If you have not read the PSA before this chapter I really suggest going back and reading it. I'm just going to reiterate that this story is not going to be a continuous happy-go-lucky story. This is going to address a very serious subject. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I was really inspired to write this story for a while and I really want to get the story and the feeling right. It will be my first time writing something like this so please bear with me.

I'll admit...I had to come back and re-write this becuase it bothered me to know that this had felt rushed. I've re-written and fleshed out parts even more so I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or anything in the story, just the plot

"Why does everything have to be a fight!" Sakura growled as she threw her backpack onto her bed making her phone plop out of her bag and on the floor. Sakura groaned and picked it up, but just threw it back on her bed again. She had just finished another grueling day of endless school work being thrown her way. It wasn't that the schoolwork was difficult per-say, it was just something she had to add to her never-ending list of things to worry about. She looked at the stack of bills she had thrown on her desk, just another month of living paycheck to paycheck, what with minimum wage being so low and not getting enough hours at work. The stress of it was getting too much to handle. She slumped up against the side of her bed, hugging her legs to her chest, thinking of nothing yet everything all at once.

The muffled vibration of her phone broke Sakura out of her trance as she reached behind her and answered the call without even looking. "Hello?"

"Sakura-chan! I'm soo sorry but I have to cancel our dinner date!" Ino's voice whined. Sakura's best friend since middle school.

'of course, you do' Sakura thought as she rolled her eyes and hung her head low, placing it on her knees. "Let me guess, you have extra homework and need to study for your test next week,"

"I'm really sorry Sakura. I'll make it up to you on Saturday when I have time to relax," Ino pleaded. Sakura sighed.

"It's okay, we'll just reschedule later, go study." Sakura didn't wait for a reply before she hung up and dropped the phone on the floor. Her one moment of sanity just slipped through her fingers like that.

'She just doesn't want to hang out with you…' There's that little voice in her head. The one that everyone has that tries and make you feel like a piece of shit. Sakura groaned as she shook her head and got up from her spot on the floor, plugging her phone into the charger before busying herself with tidying up to quite the voice in her head.

'She doesn't need to study! She's the top student in her classes. She's going out with someone else and didn't want you to tag along,' Sakura stared blankly at her task at hand.

'She never liked you…' Sakura slammed her hands down on her desk, knocking over the pile of bills she just stacked up. She turned swiftly on her heels and walking into the living room of her tiny apartment and turned on the tv to drown out the silence. She walked back into her bedroom and restacked the bills, focusing on what they actually were with the voice in her head no longer there distracting her. There was one envelope in particular which was stamped Urgent. She rose her brow quizzically as she wondered how this could have just slipped past her as she opened the letter and began reading.

Dear Medicaid Recipient,

You have recently lost your Medicaid. You may be eligible for a special Medicaid program that pays for family planning services. Family planning services…

Her breath caught in her throat. The bubble of air expanded in her throat, her chest began to tighten and a pain was felt down the center of her chest. Her heart rate had quickened as she continued reading, flipping through the multiple pages stuffed in the envelope trying to sort through everything in her head.

For every day that you are without a form of insurance, you will be charged $300….

"Are you fucking serious right now!" Sakura growled as her bewilderment turned into anger she slammed the papers on her desk and hung her head over the papers. She stood there with her eyes closed and tried to calm herself down. She opened her eyes again and tried to find a date stamped on the paper.

July 2, 20xx

Sakura felt her heart drop down into her stomach. It was already a week old! Sakura turned on her heels and fell face first into the bed letting out a bone chilling scream into a pillow before slowing fading into a hysteria of cries. The build-up of the past few days had finally caught up with her. The countless bills that still needed to be paid for the month lay on the floor now, taunting her as she looked off to the side. Not only did she not have $300 to spare a month, how was she going to even find a new health insurance? She growled as she threw her pillow on the floor covering the least of her issues as of now. There was no way Sakura was going to be able to do this. Not anymore. This was no way to live! Paycheck to paycheck, being forced to have insurance or be fined for not having it. It would just be easier to end it…

'It would be easier to end things. Just a little pain for a while then it'll all be over. It'll be better than living this crappy life…'

"No! Stop it!" Sakura cried holding her head.

'But think about it! No more stress. No more wondering if you'll be able to survive next month. You won't have to drag your friends down anymore. It'll be over…'

"NO!" Sakura screamed. Her phone screen lit up, illuminating her now dark room. Sakura's head shot up in surprise and fear at the sudden light. It was just indicating that the phone was completely charged but Sakura took the opportunity of silence to grab her phone and try to distract herself, at least for a moment. She tapped on her Instagram app and waited for it to load. Her tears were still falling, even though she wasn't making any noise. She let her eyes slid closed for a moment. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep and was jolted awake because her phone had vibrated in her hand. Sakura squinted at the sudden brightness and saw that it was a notification that Ino had just posted a new photo to her account. Sakura was confused. It had to be an old notification or some sort of lag. Sakura opened the notification anyway and saw the last thing to push her over the edge. It was a picture of Ino standing in a tattoo and piercing shop...with Karen. The one person Sakura despised most in the world. It wasn't an old photo either. There was a telltale sign of Karen's nose now red from a new piercing

'I told you she was going out with someone else. She doesn't want to be your friend anymore!'

Sakura felt as if a someone had stabbed their hand through her chest and was trying to rip her still beating heart out of her body. The voice in her head had started to laugh manically at the enjoyment of Sakura's anguish. Her head had began to feel light and her vision had started to get blurry. Sakura forced herself to keep her eyes open.

