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THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED
stfuSPARKS
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the song 'Cheated Hearts' by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs :).
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VII.
Cheated Hearts
"Cheated by, the opposite of love,
Held on high from up, up, up above."
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"Sakura-chan?"
She thought she heard someone calling her name, but she couldn't be sure. She felt so dizzy right now... so tired. All she wanted to do was to drift back into unconsciousness and rest for a long time. It felt nice, for once. She felt relaxed.
"Sakura, wake up damnit!" Another familiar voice called out to her, but she didn't even stir. She didn't have the strength to do it.
No.
She could hear voices coming from somewhere in the room, but she didn't want to open her eyes just yet. Someone was shaking her quite violently now.
"Leave me alone." She groaned, cracking one eye open to be met with the blinding light that was coming from the ceiling. "I'm not a bloody doll you can toss around." Her eyesight slowly adjusted to her bright surroundings. She could barely make out the form of Uchiha Sasuke hovering over her.
"See dobe? I told you she'd wake up if we did it the hard way."
Naruto snorted. "You have no manners at all, teme! That's no proper way to treat a lady."
"You're hardly the right person to lecture me about manners." Sasuke scoffed, looking affronted. "Living with you would be at least five times more bearable if you actually learned to chew your food before speaking at mealtimes."
"And while you're at it, you could learn to not leave your underwear lying around- OW! What was that for?" Kiba's voice was a little too loud for her to withstand right now.
"You guys are noisy." Neji's voice interrupted them.
Sakura blinked a couple of times. "Where am I?" She asked, feeling extremely disoriented. "I feel like crap." She added with a wince, trying to sit up. Naruto immediately rushed to her side, gently putting a hand on her shoulder.
"You're in the hospital, Sakura-chan." Naruto carefully explained. "How are you feeling? Do you feel faint in any way? Does your head feel light? Are your muslces shaky?" She felt her head spin once more as the boisterous blonde bombarded her with various questions.
"Still dizzy." She confessed with a small nod. "But apart from that, I feel fine." She looked around in confusion, eyeing their faces. "Why am I here? What happened?"
An older looking sandy haired boy stepped forwards. "You fainted after we visited boss' house." He said, pointing at himself. "I'm Kankuro- remember me?"
Sakura squinted, carefully observing him.
Her eyes suddenly widened as it all hit her again.
The body.
The rope.
Ceiling.
Idate.
Love.
Is.
Weakness.
Sakura let out a shriek, making everyone in the room jump at her sudden reaction. She shakily sat up and brought her knees to her chest, her wide pale green eyes staring back at them in fear. She could vaguely hear someone telling her to calm down- was it Naruto? His voice was soothing, relaxing. But she really didn't care anymore- she was too paralyzed by fear.
"Idate."
The name of the man who had saved her life slipped past her lips, a mere whisper in the chaotic room. The face of the man she had wanted to love so desperately flashed right before her eyes. She could still remember the first time she had met him- how his clear sky blue eyes had looked upon her so kindly, how his words had been so gentle.
"Who are you?"
Her green eyes were dark. Suspicious. Lifeless. They narrowed down into an unhappy glare as she turned away from him, looking at the horrible, suffocating hospital walls.
He repeated his statement, his smile unwavering.
"You have a beautiful smile."
She almost snorted at his statement. Didn't he know how clichè he sounded? Didn't he know that those kinds of lines didn't work on her? Oh well, it didn't really matter anyways. It's not like she was ever going to see this man again. She ignored his words and closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. Maybe he would leave now.
"I've seen you smile before, with that black haired boy. It's rare, but when you do, it's lovely." He took a seat next to her bed, unfazed by her clear distate for him. "Is he your boyfriend?"
Her sleeping facade was immediately broken as she choked on her own spit. "N-no." She coughed out. "He says he's my friend or something." She bit out. The man evidently noticed the way in which her eyes slightly saddened. "But I have no idea of who he is to me."
She stole a glance at him as realization flooded through him. "Did you lose your memory in an accident or something?" He asked her gently, his eyes softening.
She didn't say anything, but her fists clenched in her lap. He stared at the little girl who was trying to stay strong for herself- she couldn't be strong for anyone else, because she didn't have anyone else anymore.
"Your hair is very unique." He complimented her. "I've never seen anyone with pink hair before. I bet you're just as unique as well."
