What can I say? Sorry for the delay. Here's a brand-new chapter, coming your way!

Maybe I should just stick to writing stories. (More chapters will be out once I finish writing them, I only have 14 more written pages atm)

- Belle :)

It had been a few days. She hadn't been out. I made my resolve that I was going to go over there if she didn't come out.

I knocked on her door. "Sakura?" Nobody answered. I tried again. "Sakura?" Still nothing.

I knocked harder. "Sakura!" I cursed mentally, running around into her backyard and grabbing the spare key. I quickly opened the door and ran inside, sprinting into her house. I looked around frantically, not seeing her. Panic rising, I started calling out her name; it started coming out in sobs. I got to the last room of her house – her bedroom. The door was closed.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. The room was pitch black even though it was the middle of the day. I blinked, trying to see into the darkness.

"Sakura?" I called, taking a few steps into the room and allowing my eyes to adjust to the lack of light.

I saw a lump on the bed under the covers, so I went over and yanked the covers off of it.

"Sakura!" I gasped at the sight that beheld me.

Lying on the bed curled up in a ball was a kunoichi that looked like she hadn't slept in days, though she had been in bed for about 3. Her eyes were open wide, glassy, and unmoving. Her hair was dull, and the color from her eyes was also gone. Her skin was pale and clammy, and she looked like she had lost a bit of weight. That was impossible; it had only been 3 days!

It felt like I was looking at death.

Still getting no response, I poked her. She blinked.

"Sakura." I said with relief.

Her eyes moved around a bit, and then focused on me. She groaned.

"Go away, Ino." Even her voice sounded broken.

"No." I said.

"Give me some time, I'll be okay." She croaked.

"It's been 3 days! No one has seen you in that time, and you are definitely NOT okay."

She turned her face into the pillow.

I grabbed her hand and yanked her up to a sitting position. "You are NOT letting this kill you, Sakura."

"Why not!" She cried, losing more tears. "I'm tired of being like this, being so lonely! What is the point of being alive if no one will acknowledge you? It's worse than not existing." She finished off yelling.

"I acknowledge you, Sakura." I affirmed. "You're one of my best friends."

"It's not like that and you know it, Ino." She sobbed. "I have nobody left." Her eyes widened and she said the last part like a death sentence.

"Stop saying things like that, Sakura!" I felt like yelling, but not at her. "Look. Come out with me today. Everybody's worried about you."

I gently pulled her to her feet and brought her into her attached bathroom and drew her a bath. I helped her undress and get into it and I washed her hair. While she finished soaking I opened the curtains in her room and picked her some clothes to wear. I got in the bathroom and helped her finish drying off and get dressed.

I brought her into the living room, towel-dried her hair, sat behind her on the couch and brushed her hair in long strokes.

"Your hair is beautiful, Sakura." I said as a means of conversation. "Do you want me to put it up today?"

She shook her head and I sighed. I got up and made her some food and made her eat a few bites, and then I told her to go put on her shoes.

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"Because we're going out this afternoon." I said. "Some of our friends are meeting us at the park."

"Oh, Ino." She moaned. "No."

"Too late for that!" I said in a singsong voice that I knew annoyed her.

She put her shoes on, as did I and I made some hand signs and transported us to the park by the memorial and the cherry blossom trees. As soon as she saw the memorial her eyes widened and she clutched on to my arm as if for support.

"Hey," I said. "What's wrong?"

"Oh... n-nothing." She replied quietly. "Just a bad memory."

-Page Break- (I do this because stars don't show up B|)

His face was in my mind again, vivid as anything, and the sight of his lone grey eye failing at hiding from me that his mind was going through hell. It was wrong not to see him here. It was wrong to be here.

This was his space.

I started trembling as my chest started to feel like I was being smothered.

"Hey." A voice called from behind us. "You guys coming or what?"

"Yep!" Ino bounced away from me and into Shikamaru's arms, leaving me staggering to regain my balance.

Shikamaru bent to kiss her but Ino stopped him and glanced over her shoulder at me, as if to remind him they were not alone.

