Author's Note: Hmm..I don't think I have anything important to say (for once. hahaha) But one quick thing, the conversations in italics later in the chapter are two people. The lines with quotation marks are Sakura's words. (It'll make sense when you read that part) And if I missed any grammatical errors, I apologize. So here's chapter 7!

The effect was instantaneous.

The impact of Sasuke's fingers on Sakura's forehead had resulted in such a frenzy inside her head. Sasuke's chakra had triggered something, something that he couldn't directly describe with words. As the chakra entered the point of impact, Sakura's chakra swirled and swarmed all through her body, tangling up in every point of her body that was possible. It rushed down her arms and legs, flowed into her stomach and throat, and finally devoured the rotating orb of foreign chakra that rudely planted itself inside her head. Sasuke could track his own chakra aiding Sakura's in fighting off anything that shouldn't be in her body. It was easy to see, Sasuke's chakra had a violet hue, closely resembling that of a lilac in the spring. The violet color popped when placed next to Sakura's apple green chakra, a color that seemed to fit her personality oh so perfectly. Lilac and green swirled together and became one, spreading out and emitting a soft glow.

Sakura's eyes jolted back to their sinister evergreen, then slowly melted back into their spring version, the bright fresh green that gave light to any who had looked into them.

Sasuke's sharingan traced every inch of her body, violet hued green chakra swarming and healing every section of her head. The chakra came to its crescendo as it gave one final glow in all its glory. Slowly, the chakra faded, leaving behind no trace of its existence.

For a moment nobody moved, nobody dared to make any significant change in their positions in the fear of some side affect or retaliation that could take effect. Sasuke didn't know what to expect. Would she suddenly lash out? Did this jutsu have a back-up kick of chakra that could quite possibly refuel the cycle and force him and Naruto to once again attempt to free her? Could she fall into the trap and this time never come out, causing herself to be lost from the two of them forever?

However, all theories were dispelled at the moment Sasuke made eye contact with Sakura. The kunoichi was on her knees, digging her fingers into the dirt making shallow tunnels traced by her fingernails. Her entire body was shaking, small gasps escaping her link lips. Minuscule convulsions were affecting her arms, preventing her from straightening her back completely, however she managed to raise herself slightly, just enough level her eyes with Naruto and Sasuke's, but just barely. Her breathing increased to a rapid rhythm, her eyes widened. Though Sasuke was still a few feet from her, part of him was still hesitant to move.

He heard footsteps, and felt Naruto near him, stopping to stand next to him, also uncertain.

"Sakura-chan?" he tried, kneeling down so that their eyes met.

At the sound of Naruto's voice, Sakura froze. Even though the two made eye contact, she acted as if she didn't believe that Naruto had actually spoke to her, let alone that he was acknowledging her. She sized him up shakily, her pupils dilated in fear. Her lower lip trembled slightly, and fresh tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

"Sakura-chan, it's ok! You're fine now! Everything will be ok." He turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke we need to get her out of here." he said urgently.

Suddenly Sakura gasped, fully catching Naruto's and Sasuke's attention once more. She had turned her head from Naruto and was now looking into Sasuke's eyes. Green bore into onyx for endless seconds, each second causing an emotion to stir inside Sasuke that he hand't felt in years, not even on the most life threatening of missions.

She looked at him with such a desperation that could only be categorized as an act that would be given only to someone who she had caused pain to, he'd seen it plenty of times.

He'd seen it when someone got injured on a mission protecting her. When someone would be willing to risk their life for her. When she wasn't able to save a lost life..

She looked as though she wanted to say something, desperately trying to choke her words out before she lost them completely. Her sullen eyes were trying to stay alert under her sagging eyelids, however she was loosing the fight. And to coordinate with her defeat, she cringed in pain once more, further digging her nails into the dirt once more, enduring the pain that, Sasuke completely believed to be, was slowly torturing her. With a final gasp for words, she managed to have one word escape her trembling lips, an incomplete thought.

