Previously

And as I looked up I could have sworn I was swimming in a green ocean. Her eyes tore straight through me. Blaming me for much more than a broken mask. Maybe it was for forgetting her name—however, with such an appearance...it was obvious.

"Sakura..." I said to myself. But the wind did not wish to give me the ability to keep secrets. It carried it to her as well.

She closed her eyes and smiled at me as her soft giggle reached my ears.

And everything came rushing back to me. All the painful memories of finally belonging...

Chapter 2 - Missing

Was this all just part of a sick and twisted game? It must have been. She could not have possibly been the weak girl I had once called my teammate. Yet there stood that very persons reflection. She was taller—much taller than I would have expected her to become. And her hair, that which I believe she once treasured, had grown much longer as well. It was far beyond her shoulders...even further than her lower back!

The most obvious change however, was in her eyes. Those emerald pools that stared at me with such wonder. Were I a child, I might have stepped out of her way—but that was not the case. They were much darker than I remembered. Pushing you lower and lower with each glare—she knew not the power which they held.

Maybe she deserved my praise in a way..for I expected her to be at my feet. Yet there she stood, burning through me. She did not have any sadness in her eyes. None whatsoever. She did not look at me with want. Nor, with anger—except maybe for the broken mask. But her eyes also held a secret.

One the the wind did not wish to reveal to me.

"I'm flattered, really." Those were the first words I clearly heard her speak. The change in her voice was immediately noticeable. Yet her remark made no sense. Maybe I should have activated Sharingan at that moment.

"Flattered?" I questioned her. What was it that I had done now? Maybe it was actually acknowledging her in a fight—she had at least improved in that.

She nodded, her smile not fading from her face. I just wished to rip it off of her—she should not have the right to smile.

"I was not expecting such an infamous missing-nin as yourself to know of me."

As her words sunk in, all I could do was stare.

And stare.

Was this really the Sakura I had once known? Her words seemed to tell me otherwise—yet their resemblance was unnatural.

"They teach us much about you—the famous only survivor of the Uchiha clan massacure." She continued as, I suppose, she noticed my silence. Yet her words became lower, and harsher.

"Who then betrayed us."

They shouldn't have... yet her words hurt me. I passed it off as nothing though. More excuses.

"You are not what I expected you to be however..."

No...this couldn't have been Sakura.

"Whys that?" I asked her.

She huffed—her breath was almost visible. "Isn't it obvious?" Her voice would never cease to mock me. "You don't look much older than myself. If you really are who you say you are... then shouldn't I have at least come across you while you were still in Konohagakure?"

Had there been more than one annoying girl with pink hair and green eyes? Highly unlikely.

"...Who are you?" It was all I could think to ask at the current moment.

She looked at me with those eye I hated so much once again. Ridiculing me.

"Sakura Haruno."

I narrowed my eyes, sending her a silent warning. "Hn. You're not her."

She seemed confused as she looked at me with a furrowed brow.

"Whatever you say..."

Her voice was barely audible. She was much more concentrated in attempting to find her long forgotten cloak. She was so vulnerable at this moment—so careless. It most definitely could not have been her. I gripped my sword a little tighter...and I know for certain she saw this, yet she did nothing about it. There was no fear in her eyes—there was...nothing.

Just one tear would suffice.

She must have been a ghost. That was all I could think of. A cruel trick being played by my mind. Was my boredom really that bad? Yet the longer I stared, to more real she became. Her footsteps were still visible. The cut from her vines, just noticed, was very much real. I felt a shock from it quickly rush through me and left once again.

Whoever this person was, she obviously did not know her place. As the seconds passed, she seemed to just forget that I was standing feet away, weapon in hand. And it irritated me. It irritated the hell outa me.

As she found her lost garment, I used my speed at its fullest to quickly disappear and reappear only centimeters behind her—my sword in front of her throat, daring her to move. I felt her body tense in an instant as she breathed in a deep gust of air.

"You should be more careful.." I warned.

Maybe it was the sound of my voice, or the words I had told her, but her body eased once again. She seemed not to care that I was so close, or that my sword could slit her throat at any given second. She resealed the breath she was holding and I could feel her smiling.

She turned her head slightly to look at me, my sword lightly grazing across her neck from the movement—she didn't really seem to care.

Her green eyes narrowed on my own. "If you had really planned to kill me..." I heard her say as her warm breath touched my skin. The sensation was something I had never felt before. Actually being able to feel something real...

"Then you would have already."

It was my bodies turn to become tense. She had a way to make me forget all of the training I had undergone and lose the little patience I did have. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth; her words still revolving in my head.

"..kill me..."

"..you would have already."

"I am not yet your prisoner"

"Uchiha...

"..kill me..."

"I'll do anything for you..."

"I love you so much!"