She brought a hand up to her head and slowly touched her short, cropped locks. "This..." She whispered. "This doesn't feel right. The length doesn't feel right. I can't remember anything but it's just not right." He could see the tears quickly welling up in her eyes. He was suddenly overcome with the urge to touch her hand, give her a hug- anything that would let her know that she wasn't alone.
"I'm Morino Idate." He gave her a warm smile.
She wasn't alone anymore.
"Sakura." Sasuke's voice pulled her out of her thoughts of the past. "Let's bargain. We'll give you answers if you calm down." He told her flatly. She whimpered once again, wincing as Naruto tried to reach out to her again. However she quieted down, looking up at Sasuke, waiting for his explanation. "Morino Idate was murdered this morning." He told her blankly. It was impossible to read his emotions.
Naruto hissed. "You could be softer about it." He whispered, elbowing the Uchiha in the stomach. Sasuke grunted, glaring at his best friend.
Sakura's shoulders started to shake, as her fists clenched once again. "Sai." She whispered, her pale eyes looking scared. "Where's Sai? Please, I need him here right now."
Despite the fact that she knew all of the boys in the room, they all felt like strangers to her right now. She hadn't known them for more than a couple of days- they could never compare to Sai, who had known her before the accident. Sai, who stuck by her side no matter what. Sai, who knew Idate. Sai, her best friend.
She needed him.
"Sakura-chan, Sai is on his way." Naruto told her gently. "Please calm down Sakura-chan, you're going through shock." He soothingly rubbed her back.
The tears welling up in her eyes slowly spilled over. "Not Sai." She contradicted her previous statement, confusing Naruto. "I want Idate. Bring him here."
Naruto whirled around to shoot a bewildered look towards Kankuro. "Sakura-chan's starting to go into shock- how bad was the sight?" He barked immediately, his blue eyes sparkling with concern.
Kankuro grimaced, remembering the scene from that morning. "Don't even remind me." He said, frowning. "It was really bad. Like, gory horror-movie bad. I don't blame her for being so messed up over this- I would be the same if someone I knew ended up like that."
"Do you think she's going to have to go see a psychologist after this?" Naruto nervously asked, looking straight at Sasuke.
"Do I look like a doctor to you?" Sasuke retorted with a scowl. "How the hell should I know?"
"Sorry to interrupt." A doctor poked his head through the door. He walked in, straightening up. Sakura was too busy being lost in her thoughts to notice him. "I'm the doctor who checked Haruno Sakura in." He shot a pitying glance at the girl. "I just heard the details of Morino Idate's death from our mortician." He motioned for them to lean in, which Naruto promptly did. "He was long dead before he was hanged. He was stabbed three times- the stab in his abdomen was so deep that it seems like his inner organs were spilling out." He murmured, making sure that the pink haired girl didn't overhear.
"Poor Sakura-chan." Naruto sadly said.
"The police would like to talk to the witnessess once things calm down." The doctor said.
"We'll have her down as soon as she's better." Naruto uneasily said, secretly wondering when that would ever be. "She seems to be... mentally unstable right now."
The doctor nodded. "Perfectly understandable. Depending on her character, it may take a while for her to recover." He looked through a couple of notes on his clipboard. "Well our general examination indicates that there's nothing physically wrong with her. We'd still like to keep her here overnight, just in case. I'll be in my office, so if you need something later on, just call for a nurse and she'll come get me." With a polite bow, the doctor left.
Naruto looked towards three of his partners, the ones who had stayed quiet the whole time.
Kiba was trying to look highly disinterested in the entire situtation- but despite his past declarations of dislike for the pink haired girl, Naruto knew that he wasn't as heartless as he tried to make himself out to be. If anything, Kiba was the most emotional person in the group after Naruto. There was no way that this wasn't affecting him.
Shikamaru was supposed to be the genius of the team. If he was to follow stereotypes, he would have to be the typical cold, unfeeling master strategist- but deep down everyone knew he wasn't. As much as he tried to be, he couldn't, because researching backgrounds, planning around the life around someone- it wasn't all as easy as it looked. It required for him to reach a personal level that none of the others had to; and it always made it a lot harder.
Neji was the hardest to read. His crystal white eyes were always carefuly blank, never betraying any of the Hyuuga's emotions. He was supposed to be their leader, the one who was supposed to bring the team closer to accomplishing the mission with every step he took. If the rest of his team failed to do it, he was the one who was expected to finish it. But it was different this time around. Extremely different.
