Summary: Dying is a painful process. It hurts even more when you're in your teammates and best friend's arms, holding on to your dear life. Does will power help you survive? NaruSaku.

Your Existence

Well... this is it. The final moment, the one that sooner or later I just knew would come. It's pretty sad, if you ask me. Well, what can I say?

I'm dying in my teammate and best friend's arms.

And all because… well, I threw myself in his way so that he wouldn't get a killer blow in the heart. But better me than the next in line Hokage. Right? But the blow of, I'd say five swords pierced in your heart as if it were to cut a piece of bread actually hurts more than it sounds. It hurts so much that I at this very moment can't feel my legs. But I somehow know that I'm still on my feet, praying to God that everything turns out fine in the end.

But I know that everything won't be alright because, yeah, I was stabbed in the heart. But instead of hearing my heart collapse, I can hear his heart breaking into a billion pieces. I'm afraid it will be really heard to fix.

Not that I think I'll survive all of this to glue his heart back together. Because imagine me, in the middle of the forest, falling to the ground, but my teammate catches me, and starts crying so hard. And I feel so bad. However, like I said before, better me than him. But then again, putting myself in his place I'd be falling apart like the world just ended right before my eyes. But there's no turning back after taking a step forward, only if you're pushed back by force. Although, that isn't my case.

And the worst part of this dying situation is the raining part in this story. Yeah, it's raining and the cold type. Although there are a few rain drops that are pretty warm. Maybe they're only my tears or maybe they're Naruto's.

Funny thing, I was too busy babbling about my death that I forgot all about Naruto being by my side crying because I'm "leaving".

I'm going to miss him, Naruto, I mean. He is my best friend, and to top that, he has saved my life more times than I can even count.

You know I think that what people say is true; you really do see a flash of your past right before your eyes. Well, sort of. I mean I can't see my life because I'm too occupied seeing Naruto's sobbing face, but I am thinking about it.

"Naruto… don't….cry…" was all I managed to get out. Damn! It really does hurt. Oh wait, he actually gave me some attention.

"How can I not cry, Sakura-chan? You've just been stabbed in the heart, for getting the blow that was supposed to be for me…" I heard him choke out.

"Naruto… I did what I did because I prefer… dying that watching you die…" I say struggling to talk with the immense pain.

"And you think it doesn't kill me watching you die right beneath my eyes, without being able to do anything?" he said crying out even more. This all makes me guilty. You know, seeing his sad face. Although Naruto isn't a cry baby, it just kills me to see him cry. I guess that's how he feels when I cry.

"…I'm…ugh… s-sorry" I said holding on to my poor dear life.

God, there are so many things I still wanted to do, like confess my feelings to Naruto, punch Sasuke in the face, become the best medic ninja in the world –I'm only a few years away, well, I was a few years away –, I wanted to have a family, children, grandchildren, write a book based on my life, watch Naruto become Hokage, find my first white hair, be asked to help my daughter or son with homework and after everything die in my sleep maybe 70 years from now –Since I'm 18 years old –But I guess nothing goes according to what's planed.

"Sakura-chan, please hang on there… Please, I know you can do it" He said while holding me tight into his arms. I enjoy being in his arms, it kind of eases the pain, it doesn't take it all away, but it still helps.

"Naruto…I… I love you… so much" I said lifting my hand to cup his cheek, to get rid of at least some tears, suddenly my whole arm feels numb, actually, it feels a lot heavier than usual. I hear him cry even more than before; maybe it's because of my last minute confession. He holds me tighter. I suddenly forget that it's raining or that I'm even dying… nah, scratch that last part. I can't stop thinking about my death and to be honest, it hearts really badly; physically and emotionally and to top everything Naruto's having an emotional breakdown; not that I'm not having one.

"I love you too Sakura-chan… Please, don't leave me… I can't live without you... You… You're like the air I breathe, the floor I stand on, the ramen I eat. I simply can't live without you, Sakura-chan," He said looking deeply into my eyes. I kind of laughed in the ramen part. It's sweet because I know that ramen means a lot to him and he can't live without it, but at the same time it's pretty wired since he just compared me to ramen.

"N-naruto… I…want you to… promise me… that… you'll go on without me... if I don't come out of this alive," Which is probably what's really going to happen, I add mentally.

"But..." Naruto wasn't able to finish, because I silenced him with a kiss on the lips. There wasn't a whole lot o movement because I can't mover due to the hole in my heart.

A good thing is that the enemy is already dead, Akatsuki to be exact. Naruto and I were coming back from an S-class mission, guarding a very important scroll. We found out that we were being followed a few minutes after starting to head home. Then we attacked first and everything just fell into place. I also noticed that in the middle of the battle, while Naruto was keeping the enemy occupied, I had the liberty to send a message to Tsunade-sama for backup. But now we're here sitting on a puddle of blood, my blood, waiting with no hoping that backup will get here any time soon. I mean we're only about... four hours from Konoha.

Although you must be thinking... why doesn't Naruto take me there instead... well, I have a hole in my heart, I couldn't possibly move more than I'm moving already... Breathing you know, chest, up and down.

Oh no! My sight is getting blurry... I'm feeling even dizzier than I was a few minutes ago. Has my time come, is this the end? I don't want this to be the end. I don't want to die with regret. I still haven't beat Shikamaru in shogui; I haven't learned how to cook ramen... I haven't told my mother, or anyone, about my true feeling towards Naruto. For Christ's sake, I'm still a virgin!

Life sucks! No, sorry. Death sucks!

"Sakura-chan!" I hear Naruto shout. He must have noticed that my eyes are starting to shut. Actually, they do feel heavier.

"Hum...N...Naruto, it... hurts!" I winced at the dreadful pain the injury hides beneath it, "I... I don't think I can... hold o-on any longer... Naru...to".

