Review:

The sound of footsteps at the doorway of her room got her attention. There stood Shikamaru, he hadn't yet got dressed, and was just in the shorts he slept in last night. "When exactly did you have time to plan out our entire day?" He asked, when she didn't respond, he frowned. "You didn't sleep last night did you?"

Again, Sakura was quiet for a long moment. Finally she let her eyes meet his, and she put a smile on her face. "It's fine."

Later that afternoon

There was a slight whistle of wind coming in from the front door, seeming to be left over from all the strong weather they had the past few days. The door was open, as Shadow and Tank were out roaming around.

"Hmm," Yoshino's hum was heard as she walked out of the hall her bedroom was off of, and moved to go sit on the couch next to her husband. Her eyes, however, were focused in on Sakura. "Sakura, dear, you look awfully tired."

"It's all good." Was Sakura's reply from where she was having to prop her head up with her hand on the opposite couch to the one Yoshino sat down on.

Shikaku was looking from his son to Sakura. "I can't believe you managed to get Shikamaru to go running early this morning, again."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his dad's words. "It's not that unbelievable."

Sakura put a smile on her face, as she hummed. "I just have that right charm about me."

"Tch," Shikamaru started, rolling his eyes once again. "Your version of charm is what I like to call annoyance."

"I think you have it backwards," Sakura replied back, then she yawned and sat up. "Okay, we've taken a long enough break. It's time to get back to work."

Taking Sakura's wrist to look at her watch, Shikamaru shook his head. "We only had fifteen minutes to eat lunch, and it's only been five minutes since then."

Sakura's eyes went to Shikamaru, as she took her arm back from him. "Exactly, that was long enough."

Yoshino offered Sakura a smile, as she picked up her book from the table. "Honestly, I think the both of you should take the rest of the day off. You got so much work done this morning."

"That's not necessary-"

"You could use a nap," Shikamaru interrupted Sakura, noticing her frown. "You didn't sleep last night, then you wanted to go on this ten mile run, and haven't stopped moving since then."

"Can we not bring up the part about me not sleeping? That's not that unusual," Sakura shot back, then she sighed heavily. Shaking her head, she stood up, and turned to face him. "That's okay, we don't have to work anymore for the day. I'll just go to the hospital, and do some work there. There's always something to be done-"

"I don't think so."

That voice stopped Sakura cold, and her whole body froze up. Clenching her fists, she turned finally, and looked over to the front of the house. Hinata stood in the open doorway, Shadow and Tank had just come inside, and their tails were wagging. "I-"

"Sit down," Hinata interrupted Sakura, closing the front door behind herself, then she walked over to her pink haired friend.

Sakura only stayed where she was, and frowned. "I have work to be doing-"

"No, you have creating more work to do. There's a difference," Hinata said, moving her hand to Sakura's shoulder to push it down. "Now sit."

Sitting down after losing her balance from Hinata pushing on her shoulder, Sakura crossed her arms, and glared darkly at Hinata.

"I asked you to come over today because I wanted to talk to you, and you said you couldn't because you're working all day," Hinata started, a hand propped on her hip. "Then when I come over here, I overhear you creating work for yourself. On top of that, you confirmed something I already knew; you haven't been sleeping."

"She didn't sleep last night," Shikamaru confirmed, his eyes focusing on Sakura, but he was addressing Hinata. "The only thing she said was that it was fine."

"It wasn't just last night. When I came over here yesterday evening, I could tell just by looking at her that she hadn't been sleeping," Hinata replied quick, as her eyes went back to Sakura. She propped her other hand on her hip. "How long has this been going on?"

The only response Sakura gave was a long sigh, then a lot of incoherent mumbling. Her eyes remained focused down on the coffee table.

"Sakura!"

"Just a few nights." Sakura admitted quickly after Hinata's loud exclamation. Rubbing her temples irritably.

"So the night that you said you were reading-"

"Obviously I lied." Sakura interrupted Shikamaru, glaring at him.

"Why?" Hinata questioned, ignoring Sakura's words to Shikamaru.

Sakura's eyes went to Hinata then. "That's a pretty broad question."

Rolling her eyes at Sakura's sarcastic tone, Hinata decided not to comment on it. "What is keeping you from sleeping?"

Sakura's look softened after a moment of silently glaring at Hinata, and she finally sighed. "I've just had a bad feeling. I just started to think about the recent encounters with my not-so-friendly visitors, and at first that's all it was..."

At Sakura not continuing, Hinata sighed. "And now?"

Shrugging, Sakura rubbed her forehead. "I don't know. The past few nights I've just started to get this anxious feeling. Like something wasn't right… It wasn't until today that the feeling carried on past the point of getting out of bed. Usually it would just be when I was trying to sleep."

"Oh Sakura," Hinata sighed once again, this time not holding any irritation. "You can't worry about it. It's going to drive you crazy. You really need to get some sleep."

"It's not like I-"

"This isn't surprising. You obsess over things you can't control until you can't sleep," Hinata interrupted Sakura, shaking her head, as her eyes went up to the ceiling. Sighing heavily. "There is no reason for you to be thinking about the past Sakura. You can't do anything about it. You not sleeping because of it is a problem-"

"I don't have a problem!" Sakura exclaimed, interrupting Hinata, and it lead to dead silence in the room. Pushing herself up from the couch, Sakura faced Hinata, and met her eyes. "You need to stop worrying about me Hinata; I'm fine. Not sleeping for me is like breathing for normal people. I'm fine!"

