Title: Sakura's Home
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I don't own anything about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...
Rating: K+
Warning: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.
Summary: Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.
Authors Notes: Only 4 more chapters to go! Is everyone excited? I know I am. So here's the good news. I finished writing the whole fic, so updates should be very fast. I will upload a new chapter every Monday, starting with Chapter 20 this Monday (May 27, 2007), and so on until I get to the last chapter. So in nearly three weeks, This will be a COMPLETE fic. Thank you for all the comments and reviews, it really, really makes me whole world shine.

Chapter 19 – Hinata

Sakura spun around in the darkness that enveloped her. She balled her hands into fists and focused her chakra at the tips of her knuckles. If Kakashi wasn't going to absorb her, or whatever he'd done with Rin, then she would just have to absorb herself.

"Don't."

Sakura froze.

Her blood ran cold, and her hands began to shake. She knew that voice.

It belonged to the girl she'd killed.

Sakura turned wildly in the darkness, her arms swinging back and forth, groping at the blackness. "Hinata-chan?" She called and took a few steps in the direction she'd heard the voice. "Is that you?"

Sakura felt ridiculous twirling in circles, reaching at nothing, calling out the name of someone she knew was dead. But she did it all the same.

"Yes, it's me." And then, Hinata's silhouette was framed against a light in the distance. She looked just as she had the day she died. Still young, and beautiful. Her mystical white eyes reflected what little light existed in this dark, metaphysical world.

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura spoke in a broken whisper and took a step towards her.

"It's me, Sakura-chan." And then, she smiled. Not the coy, demure smile that she used to use so often. This was deep and made her cheeks crease with its intensity. Sakura almost gasped, it was the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen. It suited Hinata's face, the laugh lines indented in her pale, lovely skin.

"How-How is this possible?" She asked, not trusting herself to believe the strange sight in front of her.

"You don't believe I'm real?" Hinata asked. She sounded amused.

"You can't be. I-I…" She couldn't finish the thought.

"Yes, you killed me." And she did it again, she smiled. "But it's not that easy to kill the heir of the Hyuuga Clan." She winked as Sakura, like it was all some big misunderstanding, an inside joke. And Sakura felt as though her insides would split down the middle with sorrow.

"I don't understand."

"I know." Hinata took a step towards her, her eyes clam and unsettling. They were like pools of purple-tinted milk, like a glass of milk that held violets that stained the white just a little. They were always soft and round, seeing more than they should. "That's why I'm here. There's much you don't know about me, or the Hyuuga's."

Hinata sat on a log that Sakura didn't even realize was there. But that's because they were no longer in the darkness, but sitting in a meadow, surrounded by deep, green trees. It looked like Konoha and Sakura's insides twisted again with pain. She would never see this place again. "You're here to tell me about you?"

Hinata laughed, and it was like a wind chime tinkling in the summer breeze. It appeared that death had turned Hinata into an angel, because that's the only way Sakura could think to describe her beauty. "No, silly. I'm here to tell you about you." She patted the log next to her and waited.

Sakura's feet hesitated in the cool grass. She could feel the blades tickle her ankles and she looked down, surprised to find that she was 13 again. Her long, red shirt hung to her knees and her black shorts slid over her undeveloped muscles as she sat. "Me?"

"Yes." Hinata adjusted her position, so she could look at Sakura as she spoke. "What do you know about Byakugan?"

"It's the Hyuuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai." Sakura answered automatically.

"Good. And what do you know about Juuken?" Hinata prodded, gently.

"It's the fighting style the Hyuuga Clan uses." Sakura was beginning to get exasperated. "What does this have to do with anything?" She asked, impatiently.

But Hinata only smiled again, and patted her hand. "I've watched you struggle for five years. I've watched you trying to find a balance, to live and preserve life. I've seen you heal people who should have been dead, and I've seen you train harder each day so that someday, you'd be able to save someone very important to you. I know you've fought against the darkness inside your. And I was there when you were caught in another dimension, trapped by Itachi's Mange Sharigan."

