Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter II: The Color of a Thousand Cherry Petals

"Geez. Do I always have to protect you?"

"I, too. I mean… I am always here with you. If you… need me, that is."

"Let. Go. Of. Her. I'm gonna fuckin' kill you if you don't."

She awoke. Sitting up in her bed, she felt herself breathing heavily, as she glanced at the alarm clock.

3:00 a.m.

Sighing, she leaned back in her bed. Again.

Another one of those strange dreams. She didn't even know if they were considered nightmares or not.

"Why now?" she muttered. I haven't had those for several years. And now... the most recent days, I've been having them all over again. They don't make sense, either. Just sentences… voices… and I can't remember them after the dream is over.

"Your past," she remembered Tsunade, the owner of the clinic, saying when she had them several years ago. "It's your past haunting you. It's the memories you don't want to forget. Or rather, the memories that don't want you to forget."

The memories that I don't want to forget…

She closed her eyes. What memories would that be?

"Again?"

Sai raised an eyebrow questioningly as response as Sakura, with a troubled face expression, slowly chewed on the noodles in her mouth. Swallowing, she quietly said: "Yes."

"Geez." Sai sighed. "You haven't had those for years."

"Yeah, I know." Sakura looked up at her friend. "What if… what if they're warning me?"

"Warning you? Of what?"

"Of… something in my past that's going to reappear. I don't know. It's just that… haunting feeling…"

He frowned. "Ugly, you're spending too much of your free time watching TV."

Annoyed, Sakura replied: "No, I'm not! And besides, I'm just guessing. It's just that I have this weird feeling."

Another sigh, as Sai put down his glass of water. "Maybe it's destiny."

Blink. "What?"

"Yeah, you know. Maybe it's kind of like you're saying. Maybe it's destiny giving you a sign that something's going to happen…"

Sakura listened attentively. Sai's lips cracked into a smile.

"… or it's you dreaming weird dreams after having watched Spirited Away for the fifty-eleventh time."

Sai dodged effectively as a can of Coke was about to hit his still smiling face.

"Sakura-san!"

Twirling around, Sakura faced her widely grinning colleague, Rock Lee. She smiled warmly. "Hi, Lee-san."

"I heard rumors that you were being moved. But I knew it wasn't true! But I've bought a bouquet anyway!" Bending down on one knee, Lee blushed a little as he pulled a gigantic bouquet of colorful flowers out of nowhere.

"Wow, thanks!" Sakura beamed as she took the bouquet. "But actually – sorry, Lee – it's true, I'm being moved. I'm just here to collect some stuff. But I still work here, though, it's just that I'm temporarily moved to Spirit of the Sakura."

"The psych ward?" Lee looked worried as he arose again. "I'll ask to be moved, too! I'll protect you from the evil that threatens to destroy the spring of the youth!"

Sakura sweatdropped. "No, it's okay, Lee. I'm just going to take care of one patient, and I can do it alone. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"But Sakura-san…"

"I'll come and visit you guys. Okay?"

"Good! I'll visit you too." Lee made a special pose where he stretched out one of his arms with the thumb pointing upwards, as his teeth sparkled. "Believe it!"

"Okay." Sakura smiled. "Thanks for the flowers, Lee. I'll see you around!"

"Yes! Bye, Sakura-san, and remember to call me if you need help!"

"I will," she shouted as she walked into her office. A man standing there looked up, and Sakura flushed. "H-hi, Neji-kun!"

"Oh… Sakura. Hi." Blank expression as always, Sakura noted. "Tsunade asked me to assemble the papers for you. You're here to collect them, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

Silence. Sakura cursed herself for her inability to say something to break the awkwardness. "So, uh, Neji-kun, how's it going? With the appointments, I mean."

"Good."

"… That's… good."

"…."

The door was slammed open unexpectedly as a woman with her hair in two buns tripped on the threshold, and only managed to gain her composure to look at the surprised Sakura and the bored Neji. "Neji! THERE YOU ARE! Hi, Sakura!"

