„doubt of memories"

The troubled girl once again woke up from her deep sleep. She noticed new people watching over her.

"Where is Kakashi-san?", she asked.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei? He left already. We're the ones who will guard you.", the pink-haired girl answered.

"Oh, I'm Mia Tachi, sorry for troubling you.", the girl said politely.

Wow, she is really well-mannered.

Sakura thought to herself. The girl surprised her.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you!", Sakura introduced herself with a smile which later on faltered as she realizes a certain blonde jinchuuriki is snoring.

"Naruto! We're on a mission! Wake up!", Sakura punched the poor blonde in the gut which caused him to wake up.

Mia stares at them in shock because of their normalized violence. And, of course, the strength of the girl in front of her.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to protect you!", he said with a wide grin.

"Thank you.", that's all the girl said which caused the room to be silent.

Geez, she doesn't talk at all. This mission is so boring!

"Oi! Why don't you tell us about you? This mission is pretty boring, are you really someone special to protect?", Naruto said bluntly as Sakura sweat dropped.

This idiot is so rude and embarrassing!

"A-ano, I'm nothing special. Well, that's what I think.", Mia replied, "But I think my hair has something?"

"Eh? Your hair? What about it?", the clueless blonde asked.

"Geez Naruto, can you see anyone else having the same color of her hair?", Sakura points out.

"Oh right."

"Yeah, because of this unique hair, the people in my town ridiculed not only me but my parents as well.", the girl said sadly, "It's my fault why they died."

The two ninjas looked at each other sadly, deciding not to pry into the topic right away.

"You two are ninjas right?", Mia asked out of the blue.

"Yeah! And I'm going to become a Hokage one day!", Naruto said with joy.

"Hokage? Like Tsunade-sama? Sugoi!", the girl's eyes sparkle in excitement.

"Must be nice being a ninja.", she added with a low tone.

"Why'd you say so Mia-chan? Do you want to be a ninja?", Sakura asked with curiosity.

"Ehh, not really.", she replied as both ninjas looks at her weirdly, "It's hard for me thinking about myself. Like there's something missing from me. Like what I am is not enough. I'm grateful to be alive but... I'm not happy.", she holds her necklace while saying this.

"Eh? How come you're not happy?", the blonde asks like it was something so odd.

"It's different from you guys. I mean, you have something to live for, you have motivation to keep on going.", Mia explained, "I just lived to be by my parent's side. But, now that they're gone, I'm nothing but an empty shell."

That's so sad, I never looked at it that way.

Sakura empathizes with the girl in front of her. How cruel it must be living her life.

"But don't you have something you want?", the blonde eagerly asks, it was not an everyday encounter for the jinchiruuki to see someone so down about their lives. Even enemies have the motivation to do something, why can't she? An ordinary girl must want something.

"No, I don't really know what I can do."

"Then let's start there!", Naruto says with hope as he looks at Sakura, "Sakura-chan! Let's add our mission!"

"Eh? Add?", Sakura looks at him confused.

"Let's help Mia-chan find what she wants!"

What I want? Why is he helping me? This has nothing to do with him.

"Right, Mia-chan?", Naruto looks at her smiling once more which caused the blue-haired girl to be flustered.

Why is he looking at me like that?

—

Several hours have passed and still, there are no signs of desire from the girl.

"Are you even trying Mia-chan?", the boy says in disappointment.

"Gomen, Naruto-kun.", she apologizes.

"Oh c'mon Naruto, give the girl a break. She's been through a lot.", Sakura tries to calm the atmosphere down.

Naruto doesn't even get it. It's not like she wants to be like this.

"Have you even considered that she needs more time to do the things and then she can pick or discover what she likes.", she lectured Naruto.

"Oh! I get it now!", Naruto says as he grabs the girl's hand and makes her stand up from the bed.

"E-eh? Naruto-kun?", the girl yelps in shock of the sudden action.

"C'mon! Let's go and do all kinds of stuff like cooking, cleaning, or whatever that makes you happy to discover what you're good at!"

He totally forgot about the real mission.

Sakura thought as she got annoyed by the blonde's carelessness. As Naruto opens the door, it revealed a certain Hokage.

"Granny? What are you doing here?", Naruto questions her as he halts his actions.

"I need to talk to Mia.", she answers seriously.

The four of them, including Shizune, positioned themselves in front of the blue-haired girl.

"Mia, have you ever heard of the Shinozaki clan?", the Hokage asks.

"No, but I might heard of it somewhere.", Mia answers honestly.

"We have suspicions that you may be part of that clan."

"But my parents are just ordinary people, how is that possible?"

"Mia, I need you to think very hard of your childhood and think if your parents are there."

Mia thought very hard but it seems like she can't remember very much of her childhood. Feeling anxiety taking over her whole being, she clutches her treasured necklaces to try and calm down.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I can remember clearly. Isn't that the case for everyone though?"

"How about photo albums? Pictures of you as a child? Stories when you were born? Your birthday?"

All the questions coming at once made Mia's head ache even more.

W-what is this? Why can't I remember? Aren't they really my parents? What's going on?

"As I thought.", the Hokage spoke unexpectedly, "Mia, your memories cannot be trusted right now."

"The reason why you can't remember is that maybe, someone or some event had cause an amnesia. It may be from a fall, from a jutsu, or from a hit. We don't know."

The girl trembled in panic. Was the life she had known a fake? Are her parents the real enemies? Were they really her parents?

As she thought of these questions, breathing got harder for her. It was like the room was shrinking. She covers her ears as the sound of muffled voices corrupts her.

"Tsunade-sama! She's having a panic attack!", Sakura exclaimed in fear.

"She might have realized that she can't remember that much. Naruto, hold her down so that she won't hurt herself."

Naruto rushed to the girl. He has never seen something like this before because he never been to a hospital without him being the one wounded. It was all physical injuries when he saw people he knows here. He held her down and examined her. He noticed tears in her eyes and the rapid breathing that she was having.

"Granny! I don't think she's breathing that well!", he shouted in fear.

"Mia!", he called out for her, "Don't think I'll let you die without you being happy!"