A/N: As usual, I will anounce that I own nothing from Naruto. Sigh if only I did, then Sakura and Gaara would mate like bunnies...as would Naruto and Hinata, Ino and Kiba, as well as Shikamaru and Temari. A girl can dream can't she?

CH. 4: Fear is the Mind Killer

Sakura sat in the office waiting on the dean. The man that was sitting at the desk outside this room kept craning his neck to get a glance at her. She had sat in the chair closest to the door and up close to the dean's desk so that the man would not be able to ogle her at will.

A loud smack and a 'HEY!' made her look up to see a busty blonde walk in the room. Sakura gasped as the image of the woman from her nightmare overlaid itself on the dean.

The dean noticed the girl's petrified look and frowned. She didn't look that bad, did she? It was then she saw tears forming in the girl's eyes. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked gently and walked towards the girl who had odd emerald eyes and a long braid down her back. A sense of familiarity washed over her.

"Do…I know you?" she asked the girl, whose eyes widened and the tears started plopping onto her lap.

"N-Nee-san!?" the girl looked like she'd seem a ghost. The blonde looked like she'd swallowed a bug as those words came out of the girl's mouth. The blonde cleared her throat and walked to sit at her desk.

"Uhm...My name is Tsunade. And you are?" the blonde said, wariness in her eyes. Sakura stared at her and the tears came faster.

"I'm right…you are my neesan…I thought you died ten years ago! I had a dream about you three nights ago! It was about when we were separated!" Sakura jumped to her feet, looking like she wanted to run away. Tsunade blinked at the girl.

"A…dream? You say it was, three nights ago?" Tsunade's eyes were wide with disbelief. She, herself, had had a dream three nights ago about protecting a small, pink haired girl she had called joji.

"Yes…you were protecting me from someone named Orochimaru. He had snake eyes and wanted to use me as some kind of weapon. I don't know why, but he was willing to kill you to get to me. I though he had when he ran at me and you jumped in front of me, taking the blade into her side. You made some motions with your hands and then I heard you telling me "Always remember that I love you my joji…my sister…Sakura…" After that, I woke up screaming, like I have the last few times I had that dream. I've had it every year since I was found on the beach in Kagure ten years ago. But this time it was not bits and pieces. It was like a fragmented memory that became whole again." Sakura was huddled in the corner of Tsunade's office, tears pouring down her face.

Thank Kami-sama for waterproof makeup. Tsunade just stared at the girl. She remembered the dream as well. And it was just as the girl before her had described it.

"Are…are YOU Sakura?" Tsunade asked, remembering how in the dream she had adored the little pink haired girl.

"Yes…my name is Haruno Sakura. Hatori Hetoshi found me on a beach in Kagure ten years ago. I have no memory of anything before the day he found me, only the dream that has plagued me for ten years." she said quietly, rocking herself back and forth. Tsunade stood and went over to the girl. She sat in front of the girl and looked at her closely.

Sakura felt her cheeks heating up as the woman scrutinized her. As their faces got closer, both felt their foreheads heat up unbearably. Sakura hissed in pain and clamped her hands on her forehead. Tsunade did the same. When the burning subsided, they looked at each other and gasped.

"You have a weird thing on your forehead!" the both said at the same time. They looked at each other weirdly, then rushed to the mirror that was on the back wall, not too far from them. Each saw a blue diamond shaped crystal protruding through the skin of their foreheads.

"Shit…Jiraya-danna is NOT going to like this…" Tsunade growled, then looked at the girl beside her. There was a look of hope on the girl's face. This made Tsunade smile.

"D-Does this mean…you really…ARE my nee-san?" Sakura asked hopefully. Tsunade chuckled and put her arm around the girl's shoulders.

"It would appear so joji. I think that this is a way for us to find each other when we get separated. Now that we know who each other are, the marks are fading, see." Tsunade said, pointing to her own forehead where diamond was disappearing. Sakura felt her own forehead, which was smooth once more.

"So…this is our little secret eh nee-san?" Sakura looked infinitely happy to have solved at least piece of her past. Tsunade smiled and hugged the girl to her.