Having been taken slightly off guard at Sakura's outburst, Hinata recovered, and took a step closer to Sakura. Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?" Her questions were answered with silence, and she finally turned to leave. "Don't bother going to the hospital. I'm going to make sure they know that you haven't been sleeping, and that certainly will keep you from doing any work on patients."

That was the last thing Hinata said before she left. Leaving the rest of them in silence.

"That was a little much," Shikamaru started, watching the back of Sakura's head. "She was just concerned about you… I asked you more than once over the past few days about how you've been making all these plans to stay busy. Then this morning, I asked you about not sleeping-"

"If I wanted to talk about it, then I would have!" Sakura snapped at him, having just slapped both of her hands to her face, as she sighed irritably. "You and Hinata need to just mind your own damn business!" After that exclamation, she left the living room to go to her room. The sound of her door slamming shut was heard. Both Shadow and Tank got up from where they were, and went after her. Whining a little as they did.

Yoshino's eyes went to her son to see his frown. "She'll talk when she's ready to. You can't push her."

Shikaku nodded in agreement with his wife. "That woman seems like the type to only push back if you push her too much."

"That's the thing though," Shikamaru said, sighing in frustration, as he rubbed his forehead. "I have a feeling that she won't ever be ready."

Later that evening

The air in the Nara house had shifted from tense back to normal soon after the incident that afternoon. Sakura had finally emerged from her bedroom after a couple hours, and had apologized to Shikamaru. She also apologized to his parents for having acted like that in front of them. Saying it was her lack of sleep, but she shouldn't have taken it out on Shikamaru.

Sakura was now seated at the bar, and she was watching Yoshino who was in the middle of spot cleaning the kitchen. She had been sipping at some tea, and was chatting with the older woman. "This isn't exactly unusual for me. I'm an anxious person, and not being able to sleep sometimes because of it just comes with the territory. This time it's me having a bad feeling that can't be explained."

"I understand," Yoshino said, finishing up her cleaning, then grabbing her own cup of tea. "My friend has anxiety, and it always seemed to be more complicated then just saying not to worry about it."

"Exactly!" Sakura agreed, then she sighed. "Hinata knows that too. But I think today was just a matter of her annoyed with me not just telling her in the first place. Any other time she is always very understanding about it."

Yoshino offered Sakura a smile. "Well hopefully you might be able to clear your head enough tonight to get some much needed sleep. Maybe you should have another cup of that chamomile tea."

"Maybe it can get rid of this bad feeling I have," Sakura agreed, finishing off her cup of tea that she had. Setting it down on the counter, she stretched her arms up, and yawned. "I-"

Shadow and Tank's whining interrupted Sakura's words.

Sakura's eyes moved downward to look at her dogs who were laying on the floor by her bar stool. "Is it time for bed boys? I thought I raised you two to never sleep. Well that's what it feels like sometimes."

That made Yoshino and Sakura laugh. The sound of Shikamaru's and Shikaku's laughter joining them was heard, as the two walked out of the sun room. Going to settle down by the shogi board that was already set up on the coffee table.

The laughter was put to a stop when Shadow and Tank's whining started up again. This time Shadow got up, and moved to the door. He preceded to begin to pace from the door back to Sakura. When Tank followed suit, Sakura frowned, and got off the bar stool. Kneeling down, she brought her hands to them when they returned back to her. "Okay, we'll go outside first, then we'll go to bed. What's with all this whining?"

The dogs whining continued on, even with Sakura close to them. It wasn't until Sakura stood back up to walk to the door, that the dogs started to bark at her. Turning to face the dogs with her eyes wide at their barking.

"Hey, stop!" Shikamaru had to slightly raise his voice to be heard over the dogs barking. Due to the dogs being well trained, they quieted down at the command.

Shikaku raised an eyebrow in the direction of Sakura. "What are they barking at?"

"Me," Sakura replied, her voice showing that she was completely surprised. Kneeling down to pet them again, a frown on her face. She had noticed that their barking scared Baby away. "They don't ever bark at me like that."

"Maybe they just need to go out." Yoshino suggested, having been surprised by the dogs loud barking, as she had been focusing on putting more water in the tea kettle.

Straightening back up, Sakura turned to go back to the door. However, with her hand just inches from the door, the dogs were back to barking at her. "Boys," she started, her tone was enough to get them to stop, then they were back to whining. Her brain was quick to come around to what the reason was. "They don't want me to go outside..."

That had Shikamaru raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't make any sense."

Shikaku had stood up from the couch, and moved to one of the big windows. Pulling back the curtain, he turned on the porch light. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary."

Turning to the door again, Sakura's frown deepened, as she reached a hand up to rest on the door. In that moment, an overwhelming sense of darkness spread over her body. That anxious feeling that had been eating at her increased, and she gasped at the familiarity.

"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked, standing up as he could tell that there was indeed something out there.

