"Who were they?"

"Eh, don't you remember anything about them?"

She shook her head silently. The wind blew again, dancing with the rustling leaves and scrap pieces of paper.

Just like the moon, she beamed at him, smiling sweetly.

"Hi, I'm Airi," she said as she timidly played with her hair and gathered her knees together.

Bewildered, he shook his head. No way, he thought. No way….

But whoever this Airi character that Sakura was now playing, she seemed sweeter than Haruka.

"Are you alright? You look pale as a ghost," she said, gently touching her soft, fair hands on his rough skinned cheek. "You're also sweaty."

He tried to speak, but nothing was coming out. His lips shuttered. With her kind, emerald eyes, she stared at him with worry. He stared back at her as if she was some kind of an extraterrestrial creature that fell from another planet.

"Ehhh?! Who the hell are you now?!"

"I'm Airi," she said again sweetly with a smile. "It's nice to meet you. Say, haven't I seen you before?"

He gulped. Suddenly, feeling something wet slither down her head, Airi's brows went up. Wondering what it was, she touched the side of her head with her right hand and then stared at it.

Blood. Deep, crimson red blood….

"Kyaaa!!!" Her scream pierced through the cold night air.

"What, what?" Naruto started to shout in panic. He tried not to panic, but somehow, seeing three different girls in one body in a day made him feel a little shaken up.

"Blood…," she quivered. The girl started to shiver and dropped to the ground on her knees. "Blood….!"

Seeing the poor thing curl up into a ball, he bent down and tried to reassure her.

"It's okay. It's just your blood," he said. He reached deep into his pocket and rummaged around it until he found a small tissue paper. It was crumpled, but clean and unused. He tried to hand the tissue, but she was still shaking madly. Her eyes, her hands, her lips….

He sighed quietly and touched her face softly. She was startled, but soon calmed down after he began to wipe the blood away from her.

"Don't you know any medical jutsu to heal yourself?"

She shook her head, not knowing what to do. Figures. She couldn't even wipe the blood away herself, let alone even trying to do something about it.

He decided to walk her home. She was an awkward girl. She spoke quietly and carefully, almost as if she was afraid of being slapped by a stranger. For the most of the time, she had her hands gathered together. She took tiny steps when she walked and had her head down most of the times, though her eyes wandered around like a child in a toy store. She kept her manners clean, and tried to be kind to him. She was nothing like Haruka or Sakura.

"The stars are quite pretty tonight, isn't it? Ne?" she asked, raising her head slightly. It was a lonely night, and she felt the need to talk.

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered.

"Sometimes, I don't know how it happens, but when I close my eyes and reopen them again, I'm outside in the dark. It's all quite strange. Or I'm somewhere else without realizing it. Isn't it odd?"

The night air was always brief, but cool.

"It's always just a blur to me," she continued. "Everything is in motion. I feel like I'm on motion sickness…., something like that. It all fades and I'm left standing alone in the middle of the night again, trying to find my way home. But where is home? Do I even have one? I don't know that myself. Not so clearly… I think that the other 'me's' know where I live, probably."

"Other 'me's'?' he said in realization. "You mean, you know?"

She nodded. "I don't know if they know me, but I know them. Not so clearly, I might add."

He stared at her, and realizing this, she blushed and hid her face from him by walking further away.

"Am I bothering you?" she said, still not facing him.

"No," he replied. She turned back and smiled. She was so innocent, so sweet.

"Do I know you? I think I've known you from somewhere…"

"That's impossible; I've never met you before," he said, shrugging all of the possibilities away.

"Do you know my other sisters then?"

"Sisters?"

"That's right-sisters," she proudly claimed. "You know, the other 'me's.' I think of them as my sisters. It is strange, I know, but still, I like to fondly think of them as my sisters. I have no one in the world, and the only people that are with me are within me. I thought that I only have myself to take care of, but I suppose not."

The silent wind crept through the village streets again, rattling the leaves loose from the trees.

"So you said your name's Airi?" he asked.

"That's right. I'm Airi, and I'm a thousand years old."

"Heeeh?!?!?!!!"

"Just kidding!" she said, and then burst out the laughter she had been hiding for a while. So childish…

He sighed. "How old are you really then?"

"Gee, you will think that I'm so old," Airi muttered. "I'm eighteen, and nearly nineteen."

"But that's impossible. Sakura-chan's only seventeen…."

"Sakura? Is that my other sister's name?" she cocked her head slightly.

"Yeah…," he spoke quietly.

The moon was still full and bright.

"Is that so…?"

Naruto nodded. With her watchful eyes, Tsunade stared at him with disbelief. Was this a sign, or a curse? She couldn't believe it still.

But she needed to make a decision quickly. The boy was standing right in front of her, and she was running out of time. She was betting against time, and it felt as if she was losing. She was going to lose Sakura this time, her apprentice.

"Alright," she said with a confirmed tone. "Keep a good eye on her. Tell me anything you know about these two girls, understand?"

"Yeah…," Naruto answered. But before he could go, she called him forward.

"Come closer," she handed him a plastic bag containing a frail, thin paper inside. He took it and gave a close examination. A perfectly small smudged circle….

"Know anything about this?"

"Nope," he shook his head. Then, he was dismissed.

For weeks, Sakura was absent.

When he walked about and wandered, Ino finally told him that she was sick.

It was a strange kind of illness though. It couldn't be called an illness at all either. Sakura was at her house, for sure, but was asleep for weeks.

Somehow, Naruto kind of felt glad that she wasn't there. He felt rotten, of course, but his brain was frazzled from those three 'sisters' (he decided to call them 'sisters' to lessen the confusion).

At night, he was waiting to fall asleep. He tried to force himself to go to sleep. Still, sleep never made its visit to his eyes, nor did it put illusions in his mind. Was he tired? He wondered why he was asking that question to himself. He should've known, but he didn't.

Night was growing deeper, and the street lights were beginning to grow brighter from its dimness. From afar, he heard shouts growing louder and louder until it reached his street.

"Stop messin' with our street, you got that?"

And then, a familiar voice…

"So what? It's not like y'all got your name stuck on it."

Naruto jumped out of his bed from hearing the sound and ran to his window. From the dark, his eyes searched about until he saw them. The street lights were their spotlights, but only one girl stood out to him from the stage of asphalt and few litter. Under the street light, the lights glossed and polished over her black leather jacket. She was wearing tight combat boots strapped with silver buckles and small studs and spikes. Still, it was too dark to see her in detail. However, he did grasp a glimpse of the color of her hair, in the name of tea rose.

'Sakura…!' he ran out of his room in panic, still in his pj's.

Me: I'm sorry for not updating and not writing a longer, more interesting chapter. I'm having a bit of trouble these days, but don't worry because it's not that serious. Oh, but I do have a question (sorry again). What's Story Alert? -.-;;;

Thank you and see you ^^