Disclaimer: Don't you dare complaine about it being short! (You should be happy you got a chapter at all while I was on vacation!)

Chapter 14: Memories and Dreams

That night Sakura laid on her bed, just staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. The room was pitch black, so Sakura couldn't see anything, but she didn't care at the moment. All day she had been pushing back thoughts of Naruto and her other friends, but now she couldn't push them away anymore. Memories of her friends were flinging themselves at her, demanding to be noticed.

Sakura fought to hold back tears as her friends filled her mind. She missed them, and she was worried about them. If her visions were true, and she was somehow certain that they were, then Konoha had really been attacked by Sound and was now in bad shape. She could only hope that her friends were alive…but what if they weren't? What if someone had died all because she hadn't been there to save them?

She wished she could go to Konoha, see her friends, make sure that everyone and everything was ok…but she knew that was an impossible wish. The Akatsuki would never let her go to Konoha, she knew that, and she knew she wouldn't be able to escape, not with her Chakra being suppressed like it was. Beyond being physically unable to escape, she wasn't sure that her emotions would allow her to escape either.

That was possibly the worst thought because it made her wonder…did loving an Akatsuki member automatically make her a traitor? She didn't want to betray Konoha. Konoha was her home, and she loved it as well as the people in it. She wanted to protect the people of Konoha, but did loving Itachi mean she was putting them in greater danger? Was there anything she could do or say to both protect Konoha and to allow her to love Itachi, or would she have to eventually choose between the two? She wasn't sure she could choose, if it came to that.

And what of her friends? Would they hate her for loving him? It wasn't like she could control it or stop it…she had tried, after all, and she had failed miserably. Would her friends understand that, or would they condemn her on sight? And what would happen to Naruto? Naruto was her best friend, and in a way, he was like a brother to her…but if the Akatsuki got a hold of him, he would surely die for the sake of the demon inside of him. Was there anything she could possibly do to stop that from happening? She wouldn't be able to live with herself if Naruto--

Sakura pushed her face into a pillow so that the sound of her crying wouldn't be heard. It was all just too much for her to hold back. The tears were forcing themselves from her eyes and sobs were breaking away from her, no matter how hard she tried to keep them inside.

She hated this…she hated being so weak. Why was it that she could never do anything right? Why was it that her mere existence brought pain, suffering, and even death, to those she cared about? Was this luck, or destiny, or fate, or whatever it was's way of telling her it hated her?

She hated this! If only there was a way…if only she wasn't so weak…then maybe she could help people…save people…rather than hurt them. She wished with all her heart that she were stronger…strong enough to save Naruto from the Akatsuki, to save Sasuke from Sound and from himself, to save Konoha from destruction…to save herself…from more heartbreak.

Sakura scoffed into her pillow, then broke into another sob. Who was she kidding? She was weak…she'd never be strong…at least, not that strong. She never could be of any help, and she never was strong, that was just the cold hard facts of the matter. But, as Sakura pressed her face into the pillow to muffle her sobs, she couldn't help but wish one more time, if only to give herself hope and to say she'd done so.

She wished, as her sobs quieted and a blanket of sleep wrapped around her, that she would be able to do something about this 'unofficial war', as her great-grandmother had called it. She wished that she could do something to bring this 'war' to an end that hurt the least amount of people in the process…

Sakura just walked, not knowing where she was going or where she had begun. But she knew that she had to find whatever she was looking for. It was important, whatever it was, and it was calling her. Sakura took first one corner than another, then she went through a door, then she went down some stairs. The whole way, Sakura had no clue as to where she was, everything looked the same, and nothing looked familiar.

It continued like that for an unknowable amount of time. Sakura was beyond lost, but she kept on walking. Sakura had just past her sixth stairwell going upwards when it hit Sakura that she knew where she was now. Well…she didn't know where she was, but she recognized it, she had been here before.

Sakura's pace quickened as she searched harder for whatever it was she needed to find. She knew she was currently two floors below ground, and if her guess was right, she was looking for a staircase leading downwards. It took a number of hallways to finally find a staircase that went down. But as Sakura had guessed, this was the stairwell she had been looking for.

