01.35

. . . .

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. Softly, the door across the room clicked open, and Naruto came in and shut it quietly behind him. He proceeded towards Sakura's bed side and stroked her pink bangs out of her closed eyes. She feigned sleep.

He looked out of the window, the only light source of the room being a blinking street lamp in the street, and watched the unrelenting raindrops come down. He sighed. Naruto bent over slowly to kiss Sakura's forehead, and then he stroked it lovingly. Ichigo came into the room moments later and asked whether or not he wanted to stay over or go home.

"I'll..." he glanced at Sakura for a moment before returning to Ichigo, "Yeah, I'll go. Let me know if she wakes up or something, okay?" He left Sakura's bedside to follow Ichigo out of the room and closed a door with a barely audible click. Her eyes opened.

01.4

Ai, oh

why?

. . . .

01.4

the rain carousel

Sakura listened to Naruto and the stranger's retreating voices. Sitting up, and making sure they were out of range of hearing, she threw the covers off of her person and stood up. Her clothes were on the bed next to her backpack, so she took little to no time changing into them and leaving the hospital gown neatly folded on the bed top. She pulled out her iPod and checked the time. 8:45 it read. She popped in one ear piece into her ear and scrolled down the list to Joe Hisaishi's Carousel of Life. Quietly, she walked to the window and watched the rain pour down on the outside, and then glanced at the flickering street lamp. Pulling her hood over her head, she raised the windowsill and jumped out of the window, not bothering to close it behind her. She was looking around, trying to figure out where she was.

"AHHHHHH!" Sakura faltered a bit. She clutched her forehead in one hand and struggled to keep her balance. The screaming commenced again, and it sounded a lot like the little girl she found at the park earlier today.

A lot like Ai.

By now the rain was coming down harder, and Sakura was becoming soaked from head to toe. She chose a direction she thought that the screaming was coming from and ran to her. She ran; and ran as fast as her tired legs could take her.

A sign that read 'Karakura Town Park' came into view, and she ran straight into it. Looking around with what little light she had from the lamp posts, she tried to locate the big cylinder that was on its side.

The screaming became louder, and Sakura was running out of time.

She ran forward blindly and tripped over a large piece of cement rubble. Sitting up, she saw that there were more and more cement pieces lying around. The screaming commenced.

Sakura shot up and ran into the forest on the other side of the park, and came to a screeching halt.

There, in the clutches of a big, monstrous beast was Ai, barely hanging on to her life. Sakura dropped to her knees, eyes wide, in a trance-like state staring up hopelessly at the situation in front of her. She was scared, not only for Ai.

But for the fact that this beast, whatever it was, looked exactly like the monstrosity that had destroyed and decapitated her parents.

After seeing Naruto out, Ichigo walked back to the spare room where Sakura resided. He crooked open the door slowly, only to completely slam it against the wall and pure shock. His sisters were thankfully still asleep.

Ichigo reached into his pocket and speed dialed Naruto's number, listening to the repetitive ringing on the line. He picked up.

"Naruto speaking, 'ttebayo!"

"Listen, its Sakura. She's gone." There was a pause from Naruto's side. Then he heard something drop.

"Wh-what? She was asleep when I checked up on her!" Naruto was panicking.

"Calm down. Is there any place she would have visited before that….event happened at Konoha High?"

There was another pause. Naruto fiddled around his pocket before coming across a piece of paper. He pulled it out and read it. 'Meet me at the Karakura Town Park in a bit.'

"Is there a park near you?" He asked.

"Yeah, Karakura Town Park. Why?" Ichigo questioned.

"Long story short…we were supposed to meet at that park." Naruto responded. "Hold on…Yes mom? But it's important! It's Sakura, she's in danger! Yes…no mom! Please! This is Sakura we're talking about! 'Ttebayo!" Ichigo overheard his conversation with his mother. "Ichigo, I can't make it tonight, take care of Sakura for me, you hear? 'Ttebayo!" Naruto dropped.

