Author's Note: Haven't posted a chapter for this story in a while, mostly because I wanted to further organize my thoughts to gain more of a clear perspective of how the plot will play out until the end. Luckily, I have some new ideas to add, and you guys will see as you read :)

Heh.

The light laughter brought Sakura further into her senses, giving her a gateway to her surroundings. It was dark once more, the light shut out of her eyes as if the clouds had condensed and shut away the light forever. She felt her body floating once more, freely through a nonexistent body of water, then felt the familiar upward tug that the voice had always caused.

That voice..Her voice.

Sakura remembered calling out to Her before, when she woke up next to Naruto dazed and confused. She hadn't responded when Sakura called out to her, yet she knew that she hadn't made up or dreamt about the event. Yet now, She had made herself known to Sakura, as She had the last time. The only question that Sakura had, was why.

"What's so funny?" Sakura mentally threw her words out into the dark abyss to exchange them for new ones spoken by another.

Another light giggle echoed through Sakura's mind, pulling her farther up to consciousness.

Oh, nothing…it's just interesting.

"What is?"

The darkness around Sakura began to lighten with every phrase that was exchanged between the two of them. Each syllable reached deeper into Sakura's mind than ever before, allowing her to fully comprehend what exactly was going on with her. She was blissfully unaware of anything that was or would occur in the outside world beyond her head. Even more so, she was able to speak with someone who had also been targeted by the wretched man who had almost placed her friends' blood in her capable hands.

A light sigh tickled Sakura's senses, sending a wave of insomnia through her dark sight.

The three of you..you remind me of how it used to be, the pure happiness I once had.

"How it used to be? Your happiness? What do you mean?" Sakura asked softly, feeling a small wave of concern for a girl who's voice was the only thing that Sakura could distinguish her by.

The two times that they had spoken were brief, yet she had been cheerful despite their conversation topics. Yet now she spoke of happiness that she once had, how something had been special for her in the past that no doubtingly brought up feelings to her surface that she had once buried, the trigger being Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke.

"You can tell me..but please, tell me who you are first." Sakura sent out, desperate to learn her identity, and quite possibly obtain a new friendship with her. After all, they were communicating with their minds, by a strange connection of a similar attacker. Who knew how long they would continue to communicate in such a manner?

I… she began, but her voice began to trail away.

Sakura strained to hear her voice, to hold onto the sound of the reassurance that she wasn't alone in the darkness.

"Are you okay? Don't go, where are you?" Sakura called out, slowly growing to the feeling that she wasn't coming back, that Sakura had made her uncomfortable for asking her name-

Stop!

Sakura's heart dropped instantly from the sudden scream that echoed through her mind, sending unbearable vibrations through her ears and brain. Sakura tried to place her arms over her ears, but her arms had become heavy and limp, and she found herself straining to move any part of her body. With no luck, she felt her body begin to sink as she listened to the girl's scream echo in her head. Sakura's concern quickly switched to panic. What was happening to her?! Was she being tortured wherever she was, and by whom?

"What's happening?! Where are you?!" Sakura cried out, distressed over the safety of a girl who she didn't even know, and yet, she felt a deep connection with. Sakura couldn't describe it, but she had a desperate urgency to acknowledge the fact that She was important, too important to just forget and bury her away in the depths of her mind. No, there was something more.

"Answer me!" Sakura yelled once more, yet her words had brought on the opposite of what she had wanted to accomplish. She began to feel an intense pressure on her chest, pushing down hard enough to shatter her ribcage. The air was being pressed out of her lungs slowly, like a deflating balloon. She gasped for air, but inhaled a dense form of oxygen that only increased the pressure on her chest, sending a tremendous wave of heat on her skin.

What was happening, and why?

With a final tug, Sakura felt herself being dragged upwards with enough force to break her in half, leaving the darkness with a pleading whisper reaching her ears.

Get away..from us…

Sakura's eyes flew open, and she inhaled sharply, filling her lungs with crisp oxygen. Her lungs screamed with every breath she took, then slowly became numb to the familiar sensation of breathing. Her vision slowly focused in on the lush green of the grass and trees around her, rainbow light reflecting off of the dew drops. The sun had barely risen, the dark sky tinted a soft orange from the teasing early sunlight. The smell of burned wood danced into her nose as the last stream of smoke evaporated into the air from the burned out campfire. The smoke made her eyes sting and water, but she didn't care. Nothing else mattered at the moment, because unlike before, Sakura was absolutely positive that she hadn't dreamed anything. The pain had been too real, lingering in her head and chest like a vice. She could still hear the girl's voice in her mind, full of pain and urgency that Sakura desperately tried to reach. She sounded beyond frightened, more than that, terrified.

