A.N.

Bless all of those who have reviewed, faved, and followed my story. I really, truly appreciate it!

If you have not kept up with the manga from here on out there may be spoilers.

Disclaimer: Naruto does NOT belong to me.

Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga and/or anime are completely original.

Please Review!

Neji turned away from her. When he heard of what happened at the Land of Iron, he was angry, enraged really. Sasuke was dangerous, he had joined Akatsuki and now they were going to war because of it. He clenched his fists.

"I'm really sorry." She whispered looking down at her hands. The older teen turned to her. They were going to war, and that was the reason he went looking for her. One could never know what would happen. You could live or die in the battlefield.

"Look at me." Obediently she lifted her eyes. Slowly he reached to brush some stray hair away from her face. "I'm going to say this only once, for now at least." Her brow creased in confusion; however Neji's face was completely unreadable. His hand moved to caress her cheek and watched as her face began to take on a light shade of pink. "I love you."

Brown eyes widened, neither moved as they stared at each other one in complete shock the other with calm determination. Suddenly her vision was obscured by the white material of his shirt as he held her close to him.

Interference

"STOP!" Sayuri cried out rushing out of the closet and over to her mother's side. "Please don't kill her!"

"Well if it isn't little Lady Sayuri." The man said with a smile in his voice.

XXX

"Stay in here and no matter what, don't come out." Her mother whispered as she hid the girl in the closet.

"But—" Her mother hushed her and cupped her cheek.

"Stay." Slowly she closed the door to the closet leaving Sayuri alone in the dark once again. She pulled her legs up to her chest and leaned her head against the door.

XXX

Everyone was everywhere. Monks and priestess ran around the area in a panic. Sayuri clutched her mother's kimono tighter as they were quickly ushered into another building.

XXX

The sound of an explosion woke her. Immediately Sayuri sat up and looked around the room. She clutched the sheets to herself as she saw nothing in the darkness. Suddenly the door burst open making her cry out and hide under the covers.

"Lady Sayuri…" Recognizing the voice she pushed the covers down. She saw the ANBU rush to her picking her up from her bed. "We need to find your mother." He said as he ran out of the room, the girl in his arms.

XXX

Sayuri turned to look up at him, to try to put a face to her mother's tormentor, but she found that it was impossible. The night covered him showing only his frame and the glinting katana as he raised it in the air and swung it down.

Sayuri opened her eyes gasping for air. Her body was sweaty, the her covers were pushed aside, the teddy bear she had become accustomed to sleeping with was on the ground somewhere. She lay on the tatami mat completely still as she tried to take control of her quivering body.

Shakily she covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath and frowned. When had she gone home? The last thing she remembered was training with Diachi and Hajime then nothing. Her mind went blank after that.

With a frown she tried to recall her dream but found it difficult. It was as if her mind had gone blank. The room was slowly illuminated by the sun as it began to rise over the horizon. She blinked up at the wooden ceiling.

"I should get up…" she mumbled but found that her body refused to obey. It felt sluggish…like she had run a marathon. Damn…she thought and let her hands fall down at her sides. With a groan she rolled over to her side and whined at the amount of energy it took for her to move. She let her head fall back on to the pillow.

"What's your name?"

There was a tap at her window and she lifted her head up. Hajime grinned and stepped inside. "I'm going to assume that you don't feel too good right now."

Sayuri didn't even have the energy to glare she settled for sighing in the end. "I'm fine."

"Really now?" Hajime raised a brow looking rather amused.

"Yes…" she frowned.

"Well just a heads up, you missed training this morning." That got her attention as she suddenly sat up. "Get up and get dressed we're heading out to eat."

"What do you mean this morning?"

Hajime almost snickered. "It's twelve, Sayuri…"

"WHAT?!"

XXX

Sayuri frowned at her food, while Hajime chatted happily with the blonde waitress from before. Diachi for his part ate as he regarded the girl across from him as she picked at her food.

"Would you just eat already?" He snapped after the umpteenth time that she poked her rice with the wooden chopsticks.

A pair of blue and red eyes darted around the area. "Those are a lot of stairs!" She exclaimed as she leaned her head back to look at the long trail that led up to a gate.

"Yes, they are." She turned to the woman that stood beside her, silver hair gleaming from the sunlight that hit it in just the right angle. "Come Sayuri…" the woman leaned down and scooped the little girl up.

She giggled as her mother jostled her a bit and snuggled closer. Sayuri looked behind her mother and saw the three ANBU. "Are you coming too?"

"Yes, Lady Sayuri." Answered one wearing a rooster mask as they began making their way up the stairs.

"Eh?" she turned her eyes to Diachi who had his light brown eyes narrowed at her. "Sorry…" she mumbled and took a bite of her fish.

