01.3

Why Hello,

Stranger

. . . .

01.3

the rain

Sakura sat at her desk after the bell had rung, silently waiting for her bustling class to file out of the room. She was staring outside of the window, watching as the rain beat down mercilessly upon the more or less innocent bystanders that loitered outside of the high school. Then she refocused her eyes to look at her own reflection. Tired, pained emerald orbs stared back at her with a solemn expression. Her soft, baby pink hair clung to her head, and some straight strands of hair floated about her head with every slight movement of her body.

The ordeal with Sasuke had left her feeling exhausted, a little depressed even. Looking down at the bystanders one last time, she caught a crowd of people congregated around three people; Sasuke, Karin, and an orange-haired kid. It seemed as if Sasuke and the orange-haired boy were arguing, but for what reason she didn't know.

Solemnly, Sakura collected her things into her bag and silently walked passed a pair of students who were arguing over whose boyfriend belonged to who.

"I saw him first! He said my name and said he loved me!" A brunette-haired girl screamed.

"Dream on, fish face! He kissed me and grabbed my butt! What could he ever like in a plain girl like you anyways?" Another brown-haired girl screamed. She threw the first punch at the other brunette-haired girl, missed, and accidentally punched Sakura in her back. Sakura, in turn, tripped forward and fell to the ground, grabbing a desk to somehow catch her fall only to have it fall on top of her person.

The girls immediately stopped their quarreling and scrambled out of the classroom out of embarrassment. "Poor Haruno-san, she must be really embarrassed after Sasuke-kun broke up with her, and for her to just fall like that…" The brunette said. The other could only nod in response.

Sakura lay on the floor in pain before getting up to place the desk in its place. She looked to the window one last time before starting her trek to the top balcony of the school. It was probably one of the few places she felt so free, so alive. She walked in the hallways avoiding the stares her peers gave her, and only looked ahead. "Look at her hair…." One student said. "I knew Sasuke-kun would have gotten bored of her anyways; I mean, who dies their hair pink?" Another student sneered. Sakura paused, and gave a weak glare over her shoulder to whoever made the snide remark and continued to walk towards the top floor.

Silently, she ascended the staircase to the fourth floor door. Gently, she twisted the door knob and threw the door open, allowing the cold, windy wet air hit her face. She felt exhilarated, and found a calming element in weather like this. She glanced to her left and saw a pair of girls huddled near the edge of the roof. They were Karin's minions.

"Well, if it isn't the pink-haired retard. What, bummed out that Sasuke is too good for you?" A platinum-haired girl asked.

"Actually, I'm quite a bit more than I would have anticipated. Thanks for asking, Ino. I really appreciate it." She gave Ino the slightest of smiles. Closing the door, Sakura walked over to a ledge near Ino and her friend. It was wet, but she didn't mind.

"Lovely weather we're having ne, Ino-chan?" Sakura was making light of the situation which was really getting on Ino's nerves.

"Hardly, freak. It's this time of year that your namesake is tragically washed out from everywhere! Rain, rain, come out to destroy the frail ugly blossom!" By now Ino had appeared behind Sakura, and before Sakura could come to realize the situation she was in, Ino had already given a hard shove to her back.

It felt like the world had slowed down for a moment, I turned my head to look into Ino's eyes and all I could see was hatred and malice.

Since when did Ino harbor all those sad, tortured emotions towards me?

"So it's like that, isn't it, Ino-chan?" I smiled at her silently and her eyes for a moment seemed to hold regret, and she desperately tried to reach out and save me from my imminent death, but it was too late. I was falling, and falling fast.

"Who do you think you are, huh? I came here to do something so outta my way!" An orange-haired boy was fighting to move passed this crowd and a boy who seemed to be donning a duck-ass hair style. This red-haired chick looked like she was checking him out, but he couldn't be too sure.

While fighting to get passed duck-butt, red-head, and this crowd of people, he felt someone's reiatsu fluctuate. He looked to his right and saw a girl falling head-first, and fast. He glanced up at the top to see a blonde retreating pony-tail and another girl who he did not know. His attention switched back to the falling pink-haired girl who was nearing the ground every second that he wasted. He felt around his person for anything, but no such luck.

"Didn't you hear me? I asked what your name was!" Duck-butt asked impatiently. The orange-haired boy, not listening to what he had to say, fought through the crowd to run to get to the falling girl. He ran, and ran, and boy did he run. And just as the girl was nearing the ground, he tackle saved her in the air and turned so his back would take the hit against the wall.

