The classroom was loud today, Sakura noted. With a groan she glanced at her blonde friend, who was going on about what his ojii-san did with him. She thought that it was complete bull on how the village treated Naruto, and Shijima even agreed with her.

Shijima rarely agreed with much, so if that was agreed upon, then the village was seriously effed up. With a sigh, she smiled at him, "That's good, Naruto, I'm glad that he visits you."

He smiled brightly at her, his blue eyes glowing, "Yeah, I know! He even said that if I'm good I can even visit Okame-obaa-chan with ya'!" he exclaimed, and Sakura giggled.

"I visited her last night with Anko-chan, obaa-chan told me to tell you that she has some things in the basement that you might like," she told him in a cheery voice, and noticed his face light up with a light blush on his cheeks, "she told me where they were, so you could also come over and take a look."

"Really, really, really?" he excitedly said, grinning ear to ear. He paused to suck in a small breath, and continued, "But I'm not sure what to get her! She's just so nice to me and I really, really want to get her somethin'!"

Sakura smiled softly, and place a hand on his shoulder, "You don't have to get her anything, Naruto, she really likes it that I have a friend, and that's all she wants."

'Yeah,' Inner-Sakura snorted, 'because being bedridden with a child whom might as well be the partial reincarnation of some suicidal mass-murderer.'

What do you mean by that? Sakura answered back, dozing off in the real world.

'Haven't you already seen Shijima's landscape?' Inner-Sakura answered, scoffing, 'I have a small theory about that, and all of the reasons why you could be some how related to a kitty.'

Again, what do you mean by that?

'What I mean is that since Shijima's dead, her landscape cannot change anymore. In fact, I have reason to believe that to be the place where she died - because my landscape is a pine-forest and yours is a hill surrounded by trees, while hers is a burnt building with corpses and embers, don't you think that's a unique landscape?'

Well, she said she was once a shinobi? Sakura said, almost like she wasn't too sure where the conversation was going.

Inner-Sakura snorted, 'I think she's a nuke-nin, I know you don't hear much of her, but when she does talk, sometimes it gets hysteric, like she's gone crazy or somethin' like that. And really, have you ever thought about how it's even possible to come into some infant's mind? I actually asked her about it and she said something about our chakra's matching each other's and that you were a failed reincarnation of her, or that she was the failed reincarnation of someone and you're also a reincarnation and something happened and she somehow wiggled into your mindscape. Or something like that, I haven't talked to her in a while.'

O-Okay, Sakura stuttered, so I'm a reincarnation. Of who?

Inner-Sakura snorted, 'Honestly, I don't know, I think she said something about an ancient leader of some organization.'

"Ohh," her grandmother sighed, "I remember when I first met Natsumaru, he was so vibrant and so full of life."

Sakura giggled, "What was he like back then?"

Her grandmother happily sighed again, "He was wonderful, he loved children, he was motivational, and he was a level-headed person. Not once have I seen him loose his temper."

"Okame-obaa-chan!" Naruto burst into the room holding some flowers in his hands, "I've come to kill your boredom!" he giggled, and bounded towards Sakura's grandmother, handing her the flowers. The elderly woman smiled and grabbed the bouquet, letting Naruto continue his ramblings. "-And then I decided to give you some flowers that I planted a few months ago, Jijii said that I could use somethin' to teach me re-spec, and told me that flowers were a great start! And I only have to water them! Isn't that cool, 'ttebayo!?"

The elder laughed, "Yes, yes, it is very cool, Naruto. Now, why don't you and Sakura go out and get some ice cream? I believe it is a wonderful day for ice cream, don't you think too?"

Sakura blushed, somehow understanding what her grandmother was trying to get to. Hearing Inner snort, she asked why.

'Why? Yes, why.' Inner growled, 'We're dealin' with a child with chakra that makes Shijima loopy! I mean, have you heard her? She's more crazy than Ino is to Sasuke! Or Sasuke is to his older brother who stole Kamaitachi's name! Or Naruto over ramen!'

Well, it can't be that bad, can it?