"If you don't like it you can always order something else." He suggested. Their waitress turned to Sayuri questioningly.

Sayuri shook her head. "No, I like it…" she turned to the waitress. "It's fine really." She smiled.

The girl grinned down at her. "I'm glad to see that you're in a better mood today." She bowed.

"Thank you." Sayuri replied and watched the waitress leave their booth. When she turned back to her companions however both had curious looks as they regarded the brunette.

"You came here by yourself?" Diachi asked and Sayuri nodded, placing another piece of fish in her mouth.

"But you hate eating by yourself!" Hajime exclaimed, bewildered.

Sayuri frowned. "I never said that."

"You always beg us to eat with you." Diachi countered as he took a sip of his tea.

"It's just food. I came here because I was hungry. I wasn't in a good mood, period. End of discussion." She took a big portion of her rice and stuffed it in her mouth, looking away stating her point.

As the three ninja ate, Hajime and Diachi couldn't help but think that there was something that their teammate was hiding.

XXX

"You're distracted…" Sayuri heard Diachi say from her spot on the ground. The three have been training in preparation for the war. Needless to say it hadn't been going well for her. "You made the same mistake yesterday…that's not like you."

Sayuri pushed herself up and rushed at the brunette. She unsheathed her katana and raised it to strike. He evaded just in time, leaving her to slash at the ground. With a low growl she turned to her right where five shuriken headed her way. Using her blade she blocked them, just before back flipping out of the way as the teen came from the sky, foot aimed at her head.

Off to the side Hajime, who had been chosen as referee, whistled after having laid eyes on the small crater Diachi's foot had left on the field. Suddenly he looked up and scrambled to get out of the way as Sayuri was flung in his direction.

Catching herself just in time she landed on her feet and rushed at Diachi again, this time with her firsts. Each punch she sent his way, he dodged, each kick he sent her way, she dodged.

"I'll take you somewhere special…what do you say?"

Sayuri froze mid punch, giving Diachi the opportunity to grab it as he pulled his fist back and hit her head. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her when she was suddenly face down on the grass, Diachi pushing her head down and pinning her arm back.

"Hey!" Light brown eyes turned to his silver haired teammate as he ran over to them. "We said no head shots!" Roughly he shoved the brunette male and flipped Sayuri over.

"It doesn't matter. She's been pausing and letting her guard down for the past three days. She needs to learn." Diachi answered as he dusted himself off. "When she's out in the battlefield if she does what she's been doing with us, she'll end up dead."

"You're an ass!" Hajime spat and turned to the brunette. "Hey, Sayuri…" he placed a hand at her cheek as she stared blankly up at the sky. "Sayuri, come on get up." She didn't even blink when he waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Shit! I think you broke her!" Hajime panicked.

Diachi turned to the brunette who lay still looking up at the sky. "Sayuri…?" he asked warily but received no answer. "Hey!" he shook her by the shoulders.

"Damn it Sayuri this isn't funny!" Hajime exclaimed and she gasped.

The brunette blinked a couple of times before her sight cleared and saw her two teammates staring down at her. What happened? She wondered and sat up, realizing that they were staring at her in what seemed like worry or panic. "What's wrong?"

"We should be asking you that." Diachi replied. "You zoned off on us."

"It was creepy!" Sayuri turned to Hajime. "You didn't even blink! Are you ok?"

Was she ok? She tried to recall what happened a few moments ago but found it impossible. She knew she was attacking Diachi, and then nothing. She shook her head and rose to her feet. "I'm fine." The two nodded as they stood as well. "I told Moriyo-sensei I'd stop by her apartment at three…I'll see you later." She turned but Diachi caught her arm.

"I think you should go to the hospital. You passed out yesterday, and today you zoned off completely." He narrowed his eyes down at her. "That's not normal."

"I'm telling you, I'm fine." She pulled her arm away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go. Moriyo-sensei will kill me if I'm late."

XXX

Moriyo frowned, orange eyes narrowed at the girl before her. "You're late!" she hissed.

"I'm sorry." Sayuri apologized. "I…" she what? Sayuri frowned. One moment she was walking toward her teacher's apartment, the next she was near the village gates. "…I got lost, with all the construction going on…you know." Sayuri lied through her teeth, but Moriyo took it for what it was and left it at that.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

Sayuri blinked. "About…?"

Moriyo motioned for the girl to sit on a chair as she disappeared into the kitchen, retuning with a stack of papers. She placed four separate piles before her and Sayuri immediately recognized them. "I found them in your apartment after you ran away." Orange eyes turned to the heiress. "Who did you get these from?"

"I stole them." Sayuri tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. "I snuck into the ROOT's headquarters and took them."

