Never Forgotten

Chapter 9: Help Her Forget Her Problems, Even For a Little While

Thank you to xXEmoNYRicanAnimeChicXx, The Hiccanator!, Kurai Raiku-Kurai Kisaki, cherrysaki-chan, XxMiyakaxX, ToraHimeSama, xRosewithThornsx, SasuSaku13636, x.X.SANOlover.X.x, Geanie-chan101, X.x.Panda-chan.x.X, gianna loves SasuSaku, and DarkxBlossom for reviewing!

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Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

This chapter is dedicated to DarkxBlossom who helped me with this chapter! 3

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.X. Recap .X.

Her sobs began to die to down to minimal sniffs and hiccups here and there until she fell into a pitiful sleep, where nightmares plague her soul. She was still trembling and occasionally and repeatedly whispering sorry to a person. Gaara slowly made his way into the school with a sleeping Sakura in his pale arms, clutching at his uniform. Tsunade followed with Shizune trailing behind her with a pale and sadden expression adorned on her face. Shikamaru slowly stood up from his spot on the ground and followed the two doctors into the building with everyone watching them go with a tense atmosphere surrounding them. Naruto was the first to snap out of this and tried to make something out of this sudden problem.

"What the hell just happen?" Naruto said as he jumped up from the ground, facing the direction that the others just left in with a worried look on his face.

Everyone had mixed emotions on how to react about this, they have known Ino for a long time, since academy days, and have never seen her react like this except once. She was the usual blonde loud preppy girl with a bubbly aura surrounding her; this was why she was always so popular with everyone, well maybe except for some of the girls. Something major must have happened to make her react like this and they felt like they were left in the shadows by their best friend, especially Ten-Ten and Hinata. Kankuro and Temari looked pained knowing the cause of the girls' break down.

"Excuse us. We have to go to class." Temari and Kankuro stood up and walked away eyeing the rest of the group with a apologetic expression.

Hinata looked up with a frown on her face and stood up abruptly dragging Ten-Ten with her.

"Ouch! Hinata-chan, not so hard." Ten-Ten whined while rubbing her arm a bit.

"Sumimasen, Ten-Ten." Hinata said distractedly. She turned to the other two boys who just sat there with a dazed look on their faces. "Neji-nii-san, Sasuke, Naruto-kun, Ten-Ten and I are going to head to the infirmary to check on Ino-chan and Sakura-chan. And I want you three to think of something to make them both feel better. Don't think of something that you three would like but rather what they would like. And no Naruto, not ramen." Hinata said with some authority in her voice, her expression was one of a she-devil. She grabbed the other girl's arm and dragged her away to the infirmary with a determined look on her face, Ten-Ten looked over her shoulder pleading at Neji with her eyes to help her but her just gave her a 'I'm sorry I can't help you' look and gave her a small smile before mouthing 'good luck' to her.

--x-- The Infirmary --x--

The six of them arrived at the infirmary in a thick, heavy atmosphere. Gaara settled Sakura down on the sterile bed and draped the blanket over her skinny body, while Shikamaru settled in the bed himself with Ino in his lap and pulled the blanket over both of their bodies. The two adults in the room looked so pale and stressed out and it was only the second day of school. Shikamaru was still a bit jealous hearing Ino saying another boy's name with an intimate honorific.

"Tsunade-sama, if I may, can I ask you who Sai-san is? Ino was mumbling his name when she was falling asleep."

The other 3 occupants looked at each other hesitantly before the principle said something.

"Sai was Sakura's older brother and Ino's childhood friend, nothing more so you needn't worry about it." Tsunade said evasively, turning to the window.

Shikamaru could tell that he wouldn't get any more answers out of any of them; he wasn't a genius for nothing, so he left it at that. He turned to the sleeping girl in his lap and stroked her hair, looking a bit worried. Gaara and Shizune tended to Sakura as she slept. She had begun to have a nightmare. Her face was scrunched up in inner turmoil, and her fists were clenched up into fists around her blanket and she began sweating profusely. Shizune went to the bathroom and got a towel soaked in cold water and laid it on her imouto's head. She relaxed a little bit, but not much. The door slid open revealing a worried heiress and weapons mistress.

"Excuse us for intruding." Hinata said as she bowed towards all the occupants of the room. "Ten-Ten and I are here to see if Sakura-chan and Ino-chan are feeling a bit better."

