Sakura rolled over on her bed. The pink of the comforter and the pink of her tresses seemingly molded into one, on the soft mattress. The sheets that were supposed to offer her warmth now entangled her legs tightly together as perspiration dotted her forehead.
A tiny moan escaped her lips as her body once again tossed. Her arms flailed out occasionally as if attacking an unseen enemy. Her breathes came out as shallow gasps as her restless sleep continued.
The sand man had her in his cruel grasp, and was refusing to let her go. Haruno Sakura was stuck in a demented nightmare. One that had plagued her for as long as she could remember.
A shrill scream pierced the silent blanket that had formed around the small house that day.
A small girl, no more then 5, sat on the ground huddled into a tiny ball. Her knees were brought up to her chest, her small arms wrapped around them as she rocked back and forth in a horrified manner. Her head was dipped down, her pink tresses covering her eyes, her body giving off violent wracks. She opened her mouth again, her hands moving to the back of her head, and she let out another blood curdling scream.
In an instant another girl ran to the screaming child and wrapped their arms around her for comfort. The screamer stopped and looked up, her chocolate brown eyes meeting soft emerald ones that silently spoke of the same horror.
The screamer silenced, her bottom lip quivering slightly before quickly flinging herself into the new girls arms and sobbing. "ONEE SAN!" she cried aloud. The other girl whispered soft words of comfort as she rocked herself and the girl in her arms back and forth.
She rested her head on the now crying child's head, and both of their pink tresses mixed together. Tears streamed from both of the children's eyes as they sat there crying together, as they watched the horror scene that was unfolding before them.
Flames licked at the sky and black smoke filled the areas that the once pure and fluffy clouds floated. The smell of the burning wood could easily reach the two girls noses. All there worldly belongings were now gone.
…but at least they had each other right?
The Haruno girls huddled together closely as they watched their house being engulfed by flames.
"Onee san! Mama and Papa will be mad when they come home!"
The green eyed girl shook her head softly as the pink tresses flew about them lightly. "No…sis…they won't"
Soon she let go of the girl in her embrace and stood up offering her hand to the little girl. The brown eyed girl grasped her sister's hand and allowed her to pull her up and they stood there together.
It was funny though…as even though the green eyed girl was called "Onee san" she was the same height as the other, and well…the looked identical other then their eye colors.
Yes…
These girls were the Haruno twins.
Both girls coughed slightly as the smoke was getting to them, and the brown eyed girl looked at her sister and tugged at her arm. "Sakura…" she started and looked at her house, her fear apparently subsided."That was scary wasn't it?"
The green eyed girl - Sakura- nodded her head in agreement. "Hai…" she spoke softly, still in wonder how their house had gone up in flames. She had been reading quietly while her sister was practicing her insterment. So what caused the house to burn?
Slowly Sakura looked to the side to see her sister, and what she saw utterly confused her. Her sister was smiling! The same little girl who had been screaming aloud and sobbing just moments go was now looking at the flames and smiling.
Sakura's stomach twisted at the sight but she opted not to say anything and tugged on her twin's hand leading her to the village. Their steps started off as groggy wobbles from lack of using their legs, but as they got used to the movement they quickly found themselves propelling their bodies towards the rest of the village.
They had to tell someone!
They ran as fast as their small legs would carry them, and soon they found they had to give up the hold they had on one anothers hand to increase in speed. Their effort was paid off, however, as they reached the village, and the first two they saw happened to be their parents.
"MOM! DAD! THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!"
The parents looked at one another worriedly until they felt the younger of the two twins hug both of them, a sadistic smirk playing across her face.
"…and it was pretty…pretty and scary…"
Sakura woke up with a start, her body lurching forward into an upright sitting position; the sweat that had beaded her forehead now ran down the side of her face. Her breaths came out shallow and ragged, and it took effort to get air into her lungs. It felt as if the organs were being suppressed by the darkness of the dream itself. Her eyes stung as if the smoke from the fire was affecting her vision in the real world.
This was one of those horrible things time could not heal…could not erase.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she chocked back a sob, determined not to wake her sleeping parents. She lowered her head causing her pink bangs to slip over her eyes covering them, shielding them, as the tears dripped onto the warm blanket.
Her nightmare always ended there, but it didn't matter, for she knew the end outcome. After all, it wasn't just a dream…it was reality.
A strangled sob finally found its way out of her throat as she tossed the covers away and slid her feet off the bed, walking over to her small bookshelf that was placed near the doorway. Bending down once she got to the wooden object she allowed her eyes to come in contact with a framed picture.
She smiled affectionately as she squatted down in front of the picture, her fingers trailing along the frame caringly before she curled her fingers around the frame and picked it up, walking back towards her bed.