"Don't bring Sai." Sakura wailed, gaining everyone's attention once again. She buried her head in her arms. "Sai... he'll kill me. I'm innocent, I swear! I didn't do anything wrong, so please don't kill me..." Tears quickly slid down her cheeks.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, shaking her shoulders. "I- I don't understand."
"She's going through a nervous breakdown." Neji finally spoke up, observing the girl.
"No, no, no!" The pink haired girl cried loudly. "Don't bring him here! He hates Sakura... it's all his fault! It was never an accident! He wants me to forget, he wants Sakura to forget! He's trying to protect the secret..." The boys turned quiet at her cryptic words.
Her startled apple green orbs snapped up to look at Sasuke as he grabbed her by the arm. "Snap out of it, Sakura." He told her sternly, giving her a rough shake. "You're stronger than this- if anyone can get through something like this, it's you."
"Sasuke..." Her voice was a mere murmur. "He's going to kill me."
The door slammed open, revealing a dishelveled looking black haired boy standing at the doorway. His eyes widened when they landed on his best friend curled up on the bed by the window.
"Sakura." Sai said blankly, rushing over to her. He knocked Sasuke's hand out of the way. "Sakura, I heard about what happened. I- I don't know what to say..." It was the first time Sasuke had seen the other boy so open with his emotions. Granted it wasn't much, it was still a huge step forwards from his obviously fake smiles and carefully planned out comebacks.
"She's not going to answer you right now." Sasuke told him coldly, visibly annoyed at being knocked to the side. "She's going through a mental breakdown or something." The Uchiha's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "She's been saying things about you as well."
There was something extremely satisfying about seeing Sai freeze at his words.
"Sai..." The said boy's head snapped around to look at the source of the voice. Sakura looked up at him, her eyes glazed over.
You tried to kill me.
Her eyes weren't crazed anymore- they were clear with understanding. Her heavy breathing had died down, and the delirious look on her face was gone.
She remembered everything.
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For as long as I could remember, I had no parents.
I couldn't remember them- I had no recollection of being held in my mother's loving embrace or my father's warm arms. I was on my own right from the beginning. That's when I realized over time, that I didn't need anyone else. I could survive in this world alone. Some people say that's impossible to survive on your own, but I knew better.
It's easy to survive on your own if you were alone from the start.
I was raised in a quaint little orphanage on the corner of a dreary street in Konoha. For as long as I could remember, I was just another child among countless others who had no family. The nuns tried their best to raise us, but I knew it was difficult for them. We were all starving for love, and they didn't have enough to go around. However, I didn't need their love. I didn't need a family either. I didn't want to impress the families that came to see us. It was useless to get attached.
I was always a recluse, even as a child. I didn't want to have friends- they always left in the end anyways. It was fine because the other children didn't like me much either. During my younger years, I remember being bullied numerous times. I remember once, some kid stuck bubblegum in my hair as a joke. I had to cut more than half of my hair off- I spent the entire afternoon wishing him harm. That same kid fell off the second floor the next day, breaking his hand in the process. I wasn't even near him when he did, but the other children didn't bother me after that. The nuns kept their distance too.
"She's the demon's offspring." I once heard them whisper among themselves. "We can't keep her here."
I didn't need them anyways. I left them before they had a chance to leave me first.
I was no older than twelve when I left the orphanage, and thrust myself into the cruel, cold world.
I was fine with that.
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I saw him for the first time when I was thirteen years old.
I can remember it now. There was a small children's playground that I always walked by on the way to the bus stop. It was always empty though- the children had all abandoned it for bigger and better things, and somehow I could sympathize with that concept.
And that's where I saw him for the first time.
He was sitting in the sandbox, staring straight at me. He had beautiful flaming red hair that stood out among the faded paint of the playground, and a pair of beautiful green eyes that were simliar to my own. But they were darker- deeper. It was hard for me to take my eyes off of him, so I stared back. There was something about the dark aura surrounding him that pulled me in.
He just looked so lonely. His blank face betrayed nothing, but I could tell. I guess broken people could learn to recognize each other after all.
Before I realized it, my feet were automatically taking me towards him.
"I'm Sakura."