Ichigo ran his hard, calloused fingers through orange locks. He walked to the open window, and stared at the falling rain. His substitute shinigami badge started to beep. A hollow, and it's close by too. He closed the window and ran up to his room, swallowed a konpaku pill, and instructed Kon to stay put and behave. Ichigo opened his bedroom window, climbed out of it, and flash-stepped into the rainy, stormy night.

Sakura watched helplessly as the monster clenched its hand closer around Ai. Flashbacks of uncompleted gruesome memories flitted through her mind at lightning speed.

"Onee-chan, onee-chan! Help me, help me!" Sakura was snapped back to reality by Ai's helpless and tormented voice. She looked up, only to see a large hand swooping down at her. Sakura closed her eyes and braced for impact.

Move!It was as if her body moved on autopilot; she regained feeling in her numb, cold wet legs and somersaulted to the side of where she had just been. In place was a huge claw print that was slowly rising to strike down at her again. She had to move, she had to do something.

Getting up again, she ran behind one of the many trees and searched around for the biggest tree with many leaves and branches that could hide her form temporarily. Finding one quickly, she climbed up its trunk and continued to climb all the way to the top, where she could see clear above its head and the rest of the forest.

"Come out, come out where ever you are, my dear little pink freak!" It bellowed. Ai began screaming again, and Sakura could tell that she could not scream for much longer, so she had to work quickly.

Sakura kneeled down on the branch she was standing on, and began to quietly search for a, strong, sturdy branch that she could easily dismember from the main tree she was residing in. She found one, and gripped it hard at its base and began to pull at it until it snapped. She looked back down again. The monstrosity was stomping around, trying to find her. She looked back at the tree again and pulled out another branch, pulled her arm back, and threw it a good measure in front of the beast. Sensing the falling object, the beast turned its head towards the branch and crushed the thing into pieces.

It's either now or never, Sakura. She paused, and then looked around. "Who's there?" she quietly whispered. Slowly, she scanned the scenery around her, nothing but rain-soaked leaves and branches. She stood up again and back into the tree as far as she could, then clutching the branch with both hands, she ran forward and jumped into the air.

The monstrosity hadn't realized how fast she was falling towards it, before she unconsciously flexed her reiatsu. Tree branch above her head, she swung it down, only to see a katana in its place. She hit the white mask-like head, but only barely made a scratch. She jumped back a few feet, and stared at the katana in her hand with amazement. Sakura gripped the katana with a renewed resolve and ran towards the monster in at break-neck speed.

Another claw came down towards her and she slashed it off. She jumped onto the monster's body and ran ninja-style onto the outstretched arm that held Ai captive. The monster was becoming very unstable, and so it kept tripping back and forth in pain. Sakura, in turn, was also having a hard time keeping her balance. Once at the supposed wrist, she jammed her katana down and kept jamming and stabbing it until it let go of Ai. She grabbed Ai and they both hurdled to the ground. Sakura twisted her body around to lessen the impact.

Once upon the ground, Sakura ran as hard as she could with Ai in her arms. Not once did she look back. She ran and ran and ran, and kept running until she bumped into something solid. She fell backwards on her butt, and Ai was asleep in her lap.

"Oi, watch where you're...Sakura? What are you doing all the way out here?" She looked up to a tall, muscular figure with orange hair who apparently knew her name. "Naruto's been worried sick about you! Geeze, and there's a hollow nearby?" He seemed to be talking to himself. Sakura got up slowly and prepared to run but a strong hand on her arm stopped her. "Where do you think you're going? And for that matter, who is it that you're holding?" Ichigo examined her face closely; she seemed to be pissed off, but a little bit of fear was noticeable in her eyes as well. He then looked down to the girl. 'Ai' was scribbled messily on the little girl's nametag, but that's not what got him at that moment.

There was a chain on the girl's chest that was encroaching upon itself, and by the looks of it, it seemed as if the final encroachment was almost complete.

