"What type of sick fuck—"

"Shiranui."

"No! You saw what happened out there! Sakura had a panic attack and someone, some lowlife piece of fucking shit, did... did that to her! She's absolutely not getting into T&I now! I want her to be safe and this isn't the right place for her!"

"I was going to say that you're in a hospital and you're going to get us kicked out if you keep shouting," Ibiki said. The two were in the sterile white hallways just outside the room Sakura was in. Currently, she was being checked up on by the resident psychologist. Genma crossed his arms and lowered his voice to an angry whisper.

"How can you be so calm about this? No one deserves what she went through!"

"That's true, but if we're going to speak to her as her sensei, then we have to be calm. For her sake. She's been through a lot and she doesn't need even more stress from us."

The senbon wielding jounin grumbled in agreement. The door opened and the psychologist exited the room.

"Haruno-san's perfectly stable and can be discharged later today," the psychologist informed. "All we need is her guardian to fill out all the necessary paperwork. Before I leave, there are some things that need to be addressed about her situation."

Genma internally prepared himself for the worst. The psychologist lowered her voice so that the sparse numbers of passer-bys and Sakura couldn't hear what she had to say.

"I looked over Yamanaka-san's assessment of her and, unfortunately, agree with all his findings. Her trauma is deeply rooted in her mind and will probably take years to overcome. She hasn't said a word about any incident, but there is the case of her bandaged neck," she informed. Ibiki's brow knit.

"She came back physically unharmed."

"She did. The injury came after she arrived at the hospital." At their confused stares, she continued. "When a nurse came to check her vitals, he saw Haruno-san scratching at her neck until it bled in her unconscious state. After examining the wounds, we noticed that build up of scar tissue that suggested her neck was scratched a numerous amount of times before, as well as was healed over just as much. Does she know medical ninjutsu?" she asked. They were aware of the books she read on the subject, but they never saw her even remotely practice it.

"She's... familiar with the concept."

"It's either she's been healing herself or getting help from someone who didn't document it. My guess is the former." The psychologist glanced at her wrist watch. "I'll have a nurse deliver the documents for her release to you. If you'll excuse me, I have to finish my rounds."

At her leaving, Ibiki and Genma slipped into the room. Sakura didn't even glance up at their entrance, keeping her eyes glued to her hands.

"Did I fail the mission?" she asked, voice hoarse. Genma pursed his lips in return. That wasn't a question she should've concerned herself with, especially since she was the one admitted for an unprecedented mental breakdown. He pulled up a stool beside her bed and mustered up a bright grin.

"Nah, you did awesome, kid. I can say that you've carried out that C-rank better than half the chuunin brats I know," he said. She wasn't too convinced.

"But I had an episode. And I heard what you said out there... you weren't trying to be quiet," she mentioned. Genma shrunk a bit under his superior's scathing glare as he took the senbon from his lips and tucked it away.

"We're still more than willing to train you. Come by as much as you do now, but you won't have to worry about that T&I business. A lot of shady shit goes on in there, you know? You wouldn't have liked it anyways."

Sakura's hand went up the chain around her neck—that same one that held the kanji for time. She could keep out of the sector and risk getting rid of channels of information at her fingertips, or she could join them and possibly worsen her mental state by learning how to suppress more and learned to live with it.

... Actually, that didn't sound like that bad of an idea.

"Let me join T&I. Please. I promise I won't make trouble with anymore episodes and I'll keep my panic att—"

"Kid, we don't want you to keep everything bottled up like that!"

She shut her mouth at Genma's weary expression. He scratched the back of his head: a nervous tick. Ibiki took this moment to step in.

"What he's trying to say is that we want you to recuperate outside of stressors like T&I. Now's not a good time for you to stock your plate with everything that's been going on, so we're trying to spare you that much. You understand, don't you?"

No. She didn't. Her plate's been stacked ever since she got back three years ago and everything had been going just fine. Naruto wasn't always alone and nothing was driving Sasuke to throw his life away. Most of Konoha Twelve was weaved together so tightly that their friendship was guaranteed. All she had left was to get Ino into the mix.

Where was the problem?

