Just a sad, lonely ghost with no friends

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Her mind must have been the vainest thing ever.

Naruto's mindscape was a cellar, full of pipes and dim light, dripping sounds, two meters of sewer water and a cage containing the most powerful and legendary beast whispered only in myths. The beast was the highlight. Giant demon eyes to greet him, sharp set of fangs to mock or scare him, and nine tails capable of leveling mountains to blow him out with a gust of wind.

Sakura's?

Just black.

Blackness everywhere.

Says a lot about my two-dimensional mentality, Sakura would muse dryly.

The ceiling, if there was one, the floor, the horizon, all of it black. Dull, empty, nothing.

It was like she had gone blind, except she hadn't.

Because Sakura could see herself.

Her hands, her red dress, her pink bangs...

Her body illuminated as if she were outdoors in the daytime, although there was no definable light source. Her body contrasted sharply against the black, and as she looked again to the floor, she could see its shadow. But the shadow was white, and it wasn't even a shadow, but a chalk drawing of her general image. It was Inner Sakura, her feet starting from where Sakura's feet were. Like a mirror image, or a real shadow.

Like a shadow, Inner Sakura could expand and shrink at will, or more accurately, at Sakura's will, the way a shadow would to the sun. But Sakura noticed something wrong with her Inner shadow, the chalk looked erased and scattered, Inner wasn't even a drawing of Sakura anymore, but messed up scribbles!

The eyes were still there, but it looked like X_X

Sakura crossed her arms behind her back and leaned a little closer to the white shadow, eyeing it speculatively.

Now, how to fix this?

"Oh hey Sakura-chan," a rather young voice startled her out of her thoughts. She turned around and saw Obito walking towards her.

Obito looked younger than he sounded in her head, he looked 12 years old, a combination of Sasuke and Naruto. He had Sasuke's black hair, black eyes, pale skin tone, but also Naruto's goofy grin, goofy face structure, and goofy goggles—although his goggles matched closer to the ones Sakura was wearing. Okay, fine, Obito looks like a combination of all three of us.

Even his voice sounded younger than before, fitting his image. She eyed him skeptically.

Unlike Sakura, Obito didn't have a white shadow. Perhaps this only applied to ghosts, but if it applied to everyone else who entered her mindscape, then Sakura could safely conclude that she was the only one with an Inner.

"Obito-san?"

"Yeah, that's me. Heheh. I died when I was twelve, and umm. My voice kinda grew up as a ghost, and ah…This is my true form, honest!"

"You're right, ghosts aren't supposed to grow up, I've read in a textbook that the form of spirits are meant to stay dormant-"

"Yeah, yeah whatever! Let's talk about something more interesting instead!" Obito interrupted.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. She had always had a bright mind, and inside it, her senses were sharpened significantly. She could feel that Obito's goofiness sounded fake, almost with a tinge of nostalgia. She shrugged it off.

It makes sense for a ghost to be jaded about life. I mean, if I were a ghost, it'd be impossible for me to be genuinely cheerful after ten years. He's not Naruto, so I'm not going to point this out, though. Don't wanna hurt his feelings.

Sakura smiled. "Well, what do you want to talk about, Ghost-san?" Cha! I slipped up! That was rude!

Obito laughed. Again, it sounded fake, but also a little sad. On the surface, it sounded happy and amused. Sakura could feel her lips tightening.

"Ah, Sakura-san, umm…Hahah! Let's just choose a topic…Umm, how about…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Another trait like Naruto. "Umm, how's school?"

Sakura smirked, plopping herself down. Obito sat down too. "We've been learning the Transform, the Clone, and the Substitution. Say, you're a lot more awkward than earlier. Before, you knew exactly what to say and sounded…" Sakura blushed, distinctly reminded of Sasuke-kun. "…cool."

Obito blushed. "Um, sorry. You remind me of…um…An old teammate."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. Of course. To everyone, she always reminded them of someone else.

Obito stammered. "Her-Her name's Rin. But you really aren't like her, you're different, honest! It's just that you're a girl and…" Obito blushed again. "I died before I had the luxury of talking with girls."

Sakura stared, then she stifled a giggle.

Obito continued. "Also! You're a lot more fun! And you're a really good person. Helping old folks—"

"It's not like anyone else would do it after you died," Sakura pointed out.

Obito looked ashamed. Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Oi, don't feel bad. It's not your fault since you're dead."

"…Yeah." That answer was the most depressed sound she'd ever heard. Like he was burdened with all the evils of the world.

Sakura felt her stomach churn painfully, her mind flitting through things to cheer him up or at least distract him.

"Obito, you ruined my Inner, so take responsibility and fix her." Sakura pointed at her white chalk shadow.

His eyebrows rose and he looked almost desperate, before a smile forced itself into his face and he hopped over to play doctor on Inner.

Sakura was reminded of the 90-year-old bitter old man she had helped out sometimes, being placed into a 12-year old body and hollowly seeking happiness. It looked out of place, but hey, ghosts!

Sakura watched with fascination as Obito activated his Sharingan and slowly began putting the chalk lines together into a more definite outline of Sakura.

Her lips parted. "Obito-kun! Teach me to do that."

He looked at her. "Eh? But you need the Sharingan…Wait, there's two of you. I think you should be able to pull it off if you use your hands."

"HELL YES!"

花

Sakura had patched together her Inner.

It was easier than she expected! All she did was grab parts of the white power and put them back into place with her bare hands. In theory, it was similar to fuuinjutsu. You add bits and pieces together to make one big final thing, like putting words from a language together to create a command. Something like that.

Obito had been doing half the work by using his Sharingan alone, so that made things easier.

By the time they finished, Inner Sakura had popped up, yelled "CHA! HOW DARE YOU TEAR ME ABOUT!" Before laying down for a nap.

So instead of a dead shadow, Sakura had a sleeping shadow. Still better than before.

She turned towards the ghost. "Thanks, Obito-kun."

He smiled back, apparently having warmed up to her from the hours spent together fixing Inner. "You're welcome, Sakura-chan."

They shared a grin.

Sakura broke it first. "So, you can't stay here forever, I think. And neither can I. When will we meet again?" She activated her puppy eyes and pouted. Cha! I've practiced this expression on the mirror hundreds of times! There's no way it'll fail!

And she was right.

Obito could feel his resolve breaking. "U-Uh…Yeah sure, we can meet again." He rubbed his head sheepishly. "But not at this time. Someone else comes to the Memorial Stone and guards it 5-9PM, 5-8AM, and—argh—" Obito scratched his hair. "Whatever, just come in the middle of the night."

Sakura blinked. "But it's dangerous, like, what if some bulgar or kidnapper gets to me?"

"No-no, I'll uh…train you to fend for yourself, heh, yeah! Haha-ha." Obito chuckled awkwardly.

Sakura felt the idea of being trained by a ghost absurd, that she couldn't help accepting the offer in her amusement.

"Okay," Sakura bit her lip and thought of securing their agreement. Well, ghosts are lonely, so I'll play on that. "We'll do something fun everyday...And we can tell each other all sorts of things that we can't tell people in the real world."

Obito actually looked like he was considering her words.

Seconds ticked by and he looked at her with a serious glint through his orange goggles, his voice sounding serious unlike before. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Then she woke up.

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