Sakura sighed, that was the fifth time he had turned her down for a date! "Cha! What's a girl gotta do around here to get noticed?!" She drove her fist into a wall, but to her surprise it was her knuckles that broke instead of the concrete. Or so she thought… A tiny crack was produced where she hit, and she rubbed her quickly swelling hand as she stared at it.

She began to turn away when she heard a crackle. Whipping her head back to the indent, she saw that it had cracked its way up the wall. It began to crumble from the top, underneath the purple sky, dropping large stones down to her. Sakura tried to run, but the ground below her fell away under her feet due to the same spreading crack. It was only a moments notice until she fell under, watching the rest of the world shrink away above as she sank. Only the large broken pieces of building and land followed her down. "HEEELLPPP!"

She sat up suddenly and clunked her head on something thick. "Ow!" It said as it retreated. Sakura blinked at the pain oozing on her forehead, then looked to see who was in her room with her. The feathered black hair and blue shirt was unmistakeable, "Sasuke-kun!"

"Aah..," he looked over his shoulder at her, and she could see a red spot on his head through the part in his bangs.

"Why are you in my room?" She asked as she pulled up the blanket to shield herself.

"Sakura," he turned to face her, "this isn't your room. You've been unconscious for days." That's right, how could she forget? There was a sudden ambush on their way to the hidden waterfall village. It turned into a battle, and she had been blown off a cliff. 'I guess that explains my dream,' she thought.

"I'll go tell Kakashi you're awake. We still have a mission to do." He got up and headed for the door.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun!" He obeyed and stood in place. "Were… You the one taking care of me?" She felt a light blush growing on her cheeks at the thought of Sasuke watching over her.

"No, Kakashi was. I only filled in for him while he did something." His back still faced her; cold, distant… As usual. "Oh, I see. Thankyou, Sasuke-kun." He shrugged, then left without a final look at her.

'He thinks I'm a nuisance. What kind of ninja gets knocked out so easily? He doesn't even care about me.' Sakura thunked to the pillow, dragging the blanket over her head.

The door slid open, "Sakura? Sasuke told me you were awake." Sakura groaned and sat up, and felt even more lame that the blanket caused her hair to frizz up like crazy.

"It happens to the best of us, Sakura. You can't always be lucky, but it could have always been worse." She mulled over her sensei's words, and he wisely retreated.


"Sakura-chan!" Naruto approached her, arms agape. She seemed it fit to give him warning: "come any closer Naruto and it'll be a punch to your gut!" There was a "heh" from Sasuke, and she turned and smiled at him. He wasn't looking at her, of course, just leaning coolly on the wall of the building with his hands in his pockets.

She let her smile fade as they began to walk. Naruto was arguing with Sasuke, and Kakashi was following behind the three of them. After a few minutes of Naruto's constant drabble, they approached a clearing. Not a natural clearing, this one was produced from battle. At the edge of the clearing was a cliff. Sakura knew from the silence that this must've been the place of the ambush, and hung her head.

"Stay alert," Kakashi said, "they could still be around."

"If they're still around I'll find them, dattebayo!" Naruto darted forward, running alongside the cliff. Kakashi stretched a hand out after him, "Naruto, wait! The area's probably booby-trapped!" Great, now they all had to chase after him. Sakura rolled her eyes and followed the others.

Of course, Kakashi was right. Naruto tripped a few wires, causing hundreds of kunai to fly in his direction. Sasuke was so cool, dodging and blocking any that came near him. He was untouchable. Naruto was lucky and his reflexes managed to save him, barely. He got away with a scratch on his cheek and some tears in his clothes.

Sakura exhaled in relief; her boys were okay. "What the hell are you doing, Naruto?! Trying to get us all killed?!" All three of them quickly whipped around to face her, but the alert on their faces meant that it wasn't her words that caused their reactions.

She ducked, covering her head, and felt the blade sift through her pink locks. Pink strands fell around her, and she felt her rage boil, "Why you—!" Extending her leg, she spun around to take out his balance.

The thick, bulky legs caught and slipped out from under the large ninja, landing him flat on his back. Sakura planted her hands on her hips and looked down on him triumphantly, "attacking a girl from behind, huh?! That's what you get!"

"Sakura!" That voice wasn't from Naruto or Kakashi. She turned back to look at Sasuke, and saw that the weight of the grand ninja's fall had caused the ground to crack away.

It felt away from the rest of the land before she could get good enough footing to jump. She was falling.

"Luck doesn't strike twice in the same circumstance," was a line in one of the ninja scrolls she had read. It was about how ninja's shouldn't trust in luck, because it would ultimately be their end.

She squeezed her eyes tight and screamed, feeling the air gush by her as she plummeted down, further and further. Her tears would rip from her cheeks and fall into the sky, and she was too scared to watch her coming end.

Suddenly there was a smack onto her wrist, and her eyes jumped open and upward. Sasuke's face was a grimace as he tried to stick to the rock face with chakra, but it continued to tear away beneath his feet.

They finally caught, but the ricochet caused her small wrist to drop from her hand, "SASUKE!" Sakura cried as she threw out an outstretched hand, and her eyes welled up when he caught it.

Even though she was dangling above a rocky river and swaying at the mercy of the wind, she knew that she was safe as long as she held Sasuke's hand.

Naruto was quick to take the spotlight, and created a trail of shadow clones to propelled them back to the surface.


Sakura smiled at the memory. That was three years ago now, and she knew what she had to do. Sasuke was the one that was falling into a crumbling darkness now, and it was her turn to save him from it. She would take his hand in hers and let him know that everything would be okay, because she still cared for him. Especially after all this time, she wouldn't let him fall alone.