Sakura made to rise from her sitting position, but instantly froze once she realized her exact surroundings. She was leaning up against the same tree that she had been that night, her legs bent slightly to the side, her right arm draped across her abdomen. However, she hadn't been alone. When she first woke, the only thing that she had averted her entire attention to was the oxygen that needed to be delivered to her lungs. It was only after she was breathing normally once more that she turned her head slowly to see him sleeping next to her, their bodies closely touching.

Her shoulder was right up against his chest, rising and falling steadily with sleep. His regular breaths tickled her neck lightly, sending small chills down her spine. Her thighs were touching and parallel to his left leg, which was stationary just like the rest of his body was currently. Her eyes slowly travelled down to her left, and with blushing heat noticed that his arm had been draped around her shoulders, holding her protectively against him. The heat that she felt on her face felt hotter on the upper right of her forehead and cheek, signifying that those parts of her face had been in contact with his skin through the course of the night, this realization only adding to the embarrassed flush of heat blooming on her face. Her eyes widened in embarrassment, and she turned her head slowly to stare directly in front of her, her heart beating out of her chest. She continued to stare straight ahead, until she caught herself trying to turn her head several more times. Finally giving into her impulses, she took a giant breath of air and slowly turned her head to the right and tilted it upwards.

The air she had just breathed in had been knocked away in one second when she locked her eyes on Sasuke's peaceful face. The sunlight had become stronger, and its rays shone down on his sleeping face, highlighting his handsome features strongly. Her eyes travelled down to his lips, drawn together loosely in sleep. Sakura's heart began to pound faster at the rush she felt looking at his inviting lips..

You're strong, Sakura. You're strong.. His lulling words echoed in her head.

Sakura abruptly swung her head forward once more, biting down on her tongue hard enough to draw blood. She dry swallowed air, and remained still. No, she couldn't think about silly dreams right now, especially not about boys or crushes. Her focus would be drawn to the mission, and the mission only.

But…

Get away..from us…

The girl's shaky thoughts went through Sakura's, hearing her frightened voice over and over again in her mind, almost feeling the terror radiating from her voice.

What had she been so afraid of? What could have possibly happened to a girl who she could mentally communicate with-

Sakura's eyes widened, and her stomach dropped one hundred feet down her body. She brought a shaky hand up to cover her mouth in an attempt to muffle the small gasp that escaped her lips. Theories and explanations fought inside of her head to be the shining topic of debate, until the correct one shot forward and paralyzed her entire body. The answer had been right in front of her. She had 'met' this girl in the first place due to her being attacked back in the forest by that shinobi. After Naruto and Sasuke had released the jutsu from her, the dark state she entered had brought her attention to the girl's voice. She spoke to Sakura as if they were one in the same, because they technically had been; being attacked by the same person using the same jutsu.

It was him..it had to be him.

The nameless shinobi who decided to attack both of them with such a psychological twisting jutsu to give them intense bloodlust would not be someone to look down upon. He was strong, strong enough to master a jutsu that wouldn't be found in an ordinary textbook. However..

If Sakura and this girl could communicate with each other..who's to say that he couldn't as well..

Sakura's fear slowly began to melt away like snow, remembering his piercing brown eyes that burrowed into hers when her mind slowly began to accept his visions of death. How many times had he been tormenting her mind, and for how long? She had never told Sakura how long ago he had attacked her, for all she knew he could've gotten to her long before Team Seven set out on this mission. The more she thought into it, the angrier she became.

She had to start planning, to think of a way to accomplish the mission and somehow sneak away from Naruto and Sasuke to defeat him and help not only the girl, but protect Naruto. He wanted jinjuriki, to collect them for his collection and use their chakra for who know's what. Thinking back to the previous day, Sakura remembered the conversation the three of them had while traveling. Like Sasuke had said, he most likely had no knowledge of who possessed the Kyuubi's chakra, otherwise he would have set Sakura's mind to specifically target Naruto. No, the bastard had wired her to attack both of her teammates with just enough blood lust so that he'd be insured that she would injure him enough, but not kill him.

Sakura had already decided that she wouldn't tell the two of them about her new ability to communicate telepathically with a stranger, though Sakura wouldn't exactly call Her a stranger anymore. And she knew that if she told them about her plans, Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't hesitate to follow her, let alone even think of letting her go off by herself.

Sakura turned her head to Sasuke once more, and found herself smiling gently at his blank face. You'd give me a hard time, wouldn't you? Sakura thought to herself. She gently shimmied out of his light grip, taking his arm slowly off of her shoulders and softly placing his arm across his lap. Shifting her weight every second to make her body as light as possible, she slowly rose from the ground and hopped away from the tree. Landing softly and quietly on the dirt, she looked behind her shoulder and took in his sleeping form once more with remorseful eyes.

