Flashbacks/emphasis.

Last chapter: "...It was only later that I found out Gato had attacked the city with a small mass of hired thugs and was killed by the citizens. Supposedly Inari had inspired them to rise up and defend themselves. Naruto cried again when he heard the news. All in all, it was a really cool mission."

When we returned from our mission in Nami no kuni, Kakashi ran off to file the report with the Third. Sasuke faded away like a shadow and I sweat dropped as I realized I was alone with Naruto. This was not what I wanted, not when he knew I didn't like Sasuke. That had been my only defense against his love and...I couldn't bear it.

So I ran. Sprinted actually, with chakra in my feet to lend me more speed. To no avail of course because he had mastered his chakra control with the tree climbing exercise. When I stopped for breath outside my family's compound, he was right by my side. Damn...

"Sakura-chan, may I come in?" At least he had the sense to ask. I nodded and removed my sandals before trotting through the familiar halls. Abundant memories lay dormant here, known only to me, the sole heir of my clan. I didn't get as much fame as Sasuke though, for the Harunos did not have any kekkai genkai. Any that I knew of, that is.

I walked to the familiar kitchen where the women of the household would get together to cook meals and gossip. And then...the murdering, the blood. I squeezed my eyes shut as if that could keep out the sight of the bodies. Naruto crouched by my curled up form, concern radiating from him but I didn't hear any of his words. All I saw was the accusing eyes of the dead and her, murdering and laughing. My sister.

Smoke billowed out of the oven, an untended meal burnt away to waste. My eyes stung with it, and they streamed liquid with my nose. The scene was undeniably cruel. A single shape stood amidst the carnage, shaking with hysterical laughter. Bodies lay at her feet, and blood was spattered everywhere. I felt the urge to cry out but it was repressed by my survival instincts. She hadn't checked the cupboards yet, and if I was lucky she never would. Her chosen weapon, a kitchen cleaver was drenched in blood. My young mind couldn't understand why she would do this, why she would murder all of our kin.

Footsteps sounded over the steady dripping of the blood and suddenly the room was filled with scary people in masks. They took my sister by her arms, firmly but not without pity. My mother entered then, setting off another screaming fit from Sayuri. She lashed all around her with the cleaver until the masked people ripped it from her grasp. The fight went out of her then, and she deflated, becoming a crumpled mass on the floor. The shaking changed subtly but enough for me to know it was now caused by sobs.

For days I sat in my cupboard, peering out as the blood was scrubbed away by strangers. They spoke strange words to my mother, telling her things I didn't understand.

Insanity. Trial. Sentencing. Death. Asylum.

Eventually the bodies of my family were totaled and I was discovered missing from the pile. A search began but I refused to be found by those masked men. They never thought to check my cupboard, no one ever did. Only when they gave up and my mom cooked alone did I emerge, starved and scarred.

I was brought back from the memories gasping and shivering. Naruto stood in front of me with an empty bucket. I connected the dots and then rushed into his arms.

It wasn't meant to be anything. Only a basic need for comfort that led me to crush him in an embrace. But hours later, when darkness fell outside I realized it was something more than that. Something I had never wanted to feel since my...violent bereavement.

Love.

I pulled away from Naruto, suddenly afraid of what was blooming inside me. This couldn't be happening. All those years of hiding under my persona, gone. It was impossible, improbable, and horrible. There was no way I could do this, no way I could keep up the semblance of happiness anymore. Something had broken inside of me, and the words spilled out before I could recall them.

"Do you know the tragic fate of my clan?" He shook his head but I was continuing anyway. "My sister, Sayuri murdered all of them save my mother. Every last man and woman. And do you know why?" His eyes had widened but he had the sense to not speak, only mutely shake his head again.

"Because of me. Because of her jealousy of me. She was six years old when it happened and was informed that I, two years her junior, would be trained to be a kunoichi while she stayed and rotted at home." My voice took on a hysterical pitch as the rest of my grievances against myself came out. It was unstoppable.

"And my mother...she died two years after that. Childbirth sickness they say. Another death that happened because of me." He began to deny that but I cut him off. Relentless in condemning myself.

"What of you? My treatment of you, Naruto? Ever since we met I've been giving you the cold shoulder, devoting myself to Sasuke. I didn't deserve your love then and I certainly don't now. The only thing I deserve is to die." I went back to my curled up position on the floor, ignoring the tears that wet my cheeks. It was all true. I didn't deserve life or it's joy.

Naruto was quiet for awhile, probably regarding me with disgust. I shrank inside myself wishing I were dead. Slowly I inched my right hand back to my weapon pouch. There had to be one kunai left at the very least.

My hand only encountered warm skin. A fellow hand. Naruto's. Mine tried feebly to swat his away but he ignored it and spoke in a husky voice filled with emotion.

"And do you, Sakura, know why I'm shunned by everyone and ignored? Looked upon with cold eyes?" I was the one shaking my head now, hate forgotten in the promise of a secret.

"It's because of the Kyuubi. It's sealed inside me and everyone sees me as the monster not a boy burdened with one." My mind tried to understand this. Understand all its implications and meanings. It failed.

A moment passed where he seemed to wish me to say something. I was too stunned to. Out of all the things...I had always thought he was looked down upon because of his crazy antics. But this...I had to know.

