I do not own Naruto.

I think that somewhere deep in the back of my mind I always knew it would come down to this. No matter how much I fought, no matter how much I tried to prevent it, you cannot change destiny. I knew what I had to do and I could only hope that in some way, whether big or small, my actions would benefit the world. I don't want it to be an act of suicide, but rather an act of valor that helped the village and prevented war. Heh, maybe I'll be as popular as Naruto after all of this. Maybe my name will be remembered for a long time and I'll be talked about in the academy as a great hero. I think I'd like that.

Thinking back, I remember a faint memory a few nights before Sasuke had left with Orochimaru. We were on the roof of the hospital, Naruto yelling at Sasuke again, fighting. In one split second their argument had turned physical, both going at each other with killer intent. I hadn't known what to, so I threw myself in the middle as if somehow that would have stopped it. I remember Kakashi there to save me, deflecting the boys' jutsu's as if it was nothing. When Sasuke left the village a few days later, I think that when I knew that the alteration on the building was a warning of what was to come.

But now they were too powerful. Kakashi wouldn't be able to stop them like last time. He was sitting on the side grasping his arm, blood dripping from the gash on his side, too injured to even get up. When I had gotten up, I had heard him yell my name, but I didn't stop running. I think he now knows what my plan is, and I can't bear myself to look back at him. Afraid I'll see the light in his eyes fade away with sorrow and pain.

I could hear my breath getting shorter and more frantic I broke out into a sprint. I could see them, Sasuke flying down, Chidori at its ultimate power; Naruto ready with his deadly Rasengan. They were too focused on each other to even see me running.

Just five more steps…..four….three…two..

I only felt the pain for a quick moment, but it was by far the worst thing I could ever have imagined. I could l feel their hands, Naruto's deep into my lower back and Sasuke's somewhere near my sixth right rib. The pain had faded and all I could feel now was… nothing.

I looked up into Sasuke's gaze. He was surprised, his mouth open and his eyes wide, staring at the hole where his hand had just been in my body. Naruto was the first to speak, his voice calling my name, yet it seemed so far away.

"How many people are you going to keep killing Sasuke?" I whispered, my body leaning against his for support. "How many lives are you going to take for such a stupid reason?" His jaw clenched as he looked away towards the ground at his side, then looked back, his eyes wet from anger and perhaps, sadness. I lost my composure and Naruto caught me, softly bringing me to the ground in his lap.

"Why, Sakura," He whispered, I could feel his tears falling to my cheeks. "I'm not going to forgive you." I smirked weakly.

"Did you expect me to forgive you if you had died just now?" I asked, coughing up a small amount of blood in mid-sentence. Naruto smiled sadly and buried his head in my shoulder as he cried. I looked past him at Sasuke, who still stood in the same spot, staring at his hand still covered in my blood. When he looked at me, I had never seen anyone so broken and confused as he was. For a moment, I found it surprising he even cared at all.

"Just stop fighting and live." I spoke, hoping he could hear me even though my voice was rough and scratchy. I looked up at the sky and smiled, content.

Naruto

"I shall see you tomorrow, then?" I looked up at Gaara and nodded in reply, his white and red hokage kimono shifting around his body as he walked to the door. We had just spent the past hours revising the treaty between the Sand and the Leaf and I could already feel a slight migraine pulsing in my skull. The bright white of the hospital office lights weren't really helping it either.

I massaged my temples for a few moments before getting up and also leaving the office. I walked down the hallway, yet instead of walking out the double doors, I turned left and went into the third door to the right. I could hear the heart monitor still beeping and it seemed to relax me a little. Sasuke sat at the small desk, his head in his hands staring at the cream colored wall. He had an expression of solidity, but I knew he spent most of his evenings here.

"She's gonna wake up you know," I said sitting in the chair across from him the chess board on the table and setting up the pieces. "She has to."

He looked up at me and waited till I made my first move, before he spoke. "She's too strong to die." He said simply, moving one of the pawns on his side. I looked at him and then looked as Sakura who lay in the pink bed, he body seeming so lifeless, except for the rising and falling of her chest.

She has to wake up. Not just for me, but for Sasuke too.