"Tenten! Good to see you again." Sakura grinned. "Where've you been?"

"Everywhere," Tenten sighed. "God, that vacation was fabulous. I really needed it. After Gaara, I seriously needed a break. He totally exhausted me."

"Yeah, but it's great that he's fine now." Sakura remembered the red-head with the stern face expression, and his crazed whispers of blood-thirst. Just the memories sent shivers down her spine; but now his mental condition was healthy again, and he had become shy and yet dominant in some quiet way.

"I know." Tenten glanced at the piles of files neatly placed on Sakura's desk. "I heard you were getting moved to the psych ward. Are you really sure, Sakura?"

"Yeah." Sakura looked at her determinedly. "I got this job because I wanted to help people. Saying no to helping someone is just unacceptable."

"… I guess." Tenten beamed. "Well, good luck!"

"Thanks!" Sakura put the files in her bag. "Well, I'm off again. Bye, Neji-kun! Bye, Tenten! I'll see you guys soon!"

"Bye!" Tenten cheerfully waved as Sakura disappeared out of sight. Then Tenten turned to Neji. "… You didn't tell her, did you?"

Neji shook his head. "I don't think she wants to know."

"WHAT?!" The fist of the aggravated blonde slammed onto the desk.

"Well, Uzumaki-san… she's very talented," the man answered unsurely. "I thought you'd be happy… Haruno is the perfect choice. Nothing like the previous psychiatrists."

"Why you…," he hissed through gritted teeth. "You knew, didn't you?"

Pause. "No."

He sighed, clearly irritated. "Have you already contacted her?"

"Yes. She's on her way here."

"… Fine. You may leave."

"Yes, Uzumaki-san." The man bowed as he headed out the door, as a woman with long, dark-blue hair and pearly eyes entered the room with a concerned face expression.

"Is anything wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"Nothing, Hinata-chan…" Naruto ran a hand through his hair with another troubled sigh. "Sakura-chan is on her way here…"

Hinata's eyes widened. "Sakura-san?"

"Yeah."

"… Naruto-kun…" Hinata looked pitifully at him. "Do you want ramen for dinner?"

He smiled tiredly. "That'd be great, thanks."

Giving the taxi driver the payment for the ride, she stepped out of the car, and looked at the building in front of her.

It was so grey. So gloomy.

So dark.

But around the building stood at least twenty cherry trees planted. And they were in full bloom.

She smiled. That's a good sign.

"What's this I hear about a new psychiatrist?"

His eyes looked into the nurse's. She gulped, taken aback by the sudden eye contact.

"Sh-she's coming t-today," she stuttered. "I-in just a f-few minutes."

"In a few minutes? And it's a she?" He smirked. "Now this is interesting… what's her name?"

"Her name is…"

"Haruno Sakura, was it?"

He looked so serious. But then again, he was the boss of the psych ward. You had to be serious here. Sakura decided to ignore the agonized screams that could be heard within the rooms.

"Yeah." She smiled brightly. "And you must be Uzumaki Naruto-san! Pleased to meet you."

"You can just call me Naruto." A smile tugged at his lips. But it disappeared as he was seemingly reminded of where they were. "… You're going to tend Uchiha Sasuke. Have you been warned of his condition?"

"Yes!" she said cheerfully. "He's 'lost in darkness', as stated in the report, right?"

"Right…" He sighed. "And also, another thing."

"Yes?"

"Don't say your name is Sakura."

She blinked, surprised. "Why?"

"It's complicated. We've currently informed him your name is Atsuino Izumi." (A/N: Which means 'warm spring'.)

"Okay." She smiled. "May I proceed?"

He heard footsteps. Then, they stopped. In front of his door. He smirked. A new victim. And a female. How interesting.

Then his door opened…

The first impression she had of the room was just as the building. Grey, gloomy and most of all, dark. Then she saw him.

