Oh my God… I'm up to 18 reviews now!! Le spaz!! Thanks a bunch… but FF is being stupid and not putting my horizontal lines where they're supposed to be!! Oh well, the most important thing is that you can decipher the words, correct?

Because I'm getting a little scared that I'm rushing my work, this chapter will really be about flashbacks and memories. Sorry if that disappoints you…

Mood: HYPER!! I swear I'm going to gain so much weight from the Easter candy
Status: Talking to my brotha from anotha motha, Tiny!! I talk to him a lot when I start new chapters… he-he…
Soundtrack: With Me – Sum41 (Yay, first English song!!)

Disclaimer: Damn, this is getting depressing… you know I don't own anything so can I just stop doing these without getting sued for piracy? No? You bastards…

When was… how long ago was it when Team 7 met each other? Not when they met as Team 7, but as Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura. How long was it when they met each other as lost souls?

Were they around five or six? It was at the start of their entrance into the Ninja Academy. It was all so dull… yet, Sakura saw the memory clearly… the forgotten memory…

Flashback

"Well," a tall dark-haired teen sighed as he led his mini-me to the entrance where all the kids were swarming to, "here we are. It's your first day, so try not to cause too much of a ruckus."

The teen chuckled and then messed with the little boy's hair. The younger dark-haired male pouted, "Onii-san, there is no point for unnecessary attention. I don't see how I would be a problem. I always listen to kaa-san, tou-san, and you!"

The teen chuckled again, "You mean you try to."

There were several other students walking by, and a stray blonde flash caught the raven-haired boy's eye.

"Have a good first day, Sasuke," the older brother said as gave his little brother's head one final ruffle and walking off.

The small boy turned around and waved franticly, shouting, "Bye onii-san!!"

Itachi smiled at his brother's childish ways, but loved him none the less. He felt a small figure run into him and he looked down to see a little girl with pale pink hair."

"I'm sorry…" he apologized, "Are you alright?"

She looked up nervously and nodded, "H-hai. A-arigato…"

He smiled and jerked his head in a way that was supposed to be a nod and walked off to the Hokage Tower to start his day.

Sakura marveled at him as he walked by very gracefully… and the way he was so caring…

She turned to look around at the mobs of students that were pushing around her. This wasn't like books or stories… she realized that she wasn't going to be the heroine of the academy or be noticed or the most popular child in the school. She was… invisible.

The blonde boy frowned as he blended with the rest of the crowd. No… there was no way he could've blended… he was different. Everyone hated him. Something was made them dislike him, and Naruto never did anything. He did his best to put a smile on everyone's face… to make everyone's day better… but it just seems that he can't get it right.

"Welcome to your first day at the academy, I'm sure that you'll get accustomed to everything soon," the rather young teacher with a shining polished headband on his forehead, "I am Iruka-sensei. We would start by getting to know each other, ne?"

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!"

He smiled, "Good, good, well then, let's get started! How about we start with the ones up front then?"

Sasuke shuttered a little. He was in the first row. Well, the only reason he was so close was so that he could pay attention and be as strong as his brother one day, but as bright as Sasuke may be, his chances of becoming an ANBU at thirteen were very slim. The boy that was next to him finished and her mentally cursed for sitting in the second seat.

Sasuke slowly and unsurely stood up, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I haven't figured out what I genuinely like or dislike, but the one thing I'm sure of is that I want to be a great ninja like my onii-san."

Naruto puffed his cheeks a little and scoffed as the girls around him swooned when that Sasuke guy sat back down.

Several more people when up, half normal enough and the other half a bit strange, like the boy that carried a dog with him on his head… Naruto felt sorry for the guy if the dog wasn't house-broken… then there was also a girl that was in love with sharp objects and a strange boy that ate about two bags of chips when he talked about himself.

It was close to his turn. A girl stood up about four seats away from him. He could barely see her eyes because of her pink bangs and the fact that her head was tilted down.

"Haruno Sakura."