"No, damn it," was what Sakura said, having not heard Shikamaru's question. Moving to do quick hand signs, she summoned a slug to her hand. "Kazu, I need you to tell Tsunade that I said they are in the village, and that she needed to up security now. Tell her I'm leaving the village, and hopefully that'll get them to follow me."

"What?!" Shikamaru questioned alarmed.

Kazu hummed, and seemed to disapprove what Sakura had said to do. "You need to wait for back up. Tsunade won't be happy-"

"I'm not just going to wait around," Sakura interrupted quickly. "I am handling this by myself. Just tell Tsunade what's going on. I want her to make sure everyone in the village stays safe while I take care of this."

While she still seemed to disapprove, Kazu hummed again after a moment. "Very well, be careful Sakura."

After Sakura's slug summon disappeared, Sakura took off to go grab her weapons from her room. Once in her room, she started gearing up, and attempting to slip on her shoes at the same time.

"Hold up." Shikamaru's voice was heard first, as he entered his room. His parents not far behind.

Yoshino was the next to speak. "What's going on exactly?"

"My unwanted friends are in the village," was Sakura's reply. Finishing up putting on her weapons, she adjusted her shoes on her feet. "Shadow and Tank sensed them first. That's why they were barking at me when I tried to go outside."

Shikamaru held out his arm to stop Sakura from walking past them. "I'm going with you."

"No, you're not." Sakura replied, as she pushed past his arm to walk out of her room.

"You're not going by yourself," Shikamaru started, as he followed her. His parents not far behind him. "The last time they attacked you in your apartment-"

"No, the last time they attacked me was when we were all outside the village together," Sakura interrupted him, pausing by the front door to turn and face him quickly.

That had taken him off guard, as Shikamaru had to move up on his toes to stop fast enough to keep from running into her.

Sakura brought her hands to Shikamaru's shoulders, and she looked in him in the eye. "I need you to stay here. I can't risk you getting hurt for my sake. We already had one close call, and that is one more than what should have happened. Please stay here..." She trailed off for a long moment, her eyes holding his. Finally she let her hands fall from his shoulders, and she turned to leave.

At Sakura leaving, Shadow and Tank went crazy barking. Yoshino focused on trying to calm them down. Shikaku, on the other hand, moved to stand beside his son. "I'll go meet with the Hokage. She should be at her office by the time I get there. Are you coming?"

Shikamaru didn't reply, as he had turned to look out the window. Watching Sakura, until she disappeared into the dark night. Completely silent.

Close to the North Wall

Taking to the wall, Sakura got to the top and jumped over. She could sense the enemy having caught onto the obvious trail she was leaving them. When her feet hit the ground outside the village, she took off running. At first she wasn't sure where she was going. All she knew was that she needed to get the hell away from the Leaf village. A plan was bound to come to her at some point. Hopefully.

Running until she reached a large clearing around 10 miles from the village, she stopped in the center of the clearing. Time slowed down around her, as all she could hear was the sound of her heart beating. Knowing that any second the enemy would reach her. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she knew their numbers, and while it wouldn't be easy, she could take them down. She didn't have a choice.

The sound of her heart pounding in her ears was broken with the first of the enemy arriving to the clearing. Then it began in a whirlwind of chaos that started with a clang of metal from her katana meeting one of the enemies dagger. The symbol of a circle with the line down the center catching her eye all over the place. Taking in a breath, she turned, and her attacks became explosive. Not having to hold back like she would if she was still in the village.

She kept her ground over the next ten minutes of fighting, and it wasn't until she received a hit to her shoulder that had her stumble. Although instead of what she expected to be the turning point for the enemy, the ones in front of her were frozen to the spot. What the-

"Shadow strangle jutsu!" The exclamation came from beyond the tree line, before the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows once the enemy was down.

"Shikamaru, I asked you not to come-" Sakura broke off to turn and slam her fist into an enemy coming at her right. Turning back to face Shikamaru, her eyes full of anger. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"This isn't exactly the time to yell at me Sakura." Was the only reply Shikamaru gave, as he turned away to capture more enemy in the shadow possession jutsu. Just in time for Choji to roll out of the forest, and knock over the enemy like a bowling ball to bowling pins.

Ino dropped down from the trees after following up with some explosive kunai to the enemy that Choji missed. Her eyes met Sakura's. "Here I am again, having to save your ass."

While Ino's voice held a hint of humor, Sakura's was beyond outraged. "This isn't a fucking joke Ino, you guys need to leave-"

"Trust me no one is laughing," it was Hinata's voice, as she showed up with Neji, Sai, and Naruto. Each taking on some of the growing enemy numbers.

Having to fight off some enemy of her own, Sakura finally got a chance to speak again when she landed near where Sai and Naruto were. "Do you two not understand what not being involved means?"

Having just used his rasengan on one of the enemy, Naruto took in a breath, as his eyes darted to Sakura. The usual fire in his eyes when it came to a fight. "Do you not understand what being a team means?!"

Sai nodded in agreement with Naruto. "We told you from the beginning that we always have your back. No matter what!"

