-Chapter 33-

Later in the night, Tenten and Sakura were lying in their beds when suddenly, her phone chimed.

She rolled over and reached for it. She squinted at the screen for a moment before her eyes went wide and she sat up. "Tenten."

"What?" The girl asked tiredly.

"Karin's phone texted me again." She replied, and as Tenten quickly got up she showed her the text.

"Stay right where you are Sherlock, I'm coming to get you"

"Holy shit, Sak, this is creepy." Tenten gasped. "Let's go tell Gai-sensei. This could get really serious."

Sakura nodded dumbly, and Tenten pulled her to the bedroom door.

"I know he's usually doing a last-minute workout in his room before bed," the brunette mumbled to herself as they crossed the room and knocked on Gai-sensei's door.

After a few moments, the man opened it, a white tank top on. He looked like he was slightly sweating, but he smiled at them. "What do you need?"

Wordlessly, Sakura showed him the text, and his smile instantly vanished.

"Do you need to go to Ms. Senju?" He asked, and when she nodded again, he disappeared into his room for a moment and appeared again, this time with a jacket.

"Let's hurry," he said. "Tenten, I'm afraid you need to stay here."

"I understand." She was glaring at the ground. She looked up at Sakura and hugged her tight for a few seconds. "Get that creepy bastard, Sakura. And get a good kick in for me!"

-line-

A little while later, Gai was knocking on Tsunade's apartment door with a fidgety Sakura behind him, messing with her sleeves.

Tsunade answered a moment later, looking irritated. "You'd better have a good--"

She paused when she saw Sakura behind him, and she asked, "Sakura? Are you hurt?"

"I have good reason to think she's being stalked by whoever's behind this, Senju-sama," Gai replied. "Sakura, do you want to show her the messages?"

She nodded and pulled out her phone, showing the older woman the messages.

Very quickly, her frown deepened and she was glaring daggers at the phone.

"That creepy motherfu--" She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. When she exhaled, she opened her eyes and looked at Gai. "You were right to bring her here, thank you."

"It's my duty, ma'am." He gave her a nod. "And I'm sure you're aware of my concerns about Kakashi?"

"Very much so." She agreed. She then looked to Sakura, who was pocketing her phone with a troubled look on her face. "Sakura, you can stay with me tonight."

"Thank you, Aunt Tsunade," she said in a quiet voice.

Without much more conversation, Tsunade let the girl in and thanked Gai once more, sending him off.

Then she turned, watching Sakura pull off her backpack and lean it against the couch.

"You seem more troubled than usual," she observed, walking over to sit next to the girl. She allowed Sakura to immediately lean into her, threading her fingers through the girl's cotton candy hair. "What happened when you went with Kakashi to the forest?"

-line-

"Tag! You're it!" Sakura exclaimed joyfully as she darted away from Naruto. The two of them were playing tag in the forest, along with her friends and Sasuke, but they were somewhere up the path.

"Dammit, you got me again!" He yelled. "You're more fit than me, it isn't fair!"

She cackled like mad, running ahead of him. "You're just gonna have to catch me, then! Burn off that ramen!"

He found himself laughing with her, chasing after her as they went down the dirt path.

After a few moments, he tagged her, exclaiming in joy, before falling to the grass in exhaustion. She kept standing, panting heavily a couple of feet away.

"You're-- too fast," he wheezed, holding his chest as he sat up. "Do you do this in your sleep or something?"

She gave a strange smile as she walked backwards. "No, but you'd be surprised."

As he got up to get away, she turned and ran further down the path.

"Sakura, where are you going?" He shouted after her. "You're supposed to tag me, remember?"

She gave no answer, and try as he might to try and catch up with her, within a minute he was down on the ground again, gasping for air.

"Damn..." he groaned. "Sakura!"

Still no answer. The forest was eerily quiet. He couldn't hear the birds chirping anymore, nor even the leaves rustling.

"Sakura! This isn't funny! Sakura!"

-line-

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted, his eyes snapping open.

He sat up in a panic, breathing hard as he looked around wildly.

Sasuke was still unconscious, even as he tried to wake him by calling his name.

"Sasuke, dude, wake up!" He insisted. "Teme!"

After a moment, their door opened and Shizune appeared, looking tired but alarmed. "Naruto, what's wrong?"

"It's Sakura-chan," he explained, finally calming his breathing. He was still tense, though, even as the nurse came to his bedside. "I had a nightmare... we were playing tag in the forest, and she just... ran off. She disappeared!"

"Oh, Naruto," she soothed, running a hand through his hair. "It's alright. Sakura's just fine. In fact, she's probably sleeping soundly right now!"

He didn't seem to buy it, so she sighed.

"Would you like me to call Hatake?" She offered. "He can tell you that she's just fine--"

"No," Naruto blurted, looking panicked. "Please don't tell K-- Sensei."

She paused then, and gave him a confused look. "O...kay?"

"Sorry, Nurse Shizune," he said, rubbing his eye. "But don't tell him. I don't want to... bother him this late at night?"

She trained her eyes on him for a few moments, eyebrow raised, making him squirm in bed. Finally, she relaxed her stance and patted him on the shoulder gently.

"All right," she relented, "but I'm calling him if you have another nightmare. Okay?"

"Okay, thank you," he replied as she checked Sasuke briefly before leaving the room.

He lay down, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. He stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking to himself.

"The dream seemed so real," he mused, closing his eyes. "I'm worried about her... but I don't wanna tell whoever that is about it. Something doesn't feel right about it."

"Sakura-chan, please be okay."