"Dream…"

Sakura fell forward towards the ground, but Naruto had extended his arms and caught her, her chin lightly falling into the crease of his arm. Gathering one of his arms behind her back, he gently shifted her weight on to her back, and laid her softly on the ground, supporting her head with his chest.

"Sakura-chan! Wake-up! Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke could barely breathe. His heart had been pounding out of his chest at a rapid pace, fast enough to quite possibly burst out. He felt powerless, for the first time in years, he felt powerless. He couldn't stop her pain, couldn't stop whomever cast the jutsu that ruined her mind.

He stared down at her expressionless face as his mind raced. The jutsu had to have been deeply connected with Sakura's perception in order to completely manipulate her thoughts and actions. It had to have been very intricately designed, otherwise releasing it should have been a snap. Obviously, that had proven to be difficult, as it had caused physical trauma to Sakura's head and quite possibly her whole body. Although Sasuke couldn't be exactly sure what damage had been done to Sakura's body, he knew that her chakra flow had been returned to normal. He traced her network with his sharingan, finding no more abnormalities disrupting the steady flow of her chakra. He sensed a small trace of his own chakra still present in her system, successfully completing its job of working with Sakura's chakra to banish the foreign energy.

Her body remained still, except for the steady rising of her chest that indicated that she was breathing normally, her respiratory system working just as it always had. Other than some small scratches on her arms and legs, she seemed to be devoid of any other injuries.

But what exactly were the elements of this unusual, high leveled jutsu? Who exactly were they dealing with? Sakura had referred to a 'He' before, who Sasuke undoubtedly believed to be the caster of the jutsu. But just who exactly were they dealing with? And why them? There had to be a reason, a specific reason for this mysterious shinobi to make Sakura his target, and for the whole group to ultimately be his target…

Their mission objective. It was the only clear explanation. Whatever they had been sent to find was clearly in the interest of this new enemy. Whoever they had been sent to find..

And clearly he didn't want them to reach their destination.

"Sasuke." Naruto's voice cut through Sasuke's train of thought.

Sasuke directed his attention back to his teammates, though most of it was directed at Sakura, who still had not moved. "We have to go."

Sasuke frowned suspicously, and immediately began to search the area for any unfamiliar chakra signatures, though he found none. But that wasn't enough assurance to relax, not for Sasuke, and he knew that Naruto would not settle until they found Him.

"Right."

Darkness encased her senses like a thick, woolen blanket. Everything was frozen, time seemed to not exist where she was. Sakura's mind was thick and hazy with the events thats had just occurred, though her brain wouldn't let her store the information as she had requested it to. Nothing made sense anymore, it couldn't. She had this detailed picture in her head of her hand clamped around Naruto's throat cutting off his oxygen supply, and another in which she had cracked a few bones in Sasuke's wrist after she put him under a malicious genjutsu…

But that couldn't be right…

Why would she do that to her teammates? More importantly, why would she want to? Why would anything trigger her desires to? Sure Naruto could be annoying, and Sasuke could rarely frustrate her with his impassiveness, but that's how they always were, her teammates and friends.

Oh wait, she remembered a small nightmarish dream that had invaded her sleep time just the other night, and how terrified she had been when she had awoken. But of course that wasn't real, though it had managed to shake her up a little. These visions in her head must have been derived from her original dream, her mind playing tricks on her.

But that didn't explain where she was, and where the others were. Why was she here alone? Why was it so dark? Why….

Then a sudden realization flooded through her head like a broken dam. She remembered gathering kindling, that strange feeling that someone had been watching her, two fingers sending ice like chakra into her head…

And then everything made sense again. The visions poured into her brain and she was forced to watch them all the way through in horror. She saw herself lift Naruto off of the ground by his throat like he had hardly weighed anything, she could feel his skin on her palm as she exerted tremendous pressure on his windpipe.

She felt Sasuke's bone snap under her grip, and saw the pained expression he gave as she did so. Creating a horrid image of Naruto's death and sending it into his head just before she sent him flying into the hard bark of a tree.

She had no choice but to watch all over again, each image placing a sickened sensation through her whole body. For the first time she felt pain, and intense heat flow through her body.