She immediately sat back down, not looking embarrassed, but by her actions look like she wanted to get out of the room as soon as possible. Maybe she had some sort of case of agoraphobia…

Iruka didn't seem to pay that much attention to her and just let her pass by without saying anything other than her name. That annoyed Sasuke. What gave her the right to be different than everyone else? Why did it seem that he was the only one that was vexed by her behavior?

Sasuke's mind didn't work like Sakura's, but like all the other kids in the room and maybe even Iruka's. He was the hero in his story of life. He believed that there was something that made him special, but not sure what yet. Maybe this girl was some that he could only see? Maybe it was… some sort of different being?

His thoughts were interrupted by that loud voice that shouted his name, Sasuke immediately forgot about his theories over the pink-haired girl.

"My name is UKUMAKI NARUTO THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ONE!!"

Even though the loud-ass blonde boy was in the back set of rows, Sasuke jumped in his seat in front. His voice seemed to echo, but maybe that was just Sasuke. He always did have exceptional hearing, even compared to Itachi.

Sasuke looked about at his to see that he climbed up on his desk and proudly bowed as some stiffed giggled. Naruto opened his mouth again, "What I really, really like is ramen and what I really, really dislike… nothing yet! I like a lot of things besides ramen too!! My dream I will accomplish in the end some time! I wish to be Hokage so that everyone stops thinking that I'm nobody and weak!!"

Sakura's tiny fists clenched and she whispered to herself, "Baka… it doesn't work like that…"

She looked up to see Iruka looking a bit annoyed, but smiling at Naruto's determination. Poor little Sakura frowned again. Every six-year-old should have to have a little attention, but no.

She wasn't the most loved one like that Uchiha boy or the one that stands out the most like Naruto. She wasn't the jumpiest one like that Hyuuga Hinata or the smartest like Nara Shikamaru. Sakura wasn't the most posed on like Yamanaka Ino or the most determined one like Rock Lee. Everyone in this room had something they were the top at, but what was she? The pinkest? No, not even that, there was that one girl sitting over there next to her new-found friends with pink everything.

"The most invisible?" she whispered to herself, "Aa… that would be handy… a ninja must not be seen, ne?"

She felt pathetic… talking to herself… comforting herself… it was pathetic.

"Now since you all know each other, let's go outside for a bit and make some new friends, ne? Sound like a good idea?" Iruka asked the eager class.

They all cheered, except for a few, and then made their way to the world through the inner window.

"I wonder…" Sakura whispered. She stood in place as the kids rushed around her, run towards the door. She stayed in the spot for five minutes. There were no footsteps heard anywhere near the room. Sakura walked over to the window to see that Iruka-sensei was playing with a few other children that were tugging him in every direction.

Sakura felt like in a situation like this, she should feel some sort of liquid spill from her eyes. She rubbed her eye and looked at her hand… dry.

She looked out the window again, hoping that someone would… someone should notice the girl with pink hair is missing… only to slump down, lonely with her knees pulled up to her chin and her face buried in her folded arms under the table that was next to the window.

"Naruto, you go RIGHT back inside, NOW!"

"IRUKA-SENSEI!! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!"

"Slamming that child's ice cream cone in his face to create a legacy is NOT a great way to start the first day!! NOW GO INSIDE!!"

Naruto pouted, but slowly sulked inside. He wanted to stick his tongue out at Iruka-sensei when he yelled out after him, "AND NO BREAKING AND ENTERING OTHER'S CLASSROOMS NARUTO!!"

He grumbled as he dragged his feet, "Might as well say that this is a building to suck the fun out of everything!"

Naruto huffed as he slammed the door open only to slam it closed once more. Sakura jumped at the loud sound and peeked from under the table to see that strange spiky-haired blonde boy.

She whispered to herself as he was grumbling on about Iruka-sensei being mean and not letting him have any fun, "Maybe… he would like to be my friend…"

Sakura sunk back into hiding and shook her head, "B-baka…"

She strained to get some tears out. That's what she really wanted… as strange as it sounded. It was just one of those days where you need to get tears out. You just need to cry. Sakura felt those days every day when she saw people with their friends and playing. Why didn't anyone see her as a friend? Why didn't anyone see her as a human?

