Summary: She asked "If I died tomorrow, what one thing would you want me to know?" He said "I would want you to know you're annoying. But you already knew that." And as soon as those words escaped his lips he regretted it.

Disclaimer: I No Own Naruto.

The rain fell like razorblades on the battle field. Any person, dumb or smart, would know that a Shinobi battle had taken place here. The trees smashed down, huge craters in the earth, and if that didn't give it away then the crimson liquid splattered every where, now being slowly washed away by the rain, would.

Dead bodies lay everywhere to gruesome to describe. Some so horrible that the only remains left would be limb or two. Some ninjas remain alive still fighting, never wanting to give in to the temptation of the dark that waits for them when they make a wrong move.

Some grunts of pain could be heard from those slowly dying on the cold wet ground. And for those fighting with weapons all that could be heard was the clash of metal against metal.

The color of pink and red flashed as a Kuniochi dodged the blood stained katana and attacked the owner of the weapon with her kunai to the heart instantly killing him. She kicked him so his body would detach from the kunai still in her hand and expertly turned around slitting another mans throat gracefully.

She was a very developed Kuniochi both with her skills and appearance.

Said girl threw the kunai to her right having it land right in between the eyes of an enemy and then punched the man to her left causing him to die instantly on impact as he broke through god knows how many trees.

The Kuniochi was wearing the normal ANBU Black Ops unform with a few changes. She had a normal black top that came just above her belly button, with the grayish white armor that also came just above her belly button. It showed off her amazing hour glass curves. She had the standard metal arm guards and a signature spiral tattoo on her right shoulder to confirm that she was a woman.

She had tight shorts that came just above her knee and normal ninja sandals instead of her black ninja boots. Her hair came just above mid back and was tied in a low ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way. Her tiger mask lay broken on the ground a few feet away revealing her breath-taking emerald eyes. They showed nothing but determination.

Her clothes were blood stained with both the enemies and her blood. Her moves were almost invisible because of the speed she moved at.

The battle had been raging for two days now. The one thing making this mission difficult was it was one against two hundred. Literally.

To say she was tired was an understatement but she wouldn't give in. She wouldn't let these guys take back the very thing that she was fighting for, the scroll that contained the jutsu that could kill an entire village with one hit. And the entire village these guys wanted to whip out was Konoha and there was no way in hell she was going to give it back to them.

Even if it means ending her life, she will bring it back to Konoha where it will be safe.

There were still about thirty enemy ninjas left. She didn't know what village they were from because none of them had headbands or anything with a sign that would give their homeland away.

Right now she didn't care about that. What she did care about was doing a roundhouse kick to one of the enemies face. Which she carried out successfully and killed the man.

Another thing she noticed about these guys was there were no female ninjas, just all male.

Beside the point but to think that these guys didn't think that girls could fight and that angered her to no end.

Before the battle began these men (if you could even call them that) had underestimated her because of her gender. And now look, more then half of them lay with there face in the dirt.

She had multiple wounds. Some were not very deep and wouldn't do much harm and then there were the others that were very deep and very harmful.

Her chakra was almost gone so she decided not to push it and save it for later when she needed to heal the deep wounds.

At this point there were only ten ninjas standing including her. She was almost done and could be on her way home with the scroll. She pushed her body to fight harder and killed seven more.

She went to attack one of the last ninja standing and was able to stab him with his own kunai in the chest. He died seconds after and the pink haired ANBU tried to turn around but found she couldn't move her body. Then she saw the thin wire that was wrapped around her body enabling her to move. The man had wrapped it around her when she went to reverse his attack so the kunai would kill him instead.

She tried to struggle herself free but the wire ended up cutting her. She relaxed for a second because struggling was only going to injure her more. But as soon as she was able to free herself by calmly wiggling her way out she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and back. She looked down to see a tip of a blade sticking out of her stomach and she could feel blood dripping from her lower stomach and upper back. But the blade from the katana was different. On the blade there were small razor sharp points sticking in all directions.

She slowly turned her head to see who did this to her but saw a dead man already collapsed on the floor next to her.

He pierced the katana through her stomach and a kunai to her upper back before he died. "…Son o-of a bitch…" She struggled to say as she reached in back of her to pull out the kunai in her back. She held her breath as she pulled the kunai out. The man that did this to her really put a lot of force because all she could feel was the handle of the kunai.

After she threw the kunai to the ground she put her hand on the handle of the katana that was piercing her back. It wasn't easy since it was in back of her.

She felt a lot of warm liquid on her hands and she also saw it gushing out of the wound where the katana still pierced her.

She gripped the katana harder and pulled on it and moved it a few centimeters. To say it hurt like hell would be the understatement of the year.

If the pink haired ANBU women was healthy and not tired from the battle that just took place then she would have been able to pull out the sword faster than this but right now she was already in pain from all her other wounds and she was ready to pass out from loss of blood.

She thought about healing herself with the very little chakra she had now but it would make no sense to try and heal the wound with the katana still in her.

So she took a deep breath, held the katana tight, shut her eyes tight, and pulled the katana out slowly. She let out a yelp of pain but bit the side of her lip to stop from screaming out which caused her lip to bleed from the force of the bite.

"FUCKING BICTH!" She cursed to no one in particular.

The katana was almost out and she opened her eyes when she felt the katana no longer piercing her stomach. She threw the katana to the side and fell to her knees breathing hard.

She brought her hand to her stomach and it started glowing green. She was able to get the wound to almost stop bleeding before she was almost out of chakra. The chakra she had left would not be enough to let her heal anything. She had to get back to the village as fast as she could but she knew she wouldn't make it all the way back so she thought of sending a messenger bird.

The girl didn't have enough chakra to heal but she had just enough chakra to make a bird appear and then her chakra would be out for good. Even if it was a very, very tiny bird.

She made a hand sign and a very small bird appeared. She took out a small piece of paper that was in her ninja pouch, she tried to feel around for something that could be used to write with but found nothing so she thought of the only thing she could use right now.

Blood.

She began to write down her message with her finger and the blood that was coming out of the stomach wound and then slowly handed the message to the bird. It took it in its small claws and flew off.