Sakura had made up her mind, there would be no one and nothing that could convince her otherwise. She would finish the mission with Naruto and Sasuke. And then..

Sakura closed her fist, and crushed her doubts away.

She would kill him.

Sakura began to walk farther away from her position, then stopped when her mind had brought up another factor of her issues that she had momentarily put aside. She stared blankly at the trees ahead of her, processing the shuffled information in her head. It would seem that she would be experiencing nothing but realizations this whole mission, for she had just experienced one major issue that would come back to bite her badly. Sakura cursed herself for not considering the fact, for even think of it as a remote possibility until that very moment. How could she be so stupid?So ignorant?

Sakura turned her head to the side and her eyes fell on a sleeping Naruto, lying atop a mangled and twisted sleeping bag. The blankets were knotted and hanging off of his body, his arms and legs sprawled out in all directions. Sakura's eyes softened while looking at him, taking in Naruto's normal sleeping position. Her mind racing, she thought back to when he returned to Konoha from his training with Jiraiya. It was the first time she had seen him in two years, and just by looking at his taller, muscular appearance that he was stronger. And that assumption had been correct, when Tsunade had sent Team Kakashi on their first mission as a new team to rescue the Kazekage. Sakura remembered Naruto's seething anger at seeing Gaara's dead body, and how he had recklessly chased after Deidara when Gaara's body was taken away. Sakura remembered the chill she felt on her skin when the Kyuubi's chakra slowly leaked from Naruto's body in fury. She remembered how he had always placed himself in danger to save others like him, knowing that he was also a target of the enemy..

And that would be why Sakura would leave Naruto in dark with Sasuke.

She didn't know what she would do with herself if Naruto died because of her, because he was too important to loose.

The impending issue was brought back to full attention in her mind, and she finally came to a resolution.

Sakura bit down on her lip, biting back tears.

But she had no choice, he was the only one who could help her.

Sakura glanced back at Sasuke, who remarkably was still asleep. Sakura was surprised, on every overnight mission that she had ever been on with him and Naruto, Sasuke had always been the first one to wake. As far as she was concerned, he was a light sleeper. Sakura narrowed her eyes, thinking about how she had successfully slipped out of his hold without waking him once. As a kunoichi, she was trained to be stealthy and swift, but this was Uchiha Sasuke she was dealing with. If he didn't wake up then, he would most certainly wake up soon.

And she couldn't have him listening in on her conversation.

She brought her hands together, and skillfully formed the proper hand signs.

I, Inu, Saru, U…

Sakura opened her hands and spread her fingers, sending the jutsu towards Sasuke. She traced her chakra with her eyes as the cloud of green swam out and settled around him. The cloud quickly condensed into a fine, thin ring and settled into the soil. A light flash emitted from the ground, signaling that her jutsu was successful.

Sakura had learned many techniques from Tsunade during her training, and she found this jutsu to be one of the most helpful, effective ones that she had ever picked up. The ring of chakra served as a sort of sound barrier, blocking all sound from the outside. It wasn't a solid barrier, if the person inside of the circle were to step over the ring, they would be graced with the sounds of outside once more. Regardless of its major flaw, Sakura had used this jutsu on countless missions, and it had suited her perfectly for setting traps or rummaging through an enemy's belongings. Sakura glanced back at Sasuke once more, and noted that she'd only have around ten minutes tops before he was sure to wake. But that was all she needed.

Sakura bent down on her knee, reached out, and gently shook Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto."

Naruto's eyes squeezed down tighter, and he released a small groan of fatigue. "Five more minutes…need ramen.."

Sakura rolled her eyes with amusement and continued to shake him. "Baka, wake-up."

Naruto rolled over a couple more times, until finally he sat up, rubbing his fatigued eyes. He opened his eyes, then immediately shut them to shield the early morning sunlight. He blinked a couple more times before his eyes truly opened. His blue eyes were still dull with sleep, but slowly began to spark alive when Sakura's face came into view.

"Oh, hey Sakura-chan. Are we heading out?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, not yet."

Naruto looked at Sakura, then leaned to his right to look behind her. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Sleeping." Sakura replied immediately.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, then closed it when he looked at Sakura's expressionless face. His expressional eyes turned neutral and he shifted his weight to sit up straighter. "Sakura-chan, what is it?"

Sakura gathered every ounce of bravery and seriousness she could muster, and flipped the switch of her emotions to off. She looked into Naruto's blue eyes.

"Naruto…I need you to promise me something."

Oooo what is Sakura going to ask Naruto? Sadly, you won't find out until a couple more chapters, so don't hate me! It'll all come together, I promise.