Chapter 3: When I'm Gone

"Don't worry, Sakura. We'll save you!" said Kakashi reassuringly. He was sweating, Sasuke was breathing heavily, and Naruto was nearly in tears of agony of losing the love of his life. He was in such agony, that he didn't think, he simply wrapped his arms tightly around Sakura's waist and started crying his eyes out. Sasuke had to use all of his strength to get Naruto off her.

"Let me go you bastard! Can't you see that she's dying!" Naruto screamed, trying to get off Sasuke's grip.

"Can't you see that she's dying, loser?" Sasuke said, putting his arms under Naruto's and locking his hands over his, Naruto's, head, so he became immobilized, "And all you do is simply throw yourself over her and shorten her air supply!" Sasuke threw Naruto hard against the floor hoping that he would keep still for a while. The raven-haired boy went to Sakura's side and grabbed her hand to feel her pulse. The thing was that he didn't feel anything. He kept quiet, just waiting, hoping that he would feel her pulse, but he didn't. He looked at her face, it didn't look peaceful or cheery like most of the time; instead it looked troubled, like if she wasn't happy with something. He looked at Kakashi; He didn't have to say anything, only by looking at his Onyx eyes Kakashi knew, he knew they had lost her… yet, in the middle of everything, Kakashi's only visible eye showed a feeling of denial, of sadness, but most of all, of frustration. She had never been the best fighter, but he had always looked at her as a daughter. Naruto, on the other hand, was still on the floor, looking at them. He watched horrified as Sasuke and Kakashi exchanged meaningful looks. He felt something as heavy as earth press down on his chest. He felt a knot in his throat that would not allow him to react. His brain was numb, yet his eyes filled themselves with tears and rolled silently, leaving shiny marks down his cheeks. He watched Sasuke grab her hand, and he felt waves of white-hot anger lick his body. He didn't want him to touch her. He had never noticed her presence. He had never appreciated her! He got on his feet and threw himself over Sasuke, taking out a kunai, but Sasuke was fast, and since he felt Naruto jump, he took out his own kunai and there was a clash of metal between them. Sasuke was on the floor with Naruto on top of him, trying with all his strength to stick his kunai down Sasuke's throat. Sasuke gathered all his strength and pushed Naruto away, like this switching positions and him being on top of Naruto. But, with a swift movement, Naruto was able to bend his legs under Sasuke and kick him, making him collide with the other wall. Naruto was about to throw himself over Sasuke again, but Kakashi caught him in mid-air. Naruto struggled, but Kakashi pinned him against the floor. Sasuke looked at them, but something blinded him. When he was able to look, he saw a light floating away from Sakura's body. He thought that he must've him his head harder than he thought, but he didn't feel dizzy in the slightest; there was actually a light floating away from Sakura's body. The light went up, up and through the ceiling. Sasuke watched transfixed at where the light had been seconds before. And s few seconds later, another light came down the ceiling towards Sakura's body. Sasuke watched with his eyes wide as the light went down, down, down and into Sakura's body. When the light was gone inside Sakura, her body gave an enormous jolt, she opened her eyes wide and she inhaled what seemed to be a breath of life. The sound of this inhale made Naruto and Kakashi look back towards Sakura. They saw as she relaxed and as she breathed as if she had run a mile, her eyes still wide open. Naruto slipped from Kakashi's now loose grip and once again threw himself over Sakura, crying of joy.

"Sakura! You're alive! Oh, I promise never to leave you and to always take care of you, Sakura! Believe it!" he cried over her. But to their surprise, she shrieked and pushed Naruto away saying:

"Get away! Who the hell are you?" she stood up, but she instantly toppled down. Naruto approached her looking confused, but she simply scooted away. She stood up, but she fell down again.

"Don't, Sakura. You're very weak." Said Kakashi. All this time, Sasuke was still lying against the wall he had slammed against, looking at them like if they had gone mad. But even more, he was looking at that girl; they kept calling her Sakura, why are they calling her Sakura? She's not Sakura! When he came to his senses, that girl had punched Naruto right in the face for coming too close to her and he was in the floor with swirls in his eyes. Sasuke stood up, walked towards her, and harshly grabbed her arm.

"Who are you?" he asked, looking at her viciously.