She watched it fled in till it was out of site and slowly stood up and began slowly walking-limping- back to the village which was a three day travel on foot when walking in her case limping. She held her stomach and began her trip.

There was one thing on her mind.

The conversation she had with her comrades/best friends the night she had to leave.

FLASHBACK

A pink haired girl was walking to the ramen shop to have dinner with her two best friends before she left for her mission.

She spotted the restaurant and walked in. She spotted Naruto and Sasuke sitting on the stools waiting for her. There was one empty stool in between the two boys. Or should we call them men. They were both nineteen while Sakura was eighteen.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!" Naruto yelled as he jumped off his stool and hugged Sakura a little too tight. And I'm joking when a said a little.

"N-Naruto I-I can't b-breath…" Sakura tried to say but Naruto didn't let go. She didn't know if he didn't hear her or just chose to ignore her.

"Dobe. She can't breath." Sasuke said from the stool he still sat in. Naruto let go of Sakura and she took a deep breath in. "Sorry Sakura-chan...I got a little carried away." Naruto said as he scratched his head. Sakura rolled her eyes playfully and grabbed Naruto by the hand and walked over to the stools.

Sakura sat in the middle while Sasuke sat on her right and Naruto on her left.

Without her noticing, Sasuke glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye, looking at her up and down noticing every detail about her.

Now, people would see this as 'checking someone out' but to Uchiha Sasuke this was just looking. Denial is such a terrible thing, isn't it?

"Oh and by the way teme I am not a dobe." Naruto stated as he crossed his arms.

"Yes you are." Was Sasuke's only reply. Naruto then started to argue with Sasuke and Sasuke would throw smartass comments at the blonde.

Sakura couldn't help but smile. She was starting to remember the old days when they were genin. Now they were all ANBU.

After Sasuke came back the village when he was sixteen he was put on probation for one year. The only reason he didn't get death was because he killed some of the most dangerous threats to Konoha and Naruto and Sakura wouldn't stop begging Tsunade to keep him alive.

"-akura-chan…You still alive? Hellooooo?" Naruto said as he waved his hand in front of her face. She caught his arm.

"Yeaaah Naruto I'm alive." She said kinda slowly like she was talking to a child as she let go of his arm.

"Jeez Sakura I'm not dumb. You don't have to talk to me like I'm six years old." Naruto said pouting. Sasuke let out a little snort as if to say 'yeah right'.

"Why yo-" Before Naruto could finish what he wanted to say a bowl of ramen was placed right in front of him and he began to eat it.

Sasuke and Sakura should have been use to him eating ramen which they –kinda- were but it still grossed them out a little. They both looked at him with a slightly twisted up face to show their disgust.

In a matter of seconds he was done.

"Hey you haven't touched your food. COME ON EAT IT!" Naruto demanded happily as he asked for another order.

So they began to eat, well Sasuke and Sakura started to eat while Naruto inhaled his food. Once Sakura and Sasuke were done with their bowl she decided to finally tell them of the mission she was going on.

"So I got a solo mission." She said trying to spike up the conversation.

"Oh. Really?! When you leaving?" Naruto asked as he placed his empty bowl down.

"Thanks Naruto for asking me that first. Nice to know you want me out of here."

"NO! NO! I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto yelled waving his hands in front of him.

"It's okay Naruto I was kidding. Anyways I'm leaving in about four hours so I should probably be leaving to pack pretty soon."

"How much can you tell us about the mission?" Sasuke asked with no interest in his voice.

Sakura seemed to think about it for a moment.

"I can tell you that I have to retrieve an important scroll that is very dangerous and…" Sakura seemed to trail off of her sentence.

Naruto turned completely towards her. "And…"

"Annnd… its-an-S-ranked-mission-that-I-have-a-fifteen-percent-chance-of-surviving." Sakura said quickly and quietly but Naruto and Sasuke caught. Every. Word.

There was a pregnant silence.

"WHAT!?" Naruto asked. "THERE IS NOWAY IN HELL I AM LETTING YOU GO ON THAT MISSION!" Naruto yelled as his expression on his face showed anger but if you looked closer then you would also see worry.

"Naruto! Calm down. It's a mission I had to except it." Sakura said whispering harshly.

"Bullshit!" Naruto yelled as a few people looked his way but returned to what they were doing. Silently Sasuke agreed with him. The onyx eyed boy didn't like the idea of Sakura going on a mission that she had a bigger percent in dying than surviving.

"Naruto this is a mission that could save Konoha or destroy it! Anyway I already accepted the mission. There's no backing out." Sakura said as she stood up from her stool and paid for her food.

"I'm gonna go pack. Bye."

"Wait Sakura-chan! Let us at least walk you home!" Naruto said as he got up.

"Okay. Just…don't bicker over the mission the entire way there."

"Fine." Naruto said as he surprisingly paid for his own food. Sasuke then paid for his food and they began their way to Sakura's house.

End Flashback

The pink haired girl-Sakura smiled remembering her team mates.

She couldn't hold her weight anymore and fell, leaning on a tree. She looked up at the grey sky, letting the rain fall on her face. Letting it wash away the blood on her.

Sakura looked down at her wound. 'I guess I'm really going to die here huh Sasuke?'

XxFLASHBACKxX

The walk to Sakura's house was quiet. Naruto looked like he was in deep thought and Sasuke just didn't talk like usual. Sakura didn't want to speak and bring up the topic of the mission.

"Hey N-Naruto-kun!" They heard a shy voice come from their right so they looked and saw Hinata waving on the other side of the street.

Sakura waved back while Sasuke gave a nod. Naruto looked over to Sakura as if asking if he could go.

"What are you standing here for? Go." Sakura said smiling. Naruto smiled back and gave her a hug before he ran to Hinata yelling.

"HEY HINATA-CHAN!!!" Naruto scooped the pearl eyed girl in his arm and then kissed her. Then they walked away.

Naruto and Hinata have been going out for a year now. If it wasn't for Hinata finally getting the courage to ask him out then they probably wouldn't be together right now.

"Sasuke you don't have to walk me home, you can leave if you want." Sakura said as they began walking.

"Hn." Sasuke said as he closed his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. Sakura looked at the cement and thought about the mission. After about five minutes or so of walking they stopped in front of Sakura's house.

