"Haruno Sakura, correct?" I nodded, and he poised his pen, ready to take notes. "Well, answer the question."

I hadn't really bothered to come up with an answer while everyone else went, so I was forced to stop and think about it. And, truth be told, I had no idea whatsoever what I wanted to do. I began to wonder...

What was to become of Vanilla Girl?