My bad, my bad. Sorry for spelling the name wrong. I just forgot to change the spelling when I uploaded the thing. But now its fixed, so no worries. Hehe! Well here's the new chapter.

Chapter 2: Metamorphosis

Whispers came to her mind, slowly pulling her out of her induced sleep.

"Where am I?" she thought. "Whose voice is that?"

Sakura's senses slowly came back into focus. Her mind was still swirling but she could feel something soft under her and the scent of antiseptic cleaner came to her nose. Only one place could have that smell and that was a hospital, she was back in Konoha. She slowly opened her eyes and found the glaring lights of a hospital room above her and the all too familiar humming they created. She heard the whispers stop and a shift of movement came to her bedside.

"Sakura?"

She slowly turned her head in the direction of her the voice and found her teacher, Tsunade hovering over her with a worried expression written on her face.

"Good you're awake"

She felt a hand go to her forehead to check her temperature.

"Temperature seems normal, you don't appear to have any signs of trauma or stress"

Sakura swallowed but found it difficult due to the cotton mouth feeling on her tongue. She tried to sit up but found it excruciatingly difficult due to the searing pain in her chest. What was she hit with? An iron fist? It was only a syringe that she was wounded with, then why is she in so much pain?

"Oh, yah he delivered it like a punch...duh" she thought.

Took you long enough Inner Sakura replied. She ignored the comment and forced herself to sit up in the bed. Tsunade handed her a cup of water and watched her pupil down the water.

"I didn't see any signs of whatever was in that syringe in your system"

Sakura handed back the empty cup.
"Have you any idea what was in it?" she asked in a whisper. The blonde shook her head.

"No, we believe that it was made to only target Kakashi but we don't know because the syringe didn't have any traces of whatever substance it held"

"I am going to be alright? Since we don't know what was injected in me?"

"Give you one more day and you'll be discharged and back on your feet by next week"

Sakura sighed and looked back up at her teacher.

"Thank You, senpai"

Her teacher nodded and headed over to the door, she opened it and took a step outside.

"Sakura"

She looked up at the women.

"Don't be as reckless next time"

Sakura smiled and nodded her head and watched her teacher leave the room.

"It's good to see you awake, Sakura"

She jumped from the voice; she looked over to her window and saw the Copy Nin leaning up against the wall of her hospital room.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a high whisper. She grimaced from the pain.

Kakashi gave an annoyed look.

"Can I not come and see one of my old pupils when they are not feeling well?" he replied.

Sakura bit her lip from the remark.

"Yes, but…….I thought you hated hospitals"

She watched the Copy Nin's eye crinkle into a smile.

"Yes, if I'm the one in need of attention"

Sakura giggled but stopped due to her inflicting more pain unto herself. She forgot how much it hurt to have bruised ribs. She felt a bump and a mutter from under her bed.

"Wake up Naruto, she's awake"

Sakura tried bending over to see but a yellow and orange blur shot up from under the bed and encircled her in a tight embrace.

"Oh, Sakura-chan! Thank Kami you are awake" he said into her hair. Sakura could barely hear him due to her ribs protesting to the extra pressure they were enduring. "When you fell unconscious, I became so worried that you wouldn't wake up!"

"Naruto" she said between clenched teeth. "Let go of me"

He froze and instantly jumped back realizing his actions. He stood there scratching the back of his head with a slightly red face.

"Sorry, my bad"

Sakura took in a slow breath and regarded the two men in front of her.

"Do you need anything?" Naruto asked. Sakura shook her head. "Because I'll get you anything if you need it. Ice chips? Are you hungry? You know it was only this morning that you had your last meal. I'm sure that the cafeteria would still be open for lunch. You know I think they had ramen for lunch, I'll make sure to get two bowls we can have lunch toge—"

"I think it's time that we leave Naruto" Kakashi said walking toward the door and ending the boys ranting. Sakura could only shake her head at the both of them.

"But I just woke u--"

"You're not the one in bed"

Sakura smiled slightly at the two of them.

"I'll still be here Naruto, come by tomorrow" she said gently. Her whiskered friend looked at her with a worried expression and sighed.

"Alright, I'll go and let you get your rest"

Sakura nodded at him as she watched her teacher and comrade walk out of her room. She shook her head and rearranged her covers.

Someone cleared their throat at the door; she looked up and found Kakashi.

"What?" she asked wondering his lingering presence. He looked down the hallway and came back into the room and closed the door behind him. Sakura narrowed her eyebrows slightly; even for Kakashi this was a bit strange.

She watched him a bit but found his gaze a little unnerving; she looked out her window, telling her that it was around early evening, and then she returned her attention at her teacher.

"Did you leave something, sensei?"

