AnimeCat92 - Hi, it's AnimeCat92 here. Sorry I have seemingly abandoned you but...I didn't mean too. I'll tell you my reasons at the bottom. Well, back to Naru Chara, here's Sakura!

Tumbleweed rolls through my room.

AnimeCat92 – Where's Sakura? Well, I guess Kairi can do it instead. Kairi, you cover while I go find Sakura.

I run out and Kairi comes in.

Kairi – Fine...AnimeCat92 doesn't own Naruto or Shugo Chara, only her own OCs and her possible insanity. Enjoy the chapter.

"speaking"; *thinking*; /chara talking inside egg before hatching/

*Warning, slight angst in this chapter*

Chapter 8 – Rumiko's turn CHA!

Sakura sighed as she left the hospital late that night, having been working almost nonstop since 6 that morning. "Honestly, this is a ninja village but the hospital has never been this full in the history of the village, and more may be coming." An old nurse's words echoed through her head, reminding Sakura of why it had been so full. It seemed like some epidemic had hit Kahona, ever since something had destroyed the Training Grounds. For some reason, ninjas, civilians and even travellers between areas had been hit by some strange chronic depression which made them give up on their lives. Not in the suicide way, just not do what they want. This wouldn't worry Sakura as much if Might Guy and her sensei Kakashi weren't part of those infected by this depression but they were. Rock Lee seemed to have even more fire, trying to bring Guy's back but nothing he did worked. Guy would just sigh and tell Lee that it's useless to try, not normal Guy behaviour. Tsunade had been searching for a cure and what could be causing the spread but she'd so far come up empty handed. The hospital was full to bursting already which made Tsunade search even harder. But Sakura was glad she'd been let off tonight, she needed a break.

Instead of turning for home, Sakura headed off towards Ichiraku Ramen, hoping to see Naruto there or Sasuke on her travels, wanting to talk with one of them about Kakashi-sensei. But Naruto wasn't at the Ramen Shop and hadn't been for the past few days and Sasuke wasn't around so Sakura walked onwards hoping to bump into one of them but as it got closer to 10, that hope slowly vanished. "Oh never mind, I'll see them tomorrow." She looked back towards the hospital in the distance and noticed something. A small black egg with a white cross, which floated right past her. "It's like that egg..." She touched the egg in her pocket then began to follow the black one to the Training Grounds where it finally noticed her.

"Ok little egg, come here." "Murei, murei..." It started inching backwards and Sakura took one forward, "Wait!" "Murei!" The egg screamed and waves of darkness shot from it. Sakura threw her arms up in front of her face to protect it as bits of earth and wood got picked up too. She was thrown backwards as the egg screamed again and tried to dive bomb her. She hit the floor as the egg soared over her head. *What can I do? I can't catch it…if Naruto or Sasuke-kun was here, they'd catch it right away. What can I do?* /Well, ya can get off of your butt and try./ Sakura looked around, "Who said that?" The voice spoke again, /Stand up already, will ya? Geez, watching ya scrabble around on the ground like that makes me want to throw up./ Sakura stood up, "Whoever you are, come out! I haven't got time for this." The egg came flying at her and Sakura grabbed it. /Hey, not so useless, huh?/ "I haven't got time for this."

Chara Change

Sakura suddenly had bandages going up to her elbows with red fingerless gloves that went to her wrist. Behind her, the egg hatched to reveal a girl which was the size of a hand, wearing the same gloves and bandages. Her hair was long and red and she had brown eyes. She had a red top, black shorts with black and red boots (i.e. imagine Shippuden Sakura's outfit without the skirt bit). "Let's do this, CHA!" Sakura grinned, "Hell yeah!" She tossed the egg at a nearby tree, it managed to stop…however it was shivering, totally terrified. It let out a scream and flew away. "Hey, get back here!" "Yeah, we're not done with ya yet." Sakura then returned to normal. "Huh, what just happened?" "You chara changed." Sakura looked at the little girl, "You're the one I heard earlier, right?" "That's right. I'm Rumiko, pleased to meet ya Sakura." "Ok Rumiko, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Rumiko popped her ears, "Wow, and I thought I was loud. I'll explain later, ok? It's late ya know." Sakura sighed, "Fine but it better be good." The 2 walked off, not noticing the shivering tree. "…She's scary when she's transformed." "I'm glad she's on our side."

AnimeCat92 – Sorry it's been like forever, but things in my personal life have been hectic. I started university back in September so I wanted to get into the swing of things, I did plan to write during winter break but my Aunt passed away right before break started. R.I.P. Auntie…she was a big part of my life and I miss her a lot. So after I finally got back into things, Uni work piled up on me, I don't know about you guys but I had 2 sets of major exams plus assignments to do. Well now I am off until next September so I'll try and catch up with all the stuff I wanted to do. So please…thanks for sticking with me.

Kairi – I thought you were looking for Sakura?

AC92 – She's busy at the hospital, they're swamped you know.

Kairi – I'm surprised you didn't just drag her here.

AC92 – I'm not that evil, you know. Plus, I'm already in Tsunade's bad books for stealing Kakashi for an afternoon then beating him with a crutch.

Kairi – Not surprised…

AC92 – Anyway, I'm going to hold another contest now. Don't worry, I learned my lesson…It's in the Shugo Chara universe.

Kairi – Really, so what's the question this time, huh?

AC92 – I get no respect, even from my own OCs…Anyway, the contest question is:

Amu has 4 partners but how many transformations does she have? (Anime as I haven't read very far in the manga)

AC92 – I'll tell you what the winner gets when the time is right. Chapter 12 is the final chapter for the competition so good luck. R & R, bye now!

Kairi – Yeah, whatever. I'm out of here.