"I-I-I don't know!" she stuttered under Sasuke's dangerous gaze. She was actually very clear of who she was, but she didn't know how she had gotten there. And also, that black-eyed kid's look was the most frightening thing she had ever seen. The boy let go harshly, and stepped aside to let a very tall man with light gray hair and only one visible eye step towards her. He crouched so he'd be eye level with her.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked calmly. The girl shook her head slowly. It was true though; she had not the slightest idea of who he was. The man sighed. He sat in front of her and looked at her for a long time, then he spoke:

"Let's start by you. Your name is Haruno Sakura and you are 12 years old. I am Hatake Kakashi and I am your sensei. This is Uzumaki Naruto and he is 13 years old. And this is Uchiha Sasuke and he is 14 years old. We are all ninja, but you are still under training. Now if you give us a chance, we can show you where your house is." Said Kakashi. She thought for a minute, but she looked at the floor; she was feeling very insecure…

"I understand that you do not remember us, and you don't trust us," said Kakashi, "but, believe me, we can help you."

"Yeah Sakura!" the hyperactive blonde piped in, "We'll make sure you recover your memory! Believe it!" his enthusiasm mad her smile slightly, but that smile quickly faded when she saw how the raven-haired boy was looking at her; it was as if he knew something about her, something bad; but if she opened her mouth they would probably think she was nuts, or simply not believe her. This was all very surreal, and she was very confused, but she decided to let herself go with the flow. So, just to know in what situation she was in, she made a status list in her mind:

Number one: these people saw her as a pink headed character of a show she didn't even like.

Number two: This kid, Sasuke, was eyeing her as if he would kill her at any moment, (to think that Tammi had an enormous crush on him, what would she say if she saw in the situation she was in)

Number three: This Naruto kid seemed to be the kind of person that was hyperactive to the point of annoyance. And his mania of saying: "believe it" in the end of nearly every sentence he said was already nagging her.

She sighed, and then she nodded.

"I'll let you help me, but there's only one problem, I can't stand up!" she said.

"Not a problem!" said Naruto, crouching down.

"No! No! NO!" she shrieked as Naruto picked her up from the floor in his arms. He simply laughed as she grabbed on to him as if her life depended on it.

"Ah, don't worry your little pink head! I'm not gonna let you fall! I'm actually really strong! Believe it!" he said smiling. She rolled her eyes as the last two words left his lips. And like this, they headed for Sakura's home. They opened the door and went in. When they did, she looked around at what was going to be her home: it was a very nice place, clean and organized, with a nice decoration. Then they headed for her room, it was a simple room with white walls and a wooden floor, even though it wasn't big, it was comfortable. When you got in, the first thing you saw was a window, beside that window, in the right corner of the room was the bed, and in the left corner was a desk with a picture of Sakura and her parents. Naruto laid her down on the bed.

"Um, thanks…" she said shyly.

"Well, seeing as you still can't walk, Sasuke will stay here with you to aid you in whatever you need." Said Kakashi only to be followed by a startled "What!" from the three young ninjas, and then came the followed the uproar of protests.

"Why him!"

"Why me!"

"Why not me!"

"I don't want him here!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Sensei, I wanna take care of her!"

Kakashi put his hand up and there was instant silence.

"Sakura, he is going to take care of you! Sasuke, you are going to take care of her! Naruto, you are not going to take care of her! My decision is final! And as for my reasons, rest assured that I have them. Now, Sasuke, you will help Sakura in whatever she needs, you will sleep in the other room—"

"Hold on! What about my parents?" She interrupted Kakashi. They all looked away, evading her gaze.

"Uhh, I do have some… right?" Kakashi sighed.

"They're dead. They died a few months ago."

"Oh…" she looked at her feet. She felt sorry for Sakura; it must be tough to be without parents. Parents… she didn't know when she would see her own again. She loved her parents very much, she always considered them to be the best in the world, and right now she was in an unknown world and with no idea of what she was going to do with herself. Her eyes became teary, but she hastily wiped them away. Many years ago she made herself promise she would never cry again and be brave, so she faced everything by herself, her parents were always there of course, but she didn't cry, she was a very strong person. But before she made that pledge with herself, she used to cry every night. That was because every night she had nightmares, and even after so many years, she could not remember a single night in which she didn't have a nightmare, but now she simply went to sleep again, even if she would wake up sweating many times during the night. But then Kakashi interrupted her thoughts.