"Okay so, uh, see you when I get home from the mission?"

"Hn." Sasuke said or…grunted? Then he nodded his head. He was about to walk off in till Sakura called his name.

"Sasuke. If I died tomorrow, what one thing would you want me to know?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke was a little surprised at first and didn't know what to say but before he could stop himself he spoke.

"I would want you to know that you're annoying. But you already knew that." Sasuke said and as soon as those words escaped his lips he regretted it.

"O-oh. Okay then. See yea." Sakura said surprised and if you listened closely you could hear the deep pain in her voice. She quickly unlocking her door and walked in side closing it behind her with out noticing Sasuke about to stop her.

She leaned against her door.

Why did it hurt when he said that?

She thought that maybe he would have said anything else but to say she was…annoying. She was use to him calling her annoying but saying it before she died?

A tear rolled down her cheek but she quickly whipped it away. 'No. I will not cry for him anymore. I promised my self that years ago.' She thought to herself as she pushed herself off the door and walked to her room.

=[ End Flashback =[

Naruto paced around his small apartment room. Sakura should have been back by now. She should be back in Konoha safe and sound.

Not being able to take anymore he ran out of his small apartment and made his way to the Hokage's office. He knocked on the door once he got there and heard an 'Enter' from the other side of the door. He quickly walked in.

"Has Sakura-chan sent a mission report yet!?" Naruto yelled anxiously.

"Naruto calm down. I'm sure she is fine and heading here right now. And no we haven't gotten anything yet." Tsunade-sama said as she signed some paper work and then put it off to the side and grabbed more paper work.

"How can you just sit there when she could be dead?" Naruto said leaning against her desk crossing his arms.

"Naruto stop thinking that she is-" Before Tsunade could finish her sentence there was a knock on the door and she said enter. The door opened revealing Sasuke.

"Good, you're here. I need you to sign this." Tsunade said getting straight to the point.

Sasuke walked over to the desk, looked over the paper, looked at Tsunade with a raised eye brow, shrugged his shoulders, and signed the paper.

"What's the paper for?" Naruto asked looking over Sasuke's shoulder to see but failed.

"It's a paper saying-" Once again Tsunade was interrupted when a small bird came through the window and dropped a piece of paper on the desk then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade unrolled the paper and read it her eyes widening.

"What?" Naruto asked getting worried.

"Sasuke! Naruto! Go put on your ANBU uniforms! I want you to go out and find Sakura! Now!" Tsunade barked looking a little panicked.

"What happened, what did it say??!!" Naruto asked jumping up from his leaning position on the desk.

"No time to explain! Just go!" Tsunade yelled and gave them the spot were Sakura probably was.

They both ran out of the Hokage Tower and got their stuff. They were both out of the village in less then five minutes.

"COME ON SASUKE! WE HAVE TO CATCH UP!" Naruto yelled as he began to run faster using the nine-tailed fox's chakra.

Sasuke pumped chakra into his legs making him move faster as well.

The onyx eyed boy felt things that he didn't like the feeling of. He was worried. He knew that much. But then he remembered the last thing he said to Sakura.

"I would want you to know that you're annoying. But you already knew that."

Why he had said that? He didn't know but he said it and it was making him feel like shit right now. He had to get to Sakura before it was too late. It looked impossible but Sasuke moved faster as did Naruto.

*~0~*

Sakura let out a small yelp of pain as she tried to stand. She was still holding her wound. She took her hand off the wound and looked at it.

Was that purple liquid she saw?

'W-wait?! I-is that poison!? How did I not see that before?! No wonder the effects are so horrible.'

As soon as she was –barely- standing she began to walk slowly making her way to the village once again completely ignoring that she was poisoned. It's not that she could do anything about it anyway. All of her medical supply were gone. She was limping for about fifteen minutes which felt like days to her. The poison was making everything worse.

'I have to make it even if it means dying!' She screamed in her head.

Just then she saw two figures race by. She was amazed by their speed. She literally felt a big gust of wind after they pasted her.

"HEY! IT'S HER!" One of them yelled in the distance. She couldn't make out who's voice it was because she was about to pass out but instincts instantly kicked in and she slowly turned around.

There was no point in hiding, they already saw her. There was no point running, their speed was too much for her at the moment.

The two figures jumped in front of her and one of them ran to her.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" The blonde one yelled as he took off his fox mask and pulled her gently down to the ground so she was half sitting on his lap but being careful not to touch any of her wounds which was proving difficult considering how many there were.

Another man was at her side and she could see blackish blue hair.

"N-naruto? S-sasuke?"

"Holy shit! Who did this to you?!" Naruto asked looking panicked. Sasuke stood with his lion mask covering the expression on his face. He was surprised of the way she looked. Something inside of him made him pissed at whoever did this to her. He felt worried and felt so many other things he didn't recognized. He remembered one emotion though.

Fear.

The same fear he felt when he saw his mother and father dead on the floor.

She was ghostly pale, her eyes looked almost empty like the life was being drained out of them and the blood that was on her, it was everywhere. The rain had washed away most of the fresh blood that was on her but there was still dry blood. He looked at her over and over in till a weak voice snapped him out of it.

"I'm n-not gonna survive m-much l-longer." Sakura struggled to say.

"Don't say that! You're gonna make it, you hear me!" Naruto said looking pissed at nothing in particular but just like before there was worry laced in his voice. Sasuke took off his mask looking off into the distance. He sensed something coming. He picked up Sakura and was about to jump into the trees but a couple of enemy ninjas appeared.

"Damn it! We don't have time for this!" Naruto yelled. He looked over to Sasuke who had taken his mask off.

"Take Sakura back to the village. I'll hold them off." Naruto said passing Sakura gently into the arms of Sasuke's. Instead of arguing Sasuke nodded and jumped off in the trees leaving Naruto to fight the enemy ninja.

Sasuke was moving at incredible speed, not for one second stopping for anything. He looked down at Sakura.

Her eyes were starting to flutter closed.

"Sakura. Don't you dare close your eyes." Sasuke stated with his voice stern but if Sakura wasn't so out of it right now then she would have heard the worry is his voice.

