A/N: Yeeaaahh!! I got three reviews! It doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it is to me! It's three more than what I expected. I'm really happy with the amount of hits I received. I'm so motivated. I'll try to finish chapter three as soon as I can.

I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to a certain someone whom I'm pretending to not know -cough-DeprivedofChocolate-cough-. I know you're busy and all, but we're all dying to see you update! So please do!

This entire chapter is Sakura's dream/flashback. That would explain the italics.

Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura.

F o r g e t – M e – N o t

B y : E n t r a n c i a

Chapter Two: Nightmare

"Sakura-chan," called Nadeshiko. She stood at the foot of the stairs, waiting for her daughter. "Sakura-chan? Could you come down here for a moment?"

"Good boy! You got it!" Nadeshiko heard Sakura exclaim inside her room. "Come on, let's go see what Mom wants." An instant later, Sakura bounded down the stairs with a black Labrador retriever trotting along happily behind her. She had a pretzel in one hand. "Yes, Mom?" she said.

Nadeshiko regarded her daughter suspiciously. "What were you doing up there? You weren't feeding Spinel-san pretzels again, were you?" She frowned for a moment at the memory of Spinel throwing up all over their dinner.

Sakura shook her head quickly, all wide eyes, obviously remembering what had happened. She had been the one to clean it up since it was her fault. Ick. Truly a scarring experience. "I was just teaching Spinel-san a new trick. The only things I fed him were his doggy treats."

"Then what's the pretzel for?" Nadeshiko asked.

"What, this?" Sakura held up the pretzel. "This is for me." She stuffed the pretzel into her mouth and chewed. "See?" She opened her mouth to show her mother the lumpy goop inside.

"Thanks for that," said Nadeshiko sarcastically. Sakura laughed and managed not to choke.

"What was the trick you taught Spinel-san?" asked Nadeshiko, watching the Labrador sniff at the light pink backpack her daughter had on.

"Oh!" Sakura's eyes lit up. "Would you like to see it? We just perfected it a while ago." At her mother's nod, Sakura took off the backpack Spinel was pawing at and pulled out a bag of pretzels.

"Now wait just a minute!" started Nadeshiko. "You said those pretzels were for you."

"They are," Sakura said. "Spinel-san looks at the pretzel, does the trick, I eat the pretzel, and then we start all over again with a new one." She took a pretzel out of the bag and held it above Spinel, who looked at it excitedly, his tail wagging furiously.

"Are you ready, Spinel-san? Ready to show Mom what you can do? Okay, see the pretzel? Now... twist!" ordered Sakura.

Her mother watched with mild amusement as Spinel sat down and coiled, entwined, and twisted himself into a strange shape. When he was done he resembled a pretzel with a dog's head. Nadeshiko couldn't help but laugh.

"That's what you've been spending all your time on?" she asked.

Sakura made a swift gesture and Spinel untangled himself. She rubbed her dog's head affectionately. "Of course. Don't you think it's a cool trick? It took us a week to get it right!"

"It was a wonderful trick, Sakura-chan." Nadeshiko decided not to tell her that she had practiced the same trick with her dog when she was a girl. Then she remembered what she called her daughter for. "Sakura-chan, could you do me a favor?"

Sakura stopped petting Spinel. "Anything. What do you need?"

"We're out of bread," said Nadeshiko. She showed Sakura a bag, empty except for a few crumbs at the bottom. "Can you run down to the market and buy another loaf?"

"No problem."

The older woman smiled. "I can always count on you, Sakura-chan," she said, and gave Sakura a quick hug. "I can count on Touya, too, but he's busy helping your father reorganize the basement," she said as an afterthought, "so you'll do."

"I feel so loved."

Nadeshiko laughed. "I do love you. Now go."

Sakura started to leave, but turned around after she took a step, remembering something. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I don't have any money."

Nadeshiko frowned. "What about the 82,000 yen you have in that bag of yours?"

"My birthday money? I'm putting that into the bank!"

"I'm only kidding. Here—" She handed Sakura 700 yen. "That should be more than enough. You can keep what's left."

Sakura put it into the pocket of the jacket tied around her waist. "Thanks, Mom. I'll leave now."

"I'll see you later, then. I'll be in the basement with Touya and your father if you need to run back into the house for some reason. Those men need a woman's help to get the job right," said Nadeshiko, lightly shaking her head.

Sakura walked over to the front door where her rollerblading gear lay in a heap on the ground. She slipped them on, put her sneakers into her backpack, and proceeded to the door. As she opened it just a crack, something pushed her hard from behind and stayed on her back. She pitched forward and slammed into the door, closing it again. Her first thought was that it was Touya, but she quickly deemed that unlikely. First of all, her big brother would never try to physically hurt her.