"But I can do it. I won't let any of this hold me back."

Genma and Ibiki exchanged glances. She was known for being stubborn when she stood for something as seen early on in her years when she decided to verbally attack the first Academy teacher she ever had. There was also their shared line of thinking. If she wasn't in T&I, ANBU would snatch her up at the slightest opportunity.

She was already on their watch list, after all.

"... Are you sure you want to do this?"

She gave a firm nod, causing Genma to reel back in his chair with a sigh. He loved the kid, but damn, she was a handful sometimes. The head interrogator took a seat at the edge of the bed with crossed arms.

"There's one condition," he said.

"Condition...?"

::

"Sakura," Inoichi greeted, "have you ever had therapy before?"

The room was a stark contrast to the rest of the T&I building. The walls were splotched with cooling colors with various old but surprisingly comfortable brown chairs. Sakura settled herself into one of the sagging cushions, still bandaged from her hospital release.

"No."

"Well, then I can tell you that it's not as bad as it sounds. We're going to meet up every Thursday after school for an hour and a half. I can't promise you that these sessions will go by smoothly. There's a problem at hand, and you out of everyone are more than knowing of it."

It didn't take a genius to deduce that every session henceforward was going to be a challenge. At the mention of it, her eyes glazed over into coldness and her face took on the appearance of a blank slate. She was going to be the one who needed the information pried from them in order to make any sort of progress. Not that it was bad, but it was expected.

"Is there anything you want to tell me about him?"

She could keep her mouth shut. There was every right in her hands to withhold what he wanted to know. Sakura's trauma didn't lie within any realms he knew and there was no clear path to his understanding. Two options lay before her. Make it up on the spot or say nothing.

"... He..."

"It won't matter if I lose the war, nor when the Allies execute me."

"He's dead."

Inoichi marked that down on his clipboard. The act was strangely reminiscent of the mental exam he performed on her a little over a week ago.

"How did he die?" he asked. Sakura shifted in her seat. There were a million different things she could've said- that he died from disease, was murdered, or had already been apprehended by the police.

"In the future, you'll be desperate for freedom from your memories. From your failures. From me."

"I killed him."

::

"Sakura-chan! Where'd you go? Why were you gone so long?! What happened? Why didn' ya say nothin'? Why dya' have bandages?! Didya' go to the hospital? Why dya' look like a boy?!"

Naruto tackled her the second he saw her waiting outside his apartment. With her awesomely awesome strength (as he dubbed it), she was able to stay standing when he jumped and latched onto her. His energy was contagious.

"Let's get Sasuke first."

"Then let's go! You owe an esplanation, 'ttebayo!"

"Explanation," she corrected. "And yeah. I do."

Sasuke's reaction to seeing her was something the old him would never have done. He ran up to her, took hold of her shoulders, and spun her around to look for injuries. After deeming she was safe enough and frowning at her bandages, he crossed his arms. "Where'd you go?"

Sakura sighed, a tired smile on her face. She told them about Ibiki and Genma, about how she was doing some studying with them that lead for the two to have her take a series of tests. She didn't disclose what they were about or that she even went out of the village to complete its final components, just that she couldn't find the time to spare for them.

Sasuke said it didn't matter as long as she okay.

Naruto gave her a big bear hug. "But why do you look like a boy?"

Her hair was indeed cut a little shorter for preference and her clothes were part of the a darker color palette, courtesy of Ibiki's and Genma's "shopping spree". She shrugged.

"Who knows."

The Academy was now only a few minutes away, but both her boys had gone decidedly quiet. Her eyes casually moved to the skyline. "You guys know what happened to my house, right?" she asked. Naruto nervously cast his stare to his feet.

"Uh... y-yeah. I mean, a guy told us somethin' and... there was a fire?" he stammered.

"I'm the only one who survived," she said. "You don't have to worry about it. I live with Ibiki-san at the edge of one of the shinobi districts."

Sasuke tapped her shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he pressed. She pinched his cheek, sending him a few steps to the side with a huge pout on his face accompanied by Naruto's bark of laughter.

"Of course I am. Now tell me, how bad did your grades get the two weeks I was gone?"

