Whispers in the Dark
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I write for pure entertainment with no intentions or whatsoever to breach any copy rights! Hehe…
Author's Note: Hey everyone! I must say I'm surprised that I received positive feedback. So I thank from the bottom of my heart to those who reviewed. I enjoyed knowing that at least some of you guys enjoyed. Hopefully I keep it up, and won't disappoint you guys.
So here it is… chapter #2
Two young girls remained in the middle of Konoha's hospital corridor, both facing each other with a deadly look fixed on their faces. Two nurses walked past them and both eyed the pink-haired girl, the Hokage's apprentice, and the blonde-haired girl an aspiring medic-nin with concern. Apparently they were at it again.
"There is no way that you would be able to heal his arm in that condition!" said Sakura as smirk adorned her pale features causing the blonde-haired girl to narrow her blue eyes.
"Perhaps it was because there was not much of an arm left to heal, forehead!" Ino retorted as she crossed her arms around her torso.
"Face it, Ino pig. You'll never beat me. I'll always be better than you!" Sakura added, her emerald eyes beaming as she noticed the blonde-haired girl features twist in anger.
"SHUT UP FOREHEAD! I'LL BET WHATEVER YOU WANT THAT BY THE END OF THE MONTH I'LL BE ABLE TO BEAT YOU!" Ino shouted as one of her hands formed a fist.
"Ohhh! I'd like to see that!" Sakura rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out earning a scowl from Ino.
"You bitch!" Ino quickly jumped forward and tried to punch the pink-haired kunoichi who easily dodged her.
"You'll have to do way better than that!" Sakura provoked as she laughed at Ino's red face.
Ino ignored Sakura as she kept punching the air, trying to land a hit on the annoying pink-haired girl. Sakura moved to the left and grabbed one of Ino's hands and twisted the blonde's arm onto her back, causing Ino to yelp both in surprise and pain.
Groaning in frustration, Ino quickly stomped on Sakura's feet, freeing herself from Sakura's grip. Ino fumed as she massaged her sore arm, then with an impulse of anger she prepared herself to attack Sakura when someone pulled her away.
"What the hell?" Ino questioned as she turned around. Her eyes widened at the sight of the Hokage.
"Tsunade-Shishou!" Sakura gulped and bowed respectfully.
"I could hear you both from the Hospital entrance," said Tsunade as she glared at the teenagers, "Are you aware that this is a hospital, correct?"
Both girls quickly nodded at Tsunade's question.
"Then you are also aware that in a hospital there are citizens that require peace and quiet to be able to rest?" Again, they quickly nodded. Tsunade raised a doubtful eyebrow and directed her gaze at Sakura, "meet me in my office in fifteen minutes," Tsunade then turned her back on both girls, her worlds were followed by Ino's snicker.
Tsunade then turned around slightly and sent Ino a death glare from the corner of her eyes, making the blonde-haired teenager sweat.
"You too, Yamanaka,"
"H-hai," Ino bowed and Tsunade continued her way.
As soon as Tsunade arrived at her office, a long sigh escaped her lips. Those two girls together meant trouble. She wasn't sure whether she preferred to be around Jiraiya or have those two constantly following her.
15minutes later…
Both Sakura and Ino were standing in front of the Hokage's desk, glaring at each other. Tsunade cleared her throat to make them pay attention to her.
"I suppose you are aware of what is bothering me…" she stated looking at Sakura for a brief moment.
Sakura quickly straightened herself up and opened her mouth to say something but closed it again when Tsunade's eyebrows narrowed. Ino looked at Tsunade, and then gazed in confusion at Sakura.
"The hospital nurses keep coming everyday with new complains. Not only are you neglecting your work as you are also disturbing and making the work of others, hard to accomplish," Tsunade glared then at Ino, with something in her eyes that looked almost like a grudge against the blonde-haired girl. Ino gulped silently and she too straightened herself.
"If I ever hear you fight again, I'll make sure you won't set foot on the hospital for a whole month. Is it clear enough?" Tsunade leaned back in her chair.
"H-hai!" both girls faltered.
"Good," Tsunade said and her features softened at once, "Now go back to your training. Ino, how is your chakra control coming along?"
"I'm getting the hand of it," Ino replied, "I can now hold my chakra to every part of my body I wish to, however, the amount of time is still limited,"
Tsunade nodded, "With practice you'll get there,"
"Hai!" Ino said now feeling more relieved that the death scowl was nowhere to be seen in the Hokage's expression.
The two of them then bowed their heads and excused themselves. Ino closed the door behind her and then smirked at Sakura who had her back turned on her. With an evil glitter in her blue-eyes she quickly closed the space between them and stretched her arm and pulled Sakura's hair. Hard.
"INO PIG! YOU BI-" Ino instantly covered Sakura's mouth with her hand and looked worriedly at the Hokage's office door.