He shook his head as he came over to her side of the bed. Sakura looked up at him but found him looming over her a bit unsettling and she returned her gaze to her clasped hands in her lap.

"Why did you do it?" he asked. Sakura looked up at him a bit surprised; this was a bit out of character for him. But the thing that surprised her was the emotion in his voice.

"Did what?"

She saw him narrow his eye slightly, realizing what he was talking about she continued.

"Oh, that… well…..I…….."

Sakura paused and looked down at her lap. Why did she do it? Maybe it was just an uncontrollable reaction of hers of taking a hit for a fellow Shinobi. She racked her brains for a possible answer.

"Uh…..I guess I did it by reaction"

She looked up at her teacher, taking note of the slouched position and laid back presence.

"I do have the tendency to take hits for other people" she said with a slight smile. She saw that Kakashi didn't smile or change expression. She looked back down at her lap. "I'm sorry….I know I shouldn't have done it"

They sat in silence for a bit till she heard him shift and emit a sigh. She looked back up at her teacher and found him looking at her still. Was he mad at her? She really didn't mean to take his hit for him, she just did. She couldn't tell if he was mad at her due to that blasted mask of his that he had on. Sakura began clenching her blankets into her fists due to the silence.

"Just don't do it again okay?"

Sakura sighed, he wasn't mad at her. But inside she knew that he was taking to blame for her injuries. She quickly nodded her head in understanding, promising to herself that she wouldn't do it again. She looked back up at him.

His eye crinkled back up into a smile as he ruffled her hair. Sakura ducked her head and allowed him to; she smiled slightly liking that they got over their differences. The ruffling stopped as Sakura lifted her head to see his back facing her in the doorway. She let out another sigh and rearranged the blankets around her to make them more comfortable.

"Oh, and Sakura…"

She looked up again. His back was still facing her but she could see the side of his face looking over at her.

She sat in her spot waiting for his reply.

"…thanks…"

With that he stepped out of her room and closed the door leaving her alone in her room. Sakura blinked at the door, and then carefully she laid back down on the bed. She gently leaned over to her side facing the window.

"He thanked me….." she said softly to herself. "….I bet that took a lot of courage for him to do that…."

She brought a hand gently up to her face.

"Why is my face hot? Am I blushing?"

I don't know maybe just because your teacher just thanked you for possibly saving his life Inner Sakura offered.

"You're right"

Maybe it's just a side affect to your wounds

"It could be that too"

But right now I need to get to sleep. Sakura closed her eyes and silently went back into the gentle arms of sleep.

Sakura feel asleep and didn't wake till about noon when Naruto stormed into her room proudly proclaiming his arrival and also their promised lunch of ramen. She sat up and rubbed her eyes from her sleep.

"Good Afternoon!" Naruto said with his familiar smile. Sakura only grinned at him. "Feeling any better?"

Sakura cataloged her pain, there was pain still there but she was able to move a lot and if she decided to suddenly do the Bell Test then she was going to be in pain. She crossed her legs in the bed to make room for him to join her; he happily obliged and hopped onto the bed.

"A lot better, thanks"

"That's good"

Sakura went through her ramen and glanced over at Naruto baiting whether or not to tell him what Kakashi told her when he left. He looked up and noticed her look.

"Wanted to tell me something?"

She blinked at him and opened her mouth, but then closed it.

"I think it was more personal, so Naruto will have to wait" she thought as she shook her head. Naruto just tilted his head in question and continued eating his ramen bowl. He finished his bowl and dug around in the bag that he brought and brought out another ramen bowl. Sakura only rolled her eyes at him as she finished hers.

The door opened and both eyes looked over to see the Hokage enter. She smiled at the two and walked over to the foot of the bed to look at Sakura's chart.

"Feeling alright today Sakura?" she asked looking up from her chart reading. Sakura only nodded due to her mouth being full of ramen. "That's good, well I got your tests back and they are a go. You can go home today if you like"

"Thank you Goddaime-sama"

Her teacher only nodded at her pupil as she signed off on her chart.

"Well, I'll be seeing you in a couple of days. Try to stay out of trouble" she said as she left the room. Sakura smiled at the comment and turned her attention back to Naruto.

"So that's a go then? You can go home?"

She nodded.

"Apparently"

"That's great! I'll walk you home!"

"That would be great"

She glanced out of her window. Whatever was in that syringe didn't do anything to her, but what would have happened if Kakashi was the one that injected?

