The kunai felt far too heavy in her hands, the hard metal cold against her skin. She tried hard to keep her hands steady, she truly did, but she knew that her hesitation would become apparent one way or another if she wasn't careful.

The red-haired woman before her continued to struggle for breath, sucking in air desperately through bloodied lips into damaged lungs. Sakura knew that whoever this was didn't have long before she died—the medic in her was screaming like a madwoman—she had to help this girl and quickly.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose as Sasuke walked behind her and out of sight, a shiver of uneasiness coursed through her. She had to act fast; she had to act now.

But it happened too quickly for her to fully react properly.

She gripped the kunai tightly in her hands, mind made up, but before she could turn the kunai on Sasuke the air suddenly felt dry. Hot static gathered around her and when a spark ignited behind her back—the sound almost concealed by the dying woman's plea, "Sasuke, don't do it"—she only had enough time to turn her head before she saw him.

The blacks of his eyes were cold and hollow as he thrusted his chidori-laced hand toward her, aiming toward her head with no hesitation. It was an aim to kill, she knew without a doubt, and with the speed of his attack it was unlikely she would be able to dodge in time.

Sasuke was going to kill her.

Just as the thought flitted through her mind and before she could brace herself for the impact, everything went black.

.

.

.

She woke up with a gasp, her hands flying upward to firmly grip her throat.

Breathe, she commanded of herself, breathe, now.

Her breaths came quickly afterward in sharp, hurried pants as she struggled to take in as much air as she could. Eyes darting around, she wanted to cry in relief when she recognized the hospital bed she was lying in. The sun was shining brightly through the blinds in her hospital room and she could tell that there was an incredibly nice day just waiting for her on the other side of the window.

She was home, in Konoha, in the hospital.

Lowering herself back down so that she was resting comfortably, she continued to focus on her breathing. In and out. In and out. She was home. She was in Konoha. She was safe.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she desperately tried to soothe herself. But as she closed her eyelids shut the only image she could find waiting for her was of Sasuke.

Sharingan red and bleeding as he aimed his chidori straight at her head.

Opening her eyes back up quickly she attempted to swallow the heavy lump in her throat but to no avail. Lifting her hands once more she ran her fingertips across her cheeks, letting them flutter over her entire face before sinking and running over the entirety of her neck and chest.

She was fine. Uninjured and without scars. Perhaps Sasuke had missed.

Head pounding tightly she placed her fingers at her temples and began to massage the muscles. She didn't remember. She needed to remember. Something must've happened in order for her to be alive right now. In all honestly she should be dead right now; something had undoubtedly happened. There was no way she would've been able to survive that attack.

And at that thought, the tears that she'd been holding back finally fell freely.

It was true. Sasuke had tried to kill her. Genuinely and without hesitation.

Just picturing the empty, awful look in his eyes as he thrusted his arm out toward her made a sob slip past her lips. That hadn't been her Sasuke-kun.

He was gone.

And she didn't understand.

Although it didn't matter if she did or didn't, the truth remained the same: Sasuke had tried to kill her.

Weakly, she placed her hands against her face, as if hiding the pain—the pain that was so evident just by looking at her—from the outside world. And with her head in her hands all she could do was cry.

The hole in her chest that used to merely ache at the thought of him was now saturated with a sharp, piercing burn, swallowing her heart whole and making breathing difficult. So engulfed with her grief, she began to cough, her sobs coming out as sad, pitiful noises with every croak.

When the door opened and she felt footsteps rush up to her bedside, she rubbed the tears from her eyes, not wanting anyone to see her in this state. She hoped it was Naruto or Kakashi. Maybe even her parents or Ino. Someone who could comfort her without judgement. Someone who could tell her what had happened, and why she was still alive.

When she wiped the moisture from her face and dared to look up at whoever was leaning over her in bed, she couldn't contain the bloodcurdling scream that ripped itself out of her throat.

Staring back at her was none other than Uchiha Sasuke himself.

In the same second it took her to inhale a sharp gasp, she'd reached out to her side and grabbed an IV pole with one hand, and ripped one of the metal bars from the side of the bed with her other. In the next second she'd swung the pole at him, successfully striking him right where his shoulder met his neck.