Growing increasingly irritated with how everyone here was completely risking their lives for her sake, Sakura growled and went back to fighting. Her anger fueling her attacks. She wasn't quite sure how long the fighting had gone on. All she knew is that it got to a point where the enemy had got a little too close for comfort, and she took head in the fighting then. Taking a stance in front of her friends, she brought both her hands together in front of her chest. Closing her eyes, she took in a breath.

Knowing very well what kind of jutsu Sakura was using, Hinata's eyes widened. "Sakura, don't do that! You know what that jutsu does-"

Hinata was interrupted with a strong wind starting up. Funneling towards Sakura, then spinning around the clearing. The water in a pond towards the north side of the clearing starting bubbling and shooting upwards. The ground beneath them seemed to shake. Finally Sakura lurched forward to hit the ground in front of the enemy. Unlike one of her normal punches, the explosion was magnified. Light went up in the air that became almost suffocating to everyone.

After the explosion ended, the smoke began to clear slowly. The enemy either annihilated or they fled. Sakura remained where she was, lowering her arms to her side. The effects of the jutsu were taxing on her already strained body. The injuries she received prior to the jutsu, along with the lack of sleep she's had, made it seem ten times worse. She began to feel shocks go down her spine, then through her whole body. Feeling a sharp throbbing pain in her head her eyes moved upward. The last thing she saw was the starry sky above, before everything went dark.

An hour later

Having been at the hospital for the past hour, Sakura had been unconscious the entire time, and her friends were hanging out in the hall outside her room.

"Damn, I knew Sakura had something going on," Ino was saying, her arms crossed from where she was leaning against a wall in-between Choji and Sai. "But, I never guessed it was something like this. Those people were all there after her?"

"Yeah they were." Was Hinata's quick reply. Having been more focused on watching Sakura's door to her hospital room. She did get to sit with Sakura alone when they first got her here. But, the last twenty minutes she had to step outside.

Naruto frowned, as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Neji and Hinata know all about it."

His words had Hinata sighing, and shaking her head. "Naruto."

"Thank you for including me into this." Was all Neji said.

Ino took on a look of annoyance. "That's not fair that you two are the only ones who know what's going on-"

"Actually," Hinata interrupted, getting a hint of irritation in her voice. "It's not our fault that Sakura hasn't told anyone else. We encourage her to all the time."

"Why don't you two just tell us then?" Ino countered.

"Okay," Neji interrupted before Hinata could speak. Knowing by the growing look of irritation in her eye that this conversation wasn't going to end well if it kept going like it was. "We're not going to say anything because Sakura asked us not to. If you want to know, take it up with her."

"That would be a lot easier if she wasn't unconscious right now." Sai pointed out.

Giving up on her quest to figure out what was going on, Ino's eyes went to a clock on the wall. "It's past midnight."

Choji, meeting Ino's eyes, nodded back at her. "We want to make sure Sakura's okay and all, but-"

"Go ahead," Hinata interrupted with a nod of her head. "I know you two have a mission tomorrow morning, and you need some sleep. I'll be sure to let you know if anything happens."

"Thank you," Ino replied, smiling when her eyes met Sai's. "We should hang out after I'm back from my mission."

"Just tell me when." Sai replied, actually smiling back at her.

Choji, meanwhile, was focusing on Shikamaru. He was leaning with his back against the wall, his eyes closed. "Uh, we'll come by when we get back from the mission."

Humming lowly, Shikamaru nodded his head once, as he opened his eyes. "Right." He replied, watching as Choji and Ino left. That was the first thing he said since they had brought Sakura to the hospital. Outside the village, after Sakura's jutsu, it was like almost slow motion to him when she started to fall backwards. He had moved without thinking, and all of a sudden she was in his arms. Unconscious. In that moment he felt all sorts of feelings that he was having trouble unscrambling now that he was back to thinking with a clear head. All he knew is that she certainly scared the crap out of him.

The sound of the door to the room Sakura was in caught their attention. Out walked a nurse first, who started down the hall. Then came Tsunade, her eyes going to each of them, then to Hinata. Giving the blue haired woman a nod.

That was all Hinata needed to walk past Tsunade and into Sakura's room. No words to exchange.

Looking at everyone else, Tsunade crossed her arms. "I don't want anymore conversation about the events of tonight to happen inside that room. Is that understood?" While she was addressing everyone, her eyes were more specifically on Sai and Naruto. When they both nodded, she herself nodded, and stepped out of the doorway to allow them to go in.

It seemed to be just the right time for them to come in, as Sakura appeared to be waking up. At first her expression was relaxed, until her eyes were able to focus. Seeing where she was, she moved to push herself to sitting up. "Oh hell no!"

Tsunade, who had walked back in as she heard Sakura's exclamation, held a hand up. "Sakura-"

"I'm not staying here," Sakura interrupted, as she pushed the covers off of her. Her eyes meeting Tsunade who was still looking as if she was going to disagree. "I am not kidding Tsunade, if you admit me, then try to have anbu keep me here, you will have one less anbu unit in this village!"

At Sakura calling out exactly what she had planned to do, Tsunade sighed, and was quiet for a moment. Finally she crossed her arms. "Fine. I won't admit you."

"Uh no," Hinata spoke up almost immediately. "She needs to stay here."