My throat was dry and my voice wasn't nearly as confident as I would've liked it to be. I almost didn't expect him to answer me- after all, who the hell would talk to a stranger who randomly walks up to them in the middle of an abandoned playground? I was ready to ignore my little outburst and walk away.
"Gaara."
His voice was deep, despite the fact that he probably wasn't much older than me. I couldn't help but smile at his response.
He was broken, cracked, flawed.
But I reached out to him.
I would fix him.
Maybe I didn't have to be alone after all.
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One of the first things that I realized about Gaara was that he would never tell me why he was broken.
No matter how hard I'd try, no matter how close I'd get to him, he would never tell me. I didn't mind though- I wasn't there to find out about his life story, I was only there to help him start over. To help him realize that he still had a chance at being human.
Gaara was cold, uncaring and untalkative. It wasn't only with me though- it was with the whole world too. I remember meeting his family for the first time a few weeks after I met him. I never had the chance to meet his parents- I'm not sure if he even had any, but I got to meet his brother and sister. I saw the way in which they stared at them in fear, and I wasn't sure if I should've pitied him or them.
Though he would never, ever show anyone the real him, I knew. He still had a chance at recovering his humanity, and I would stick by his side along the entire journey.
Some people might wonder why I even bothered to help him. Did I even have anything to gain? Maybe I was just wasting my time. Now that I think back on it, at the time I probably didn't even know why I was doing it. Maybe I was doing it for myself in the end. Because somewhere along the way, I lost my humanity as well, without realizing it. Maybe I was trying to prove I could still be human too- I still quite don't know.
But one thing was for sure- we could both fix each other.
I remember the sky turning dark as I got up, ready to leave his house to find whatever shelter I could for the night.
He grabbed my hand.
"You can stay."
And slowly, Gaara opened himself up to me.
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Kankuro was probably right.
Gaara would probably never know how to love someone in the way normal people do. He would never know the pleaure of physical contact, the happiness that came with holding another person's hand, leaning into someone's hug, to brush your lips with someone else's. He would never understand.
But in his own eccentric way, Gaara gradually fell in love with me.
His definition of love wasn't the same as everyone else's. To him, love wasn't a romantic accomplishment of happily ever after. To him, love meant having someone stick by your side no matter what happened. It meant having someone fix you, time and time again no matter how many times you broke.
"I love you."
His face was unreadable and his jade were blank. His words were slow and steady, but his voice didn't waver as those three words reached my ears.
That's when I realized it for the first time. In my own strange way, I unconsciously fell in love with Gaara somewhere along the way.
"Gaara, you don't know what love is." My voice was nowhere as determined as his, and for some strange reason I could feel my chest constrict. Maybe it was because deep inside I knew that he would never love me in the same way I loved him. "Youre getting confused. You can't say those words so casually."
"I can't live without you by my side." He paused. "Isn't that the definition of love?"
No, I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him- love is so much more than that. It goes beyond not being able to live without a certain person by your side. You can't live without me because I'm there to constantly fix you. You can't live without me because you've never had anyone else by your side. You can't live without me because I love you in my own strange way.
He loved me because he couldn't live without me.
I couldn't live without him because I loved him.
But I didn't say anything. It was okay. It was fine.
We could live by each other's sides, loving each other in our own dysfunctional way.
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A little more than a year later, I noticed that Gaara was slowly slipping out of my grasp.
He was becoming distant. He would spend his time with other boys that he called his 'friends'- but I knew better. They were no more his friends than I was his lover. He never bothered to tell me their names. He didn't tell who they were, what they were like- and a part of me knew that he didn't know himself.
I grew bitter. Lonely.
That's when Rock Lee entered my life.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. It was a cold December morning when Rock Lee came knocking around Gaara's house. Gaara wasn't home. I knew because I was there- I'd been waiting all night- hoping that he would come back. But once again, he didn't. I swung the door open, a part of me hoping to see that red hair that I had grown accustomed to; but the more realistic part of me knew that it wasn't him. Gaara's knock wasn't so light, so polite.
I suspiciously stuck my head out the door.
"Who are you?"
He was the type of person that I hated the most. He was the kind of guy who was oblivious to the world- the happy-go-lucky kind of guy who didn't know how the world worked. He wasn't the one who had to steal from others at the age of thirteen to earn enough money to feed himself once a day. He wasn't the one who had to spent cold nights under bridges and rivers. He knew nothing of the hardships of this world.