Second of all, Touya didn't drool. Nor was he hairy. A hint of a beard or so—he usually shaved it—but not all-over furry.

"Spinel-san!" laughed Sakura once she saw who it was. "What are you doing?" She gently pried her retriever's paws off her backpack and placed them on the ground. She brushed off some of his fur off her skirt.

Spinel stood staring at his mistress, not looking happy. He looked... edgy. Scared, almost. He gazed at her intently with his big brown doggy eyes, as if trying to tell her something.

She patted his head. "I'm just skating down to the grocery store to get some bread. Just wait for me, okay, boy? I'll be home before you know it."

Spinel whimpered a response and backed up when Sakura opened the front door.

"Mom, I'm leaving!" she yelled. She heard an extremely faint "All right" coming from somewhere beneath her.

Sakura stepped outside and started to close the door. Spinel let out another whimper. She stuck her head back in to look at him. "I'll be right back, I promise. See you later." Sakura shut the door.

She skated along the smooth sidewalk, greeting several people along the way. There was still light out, the sun only starting to set. She moved her feet faster, carefully avoiding pedestrians and automobiles. She nearly skated straight into a man walking with two children, but moved out of the way just in time.

"Sorry!" she shouted at them.

"It's all right!" the man shouted back. One of his kids waved at her. Sakura twisted around to return the wave and smashed into a pole. The children giggled. Sakura stuck out her tongue playfully at them and continued skating, rubbing the spot on her head where it got hit.

It took Sakura ten minutes to get to the grocery store. She sat down on the edge of the street to remove her roller blades and put her shoes on, the store's "No Skates" rule in mind. Once inside the store, it didn't take long to find the bread her mother requested. She also selected a new dog toy for Spinel since he was acting so jittery earlier—a chewy, squeaky bone made of rubber.

Sakura was on her way to pay for the items when she accidentally bumped into someone from behind.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized quickly. The person turned around, revealing unfriendly, icy blue eyes that contrasted with his tanned skin. She knew him. It was Natsumari Satoshi, a student who took several of the same classes as her.

"Oh! Satoshi-kun! Good evening," she said.

His eyes were fixed in his usual glare. "It's Natsumari to you, Kinomoto," he growled. "What do you want?"

"Oh... I... I just wanted to say hi," she faltered, feeling slightly intimidated. "Is that a problem?"

Rather than answering, he gave her a fierce look. "You're really dense, aren't you?" he said finally and stalked away.

She blinked. What was that about? she thought. All I did was say hello.

She quickly paid for the bread and squeaky rubber bone and left the store, stuffing the items into her backpack. She put her roller blades on and started the ten-minute skate back home. At this point, the sun was at that position where it turned the clouds pink and exposed all the colors of the sky. She'd better hurry if she wanted to get home before it got dark.

Sakura pondered over Natsumari's hostile manner while she glided across the street. Actually, he always acted like that whenever she went over to his house. Sakura was best friends with his twin sister, Jouichi, so he was used to seeing her face. And each time he scowled at her and shut himself in his room. Sakura had no idea what she could have done that caused Natsumari to hate her. She never insulted him in any way; on the contrary, she was always trying to do nice things for him, hoping he'd be at least civil back to her, but he'd return her kindness with rudeness. What was his problem? Jouichi was so considerate and soft-spoken that it seemed impossible that her brother could be so mean.

Sakura sighed. Twins were always either creepily alike or terribly different. Never in-between. In the Natsumari twins' case, it was the latter.

As she skated closer to her house, the feeling hit her that something was off. Terribly off. The sky was very strange looking up ahead. Instead of the pretty orange-red, it was an ominous grey right above where her neighborhood was. Heartbeat quickening, Sakura sped up. In her haste, she forgot to look where her feet went and skated into a deep crack in the ground. She was sent sprawling to the sidewalk. Frustrated with her roller blades, she took them off and tied her shoes on. There wasn't room in her backpack for the roller blades, so she hugged them to her chest instead and ran down another three blocks.

Only two more to go.

She wasn't close enough to see her house, but she had to be blind in order to not see the massive pillows of black smoke that ascended into the sky.

No, she pleaded silently, wishing with all her might that it wasn't what she thought it was. Dear Kami-sama, please, no.

Her heart stopped once she stepped into her neighborhood and saw what was happening. Her house—her beautiful, lovely house—was completely engulfed by huge flames. And all around it was chaos. DO NOT CROSS tape circled the blaze, policemen patrolling the area. Two fire trucks parked a safe distance away from the heat. A bunch of firefighters swarmed around them, one man yelling out something about insufficient water. Curious neighbors poked their heads out of their homes to watch her house roast, excited that something interesting was happening across from where they lived. Sakura wanted to scream at them all to mind their own businesses and go away.

There was no trace of her family.