"What?" Sakura's eyes were wide. She didn't understand any of this. How could Hinata know what her life had been like? Was she going crazy? Was Hinata just a delusion her consciousness created as the connection to her body was slowly being severed?

"You still don't believe me." It wasn't a question. Hinata could see that Sakura didn't believe she was real. "I'll prove it." She said determined, "What do you know about tenketsu?"

"They are the outlets for chakra in the person's body." Sakura still wasn't buying it. This Hinata hadn't said anything Sakura didn't already know. "Hyuuga's can see them with Byakugan."

"Yes, and through Juuken, Hyuuga's have learned how to control these outlets." Sakura nodded, but Hinata continued before she could speak. "But did you also know that some Hyuuga's actually have the ability to control the flow of another person's chakra with the use of the tenkentsu's? Not just block the flow, but actually control where the chakra flows, and how much of it is used?"

"What?" Sakura blanched. That was news to her.

"Yes, but there have only been a few in the history of the Hyuuga Clan to achieve this. Until very recently, it was only members of the Main Family. A secret passed down from one successor to the next, if they were able."

"Recently?"

"Neji-nii-san is the first member of the Brach Family to ever achieve this on his own, without any guidance." Hinata smiled, like she was proud of this accomplishment.

"So you can actually control chakra flow in another person?" Sakura was intrigued. This was certainly something she'd never heard about. "I didn't know that was even possible."

"Well, you wouldn't. You're not a Hyuuga." Hinata smiled again, and Sakura registered that in the dream-world, the sun was setting. The rich oranges and pinks made Hinata's pale skin nearly glow.

"I still don't see how this is possible. How do you exist here, wherever that is?" Sakura added quietly.

"You don't recognize your own mind?" Hinata asked, stunned. "Surely you realized that's where we are. Why else would we be sitting in the clearing where I died? You think I'd want to dwell on this place?" Hinata scoffed, and Sakura was completely taken back by how different she was. The Hinata she remembered was so quiet, and shy. But this Hinata seemed so much more confident.

"So, you're saying, my mind created his place." She looked around, still uncertain.

"Precisely." Hinata nodded, enthusiastically.

"So that makes you, what, my conscious?" Sakura joked and twisted her 13-year-old-fingers together.

"No, you don't need a conscious. You're inner self handles that just fine." She smiled again and stood, stretching her legs. "The longer you stay, the harder it will be for you."

"Stay where?"

"Right now your consciousness, and mine, is trapped inside of Kakashi-sensei. After you balanced his chakra, he woke up. And now, you are in danger of losing the connection to your body. With every minute that passes, your mind drifts farther and farther away." Sakura stood too, and the meadow disappeared replaced with the empty blackness from before.

"But I can't go back. Ino's jutsu was one-way."

"That may be." Hinata stood in a pool of light that come from somewhere Sakura couldn't see. "I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to die just yet."

"But you're already dead." Sakura protested but Hinata didn't seem the least bit upset by this.

"Only if you no longer exist." She corrected Sakura with infinite patience. Her voice was warm and soft, like it always was before. And it was almost enough to convince Sakura that she was real. Because Sakura couldn't remember Hinata's voice ever sounding so crisp and clear in her mind before.

"There's no way back to my body!"

"How many tenketsu do people normally have?" Hinata asked and Sakura groaned. She was growing weary of these questions.

"I don't know." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Three hundred and sixty-one." Hinata answered without pause. "And, how many do you think your body has?"

"I don't know, Hinata-chan. Three hundred and sixty-one?"

"Wrong." And now, she smiled. Though, it wasn't the same as before. It was mischievous, playful. It looked out of place on Hinata's soft features. "You have three hundred and sixty-two."

WTF?? I know, I get too involved in the Naruto Lure. But, it's just so painfully interesting. Poor Sakura... what does this mean for her? How can she be saved? And coming up next... What does Neji want back!!!