A/N: I was kind of confused on how to piece together things in this chapter, so it came out a bit...strained? ): But anywho! The bigger events are coming up soon :D I wanted to use this chapter to really show what a kickass ninja Sakura can be and I hope I did a good job on showing that ^.^

And also, I really wanna thank you guys for the positive reviews, you keep me motivated :D

Disclaimer: Once again, Kishimoto shattered my dream by making Naruto his.

Chapter 4

Don't go.

She was surrounded by complete darkness. Where was she? Why was she here?

Please.

She heard a strong voice calling out to her, almost desperately. Somehow, she couldn't help but feel like going towards the voice. She would if she could but there was absolutely nothing around her and the voice seemed to be coming from nowhere.

Suddenly she saw a mirror. She saw her own reflection, but it wasn't really her. It was the 12 year old version of her. She looked much happier, and her happiness seemed to be radiating out towards her. But suddenly, the old her disappeared, and nothing was in the mirror. The mirror shattered, and she found herself screaming at the horror of the sight. For some reason, she felt as if her existence had shattered along with that mirror.

She started falling, she was terrified of the never ending fall.

Don't go…please, don't.

She heard that voice again, and it seemed so sad and as if someone was mourning.

She felt like she was never going to stop falling, until, a hand reached out towards her and grabbed a hold of her own hand. At that exact moment, the darkness disappeared, and finally, for the first time in her life, she found light and it seemed to warm her skin.

Despite the peaceful ending to her nightmare/dream, Sakura woke up with a jerk. Her face was covered with sweat as she fluttered her eyes until she recognized where she was, only to stare at the familiar ceiling. She was in her own apartment. But how? She wondered. The last thing she remembered before blackness enveloped her was the steady heartbeat of…she gasped, Naruto?

She blushed at the thought. His heart's strong rhythm had lulled her into a deep sleep.

It was noon when she had woken up. She felt plenty rested and decided to spend most of her day training to polish up on her skills. She took her time to take her shower and get dressed. Today, instead of the usual hospital uniform, she wore her ANBU uniform.

After applying her chest bindings, she put on a tight white ANBU tank top that laced up in the front. She slipped on her black miniskirt and over it, she wore a long black skirt that flowed in the back and was open in the front. After she got her regular ninja boots on, she picked up the weapons she thought were necessary and made her way into the kitchen to grab a snack.

As she left her house, she tied her hair back into a long ponytail once again, and slipped on her hitai-ate in its usual place on her head. She paused and looked up into at the beautiful weather. She felt peaceful today, after finally being able to get a full night's rest, instead of waking up at unusual hours to stare out her window.

She made her way to the Hokage's tower, hoping that her shishou wouldn't be too busy to train her.

Standing outside the door to Tsunade's office, Sakura lightly knocked on it and got a gruff, "Come in!" in reply.

"Shishou, you wouldn't be too busy to train me today, would you?" Sakura carefully asked.

Tsunade sighed and said, "Gomen, Sakura, I have a lot to do today. Maybe another time." She gave her student an apologetic smile.

Sakura nodded in understanding and gave her a quick, "Hai," before leaving the office.

As Sakura closed the door, Tsunade couldn't keep the thought of how much her precious student had changed over the years out of her head.

Sakura was walking to the training grounds in hopes of finding someone she knew to spar with. On her way there, she had bumped into Ino, who was more than excited to see her.

"Hey! Forehead-girl! What're you up to?" Ino curiously asked with a smile.

"I'm going to the training grounds, Ino-pig," Sakura replied, obviously bored. "Wanna come with?"

"Uh…Sure! I have nothing to do today anyway, but let me tell you right now," Ino wagged a finger at Sakura, "I refuse to do any training, I just did my nails!" Ino whined.

Sakura just had to chuckle a little at her best friend's silly concerns and they both made their way to the training grounds.

Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were already at the grounds. Kakashi had challenged Sasuke to a quick session, seeing that he got permission to train two times a week while under house arrest, and Sasuke took on that challenge.

Naruto sat in the shade under a tree, watching his teammates until it was his turn to train. Sasuke and Kakashi were still sparring when Naruto noticed Sakura and Ino walking over to him. He flashed the two girls a grin as they came over and stood by Naruto and watched the other two men.

"Hehhh? Sasuke-kun sure has gotten faster, hasn't he?" Ino said with a tone of admiration. Of course she wasn't in love with him anymore, like back in her childhood days. She just thought of him as a talented person and admired him.

"Who? The teme? Pfft, I kicked his ass at this not too long ago. He's gotten slower if you ask me." Naruto gloated, "By the way Sakura, how do you feel?" He asked with a smile playing his lips.

Sakura glanced over at Naruto before replying softly with, "I'm much better, thanks, Naruto." She smiled a small, fleeting smile and closed her eyes, trying not to let the blood rush to her cheeks after last night.

After a few moments of watching Kakashi and Sasuke, Naruto piped up excitedly, "Ne, Sakuraaaa-chan," Naruto stood up and grinned, "wanna do a little sparring with me?"

"Hmmm?" Sakura once again glanced at Naruto, and then smirked, "Sure, you're on."