"Oh for the love of- We're not listening to her Tsunade," Sakura started irritably. "She's already done enough to piss me off tonight! They all have!"

Hinata's eyes went wide, but she was quick to snap back at Sakura. "What? Us coming to make sure you wouldn't get yourself killed? Sue me for actually giving a crap if my best friend lives or dies!"

That actually had Sakura's look soften, as her eyes went to Hinata finally. "Okay, I'm sorry… But I'm still really freaking mad at you."

"Shocker," Hinata replied with an eye roll, before she looked at Tsunade. "If she doesn't stay here, then she's going to need a hell of a lot of medicine at home."

Sakura groaned hearing that. "Um no thank you!"

"I'm already ahead of you on that one, I guessed she wouldn't want to stay, and I already wrote out a prescription for her," Tsunade replied in a whisper to Hinata so Sakura wouldn't hear, pointing to Sakura's chart to show Hinata. "It can be picked up tomorrow morning at the earliest."

"Um, I can hear you to whispering about me," Sakura said, clearly getting increasingly irritated when Hinata nor Tsunade said anything back. "Hello-"

"Why does she need medicine exactly?" Shikamaru interrupted Sakura, as his eyes were focused in on Tsunade and Hinata.

"Yeah why?" Naruto asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Isn't it just exhaustion?" Sai added.

"It's more than that-"

"Alright Sakura," a nurse entering the room started, interrupting Hinata from speaking. She walked over to the pink haired woman's bedside, and held out a small plastic cup with pills in it and a cup of water.

Sakura's eyes just glared down the pills. "I'm not taking those."

Tsunade crossed her arms again here. "Take it or you are going to stay at the hospital tonight, and for the next few days-"

Sakura reached for the pills and the water so fast, Tsunade didn't have to say more. After taking the pills, Sakura slapped the cup on the small table beside the hospital bed.

Nodding at seeing that Sakura had actually swallowed them, Tsunade's eyes went to the nurse. "I'll be needing her discharged."

The nurse nodded, as she took Sakura's chart. "I'll let the attending who admitted her know, and a resident should come by to handle the paperwork as soon as they can."

After the nurse left the room, Tsunade sighed as her eyes studied Sakura. Finally her focus went to Hinata and Neji, and she lowered her voice. "I'm going to go see if anything has been heard from the anbu units I have out. I trust you two can see to it that she doesn't get out of control."

"We can handle it." Hinata had replied, as Neji just nodded.

It took almost an hour before Sakura was able to be discharged. Over that time there was some conversation, as Naruto and Sai were trying to distract Sakura from impatiently waiting on the resident to show up. However the conversation soon died down once Sakura fell asleep. The combination from how exhausted her body was and the medicine was enough to knock her out. When Sakura did fall asleep, Neji took that opportunity to convince Naruto and Sai to call it a night, and he left with them. Leaving just Hinata and Shikamaru behind.

So naturally when it did come time to leave, Shikamaru was the one carrying Sakura back to his house, as Hinata was holding some of Sakura's weapons. The lights were on in his house, despite it being around one in the morning. As soon as they got inside, Shadow and Tank were all over them.

Hinata had to try and love on them to keep them from jumping up at Sakura.

Both Shikaku and Yoshino were still awake, and had stood up when they arrived. Yoshino already held a motherly look of concern at Sakura unconscious. "What happened?"

"It's a long story," Shikamaru replied, looking down at Sakura in his arms, and he frowned. Her facial expression was peaceful, but the events of the last few hours were certainly not. "I'm going to put her in her room."

It wasn't until after Shikamaru placed Sakura on her bed that Hinata stepped into the room. Moving over to the bed, she looked to him. "I'll take it from here. I'll get her changed into something else."

Shikamaru remained standing where he was. Staring down at Sakura with his frown still on his face.

"Shikamaru?"

Finally Shikamaru left the room, he let Shadow and Tank go in before he shut the door, then he moved back to the living room. When his eyes met his parents, he hesitated before he moved to sit down on the couch across from them. "You know that I left a couple minutes after Sakura. The first place I went was to Neji's apartment, because I didn't know where Hinata lived. Neji, had went to alert Hinata, then I guess they both went to get Naruto and Sai. I was about to go after Sakura, as I had a Shadow clone tailing her to know where she was going. But I stopped to ask Ino and Choji to come with me, because I knew I could count on them."

"Ino's mother had contacted us to ask what was going on," Yoshino said, watching her son frown. "Saying you and Choji came to her door to get Ino, then you all left without saying anything."

Nodding his head, Shikamaru explained the rest of what happened once they got to where Sakura was. Then how they had been in the hospital for the past couple hours. Sighing when he was done, he rubbed his forehead. "They way those people were coming after Sakura was… I've never seen someone attack so viciously."

There was a knock on the front door, and with the motion of Shikaku, Neji walked in. "Naruto and Sai went home, I had to all but physically stop them from going to question the Hokage."

"That's to be expected," Hinata's voice was heard, as she appeared from the hall Sakura's bed was on. Moving over to where the Nara's were, she stopped beside Neji. Her eyes going to Shikamaru, as she studied him for a moment. "You get two questions. Don't waste either of them on asking me any specifics on why, because I will not answer them and neither will Neji. It's up to Sakura to talk about that."