She almost killed them. She could have killed them. Her friends could have died…

Her mind went dark once more, and she cried out, desperate to continue into her memories to find the reassuring vision that Naruto and Sasuke were alive, breathing and well. But the darkness continued, and it seemed to be gradually getting darker.

NO! Why was this happening to her?! Why now?! Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Where were they?! Where was she?! What was happening?!

If she was back in the light she knew that there would be tears drenching her cheeks, and even swimming in the darkness she knew that tears were present, though she could not feel them. She knew her body was shaking uncontrollably with stress and anxiety. She knew that she wouldn't live with herself if she had killed them. Her nightmare had come true, she knew it looked too real for a dream. She should've taken that as a warning, she should've had Sasuke go with her to get kindling like he had insisted! She should've been able to take out this enemy before he invaded her mind! She should've done SOMETHING!

She began to go into a state of hysterics, her mind slowly fading out of consciousness from the extreme stress. She felt the invisible tears and shakes this time, as she gave up control of her thoughts and allowed herself to begin to drift away, so that the pain would leave.

They aren't dead…..They aren't dead…

You're right, they aren't!

A jolt of surprise shot through her heart.

Something clicked inside her mind, sending a reaction throughout her entire body that seemed to alleviate some of the darkness, and allowed herself to begin to feel her body's existence once more.

Did she hear something? Did someone just speak with her? It was a female's voice, bright and peppy, a juxtaposition to the dark atmosphere. Who did it belong to? And why was she hearing it? Would she respond to her? Maybe she should just ignore it…but she had said…

"You said….they aren't dead..?" she mentally spoke out.

You heard me right, they're alive and well. If you try hard enough you can sense their chakra.

Sense their chakra? But how could she do that if she had no idea where the heck she was?

But Sasuke-kun and Naruto…

With a blind sense of direction, she expanded her senses out and beyond, looking for the tiniest trace of familiar chakra. At first, she found nothing, nothing to indicate that there was even life around her. Then she found it, a source of chakra that she had been affiliated with since the start of her journey as a kunoichi. Naruto's chakra healthily blazed in all its glory, shedding light into the darkest of places for her as it always had. She let go of the hold on his chakra, then quickly found the other signature she craved to feel. The strong, steady pulse of Sasuke's chakra gave Sakura a drenching feeling of happiness. They were alive, Naruto and Sasuke-kun were alive, and immediately all anxiety turned to extreme relief.

Sakura heard a small giggle. And a good thing too, they're pretty hot, especially the black haired one with the unimpressed look, Lucky you!

Sakura suddenly released her hold on Sasuke's chakra signature to now reflect on her current situation. A strange girl's voice was speaking to her. Everything was still dark. She called, who Sakura immediately assumed to be Sasuke, hot. A strange voice was taking to her. She didn't know anything. A strange voice was talking to her.

"Yeah sure. I'm lucky, extremely lucky that out of nowhere a man invades my very mind to make me crave blood and the death of my teammates. I was lucky enough to have almost killed my friends." Sakura mentally spoke.

She heard a small sigh of condolence. So he got you too, huh?

Sakura immediately tuned in to the voice. "Got me too? Wait, he did this to you as well?"

Unfortunately, yes. He came out of nowhere, and-

"Who is he?! What does he want?!" Sakura suddenly interrupted, her heartbeat rising.

The voice sighed. Believe me, I wish I knew. If only I knew…

"Then someone has to stop him before- hey wait! Who are you? How are we even speaking? And how can you see my friends? Where are you?" Sakura questioned intently.

There was a slight pause, then she heard the voice again.

I don't know how we're speaking, but I guess it makes sense because both of our heads have been messed with by the same person. Somehow we must be connected because of the jutsu, it's the only thing that makes sense right now. Out of nowhere I could suddenly feel someone's, your, distress and I guess I subconsciously tuned in. I saw you on the ground next to your friends, then suddenly I could hear your thoughts and now here we are!