''I remember the day I killed my first person, it went like-' or 'he looks like one of my horses(whatever those are!), oh, how I miss her.'' Inner snapped, clearly quoting the older woman by the lowering of her voice.

"Okay! C'mon, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, dragging her out of her thoughts. She smiled, letting him hold her hand as she dragged away from her grandmother.

The Ashes have finally found their resting place, the wind no longer blows.

For now.

Huffing, Sakura looked up at the board displaying the food options, which were all mostly sugar-based. Naruto had dragged her to a popular dango shoppe, one of which she never bothered to remember the name of. Although she was sure that Anko spent a lot of time here, by the looks of the pale men and a grinning purple haired jonin.

Sakura smiled, "Hey, Anko-chan!" she shouted, waving her free hand in the air to gather the woman's attention. The purple haired jonin's head snapped towards her, sending her a shit-eating grin.

"Sakura-chan!" she shouted, and jogged towards the small pinkette, freeing the paper-white men from her wrath, "It's been awhile since I've last seen ya', where've you been, and how's Okame-obaa?"

Smiling, she slipped her hand away from Naruto, who was happily ordering what he wanted while the waitress stood pale as she watched his friend interacting with one of the most fearsome woman she had ever seen. "Obaa-chan's doing wonderful, she actually sent Naruto and I out for some ice cream."

Anko frowned, then grinned again, patting the pinkette's head, "Well, good luck," she smirked, "wanna sit next to me? I'm kinda lonely over here!"

Sakura scoffed, "Sure, I'll just have to drag Naruto over here." Turning around to look at the blond, who was waddling over to them with their order filled in his arms, "Or not." she giggled.

"ah, com'on, I have so many things I wanna tell you!"

Anko, Sakura, and Naruto spent the next half hour talking. Anko told her about some people that she had seen in the T&I, and something about prodigies and their stupidity.

Just as Naruto finished ranting about something that Sakura and Anko tuned out, two boys entered the dango shoppe. Anko cracked a grin and cackled, while Naruto practically snarled at the younger boy.

"Hey!" he snapped, jumping out of his seat, "teme, whad'ar' you doin' here?"

The younger Uchiha continued on like Naruto didn't exist, and Sakura was too familiar with that action. Growling under her breath, she decided to speak, "Oi, Uchiha, he's talkin' to ya', unless you don't have any honor or dignity or whatever, you should at least acknowledge him!" she snapped, her voice cracking at it's sudden use.

The older Uchiha looked amused, while the younger one looked pissed. The older Uchiha talked softly towards the younger one, so softly that Sakura couldn't hear what he said. The younger boy frowned, and clung to the elder as they walked closer to them. Anko had calmed down her cacklings and now was shaking as she held her voice in.

"I am sorry for my little brother's rudeness," the older boy said, "Sasuke can be that way sometimes."

Sakura froze, her eyes on Sasuke. So that was the boy who Ino liked to talk about. Sasuke saw her gaze and glared at her, and she glared back at him. Anko saw the scene and giggled madly. Sakura placed her gaze on the older boy, which she guessed was Itachi. Giving him a small smile, she waved. "I'm Sakura."

"Uchiha Itachi." he stated softly.

"Heh," she giggled, "I have a ferret named Kamaitachi, he's really lazy, but he doesn't bite."

'Not that often,' Inner-Sakura snorted, her voice unheard, 'but when he does, it hurts a lot.'

Sasuke's glare increased threefold, but Sakura chose to ignore him, favoring rambling on about her pet. "-but he seems to like apples better, so I usually give him some salad with apples and other fruits or meats in it-"

Sasuke seemed to have finally snapped, "Don't talk about your stupid pet!" he snapped at her, making the whole table freeze. Even Anko quit her mad giggles.

Sakura sat there, frozen to the spot. She started shaking, her chin trembling. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she hopped to the other side of the table where Anko was and wailed in her arms, "He insulted her! He insulted Obaa-chan!"

Anko cruelly smiled, "Oh?" she asked, her voice low, "And why is that?"

Sakura clutched onto Anko's overcoat, "He-He called Kamaitachi stupid!" she sniffed, snarling at the end.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he looked fearfully up to his brother, and only received a sympathetic look. Itachi sighed, how did his brother get so... aggressive?