"Ow…That really hurt." The orange-haired kid said. He sat up and glanced down at the wet pink-haired bundle in his arms. Come to think of it, he was wet too considering that they both just fell into a puddle. He sat there for a while until he saw a blonde-haired kid run over to them. "Sakura? Sakura-chan!" He yelled.

"Sakura? Her name is Sakura?" The orange-haired kid asked.

"Yeah! What just happened? Did she really just…"

"Yeah, she really just physically fell from the top of the building. I saw a girl with a blonde pony-tail turning to leave along with her friend. I think she pushed her off, and I don't know if she's still there or not, but it wouldn't hurt to check." The orange-haired kid said.

"Damn it…Ino….." The blonde haired kid cursed under his breath.

"I'm sorry. The name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto held out his hand.

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo shook his hand. Slowly, but carefully Ichigo stood up with Sakura still in his arms. He looked at Naruto briefly and saw him looking down at her with sad eyes. "Sakura-chan..." He whispered. Ichigo gently pushed Sakura into Naruto's arms, and Naruto took care to saddle her onto his person, piggyback style.

Ichigo coughed. "My family has a clinic on the way, maybe we could….?"

Naruto turned to him, his eyes shone with relief. "Kurosaki clinic, right? I've been by there before with teme and some other friends."

"Teme?" Ichigo questioned.

"Yeah. The duck-butt over there." He motioned to the duck-butt from Ichigo's earlier encounter with his nose. "His name is Sasuke, but I call him teme because he is a bastard. He, Sakura-chan, and I used to be close friends." Naruto sighed.

This made Ichigo curious. "What happened?" He asked.

"Well…." Naruto looked down and away from Ichigo's face out of sadness.

Ichigo, getting the hint said "It's okay! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Sorry."

Naruto chuckled at this. "It's alright, 'ttebayo!" He smiled brightly at Ichigo then faltered a bit. "But what I do know is that, whatever is happening between us is taking a large toll on Sakura…"

"Come again?" Ichigo asked, not paying attention.

"I said, shall we head towards your family clinic or what? It's getting colder and windier out here, wouldn't like to catch a cold." He said while readjusting Sakura on his back. The rain had stopped, and the sun was peeking out through the clouds a little bit, but there was no doubt that there would be more rain to come later in the day too.

"Oh, ah sorry about that. Right this way." Ichigo led Naruto out of the school grounds, towards the Kurosaki Family Clinic.

Watching their backs was a very peeved Sasuke, and a fuming red Karin.

"That pink-headed wench!" She seethed. "I was so sure that Ino had taken care of her!" She silently screamed. Karin pulled out her phone and started texting her friends furiously. Sasuke, however, was biting his thumb at today's whole ordeal.

Why do I care so much? After all, Sakura is just some girl. He thought.

Well, I struggled, and I struggled, and I kept struggling till I got this in.

Jeeze this one was a doooosy. Talk about writer's block? I had it big time.

Tankyu for being patient with me.

Here you go c:

Note: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, IT'S CHARACTERS, AFFILIATES, OR NARUTO, AND IT'S CHARACTERS, OR IT'S AFFILIATES. ALL CREDITS FOR CHARACTERS, COMPANIES, AFFILIATES, ETC. GO TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. Respectively. I ONLY OWN THE PLOT. LOL.

Next:

0.135

Ku ro sa ki

Clinic

"Onee-chan….Onee-chan…..How could you leave me alone like that?"

"Ai-chan! No I didn't mean to…I had to….Ai-chan? Ai-chan!"

"Onee-chan…onee-cha-" Little Ai was slaughtered right before Sakura's eyes.

"AI-CHAN! NO! Why….why..." Sakura was sobbing, fisting the grass with all the strength she could muster.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura looked up again, and before her very eyes was the nightmare that replayed itself, over and over, even on the anniversary of their deaths.

"M-ma? D-dad….?" She slowly reached out to them.

SLASH!

They were beheaded by an ugly monster. Blood spattered on her person and she found that her parent's heads had rolled their way in front of her.

"Sakuraaaa…" they moaned, "Why didn't you saaaave us Sakura…..Whyy?" Their moans increased with every word until it reached a high pitched scream. Sakura clutched her head with her hands.

"I…no…please…please!...NO!" A panting, sweating Sakura sat up in a gurney inside an unfamiliar room. Looking around nervously, she saw that her backpack rested next to her on the bed. She looked out of a window, and saw that it was nighttime and the rain was coming down hard.

Running a clammy, pale hand through her hair, she couldn't help but say,

"Déjà vu much?"

Then she collapsed back onto the bed, pulled the covers over her person and drifted off to sleep once again, hoping that she didn't have another nightmare.

Don't for get to R&R. Critics are welcome.