"I'm Rock Lee." His grin was wide. "I'm Gaara's friend! I was wondering if he was home."
So maybe Gaara did have friends after all.
"He's not here." I started to close the door in his face. "I'll tell him you stopped by."
When the boy returned for the fourth time that week, I was wondering if he was stubborn or just plain stupid.
"I told you, Gaara isn't here." My patience was starting to wear thin. "Listen, I'll tell Gaara to come find you when he comes back, so you should probably stop coming by the house." I had to stop myself from being especially rude. He might have really been Gaara's friend, and I didn't want to scare away the rare people that actually did like him.
The boy's smile slowly disappeared for the first time, and for the first time I thought that maybe he wasn't the happy-go-lucky guy I thought him to be. "I'll be honest with you." He said hesitantly, lowering his eyes. "I did come to see Gaara four days ago. But the every other day, I just used that excuse to come see you."
I could feel my jaw drop. "Excuse me?"
His cheeks burned red. "I mean- I think you're very beautiful!" I could swear his round eyes sparkled as he looked up into my own. "I couldn't help it- there was something that called me back to you, Sakura-san. I think you and I were meant to be connected in some way."
"How do you know my name?" I was immediately on my guard.
"Gaara rarely talks to us." His smile softened. Us? Who was 'us'? "But he's mentioned you once or twice. You must be his girlfriend- he said that there is only one person who matters to him, Haruno Sakura-san, and that is you. It is hard to mistake you- your beauty certainly does match your youthful name." He blushed again. "You have been one of the biggest subjects of our discussions. Everyone is surprised that Gaara has a lover." Again with that 'us'.
No, I wanted to tell him. I wasn't his girlfriend. I wasn't his lover. This boy in front of me- Rock Lee- he didn't know that Gaara was unable to love. He didn't know that Gaara was mistaking love for need. What Gaara felt for me- it wasn't love.
But I simply gave him a small smile of my own.
"Gaara and I are very important to each other." I didn't acknowledge nor deny his statement.
Lee simply nodded. "I just wanted to see you in person- the woman who changed Gaara's life."
I felt a certain warmth rush through my body.
"Do you want to come in for a cup of tea?"
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A year later, I turned fifteen.
Gaara was more distant than ever- Lee had stepped in to somehow fill in for him. It wasn't the same as having Gaara by my side- but not in a bad way. It seemed like this time around, I was the one being fixed. Lee was the one who wanted to fix me.
For the first time in my life, I learned what it was like to have a friend.
Gaara couldn't exactly be called a friend. He was the man I loved, but we would never be friends. Not in the way I wanted us to be.
But Lee- he was everything I had always imagined in a friend. He was open, caring, and was always interested in anything I had to say to him. He knew how to give me advice, and he knew when to just go along with small talk. Despite his eccentric appearance (hey, who was I to criticize?) and his over-affectionate behavior, I still found him endearing.
"I love you."
He caught me off-guard. It wasn't the same kind of 'I love you' that I had received from Gaara. No- this was the confession that I had always wanted to hear from Gaara, but never did. This was the love I had always dreamed of, the one with happy endings and roses and hearts.
But I would never be able to return his love.
"I'm sorry."
He smiled.
"I know."
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It was cold where Gaara called me out.
It was almost winter now- I found myself wishing that I had brought something warmer to wear with me. It was dark too- the only thing that illuminated the bridge at this time of the night was the lone lamp at the very end of the street.
Why was I here? Why did Gaara have to talk to me at some abandoned bridge in the middle of nowhere? Why couldn't he just come home?
A million questions raced through my mind as I shivered, shoving my hands deep into my pockets.
He was late.
Was he not coming after all?
"Sakura-san!"
My head snapped up as I heard a familiar voice. From the edge of the bridge, I could barely make out Lee's trademark green jumpsuit as he ran towards me at full speed. Was it even humanly possible for someone to be so fast? Confusion overcame me as he grew closer- I could now see the fear written all across his face.
"It's a trap! He tricked you! YOU HAVE TO RUN!"
Inexplicable fear filled me as I heard him shout out those last words. I had never heard Lee sound so... scared. He had always been the cheerful one, the one to assure me that everything was always going to be okay no matter what happened. This time around, it didn't sound like everything was going to be okay.
