"The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself."
-Publilius Syrus
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"O-oh my godi-is that . . .?" Naruto wasn't able to finish his question.
The body lay in the hole on its side, the face going into the ground. The arms were spread out, one of them bent at an unnatural angle. The legs were bent straight. By the long brown hair, they could tell it was a woman.
"Is she dead?" he asked.
"It isn't obvious?" Sasuke snapped. He was still shaken; they had just found a dead bodywho wouldn't be? He looked over at Sakura to see her just as shake
"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don't give up."
-Anne Lamott
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To save time, the team traveled by jumping rooftops as a way to avoid the crowded streets of midday. While heading over to the mountain side, Sakura continued to look for the woman again, trying to contact her. When she was younger, ghosts had always been trying to get her to help them because she was the only person that could see and hear them. But back then, she had been too you
"If you don't risk anything you risk even more."
-Erica Jong
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"Lily, watch your step, there's a bit of a drop here," called Keiko. Lily carefully gazed at the ground ahead of her, keeping a close eye at when the ground would start to go down, not wanting to trip.
This was a bad idea from the start, and she knew it. There probably wasn't even a treasure down here to begin with. It was all just some made up stories that were told by old people to get their grandchildren to go to sleep. Just a bunch of bogus.
"Lily, are you still there? There's an overhang just
"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
-Jane Howard
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After being handed a towel, Sasuke walked into the kitchen while Sakura walked to her bedroom to change out of her wet clothes for something more comfortable. Sitting down at the small table, he noticed the man looking at him.
" . . . Hi?"
The man grinned. "So you can see me?" he said. Then a questioning look came into his eyes. "Are you necromantic, too?" he asked.
"What are you" Sasuke eyes bulged out then, just r
"The friends that stick with you through everything are the ones that will last the longest."
-Unkown
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The next morning, Sakura woke up with an odd feeling. The covers weren't on her anymoreshe was cold. It wasn't a peaceful and quiet morningthe neighbors were blasting their obnoxious Christmas music. She didn't eat last nightso she was hungry.
There was a weird tingly feeling on the back of her neckthere was a ghost in her room.
'You've got to be kidding me . . .' she mentally groaned.
Sakura opened her eyes to see a man standing at
"Unless you believe, you will not understand."
-Saint Augustine
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"What was that for?" he asked, shocked, as he held a hand to his bruising cheek. Sakura glared at him. Old feelings and anxieties from her younger years of the teasing and bullying started to arise in her, taking over her better judgement.
"Why did you start laughing?" she shot back, her anger about ready to burst again. He was supposed to keep an open mindhe said he would.
'Screw you, ItachiI don't care if I get beat up for this. If he laughs again, I'll make him regret it!' she tho
"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it."
-Garrison Keillor
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'Where am I?'
That was the first thought that entered Sasuke's mind.
It had started with the sound of burning woodthat strange and distinct crackling and popping sound. Then he felt that he was warm. Wasn't he cold before? He then realized that he was shakingquite violently, actually. So much that it hurt. He opened his eyes and saw the fire in front of him, only about three feet away from him. He turned his head, noticing the pillows he was resting against and the blank
"There's a strange sort of quiet when you're dying. It's as if you're in a glass room, and the walls keep getting thicker and thicker."
-Gabrielle Zevin
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Sakura trudged along through the dark streets, irritation beginning to get into her. She left Naruto's place around twenty minutes ago to find Sasuke and tell him everythingthat she was allowed to tell him.
'Itachi, you're a fruit for not wanting him to know.' She thought sourly.
Her mood was pretty decent when she left the blonde's. He kept an open mind and believed everything she saidshe could
"I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there."
-Herb Caen
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Sakura stood and put on her coat, heading out of the house. She quickly made her way to Naruto's place, figuring it best to tell him the details first. She had a feeling that it would be a lot of trouble telling Sasuke, without giving away too much away. The last thing she needed at the moment was Itachi getting on her case about the whole ordeal.
As she approached Naruto's apartment, she suddenly became nervous and self-conscious. But there was no going backshe was already knocki
"When you lose someone you love, you die too, and you wait around for your body to catch up."
-John Scalzi
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"Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto shouted. He pulled himself out of Sasuke's grasp and ran up to block his path. The blonde glared at his rival and friend. "Are we seriously just going to leave Sakura there with those psychos?"
He was immediately hushed by the young Uchiha. Sasuke glanced quickly around the area, making sure no one was around to hear them. The last thing they needed was people questioning them about it or worse, reporting something under t