He stared at her. Even in the darkness, he could clearly see the colors. Pink…

"… like thousand cherry petals…"

It was a mere whisper. A hoarse one, too. Sakura snapped out of her trance as she stared into the obsidian eyes that clearly seemed to look at her hair.

But he seemed so… familiar.

"Oh, you mean my hair?" she laughed. "Hi. My name is Atsuino Izumi."

"Warm spring?" He chuckled… but it had no warmth. She winced at how cold he was, even compared with some of the patients she had dealt with before. "… Suits you."

"Thanks." She smiled broadly. "Do you like spring?"

"…." At first, no reply came. Then, "No."

"Really? Why not? Spring's beautiful, you know," she went on, as she sat down in the chair opposite his bed, on which he was seated.

"It's insignificant," came the reply. The menace in his eyes almost frightened her, but Sakura warned herself not to lose her composure. "It's nothing but a beginning of a year that will result in winter. Spring doesn't last. Soon, the summer will come, and after that, autumn and winter. In fact, the biggest part of the year consists of cold and darkness. Just like this place."

She cocked an eyebrow questioningly. "What do you mean, Uchiha-san?"

"It's a dark place. A place filled with despair. But to cover it up, they give it a nice name and they plant Sakura trees all over the place." He snorted. "Pathetic. Once you've entered this building, you'll know what true darkness is…"

Sakura silenced. "You don't like it here, do you?"

"Who would? They send a bunch of psychiatrists to me, thinking they'll make it better. They talk to me like I'm a little child, thinking I understand nothing. Bullshit. Being a psycho doesn't equal dumb."

He knows he's mentally disturbed? "So, Uchiha-san… what have the previous psychiatrists told you?"

"Che. Nothing but the same bullshit as every other psychiatrist says. If I just cooperate, I'll be able to see light. I'll be able to get out of this darkness. Fools. There is no light." His eyes pierced into hers. "You're going to tell me the same, aren't you?"

"Well… uh…" She was taken aback by the question; she had planned to do that, but clearly it didn't seem to work. "… I'm not quite sure as of yet. But if it disturbs you, I guess I won't say the same." She smiled. "Could you tell me about the darkness, please?"

He smirked. Again, with only icy emotion displayed in it, Sakura began to wonder if all the patients here were like this… either crazed or colder than ice. "There's no need to. Soon enough, you'll see for yourself."

Just then, somebody opened the door. "Atsuino-san? You've got a phone call."

"Can't it wait?" Sakura asked, furrowing her eyebrows in annoyance.

"Clearly not. The caller said it was an emergency." The woman who was standing on the threshold looked terrified as Sasuke averted his gaze to her.

"Oh." Sakura smiled warmly at the human replica of a block of ice in front of her. "Well, I'll be coming back, Uchiha-san. It was very nice to meet you. Bye."

With those words, she exited the room and started to follow the woman. Suddenly, her head started to ache badly. "Ah…!"

"I never want to forget –

- the days I spend with you –

- because when I'm with you –

- I'm the happiest, Sa --!"

The woman stopped in her tracks, and turning around, she looked worriedly at the pink-haired psychiatrist. "Are you alright, miss?"

"No… I'm fine…," Sakura retorted weakly. What was that just now? That voice…

"Are you sure?"

"No, it's just my head aching. I'm fine," Sakura reassured her as they started walking again.

… was it mine…?

Aaand... the second chapter's out! -makes a ta-dah! pose- What did you guys think? I'm still stuck on the fifth chapter, though... -mutters- By the way, it's completely off-topic, but The Sims 2 Seasons are out! I wonder if it's good or not; I'm considering buying it, since I'm starting to use my old habits of playing The Sims 2 when I'm bored again. (Blame my dear friend Lila, and if you're reading this my little matvraksfriend (Swenglish XD; matvrak in Swedish somebody who eats a lot and gets hungry all the time, a.k.a. foodaholic), don't you dare laugh because otherwise, NO FOOD FOR YOU next time you come here:D)

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Next update is coming March 10th :) Thanks for the reviews and keep reviewing, please!