"But-" Sakura began to say, but cut herself off when she felt a rising sensation in her chest, and her surroundings were becoming lighter and lighter. She heard the chirping of birds, and felt a soft breeze on her face.

Looks like you're finally gonna wake-up. It's ok, let your friends know you're fine.

"But wait-"

We'll talk again soon! Sayōnara for now!

"Wait! who-…" Sakura began to protest, but she began to loose connection with the strange girl's voice who had reached out to her in the dark. She could sense more light flooding into her eyes by the second, and her hearing became clearer and more defined. As she rose to the surface of her sleep, she dizzily finished her question.

"-are you?…"

Sakura's eyes slowly opened to the early morning sunrise of the forest. She looked straight up at the tree branches that encircled her from high above. Her vision was slightly blurry, but clear enough to distinguish her surroundings. She lifted a cold clammy hand up to find a damp cloth draped across her forehead, tiny drops of cold water trickling down the sides of her head. She felt a soft blanket underneath her head, rolled up to mimic a pillow.

"Hey, Sakura-chan."

Sakura dizzily turned her head and her eyes settled on a hazy figure sitting next to her. She saw swirls of orange and black, and finally her eyes corrected themselves and the colors settled down back to their original shape.

"..mmNaruto?" Sakura groggily replied, shutting her eyes to allow the dizziness to pass. She tried to sit up, but was hit with an overwhelming lightheadedness. Her hand flew to her head, sending the cloth off of her head and onto her lap. She felt an arm wrap around her back, supporting her and helping her sit up. Sakura took deep breaths to allow her senses to be cleared, inhaling the fresh forest air. Sakura opened her eyes and turned to Naruto, who was giving her a cheerful look.

"I'm glad you're awake!" he said brightly, though Sakura just looked at him sadly.

Poor Naruto, she could see past his cheerful and facetious manner that deep down he was really worried. She had spent all her years as a kunoichi with him on a team, she knew Naruto like how Kakashi knew the book he had been reading over and over again. When it came to anyone he cared about, he would divide oceans for that person, even cheer them up in the darkest of scenarios.

"Naruto-"

"Take it easy now, you'll need your strength for the rest of the day." Naruto said, taking the cloth from Sakura's leg and holding it to her forehead once more.

No, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Naruto, I know you want to ask me." Sakura said plainly, catching his blue eyes with her green ones. Naruto had just looked at her, and the two of them had sat in silence for a while, until Naruto slowly removed the cloth from her forehead. Sakura took deep breath. "It happened when I was alone, by the river. He just..came out of nowhere.."

"But who was he? What does he want with you? With us?" Naruto asked, his voice vibrant with questions and concern for his teammate.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know."

Naruto began to raise his hand grasping the cloth back to her head, but Sakura intercepted his arm, gently bringing it down to his lap, not releasing her hold on his wrist. She looked down, not wanting to make eye contact with him anymore.

"I almost killed you." she whispered.

"Sakura-"

"I could have ended your life." she said, more harshly this time, biting back tears.

"Sakura-chan, it's fine-"

"Fine? It's fine?!" Sakura declared, her head shooting up to meet Naruto's startled eyes. As she did so, her head swam with dizziness, but she pushed it aside. "It's fine that I almost took the lives of my teammates?!" she exclaimed with such power that she was forced to put her head between her hands and ride through the dizziness. Her body was shaking with anger and guilt, the tears ready to spill.

Naruto inched closer to her, and touched her arm.

"Sakura-chan, it wasn't your fault, it never was." Naruto said softly, then adding with a hint of amusement, "Don't count me out that easily! After all, the future Hokage doesn't fall that quickly!"

At this, Sakura raised her head to her teammate's smiles. A great warmth spread throughout her body, and she found herself filled with relief. Naruto always had a way to cheer anyone up, even her, who had almost taken the light from his eyes and his dream of becoming Hokage.

"Arigatō, Naruto." Sakura said, taking the cloth from Naruto and pressing it firmly to her forehead. The pressure sent more drops of water tickling down her cheeks, and she closed her eyes and tried to calm down once more. Though one thing had been bothering her as soon as she had woken up.