Her sat down with a 'humph' as she bounced back up in the air lightly from the springs in the bed, after the motion stopped she stared intently at the photo. Again her eyes welled up, and stung from the unshed tears as she stared at the picture, who stared back at her.
Her small broken family.
She gave off a sad laugh as a sole tear rolled down her cheek and she traced the figure of her mother and father fondly. It was a simple picture; her father had his left arm wrapped around her mother, his right was placed firmly on her sister's head. Her sister looked up at her dad grinning coyly, who failed to notice and only looked up at the camera. Her mother was staring back at the camera as well, her right arm wrapped around her fathers waist, and her left hand on Sakura's head, as the young girl clinged to her twins arm smiling anxiously at the camera.
She was no more then 5 in that photo. Everything was so simple then. Black and white. Joy and pain. What happened to her simple world? It was gone…gone with her family, with her sister…but…she had found it hadn't she?
Yes…she had.
In the eyes of the Uchiha survivor…Sasuke. She loved him with everything she had in her body! Through his insults, through the harshness of his cold shoulder…she still found herself in love with him.
He had brought back the simple world that she so used to love.
…and he stole it away again with his departure for Orochumaru. She had confessed everything to him! …and still he left her, without as much as a bat of his eyes. She'd give up everything now to find him, but he was with her now.
Her eyes dulled over as she placed the picture on her nightstand, face down. Her sister's picture was a bit more then she could deal with at the moment, with her current depression.
She yawned aloud, her eyes still having a glazed look to them, the tears long since stopped. She had no more tears to cry, it was simple as that now. If she attempted to now, they would simply come out as dry sobs. Another tiny yawn escaped her slightly damp lips as she stared at her pillow without an emotion.
How nice it would be to go back to sleep…but the dreams they'd come back. They always did.
Sakura laid her head down despite the fact, and sighed to herself as the softness seemed to comfort her.
Her nightmares had come since Sasuke had left the village with her and now she was remembering the only the thoughts that horrified her, the thoughts that pained her. The sad thing was, she knew, she could rid herself of the pain if only she willed herself to…but she didn't want the pain to leave.
…pain was a welcomed thing to her these days. Pain had been welcomed to her for 4 years now, as without the man she found she loved, she felt nothing. Nothing but pain. And she loved pain…as it made her feel alive…real. She had come to love the site of blood…not anyone's blood, but her own, as it told her she was still living, and breathing.
Now she wasn't suicidal! Oh no! Not by any means! She still had too much to do before she died, and hell! She might just find him again, and she would never see him again if she killed herself! No…she simply needed reassurance of her life.
"Sister…" she sighed a shaky sigh as she closed her eyes, her heart was heavy as pictures and memories replied themselves in her minds eye."Why?" she whispered hoarsely as she reached behind her head and pulled away one of the pillows and hugged it to herself tightly as she squinted her eyes shut tight.
Sakura felt as though her sanity was slowly leaving her, and had been since he left. Her mother and father told her not to wallow and pine away over some guy, but she knew it wasn't just some guy.
No…it was just that some guy helped her before, and stopped her from dieing from past events in her life. Her blind worship of the Uchiha boy was just a means of pretending the past never existed. But soon the blind worship turned to love.
She should have known better though…everyone she had loved always seemed to leave her.
Little did Sasuke knew…she knew more about what he was going through then she let on to believe. She didn't want pity from him; even though she knew he wasn't the type to give it. Naruto on the other hand would have been.
She smiled a fake smile, her eyes closing only to show half of her eyes now. She was happy for him, he had stopped crushing over him and had gone on to see the lovely Hyuuga heiress that was there for him the whole time, and now they were happy together.
Another yawn escaped her lips as she closed her eyes once more…praying to anything holy that the rest of her night would be graced without the presence of her nightmares.
…her prayers went unanswered.
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: Twins of life and death:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
Sakura sighed to herself as she opened her eyes and rubbed at them slowly before going to her dresser and pulling out her normal attire. Quickly she placed them on and discarded her night outfit in a nearby white basket before tiredly making her way downstairs.
"Good morning Sakura Chan!" The cheerful voice of her mother replied as she turned around with a plate of breakfast in her hand, which she placed down in front of the sleepy pink haired ninja with a smile.
Sakura nodded her head as in hello, before she placed a hand over her mouth and yawned, her eyes downcast as she sat down.
"Oh, Sakura" a voice started as she looked up at the man in front of her she claimed to be her 'father'. "The 5th has new mission specs for you. For some reason she brought them over personally." He paused in a thoughtful silence before looking at the pink haired medical ninja and asked "Don't you usually get them from her office?"
Sakura nodded slowly, unsure as to why Tsunade sama would give her mission files personally.
"Anyways, there on the coffee table in the living room"
The medical specialist of Konoha nodded her head, forgetting about her breakfast and made her way into the aforementioned room. Sure enough just as the man had said, there was a manila folder on the table with her name written in neat script across the top.