"It would seem so joji. But we can't act like this in public. I'll give you your school packet and I'll put my contact information in there with it. If the school board finds out you're my sister, they will question my impartiality." Tsunade said as way of explanation. Sakura nodded understandingly.

"Yes nee-san. I understand. I can only call you nee-san in private from now on." there was a smile on Sakura's face and Tsunade couldn't help but smile back. She hugged her little sister, then released her to sit at her desk.

"Take a seat joji, while I get my assistant to get your packet. Genma!" she called to the man outside the shut door of her office. The door creaked open to reveal a young man with a perverted smile on his face.

"Yes, Godaime?" he said, purring at her. Tsunade rolled her eyes and threw a rule book at his face, which made contact. He fell over backwards as the dean held up a fist at him.

"Genma…I am a HAPPILY married woman and you are TOO old for this young lady so STOP FLIRTING and go get me her information packet to start school!" Tsunade growled and turned back to Sakura, who was chuckling at her nee-san's temper.

"Yes Godaime." he said through his flattened face. He walked out and returned a few minutes later with a leather bound packet. Pretending like he tripped, he landed face first into Sakura's lap, his head cushioned by her ample bosom.

"Oops, sorry miss. I seem to have tripped." he said with a lecherous gleam in his eyes. Sakura turned bright red and did what instinct told her to do: she punched him through the open door to the dean's office and through the door that led to the hall.

"HENTAI!" she screamed as he went crashing through the solid wood door and out into the hallway. Tsunade stuck her head out and sweat dropped.

"That's coming out of my paycheck." she grumbled before yelling out the Genma. "Genma…go to the nurses office and get away from the new student. She might actually kill you the next time you touch her." and then shut the office door. But not before a certain little eye made of sand floated in and hid in the shadows.

"I'm sorry Godaime…but…I don't like to be touched by people I don't know." Sakura used the title instead of nee-san so should could practice its use.

"It's perfectly fine. He had no right to fall fast first into your lap and fondle you the way he did. I will be sure to talk to the school board concerning his behavior. Also, you might want to go to the school uniform store and pick up a uniform. You only have to wear it for five classes, and then you can change after gym. Most student's don't because that just means they have to carry around more things." Tsunade smiled at her and then showed her out. Sakura smiled and looked down in her packet to see the contact information Tsunade had promised. It wasn't until someone yelled her name that she looked up.

"Y-YOU guys!?" she squeaked out in utter disbelief. She then darted out the door and out to the parking lot. She ran like her life depended on it. She had NOT expected to see her hottie neighbor with his siblings waiting outside the dean's office.

"This can NOT be happening!" she hissed to herself. She ran to her bike and threw the packet in her bag, barely missing Hime. She hid behind her bike as she saw Gaara appear outside the school in a burst of sand. He was looking around and was turning back to the school when she heard a noise. She looked over and saw a girl on the driver side of the Spyder everyone had been around earlier.

"GAARA! Someone is hurt over here! Go get Godaime-sama!" Sakura yelled, then bolted to the girl. She noticed it was the blonde that had mouthed off earlier. The girl opened her eyes and screamed and started crying, trying to push her away.

"Shh…it's okay, Ino. You're going to be alright. Godaime-sama will be here soon. Just close your eyes. You're going to be alright. I'll protect you." she soothed the girl as she assessed the damage. Someone had been brutal with the girl. There was blood leaking out from under her skirt and she had scratches and bit marks everywhere. Her hair was mussed and her shirt torn. There was the beginning of a bruise under her left eye and blood leaked from her busted lower lip.

Sakura looked around and saw no one. She closed her eyes, then opened them again, revealing piercing silver eyes. She put her forehead against the blonde's and looked into her mind to see who had done this. She came across a memory where she felt immense fear.

MEMORY

A dark haired young man was over top of a young woman with piercing silver eyes that had no pupil.

"That's what you get for stepping out of line Hyuuga. Once you are in with us, you can never leave. Remember your place!" the dark haired man turned around and looked at her, though it was Ino he was looking at. "Dump her at her LOVER'S house." Sakura could feel how terrified Ino was of this boy.