That mysterious girl's voice was still at the back of her mind, she hadn't forgotten about it. Sakura was positive that she hand't imagined the entire thing, it was too implanted in her thoughts to have her not think so, it had to be real. She still hadn't told Sakura who she was or where she was, or why the same shinobi had targeted them. There were so many un-answered questions, and she needed answers fast.

"Are you there?" Sakura called out in her mind, though she received no response.

Sakura would try again, she knew that she'd hear the girl's voice once more, she just knew.

She was real, she must be, or she wouldn't have given Sakura the information that Naruto and Sasuke-kun were alive..

Sasuke-kun..

Sakura put the cloth down, and rose to her feet, this time having more control of her limbs without becoming dizzy.

"Where's Sasuke-kun?" she asked Naruto.

"He'll be back, just relax and-"

"Where is Sasuke?" Sakura asked more firmly.

Naruto looked at her uncertainly, then finally sighed and raised his right arm and pointed to his left.

Sasuke stared into the violent blue water of the rushing ravine. He watched the fish lazily swim with the natural current, casually bumping into each other as they swam.

He left Naruto back in the forest to look after Sakura incase she woke up, he needed to collect his thoughts before they embarked on their mission once more. Time had been unfortunately wasted, not that any of them had expected to be apprehended like they had been.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and violently kicked a stone into the water, the same thought haunting him as it had for the entire night.

He should have gone with her, he should have insisted he accompany her into the woods even though they hadn't suspected any sort of ambush. He could have protected her..

Footsteps crunched on some leaves, immediately setting Sasuke on high alert. He swiftly turned on his feet, but stopped when he saw who it was that had approached him.

Sakura was calmly walking towards him, a grim expression on her face. Her eyes were slightly red, had she been crying? But Sasuke was relieved to see that their spring green color was the only dominant color, he didn't think he'd see evergreen the same way ever again.

She got closer to him, saying nothing, then her eyes landed on his wrist.

Sasuke had been cradling it with his other hand, not wanting to admit that it bothered him. A navy blue color had spread across his wrist, the bruise had been there since they had brought Sakura back to their camp. It had been giving him excruciating pain while he carried Sakura back, but he hand't said a thing. Now the pain vibrated through his whole arm, very distracting.

Sasuke saw two hands gently take his wrist from his hand, and he gritted his teeth from the needle-like stab of pain that had been shot through his arm. A soft, green glow blossomed from her hands, and instantly his pain was vanishing. The bruise was shrinking, turning from blue to green in the process. Sasuke looked up at Sakura, who hadn't made eye contact with him yet, she was occupied healing him. Then Sasuke realized that she shouldn't have been wasting her chakra on him, she was probably weak and needed more rest to build up her chakra.

"Sakura-"

"Don't." Sakura cut him off abruptly, increasing the flow of chakra to his wrist.

"Sakura-"

"No!" she exclaimed, and the cloud of green chakra erupted to a bright orb. The pain had completely subsided, her chakra sucking out all the evidence of the bruise that had once been on Sasuke's wrist. His skin returned to its normal color, and Sakura's chakra faded slowly.

Sasuke looked up at her, and this time found her looking right into his eyes, her expression iron like. Her legs were shaking, and she mouth was opened slightly as if she wanted to say something. She looked as if she were ready to collapse.

Then without warning, she shot forward, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her face into Sasuke's shirt. Her whole body now shook, and she held on to him for dear life.

Sasuke immediately stiffened at her reaction, at first too shocked to process what had happened.

Slowly, his body relaxed, and he allowed her to squeeze him tighter. He hesitantly, then more confidently encircled her body with his arms, bringing her closer to him.

"Thank God you're ok…..thank God I didn't kill you…" she cried softly.

I loved writing this chapter, and I couldn't wait to write it as soon as I thought of the idea for it. And woah, plot addition alert. Who's voice is talking to Sakura? I'll give you guys a small hint. What's their mission objective? Yeah that's all I'll give you, don't want to ruin things just yet! As always, Review! xx