"Why didn't I know before now?" My voice was a whisper. His mirrored mine, "The Hokage made everyone old enough to remember the kyuubi's attack swear not to tell. Our fellow students were just mimicking their parents dislike."

Oh...that made sense. And I didn't have any parents, nor did Sasuke. Perhaps that was why our team had been formed, three parentless kids. What was the Hokage thinking? That we'd be able to help each other overcome the loss?

I wandered around in circles for a bit, until the shifting of fabric told me Naruto was standing. My hand shot out of its own accord and gripped his sleeve. The rest of my body followed it, unfurling and slowly rising to stand face to face with the boy. He had suffered far worse than me. Actual confirmation of his monstrousness by the public. I wondered what that would be like. Suddenly his over exuberance made a lot more sense to me.

"Will you stay here tonight?" I sounded uncertain, as if I hadn't meant to ask that but he answered anyway. With a kiss.

Now I was definitely uncertain as what to do. Should I return it, should I pull back? He saved me the trouble of deciding though, pulling away and retracing his steps to the door. I stood silently in the kitchen as I heard him put on his sandals and leave. My emotions were a jumbled mesh of love, hate, confusion, anger, sadness, understanding.

I needed to chase after him.

Not knowing why I felt that, I raced towards the door; not even bothering to don my sandals. The sun had set completely and I glanced up at the stars before taking off in the direction I thought he'd gone. Sure enough, his orange jumpsuit came in sight a couple hundred yards in front of me. The streetlamps lit him up like a jack'o'lantern and I paused to catch my breath and admire him. This person was where my love had always laid. That was the truth that I had felt and rejected because of my own selfish desire to hate myself.

Stealthily I trailed him to his house, all my senses focused on his small form wading through the late-night revelers ahead. So it was I didn't notice the shadow that slipped out of an alley after I passed it and stalked me patiently. Naruto turned left once and then right twice. He stopped in front of a beat up apartment and took a key out of his pocket to unlock it. I waited until I was sure he had had enough time to remove his sandals and travel further into the building before rushing forward and trying the door. It was locked.

No matter. I jumped up to the second story and peered in the windows. Naruto's room would probably be the messiest, to judge from his personality. So when I saw a room with clothes and empty ramen take-out boxes, I popped the latch and slid inside. The sound of running water came to my ears, clearly Naruto was taking a shower. I settled myself cross-legged on his bed and waited.

When he entered his bedroom, his hair streamed water and the only thing that saved him from embarrassment was a towel wrapped around his waist. He started shuffling through the clutter on the floor, clearly unaware of my presence. I stifled a giggle as he pulled a funny looking hat out with pajamas and walked back to the bathroom.

He came back dressed and ready for bed. I had slipped underneath his bed, so as to remain unknown. It creaked as he crawled on it and I dared not move until I could hear his snores. Then I crawled out and looked at him. His face looked so cute right then, so I went ahead and laid down next to him and let myself relax for the first time in years. Love was a good feeling. A wholesome feeling.

I dreamed of my family's fate that night. And the mystery girl. She stood in place of Sayuri, her pale lavender hair blowing at a draft from a broken window. Her head turned to look directly at the crack I spied through and smiled cruelly. Suddenly I knew that she and Sayuri were one, that the ANBU squads I had seen as a child hadn't disposed of her in the way I thought they had.

She had come back to kill me.

I'm not sure if Naruto shook me awake or my own screaming woke me. Certainly his grip around my arms prevented me from hurting him and the weight of his body on me stopped me from rolling off the bed. My eyes rolled around and around, trying to make sense of what my dream had told me. Was the mystery girl really Sayuri? They did have the same wavy lavender hair and she had looked to be maybe two years older than me. But why did she help me by untying me from the stump?

I shuddered and dragged my mind away from that. I didn't want to know she lusted after my blood. Or maybe...the reason she was biding her time was to torture me in the cruelest way possible. By killing the one I loved. That would explain the delay, she had to be absolutely certain who it was that held my affections. And now she probably knew. Naruto.

My eyes finally focused on his cerulean ones and I spoke quickly. He had to know the danger to his life. "Naruto, my sister, the one who murdered my clan? She's not dead. And I think she's going to come after you."

The sound of the window breaking was the only warning we had. A kunai flashed through amidst the glass and pierced Naruto in his side. I screamed in rage and fear for him, leaping up to peer through the window. I didn't see her but I knew she was the one who threw it. Anger boiled in me then, outrage at the blatant attack on Naruto. I gathered his limp body onto my back, prayed he wasn't quite dead and took off for the hospital, tearing my bare feet to shreds as I tried to get there as fast as I could.

They took him away from me when I got there. Medic-nins. The commotion they made around him told me he wasn't dead. Yet. I fended off nurses who tried calming my hysterical sobs with needles and fled. Hokage-sama needed to know of this right now. That there was an insane murderer running rogue in Konoha.

Ohoho! Will Naruto live~?

Anyways I apologize for the cliffy, the long chapter last time, and making Sakura's history resemble Sasuke's. In truth, that's why I delayed the updating so long, I was trying to finagle a way around that. But...no inspiration struck so I left it as it is. Now you at least know who the mystery girl is! I think she's going to become one of my favorite OCs. Insanity always lends one's self to fame...yeah. So like, the next chapter will probably be up next weekend or something. Not during the week because of school and all.

Review and tell me what you think, please!