Naruto didn't even pay attention to the little rustling sound Sakura made because she was shifting her position a little… but eventually a little dark-haired boy came in from the window, acknowledging her presence.

Hopefully, Iruka-sensei won't yell at Sasuke for leaving the rest of them.

"Sasuke-kun~! SASUKE-KUN~!"

He frowned as he tried to blend with the bush next to the building. Sasuke didn't understand why these girls kept following him. He wanted to make friends with both genders, but these kinds of girls didn't really care about shurikin practice or sparring for fun. That Tenten girl already left to play with Hyuuga Neji, and he doesn't seem to like Sasuke very much, so Sasuke avoided him.

"SASUKE-KUN~!"

Their voice stared getting more distant, meaning that they were moving away from where he was hiding, but they were moving back with Iruka-sensei and the group, meaning Sasuke couldn't go back there, but if he stays here, he's bound to get caught.

Sasuke looked over at the other side and saw the door the building, but it made too much noise and who would come into the build at this hour? He sighed and looked up at the sky… well more like a large tree. It was in the way of his view… wait a minute…

Sasuke looked at where the tree stretched to. Its braches traveled all the way to the window, which he remembered was the window to their classroom… hopefully it was. Sasuke looked at the tree nervously and then looked back to see if anyone was coming. Sasuke bit his lip before attacking the tree, quickly hoisting himself up from its trunk.

This was one of the days that he was so thankful for his mother's choice of dark-colored clothing. Even though the sun's heat rays were dawning on him much heavier than other kids, he couldn't be seen because of the great branches.

Sasuke looked down as he neared the window, "It's… high, but I'm gonna make it…"

He looked forward at the open window and carefully placed his foot on the frame. "I'm gonna make it…"

All of a sudden, his foot slipped from underneath him and he found himself falling through the classroom window… but he didn't feel the tile hit him like it was supposed to. Instead, he fell on something soft and warm.

At first he though that Kami-sama was looking out for him and had devised a mattress of angels' feathers, fallen from their wings, like his mother would say, but looked down to see to his horror that he was lying on top of that weird pink-haired girl, her face pressing to the cold tile.

He jumped off the girl as fast as he could and blushed horribly since he just sat on her on her. Sasuke expected the pink-haired girl to cry like most girls would after being jumped and slammed to the ground, but instead, she just sat back up, pulling her knees to her chin and stared at her feet again.

"A-ano…" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her strange actions, "I'm sorry I fell on you."

She didn't show any signs of hearing him. Sasuke was getting a bit annoyed, but then remember that this was the girl that seemed to be a figment of his imagination. Sasuke tried again, "Are you okay…?"

Again, she either didn't see or hear him, or she was ignoring him. Sasuke frowned and kneeled in front of her and poked her forehead so that her head tipped back. Her eyes widened at the contact and looked to see how poked her. Sakura looked straight into his annoyed onyx eyes.

"Are you awake?"

Sasuke, with his Uchiha attitude, didn't like to be ignored, so was fed up with trying to nice with the girl. He raised an eyebrow as she stared at him with her wide shocked green orbs and nodded.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Then you should answer. It's rude to ignore people."

She frowned and yelled, "I-I wasn't ignoring you! Just that…" the girl's voice softened and she looked away with frustrated eyes, "Normally… people don't talk to me… so… I'm used to it…"

Sasuke's expression changed into slight shock. Most normal people would want to talk to a girl with pink hair! How unique is that? She should be the center of attention almost! The way that girl said it… it sounded a bit like she was just a shadow.

"HEY!! DID YOU JUST FALL THROUGH THE WINDOW?!"

Sasuke turned around to see that very loud boy that proclaimed his existence to the world. It's hard to forget people that jump on tables and scream their names. Uzumaki Naruto was it? Yeah, that was it. The boy that claims he WILL be Hokage.

Sasuke then remembered how he fell, "Aa…"

Naruto frowned deeply, "You should get more practice with flying then…"

"I-I wasn't FLYING, dobe!"