"Y-yes, Sasuke-sama." Sakura heard Ino say, her voice trembling. Ino went and picked the girl up, being as gentle as possible. "Hinata…I'm so sorry that I was too afraid to help you. This is the least I can do…" Ino's voice trailed off as Ino used her chakra to heal Hinata the best she could with her limited skills. She put Hinata in her green Mitsubishi Eclipse and ran to the other side, speeding to the hospital instead of Naruto's house like she'd been told.

"Someone HELP! My friend has been raped! I found her like this! PLEASE, help her!" Ino screamed as she carried Hinata into the emergency room. Immediately doctors swarmed over her. Ino melted away and found a pay phone. She dialed a number and a worried voiced hurriedly answered.

"HELLO!? HINA-CHAN! Is that you!? Answer me!" the voice yelled into the phone, tinged with worry.

"I-I'm sorry…I couldn't stop him front hurting her. She's at the Fourth Street hospital in Downtown Kagure. They had to transfer her there because of the lacerations on her chest and legs. I'm so sorry that I couldn't save her." She burst into tears and hung up before anyone could say anything.

She knew her voice was hoarse from crying and screaming in the emergency room, so she didn't have to worry that they'd know it was her. She then sat there, on the bench, and cried.

Sakura gasped and her head shot up. She could hear people running so she quickly put her head back down and searched through the girl's memories once more. She saw red eyes, with three odd looking tadpoles surrounding the pupil.

She felt immense pain, fear chocking her. She could hear screams inside the car she was trapped in. Her body being invaded over and over again. A malicious voice whispering to her "You think I don't know you betrayed me? I know you took Hinata to the hospital and then called Naruto and told her where she was. I know EVERYTHING Ino, you can't hide from me and my Sharingan. It's time you learn YOUR place uwakionna." the evil voice then groaned and she felt heat blossom inside her.

END MEMORY

Sakura snapped her head up, silver eyes blazing with unrestrained fury. "You'll pay for this…Uchiha Sasuke." she hissed, then noticed a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and then looked up at her nee-san with tear filled emerald eyes.

"I found her here, when I came out to my bike. She was moaning and when I came to see if she was okay, she started screaming at me to get away, to not hurt her anymore." Sakura looked deep into her nee-san's eyes and something passed between the two and instantly Tsunade knew this was no accident. Someone had put Ino here so that she would be found by one of Gaara's crew.

"Sakura, do you think you can pick her up? We need to get her to the nurse's office stat. I could as one of the guys to do it, but I have a feeling that would cause more trouble considering what was done to her." Tsunade turned around and glared at the crowd that had gathered. The one face she had expected to see that she didn't was that of the Uchiha that this girl clung to.

"Someone find me Uchiha. I have a few questions for him." Tsunade looked down at Sakura, who gave a small nod that no one noticed…except Gaara.

Gaara walked up beside Sakura and stared into her eyes. "You know who did this to her…don't you?" he asked quietly, looking down at the broken girl in Sakura's arms.

"Yes…I have the ability to touch people and know what has happened to them. Ino…she was the one that called Naruto and told him what had happened to Hinata the night Sasuke raped her. He raped Ino today because he found out she betrayed him…for Hinata. She has been eaten away by guilt ever since that night, but was too afraid of Sasuke to do anything about it. Unless Hinata comes forward, or Ino presses charges, he'll get away with it…again. He uses people's fear of his Sharingan to get what he wants." she said all of this quietly, as she ran as fast as she could to the school's hospital building.

Gaara digested this information. He looked at Ino in a new light. "So you're saying that she didn't want to do and say all those things but did it out of fear?" he was not very convinced and it showed in his voice.

"Fear is the mind killer, Gaara. When you fear something as much as she fears the Uchiha, you don't think rationally." Sakura sped ahead of him and into the building, her long braid flowing behind her.

"Mind killer huh? Just what happened to you to make you say that, my little cherry blossom?" Gaara whispered to himself, then sped into the building after Sakura.

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I'm debating what to do atm...I'm not sure if I should continue this because I'm not sure where to go from here. A little input from an outside source would help me out. Again, if all you are going to do is bitch about how bad it is or how much you don't like it...don't let the cyber door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Ch. glossary:

-danna--> husband

Godaime--> 5th (referring to her station as Dean...5th Dean to be in charge)