My eyes widened as he threw himself in front of me. I felt his strong arms wrap around me as a deafening bang came from somewhere behind him- it was the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. I felt something warm seep through my thin sweater as he held me tighter in his arms. Was that what I thought it was? My mind wasn't functioning properly- everything just seemed too surreal.
"Sakura-san." It was the first time I heard him sound so weak.
"L-Lee..." I could barely say his name properly.
"Take this." He whispered, and weakly handed me a carefully folded sheet of paper. "Please forgive me Sakura-san. I never meant to hurt you." His eyes were slowly sliding shut, and I felt despair fill every inch of my body as I desperately tried to support his figure with my weak arms. He felt heavy.
"What are you talking about Lee?" I finally found my voice. "Stick with me, you'll be fine. You're the one who always told me things would be fine if we wanted them to be, remember?" My voice shook as I tried to comfort him. I could feel the warmth of his blood covering my hands as I desperately tried to steady him.
"You... have... to run..." Lee's speech was slurring. I felt his head slowly lean onto my shoulder. "Too late... for me... go... somewhere... safe..."
"You can't do this to me!" I heard myself scream. "You can't die on me!"
"RUN!" He used the last of his strength to grab onto my arm. "Sakura-san... for me. Run." I could feel my blood turn cold as his grip slowly loosened as the last of his life slowly slipped through my hands. "I love you."
"Thank you." I whispered, but it was too late.
He was gone.
It took all my strength to let go of him and force my legs to run as fast as they could take me.
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I never felt so cold in my life.
I sat dejectedly on an abadoned bench far away from the cursed bridge, staring at the unfolded piece of paper laying in my hands. I couldn't believe what I was reading- I didn't want to believe it. For the first time in my life, I felt like the past three years had been a complete lie.
I stared at the seven names written down on the frail piece of paper.
My own name seemed to scream out at me. The other six names were hastily crossed out with a red marker- did that mean what I thought it meant? There was something scribbled at the top- some strange urban legend about seven demons. I couldn't be bothered to read into the details again- I didn't believe in crap in demons or anything supernatural. What did that even have to do with the seven names?
I looked dejectedly at the part I feared most.
"Hired assassins." I read out loud. Assassins. Wasn't this the sort of thing that only happened in action thriller movies? Why would anyone hire someone to murder me? I didn't recognize any of the other six names that were crossed out, and I wasn't sure if they were good people or not- but I was certainly sure that I never did anything to make anyone want to kill me.
My eyes swept over the names of the assassins in charge of the mission.
Hyuuge Neji.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Nara Shikamaru.
Inuzuka Kiba.
Rock Lee.
Sabaku no Gaara.
I choked back my sobs as I read over the last name.
Gaara.
I was right. Gaara didn't have friends. They were his partners, nothing else. What happened to him? When had he slipped through my grasp? I had tried so hard to fix him- and I thought that maybe, I had succeeded too. Had these past three years been a lie? Or was fate simply cruel to unexpectedly put us against each other? I couldn't know for sure.
Lee had been in this too- was this what he meant when he asked me to forgive him? I turned away from the piece of paper.
It was just too painful.
There were two names listed at the bottom of the page- other names I didn't recognize. Kabuto and Sai- they were meaningless to me. Apparently they were the supervisors of this mission- it sickened me to call it a mission. To me, it was just plain murder. Had the other six victims been as innocent as I was?
My eyes widened as a light shined at the very end of the street. I lightly relaxed when I realized it was just a car driving through the street. I tried to calm my pounding heart down with a deep breath. I had to calm down if I wanted to make sense of this situation- one thing was sure, I couldn't go back home anymore. Gaara could've been waiting for me.
To kill me.
It was far too late when I realized that the car was headed directly at me.
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When I woke up again, I was in a hospital.
My eyes snapped open as I was hit by a wave of excrutiating pain. I groaned, trying to turn over to the side. My head felt like it was split open by a steel pipe- I could barely gather my thoughts together. I let out a gasp as my eyes started to burn. Grabbing my head, I knocked over a vase of flowers on the end table beside me.
I sat up, trying to study my surroundings. I caught my reflection reflected on the window, and almost threw up.
My eyes were blood red.
I immediately panicked, gingerly touching my eyes. How was this possible? How could my eyes be red? Nothing was making sense right now. I didn't think it was possible, but my head hurt even more. I couldn't stand to look at my horrid eyes so I turned away from the window, looking towards the door. I winced as I tugged on the needle inserted into my arm.