Smiling slightly as she looked at the small picture of a cherry blossom next to her name, knowing Tsunade sama had always took the time to draw that on her folders. She kept her eyes trained on the object as she made her way to it, before taking it off the table and plopping herself onto the couch.
Her faint smile grew a tad larger at the thought of another mission. She loved going on them, as it took her mind off of the past memories that haunted her nights, every night. Her delicate fingers traced over the blossom for a moment before she opened the file.
Her eyes read the top portion quickly first, to get a feel for how the mission would run.
Mission Ninjas: Haruno Sakura.
Mission Rank: A
Mission type: Assassination
Mission length: unknown
Mission start: October 25th
Sakura allowed her eyes to skim over the rest of the information sighing to herself as her brain finally let the information sink in that the mission would start in a mere two days. She read on to find that the victim of her mission was also a missing nin.
She gulped unconsciously as she quickly clapped her hands together and spoke a soft prayer that it wasn't the man who owned all of her thoughts, and was the cause of her dreams. Tsunade sama wouldn't do that right? She knew how much she had loved the boy, and plus, wouldn't she be too weak to kill Sasuke?
She opened her eyes once more and willed her delicate fingers to turn the page. The description page.
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: pink
Origination: Konoha
Current loyalty: Sound
Sakura wanted to scream aloud! It was so close to Sasuke Kun that it wasn't even funny! She let out an exaggerated sigh of relief out as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch. It wasn't him. It wasn't him. It wasn't him. Her mind repeated that thought over and over to her as a feeling of security washed over her once more.
It wasn't him.
But what would you have done if it WAS him? Inner Sakura questioned her other half and Sakura opened her eyes.
What WOULD she have done?
Would you have been able to kill him?
Yes. Yes she would. After all it was her job right? And he didn't care about her…he made that painfully clear.
Honestly Sakura? Or are you just trying to fool yourself?
Sakura sighed, knowing that her inner self was telling the truth. She knew for a fact she would not be able to hurt Sasuke…no matter what he did to her. After all she was so deeply in love with him, she believed in him so much…that she would have followed him to sound if he had allowed.
But of course he wouldn't allow her! After all, Sasuke didn't need weaklings on his team. The one the was supposedly going to give him power. Was going to help him grow.
…but what about all the rumors she heard! No one had told her directly, but she had heard just the same! …that BASTARD, for lack of better words, was using Sasuke.
Her breath slowed down as she bowed her head down low, her bangs covering her eyes. Her emerald orbs were aimed for the paper in front of her, but they saw through the paper, as if it wasn't there.
If she wasn't weak…she might have been able to save him that time. If she hadn't paused. If she had willed her body to move! When that…that…thing bite him she could have done something! ANYTHING. But she froze…she froze and did nothing.
Sakura cried out to herself as she remembered just how useless she truly was. She had trained though! She had gotten stronger! She was going to bring Sasuke back with Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, and all others that may come! She was going to go with them and prove she wasn't a worthless member after all! That she was strong!
With newfound determination she quickly flipped the page of her document. Her fingers moving so fast that it caused the delicate skin on her finger to slash on the paper. A small stinging pain shifted through her finger and she winced only slightly before looking down at the wound.
Tsk. A paper cut.
She watched as blood slowly welled up from the wound and observed how large the cut truly was. She wanted to laugh, she truly did. Some times, she found, paper cuts hurt more then some of the injures she earned through missions.
Ironic wasn't it? The fact that a tiny cut…caused from a tiny near weightless piece of paper, could hurt more then a throwing knife cut sometimes.
She lightly shook her head to rid herself of the useless thoughts that had entered her head and focused her eyes on the paper in front of her.
Her breath hitched in her throat. Her eyes widened.
No, no no no no!
He had told her she was dead!
Sakura let out the shaky breath that she didn't even know she was holding. He had told her she was dead…and yet she knew better. She just forced herself to believe it. No…something in her would have told her if she truly died, it was just a bond they had.
As much as Shikamaru wanted to claim she was dead, she wasn't…and now…
Sakura gulped.
And now you have to kill her…Inner Sakura finished the thought for the shaken 16 year old.
Her eyes scanned the paper in front of her over and over. No matter how much she read it, the words wouldn't change.
Name of missing nin: Tayuya
Sakura's eyes watered and the tears dripped onto the paper before her and the tears caused the ink on the paper to smear. She hated herself at the moment for crying, she should be mad! No more then mad, she should be FURIOUSE! She should be like…Sasuke…when it came to Itachi…but yet the tears still streamed down her face.
Her voice came out as a croak, and it strained her throat just to speak the small word. She didn't want to say it, for if she said it, it would make it reality, and she didn't want to face reality at the moment.
…and yet still the small, simple word passed through her strained lips.
"…sis…"