RECAP!
When Sakura was walking up her driveway, she could see Temari standing in the window of her house, but Sakura ignored her. Sakura walked strait into her house, only to be thrown into the wall. Kio grabbed Sakura's neck and squeezed, making her gasp for air.
"Where the hell have you been?!" He hissed in her face. "Answer me!"
Sakura grabbed his wrist and tried to pull his hand away from her neck, but it didn't work. "I… S-stayed… school." Was all she managed to get out.
"You're a worthless piece of shit, yah know that?" Kio tossed her to the floor and kicked her in the side. "Get ready, we're going to go have dinner next door." He kicked her again, as she tried to get up. "And dress nice." With that, he went to the living room and flipped on the TV.
Sakura laid there on the floor for a few minutes, trying to catch her breath that was knocked out of her. She slowly stood up and made her way up the stairs to her room. This was nothing new to her. She had gotten beat a lot worse than this before. Almost every day she would get kicked, smacked, or strangled. And after a few years, Sakura had gotten good at hiding the bruises that her father left her.
Sakura clutched her side as she went into her bathroom and pulled off her shirt. She had a massive bruise from the kicking, and there was a medium bruise around her neck, where he grabbed her. Sakura took a quick shower, and put cover-up over her bruises before she got dressed. She put on a tight red belly shirt with a long sleeve black mesh shirt over it and a pair of loose grey sweat pants. She put her hair up and grabbed her black jacket, and pulled the hood over her pink locks. Sakura was so used to getting beat, that she could deal with the pain, and act like nothing happened. But when it left big painful bruises, like this time did, it was hard for her to walk without flinching here and there.
"Sakura, let's go!" Kio yelled up the stairs. Sakura sighed and finished her black make-up, before leaving her room, and following her father out the door.
"Hey! Come on in!" Tamari smiled and moved to the side to let Sakura and Kio in. Kio walked right in and started talking with Kankuro, but Sakura hesitated before going in. "You ok, Sakura?" Tamari saw how she flinched and wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Kio shot Sakura a small glare, before continuing talking with Kankuro. "Yeah, I'm fine." Sakura whispered and looked at the floor. "Just don't feel too good."
"Oh… Well, can you help me with dinner? Gaara and Kankuro would burn it if I asked them." Tamari gave her a weak smile.
"Sure." Sakura was glad to get away from her father's glances, and followed Tamari into the kitchen.
Gaara had been standing next to the wall, and saw the glares that Kio sent Sakura, and how she kept clutching her side. Gaara could see the pain she was in, better than anyone else. Because, it used to happen to him. But he didn't say anything, just followed the girls into the kitchen, to keep an eye of the pink haired girl. Sakura had taken off her jacket and left it on the chair, while she helped Tamari with the sauce for the spaghetti. Almost immediately, Gaara saw the faint marks on her neck. Gaara stared with big eyes as he put the pieces together in his head.
"…Gaara? Hey GAARA!!" Tamari was waving her hand in front of her brothers face, while yelling at him.
"What?!" He hissed and pushed her hand away from his face.
"Take this into the dinning room. Sakura already brought the sauce in." Tamari shoved a bowel of spaghetti into his hands and went to check the garlic bread. Gaara glanced around the kitchen to find that Sakura wasn't there. He left the room, and saw Sakura sitting at the whole other side of the table, away from her father.
Gaara put the bowel down and sat next to her. She was looking at her side, and rubbing it. "You alright?" He whispered to her.
"Why do you care?" Sakura snapped and looked up at Tamari, who sat across from her. "just leave me alone." She whispered and looked down at her plate. Gaara sighed and looked away from the girl.
After they were done eating, Kio went into the living room with Tamari and Kankuro. Gaara and Sakura cleaned up the table and washed the dishes. Gaara told her she didn't have to, but she didn't say anything, just kept doing what she was doing. After the dishes her washed, Gaara told her he wanted to show her something, and lead her up stairs to his room.
"What'd you want to show me?" Sakura asked as she looked around the room.
"Nothing really." Gaara sighed and laid back on his bed. Sakura gave him a funny look and looked around.
She walked over to his guitar and ran her fingers over it. "Then why did you bring me up to your room?" Sakura glanced at him, to see he was looking at the ceiling.
"What happened to your neck?" He asked in a low voice. Sakura's eyes grew and she touched her neck.
"What are you talking about?"