Not letting her shock over the fact that she's actually struck him take over, she lifted her legs and shifted them towards him, before using his chest as a spring board to launch herself across the room. Landing clumsily, the pole and bar still in each of her hands, she braced her back against the wall and inhaled deeply.

"Sakura! What—"

"HELP!" The shout was so loud that it was deafening even to her own ears, leaving her throat feeling raw and strained. "SOMEBODY! HELP!"

The sound of his voice sent shivers through her. As she stared at him through tear-filled eyes, nearly shaking out of fear, she could only feel her adrenaline surge, seeing him on the ground sitting where he'd landed after Sakura had kicked him to launch herself away.

As she gathered breath to release another scream, a pair of medical ninja that she didn't recognize flew through the door, eyes wide and stances defensive. Sakura had no idea who these people were; where were the regularly staffed medics? Who were these people? She was in Konoha, wasn't she? The unfamiliar faces caused her panic to increase tenfold.

"Sakura-san," one of the medics approached her briskly, their brow furrowed. "What's the matter? Are you—"

Before they could reach her, Sakura turned around as quickly as possible and, without hesitation, smashed through the window. Jumping onto the roof, she immediately abandoned the IV pole, choosing to hold onto the much sturdier metal bar from the hospital bed. If it came down to it, she was sure she could use it successfully as a weapon, even breaking it into pieces to use as makeshift kunai if she needed to.

She felt him before she saw him, but when Sasuke jumped out of the window after her, she began to run before he even hit the roof of the hospital.

Escape was the only thought running through her mind as she sprinted over rooftops and between buildings. This clearly wasn't Konoha; it was far too developed, the buildings tall and plentiful. She was sure this village had maybe five times the population that Konoha had, possibly more.

Jumping to another rooftop, her foot landed on a slick patch of tiles, causing her to stumble forward. But before she could fall, someone was in front of her, arms holding her up. Immediately she knew it was Sasuke; the long-sleeved, dark shirt in front of her eyes and the black hair she could see in her periphery confirmed it.

Swinging her 'weapon' swiftly, Sakura attempted to hit him behind his knees with it, hoping to set him off balance. But he swiftly blocked the attack, shifting to the side and grabbing the bar with a hand, quickly ripping it from her grip.

At the feeling of being disarmed, Sakura couldn't help but scream, her terror seizing her.

This was it, he was going to kill her. He hadn't succeeded before for some reason, but here he was now, about to finish the job.

"Let me go!" She screeched, pushing against him desperately. She was too overwhelmed and hysterical to even think straight.

"Sakura!" He shouted at her, "stop! What are you doing? Look at me. Sakura, look at me."

"Get off of me!" She wailed, suddenly overcome with frenzied sobs, shaking her body and freezing her legs up completely. "Get away from me! Naruto!" She screamed, "Kakashi-sensei! Somebody! Help me!"

He tensed as she screamed for help, but he didn't relinquish his hold on her. Nausea suddenly began to build up within her, and immediately she thought she was going to vomit or pass out. All she wanted was for him to let her go. To go away. To leave her alone and to not hurt her.

"Please," she sobbed as she struggled against him in vain, "please don't kill me."

"Sakura-chan!"

Finally, with one final shove, she was able to knock Sasuke away from her, long enough for her to run blindly into Naruto's arms. Thank god, he was here, which meant she was safe. Naruto would protect her from him.

But instead of shoving her behind him or holding her tightly and uttering reassuring words, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her firmly.

"Sakura-chan, what's going on? What happened? Calm down, okay?"

"Get me out of here!" She screeched, her mind screaming an entirely different set of words. Don't you see? Don't you see that Sasuke-kun is here? He tried to kill me, Naruto. He tried to kill me! Help me! Don't let him kill me!

"What? Why? Sakura-chan," he shook her a bit more firmly this time, "look at me. Sakura!"

Lifting her head, blinking back her tears, she jumped upon sight of him. Why was he so tall? When had he gotten his hair cut? And god, he looked so tired. What had happened between the time she'd lost consciousness and now? And where were they?

"Where are we?" her voice was hurried, the nausea becoming increasingly more difficult to disregard.

