A/N: Well, new story. One I finished a long time ago, but my computer had died and so I had no way of uploading it. Now, my computer is back to its former glory and I can now upload this story and I'll start putting up the sequel (one I have yet to finish) once I'm sure that it'll work.
I will be continuing Savior, but I so seriously wanted to post this up. I hope you enjoy and please review!
Tsunade's Medical Journal, Entry 83:
As both her mentor and as a fellow medical shinobi, I have done an intense investigation on one Haruno Sakura, a sixteen year old chuunin. It has been apparent over the past years that I have been around her that she seems to suffer from lapses of memory, or to have memories of things that never took place.
To be quite frank, I had first thought that she suffered from some case of dementia, or perhaps Schizophrenia, where her grip on reality was somehow slackened, but that hypothesis was soon declared false once I began to ask around the village, consult our medical records, and the mission reports from nine years ago. The following is what I have found:
Haruno Sakura suffers unknowingly from a very rare, very mysterious, case of amnesia. Unlike the usual cases, where somebody gets a bump on the head or the always tragic effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the lack of—and/or altered memories were caused by a jutsu, a jutsu performed by a missing-nin on a very tragic night for so many people.
She has no idea of this because, to her, it was as if the span of time she'd forgotten never took place. Of course, from what I have been told, there was a reason she was put under a jutsu and an even greater reason why the truth was kept from her, but, unfortunately, these justifications remain to be seen.
That night, she lost so much and so little; so much in reality and so little in her mind.
I had hoped to, one day, develop a jutsu that can release the bindings on her brain to return her memories to her, but it seems that it cannot be done without causing some sort of trauma. However, I do believe I've found a way around this, to release the jutsu's hold on her without the use of a jutsu.
It will most assuredly be painful to her and the others who have been affected, but I am remaining hopeful that it will work.
—End Journal—
"Close your eyes," a whisper of a male voice commanded from behind, his breath tickling her ear and making her giggle.
"But why?" asked the young girl of around six or seven as the man behind her took her shoulders and began to move her.
"It's a surprise," he answered, the softest of chuckles escaping his lips that were placed against her ear. So, doing as she was told, she scrunched her eyes closed tight and allowed the man to steer her in the direction of her special surprise. "No peaking," his soft, caring, loving voice warned, allowing another chuckle to tickle her ear.
How did he know? she wondered with a sheepish chuckle.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now," whispered the voice from behind, releasing his hold on her shoulders, his mouth now leaving her ear.
She opened her eyes to find herself in the most beautiful meadow she had ever seen in her life. Filled with lovely flowers accenting the perfectly green grass, sakura trees in full bloom and, in the middle, a white and red checkered blanket with a picnic basket set on top, it was like a picture from a dream. It was far too perfect to be real.
He'd planned all this for her?
"I love you, Sakura."
Sakura shot awake and looked around frantically, her breathing erratic, cool sweat leaving her chilled to the bone. When she found that she was still in her bedroom, she sighed in exhaustion, falling back onto her pillow.
And the dream returns... She'd had the same dream night after night after night for the past few weeks and its effects on her were beginning to grow extremely irritating.
The man's voice was so familiar and, even worse, she was never even able to catch a glimpse of his face! This latter issue in particular was aggravating to no end.
She closed her eyes, but didn't sleep. She was never able to drift back to sleep after having this dream, her mind endlessly buzzing with question upon question about it.
With a tired sigh, she curled into a ball in the bed and waited for the sun to rise.
Walking into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of orange juice, Sakura yawned as she fell into a chair at the table.
Another nearly sleepless night... she could barely eat anymore, the thought of the man from her drams made her feel so sick. She'd usually only get one or two hours' sleep nowadays because she just couldn't get the man out of her head. Who was he? No, who was he to her? Why did he seem so familiar? Well, his voice, anyway...
A knock at her door surprised her, practically making her spill her juice, and she managed to mumble a "Come in."
Sasuke walked through the door and sat at the opposite end of the table from her, eying her with scrutiny. "Still having those dreams?" he asked, probably after noticing the bluish-purplish semi-circles under her eyes.
She nodded in the affirmative, taking another sip of her juice and wincing at the taste it left in her mouth. Why was it that, whenever she had bitter thoughts, everything she tasted was bitter?