Gaara sighed and sat up. He eyed her for a minute. "I can see the bruise plan as day."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura grumbled and turned away from the red head. Sakura wandered his room and stopped at a mirror that he had hanging on his wall. She glanced back at Gaara, to make sure he wasn't looking, before she pulled the caller of her shirt down, to see her bruise was still visible. "Shit." She whispered and zipped her jacket up to her neck. "I don't feel good, I'm going home." Sakura quickly left his room and ran down the stairs and out of the house.
Gaara followed her, but stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Tamari showed up next to him with a confused look. "What'd you do now?" She asked looking at her younger brother. Gaara just sighed and went back to his room and slammed his door.
Sakura sat on her floor, wrapping her side. Her father had come home a few minutes ago, and was still trying to get into her room. But Sakura had locked her door, and cranked her music. After about 10 minutes, Kio gave up and slammed his door. Sakura sighed and crawled into her bed and tried to go to sleep.
A soft breeze rang through the bare trees of the forest. A small and scared girl ran behind a boy that was a few years older than her. This boy had a death grip on her hand as he dragged her farther into the forest. He glanced behind them as they ran with a petrified look. The small girls pink hair flew across her face as she tripped in the snow.
"Sakura! Come on, we have to keep going!" The boy tried to pull the crying girl to her feet. Sakura looked up at her big brother. His brown hair was wild and his deep green eyes were scared and worried. Suddenly, he looked up at the sound of feet and a flashlight searching for the siblings.
"I can't run, Kyoto." Sakura whispered as she let her brother help her up. "I can't feel my feet."
"Sh." Kyoto put his hand over Sakura's mouth and pulled her behind a tree.
Sakura watched her breath and her brother's breath slowly rise to the moonlit sky. The running feet stopped, and whispering could be heard. Sakura felt Kyoto's grip tighten around her, as he picked her up and shoved her under the tree. Sakura crawled to the back of the hole that was in the trunk of the winter dead tree.
"Stay here, and don't come out until morning." Kyoto whispered and gave her hand one last squeeze, before covering the hole with dead branches.
The frightened 6 year old girl held her breath when she heard Kyoto's footsteps running away from where she was. Sakura wanted to scream when she heard a gunshot and a thud of something falling to the ground, but the girl stayed silent. She hid her head in her hands and laid down on the frozen ground. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she fell unconscious.
Sakura woke with a start. She was gasping for breath and could feel her long shirt clinging to her body from sweat. The girl grabbed her alarm clock and chucked it across the room as she staggered out of her bed and made her way to the bathroom.
Sakura turned the water on and stripped from her overly large t-shirt and undergarments. She hissed when the boiling hot water hit her skin, but she didn't move to turn the water down. She shook her head to remove all the imeges of her dream from her head. Sighing, she grabbed her cherry shampoo and scrubbed her hair clean. After she was done scrubbing the rest of her body, she got out and wrapped a black towel around her pale body and went into her room to get ready for that dreadful thing called… School.
Sakura decided on a pair of loose black pants with chains and a red tank top, and red and black arm covers. She grabbed her bag and left her room. She made it down stairs in time to see her father coming in from getting the paper. He was about to say something to her, but she ignored him and grabbed her shoes, before going into the kitchen. Sakura sat at the table and pulled on her sneakers. She grabbed a muffin and left the house with her bag over a shoulder, before her father could say anything.
As the pinkette walked down the street to the bus stop eating her muffin, her mind filled with thoughts of her dream last night. She had been having the same dream every night sense it happened. Sakura never saw her brother after that fearful night. She suspected he was dead, because of the gunshot. Every time she thought about her brother, tears would threaten to fall.
"Hey, Sakura!" Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts from a loud and annoying voice beside her. She glanced at Naruto and took another bite out of her muffin.
"What do you want?" She asked, her voice a little louder than a whisper. Naruto's grin widened when he looked behind her.
"Nothing really, HEY GUYS!" He waved. Sakura looked back down the road and saw Gaara, Tamari, and Kankuro walking up to them.
"God Naruto, why do you have to be so damn loud?" Tamari groaned and stood near Sakura, away from the other blond.
"Aw Come on, Tamari. Just because you're not a morning person, doesn't mean you have to bring others down!" Kankuro smirked and patted his sister on the head.
"Fuck off." She growled and shoved him away, grumbling something that sounded like, 'damn good for nothing… fuck tard.'
Sakura could feel Gaara's eyes on her, so she grabbed her sweat shirt out of her bag and put it on, covering her head with the black hood. She had her guitar slung over her other shoulder and shifted it.