Sasuke watched as she struggled to keep her eyes open. He watched her try to stay awake.

Sasuke watched helplessly and all he could do was take her to the village. He couldn't do anything else. There were very few times when the Uchiha felt helpless and this was one of those times. Sakura stirred a little bit and clutched her stomach.

He looked to see the wound and saw purple liquid around the wound and he panicked a little bit before he regained his composure. Sasuke was still jumping from tree to tree as fast as he could using his chakra. He jumped down from the trees and began running on the forest floor, pumping chakra into his legs.

The onyx eyed boy's chakra was slowly running out from the all the chakra he was using but there was no way in hell he was going to stop in till Sakura was in Konoha, getting care for her wounds.

Sakura let out a yelp of pain which she tried to stop by biting her lip. Sasuke didn't notice the wound on her upper back and he had touched it. He moved his arm a little to stop from hurting the pink haired girl.

After a while Sakura had relaxed a bit too much and she wasn't moving and that worried Sasuke a little more then he would like to admit. So he decided the only way to keep Sakura awake was to talk to her in till they got to Konoha and considering Sakura couldn't really talk or comprehend much of anything due to the poison he could talk about pretty much anything.

The only problem was he didn't know what to talk to her about so he stuck with telling her things that he would have never thought about actually telling her.

"Sakura." He said.

"Hm?" She mumbled with her eyes closed. He seemed hesitant for a moment.

"Remember that time when Naruto and I were fighting on the roof of the hospital?"

Sakura gave a small weak nod after eight seconds or so. Sasuke swallowed his pride for what he was about to say.

"We weren't fighting only to see who was stronger." Sakura opened her eyes a little bit and looked at him with questions in her emerald orbs.

"We were also fighting over you." Sasuke saw her eyes grow a little wider. He was trying to keep her awake and it was working so he decided to keep talking.

"The moment I saw you run towards us trying to make us stop I panicked because I couldn't stop the jutsu. If Kakashi wasn't there to stop Naruto and me then…" Sasuke paused as if to think about what he was going to say next.

"Then I don't know what I would have done."

Sasuke couldn't believe how easy it was to tell Sakura these things. He knew that it wasn't like him to talk to her like this but he was doing this to keep her awake. At least that is what he was telling himself.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura to see her smiling. He knew it was cliché to say that he felt happy when he saw her smile but right now he was confessing to her-even if it was just a little bit-so he was just going to admit to himself that her smile made him smile. It's not the first time it's happened either.

Sakura wanted to say something to Sasuke but found it really hard to speak. Not only because of what he told her but because of the pain. So she decided to save her voice for now.

Okay, what he told her probably wasn't that big a deal to some people but it was a big deal to her.

Sasuke paused for a second not knowing if he should talk about what he was thinking about. After seeing that Sakura was slowly beginning to close her eyes again and she was becoming completely limp he spoke up.

"Remember the night I left Konoha?" Sasuke felt her body tense. At least he knew she was listening.

"All of those things you said to me trying to keep me to stay…I thought about it when I was in sound. Almost every night in sound I realized how much I missed your smile, how much I missed your laugh, how much I missed your voice… and most of all how much I missed you."

Sasuke watched as Sakura's eyes opened completely and there was more life to them. He was surprised how much of a reaction he got from her.

"I also realized when I was in sound how much I-"

The feeling of relief washed over him as he saw the huge gates of the hidden leaf village and focused on that for a while and decided against saying what he was going to say for now.

He looked down at Sakura and she looked like she was trying her best to stay awake again.

Sasuke rushed forward making it into the village and then rushing into hospital.

Everyone in the hospital looked at Sasuke in shock. He got pissed when the nurses stood staring at him and then looked down at the Sakura and gasped. The nurse at the front desk seemed to start barking out orders.

"LET'S GO PEOPLE! DON'T JUST STAND AROUND! GET HER INTO A ROOM AND START-" Sasuke didn't listen to the rest of what the women was saying once someone took Sakura from his arms and placed her on a bed. Everything looked like it was in slow motion now.

He watched as they were yelling orders and put a small oxygen mask to help her breathe while they rolled her through two doors but before she was gone…

"I also realized when I was in sound how much I love you." Sasuke whispered to him self hoping that Sakura could hear him finish the sentence he was going to say earlier but knew she couldn't. That's when Sasuke remembered that he was standing in the middle of the hospital entrance office with his shirt and arms covered in blood and slightly soaked from the rain.

The doors slammed open from behind him and he turned his head around to see Tsunade running with her black haired assistant behind her.

"What room is she in?!" The Hokage yelled.

"Room 42 my lady!" Her assistant answered.

Tsunade ran past him and into the double doors that Sakura had disappeared in.

After standing for another five seconds or so, Sasuke slowly walked over to the seats that nobody was next to. He sat down in one of the seats and avoided all the stares he was getting from the people in the waiting room with him which wasn't much. He ignored the blood that was all over him.

Sasuke leaned forward and rested both elbows on his knees with his fingers intertwined covering his mouth. If at first glance you would think that the Uchiha was in deep thought but if you looked harder at him then you could see the deep worry in his eyes.

The voice he heard was very faint but still audible.

"Tsunade! Where losing her!" Sasuke felt his whole world drop at those few words.

He felt the corner of his eyes stinging but refused to let the tears fall.

"Damn it! Give her more air!" Tsunade's faint voice filled Sasuke's ears. Her voice was panicked.

The stinging in the corner of Sasuke's eyes became worse. Thoughts of life without Sakura flashed through Sasuke's head. He had to deal with it in sound but he didn't plan on having to deal with it again. Not being able to see her smile anymore, not hearing her laughs anymore, not seeing her cursed emerald eyes and pink hair that he had come to know and love.

That's when he couldn't hold that single tear that came from his onyx orbs. He put his head down so no one would see. The sound of a loud, long endless beep reached his ears and his head snapped up. The Uchiha's eyes widened with fear.

"Which room is that coming from!?" One of the male nurses asked.

"Room 40!" The nurse at the front desk said after she looked down on her desk. The male nurse ran through the double doors.

Sasuke sighed with relief. It wasn't Sakura.

A blond headed boy flew through the entrance doors and snapped his head towards Sasuke.