"Don't call me a dobe!! TEME!!"

Sasuke was about to open his mouth and yell back an insult when he remembered that girl. He turned to look at her, and then saw her in her position again: knees to chin, head focused on the ground.

"Eh?" Naruto squinted at Sasuke, wondering what he was looking at that pulled his attention away completely and craned his neck to see what Sasuke was so intent on. "Who are you?"

Sakura wasn't completely sure whether or not he was talking to her, but then thought that Naruto was addressing Sasuke so didn't make any move, just like with Sasuke.

Sasuke crouched down and poked her, "He's talking to you this time."

She widened her eyes and looked up to see that Naruto was staring at her. She blushed from his completely-focused gazed and frowned as she looked away, "S-Sakura… Haruno Sakura."

All of a sudden, she felt herself being pulled up and her arm shaking so hard and fast that Sakura could almost swear that it would pop off.

Her hand was linked with Naruto's well-tanned hand and looked up to his friendly smile, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! It's great to meet you!!"

After what seemed to be forever, Naruto finally let go. Sakura, as if she was scared that she might actually take her arm and rip it off, pulled arm back cradling it. She heard a different voice stifled a chuckle and then looked over to see a cocky looking Sasuke, finding amusement out of her silliness.

She was about to yell at him to not laugh at her, but then remembered. She was curious about him. He was the first one that actually talked to her face-to-face… nicely in a way.

"Ano…" she looked away, "Who are you?"

He stopped thinking about her silly antics to answer her, "Uchiha Sasuke… but just Sasuke will be fine."

"Sasuke…"

He studied her expression for a minute before getting an idea, "Since you are my new friends, can I show you something?"

Naruto squinted again in suspicion, but slowly nodded. Sakura did as well, a bit light-headed to really question what her new friend was going to do.

Friend…

That was enough for her. She didn't care what he had to show. Sakura was eventually broken out of her trance by the sound of music from… a music box…?

Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was holding a plain wooden box, opened. It didn't really have much fancy decoration, but to Sakura, the golden plates on the inside and out made it beautiful enough for her.

"This is kinda a sad song…" Naruto complained.

"No."

Both boys looked at Sakura in shock. She blushed before smiling, "It's… it's pretty…"

Sasuke grinned a barely noticeable grin, "Kaa-san thought so too. She says that the name of the song, 'Prunus'… means 'cherry blossom' so I thought you might like it."

Sakura smiled at his sincerity and bowed, not noticing the liquid that was spilling out of her eyes, "A-arigato…"

He didn't understand why she chose to cry now, but he knew that he didn't want a friend crying. He closed the box and the music stopped. He frowned and grunted, "Don't cry… it's… irritating…"

End Flashback

"Prunus…" Sakura whispered as pain struck her body all over. She dropped the head at her side to struggle in trying to still stand up. Her hands flew to her head as she clutched it, groaning as if she was fighting something back.

Sasuke and Naruto watched in terror as their teammate struggled with her own mental battle. Kabuto was trying to figure out what was happening.

"There's no place…" she muttered, clutching her head, "I have to make a place…"

She stopped squirming and let go of her short locks. Sakura's stance was straight again, but she was shaking.

"Why… why is there so much blood…?" she whispered in shock, terrified of the headless bodies that surrounded her as well as the head at her feet.

Sakura back up even more, "Wh-what happened…?!"

I'd like to know that myself, Sasuke thought to himself as she watched Sakura freak out at the bodies like the Sakura he knew would, Sakura… what's going on…?

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Whoa… this was really long!! BTW, sorry for the late update… I have a HUGE play going on and I don't get home until seven, and I still have to do schoolwork because I have a presentation over euthanasia…

Wha'cha think then? I love reviews… and that really gets me pumped!! Ha-ha… I hope it wasn't rushed (I'm really self-conscious about my work)!

Well, you know what's coming up next, the Ino VS Sakura fight! This should be intense because something is living in Sakura's body… and it has a bloodlust worst than Gaara's...

Hugs and Kisses,
Lilium :X