"Baka! Do you want us to be banished from the hospital?" Ino hissed. Sakura glared at the blonde-haired girl and bit her hand.
"Aw!"
"I only want you to be banished!" Sakura hissed back and kicked Ino's knee that ended up letting out a loud scream. It was the pink-haired girl turn to look at the Hokage's door nervously and shut Ino up.
"Shut up or she'll hear us!" Ino took Sakura's hand away and glared at her. Sakura glared back and smacked her forehead against Ino's, staring a 'who's tougher' competition. Sakura threw Ino back and smirked triumphantly. Ino growled and pulled Sakura's hair again. The pink-haired kunoichi bit her lip in pain and punched the blonde in the face. Ino covered her face as blood trickled between her fingers. And it continued from that moment on…
… The silent fight.
"What the hell is going on?"
Sakura and Ino looked up with wide eyes to see Tsunade standing above them, a puzzled expression plastered on her face.
As Sakura opened her mouth to answer, Tsunade hand paused in mid-air, "Never mind. I don't want to know," then she proceeded to walk past them, through the corridor, shaking her head every now and then. "They're hopeless," Tsunade whispered as a sly grin adorned her features.
The door closed with a bang.
Sakura stepped inside her apartment and a long sigh escaped her rosy lips. Her tired eyes scanned the living room which looked like a hurricane had passed by. There were books spread on the small wooden table and a pile of clothes were on the sofa. A couple of empty boxes from Ichiraku Ramen shop were spread all over the floor, yet as she walked around she paid them no notice.
Lazily, she threw her backpack to the sofa as she yawned loudly. Her legs were numb from the intensive training and probably from fighting with Ino.
A smile graced her tired expression as she dragged herself towards the kitchen. She was glad that Ino was also training to become a medic-nin. Not only because Ino would provide her more motives to push herself forward but also because the blonde-haired girl brought her peace. Fighting with Ino proved to be really helpful as she had no time to think. Because Sakura concluded that thinking was bad. Thinking always led to sad things and she didn't need to think of sad things.
Sighing, the pink-haired girl opened the fridge and stared at the food. There was some frozen meat. She frowned; she didn't want to cook tonight. She then grabbed the milk and noticed that March was long gone. Sighing, she threw the milk away and sat at the kitchen table. She supported her head on the table and closed her eyes. She considered if she should go out and eat something. However, Sakura never got to a conclusion as she fell deep asleep.
It was dark again. Her piercing emerald eyes tried to adjust to the darkness in vain. A cold feeling traveled down Sakura's spine and her stomach twisted with the oddest uncomfortable feeling. Something, in the back of her mind gave Sakura the sensation that she's been here before. Then, a sudden cold breeze invaded her and an abrupt white light appeared blinding her momentarily. Her lips parted in surprise and in recognition.
Sakura remembered… she had followed the voice… but where was that voice now? She couldn't hear anything apart from her own frenzied heart beat.
She stood in the middle, between the darkness and the light, ignoring her heavy breathing and her racing heart beat. Sakura eyed the darkness and gulped.
She wasn't sure why, but something was telling her to go there but then the images of his dead body came immediately to her mind. Sakura didn't understand why was she having the same dream again, she didn't understand why she was feeling so scared and at the same time excited, filled with a strange adrenaline traveling through her veins.
Sakura then stepped forward, her back turned on the white light and then the voice laughed.
It was a cold laugher that made her bloodstream freeze.
Her left hand quickly held on to her chest as if to ease her frantic heart beat. Her legs kept walking and a loud scream in her head, her logical side warned her to stay away. That she mustn't.
The pink-haired girl ignored her thoughts and kept walking forward. Her eyes widened as the darkness dissipated away and she found herself at the same place. Around her was again the same destroyed scenario and not too far away from her was what she had been hoping to see. His body. As she stepped closer to the body, she couldn't stop but to think that everything seemed so real.
The deepness of his wounds, the dry blood and even the smell. Sakura wondered if she had ever had such a realistic dream before. Twitching her nose at the smell of the body, Sakura kneeled on the rocky ground. She bit her lower lip nervously as she moved her right hand towards his peaceful face.
As soon as the pink-haired girl touched his cold skin, she felt a sharp pain run through her arm. Gasping, she directed her gaze to her arm, her eyes widened at the sight of a strong hand holding her wrist tightly.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Sakura forgot how to breathe as she jerked her head towards the dark-haired man whose crimson orbs flashed dangerously at her.
"I…" Sakura managed to say as she tried to budge her arm away from his grasp but with no results, "I…" the pink-haired girl then turned her head back to the dead body and then back to the figure crouching next to her, "How…"
Itachi looked directly at her confused green orbs. He raised an eyebrow as he immediately read her emerald eyes; they were drowned in fear and confusion. He could also feel her accelerated pulse.
"I'll only ask one more time," his grip on Sakura's wrist increased. He expected her to yelp but instead she bit her lip and stared at his forehead, avoiding his sharingan.