There was an unearthly moan that sounded off in the distance, and Ichigo and Sakura both faltered a bit. She struggled to free herself from his grasp, but to no avail. Instead what ended up happening was Ichigo falling forward, desperately trying to hold onto something but ended up clutching Sakura who in turn, dropped Ai (who was thankfully still asleep), and ended up being pinned underneath Ichigo.

"Leave the girl; you don't know what you're getting yourself into." He breathed. His cool breath fanned across her face.

"I refuse to leave an innocent child behind." He suddenly remembered that regular humans were not supposed to see ghosts. "Could it be that you were running from…?" He questioned. Sakura took the time to look over his person, and found that he was wearing a black shihakusho with a white wrapping around his middle. She glanced to the side, and saw what she thought to be a bigger version of a butcher knife with a white wrapping around the handle.

She looked back up into his eyes, and he looked down into hers. "Green…." He started "…and pink?" he snickered. Sakura scowled and head butted him, and Ichigo shouted in pain. He rolled off of her and clutched his head, shouting curses to her name sake. Sakura rolled over, picked Ai up, and ran away as fast as she could in a random direction.

"Hey! Wait..!" But he was too late, she was already gone. Tch. I'll get her later. Zangetsu, you can find her reiatsu right? Zangetsu chuckled at Ichigo. He grunted. Picking up his sword, he headed towards the hollow that would soon be reaping havoc upon the city.

Sakura was still running in the damp and soggy forest. She tripped and landed on her side and grunted out of misery. She stood up with Ai in her arms, and looked down at herself. Muddy, soggy, wet, in pain…could this day have gotten any worse? And it had. There was barely any light in the forest, and the only source of light she had was her iPod Touch, provided that it didn't get wet.

Up ahead, she saw a tree with a big enough opening in it and headed towards it. She halted when she felt Ai stirring around in her arms. It was lost to her how a young child could sleep so soundly after everything that just happened. She looked down gently at Ai's face until the small girl opened her eyes. Pure black pits of nothingness replaced what should have been a regular, normal human eye. Sakura dropped the girl and backed away from her. Ai began to smile a wide, haunting smile before she opened her mouth to let out an unearthly scream.

The supposed 'Ai' launched herself at Sakura, and Sakura screamed.

Ichigo raced towards the place where the supposed hollow was supposed to have been, only realize that the hollow he was fighting was an old, escaped enemy from years ago. The very same hollow bastard who lured him in that caused the untimely death of his mother.

"Grand Fisher." He seethed. The fallen hollow could only laugh in response.

"My my, what a pleasant surprise, Ichigo. And to think that I've got to meet two beings with high reiatsu! What a pleasant day today is indeed!" Ichigo could only grip the sword in both of his hands in response.

"Quiet, now aren't we? Oh but I'm sure that the little girl that was with that pink-haired beauty is sure to get a rise out of her!" Ichigo choked out a gasp. "You see, the same technique I used to trick you, is working on her!" The hollow laughed in sick delight. "What you see of me now is just a projection left behind by my hollow reiatsu still lingering in the area. Who I'm really with is that girl! What was her name? Sakura? Ah I wonder if she tastes as good as she looks." Ichigo was seething, and out of rage he launched himself at the dissipating hollow and did not make a hit.

And somewhere off in the distance, he heard an unearthly chuckle; and a very terrified scream.

:D Cliff hanger, hanging from a tree!~ And that's why they call him cliff hanger!

"Can't….hold…on…much…longer!" If you do not know where that is from, between the lions plox. YOUTUBE IT, GO NOW.

Did you like it? Did ya? Did ya? :D REVIEW AND CRITIQUE IS BERY BERY WELCOME.

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

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no previews this time

i decided to troll yu gaiz and make yu wait for the next chappie. heheee

writers blok writers blok writers blok writers blok writers blok writers blok writers blok writers blok

Funfax: I beat my last chapter by roughly 661 words.

...I abuse the enter key too much.