Sakura waved at Naruto as he walked off toward his home. The sun was about one in the afternoon and Sakura wanted to go back to sleep. She smiled at her friend for his kindness, Naruto may be reckless sometimes but when it came to taking care of his friends he was always sincere about it. She turned to unlock her door when her stomach cramped a little. She glanced down at it; it started to bother her right after lunch. Well hospital food wasn't the best thing in the world; she still was hyped up on some painkillers from the day before. She pushed her way into her house and padded her way up to her bedroom.

For the three years that she was growing up both of her parents were dead. Her father and mother were one day taking a vacation to Wind Country but they were ambushed by Rouge Sound Nin's and both were killed. Sakura was at the time was doing a side mission for Tsunade all the way in Sand Country; she had no way of getting there in time. So she spent the rest of her days by herself and took their deaths very hard when she returned home. Luckily Ino was here as well as Tsunade when she was in grieving. All of her other friends stopped by too to check up on her and stayed for a cup of tea to be with her. She thanked them for that and also their courtesy for not talking about her parents deaths.

Sakura looked at her desk and spied the photograph that had both of her parents in it. They both were smiling at her; she remembered when she took that picture. It was a little before they left for that trip that ended their lives; it was sunny when they left. Sakura shook her head from the memory and moved over to one of her dressers so she could slip into a night t-shirt.

"What am I going to do tomorrow?" she said to herself. She walked back downstairs to get some water going for tea. Her stomach began to really bother her. She put her hand to her stomach from the pain. "That is the last time I eat hospital food"

She turned the kettle on and went around getting a cup ready. She reached up for a cup and found her hand shaking. She halted her reach to look at her hand.

"What is wrong with me?"

Her stomach turned in response; she discontinued her reach for a cup and made her way to her medicine cabinet to reach for a stomach reliever. She took the small bottle down to read the label but her stomach was turning too much for her to even concentrate to read it.

She stopped and settled the bottle back on the counter; she headed to the bathroom but before she left she quickly turned off the stove. She didn't know how long she was going to be. Her mind began to spin as she made her way back up the stairs to her upstairs bathroom. She stopped in the middle of the stairwell to lean up against the wall to catch her breath and to also hopefully stop the vertigo.

"God, I don't feel that great" she said with a forced breath. She quickly finished her climb and headed to the bathroom. Her vision was swimming so badly her knees buckled making her land on her bathroom floor. "I really don't feel good"

You're telling me Inner Sakura said as she doubled over from the pain.

Sakura dragged and crawled over to her toilet. Her stomach was hurting so bad she didn't know if she wanted to hurl first or use it. Her body was shaking and sweat was forming on her forehead.

"What… is….wrong…with me?" she thought slowly. "A bad case….of….food poisoning?"

She shook her head but really regretted that she did because it caused her world to start spinning even more. She clutched her head and her stomach; she very badly wanted to hurl to get the thing that was causing her nausea to go away. Her skin was soon beginning to feel like it was on fire; her body was reacting to whatever was in her to kill its little soldiers from spreading in her body. Sakura laid down on her fuzzy bathroom mat to end the swimming that was happening in her head. She clamped her eyes shut to stop the flashes of colors in her eyes; it really wasn't helping her dizziness.

Sakura silently groaned from the pain she was experiencing, she wanted to very much have this phase of pain to pass.

"I…should have….stayed…….at the hospital"

Sakura curled into the fetal position while holding her stomach. She wanted to just go to sleep and end this pain in her stomach.
"God….I wish mom….was here" she thought. Sakura cringed from the spasm of pain her body went through, it felt like she was set on fire.

The pain slowly became more and more progressive and soon Sakura had beads of sweat rolling off her face and tears rolling out of her eyes.

"Mom….." she whimpered. "…Mommy…."

But Sakura knew that her mother would not come to her, nor would she ever. The pain became more and more painful with each passing minute. Sakura was soon bawling for the pain to stop, she never experienced anything more painful in her life. It felt like her limbs were being stretched and pulled from some invisible force. Suddenly the pain became unbearable and Sakura started screaming from it. It laced through her body and pulsed like a heart but the pain become sharper and faster. She didn't stop screaming till finally the pain caused her to black out on her bathroom floor.

Sakura thought for a moment before she passed out, was the feeling of fingertips pushing some hair out of her face.

"Mom……"

The silence pounded in her ears as Sakura slowly came too. She slowly blinked her eyes open to get used to the light above her; she was still in her bathroom. She moved her hand up to her face to rub her nose. Her rubbing halted noting the absence of pain; she slowly lifted her head up to test to see if she still had the lightheadedness. None, not even a stomach cramp.

"Thank Kami" she thought as she settled her head back on the mat.

What the hell was that? Inner Sakura asked.

"I got no idea" she said as she slowly sat up. Sakura slowly pulled herself back up so she could lean slightly over her sink. "I felt like I just died"

She rolled her head around her shoulders to crack her neck and also relax her tense muscles.