Sakura hurried down the stairs, then continued on her way, turning here, going through there. Moving, moving, constantly moving, faster and faster. Then she was running full out, desperate to find what she was looking for, her heart beating a mile a minute. Suddenly everything went still as Sakura stopped running. She had reached her destination.

It was a door, a door that looked the same as every other single door she had seen. But somehow she knew it was not the same…it was what she had been looking for. It was…the same door that had 'called' to her before, but this time the call was so…loud….it almost seemed audible. But it wasn't audible…she wasn't hearing it with her ears; she was hearing it with something else.

Sakura's hand slowly approached the door's handle. Hadn't the door been locked before? Why was she reaching for it now, knowing it would be locked? It didn't seem to matter that she didn't know why, because her hand continued it's forward crawling pace. The slowness of her approach was almost unbearable. She just wanted to get this over with.

She knew the door was locked, so why was she making such a big deal about reaching for this doors' handle? Finally her hand reached the handle. She felt something that she couldn't explain happening to her, or maybe it was happening to everything but her. Either way, something was happening and it bothered her.

Sakura forced her hand to press down on the handle…why was she even doing this when she knew it was locked? The handle quivered under her hand, as if fighting to hold still and failing horribly. Then the handle began to move and the odd sensation intensified. Suddenly the handle had been turned to the point that Sakura knew it wasn't locked. But it had been locked before, so why wasn't it now?

She didn't know, but it didn't matter. What was important right now was to open the door. Sakura pressed her weight against the door as a sense of urgency rushed through her. She had to open the door, she just had to, if she didn't--

The door opened, and--

Sakura shot up in bed. Her hand flew to her racing heart. She hadn't had a dream like that for a while…but it had been different than any she'd had before too. It had been closer to a real dream than to one of her vision-dreams. Maybe it had really just been a dream, a normal, everyday, really confusing and pointless dream.

Sakura laid back down in the pitch black room and tried to get back to sleep, but her heart was still pounding. Now that she thought of it, why was her heart pounding? It's not like the dream had been scary or anything like that. In fact, if her heart hadn't been beating like crazy, she'd probably have said that the dream had really been boring. After all, all that had happened was her walking around trying to find a door, and that after she found it, she didn't even get to see what was behind it.

So why was her heart pounding? Sakura took calming breaths and let her body relax. As her heartbeat slowed, Sakura noticed for the first time that she didn't feel a hint of fear. But if she wasn't afraid, then why had her heart gone haywire like that? This really wasn't making any sense.

As her heart rate returned to normal, Sakura closed her eyes, but sleep eluded her. Her mind returned to the dream. Why had she dreamt about that door? It's true the door had interested her for some reason when she'd seen it, but it had been locked and that had been that. Was this a sign that she needed to know what was behind that door?

Probably not. It had just been a dream, nothing more. She could debate her dream in the morning, if she even remembered it, but for now she should sleep. As Sakura let sleep begin to take over, one last thought crossed her mind. Even if it had only been a dream…there was something about that door…

I know it's short, but I didn't want to get off the subject, so I had to end it there...so don't whine (at least you got a chapter).

Not many people voted for or against the forum, so I guess I'll make it (with two to one votes in favor). It will be called: Circles.

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome...flames will be shot down by a water gun. Now on to the pretty list!

Thanks to: Could-Careless, Mittlan, Quiet Moon, chikarubunny (I still love how long your reviews are), magicbendingdemon, ItachEvai, XxPinkCherryBlossoms, Sakimi1014, Jax9, Jahannah12, CosenAngel, borisbear, xMissxPepperx (thank you for the long review), xXBamBOOzledLUVerXx, kikia-kiwi, SnowSkadi, sakura-angel113, xokatherine229, Sage Phoneix, krazykoreangurl, Hao'sAnjul, bubblyum, Chibi Saku-Chan, Flower of the Desert (well, happy birthday late.), akatsuki's hikari, Gothic Saku-chan, Selene98, Lucy-san, Isle Montague, LadySakuraForest, chole, I-Love-Akatsuki, 43InuAsha, shadow miko, Kittibit Gaara, luckiducki23 (I thank you for reviewing every one of my chapters, that makes me so happy), kibaku0nendo, SekhemetDaCat, & Snow Wing for reviewing!