She didn't know why she was avoiding eye contact, but something, something was obviously wrong. This dream… it was so different…
A discrete smirk crossed the Uchiha's features, "How did you get here… and how is it that you can see me?" his crimson eyes studied her alarmed features.
"I… I don't understand," said Sakura as her shoulders started to tremble. She then locked her emerald eyes with his crimson ones.
"I'm dead," he spoke ignoring her trembling body, "and stuck in this place with my dead body and then you suddenly appear,"
Sakura mouth opened at the Uchiha's word, "I still… don't understand," his grip on her wrist increased and this time she couldn't help but to wince at the pain. This was supposed to be a dream… then why on earth did her wrist hurt this much?
"Don't mock me," Itachi hissed, "You were here before! How do you do it?"
Sakura eyes stared at Itachi as if he had grown a second head. He was completely mad. Itachi narrowed his eyes in annoyance and let her wrist go. Sakura quickly massaged her wrist and sighed in relief.
"This is a dream…" said Sakura as she stood up staring at his back, "nothing of this is real," she added sounding as if she was convincing herself.
Itachi turned around and stared at her. Sakura studied his face and noticed that there was a flicker of something on his face. It was just for a few seconds because then his expression was back to a carefully wiped blank. However, for a moment, strong emotions had played out on his face, something like confusion and at the same time disappointment, but Sakura couldn't be sure.
"A dream…" he whispered but she heard him. He sounded stiff and reserved.
"Yeah…" she said as she frowned, "I don't know why I would dream about you though… twice at that,"
At her words, his eyes lingered on her for some brief seconds. Then recognition crossed his features.
"You're the Hokage's apprentice… the Kyuubi friend," he concluded.
Sakura looked at him with disdain visible in her pale features, "Naruto," she added. He merely looked at her with a wondering expression. Sighing, she stepped away from his dead body, "His name is Naruto,"
"Oh?" Itachi asked. An amused smirk graced his sober expression, "Is that so?"
"Heh…" Sakura said as she avoided his amused gaze and stared at his dead body, "I don't understand… why I am dreaming about this…"
She noticed how the Uchiha looked as confused as she was, "Tell me kunoichi, if this is a dream… then how long has it been since my death? Surely, you have heard of it. What has happened to Sasuke?" Itachi questioned, his crimson eyes disappeared and Sakura found herself drawn to his black orbs.
"Huh?" Sakura replied obviously not expecting such question. She rubbed her eye and then stared back at the Uchiha, "Sasuke has not returned. He went missing after he… killed you… and we do not know anything of him ever since," she then arched a curious eyebrow, "Why do you care?"
The Uchiha did not reply to her accusing tone. Instead he turned his back on her and looked upwards to the dark starless sky.
"I see…" he whispered, "So I failed after all… foolish little brother,"
Sakura eyebrows furrowed at his words. This was one hell of a weird dream, she decided as she walked closer to him.
"I wonder… I wonder why he's not coming back. Did… something happen when… you both fought?" She then slapped her forehead and burst into laugher.
Itachi quickly turned around to stare at her. His face was impassive but she could see clearly that he was not pleased with her attitude.
"I mean… why on Kami's good name you would know about it!? You're just a fragment of my imagi-" Sakura eyes widened as she felt the same odd strength as before. She could feel her body being pushed away. She forced her feet on the ground in an attempt to make herself heavy and then acting upon instinct, she stretched her left arm and held onto Itachi's sleeve.
Itachi remained quiet as he watched her struggle against some invisible force. He could not feel anything but the pink-haired girl obviously could. She held to his sleeve and her emerald eyes stared at him as if telling him to do something. He merely raised an eyebrow as her grip was starting to loosen on him.
Sakura didn't know why she was the only one being dragged away. Itachi didn't seem affected one bit. She stretched her right arm in a miserable attempt to reinforce her grip. Sakura closed her right hand and felt something cold in it. She then opened her mouth and a soft 'ow' escaped her lips as Itachi hand made it quicker for her. He quickly shoved her hand away and then it was over.
It was darkness all over again.
Sakura fluttered her eyes open, blinking them to adjust to the bright. She groaned in displeasure as an intense headache took place. Sakura slowly straightened herself and realised that she had fallen asleep on the Kitchen's table. Maybe that was why her neck was also sore.
Ignoring the uncomfortable pain, she slowly stood up and stared around the kitchen. She shook her head as the images of her yet another weird dream came to mind. Sakura then proceeded to walk towards the kitchen door when a sudden noise startled her.
She quickly glanced at the noise's direction. Her eyes widened at the sight of the strange necklace on the kitchen's floor.
"No way… no fucking way…" she whispered as she stepped away from the necklace. Her thoughts came all at once, then a sick feeling washed over her and before she knew it, she was crouching on the floor throwing up.