"How long have they been after Sakura?" Shikamaru was quick to question, as he clasped his hands together. "She told me it had been a while, but how long is a while?"

"Since she was born." Hinata replied, already able to tell that had not been what he was expecting. "I found out about all of this when Sakura and I were 12, Neji found out a year later."

It was quiet for a long moment, then Shikamaru spoke again. "What did Sakura do to have this happen to her? I know you said not to ask what it is they are after-"

"It's not so much something she did, so much as what's in her blood," Hinata interrupted him, sighing heavily then. "It's an unfortunate situation. You can see why she's so adamant on keeping secrets just by what happened tonight… And what happened when she was out of the village with your family."

"It's not her fault though..." Shikamaru trailed off, looking down at the coffee table, and bringing his hands together to think. How has she managed?

A couple days later, the 15th of June

"You need to relax Shikamaru."

Hearing his mom's voice had Shikamaru stop taping his fingers on the arm of the couch. Although that didn't stop his mind from racing. Sakura hasn't woken up since she fell asleep in the hospital the day before last. Hinata had come by a few times yesterday to check in, and kept telling him that it was normal. That Sakura's body was just recovering from the jutsu she used.

Yoshino sighed when she noticed from the look in her son's eyes that he wasn't relaxing. "You need to shut your mind off too."

"That's a lot easier said than done," Shikamaru replied, rubbing his temples. "I keep thinking about the jutsu she did. If it caused this much of a side effect, why does she use it?"

"I'd like to study the jutsu," Shikaku spoke up, sipping at his coffee. "From what you said, it sounds intriguing."

"I'll have to show you sometime."

The sound of Sakura's voice had Shikamaru twist on the couch to look back at the hall their bedrooms were off of.

Sakura stopped once she took a step into the living room. Shadow by her side, and she had a hand resting on his head. Closing her eyes, she yawned. "Well maybe not anytime soon. Just by using it last night, I clearly caused enough drama to last a century."

"It wasn't last night," Shikamaru spoke up, his eyes glued on her. "It was the night before last. You've been asleep since you fell asleep in the hospital that night… You're actually awake."

Raising an eyebrow, Sakura put a half-smile on her face. "Are you sure? I might be dreaming- you might be dreaming."

"Knock it off," Shikamaru started up, clearly not amused with her attempt to joke. "You wanna talk about what happened?"

"What happened?" Sakura countered in attempt at more humor, but when she heard Shikamaru sigh, she knew she better lighten up on the jokes. "Oh you mean the night before last. Oh you know, that was just another unscheduled visit from my very not nice friends who are trying to kill me. A typical day in the life."

"I don't find this as funny as you apparently do," Shikamaru interrupted her, noticing a bit closer at Sakura keeping her hand on top of Shadow's head. "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Holding your hand on top of Shadow's head." Shikamaru replied, an eyebrow raised when he noticed an almost look of nervousness cross her face.

"No reason," Sakura said after a moment of hesitation, walking forward with Shadow. However, she was brought to a quick stop when her foot jammed into the back of the couch that Shikamaru was on. Feeling severe pain starting from her toes all the way up her foot. "Ow, ow, ow!" She exclaimed, then she leaned down to grab her foot. Resting her forehead on the back of the couch, she sighed heavily. "Okay, so it might be possible that I can't see anything aside from blurriness."

"What?!" Shikamaru countered, his eyes wide, as she had lifted her head back up from the couch. "Are you serious?"

Frowning at him, Sakura slapped her hand down on the back of the couch. "What? Do you think I just purposely tried to hit my toes against couch for the hell of it? Plot twist, I'm actually a masochist."

A knock on the door kept Shikamaru from speaking. Eyes went to the door, as Hinata walked in after Shikaku motioned for her to. Tank running right over to her, but Shadow stayed by Sakura's side. "Good morning."

Groaning loudly at Hinata's happy sounding good morning, Sakura just motioned to what looked like the door. "Go away. I'm still mad at you."

"And look, this is me not caring," Hinata replied, walking over to stand next to Sakura she adjusted her friends hand to point to the actual door. "The door is here by the way, you were pointing more towards the window… Of course not being able to see and a little bit of double vision does that to you."

"How did you know that she can't see?" Shikamaru questioned, an eyebrow raised.

Hinata crossed her arms, and stared at Sakura. "Do you want to tell him, or shall I?"

Sakura sighed heavily, and crossed her arms. "Long boring story short, that jutsu I used can't just be performed by any random person. Actually to be quite honest it wasn't really a jutsu in the first place. This power of mine only becomes taxing on my body when I've already exhausted my chakra, and it doesn't help when I didn't sleep for a few nights. Even then, I have to tap into a very large portion of this power to actually have any side effects on top of those other factors."

"And this power is why people are after you." Shikamaru said after a moment of thinking.

"Tch," Sakura started, rolling her eyes, and humming. "Look at you using your brain."

"Stop it," Hinata hissed at Sakura, as she glared at her friend. "You're being unnecessarily bitchy this morning."

"Takes one to know one." Sakura shot back, sticking out her tongue in Hinata's direction.