"..kill me..."

"..kill me..."

"Sasuke..."

"..kill me..."

I opened my eyes and saw her still staring at me. Only this time... her eyes seemed to have a worried look in them. Something I had not seen in them before. As she parted her lips to say something, I swiftly pulled my sword—silencing her.

I sighed as the puff of smoke before me vanished. Looking down, I wast met with a small green crystal. There was a roped tied around it—its end now cut short. I picked it up and held it in one palm. Turning it over, I noticed a small engraving on one of the faces.

It said... "Team 7."

Turning it over towards another face, there was yet another engraving. This time it said "Sakura." And yet another turn, I was sure to find the name "Naruto."

I blinked. Only one face left. I'm not sure what it was I expected...

As I turned it over... I did not find another engraving. The last face was left blank. Yet, taking a closer look... it did look as if there used to be another name there—but it was scraped out...

"Sakura..." I heard myself say as I looked all around the vast forest of pink—but she was nowhere to be seen.

- Sakura's P.O.V -

It felt as if my heart was about to leap out of chest. I could barely see, breathe, or think—all i was able to do at the moment was just run. Run as fast as my legs would take me; forgetting the horrible pain I felt inside of me...the fact that my body was screaming at me to stop.

How could I have been so careless. It wasn't like the usual me to be so..so... to feel so... safe... when around an enemy. And something about that fact just didn't click as right. For as long as I could remember, I had been taught that Sasuke Uchiha was a heartless person, and a powerful one too—two things that should never be allowed to exist inside of one person. Yet as I looked into his eyes only minutes ago, there was something that overpowered both of those traits.

I know he could have killed me right from the beginning. It was foolish of me to even consider fighting him...yet he didn't kill me. He knew me. Or claimed to know a Sakura.

And I... I feel like I know him too... but thats impossible.

Is it?

-Yes.

Only when I reached my apartment—miles away—did I stop running. And at that instant, I knew my body would collapse. I wished it would. But it wouldn't just let me rest in peace; it continued to make me suffer.

There was an eerie sort of cool inside the darkness of my apartment that I had recently fallen in love with. To most it would seem rather strange, yet to me it was the most relaxing feeling in the world. Just as quickly as I had entered, I plopped down and my bed and closed my eyes, sighing heavily—so loudly that I was sure the entire village could have heard it...or at least those who were willing to listen. It hurt to open my eyes, but I refused to close them right away.

I'm not quite sure what it was about the ceiling that captivated me, but I just couldn't seem to find the strength to look away.

And I blinked...it was only a second—but it felt as if my life had ended and begun again. The ceiling vanished for an eternity than came right back as if nothing had happened—but I knew better. Someone had awoken, smiled, laughed, lived, frowned, screamed, died...in that eternity of a second.

I don't quite remember just how it had gotten there, but I felt my hand at my neck—and although I swore that I was immune to any feeling at the moment, a sting surged straight through me and tore me apart. There was a small cut there, no longer bleeding—but a constant reminder that I had not been dreaming.

I managed to break away from the ceiling and turn my head over to my right—how I wish I hadn't. There on my small bedside table stood a picture frame. I closed my eyes and hoped another eternity would pass by; but as I opened them again, I found myself in the same position with the picture still staring at me.

It was the first time that I had really looked at it. And as I did...I noticed something about it just didn't feel right.

There was a tall man in the picture, with ghastly white hair—a visible smile from the only item that was to be seen on his face...his eye. Kakashi. To his left was a blond haired boy, with eyes so blue...that the sky stood absolutely no chance. And a smile so bright, that it brought life into the darkness that was my apartment. Naruto. Then there was the only girl in the picture—me. And to my right...stood another guy. He seemed content, yet not as happy as Naruto. He had charcoal colored hair and matching eyes—and something I never really did understand...an exposed stomach. Sai.

Since we all became Anbu, I never really saw Sai anymore...

We all looked so happy in that picture, yet I still can't help this feeling I have.

I forced myself to move and turn the picture over and out of my sight—however, it accidentally fell over to the back of the table, trapped in between it and the wall. I had thought of removing it from its position for only a second, as I remembered that I still had to report to Tsunade.

Getting up, I completely forgot about the picture as I walked out of my apartment and towards her office. I was sure she would be shocked to see me back so soon—and I was right as she looked up from her paper work to see me enter through the door.

"Tsunade-sama." I bowed respectfully to the woman who had taught me just about everything I currently knew.

"Sakura?" She questioned me. "What are you doing back so soon...and," she continued as she looked around for a clock, "at this hour?"

I shrugged. Its not like I was about to tell her what actually happened. "It was just quicker than we estimated."

"I see," she said, eying me suspiciously. I saw her look me up and down then stop at one spot—my neck.

Shit.