My head snapped up again as the door slowly opened.
A handsome stranger stood at the doorway, his dull black eyes staring straight at me. I'd never seen him before- I would have certainaly remembered if I did.
"Aa." He said, slowly shaking his head. His flat black hair shone in the light. "This isn't good. That car crash should have killed you." He sighed, looking almost disappointed. "It seems like Neji's failure to accomplish his mission awakened something in you. You've noticed it, haven't you?" He walked closer, touching my face. His fingers slowly brushed over my eyes, staring at the color in wonder. "What an interesting creature you are, Haruno Sakura. The shade of your eyes is most peculiar."
I turned away in shame.
"It seems like it's impossible to harm you." He cocked his head to the side. I flinched as he pulled out a syringe- but I didn't have to worry, because as soon as the needle drew close to my skin, a thin red barrier immediately surrounded me, knocking it out of his hand. I gasped, as the red barrier quickly disappeared again.
He didn't seem the least bit fazed though- he walked over to the corner of the room and picked the syringe up again. "It seems like killing you is going to take longer than we expected." His tone was blank.
I blanched. Killing me?
"My name is Sai." He said with a smile. My brain briefly recognized his name as one of the ones on the piece of paper Lee had given me.
"But you won't remember that."
Before I could stop him, he plunged the syringe into the plastic bag hanging off of my IV drip. I could only watch in horror as the substance was pumped into my blood through the tube connected to my arm- I felt myself immediately grow dizzy.
Was I going to die now?
A part of me couldn't help but feel relieved as my world slowly turned black.
Maybe I would finally be at peace.
.
.
I woke up with a start.
Who am I?
That was the first thought that hit my head. I panicked as people wearing white rushed in and out of my room, nervously talking to each other as my eyes blinked open. My eyes landed on the black haired boy who sat by the edge of my bed- he looked so out of place, covered in black in the blindingly white room.
He smiled at me.
"I'm Sai. You may not remember, but I used to be your best friend."
His smile didn't reach his eyes.
.
.
.
.
Sakura could finally remember.
It only took a moment for a lifetime of memories to come rushing back to her head. The world seemed entirely different now that she could actually remember the life she had lived before.
"Sakura-chan..."
Her head snapped towards the blonde haired boy who approached her. As she looked into his wide blue eyes, she could remember.
Uzumaki Naruto.
She was looking into the eyes of the man who had been hired to murder her. Why wait three years? What hadn't they acted sooner? She couldn't know for sure- but she sure as hell wasn't going to stick around them to find out.
She could finally understand why Gaara shot her. She understood why Sasuke constantly asked her questions. Why they had been following her when she had gone to fight Kin.
And Sai...
Sakura couldn't stop the overwhelming feeling of betrayal that squeezed her heart. This time, it was far worse than the time Gaara had betrayed her. Sai had been her everything after she had ended up in the hosptal. She wasn't particularily religious, but that didn't stop her from thanking god at least twice a day for having Sai. No one would ever understand the despair that came with not being able to remember an entire life.
It was true- Lee had fixed her, but what Sai had done went beyond that. He hadn't just fixed her- he made her completely new. Before meeting Gaara, she had actually been okay with being alone for the rest of her life, because that was what she had been accustomed to. However, when she woke up in the hospital room, she had been overcome by an inexplicable need to have someone by her side.
Sai had been that person for her. He had been her crutches throughout her entire recovery.
What was she supposed to think when she found out that he was one of the people trying to kill her?
"I have to go home." She whispered, hurt lacing her words. "I can't stay here."
"You can't go home yet!" Naruto interjected, looking worried. "The doctor said you have to stay overnight!"
"It's okay, I'll take her home." Sai said, stepping forward.
She frantically shook her head. "Alone. P-please don't follow me." She hastily climbed out of the bed. She reached for her sneakers sitting on the floor at the corner of the room, and quickly put them on. "I need to be alone. That includes you too Sai. Please don't come see me at home. I'm fine- really."
Sasuke roughly grabbed her arm. She flinched at his touch.
"Sakura, you're not fine."
She quickly pulled away from him. She gave him one last accusing look before rushing out of the hospital room.
"What's wrong with her now?" Naruto scratched the back of his head.
Sai's black eyes narrowed.
"I don't know either."
.
.
.
.
Now take these rings and stow them safe away,
I'll wear them on another rainy day.
.
.