"You are a child," Hinata said, sighing heavily, then she reached in her bag. Taking Sakura's hand, she placed a pair of glasses in it. "I got these for you. I wasn't sure if you'd be awake today, but I figured they'd be welcome when-"

"God," Sakura interrupted Hinata, as she moved to put the glasses on her face. "Where were you when I hit my foot against the couch?"

"Well I would have been here sooner, but I was digging through your closet to find these," Hinata replied, shaking her head with disapproval. "You should take better care of them."

"Well it wasn't like I intentionally just threw them in my closet. My life is a little bit of a mess Hinata, just ask my mom, she could have told you that years ago. She tells everyone that," Sakura replied, finishing sliding the glasses on her face. They were thick framed glasses. She squinted a little, and scrunched up her face a bit as she adjusted to them. "God I hate these things."

"Well, at least you'll be able to see a little better," Hinata replied, pulling a paper bag out of her bag, she moved over to the bar counter. Pulling out pill bottles. "Since my life has been revolving around you the past day and a half, I went ahead and picked up your prescription from the pharmacy. Plus I know if it was left up to you, you would never go get the prescription."

Yoshino was eying how many bottles of pills Hinata was pulling out, and raised an eyebrow when she finished with five bottles. "That's quite a lot."

"Well it's mostly antibiotics and supplements. After having this happen to her more times than I'd like to count, we've kind of got a system that works in helping her feel better faster," Hinata replied, starting to unscrew the tops on the bottles. "There's also something for her anxiety to help her sleep."

Laughing sarcastically, Sakura shook her head. "Oh no. I'm not taking any of that. It's unnecessary-"

"It is necessary," Hinata interrupted Sakura sharply, then she had to take a breath to try to speak more calmly. "You need the antibiotics and supplements because not only did your power cause side effects, but you did get a few injuries prior to that too. Don't even bother arguing with me about the anti-anxiety medication either. You have anxiety issues already, with everything that's happened over the past week, I know that it is affecting your sleep, and for all I know it could be affecting your judgment."

"Is this about me going out there alone last night- I mean the night before last?" Sakura asked, and when she didn't get a response she scowled. "For the last damn time, I am not going to apologize for trying to protect you all-"

"You made an incredibly stupid and reckless decision by doing what you did that night, and I'm not going to stand here and tell you that what you did was okay!" Hinata interrupted sharply. Glaring darkly at Sakura before she went to grab her a cup of juice to take the medicine with. "You can be as pissed off about it as you want, but you are going to shut up, take your medicine, and keep your head down for a few days!"

Silence followed Hinata's words. Sakura grumbled under her breath, then turned her head away from Hinata. Not saying anything.

Heading back over to Sakura with a cup of juice, Hinata handed her a handful of pills. Seven total. "Take them. Now."

Instead of arguing this time, Sakura did take the pills, but she still didn't say a word back to Hinata. She just kept on looking away from her.

After making sure Sakura swallowed the pills, Hinata nodded her head once. "Your parents are coming tomorrow."

That had Sakura choking on the second sip of juice she had. Coughing a bit, she brought a hand to her mouth. "You've got to be kidding me."

Shaking her head, Hinata crossed her arms over her chest. "They should be here in the morning."

"No," Sakura started, groaning as she rubbed her forehead. "Can this day get any worse?"

"Your parents are just worried about you-"

"No one should have told them in the first place," Sakura interrupted Shikamaru, glaring in his direction. Actually able to see now with the glasses on. "Then they wouldn't be worried at all."

"Yeah well if we didn't tell them and they found out about it, your mother would kill us all," Hinata replied, as she shook her head at Sakura's clear look of annoyance. "Now I have to go meet with Tsunade. I will come back here when we are done meeting. I'll let you know what happens."

"Okay."

"Don't drink any alcohol while this medicine is in your system," Hinata continued, as she took the cup back from Sakura to set on one of the side tables next to the couches. "And don't drink any coffee. You need to be trying to get some sleep, not staying awake."

"Okay, fine."

"And you need to take your medicine again by three at the latest if I'm not back by then-"

"Okay!"

At Sakura interrupting her with an annoyed sounding tone, Hinata propped her hands on her hips. "And you need to stop with the damn attitude!"

"Then stop telling me what to do," Sakura shot back in annoyance. "I already know how to care of myself mother."

Hinata laughed at Sakura's sarcastic use of "mother", and shook her head. "No actually you don't. And it's because I know that your version of taking care of yourself is to pretend you are perfectly fine even when you are clearly not, is why I remind you what it really means to take care of yourself."

"God you are so annoying," Sakura complained, as she growled with irritation.

"You better do what you are supposed to today Sakura. I mean it." Was the last thing Hinata said, then she went to the door to leave.

"I can take care of myself!" Sakura shot back, although Hinata already left out the door. Slapping a hand to her face, she turned, but found herself being tripped up by Baby. Leading to her following over smack onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" Shikamaru had questioned, as he had turned to look over the back of the couch and down at her on the floor.

"Ow." Was the only response Sakura gave. Shadow and Tank were just happy she was on their level now, and proceeded to step all over her. Wanting to play.