"We're in Konoha, Sakura. You're home. You're safe. Just breathe, you're okay—"

"NO!" She shouted, grabbing his arm and attempting to pull him away from Sasuke. "Do you not see? Sasuke-kun is right there!" The tears were building up again, and her throat was incredibly sore as she forced more frantic words out. "He's trying to kill me! I—I need to get out of here…"

Once it was clear that Naruto wasn't going to help her, she turned and tried to run, knowing that she couldn't afford to clear up Naruto's confusion when the man who was trying to kill her was literally steps away.

But Naruto instead caught her arm and yanked her toward him. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly, her back pressed against his chest. She struggled frantically, but found herself unable to move at all.

Why was Naruto stopping her? Were he and Sasuke working together? What the hell had happened while she was unconscious?!

This was a nightmare. That was the only explanation that made sense. This had to be a nightmare. Probably the worst one she'd ever had.

"Let go of me, Naruto! I have to get home! I have to get back to Konoha. Don't—don't you dare let him touch me! Why are you helping him?! What—"

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled into her ear, so loud that it left a faint ringing noise echoing in the back of her head. "We are in Konoha! Look!"

He immediately turned her to the left slightly, allowing her to get a good look of the Hokage mountain.

She gasped.

Right next to Tsunade-sama's face was Naruto's, carved proudly into the rock, overlooking the village alongside all the other Hokage.

"This is a dream," she choked out in realization. The confirmed fact allowed a slight pang of relief to subdue her, but her fear was still as potent as ever. Even though she knew it was a nightmare didn't make it any less scary. "This is a dream."

"You aren't dreaming, Sakura," Sasuke spoke slowly as he stepped into her line of sight. She couldn't hold in her gasp as she leaned further into Naruto, wanting to be far, far away in that moment. "You're okay. You're home. You're safe."

"How can I be safe if you're around?" she spat, her voice full of venom. Knowing she was in a dream and wasn't in real danger of being hurt made her boldness return with full force. "You tried to kill me! You're—you're awful! You're hardly the Sasuke-kun I knew," she cried, the pain in her chest throbbing in sync with the beating of your heart. "You're changed, you're—you're vile!"

The dream seemed to be turning directions in her favor; this fucked-up, backwards version of a possible future. As true, genuine shock and pain flashed across his face and through his eyes, she wanted to laugh. The real Sasuke would never let this type of emotion display clearly. But this dream-Sasuke's show of emotion made a sick, hateful part of her burn with satisfaction.

"Sakura…" Behind her, Naruto seemed shocked and standing before her Sasuke seemed to be at a loss for words. "How old are you?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, so tired of screaming and struggling and crying. She just wanted to wake up, she couldn't take this anymore.

"What year is it?" He demanded from her, "How old are you?"

"It's year 65," she snaps at him, "I'm sixteen! Why does this matter!?"

She doesn't see as much as feel Naruto and Sasuke exchange glances over her head. "Sakura," Naruto speaks again slowly, his voice much calmer, "no it's not. It's year 77… you're just turned twenty-nine last month…"

"Shut up," she grumbled, closing her eyes and shaking her head, "I want to wake up now." Tears began to slip out from her eyes despite her attempts to keep them at bay. "I want to wake up."

"You are awake, Sakura-chan."

Without warning the nausea overtook her senses, so when she vomited within seconds of speaking, she couldn't help but allow her weak legs to give way, the only thing holding her up being Naruto firm grip on her.

You are awake, Sakura. You are awake. You're awake. This is not a dream.

With one final look at Sasuke's defeated, helpless form, her head began to pound, and she felt her consciousness slip away.

A/N: I didn't think I'd begin posting this story so soon after beginning it, but I really wanted to share it with you. So here you go, the long-awaited sequel to Changing Skies.

Things may be a bit confusing at first, but hopefully by next chapter everything will be cleared up and the story/conflict will be very clear to you all. I hope you enjoy and I'm incredibly excited to be sharing this story with you all. It won't be updated as often as Swallow Your Sleep, but I'll still be giving you all regular updates (you can count on new chapters once to twice a month at least in the beginning).

So again, I hope you enjoy. Please review.