As quickly as I could, I flipped my hair over my shoulder, covering the slash left there earlier.

"No troubles along the way?"

I quickly shook my head. "No."

She narrowed her eyes on me. "Sakura-"

"Tsunade-sama!" I heard a voice calling and slowly released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I turned around to see a flabbergasted Shizune walk through the door. She took only a second to catch her breath as she looked back between myself and Tsunade.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked her.

"There's been a terrible accident and you're urgently needed at the hospital."

"Damnit." I heard her curse under her breath. She slowly stood and began to walk towards the door. As she did so, she turned to me and said, "We'll talk about this later, Sakura." Her voice was barely audible, yet I could make the words out perfectly. I closed my eyes and nodded, already attempting to come up with a fake story.

And as I opened them, I found myself all alone in the Hokage's office. It was a total and complete mess, reflecting the current owner perfectly. I wondered how it was that she was ever able to get anything done.

I know I shouldn't have, but my body moved all on its own around her desk. There were endless stacks of papers with writing scribbled all over them. None of them really caught my attention. The same monotonous writings over and over again.

Something did happen to catch my eye in the corner of the room however. It was a small filing cabinet. The third one down was what I was fixed on. It was classified as 'missing nins' on the outside. I wasn't sure what I expected as I walked over to it, but surely not that it would be open. Sure enough however, Tsunade's carelessness amused me yet again.

With one easy tug, it opened to my curious eyes. There were dozens of files inside of it—some names I was familiar with, and some that I wasn't. I was only interested in finding one name however. I looked through all of the files once.

Twice.

Three times...nothing. His name was not to be found among the list of the condemned.

My brow furrowed as I closed the drawer once again. Why is he not listed?

I walked over to the large glass window separating the office from the rest of the village and laid my forehead on it—sighing loudly. The streets below me were dark and dead—there was not one soul to be seen. Konoha had a beautiful sky covering it this night however. The stars were the brightest that I had seen them in quite a while—and the moon...there was none. It was darkness at its fullest extent.

As I turned to leave, I accidentally knocked a couple of the papers on Tsunade's desk over.

Dammit!

Just as I was about to pick the papers up, I noticed something on her desk that didn't quite belong. A lost file perhaps? I wasn't sure whether to pick it up or just leave it alone, but my body seemed to know what to do. My hand shakily reached for the cream colored file. I dared not blink in fear that the name printed on it should suddenly vanish.

Uchiha, Sasuke

My heart skipped a beat. So this is where it had been.

I slowly opened the file to reveal a pair of eyes staring back at me. It was a picture of a small child—more like a copy of the Sasuke I had seen earlier today. I was rather surprised as I studied his young face. It was just as cold back then as it had been today...

As I went to pull the paper-clipped picture out, I noticed there was another behind it. It was him again, but this time much younger. Most likely about five or six. It was a completely different person through my eyes however. The little kid had a huge smile, much like that of Naruto's. He actually looked...happy. I couldn't help but wonder what it was that had caused the change in him.

My eyes lowered to the printed words on a paper behind the pictures.

Name: Uchiha, Sasuke.

Age: 13

Height: 153.2 cm

Weight: 43.5 kg

Clan: Uchiha

The next line shouldn't have really come as a surprise, yet it did.

Rank: Genin

Team:

Where the number of his team should have been, there was only a scribbled out mess. This was obviously the outdated version of his file. All of the other papers only held useless information which I was already familiar with from the Anbu classes.

There was something strange though. Looking at the numbers printed on the bottom of each page, they often skipped.

1,2,3,4...8..11..15.

Where were the missing pages?

Before I had the chance to find out, I heard Tsunade's voice ring out through the hallways. I quickly closed the file and picked up all of the spilled papers—returning them as orderly as possible; rethinking it however, orderly probably wasn't in Tsunade's fashion.

Walking over towards the window, I pretended to be interested in something outside.

"Sakura?"

I turned to find a confused Tsunade standing at the door. "Hm?"

"What are you still doing here?"

I looked around me as if I were confused, "Oh I'm sorry, guess I just got caught up in my thoughts." I lightly chuckled.

She nodded her head once as she continued to study me—searching for any breaches in my security. There were none.

"You should go home and rest."

I nodded and bowed.

"You will speak to me about the mission later however."

I felt a shiver go down my spine—I knew she wouldn't just let it go. "I assure you, Tsunade-sama, nothing unusual happened."

"Mmm." Was her only reply as she sat down and turned her chair towards the darkness outside of the window.

End Chapter 2

You know, I had the first half of this written out quite a while ago, but it was only today that the second part just smacked me in the face, lol. So as I'm sure you guys are wondering... No Sakura does not remember Sasuke and their past together, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. You'll learn more about how and why later on in the next chapter—I promise!

Love,

Fates Princess