The next day there was a break in the weather, Naruto drover her back to her apartment so she could get her things. She was going to stay in his spare room for awhile until everything fianlly blew over.
Walking up the stairs it got hotter as they went, reaching the top the hallway window was still busted, there was still red paint on the floor. Jamming the key in the lock she walked inside her apartment and no surprise it was a mess. Papers, leaves, and glass were thrown everywhere, the apartment was completely soaked.
"Jesus." It look even worse than the night before, she grabbed a bag from her closet and started folding the wet clothes and putting them into the bag.
"Why are you folding them?" Raising his brow as he asked her.
"So I can fit more in the bag, even they're wet I can still put more in the bad if I do it neatly." He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the small desk tucked away against the wall, he reached for the top drawer.
"No! Not that drawer!" She yelled from across the room, that's where she hid all the weird letters she's been getting and she didn't want him to see.
"Why?" he pulled the drawer open, refusing to let her hid anything from him, he pulled out a stack of letters and right away he could tell they weren't friendly. The ink was red and smeared to look like blood, and some of them had literal blood on them, "What are these?"
"They're letters, I've been getting them since my parents fled the country." She looked away and continued to pack her things.
"Sakura, this is harassment, why haven't you gone to the police?" Naruto was horrified by how she seemed to not care, "These are death threats, I don't understand."
He walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders, tears were in her eyes but she refused to let them fall in front of him, "I've been getting them for so long, they don't mean anything."
He wanted to shake her, he wanted to shake some sense into her, was she really that far gone that she didn't care about the constant threats that were made against her life?
"You're one of the smartest people I know, but right now you look stupid." He walked away, he walked out the door and down the stairs to get some fresh air.
Maybe moving in with him was a bad idea, what if they letters started showing up there, what if she still got packages while she was there. This was something that she worked hard to hide, this was her dirty little secret.
Outside Naruto stood by his car, he was usually calm, it was always hard for him to get mad at Sakura but right now he was furious and it wasn't really even her fault but at the same time it was. Still holding on to the stack of letters he put them in the glove compartment of his car, locking it he walked back inside and back up the noisy steps.
She walked back out with everything that she wanted to take, her eyes glued to the floor. He grabbed her bags and they walked to the car in silence. He still opened the door for her, he sat back in his see and looked at her again, she was a shell of the person he use to know.
"I'm not mad at you, just shocked." He turned the key and the motor hummed to life, "You've always been this sweet caring person who wanted to be a doctor so it's hard for me to believe that their are people out there who don't like you enough to send you death threats."
There it was again, the moment that he stopped all the negative thoughts, he always saw her for who she was on the inside, "ever since my parents fled, I'm the only person that have to take their anger out on, I'm the only connection they have to my parents."
"Still, you shouldn't take death threats lightly." He pulled away from her apartment, his blue eyes focused on the road, "You can stay with me for as long as you need, I'll keep you safe."
Her heart skipped a beat, "You don't have to do that, I'm sure you have other things to worry about."
"It's not up for debate Sakura." He patted her head without taking his eyes off the road, she felt warm, something she hadn't felt in a long time.
The day went on, he had to go to work leaving her there alone. She did her laundry and set up her stuff in the spare room, she decided to pick up his house a little bit while he was away, The doorbell rang, walking to the door she looked out and saw Ino.
Letting her in, "It's so nice having you even closer than before!" She wrapped her arms around Sakura as she shut the door, "I can't believe he's already moved you in."
"It's not like that Ino, my apartment was trashed in the storm." Ino followed her to her room.
"This room is bigger than your apartment, and you have your own bathroom to?" Ino looked impressed, "This is where you belong, not in that nasty run down building."
"Hey, it was all I afford, it was gross and it did smell bad but I was making it work on my own." Ino sat on the bed and looked at her best friend.
"I don't know why you think you need to make it on your own, you have nothing to prove." Sakura flopped on her back and looked up at the ceiling.
"I lost everything so fast Ino, I was going to be a doctor, I was valedictorian, what am I now if I can't even go to school to do what I want, even if I could afford no one will take me." Sakura poured her heart to her best friend, tears fell from her eyes, "I feel so empty inside, my family is full of doctors and my father ruined the chance for me to become one too."
"Oh Sakura, you're still you. You are a wonderful caring person and I'm sure we can find a school that will take you. You're so smart, and you're still young, it's not to late to try." Ino patted her friend on the head, it was true the Haruno family was well know in the medical community, there were even hospital wings named after them.
Sakura grew up under a lot of pressure in an instant it was gone, everything she worked hard for was gone, all the extra classes, all the extra activities she had to do so her application stood out. She was still trying to figure out where she belonged in this world, she was no longer Sakura the next generation of doctors.
She was standing still, no matter how hard she tried to move forward, she was just going in circles. Ino left after a few hours, Sakura's eyes were red and puffy, the sky was still grey but no rain fell. The ground was still wet, the pool looked like it was going to spill over the sides at any moment from all the rain, the hail ruined the cover and he was waiting on a new one.
She looked at her reflection in the water, her long hair was matted from lack of care, her eyes had bags underneath them, all of her clothes looked to big for her. She wiped her eyes again, hating what she was looking at but only she could change it.
She fell a prick in her neck, her hand automatically slapped the back of her neck but nothing was there when she pulled her hand away. Looking around the yard, there were no signs of anyone around her, but she could tell something was wrong.
"You'll be asleep soon." She recognized that voice, she whirled around almost losing her balance but a hand caught her before she fell in the pool.
"I'm going to make you suffer, I'm going to make you go insane before I finally take you life." She yelped as he grabbed her hair and held her up using it, "Your father took my son away from me, so I'm going to do the same thing to him."
She flew backwards, hitting the water it was colder than she thought it would be, the air was pushed from her lungs as she tried to swim back to the surface her limbs didn't want to work, something grabbed the front of her shirt pulling her back up, all she could see were black eyes and a face covered by a mask.
"Please don't" His anger seemed to flare as he shoved her back down in the the freezing water, she clawed at his hand but that seemed to make him madder.
"My son said the same thing before your father murdered him in cold blood." He spat pulling her from the water only to slam her back down again, pulling her up on more time he got eye level with her, her eyes started to close, "The drug is finally taking effect."
The hand let her shirt go, she slowly sank to the bottom, everything around her started to go black as she tried to swim to the top but her arms and legs were tired. She could see a blurred man run away from the pool.
"Am I going to die here?" She asked herself as everything started to give, leaving her unable to do anything but sink to the bottom.