"Hey Sakura, you brought your guitar." Naruto pointed out the obvious.
"I said I would." Sakura sent him a small glare and turned her back to him.
"Oh… Well we just thought that after yesterday…" He stopped talking when both Gaara and Sakura sent him a glare. "That you wouldn't want to play with us." He finished in a whisper, while looking at the ground.
"I never said that I didn't want to play." Sakura said as she climbed the stairs and got onto the bus. Naruto was stumped, but Kankuro pulled him onto the bus. Sakura sat in the back seat again, looking out the window.
"Hey, can I sit here?" Tamari asked, looking down at Sakura. Sakura just shrugged and moved her guitar out of the way. "Well, I was wondering. Do you have anyother songs that you've wrote... For, you know, girls to sing?" Sakura nodded and pulled a folder out of her bag.
"There's also songs that Gaara could sing." Sakura said and looked back out the window, as Tamari skimmed the papers.
"Wow." She breathed. "These are good!" Tamari looked at Sakura. "How do you write stuff so good like this?" The blond had caught the attenchon of Naruto, Gaara and Kankuro, who were sitting close by, listening.
"I write what I feal." Was her simple answer. She leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. "Those are copys, you can keep the folder."
"Cool, thanks." Tamari said as she passed some of her favorite songs on to Gaara.
It had now been a week, and Sakura watched every one talk. She always hung behind and to the side, never looking or talking to them. But during her classes, she sat in the way back in a corner. She didn't want a repeat of last week.
"Why hello my little flower." Sasuke said as he came up and stood in front of her desk. "How are you this morning?"
"Fuck off." Sakura kept her eyes on the desk, not even sparing him a glance.
"Well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to the movies with me later. How 'bout it?" Sasuke gave her a small smirk when she looked up at him with a smile.
"Yes." Sakura spoke loud enough for the whole class to hear. She had gotten the attenchon of Gaara, Ten-Ten, Hinata, Neji, and Naruto, who were in the same class at the time. "Why yes, Sasuke. I'll go to the movies with a jackass like you." Skura grabed her bag and pushed past him. As she passed him she said. "Shove it." Sakura walked out of the classroom, ignoring the tearchers protests.
"Come on!" Ten-Ten grabbed Hinata and they ran after the pinkette.
"Good job, Sas-gay." Naruto called as him,Gaara, and Neji followed the girls.
Sakura walked swiftly down the halls and up a flight of stairs that lead to the roof. On her way, she had passed her locker and grabbed her guitar. When she reached the roof, she sat down and looked over the mountins in the distance.
"Gaara!" Ten-Ten called. Hinata and he had looked all over the school, but couldn't find her. "We can't find her anywhere." They were both out of breath from running all over.
"We can't eather." Naruto said. The guys had been looking all over, too.
"Does anyone know where Sakura could have gone?" Neji asked.
"I do." Gaara said. "Go tell Tamari to meet me on the roof. Tell her it's an emergency... About what I told her last night!" He called to them as he started running down the hall.
"What class does she have?" Hinata asked.
"Health. Let's go." Neji said. They all started going in the oppest way from Gaara.
Gaara ran all the way up the steps until he reached the top. He waited by the door, trying to catch his breath, when he heard it.
It's true
We're all a little insane
But it's so clear
Now that i'm… unchained
Fear is only in our minds
Taking over all the time
Fear is only in our mind
But it's taking over all the time
Gaara listened to Sakura's voice. He was trying to understand the meaning within her words, but failed when there was a tap of his shoulder. He looked behind him to see Tamari. They both nodded, and Gaara slowly, and silently, opened the roof door.
You poor sweet innocent thing
Dry your eyes and testify
You know you live to break me
Don't deny sweet sacrifice
One day
I'm gonna forget your name
And one sweet day
You're gonna drown in my lost pain
Tamari looked at Gaara with a 'What the hell' look. He shrugged and watched as Sakura played her guitar and sang.
Fear is only in our minds
Taking over all the time
Fear is only in our minds
But it's taking over all the time
You poor sweet innocent thing
Dry your eyes and testify
And oh you love to hate me
Don't you honey i'm your sacrifice
I dream in darkenss i sleep to die
Erase the silence erase my life
Our burning ashes blacken the day
A world of nothingness blow me away
Do you wonder why you hate?
Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes?