Moriyo nodded and picked up on paper in particular. Sayuri looked over it and felt her heart clench at the picture that was on the corner of it. "Kakashi told me about Itachi…is it true?" Sayuri looked up at Moriyo. "Is it true that he was ordered by the elders to kill his clan?" she clarified.

Sayuri could only nod.

The older female looked down. "Did Danzo order your clans death?"

"Yes." Brown eyes watched as her teacher clenched her fists.

"Did he order Kaminari's death?"

Sayuri met Moriyo's gaze. "I'm not sure if it was just him or the elders as well." The jounin punched the wooden table making the papers on it scatter around before watching as she sunk down onto the floor, face in her hands as she silently sobbed.

The brunette walked around the table toward her teacher, but stopped as she held out a hand, palm extended outward. "Please…I just…" she heard a choked cry which Sayuri understood.

"Ok." The teen quietly made her way out of the woman's apartment.

Not knowing what to do or where to go, she decided to wonder. She gazed up at the slowly rising buildings that were coming together nicely. The people in the village seemed livelier than they were a week ago. She smiled as children ran around the recently built Academy and suddenly froze when she spotted a certain Hyuga looking over the young students.

"Hey, Sayuri!" she turned wide eye as Tenten ran towards her. "How've you been, I haven't seen you around in a while." She had been avoiding the Hyuga for days since his sudden show of affection, and had been doing a darn good job of it. So why did his bun haired teammate have to come and ruin it?!

"I…uh…" dark and light brown eyes darted around looking for an exit. "I…" she turned around and watched as to her utter horror Neji was slowly making his way to them, small children following closely behind. Crap!

"You ok?" Tenten asked before following Sayuri's gaze. "Oh!" She exclaimed giving Sayuri a knowing smirk. "It's Neji isn't it?"

"I…I need to go!" Sayuri exclaimed before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared there was nothing there except a few fallen leafs.

"That's so…COOL!" A little red head kid exclaimed happily, the other children agree right along with him as they rushed up to inspect the deserted area.

"What happened?" Neji asked Tenten who stared down at the spot in confusion.

"I'm not really sure."

XXX

Sayuri stood in an alley trying to catch her breath. That was close!She thought as she placed a palm over her heart. It wasn't that she didn't like Neji, because she did. It was just that she didn't feel as strongly for him as he did her.

The fact that he told her exactly what he felt made her feel scared. What if he got mad and never talked to her again? What if he kept pushing it on her? What if he found out what she really felt? Sayuri shook her head.

No. There was an impending war. Now was not time to be petty. She straightened and looked at her surroundings. She had run into a still destroyed part of the village. Feeling uneasy she took a step back and turned on her heel ready to high tail it out of there.

"Keep your head down!" Said the ANBU that held her in his arms as he ran down the hall. But Sayuri didn't listen as she managed to catch glimpses of destroyed parts of the temple, even injured people scattered around the area.

Sayuri heard a small grunt before feeling pain spread around her face. Immediately she took a step back and rubbed her injured nose. She looked up and was met with the sight of her former Jounin instructor as he looked down at her carefully.

"Sensei…?" she mumbled but the man didn't respond. He only crossed his arms and regarded her with his one visible eye.

"Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

His question caught her off guard. What is he…She turned to look around her, realizing she was facing Konoha's south gate. "How did I—?"

"That's what I'd like to know." The silver haired jounin narrowed his eye. "You realize that running from the village now would be considered treason."

"I wasn't running!" Sayuri exclaimed turning to look at the man.

"Sure didn't look that way to me."

Sayuri shook her head. "I don't know what I'm doing." She sat on the ground and clutched her head willing herself to remember.

Calm down, just…start over. She was walking through the village and spotted the Academy and Neji. Then what? Sayuri concentrated harder. Tenten…something about Tenten. She asked me if I was ok. What happened next?

"Sayuri," Kakashi kneeled down placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Sayuri breathe!" He urged and watched as the girl suddenly inhaled. "Tell me what's going on?"

"I don't know." She murmured.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

Should she tell? She glanced up at her teacher. It was something she had been keeping a secret for some time now. Could she tell? She looked back down. "Lately I've been blacking out." She began. "I end up in random places, I lose track of time, or wake up the next day not knowing what happened the day before." She looked up at her teacher who regarded her carefully. "It gets harder to recall what happened each time."

"How long has this been happening?"

Sayuri looked down at her hands. "I think it started when we went to the Land of Waves…maybe before that. I'm not sure."

"I don't recall you having problems with that when you were a genin." Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"That's because the only one who noticed was Sasuke." His name slipped out of her mouth easily without so much as a wince.