"Where is she?!" Naruto asked quickly walking towards Sasuke and looked down to his shirt to see dry blood.

Sasuke's eyes flickered to the double doors. Naruto looked over to the doors and sat down in the chair next to Sasuke. The blondes' leg was shaking up and down from him being nervous. Sasuke paid to mind to it and tried to listen to any sign of how Sakura was doing but he heard Naruto's voice instead.

"Dude, she's gonna be okay. Sakura's not gonna give up. She never gives up." Naruto said. To Sasuke it sounded like he was trying to calm himself down and assure himself. He didn't know if it was helping Naruto at all but it was sure not helping himself.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke and saw worry, panic, and fear in his eyes. He had to admit that Sasuke was doing a good job hiding it but Naruto has been his rival/best friend/brother for to long not see emotions in his eyes. He thought instead of teasing Sasuke about it now, he would tease him when Sakura was fine and resting in her room.

After about an hour or so of waiting in the waiting room Naruto finally exploded.

"What the hell is taking them so long!?" Naruto half yelled half whispered as he jumped up from his chair and began to pace back in forth. Sasuke paid no mind to him. He still stayed in the same spot he was when he sat down. With every minute passing by Sasuke didn't know either to be happy or worried. Worried because she was either making no progress so they kept on working on her or happy because she wasn't dead and she could be making progress. Slow progress but at least it would be progress.

After about another twenty minutes Sasuke was starting to lose hope. It had to be around nine o'clock PM now. Naruto was sitting in his chair again but kept moving.

Just then the double doors opened and both of them looked up. They watched as a male doctor approached them not looking them in the eye. He looked saddened and sorry. Sasuke new what that meant and felt the stinging in his eyes coming back but refused to let the tears fall.

Both boys stood up and waited for the news.

"So how is she!?" Naruto asked looking hopeful. The male doctor shook his head and responded.

"I'm sorry but…" The male nurse trailed off his sentence and Sasuke felt like he was going to be sick.

"But…!?" Naruto said still having hope in his voice but not as much as when he asked how she was doing. "Is she still alive?" Sasuke asked almost in a whisper ignoring the feeling in his stomach and looked down at the ground with his bangs covering his eyes.

"She is still alive-" The man wasn't allowed to the finish because of the loud relieved sigh coming from Naruto.

"SEE! I told you Sakura wouldn't give up teme! She is going to survive!" Naruto said patting Sasuke on the back. Naruto knew how worried Sasuke was, besides the blonde knows that Sasuke had a thing for her.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel the happiness and relief wash over him. A small smile itched its way on the Uchiha's face. His head still pointing to the ground and his bangs covering his eyes.

"I wasn't finished." The male doctor said. "Okay than go ahead and finish." Naruto said with his hand behind his head and a huge smile on his face.

"She is in critical condition. The chances of her surviving are one out of a hundred. We can't do anything else for her. We removed the poison, stopped all the bleeding, and closed the wounds. The damage the poison did to her was too much and we weren't completely prepared for it." The male doctor said with the word 'sorry' in his voice. "You may go see her if you like."

Naruto's hands dropped back to his side and the once huge smile on his face had disappeared. The blonde was quiet.

Sasuke's bangs were still covering his face. The stinging in his eyes became worse and the male doctors words echoing in his head.

'She's in critical condition…one out of one hundred…we can't do anything else for her.'

Then there was that nagging voice in the back of his head.

'This is your entire fault. If you hadn't let her go on that mission none of this would have happened! Now she is going to die because of you.'

Sasuke quickly turned around to the wall that was behind him and punched it making a huge whole.

"Sir!" The male doctor called out as a few people in the waiting room became startled. The Uchiha slowly turned his head around his bangs still covering his eyes. Not moving his body from the position he was in from punching the wall.

"You are going to-" Sasuke lifted his head slightly so his bangs weren't covering his eyes anymore. His once onyx eyes now blood red and tears rolling down his cheeks.

The male nurse couldn't finish his sentence. He took a few steps back with fear and quickly ran off to the double doors wanting to avoid the Uchiha's glare.

Naruto couldn't blame Sasuke for what he had done because to be honest he wanted to do the same thing. Sasuke let his hands fall to his side and his sharingan had disappeared now showing his onyx eyes and the tears still slightly falling down his face.

Sasuke started walking to the double doors with Naruto following a few steps behind him. The onyx eyed boy searched for her room and when he found it he entered. The first thing he heard was the beeping of the machines around her.

"The only good sign is she can breathe on her own." Tsunade said walking over to one of the two machines next to Sakura and checking it.

"Please Granma…tell me she is going to be okay." Naruto said walking over to Sakura just as Sasuke had. "I'm sorry Naruto, Sasuke but I can't tell you that." Tsunade said walking behind Sasuke and Naruto putting her hands on their shoulder. "I'll let you guys have some time alone with her."

With that she walked out of the room. It was quiet for a few seconds before Naruto spoke up.

"I should have stopped her from going on the damn mission." Naruto said as he looked away and tears rolling down his face. "This is my entire fault."

Sasuke looked over to Naruto and then back at Sakura.

After a few minutes Naruto saw Sasuke looking at Sakura and as much as he wanted to stay with Sakura in till she woke up he decided to give Sasuke some time with her so he made an excuse to leave.

"I should go tell the others what Sakura's condition is." Truth be told Naruto didn't know if the others knew if Sakura was even back yet.

And with that he left the room and Sasuke sat down in the chair beside the pink haired girls' bed.

That's the only time Sasuke let his hand grab Sakura's hand and let his other hand lift to her cheek and let his thumb stroke it. More tears fell and he couldn't stop them. Sasuke watched her 'sleep' hoping, praying that she would open her eyes so he could see those beautiful emerald orbs.

God only knows how long the Uchiha had sat next to the pink haired girl. After about 45 minutes the tears had stopped. They stopped because he no longer had any more tears to cry.

He felt exhaustion beat at his body. He was tired from the all the running and worrying. He was light headed from the crying. But most of all he was worried. It seemed like all he did today was worry. He promised himself that he wouldn't let anyone hurt his teammates/best friends even if it meant giving up his life. He never wanted to see them get hurt and now, here he sat, watching the pink haired girl that he had fallen in love with laying on top of the hospital bed or her death bed.