"Please forgive Sasuke," he said humbly, looking at the small pink haired child, "he never meant to insult your grandmother."

Said child turned to face him, her face dry, as if she were acting. Her face was set in a frown, her bottom lip sticking out while her eyes glared at him with such ferocity that he wondered who raised that girl. "He has to do the apol'gizin', not you," she rasped out, "and he has ta' learn to not insult somethin' he doesn't know."

Itachi glanced at his younger brother, and stared. Sasuke felt the stare, and looked back at his older brother. Seeing the look Itachi was giving him, Sasuke snapped his neck back at the pinkette and glared at her some more, but then grunted out an apology. Anko looked displeased, and Naruto was ordering some more food for him and Sakura and Anko.

Sakura dozed off, somehow caught up in a conversation with Inner.

'-that's also another theory as to why she acted that way, or maybe it was because your mind barriers were breaking during that time, but other than that, that's all to it right now.'

Are you sure she would do something like that? She doesn't seem to want to break out in the middle of the day while I'm napping.

'Well, now that I think about it, maybe it's when you're being bullied or feeling threatened or something like that. She could probably have some sort of evil desire that's just hidden so well that I can't feel it. After Otou-san and kaa-chan passed, she seemed to be planning som-'

"Sakura-chaaann~!" Naruto's voice snapped her out of her musings, snapping her back into reality.

She hummed, looking at him with wide eyes, "Wha'd I miss?" she asked him, glancing momentarily at the Uchiha's and Anko.

Anko huffed, frowning at the girl's antics, while Naruto babbled about what she missed.

Something inside her broke, almost like nostalgia, but she pushed it down with the help of Inner.

The sky is almost always black, and the ground was even darker. Only in her vessel's time of need is when she can see. She always hears, feels, and smells, but never has she seen in this land that she now lies in.

She knew Sakura and her outer-most inner voice were talking about it, but she didn't mind. When she lived people always spoke about things that she wasn't supposed to know when she could clearly hear them. But what she did mind was that the girl actually had people to talk with. When she was alive, she rarely spoke to anyone, her voice becoming damaged and raspy and low at it's abuse.

She could feel the ice growing in her veins, it's burning path set for no destination, it's need to feel something physical.

Shaking her nonexistent head, She tuned out her emotions. Sakura's life wasn't hers, so she shouldn't dig hr nose too deep into it.

She heard Sakura and Anko leave the shoppe soundly, saying bye to the Uchiha's and Naruto. Even if She couldn't see, She could feel the young boy's happiness and excitement. It surprised Her how he seemed to love everything on the outside, but she could feel the endless hatred. But, then again, he might be just like her, he might be a vessel for someone like her.

"So," Sakura's high-pitched voice echoed throughout the blank landscape, "what was it like for you, being in the academy, I mean."

Anko hummed, her voice rough on Her nonexistent ears, "I think all of my sensei's hated me," the woman snorted, her chucklings sounded even rougher than her hum, "I think I even caused a few kids to drop out 'cause of me!"

Sakura giggled, and She could almost see the image Sakura thought of, the young sadistic woman grinning evilly at a few children her age.

They walked on for a few more moments, and She was about to tune everything out, but she heard a change if the type on material Sakura and Anko were walking on. Instead of the grainy 'crunch' of the outside, it was a soft 'tap' of tilled floor. She assumed that they were meeting up with the elderly woman.

"Oh," Sakura's grandmother happily sighed, "I see you've brought Anko. Anko-darling, how've you been? I've hard from Tadashi-san that you managed to snag a spot in the T&I department!"

Well, sorry if it was a long wait, school's been busy and a fuckton of fieldtrips goin' on. My ma's planing a few parties(I don't understand why, she has no friends) so I'll also have to help with that. I'm not sure if I talked about Sakura's grandmother's name in the last chapter or not, but 'Okame' is a kind of cherry tree, it's also a goddess of luck and happiness.

The last part was mostly so I could get some more words in, it was actually a lot longer, but my luck seemed to have disappeared somewhere, and I've been losing a lot of books and files.