"Still having those dreams?" he queried, pulling her out of her angered reverie.
"It's so stupid!" she exclaimed, grabbing fistfuls of her unwashed, unkempt pink hair and tugging on the strands. "It's as if this guy was somebody that was really important to me, but I just forgot who he was overnight and, even though I know it's impossible, the very thought of it is driving me mad! Have you ever felt this way?"
He shook his head in the negative, now eying her with obvious pity in his eyes.
She must have looked a sight, what with her hair not having been washed in days, wearing the same wrinkled outfit she'd passed out in the night before, her eyes bloodshot and swollen from insomnia.
"In my dream last night, he told me he loved me," she confessed quietly, staring at the glass of orange juice in front of her, then looking up to her visitor to see his reaction.
His look turning from one of worry to one of anger, it was Sasuke's turn to drop his head, clenching his hands into fists on the table. "He told you that?"
She nodded. "You look so angry, Sasuke-kun. Why, I mean, this all probably never happened, right? We don't have any way of knowing, anyway, dreams can be very misleading, you know."
Sasuke's disposition changed very little.
"Sasuke-kun, what's the—?"
He stood abruptly, the chair shrieking against the linoleum-tiled floor as it was pushed backward, and said, "I'm leaving. I'll talk to you later, Sakura."
"What? But—!" Sakura didn't have a chance to finish her objection, the man leaving without another word, and she was left feeling shocked and hurt by the sharpness of his voice.
What had gotten into him?
She stood, shaking her head, dismissing Sasuke, her dream, her dream-guy, dismissing everything.
What she needed to do was speak to a doctor about his. A doctor would be able to tell her what was wrong with her and how to fix it. The only thing was... well, she didn't want to go on her own. Who would go with her, though? Sasuke surely wouldn't, seeing as how he didn't seem to like the idea of her dreams. Kakashi couldn't, he was on a mission in Suna until the day after next. So, maybe Naruto?
Yes, Naruto would not only be willing to go, but he had been just as worried about this as she was. And, so, she picked up the phone to dial Naruto's number.
"So," Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair to eye the duo before her impassively, "What brings the two of you here on such short notice?"
"Well, Shishou, y-you see," Sakura began nervously, wringing her hands in her lap, "I've been having these recurring dreams of this one time, about a man, but I can't see who he is. I can't sleep anymore; I can barely eat anything because the thought of him makes me sick with irritation. It seems like the dream's controlling my life and I just wanted to come in and see if you could tell me what's going on. If you could, you know, help me out with this."
The only change in the blond Hokage's face was a glint that passed over her eyes for the span of only a moment. "Are you able to tell who the man in these dreams are? You know, by the sound of his voice?"
She shook her head. "I haven't a clue."
"Are these flashbacks you're having or are they only things from your imagination? Do you have any idea whatsoever about what's going on in them?"
"I-I don't know," she admitted truthfully, "If they are flashbacks, I don't know when they could have taken place because I don't remember any of it. Like I told Sasuke this morning, it's as if it was a very important time, but I just forgot it overnight.
Tsunade turned to Naruto who nodded to some silent message passed between the two of them, and then turned back to Sakura to ask, "And what about this man in your dreams, is there anyway you can tell if he's a villager or not?"
"I think he was, but I don't know," she said, "How is any of this important?"
"Alright," the Hokage nodded, ignoring her student's earlier question, "I don't think you have a lot to worry about. It looks to me like you're having some insomnia troubles that are causing your eating habits to behave differently. I'll prescribe you a drug that you can take. It's a sleeping pill that should help you."
Sakura nodded. "Thank you, Shishou."
The blond wrote out a prescription and handed it to the troubled girl and then Naruto and Sakura left with high spirits, hoping to have found a cure for her ailment.
Tsunade sighed sadly when the two had left. She feared that the problem that ailed Sakura could not be healed with medication. It was something that would take a much more strict and riskier treatment. One that could result in the loss of her young life.
A/N: Well, first chapter, done. I think there are fifteen chapters for this story. Let me check... oop, no, make that sixteen chapters. And they're all finished, so it'll be quick updates. Though I always update quickly. XD
Once again, please review or else I won't want to continue the story! Lots of love!