With out himself realizing it, he laid his head down on his arm next to Sakura with his hand still holding hers and fell asleep thinking about what would happen if she didn't make it and if she did.

***************

Sasuke woke up the next morning to the sound of the birds chirping happily. But something seemed off. Their songs did not sound right. It did not sound…happy at all. At least it didn't to his ears.

Than it hit him like a ton of bricks, everything that happened yesterday. His head quickly jerked up and his onyx orbs met closed eyes that belonged to a pink haired girl. She still hasn't woken up. He sat there for a few minutes not knowing what to do.

There was a knock on the door and Sasuke pulled his hand away from Sakura's and said a stern 'Enter'. The door opened and in came a blond haired girl with ice blue eyes. She closed the door and walked on the other side of the hospital bed, opposite of Sasuke.

It was quiet for a few moments before the blonde spoke looking down at Sakura sadly. "It just isn't fair." She whispered looking like she was about to cry. Sasuke looked up at Ino emotionless but than looked at Sakura and his eyes softened.

"She worked so hard and yet this is what happened." Ino looked at Sasuke noticing how soft his eyes were when looking at the pink haired girl. "Sasuke." She said sternly. He didn't look up at her but she knew he was listening. The blonde was hesitant for a moment but decided to just tell me.

"Remember when you left Konoha?" He stiffened but quickly relaxed. To bad for him Ino had saw it so she decided to continue while looking at Sakura. "She was mess you know." She paused looking at Sasuke trying to see if she got a reaction.

"You don't know how many times she had cried herself to sleep, how many times I had to be there to comfort her when we became friends again or how many times she wanted to be alone locked up in her room away from everyone. And you know damn well as I do that Sakura like's to be around people having fun." Ino didn't see anything in Sasuke's expression change but little did she know he was having an inner fight with himself.

'She was really that…messed up?' he asked himself shocked but shook it off. 'No. No. No. She wasn't. Ino is making it all up.' His thoughts were interrupted by Ino's long sigh.

"Just…" Her sentence seemed to trail off. "It doesn't matter anymore. The doctors told me themselves that there is no hope for her. They said they give her a few days before-" The blonde was cut off from her sentence.

"Well their wrong. Sakura's going to wake up." Sasuke said coldly. "There is no way she is gonna die."

Ino couldn't help but smile a little bit. 'Huh. So what do you know? The Uchiha does care.'

Ino nodded and as if on cue a nurse walked into the room along with Tsunade.

"Alright you two, I need you out. I have some things I need to do." Ino nodded and headed to the door. Sasuke seemed a little hesitant but got out of his seat and with one last look at Sakura he left the room.

**************

"HEY! TEME!" Sasuke knew that it was Naruto who had yelled his name but he kept walking away from the hospital not bothering to stop, just slowing down his speed allowing the blond to catch up.

"So how's Sakura?" Naruto asked falling in side step with the Uchiha. Sasuke shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking. Naruto shook his head as well and looked down at the ground as if he didn't know what to say but decided to talk just to lighten the mood. "You wanna go to the ra-"

"No. Dobe I'm going home. Go bother some else." Sasuke said coldly as he quickened his pace to get away from the blond. This angered Naruto. It didn't anger him because Sasuke told him to leave but it angered him because Sakura was in the hospital with a slim chance of surviving and he was still being a jackass. There was no way Naruto was just going to let him walk away.

"How the fuck can you be such a jackass at a time like this!? Sakura is in the damn hospital! So stop being a damn jackass Sasuke and man up because Sakura needs us to be strong for her right now!" Naruto couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth but, damn did it feel good to just let it all out so he continued and Sasuke stood in his place trying to control his temper.

"There is a huge chance that Sakura is gonna die and you still don't give a shit about her! After everything she's done for you and you still haven't thanked her! I have no idea what she still see's in you." Naruto said his last sentence with such disgust.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore and quickly turned around so he was facing Naruto.

"How the fuck would you know if I gave a shit or not!?" Naruto was stunned at the way Sasuke had lashed out. So were the other villagers around them. When Naruto had lashed out they watched but now that Sasuke was lashing out and they decided they shouldn't stick around to find out what might happen. They quickly took there things and left the area. Only very few people remained to see what was gonna happen. Sasuke's knuckles were turned white because of the way he clenched his fists. His nails digging into the palm of his hands out of pure anger.

"You think I don't know everything she's done for me?!" His eyes were now blood red with the black comma's swirling rapidly. "I can't thank her for what she's done because there is no way to thank someone who has done what she's done for me! No matter what happened she never let me go no matter how hard I tried to make her forget about me!" Sasuke knew he was venting now but he needed to let it all out. It was driving him crazy and he just couldn't stop himself.

"She was a stupid, stubborn, weak girl that I fell in love with and had to be protected all the time but now it's different! She got stronger for me and herself! But I still cause her pain no matter what I do. No matter how hard I try not too. I don't want to see her getting hurt anymore!" Naruto was surprised at what he was saying. Sure he knew that Sasuke had a thing for her but he didn't know that Sasuke was THAT in to her.

Not in a million years has he ever thought Sasuke would say something like that. But here Sasuke was, breathing hard and trying to calm himself. "Woah. Dude." Naruto said not really wanting to get on his bad side again. Sasuke let out a frustrated groan and turned around, quickly walking away from Naruto.

When Sasuke finally made it home, glad that Naruto had left him alone, he plopped down on the couch and rubbed his face. Now he was finally thinking about what he had said. Let's see what he had told Naruto about shall we?

Well the most important thing he told Naruto was he had fallen in love with Sakura.

.

..

…

….

Well.

There was no doubt that Naruto was going to hold him against it. After about ten minutes or so thinking on the couch Sasuke finally decided to get up. He headed to the backyard and through a small gate. Through the small gate was a huge beautiful garden that had belonged to his mother.

All sorts of colors everywhere. Green, yellow, white, pink, blue, purple, orange, red, and so many more colors. With out realizing it Sasuke began to walk down the path in till he reached a certain area of the garden. In front of him was a huge cherry blossom tree. There were a few more of them around but not as big. Sasuke headed towards the big one and put his hand on the tree. The cherry blossom was in full bloom. Pink petals were on the ground and on the tree.