That afternoon

Having woken up to the sound of conversation, Sakura had to blink a few times to adjust to the light in the living room. She yawned, and reached behind her head to the table beside the couch to grab her glasses. After putting them on, her eyes focused on the other end of the couch where Shikamaru was sitting. His eyes were already on her, and she frowned. "What are you looking at?"

Her annoyed tone brought a smirk to Shikamaru's face. "You're always so pleasant when you wake up."

Grumbling something incoherent under her breath, Sakura's eyes moved over to her right, and to her surprise, there was Neji sitting on the couch that was across from the one she and Shikamaru were on. The couch was an L shape so he was actually closer to her. When their eyes met, she raised an eyebrow. "Hinata's busy?"

"No," Neji replied, a smirk on his face. "I don't need that as an excuse to drop by and see you."

Sighing heavily after Neji stopped speaking, Sakura focused on petting Shadow who had lifted his head up when he noticed she was awake. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, I'm not allowed to drink alcohol with the medicine I'm taking. But, you're welcome to drink if you want, and I'll just watch while in a pool of depression."

That had made both Shikamaru and Neji laugh. Neji being the first to stop, as he shook his head at Sakura. "I wouldn't do that to you. To be honest, drinking isn't really my thing in the first place."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura countered almost as soon as he stopped talking. "You drink with me all the time. You love it."

"Actually, I have one or two beers while you drink until you don't know what your name is anymore, there is a big difference," Neji replied, then his smirk turned to more of a genuine smile. "I really only go out and drink because it's our thing."

That made a big grin show up on Sakura's face. "Aw, we have a thing," she said, then she almost looked as if she was going to start crying. "You're one of my bestest friends ever."

Chuckling at her expression, Neji shook his head, and picked up one of the pill bottles from the coffee table. "Just how much of this medicine are you taking?"

"Like fifteen..." Sakura trailed off, sniffling as she rubbed her nose.

Smirking back at Sakura, Neji set the pill bottle back down. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."

"What were we talking about?" Sakura countered.

"She's taking seven pills," Shikamaru answered as Sakura wasn't paying attention anymore, and just staring up at the ceiling. "She took some about an hour and a half ago around three when Naruto and Sai were here."

"Naruto and Sai were here?" Sakura questioned, lifting her head up from the pillows.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow back at Sakura. "You don't remember?"

Staring at Shikamaru in silence, Sakura blinked a few times. Finally she turned her head to look back at Neji. "Shikamaru doesn't know what he's talking about. Everything's fine."

"I didn't say everything wasn't fine-"

"Did I ask you?" Sakura interrupted Shikamaru, making both Neji and Shikamaru laugh. Sakura moved her focus back on Neji. "Trust me, I'm serious."

Reaching over, Neji took Sakura's hand in his, and patted the back of it. "Sakura, I hate to break it to you, but your word is the last thing I'm taking seriously."

"That's mean," Sakura shot back, as she took her hand back from him. "I'm telling Tenten."

"I don't know what that would do-"

"Your girlfriend loves me more than she loves you, so you're going to be in trouble." Sakura interrupted Neji, crossing her arms over her chest, as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Sakura." Was all Neji said, as he sighed and rubbed his temples.

Neji's clear displeasure with her having said that, had Sakura remember something. "Oh..." She trailed off, and her eyes flickered over to Shikamaru. "Neji and Tenten have been dating for a few months now, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

That had a smirk growing on Shikamaru's face. "And you don't see anything wrong here?"

Blinking a few times in silence, Sakura's eyes moved from Shikamaru to Neji, and she finally realized. "I'm sorry-"

"No," Neji interrupted, chuckling first, then smirking after. "It's about time we tell people anyway I guess."

"Good because I already told Hinata." Sakura said, rubbing her nose again.

"You what?" Neji countered, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah like three years ago..."

Noticing Sakura looking like she was spacing out again, Neji smirked. "We've only been dating for three months."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Was all Sakura replied with, as her eyes focused up on the ceiling. Then closed, her mind drifting back to unconsciousness.

Realizing Sakura was going back to sleep, Neji sighed, and looked to Shikamaru. "You've seemed to been handling this well."

Making sure Sakura was actually asleep now, Shikamaru turned his eyes back on Neji. "I'm trying. It wasn't even a full two weeks ago that she got attacked the last time. Somehow I'm finding this time to be a lot worse than last time."

"Well I think the best thing we can do is just be glad it wasn't any worse," Neji replied, his eyes studying Shikamaru's facial expressions. "It's not really my place, but it seems like this time may be worse because you feel differently about her this time."

That had Shikamaru raising an eyebrow, but on the inside he felt his heart begin to race. "I don't know what you mean."

Neji chuckled after Shikamaru's words, and he shook his head. "Maybe it's not that you feel any different this time. It's just that this time you realize that what you're feeling."

Shikamaru was quiet after that. Not giving any response back to Neji, as his eyes flickered over to Sakura. Studying her as a whole, then focusing in on her face. Her peaceful, beautiful face.

A/N: Another chapter down. I had to do a lot of editing down on this chapter, because it would have ended up super long if I didn't. Who knows? Maybe those extra scenes can be used later on in the storyline. My favorite scene was by far the scene when Neji came over. What was yours?

Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.

Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)

Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)