"Well then, we'll be going. Come on Naruto. We'll come back tomorrow to see how things are going." With that, he and Naruto went away. As soon as they heard the front door close, they looked at each other. Suddenly Sasuke jumped over her; he put a kunai against her throat and covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream.

"Who are you and what have you done with Sakura?" he said in a deadly whisper, with his face barely four inches from hers.

"Aren't I Sakura?" she said nervously, removing his hand from her mouth.

"Liar! Tell the truth! I don't know what kind of jutsu you used on my friends but it didn't work on me! I can see that you're not Sakura!" he yelled.

"Wh-what do you see?" she asked.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Just answer and tell me what color are my eyes? How long is my hair? What color? What do you see!"

"You… you have brown hair, and it nearly reaches your thighs; and you have… honey colored eyes…" he drifted a bit but then he asked, "Who are you?" She sighed.

"You're gonna think I'm crazy, but my name is Kate Schull and I come from an alternate world from this one. So basically I have no idea how I got here, nor how to get out. And right now I'm really confused at the moment, but it would really help if you got off me!" she said. Sasuke looked at her for a minute then he removed his kunai from her throat, but he didn't get off her.

"Well, then what happened to Sakura?" he asked.

"Will you get off me?"

"No."

"Why not!"

"I don't trust you!"

"Well, you'll have to!"

"Why?"

"Cause I can't work like this! And you want to know what happened to your girlfriend don't you?"

"Sakura was not my girlfriend!"

"Well then your friend!"

"She wasn't my friend either! I have no friends!"

"Well then what the hell was she!"

"She was a member of my team! Nothing more than that!"

"Well then get off me and I'll tell you what happened to your teammate!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" They ended yelling at each other; Sasuke got off her and sat beside her while she sat up.

"So, what happened to Sakura?" he said in a normal tone.

"I have no idea… but come to think of it, I do have an idea. Even though it's a bit far fetched, and I'm not really sure if that's what happened—"

"Just tell me already!" he interrupted her.

"Fine! Fine! But first you must tell me, what happened before I got here?"

"Well, some kind of bug bit her and she became very ill. But then when I checked her pulse… it wasn't there… she had died. But then a strange light came out of her and a few seconds later another light came towards her. When it was inside her. She was replaced by you…" Sasuke finished saying this and he saw that she was looking very thoughtful.

"Yes," she mumbled to herself, "Yes, it all makes sense!"

"What? What makes sense?"

"Well, let me tell you what happened to me to see if you come to the same conclusion as I: what happened was that me and my friend were crossing a street to get to a park at the other side, but a car came towards us. My first reaction was to grab my friend and get her out of the way, but then the car hit me. I remember rolling down the top of the car and then hitting the floor, but I don't remember anything else; next thing I know, I have Naruto clinging onto me! Do you know what this means?"

"That if you're here, then Sakura is in your world?"

"That's exactly what I think that happened!"

"But then how did you guys switch places in the first place?" she opened her mouth to answer Sasuke's question, but then she closed it at a lack of what to say.

"I… I really don't know…" she said scratching her head, "Oh, well, we've been far enough for only a few minute's thinking. So I think I'll just— whoa…"

"What?" Sasuke asked, looking towards where she was looking and he saw a mirror in the door, but what was funny was that the mirror reflected him, but not the person he saw beside him, it didn't reflect Kate with her long brown hair and her honey eyes, it reflected a girl with medium length pink hair and emerald eyes; instead of reflecting Kate, the mirror reflected Sakura.

"Cool," she said, "I have pink hair."

"But why does the mirror reflect Sakura instead of you?" asked Sasuke

"Maybe, just maybe, we're the only ones that can see how I really am, but maybe I'm actually in Sakura's body, that's why Naruto and Kakashi can see her, but maybe you are the only one that can see my soul. My soul's probably the only part of me that's really here, and you're the only one apart from me that can see that, but the rest simply see Sakura's body… damn! Why does this have to be so complicated?"

"It's not really that complicated, people see Sakura's body while I see the soul inside the body." He said.

"Exactly…" there was an awkward silence after this, and Sasuke was the first to break it.

"Well, if you need me, I'll be in the other room." He got up and left her alone in the room. She usually didn't like to be left alone, but right now, she needed to organize her thoughts. She lied down in her bed and sighed; she closed her eyes and fell blissfully asleep.