Sasuke quickly jumped up from the ground and sat down on the tree branch looking forward. There was a beautiful view. Ahead you could see the sun setting making an orangey red in the sky.

Sasuke loved coming here. Not only did it remind him of his mother but it also reminded him of Sakura.

Sakura…

Sasuke leaned his back against the truck of the tree with one of his legs dangling off the branch.

He wondered how Sakura was.

He wondered if she would ever wake up.

And if she did, than what would he do?

Would he scoop her up in his arms, kiss her, and never let go?

Or would he go on with his life like nothing ever happened?

Those were the questions running through his head. Sasuke let out a frustrated groan and ran his hand through his hair. Than hit his head on the tree. Yeah it was stupid but it was annoying him again.

Uchiha Sasuke did not like to be annoyed.

Not one bit.

But than how did he fall in love with Sakura?

The annoying little girl who would always bother him about dates and romantic crap!

The annoying little girl who always needed to be protected!

The annoying, beautiful girl with pink hair and emerald eyes who had grown up and was now a woman who didn't need to be protected.

DAMN IT!

Why did ever thing have to be so hard for him? Why couldn't he have just grabbed her and kissed her and stopped her from doing the stupid mission. Why?

There was no reason to live in the past anymore. What's done is done and no body can change it. Not even Uchiha Sasuke. The stupid arrogant jerk who doesn't know crap about relationships.

Sasuke sat on the tree and closed his eyes resting his head on the tree letting his mind fall in to the darkness.

He stood there standing. Everything was black. It felt as if he were standing on water.

"Sasuke." He heard a voice which sounded like Sakura but its tone dripped with hatred.

"Sasuke." He looked around trying to find the source of the voice. "Sakura?" He called out.

"SASUKE!" Another shout from Sakura but this one echoed off the invisible walls. He turned around sharply determined to find her. When he turned around she still wasn't there. He kept turning and turning but couldn't find her.

"How could you?" Her voice again dripping with venom.

"Do what?" He asked trying to see if he could hear were the source of her voice was coming from.

"You left me-" Sasuke sharply turned around again and there she was standing about eight feet away from him.

"You hurt me so many times." The look on her face, he's never seen it before. Not on her at least and now that he has seen it he wishes he hadn't. He knew this wasn't Sakura but couldn't stop him self from speaking to it.

"I didn't mean to." He said and she began walking towards him. "Yes you did. You hated me and you still do."

"No I don't!"

This thing that looked like Sakura had finally reached him. She was now standing in front of him. He wanted to back up but didn't. He was going to hold his ground.

"Than why are you letting me die? Why didn't you save me from the mission? Why didn't you save me?"

"I-I didn't mean for it to hap-"

"I loved you Sasuke! But all you did was stomp on me like I was trash! But it doesn't matter now because this time it's you who is gonna get hurt. It's you this time that is gonna be treated like trash." And she was gone.

Sasuke didn't know what to do.

Pink hair flashed. He saw sparkling emerald eyes and a huge smile gracing soft pink lips.

Sakura.

She looked so real.

"Sasuke-kun." Her soft voice echoed in his ears like normal now. God how he loved her voice.

Sasuke was searching around for her he turned around but nothing was there. He turned back around and there she was standing about ten feet away from him.

"Sasuke-kun." He felt himself walking towards her as she held her hand out. Just when he was about to take her hand in his something had grabbed Sakura by the neck, pulled her back and held a kunai to her neck. Sasuke couldn't see who it was because his face was in the shadows. A little bit of blood slid down Sakura's neck as who ever it was applied pressure.

"SASUKE-KUN! HELP ME!" He felt himself panic. He quickly tried to grab her but he couldn't move. He was paralyzed.

"Well, well, well, Sasuke-kun. Ssshe is a pretty one." Sasuke couldn't believe his ears. That voice…he was dead, he couldn't still be alive. Sasuke had killed him.

"Surprised Sssasuke-kun?"

"You're dead. There's no way you can be alive!"

"Well my dear, I'm standing her with your precious cherry blossom. Her life is in my hands." Orochimaru hissed as he applied more pressure to Sakura's neck. More blood.

Sakura let out a yelp of pain and called out Sasuke's name wanting him to help her. Tears were streaking down her face.

Sasuke wanted so bad to grab her and hold her but he couldn't move.

"Say bye Sasuke-kun."

"NO!" Was all Sasuke could yell as the snake slit her throat and she fell to the ground. Dead.

The snake disappeared laughing manically. Sasuke was able to move but as soon as Sasuke was about to reach for her she was gone. Nothing left but her blood.

"SAKURA!" He called out.

Sasuke jumped up from his sitting position of the tree. He looked around. He was in his mother's garden. He must've fallen asleep. It was dark out side but there were no stars in the sky tonight.

Sasuke relaxed a little bit and leaned his head back on the tree. "It was just a dream." He muttered to him self. With one last look in the distance Sasuke jumped off the tree and headed back towards the Uchiha mansion.

Once he was in the house he walked up stairs slowly not bothering to turn the lets on.

Once Sasuke was upstairs he headed towards the bathroom and turned the shower on putting it as hot as he could without getting burned. Once the water was hot enough the Uchiha took off his clothes and walked into the shower letting the water relax his tense muscles.

Once the Uchiha was done with taking a shower, he got dressed and went straight to bed but he couldn't sleep.

Four weeks had passed and Sakura still hasn't woken up. Tsunade wouldn't let anyone see her and nobody knew why.

Sasuke was lazily sitting on the couch flipping through the channels. Really, he had over 500 channels and yet he couldn't find anything interesting.

Every now and than Sasuke's mind would wander to Sakura. He wasn't allowed to see her and that pissed him off. He hasn't seen Naruto or Kakashi for a few weeks now.

Sasuke guessed that without Sakura Team 7-even though they weren't really a team anymore- just didn't hang out anymore.

It just didn't feel the same anymore.

Three months. It's been three months since Sasuke last saw those beautiful emerald eyes. He was going to lose it if he didn't see her again. He just new he would.

Four months.

-

Five months.