"Right." He admitted. "Okay, Ino-chan. Later."

She giggled and took his hand and ran through the trees to the clearing a couple hundred yards away. I considered making a break for it, but decided it would be against my best friend's wishes.

Walking behind them a bit slower, I reached the clearing shortly after them.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards me, enveloping me in a hug. "How ya been?"

I shoved him off of me and ignored him. "Moron." I mumbled under my breath as I walked over to Hinata who was sitting on a log a few feet away as I heard Ino shrieking at him, "What kind of question is that, idiot?" and Shikamaru simultaneously saying, "Calm down, Ino-chan."

I sat on the log beside Hinata and put my face in my hands.

"Please don't be mad at Naruto-kun." She flustered nervously. "He's inept when it comes to matters of this type."

"You don't need to tell me that!" I managed a half smile at her. "It reminds me of the old days."

She smiled and moved a bit closer to me.

"So why are we here, Hinata?" I asked quietly.

"Shikamaru-san and Neji-kun thought it would be good if we got some sparring practice since nothing's come up in a while."

"Hmm..." I trailed off thoughtfully.

"You don't have to, Sakura-chan." She added quickly. "I'm just here to watch as well."

"No, no." I said slowly. "I'll try."

"I'm glad, Sakura-chan." She said earnestly. She nodded to someone over my shoulder and I saw Shikamaru return the nod and write something on a piece of paper.

"What's he doing?" I asked suspiciously.

"Adding your name to the list." She answered. "He hadn't assumed you'd compete."

"Oh."

Hinata smiled again as Shikamaru approached the group.

"The list is ready." He called lazily. "Who wants to call partners?"

Ino growled from beside me. "Naruto." Shikamaru made a mark on the paper and Hinata whimpered.

"Don't hurt him, Ino-chan!"

She didn't answer.

"You're mine, Nara." Chouji, who was somewhere over my left shoulder behind Ino, growled jokingly.

Shikamaru smiled. "It's your funeral, buddy."

Hinata spoke softly. "I do not wish to fight. I'll act as a medic, Shikamaru-san."

He nodded. "Noted." He looked over my right shoulder. "You guys?"

Neji's cool voice said from closely on my right side, "I wish to fight Sakura. I'd like to see how far she's come." He patted my back once and retreated toward another group of people behind me.

Kiba spoke up. "We're good over here."

"Alright." Shikamaru said. "Then you can fight TenTen and Shino, you get Lee."

They nodded.

"So we'll start with most enthusiastic. Naruto!"

Naruto looked up eagerly and darted into the center of the field. Ino looked to Shikamaru, who was now at her side.

"Be careful, Ino-chan." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I know he's a knucklehead, but the kid's got some fight in him."

"He won't when I'm done with him." Ino glared at Naruto. She blurred from Shikamaru's arms and appeared on the field opposite Naruto, who was pretending to look at his fingernails.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here, Ino-chan." He said the suffix as a taunt. I drew in a breath and so did Hinata, and we knew we weren't the only ones who knew Naruto was treading in dangerous water.

Shikamaru called over to them. "No rules. Go ahead."

Ino lunged at Naruto and as soon as her fist connected with Naruto's face he burst into a cloud of smoke. Ino shrieked like a banshee and I pressed my lips together to avoid smiling as I recognized Naruto's doppelganger move. He always loved that move.

Ino whirled around to see Naruto in a tree fling a kunai at her head. She barely dodged in time, the kunai grazing her face and cutting a line on her cheek. She flung a shuriken in return and he leapt from the tree and over top of her, landing in front of her. She whipped three more shuriken at him and two landed. They stuck in his sleeves and stuck him to a tree. Ino made a handsign.

"I recognize this." I said at the same time Shikamaru said, "Mind possession jutsu."

We barely finished what we were saying when Ino's body slumped to the forest floor and Naruto started to squirm.

My jaw dropped. "She didn't get him."

Neji "hmmed". "Seemingly."

Suddenly Naruto broke free and ran over to Shikamaru and gave him a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Shikamaru-kun!"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and looked at me. "Yeah, she got him."