Sakura pulled her shirt away from her to take sniff.

"I smell like sweat, gross" she thought. She glanced at her self in the mirror and screamed.

Naruto walked up to Sakura's house with quickness to his step. It was three days since he last saw her and that included everyone. He even asked around if anyone saw the pink haired girl, they all told him no not since she left the hospital with him when she was discharged. It was roughly about 5:00 in the evening and also he was hoping that she was in the mood to fix him an early dinner.

He narrowed his eyes in worry; he really hoped that she was alright. He even stopped by the old granny to see if she was working but she told him that she hadn't seen her pupil too.

Naruto noticed her house and walked up to the door and banged on it a couple times.

"Sakura! I know you're in there! Open up!" he yelled. He stood outside of the door while getting some looks. No one thought it strange that a whiskered boy in black and orange was banging on a girls door wanting let in. "Sakura! Come on out! I haven't seen you in three days!"

He waited for a minute, he was fed up with the waiting and was about to bang on the door when.

"Go away Naruto!"

He paused at the voice, for some reason it sounded different. Well he hadn't seen her for three days so you would bet it would sound strange.

"I'm not leaving till you come on out and open the door!"

"Just go away, I don't want you to see me!"

Naruto tapped his foot on the ground. This was very unlike Sakura; normally she would open the door and invite him in.

"What is it? Some gigantic zit? Come on it's alright!"

"No!"

"That's it, I want to see you down here with the door open in three seconds or I'm going to begin screaming your secrets to the whole entire town"

He paused to hear her reaction. It was silent. A small crowd was already forming outside of her house.

"Alright! I'll start in 3…..2…..1….—"
In a flash the door flew open and a black thing shot out and grabbed the surprised Shinobi from outside and pulled him inside.

Naruto stood in her house with his arms crossed over his chest wanting an explanation, as she fiddled with the door.

"What was that?" he asked the hooded figure that was his pink haired friend. He watched his friend peer out of the peep hole to watch the disappearing crowd. "Sakura?"

He looked at the girl in front of him; he was beginning to wonder how long Sakura has been taller than him.

"Shh!"

He paused at the voice, it sounded older.

"Are you sick?" he asked coming closure to her.

"Don't come near me!" she snapped, he stopped. She had a black blanket around her and it also covered her head. She moved into the kitchen with the boy following her.

"Sakura are you sure you're not sick? I mean you are acting really strange"

He watched her turn on the stove to start some water for tea.

"I…I don't know…Yes, I think something is wrong with me"

He raised an eyebrow at the voice again, that was defiantly not the Sakura Haruno's voice that he remembered.

"Are you okay?"

He watched his friend, she still remained silent.

"I need to show you something Naruto"

He tilted his head in question.

"You have to promise to not freak out when I show you"

He narrowed his eyes, he was really confused. He watched her slowly turn to face him.

"What is it that you wanted to show me?"
He heard her take a sigh.

"This" she said as she dropped the blanked hood off her head.

"Granny!!" he said running into the building. He was already dragging a cloaked Sakura behind him who was really trying with all her might to refuse him but he wasn't about to put up with it. "I need to speak to the Hokage!"

He was already getting looks of confusion from any Shinobi in the building. He ran down the hallway and up another flight of stairs up to the Hokage's room. Shizune was at her desk when she looked up to see the very concerned looking young man.

"Naruto-san? What is going on?" she said getting up from her desk. He flew past her and walked into the Hokages office with the hooded Sakura after him. "Wait a min--"

But before she could finish her sentence the door to the Hokage's office was already thrown open and closed.

Tsunade looked up when she heard the first yell of one of her nicknames. She only had one guess who it was that was calling her. She got up and looked out her window to peer down below for the source of the voice but when her door was burst open with the well known Naruto, her assumption was confirmed.

"Naruto, you do know that you have to set up an appointment to talk to me"

"I don't care! Look at Sakura!" he said pointing to the hooded figure. Tsunade raised a honeyed eyebrow as she lifted a cup of tea from her desk.

"What is wrong with her? She should be fine unless she got herself hurt in the course of three days"

Naruto's eyes got bigger than they already were. Tsunade really didn't have any time to deal with this she already had enough paperwork to finish and send out.

"You call that fine?! You said that nothing was wrong with her!"

The older woman took a sip from her tea as she regarded the cloaked girl in front of her.

"Well, Sakura what is wrong?"

She remained silent.

"I don't know Senpai"

Tsunade raised both eyebrows from the voice.

"I thought maybe you could tell me" she said as she lowered her hood.

Tsunade opened her mouth in shock as the cup she was holding slipped and crashed to the floor.