Naruto started walking over to an open section of the training ground while Sakura discarded her unnecessary equipment and only kept what she wanted. She took her hitai-ate off from her head and used it as a blindfold around her eyes. With that, she added on long black gloves with a metal guard on each one.

Sakura walked over to Naruto and started taking her stance. Naruto, however, was confused and asked her, "Sakura, what are you doing? How can you fight if you can't see?"

Sakura replied back, "This is how Tsunade-shishou has always trained me. She said if I train with a blindfold, it would help make my senses keener," she smirked, "how do you think I became an ANBU?"

It was Naruto's turn to smirk, hmmm? Not bad.

Naruto soon positioned himself into a defensive stance, seeing that Sakura was going into offensive. "Ready?" He asked.

Sakura gave a sly smile, "You better not go easy on me."

"Go." Naruto replied back, excited to see exactly how much Sakura had improved.

After Naruto had said that single word, both shinobis had disappeared. However, a short few milliseconds later, the clanging of metal could be heard in the air as Sakura's metal arm guard met Naruto's as he blocked her punch. Within a blink of an eye, both once again disappeared. This time however, instead of meeting each other at the same time, Sakura got to Naruto first and threw a series of punches and kicks at him.

She wasn't going to give Naruto any opening where he could retaliate. Nope, she was going to be fully on the offensive. Naruto was in shock at first, he hadn't expected her to be so fast with a blindfold on. He had no choice but to keep jumping back every time she attacked, he could sense the chakra that had gathered in her hands, and he was not willing to get hit by her bone shattering punches.

Ino was watching Naruto and Sakura, her mouth open as she stood there in shock. S-sugoi, was the only thought that came to her mind when she saw how much Sakura had improved.

Up until now, no one had ever seen Sakura train seriously, except Tsunade and Shizune. She would never show her true abilities when sparring with her other friends. But she felt obliged to show her teammates today how much determination was poured into her hard work.

For a long time, all that could be seen were flashes and blurs of pink and blonde hair. Every now and then, they would stop and stand in stance in front of each other to catch their breath, beads of sweat rolling down Naruto's handsome features and Sakura's porcelain skin. Then, without warning, they would start the same routine again. Naruto would attack for a while, and Sakura would be defending, and then the roles switch as they force each other to their limits.

Sakura's hair tie had slipped off in the middle of her sparring, and her long pink hair flowed in every which direction, since she didn't stay in one spot for too long. But she paid no attention to it; her mind focused on only one thing, she could now keep up with Naruto.

Sensing Naruto's increasing speed and chakra from behind her, she quickly turned around and threw her leg into the air to block Naruto's kick. She heard a quiet crunch. She had injected chakra from her leg into his on that last kick and it seemed that Naruto now had a fracture.

"That's enough for today," came Kakashi's voice. Sasuke and him had long ago finished their practice, and had been watching Naruto and Sakura the whole time.

Naruto and Sakura both nodded. Sakura removed her blindfold and quickly went over to Naruto to heal his injury. She suppressed her chakra into her hands so that they were glowing green and bent down to mend the fracture back into its original form. During the whole process, Naruto had been looking down at her, with admiration and a sincere smile on his face. You've gotten stronger, Sakura-chan.

However, Naruto wasn't the only one thinking that same exact thought. Everyone else that had just witnessed her had that same thought running through their heads. Sakura had kept her training and skills to herself for three long years, only to finally unleash her newly obtained prowess, to prove to everyone that she can indeed become the best kunoichi the village had ever seen.

An unseen tension among the male members of Team 7 had seemed to disappear after observing their female teammate. They felt proud of her for overcoming her weakness and proving every bastard that thought she was weak, wrong. Even though she didn't show it, Sakura couldn't stop herself from smirking inwardly, knowing she had finally gained a sense of respect from her team, and obtaining the knowledge that they no longer would need to always protect her. A feeling of satisfaction ran through her entire body.

They all had taken time to rest from their intense workout. Maintaining such speed seemed to have a big effect on Naruto and Sakura's bodies. Despite their tiredness, Naruto couldn't help but be attracted to this new stronger physique that Sakura showed off today. He had known that she grew stronger, but he never got the chance to test exactly how strong. Naruto couldn't wipe that stupid smile off his face as he glanced over Sakura's resting form against the tree.

Sakura was leaning against the tree, her eyes closed, taking in the serene atmosphere. Ino had already left, saying she had to tend to the flower shop. Now it was just Sakura and her teammates. She had forgotten how good it felt to be surrounded by people you practically considered family. She almost, almost forgot about the many painful experiences she had to go through to keep her family together.

She had to let go of her childish grip on Sasuke, had to fight with her emotions after being heartbroken twice. She had to sacrifice her true love for Naruto, so he wouldn't feel guilty. She had to work a thousand times harder than everyone else so she could prove herself to her team. And now, after going through things that she was too young for, she had built a strong wall around her heart, around her exterior, but deep inside, she was breaking into pieces..

But she doesn't know yet that Naruto would be the one to glue them back together.

End of Chapter 4! I think I kinda failed this one, but I'll try to make it better next time! So please bear with me?

And once again, I'm so thankful for the positive reviews you guys are giving me, it makes me happy to see that my story isn't too bad :D

Please review and let me know how this chapter was :D