Ten-Ten was still rubbing her red arm. 'Damn! I never knew Hinata had such a strong grip!'

Everyone in the room looked at each other.

"They are still sleeping Hinata. We won't know until they both wake up." Shikamaru mumbled from the bed he was on.

"Oh. Okay. We'll go to art to tell Anko-sensei that –"

"Someone turn off the lights…it's so bright." A female voice mumbled with a hoarse voice.

Ten-Ten hurried to turn off the lights before a cranky blonde turns ultra cranky and kills them all with her shrieking.

"Water please." Ino whispered as she sat upright. "Ack. Why do I feel like I've been run over by a truck 100 times over?"

Hinata went over to the fridge and took out a bottle of water and handed it over to the drowsy girl.

"Thanks Hina-chan." Ino said in between gulps of the cool liquid. Once she was done with the bottle of water she began to examine her surroundings.

'White walls, white bed, white ugly curtains, smelly medicine, Sakura-chan out cold on a nasty old bed, Shikamaru behi—'

"Oh my GOD! Sakura-chan!" Ino jumped out of Shikamaru's arms and rushed to where Sakura laid, with a painful expression on her face.

"Saku-chan?" Ino whispered as she stood there beside her best friend's side with a worried look on her face and she leaned over and began to gently shake Sakura awake. "Sakura-chan, wake up. We still have classes to attend. Sakura, wake up! Forehead-girl, wake up before I drag you to art." She said with a mischievous tone.

Everyone in the room looked at Ino with a panic expression. "Troublesome girl. What are you doing?" Shikamaru said panic laced in his voice as he looked at Gaara's killer expression. "You're gonna hurt her."

"Urusai, Shikamaru! I know what I'm doing. Forehead-baka! Wake up!"

Sakura began to stir from her sleep. Her nightmare was shattered into a thousand pieces when she heard Ino yelling her name and shaking her. Ino stop with her assault and backed away with a grin on her face. Her eyes opened revealing emerald eyes. Sakura sat up, and looked at everyone in the room with a confused frown on her face.

"Why am I here?" She asked everyone. She turned to Ino with an evil look on her face and smacked the blonde girl on the head. "Piggy-chan! You're too loud! Do you want the whole entire school to hear your ugly voice?" Sakura said grinning uncontrollably when she saw steam coming out of Ino's ears.

"Urusai forehead-baka!" The blonde yelled.

Everyone in the room was relieved that everything was back to normal, at least for the time being. Hinata and Ten-Ten rushed over to Sakura's bed and hugged her with all their might. Ino joined in as well in their group hug laughing insanely at the girl's demise. Soon everyone in the room began laughing, well Tsunade and Shizune were, but Gaara and Shikamaru were just chuckling quietly.

"KYAAA! Itai! Itai! Let me go! Let me go! Itai! Itai! Gaara! Help ME! Hey! Kaa-san, nee-chan, it's not funny! Stop laughing at me! Itai!" Sakura whined pathetically.

The three of them eventually let the poor girl go and backed away quickly fearing for their own safety. Everyone soon stop laughing at the flustered girl.

"Hinata…Ten-Ten…Ino…prepare to die!" Sakura screeched and jumped out of the bed only to fall flat on her butt. The blanket flopped down on top of her head shielding her from everyone else. Everyone began to stare at the white mass on the floor with pink faces, trying to hold in their laughter at Sakura's clumsiness. They saw the covers begin to shake uncontrollably and began to worry that the girl underneath was injured in some way. Gaara approached the trembling girl only to be jumped on as Sakura leapt up from the ground effectively pinning him on his stomach with her sitting on his back laughing her head off. Gaara's expression was priceless; his eyes were wide with shock and his mouth was hung opened.

"Ack! Sakura! Get off of me! Off! Off!" Everyone in the room began to laugh at Gaara's expense.

"Sorry nii-chan. Not my fault that you didn't help me earlier. This is your punishment." Sakura began to raise her arms and wiggle her finger's threateningly. Gaara began to squirm underneath Sakura trying to get away…his efforts were in vein. Sakura lowered her arms to his sides and began to tickle Gaara with an evil intent.

"Mwahahahaha." The rose head chuckled evilly.

"Pfft. Hahahaha. Stop! Sak-saku-SAKURA! Yamete!" Gaara began to twist and turn to get away from his sister's clutches.

Everyone in the room began to laugh once again.