Naruto suddenly flung himself away from Shikamaru and headfirst into a tree as Ino's body moved.

Suddenly Ino jumped up and bounced into Shikamaru's arms. Shikamaru bent his head and pressed his lips to her cheek.

"That's my girl." He murmured. "Except next time, when you want to use me like that, kindly let me know. If I'd have known you were going to have Naruto sexually assault me I'd have made sure to have antibacterial cleaning substances here first."

"Oh I'm sorry, Shika-kun." Ino purred, grabbing the front of his vest and pulling him close to her. I looked away. I didn't want to see this.

I stared at my knees until I heard Shikamaru's voice again.

"Let's go, Chouji, we're next."

The next few fights were more serious. A few kunai thrown, some jutsus used, and some bloodshed, but overall no major injuries Hinata couldn't handle.

Finally, after all the matches were completed, my stomach sank. I knew whose name would be called next.

Neji clasped my shoulder briefly from behind. "Let us take to the field, Sakura. I do wish to see what new jutsus and moves you've been working on."

I left without saying a word to anyone and walked to my designated side of the field. The concept of fighting in general seemed so unfamiliar to me. But that was in fact understandable, I mean, the last person I fought with was...

Oh god.

My resolve weakened immediately, and I felt myself go weak in the knees for a brief instant.

"You're not letting this kill you, Sakura." Ino's words rang in my head. She was right. I willed my hands to stop shaking, and I stood up straight.

Shikamaru's voice sounded from across the field. "Begin."

Neji was fast, immediately throwing 3 kunai toward me that I dodged with ease. He twisted around and tossed two more over his shoulder, taking me off guard. One passed my shoulder innocently, the other nicking the skin of my forearm.

Neji quickly made some hang signs and yelled something out. My ears were pounding with adrenaline so hard I barely heard him, but I knew what he was doing. His trigrams-palms attack. He came at me fiercely, striking with his hands but missing every time. It then occurred to me that I hadn't struck back once; I was merely on the defensive. My heart was throbbing with a pulse that echoed in my brain, which was somehow still managing to tell my body to dodge the onslaught that Neji was bringing upon me.

I was doing well, but suddenly his face flashed in my mind. That day we fought, when he told me to fight back. I told him no.

"Why."

"Because I love you..."

The pain alone of that memory ripped through me like wildfire. I pushed away from Neji with chakra enhanced strength, propelling us both to opposite ends of the field. Neji was breathing hard, but he didn't have a scratch on him. I took a deep breath and started forward.

"I don't love you."

I stopped dead in my track. I started taking shallow breaths through my nose.

"I could never love someone like you."

I was propelled to the ground knees first. I clutched the sides of my head. I couldn't do this.

At this rate, I'd be lucky if I ever fought again.

-Page Break- (I do this because stars don't show up B|)

I leaned over to Hinata. "She's dying out there."

She whispered back worriedly. "I know. We have to stop this."

I could see it in Sakura's eyes and shaking hands that she was trying to put on a brave face, but she just couldn't do it. It was too soon to force her.

But Neji couldn't see that.

As if he were trying to add insult to injury, I saw him take a kunai out of his holster and snapped his arm back to throw.

I panicked to Hinata. "She won't dodge. We have to help her."

"I agree." She rasped. "He's aiming for her head."

I saw the kunai leave his hand.

It all happened very fast them. I darted to grab Sakura and Hinata lunged between us and the kunai and deflected it with one of hers.

It struck a nearby tree and Sakura flinched in my arms. Hinata and I glared at Neji.

"She's not ready, you fool." I hissed.

"Says the girl who brought her here." He walked away.

I looked down at her. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

She shook her head. "I can't do it, Ino, I'm not strong enough. He's haunting me—"

"Take her home, Ino-chan." Shikamaru called to me.

"Nobody moves just yet." Genma, one of the leaf village's jounin, said from the other side of the clearing, emerging from the bushes. "Lady Hokage wants to see all of you."

...

Happy Halloween I'll see you all on the other side!