Without thinking, Sakura started walking towards her burning home, or rather, what was left of it. A quarter of the roof had already caved in. Parts of the house were starting to fall off and crumble into ashes.

She didn't see the firefighter until he grabbed her.

"Miss! Where do you think you're going?" he barked at her.

She looked at him. He was a big man, tall and well built with broad shoulders. Just how a firefighter should look. His hand felt rough on her arm.

"That's my house on fire," she said, more calmly than she felt. "I think my family is still in there. I'd appreciate it if you let me go find them."

The firefighter clearly thought she was crazy. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. We don't want you waltzing into a burning house. That's practically suicide!" He let go of her arm. "Now, what was that about your family? They're still in there?"

She nodded, getting more impatient by the second.

"Hold on for a moment. I need to inform the others," he said. He stuck his hands in his pocket and searched around. "Shit," he swore. "Left the radio back in the truck."

He looked at the girl standing by his side. "I need to tell the rest of the firefighters. Stay here," he said sternly. "It's dangerous up there."

Sakura waited five seconds after he left then started towards the mess that used to be where she lived. She stopped after two steps. A movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention. Looking closer, she could make out two figures running into the woods behind her house. Her hopes rose at the thought that they could be her parents, but they were quickly crushed by her logical side. If that were the case, why were they running away from the firefighters? And where was Touya?

She looked around to make sure no one was looking her way, then sneaked off to the woods in the direction of the figures.

Whenever Sakura was absorbed with something, she'd often forget where she was. And so she failed to remember that there were many trees in the woods. She smacked her forehead into a low branch as she tried to tiptoe after the pair, and accidentally let out a squeak. She dove behind a large bounder, scraping her arm, just as one of them turned around.

"What is it?" she heard it ask.

Her eyes widened. She knew that voice from somewhere. It was very high, like a little girl's, and she knew she'd heard it many times before, but it kept slipping her mind. With the shock of discovering her house looking like a giant bonfire, she probably couldn't even remember her own name.

"I—never mind. I just thought I saw something. It was probably just a raccoon," replied the other person. "Go. Keep moving."

That voice was familiar, too. This one was deeper, a male voice.

They started walking quickly. The trees' thick, leafy canopy blocked enough of the orange sky so that Sakura couldn't see what the two looked like, but she could still see them moving. Carefully, she followed them deeper into the woods, slipping behind trees every so often. They began to talk in frightened, hushed voices. Sakura had to strain her ears in order to hear what they were saying.

"Oh, Kami-sama, what are we going to do?" That was the one with the little girl voice.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? You're the smart one. You figure this out." The guy.

"I don't know!" The girl sounded near hysterics. "I only meant to set a small fire to her room, just to scare her a bit. Maybe even ruin some of her things. I didn't know that this would happen! I just figured that since Sakura-chan's always in her room, she'd see the fire and put it out. I even heard her move around in there! But then the flames got bigger and bigger without stopping and then we heard the fire engine—"

Sakura got a very unusual urge to jump the two right there and beat them to a bloody, disgusting pulp.

"It could have been that hell hound of hers you heard messing around in the room. Did that ever occur to you?"

"N-no," admitted the girl. She was still for a while, and sat down on a large rock to think about what her partner said. Her behavior, the way she talked, it was all so very familiar to Sakura. As she tried hard to remember, the girl suddenly stood up, startling her. "Why don't we keep walking?" she suggested hesitantly to the boy. "I don't think it's smart to stay here very long."

He scoffed. "I didn't think it was smart to burn down that house, either, but we went ahead and did that anyway," he replied, but did as she said and started walking. The girl timidly went after him.

They stopped in an area where the trees were spaced farther apart. It was a tad more difficult to hide, but Sakura could see them a little more clearly now. They both wore hooded jackets with the hoods on, despite the summer heat. One was pacing. She assumed it was the girl since she had a skirt on under the jacket. The boy sat at the foot of a tree with knees drawn up to his chest, his arms around them in a hug. He buried his head into his knees. All of a sudden the tough boy seemed like a child.

"This is all your fault," came the muffled male voice from the person against the tree. "If only you weren't so jealous—"

The girl stopped pacing at those words and turned sharply to him. "Excuse me? I'm jealous? Who was the one who suggested this whole stupid idea in the first place? You did! If it's anyone's fault, it's yours!"

The boy looked up, his face still hidden inside his hood. "Yeah, but who threw the match into her window? Who came barging into my house rambling about how much you hate her? Who begged me to tag along and carry out this messed up plan? I believe it was you."

She looked as if she wanted to object, but held it in. She crossed her arms. "Well, can you blame me for hating her? Little Miss Perfect, always helping people out." Her words became spiteful. "She was the teachers' precious pet, with her wonderful grades and constant cheerfulness. Sickening. Absolutely sickening." It amazed Sakura how quickly the girl could change moods. She went on, "She's on the cheerleading squad, but no one hates her because she's always so nice. Even to those geeks and loners. Who the hell does that anymore? Those losers don't deserve attention. It's people like us who deserve it."