"To think I'm actually seeing Gaara getting tortured by Sakura. Usually he would just run away. It's a miracle!" Tsunade cried, tears of laughter falling from her eyes.

Shikamaru, Hinata, Ten-Ten, Shizune and Ino were all taking in the scene of Gaara being overpowered by a pink hair girl. 'Poor Gaara.' They all thought with some pity.

"Sakura! Pfft. Let me go! Sakura! SAKURAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Hinata whipped out her cell phone knowing that they boys would have heard his scream and took a picture of the two siblings while texting a message to her boyfriend. 'Excellent blackmail material!' She thought to herself.

--x-- With the guys --x--

"Damn, Naruto. Your girlfriend is scary sometimes." Sasuke said with a disturbed look on his face. There wasn't an answer. "Naruto?"

He turned to see the blonde in the corner chibi-style crying at his girlfriend's cruelty. A sweat-drop formed on the back of his head. "Dobe-no-baka. Scared of his girlfriend." Sasuke muttered under his breath. He turned to see Neji with his eyes closed muttering something.

"Kami-sama. Please bring back Ten-Ten in one piece or at least spare her from Hinata-sama's evil clutches."

Sasuke's sweat-drop grew even bigger as he watched Neji pray for his girlfriend's safety from his cousin's clutches. "Oi, you two. If you don't want to die, then I suggest you help think of stuff that the girl's would like to do."

Naruto looked up hearing his best friend relay his girlfriend's request.

"You mean like a date?" Naruto asked with question marks blinking overtop his head.

"That would be something the girls would like. But instead of calling it a date maybe a group thing instead. Since Uchiha here and Sakura-chan are the only people who are single. I don't blame Sakura-chan, but I laugh at Uchiha." Neji said with a smirk on his face.

"Urusai, Hyuuga. I don't want a girlfriend. They cling too much and they want to rape me." Sasuke replied with shudder.

Naruto and Neji looked a bit sympathetic for the raven haired boy.

"Okay so where should we go then? Amusement parks? Aquarium? Movies? Beach?" Naruto said listing possibilities with his finger.

"Maybe the amusement park. We haven't been there in a long time. It'll be like old times again, right?"

"Good idea."

The three boys just sat there thinking of how to tell the girls about this.

"We should tell Hinata-chan first so she could tell the girls about the idea. And Hinata-chan won't kill me!" Naruto said relieved that his girlfriend won't maul him to death.

A scream resonated through the school yard. "…SAKURAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The boys sat up straight, shivers ran up and down their spines.

"That sounded like Gaara, I think. But he doesn't seem like the guy to just scream." Naruto said with a scared voice.

Sasuke and Neji just nodded.

"I'll call Hinata chan to as what's going on."

Buzz!

"Hey! I just got a text from her. 'Guys. Don't worry about the scream. It was just Gaara-san. – Photo insert of Gaara being attacked by Sakura who was sitting on his back with a glint in her eyes. –'" Naruto showed the other two the picture as he laughed his head off. The others had an amused smile on their faces when they saw the picture. Naruto texted back to Hinata telling her about the plans. "Hina-chan. We decided to go to the amusement park for the weekend. Tell the girls and Shikamaru. Invite Gaara if you want." He clicked 'send'.

Briinggg! The school bell went signalling the end of lunch. The boys parted ways to get to their next class.

--x-- The Infirmary --x--

Buzz!

Hinata's cell phone went off alerting her of a reply. "Hina-chan. We decided to go to the amusement park for the weekend. Tell the girls and Shikamaru. Invite Gaara if you want."

"Ano…minna. The boys just sent me a message telling me that they would like to take us to the amusement park this weekend. If you want Gaara, you and your siblings may also come."

Everyone in the room seemed to freeze as Hinata explained the new plans.

"Alright! The amusement park! I haven't been to one since forever! And I'm dragging you forehead-baka, whether you want to or not. It seems like fun! If that is okay with you Tsunade-sama."

"Hai, hai. Sakura needs to get out of the house more. She's always studying."

"Kaa-san!"

"Gomen, Hinata. But my siblings and I have work so we cannot come."

"That is alright Gaara. Maybe next time right?"

"Maybe."

Briinggg!

"Alright! Time for art!" All the girls made their way towards Anko's art classroom while Gaara and Shikamaru headed to theirs.

"Everything seems to be alright ne, Tsunade-sama." Shizune asked when they were alone.

Tsunade turned towards Shizune with a tired look in her eyes. "Hai, everything is going fine. Hopefully they can help Sakura become who she once was." She replied softly.