"What? Sakura-chan, you can do it... come on, you just need to have faith that you'll survive... you can't leave me Sakura-chan... I love you so much! I...I can't stand to live without you. Please, just hold on a little bit longer; our backup is arriving. Hopefully they'll have a medic to heal your wounds... Just stay with me," I hear Naruto panic while crying and holding me closer to his body. I wince a bit due to the pain, of course.

"Naruto... you still didn't p-promise me... that you'll... go... on... without me..." I hear him cry even harder, if it's possible.

"I- I can't promise you that Sakura-chan... because even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to stop loving you..." he says kissing me on the forehead.

"I... I can't let you... carry my death as a b-burden, as an unaccomplished promise... Naruto," I say while looking deeply into his eyes.

"I don't care, I can't stop loving you," I hear him whispering in my ear.

Then I suddenly realize that his body relaxed. It must be our backup approaching. Although I honestly still think I'll never see anyone ever again because the light is fading. Everything is falling. And I can't manage to pick myself up either. I'm trying, trying hard, but it hurts too much. If I had Naruto's will power I'd surely be able to survive everything without even a scratch. But at the end of the day, I'm still the weak and vulnerable little genin I was six years ago. When you think about everything, it wasn't that much time ago. From a genin to Jounin, I haven't changed a single bit. And I thought I had. Well, now the only thing to do is... pray to God to let me live so that I can learn from my mistakes and learn not to become a burden; to be strong when I need to. But it's not like I'm going to survive. I know I'm being a pessimist, but wouldn't you do the same if you were in my place? Probably you would.

"They're here Sakura-chan! Kakashi, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shizune-nichan and Hinata-chan are here. So you'll survive," Naruto said with a sigh, after all, they did finally get here.

Wait! Where's Naruto? Am I blind? I can't see anything! I can hear some voices in the background but nothing visual. Did I die? Or am I in a coma? I... I just want to go home and see my family and friends, and most of all... see Naruto. But... did I really die?

"Na...to you need..." I hear a female voice say in a worried tone. Wonder who it is. Oh, she's talking to someone in the room.

"I'm not lea... alone, I love..."

"Get your... ass out of here..." There's the voice again. In some way, it sounds familiar. If only I could open my eyes and see who it is. But, it just hurts to try. Well, I was able to survive five hours with a hole in my heart, so I guess this won't be that bad.

I was able to open my eye; though I couldn't stop the groan as brightness hit my eyes. First everything is a blur, and then I could see shapes and colors. Then I saw eyes looking into my direction. With, I'd say, relieved emotions. Their faces seemed familiar. Although, the only one that got my full attention was the one that happened to have sapphire blue eyes. They were bright and shiny. Actually, they look like they were going to transform themselves into waterfalls. I knew to whom they belonged: the person I would easily give my life up to see its face again.

"N-naruto," I find myself whispering loud enough so that he could hear. He was sitting in a chair on the right side of the bed I am lying on. I'm probably in the hospital; I can only see white walls, white ceilings, white curtains, a white floor and concerned faces. By his side was an, apparently, young blond woman. Her hair was tied up into piggy tails and she had quite a mixture of emotions: happy and angry. I think I know just why. Then by her side was a tall man with silver, spiky hair that held a book in his hands. His eyes were peeking to my direction. Apparently my whisper was loud enough for everybody in the room to hear.

"Sakura-chan," I heard Naruto shout with such a thrilled tone. I'm guessing he's happy to see me. I mean... how long have I been out? Because I don't think Tsunade-sama would be here trying to get Naruto to rest at home if he were here for too long.

"You're awake!"

He suddenly jumped up and gave me a hug, a tight one, in which I wince a bit. And that's when I remember about the fight we had with Akatsuki the heart stabbing and about my last minute confession about my true feelings towards him. Naruto let me go when he heard me wince and muttered sorry.

Then I decided to talk, "How long have I been out?" I asked to Tsunade-sama since she's the only doctor in the room besides me, of course.

"You've been unconscious for six weeks, Sakura," she said with a serious tone. "We had made some tests, and you weren't to wake up for still two weeks."

That realization just caught me by surprise. Two more weeks? That's a lot. And has Naruto been here for six weeks in a row? That's also a lo. He really does care a lot about me.

"Um, can I speak to Naruto alone, please," I said with a polite little voice.

Kakashi walked out without even saying a word, while Tsunade struggled with the idea of leaving me alone with Naruto. When the two had finally gone out I started talking.

"Naruto... tell me the truth; have you been here, without doing anything else but sitting here for the past six weeks?" I asked reaching out for his hand.

"Well... kind of... sometimes Baa-chan would kick me out and say that I needed to take a bath or I needed to sleep or maybe even to eat but... other than that... yes," I heard him say while scratching his head.

"Naruto... you can't do that; you can't ruining you're life in order to protect mine," I say kind of whining.

"But Sakura-chan I lo-" I interrupted him with a kiss.

"I know that you love me Naruto... I love you too, but don't be selfish," I said caressing his cheek, "You've already done too much in order to protect me,"

"And what was that?" he said pulling me into a hug.

"Your existence".

Well this is my new one-shot NaruSaku story. I kind of wanted to get my thought out of a research paper I'm writing, and it worked! I'll soon be releasing the chapters of my other stories. Well, anyways, I wanted to thank Believeit6 for editing my little story. Thank you so much!

Thank you, viewers, for reading my story and please review if you liked it, or not, I also like critics on what I could do better.

Thank you all again.

EDIT: ZOMG! This story's crap XD

I've corrected most of the comma excess and some typos. I can't believe I wrote something so mushy. XD

I hope it's better now!

Ja ne

Cupcake-chan