-

Six months. Still nothing. He hasn't seen her or heard from her and it was driving him crazy. He knew nothing of Sakura's condition. He didn't know if she was okay or if she was worse. Tsunade wouldn't say anything.

Sasuke woke up the next morning. He really didn't want to get up. It sounds pathetic but he found no reason to get up today.

But he got up and took a hot shower before heading downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat. Since he wasn't all that hungry he settled on the couch watching T.V. while eating a tomato. He kept the channel on something he thought was interesting.

The door bell rang and rapid knocks accord on the door along with 'TEME! TEME OPEN THE DOOR!'

Sasuke sighed and threw the remains of the tomato in the trash and walked over to the door. He knew it was Naruto. Sasuke opened the door and was about to say something but a panting Naruto beat him to it. "T-teme. *Pant* It's about *Pant* Sakura-" Sasuke was now listening and grabbed Naruto to help him stand up.

"What about Sakura? Is she okay?" Sasuke asked quickly and anxiously. A hug smiled appeared on Naruto's face. "SHE'S AWAKE!!"

Sasuke seemed stunned for a second. She…she was…awake? She was awake. She was awake!

His body reacted on impulse and dropped Naruto letting him fall to the floor while Sasuke ran out the door. Naruto yelled something at him but Sasuke was too far away to hear.

When Sasuke reached the hospital he opened the entrance doors and quickly went to 'The Desk of Doom' as Naruto would call it. Sasuke really didn't know why Naruto called it that but he didn't really care at the moment.

When he approached the girl behind the desk she blushed and had a flirty smile on her face. Sasuke rolled his eyes and asked for room 42.

"It's through those doors on the right. Have a nice visit. You should come visit me some time." The girl with the dirty blond hair purred and winked at him. Sasuke scoffed and quickly ran through the door the girl had pointed to and looked for room 42 on his right.

34…

36…

38…

40…

Sasuke was standing right in front of room 42. Right behind this door Sakura was awake. Sasuke could only hear the beating of his heart. His heart was pounding against his chest as he knocked on the door.

The door opened and revealed Tsunade standing in front of him blocking the view of the room. When she saw Sasuke she smiled and looked back in the room and than back at him. She moved a side and let Sasuke walk in as she walked out and closed the door behind her. Sasuke kept his eyes on the door.

"Sasuke-kun?"

That soft sweet voice. It was real. It was there.

Sasuke slowly turned his head around looking at the very girl he was in love with. He looked at her making sure it was really her. Her pink hair was slightly damp as if she had just taken a shower. Her emerald eyes were sparkling with happiness. She was wearing her normal attire and she didn't have one scratch on her. She was standing next to the window smiling that smile that was only meant for him. Neither of them didn't know what to do.

Sasuke stared at her. Not knowing what to do. Than the thought entered his mind.

Would he scoop her up in his arms, kiss her, and never let go?

Or would he go on with his life like nothing ever happened?

Now it was clear what he was going to do.

He walked/ran to her and wrapped his hands around her waist and before she could do anything he smashed his lips against hers.

Sakura stood there with wide eyes. Thoughts were rushing through her head all at once. Is this really happening? Was she still unconscious? Was Sasuke, the man that she tried so desperately to not love, kissing her?

Sasuke was about to pull away because Sakura wasn't kissing him back which made something in his chest heart but stopped when he felt her wrap her hands around his neck and pulled him closer. And boy, did he love that.

You know when people say, 'When it's the right person sparks will fly'? Or something like that? Yeah well sparks were definitely flying between both of them.

After a while they pulled away for much need air. Sakura's eyes slowly opened as she was still in a daze. Sasuke leaned his forehead against Sakura's and saw the confusion in her emerald eyes.

"What…What was that for?" Sakura whispered still dazed.

"Everything." He responded as he kissed her again and this time Sakura immediately responded. They were so caught up in each other they hadn't noticed the door fly open with a smiling Naruto and Hinata.

Hinata blushed when she saw the two in a full make out session. Naruto chuckled from the awkwardness of seeing his teammates and best friends kissing in front of him. "Jeez. I'm happy for you guys and al-…hello?...guys?" Sasuke and Sakura were still kissing and ignoring Naruto.

"CAN YA STOP SUCKING EACH OTHER'S FACES FOR ONE SECOND SO I CAN SAY SOMETHING!?"

Sasuke reluctantly pulled away. "What dobe?" He asked.

"Well me and Hinata wanted to see Sakura-chan since she hasn't been here for a while buuuut nooo, you're here sucking her face off." Sasuke was about to retort but Sakura had pulled away from his arms even though she strongly didn't want to. Sasuke growled.

Sakura walked over to Naruto and Hinata and hugged them while taking the flowers they handed to her. "Thanks guys. Tell you what? Since I haven't really been…you know conscious for a while we the whole rookie nine can get together and go out tonight for some ramen." Naruto nodded his head like babble head. Hinata nodded. "Well we should go tell the others than. Well met you there around seven?" Hinata asked and Sakura nodded her head.

"We have a lot of catching up to do Sakura. Anyways me and Hinata are gonna leave so you and teme and can suck each others faces again. Bye." Naruto said as he was about to walk out. Hinata elbowed him on his arm and waved good bye to a blushing Sakura and a smirking Sasuke.

Once they were out the door Sasuke walked back up to Sakura and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again. Who knew the Uchiha could be so affectionate?

"Naruto's right, we have a lot of catching up to do." Sasuke said.

Sakura giggled as Sasuke pulled her closer to him. "Did you mean those things you said Sasuke-kun?" She said using the prefix only he wanted her to use when she used his name.

"What things?"

"The things about when…. When you went to sound?" Sasuke looked confused at her for a second but than remembered what he said when he was carrying her back to the village.

He kissed her again but this time slowly and passionately. "Every. Word." He said.

Okay so what did you think? Review please.

It was my first one-shot and I dont know if the ending was good enough. I didnt want them to say I love youu and all the stuff because I want to save that for the sequel! (If there is onee.)

Anyways I HAVE AN IMPORANT MESSAGE HERE SO READ!!!!!!!

If you liked it than leave me a review saying you would like a sequel because I am really considering doing one.

Peace.