Kakashi stayed quiet for several minutes. Saito had mentioned that she tended to slip in and out of consciousness. He recalled that the blonde ANBU had warned him about it, but the silver haired jounin never really saw any change in her behavior. He stood, offering Sayuri a hand which she took easily.

"Come." He ordered as he turned and made his way back into the reconstructed village.

Sayuri followed him quietly for a few minutes before voicing her concerns. "Where are we going?"

She stopped as soon as he stopped and tuned to look at the picket sign. "Interrogation?" she asked.

"Inoichi is on duty right now I believe…" he glanced up at the setting sun. "I think that he'd be able to bring some insight into your predicament." He pushed her toward the door.

The cloaked ANBU stood at attention upon noticing who it was. "Lady Sayuri! Kakashi!" they said in unison and bowed. She felt her eyebrow twitch as she fought the urge to face palm out of irritation.

"Gentlemen." The jounin acknowledged. "Would any of you mind directing me to Inoichi Yamanaka?"

"Sir!" One of the ANBU stepped out of line and gestured the two to follow him.

Sayuri raised an eyebrow at her sensei. They still respect him? She wondered. Kakashi had dropped out of the ANBU years ago…so how did the new recruits know him? Facing forward as they were led down a hall she wondered just how good of an ANBU the man had been. I should ask Moriyo-sensei…At the thought she frowned. The woman had been crying last time she saw her. Sayuri wondered if she would be ok.

"Kakashi?" A blonde older man, she recognized as her mental evaluator three years ago, rose from his seat and looked from jounin to jounin. "Lady Sayuri?" The blonde man frowned.

"I need you to look into her mind." Kakashi spoke as he pushed Sayuri toward the head of the Yamanaka. "She's been blacking out lately."

"Have you now?" Inoichi went into business mode as he approached Sayuri, placing his hands on either side of her head as he closed his eyes. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since she was a Genin." Kakashi answered before she could speak.

Inoichi frowned. "And you decided to come to me now?!" The man scolded, somehow managing to keep his concentration.

Kakashi laughed uneasily and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah…sorry about that."

Inoichi pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Your past is interfering with your present."

Sayuri frowned in confusion. "Mind, clearing that up for me?" Kakashi and Inoichi exchanged looks, the first shrugging in an apologetic way. He had always had trouble with teaching his students manners.

"It means that your memories are trying to make themselves known to you but at inconvenient times, this causes your black outs. Your past is trying to push itself into your present, and that creates conflict."

"What can I do to stop it?" Sayuri asked after a moment of silence.

The interrogator shook his head. "You don't."

"What?!" Sayuri exclaimed. "I can't just let this keep happening! We're going to war soon. I need to be in top shape, not slipping into random trances!"

"Calm down, Sayuri." Kakashi ordered as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is there something she can for this?"

Inoichi nodded. "Actually there is." He glanced off to the side where a bed was placed. "We can force the memories out and force your subconscious to catch up with you."

"My subconscious?" Sayuri echoed.

"Yes."Inoichi walked over to the bed. "I discovered that your mind was sealed after Itachi's attack on you, Naruto, and Sasuke. A seal on your memories causes you to repress emotions and, in turn, your subconscious is locked within the seal. That means that, at some level, part of your mind didn't grow up. That also contributes to your black outs, it's your subconscious trying to catch up. However each time you snap out of the trance, you stop any progress it tried to achieve."

Sayuri looked at the bed unsure. "So my mind is trying to play catch up?"

The blonde man shrugged. "In a way…yes."

"And with this you can help her?" Kakashi asked wary of letting anyone near his pupil's already jumbled mind.

"I believe so. It would be a matter of forcing her memories out and forcing her subconscious to grow up and realize that she's not a child anymore."

Kakashi turned to Sayuri who tugged at her sleeve. "What do you think?" Sayuri turned to her sensei. "Do you want to go through with it?"

Brown eyes turned to the bed before she released the breath she was holding, "I do."

"Alright." Inoichi clapped his hands. "On the bed." She did as was told and laid back on the pillow. "This might take long." He said to Kakashi who leaned against the door.

"I've got time."

Blue eyes turned to Sayuri. "Are you ready?" Hesitantly she nodded and everything went black.

XXX

Inoichi found himself floating in the middle of a dark room. Suddenly several gates fell one by one in front of the other. Slowly he made his way towards it and touched the wood. He'd never seen a type of barrier like the one had before him. Then again, everyone's mind is different. Gently he pushed at the gate and it easily slid open.

"Who are you?!" He paused and turned to see a four year old girl standing behind him. Blue and red eyes were her prominent feature as she attempted her best to glare up at the man.

"Lady Sayuri?"

A.N.

Sorry this is late. School started again and I'm trying to get back into the hang of things here.

Please review! :)