The four girls ran to their class from the infirmary.

"Man. Why is the infirmary on the opposite side of the school from art class?!" Ino complained as they ran down the deserted hallway.

"Less whining, more running. Anko-sensei will have a fit if we're this late." Hinata said.

"Safe!" Ten-Ten yelled as they arrived at the door.

The four girls rushed in and plopped down in their seat, completely exhausted from their run. Luckily their teacher wasn't there yet. The boys were amused to see their female friends completely flushed from the infirmary.

"It was fate that you guys were late and you had to face your punishment." Neji said while smirking at the girls.

"Shut up Neji! It wasn't our fault." Ino yelled.

The door slid open indicating that their teacher had arrived. Everyone quickly returned to their seats ready for their lesson.

"Today, you guys will be working on your project that is due tomorrow." The class groaned. "Judging by the complaints I hear, I guess most of you has forgotten about the project. Well too bad. It's not my fault you guys are so unorganized. I wonder how you guys will survive once you graduate if you can't even remember and simple little project and it is worth 15 percent of your mark. You guys are hopeless." Anko sneered. "Get to work you morons and keep the noise to a minimum."

The class got to work immediately knowing that their project is due tomorrow.

"I totally forgot about the project! Damn!" Naruto complained.

Sakura stared at her canvas with a blank expression.

'What the hell am I supposed to draw? I can't even think of anything!' She thought to herself as she mindlessly doodle on her canvas with water coloured paint.

'Maybe you should draw all your friends and stuff.'

'Maybe. I don't know. This morning you said something about the good and the bad times. Maybe I should do that.'

As Sakura was thinking about what to draw, her eyes glazed over turning her eyes lighter shade, almost like a pale green. Her hand moved unconsciously as she continued to paint on her canvas. Meanwhile, the others were already painting their projects. The period dragged by for most of the students, but it flew by for Sakura.

Briinggg! The bell had rung, signalling the end of art class. Everyone packed up their belongings and made their way to the door. Sakura was still debating with herself on what to draw for the project that she didn't hear the bell ring; her hands were still dancing over the painting. Ino, Naruto and Sasuke walked over to the dazed girl to bring her to biology. But as they arrived at her small easel they were shocked to see what she had painted. It was a picture of Ino, Sakura and another young boy when they were still kids. They were all sitting under a cherry blossom tree with instruments at hand; smiles on their faces as they sat there. The pink petals were scattered around them. The picture was one that showed happiness and joy, but the disturbing part about the picture was the sky was blood red with a pale moon and a huge crimson eye with black designs in the middle of the moon. Sasuke's tempered flared when he saw his brother's eye in her drawing, Ino was near tears seeing one of her most precious memories drawn and Naruto was staring at the red sky. Ino shook Sakura's shoulders and the small girl snapped out of her trance.

"What is it Ino? Is class over already?" Sakura asked as she turned to look at the three, her eyes returned to its normal colour.

"Yes." The blonde whispered. "Hurry and pack up. We're gonna be late for bio."

Sakura turned back to her picture and gasped, the blood red eye stood out and was staring back at her face. She backed away from the picture and into Sasuke's legs.

"What are you maggots still doing here!?" Anko asked as she saw the four them gathered around Sakura's easel. She walked over to them and was surprised to see such a beautifully drawn picture of a memory but she recognized the eye. "Haruno. Is it okay if you handed this in as your project? You wouldn't have to worry about it for tonight's homework."

Sakura just nodded. The teacher took it away and slid it into a rack where the painting could dry.

'I need to show this to Tsunade-sama.' "Here. I'll write you four a late slip for Asuma's class."

Sakura quickly packed up her belongings and stood up quickly and took the slip and began to walk out the door with the other three behind her in silence. Ino caught up to Sakura and slipped an arm around the distraught girl's shoulders leaving the boys behind them. Sasuke was still fuming about the eye that she had drawn.

'No one knows about the Uchiha Sharingan, well other than the dobe. So how could she have drawn Itachi's?' He hissed to himself venomously.

"Oi. Teme. Wasn't that Itachi's eye?" Naruto whispered to the brooding boy.

"Hn."

The next two periods went by quickly and the group headed towards gym.

'Prepare Haruno Sakura for your worst nightmare.' A certain person thought to themselves.

To be continued.

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X.x.Kuro-Neko-Chan.x.X