'Oh sweetie, there's really no point in staying alive now is there? Your friend's have all abandoned you, they sure as shit don't care either or Ino wouldn't have posted that picture in the first place!

"SHUT UP!" Sakura cried as she buried her head in her hands. It was as if her mind had left her body and she was looking down on herself. She felt nothing...no pain...no heartbreak...nothing...it felt wonderful. Sakura just floated there, looking down on her body, sobbing.

'Doesn't it feel great to just let go and feel nothing?'

Sakura was instantly jolted back into her body and felt immediate anxiety and uneasiness in the room. She quickly scrambled for her phone that fell on the floor and tried to dial the number of someone she knew could help her. She didn't hesitate. She couldn't hesitate or she would listen to that voice. She would listen to the horror that poured out of her head and go through with it…and that's what scared her the most. Sakura hugged her legs to her chest tightly as the heat from the phone warmed her tear stained cheek.

"Hello?" A deep male voice picked up the other end. The deepness of his voice brought a safe warmth.

"Sasuke?" Sakura's voice cracked and stuttered, trying to hide the pain.

"No, you may have misdialed..." The voice trailed off as Sakura's heart faltered at the realization.

"O-oh…sorry to bother you," Sakura removed the phone from her ear and was about to end the call before she heard the man call out to her.

"Are you okay?" The voice sounded concerned.

Sakura didn't know what to say. Of course she wasn't okay, but she couldn't just dump this mess of her life on a complete stranger. All she could muster were sniffles and gasping breaths. She stared at the phone in her hands contemplating on what to say.

"Hello? Are you still there?" The voice asks.

"Y-yeah, I'm here," She did not know why she was even entertaining the idea of talking to this man, but it felt right to just talk to someone. Anyone who would listen.

"Where are you?" She could hear shuffling in the background and the intensity in his voice increase.

"I-I've got to go…I shouldn't have called," Sakura hung up the phone before he could persuade her to talk any further. Sakura threw her phone onto the other end of the bed, ignoring the constant buzzing of him trying to call her back. She got up from her bed ignoring the phone and walking into her living room, shutting the door behind her to muffle to buzzing even more. She sat down on the couch, grabbing the remote and switching to the cartoon channel, trying to make herself forget what just happened.

'Just forget what happened. You went to a dark place. Everyone goes to a dark place every now and then, nothing to worry about.' Sakura keeps reassuring herself. But what was the deal with that out-of-body thing? Never in her life has she experienced that. Sakura hugged her legs against her chest, watching the cartoons but still feeling the darkness surrounding her. An hour had passed, Sakura was now lounging on the couch with her legs stretched out along it when there was a frantic knock at her door. Sakura jumped up from the sudden noise and let out a little yelp. Sakura quickly pushed herself off the couch and rushed over to the door when she realized what was happening and opened the door, but not undoing the chain.

"Are you the girl who called me?" The man standing at the door was out of breath. He was panting heavily as Sakura found the worry in his eyes. Which was an interesting pitch black with just the faintest hint of red? Though unique Sakura had felt like she's seen those eyes before. "I'm kind of in a hurry here. Are you the girl that called me earlier or not?"

"U-uh, I called someone earlier, but it was the wrong number. I think you have the wrong person. I haven't seen you before," Sakura hesitated as she tried to close the door. But when he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, shoving it in her face where she stared back at her phone number.

"Is this your number? I got a call from it about an hour ago and I need to find her," Sakura briefly looked back up at the man before deciding this needed to end and he needed to leave.

"I've never seen that number before and I'm very sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," Sakura moved to close the door but the man shot his foot between the door and the frame in protest.

"Would you mind if I called it now. If I don't hear a sound from my end then I'll leave you alone. I'm running out of time." The man pleaded as he pushed the call button. Sakura tried to stop him from doing so but the loud thud and vibration from her bedroom were a dead giveaway. The man ended the call and the vibration stopped.

"You need to leave," Sakura demanded and she tried to kick his foot out from between the door.

"I'm glad to see you're alright," Sakura paused her motions as she looked back up at the man who eyes had now shifted in a kinder and calmer emotion. It was then that she noticed how dark his hair was. She had only seen that kind of dark hair on one other person before...it could just be a coincidence.

"You don't even know me. We talked for like 10 minutes. You can't possibly have any kind of connection with me. You just didn't want to have the guilt of not doing anything if I did actually kill m-…Can you just leave me alone now?" She was just getting over the feeling from before but felt it slowly crawling back up her spine and resting in the back of her mind.

"You're right…I didn't want that guilt." The man admitted, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms. "But I did catch myself actually caring for this random stranger that called me sounding hurt and in pain. You can see where human instinct comes into play here."

"Okay, well I need to go sort some things out so if you don't mind," Sakura stated, fidgeting with the door. The man straightened himself out and removed his foot. "Thank you, and good night."

"Good night. I'll be seeing you around. The name's Itachi by the way." Sakura shut the door and made sure all the locks were in their place before she moved. She let out a frustrated sigh and walked back into her room and picked up the phone on the floor. 27 missed calls and 15 unread texts. Could this guy be any more persistent? Sakura sighed once more before beginning to clean up the mess she had made earlier. She looked at the time on her phone and groaned when 1:30 stared back at her. She walked back into the living room, plugging in her phone once again after setting her alarm and drifting off to sleep on the couch with the tv still flashing in front of her.

There you go! I hope you guys enjoyed this story….as much as one can enjoy a story involving suicide-related topics…..Please review this story, it keeps me motivated to write more chapters more often. Thanks to Amaya and Aiko no Akatsuki for all your help with this chapter and fleshing out the story even more.

~Sakura-chan