As they entered the Academy, Sakura tried to keep her mind off the little scorpion in her pocket. Yori waited patiently for her to send a reply to his master. The note sent was crumpled in beside him. Read, but quickly discarded.

I'm sorry.

::

Hyuuga Hanabi adored her older sister. She didn't care what father said, all that mattered was what she thought of her. Hinata always managed to have a kind smile on her face and spoke encouraging words whatever the circumstance. Really, there was no other person she could say she loved as much as she loved Hinata.

But then her father decided to up her training after she turned four. She couldn't be with her older sister as much anymore. Her training conflicted with Hinata's coming home from the Academy, and whenever she thought she finally had time to play, her sister would be at that... that study group! Why were they so special? She was her sister so she deserved more attention than any of them!

Then there was that Sakura.

Hanabi folded her arms as she sat on the engawa of the Estate. Sakura-san this, Sakura-san that, Sakura-san was so strong, Sakura-san was so smart—but Hinata was already all those things! She didn't need to look up to anyone else.

As she sulked by her lonesome, a shoji door slid open behind her.

"Hanabi-chan?"

The four year old perked up and spun around. "Nee-sama!"

Hinata had to return a smile at the little girl's sparkling grin. She sat on the raised wooden outdoor corridor, facing the vast open space that served more of their father's lessons. Hiashi was a strict man, to say the very least, and demanded excellence in his children.

"Nee-sama, are you busy? We'll play? Or-Or we'll train, right?! Nee-sama?!" Hanabi questioned, practically bouncing in place. The bouncing stopped when what she recognized as the 'sorry smile' crept onto her sister's face.

"Sorry, Hanabi-chan. One of my friend's birthdays is coming up soon and we're planning for it. Sakura-san's coming by and we'll—"

Hanabi suddenly shot up to her feet. Hinata clutched a hand to her chest, surprised, when the girl's face burst into an angry red. "S'always Sakura!" she seethed. "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura! Wa' so great 'bout her? You always talk about her but she's no good!"

"O-Oh? I didn't know I talked about her so m-much... I'm sorry, Ha-Hanabi-chan. I didn't know, um, we can hang out to-tomorrow," she suggested nervously, pale cheeks growing pink at the realization of how many times she actually talked about her. "How's that? We c-can do everything you want."

The red in Hanabi's face receded, but the angry frown was still on her face. "But nee-sama! You din' answer!"

Hinata had to give a silent murmur of thanks when there was a knock on the front door. She got up to hurry over to it, Hanabi following just a step or two behind. She clutched the hem of her older sister's skirt as the door opened and pearly eyes landing on someone with bright pink hair. Boy? Or girl?

That person raised a hand and smiled in greeting.

"Hey, Hinata! Ready to go?"

Ah. A girl.

"I-In a moment, Sakura-san, I-I just have to..."

Hanabi's eyes flashed dangerously. She stalked up to the door and glared as hard as a little girl could muster. Nine year old Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Are you Hanabi-san?" she asked. She wasn't too familiar with the youngest child of the main and rarely had any interaction with her in the other timeline. She was kept in a safe place during the war, being the heiress of the clan and all. The girl pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Why're you special?!"

"I'm special?"

"Nee-sama says you are!"

"Did she?"

Hinata was off to the sidelines when all the blood shot to her face in utter embarrassment. Her hands were weakly stretched out in front of her, words not being able to be forced out of her mouth. If it were possible, she got even redder as Hanabi just couldn't find the will to shut up.

"Yeah!" Hanabi growled. "Says you're strong an' smart! Says you're pretty too but boys can't be pretty and you look like a boy!"

Sakura laughed a bit to Hinata's absolute mortification. "Well, your sister's very sweet. I think she's strong, smart, and pretty too," she smiled. Hanabi nodded vigorously, face still clouded in anger.

"Thas' right! So stop stealin' her!"

"Why? I like her."

"I like her more!"

Sakura bit back a grin. She'd have to take to teasing the little Hyuuga more often. But... She raised her eyes and saw the prone, passed out figure on the genkan.

Maybe she'd teach Hinata how to not faint so much.

::

EDITED 2/1/18