Sakura still wasn't sure who that girl was, but she was starting to hate her as much as the girl seemed to hate Sakura. And Sakura never hated anyone before.

Stop talking! she screamed in her mind. But the girl wasn't done.

"What about all those boys? They're virtually drooling every time she walks by them. Every single one of them. Even you! Don't deny it!" she said when he, still until then, raised his head to protest. "I caught you staring at her in every class we have together. You never looked at me that way. Never," she said sadly, clearly having another mood swing as her tone changed. In a second, however, the anger returned. "And look at her parents. Her mother is still a model, even at her age, and her father is practically perfect! And her brother is unbelievably hot and shouldn't care about her when he has looks like that, but he does. You can just tell. Who cares if her life is ruined now because she doesn't have a place to live and her family is dead?"

She started to cry, pitiful little sobs that should have made Sakura feel sorry for her, but it didn't. All Sakura felt was a bitter numbness at those words. Her mother. Her father. Her big brother. Dead. All of them. And she was supposed to be, too. But she wasn't.

The boy made no attempt to stop the girl from her jealous rant. He acted as if he heard it all before and it didn't interest him at all. He waited until his partner-in-crime calmed down. Then he spoke. "Done?"

Shakily, she said, "Yes."

"Good." He stood up, in control again. "Now what are we going to do?"

The girl hiccuped. "D-do about w-what?"

"This situation. What else do you think I'm talking about? Within the last thirty minutes, we just burned down someone's house. It wasn't intended, but it was caused by my plan—which, might I add, I was joking when I suggested it—and by your hands. It's called arson, in case you didn't know. And we also killed three people and a bitch—"

"It's a male dog," said the girl. He must have glared at her because she flinched and squeaked an apology.

"That's called murder," he continued. "Unintentional, but still murder. Two very serious crimes committed in the same day by the same people. What the hell am I supposed to do about this? I didn't want to go with you in the first place. And now I'm wanted by the police?" He laughed a very scary laugh. "Of course, they think the house burned down by accident. Sakura has no enemies."

The girl was crying again. "Stop it! Just—stop it! I never meant for this to happen. It was just a terrible mistake. Everything's my fault. I'm sorry I brought you into this, Koji-kun."

Sakura froze at that name. Koji. One of her two best friends. As soon as she heard that, everything became clear. She could see the faces under the hoods regardless it being dark. The girl was Jouichi. Lovable, loyal Jouichi with the brother who hated Sakura's guts. It seemed the twins weren't that different after all.

She looked at the friendship bracelet on her wrist with disgust. She was a fool to have trusted them for that long, and even more foolish to have not suspected anything. She untied the bracelet Jouichi gave her and let it drop to the ground. Two tears escaped her eyes and slid down her face. They dripped onto the bracelet. After that, the tears came faster and didn't cease.

"Koji-kun?" said Jouichi apprehensively.

"What?"

"If Sakura-chan wasn't in her room and she was stuck in some other part of the house... doesn't that mean that we—we k-ki—" She swallowed hard. "Killed her, too?"

Koji looked a little startled by that. "Yeah. I guess... we did. We... killed Sakura. Start crying again and I won't hesitate to leave you in this forest," he snarled as she started tearing up. She looked so scared at the thought of him leaving her that her eyes dried up at once.

Sakura couldn't bear to listen to any more of it. She got up from the tree she was pressed up against and fled the scene, not caring if they heard her. No, she wanted them to hear her. A branch was in her path. She stepped on it purposely, and it snapped in half with a loud crack.

Behind her, Jouichi shrieked and Koji swore.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Fuck, she heard us!"

Sakura ran. She didn't stop when she got out of the woods. She didn't stop when a neighbor saw her and yelled something at her. She didn't even stop when her legs threatened to buckle. She just kept running until she was out of breath. Until she was sure she was far, far away from the murderers in the woods whom she used to call best friends. She disappeared into the unknown.

And then she woke up.

A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter. But I think it was too dramatic, though. Oh, well. You can really see the difference between the current Sakura and the one a year before.

I'm happy with how this fanfic is turning out. It's COMPLETELY different than the original version, but I like this one better. The other one had too much cussing and other bad stuff.

And HUGE thanks to those three who took a minute out of their lives to review: KamichamaKarinLover25, WhenItAllFallsApart93, and Deprived of Chocolate! You've really made my day.

I won't beg for reviews or threaten to not update if you don't (I have more dignity than that!) but keep in mind that the more reviews I get, the faster I'll post the next chapter. Motivation is the key, people!

Until next time,

- Mimi