You poor sweet innocent thing
Dry your eyes and testify
You know you live to break me
Don't deny sweet sacrifice
Sakura wrote down every word she had just sung in a black note book. She took her time in writing it down, and didn't even notice Gaara and Tamari watching her. She bent over to grab her bag, but winced from the bruise on her side. Sakura carefully pulled up her red tank top and looked at her side. The bruise was turning a nasty yellow color, but was still black, red, and blue.
"What happened?!" Tamari gasped apon seeing the pinkette's side. Sakura gasped and looked up at Tamari and Gaara's shocked faces. She quickly put her shirt back down and grabbed her stuff. She tried to push past them, but Gaara grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere.
"What happened?" He looked from her eyes to her neck, where that bruise was covered up, but he could still see the dark marks. He reached up and gently touched where her neck was marked. "Sakura, what happened?"
"Nothing." Sakura pushed his hand away and looked at the ground.
"That doesn't look like nothing!" Tamari almost yelled. "Sakura, we're your friends. Why aren't you telling us?! We want to help you!"
"Because, its none of your damn buissness!" Sakura yelled back and tore her arm from Gaara's grasp. "Leave me the fuck alone." She whispered before moving away from them. She walked over to the side of the roof and looked at the ground below. "You wouldn't understand if I told you."
"Try me." Gaara said coming up next to her.
"So what if we wouldn't. We could still help you." Tamari added, standing on her other side.
"My dad isn't as nice as he looks." Sakura whispered and looked up at the sky. Dark rain clouds could be seen in the distance.
"Your dad did this to you?" Tamari gasped. She looked over at Gaara with sad eyes.
"I understand more then you think, Sakura. My father did the same thing to me when I was young. He hated me because my mother died giving birth to me." Gaara was looking out at the mountins, but turned and met Sakura's sad eyes. "He used to send people out to kill me."
"I'm sorry." Sakura whispered and looked deep into his jade eyes. "You can't tell anyone about this." Sakura looked away from his eyes and down to the ground below. "I had told one of my friends when I was little. Her name was Anna. She was my fist and only friend. After what happened to her, I never let anyone get close."
"What happened to her?" Tamari whispered.
"Kio killed her, because she knew." Gaara and Tamari shared a glance. Both of their faces said, 'Holy shit!' "That's why you can't do anything or tell anyone. You guys are my first friends sence then, and I don't want to lose you guys, too." Sakura looked at them with tears in her eyes. "If anyone asks why I'm hurt, I fell down the stairs."
"If you get hurt badly again, please come see me, I'll help you." Tamari said. Sakura smiled and nodded.
"Come on, the guys are waiting for us in the music room." Gaara said and they all left.
When they got to the music room, Kiba, Hinata, Ten-Ten, Naruto, and Neji were sitting around waiting. When they saw the three enter, all talking stopped and they watched as Sakura hooked her guitar into the amp.
"Shall we?" She asked with a small smile. Everyone nodded and got there insterments ready. "I hope that all of you have looked over my songs. I would like to do 'Broken'. Gaara, you will probably need to have the words in front of you." Sakura set up a stand and put her lyrics for the song on it.
"Everyone ready?" Gaara asked. After they got the ok, Sakura started with the small guitar solo, then Gaara started singing.
Gaara
I wanted you to know
That I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph
And I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain
Both
Because I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away
Gaara
You've gone away
You don't feel me here anymore
Sakura
The worst is over now
And we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high and steal my pain away both- only the word away
There's so much left to learn
And no one left to fight Both
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain
Both
Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away
Cause Im broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away
Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone
Gaara
You're gone away
You don't feel me here anymore
As they finished, Gaara looked over at Sakura. She had a small smile in her eyes as she looked back at him. "Great job guys!" Naruto yelled as he slung his arms over both Gaara's and Sakura's shoulder.They both glared at him, but Sakura let out a small growl. He quickly backed away, waving his hands in front of himself.
"That was very good." Ten-Ten agreed with a big smile. "Now, I have some inside information, about a battle of the bands kinda thing. How about it, guys?"
"YEAH!" Naruto yelled.
"That would be fun." Hinata chirped in. Tamari nodded along with Gaara and Kiba. They all turned to Sakura.
"We can't do it without ya, Sakura." Tamari pleaded. "Please?!"
Sakura sighed and looked at everyone's faces. "Fine, lets do it." Sakura smiled as everyone jumped all around her. She looked up, to see Gaara with a small smile on his face, yes a smile!