God, I suck! I know, I know...I just can't stop myself from posting a new story. Sorry my lovely readers (:

Perhaps you have read this book...

Perhaps you haven't.

And if you are one of the latter- I highly recommend you read it sometime! It is by far my favorite book of all time. Who says the best ones have to be the biggest, filled with dragons and spells and fights?

No, no. This book is amazing.

So, before I begin, let me make a declaration!

I do not, in any way shape or form, own or claim any idea of this as my own! The Five People You Meet in Heaven is owned by the fantasssticcc Mitch Albom.

...neither do I own Naruto. Because if I did, Sakura wouldn't be such a pussy and Sasuke wouldn't hate her with an undying passion (:

Full Summary: "Love is stronger than death, even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories, either. In the end, life is stronger than death." Five people, five lessons. Sometimes in dying you learn more about the life you had than when you were living it. Sakura's death brings her through a journey of the people who impacted her life the most- and who left her too soon; and they each have a lesson to teach her that will answer the questions that she hadn't even known she had..

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Death.

Ninety-nine minutes left of her life.

Of course, she didn't know this. And how would anyone?

If we were gifted with this knowledge, then what would be the point of living?

Would anyone truly live? Or, perhaps, we would all live too much; our reckless pursuits of a full and happy life would be the reason our days sounded so limited once told.

But, I am not God, and therefore I can't say what would or would not happen if any of us were suddenly blessed with the ability to know how fast our clocks were ticking down. I am, however, able to tell you that Sakura Haruno is soon going to die.

She has, for quite some time now, lived her life by a quote from Susan Cheever: "Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time."

That was rational. After all, she had grown up in a world of ninja.

Who was she to know?

But soon, even she will know that it was a wrong one to live by.

Perhaps it would be easier to inform you that while she wasted away the years with the assumption of death, she was losing precious time to live. Lots of things had been taken from Sakura.

Many times her heart had been ripped.

But despite that fateful day, many many years ago, though not as long ago as you may assume, Sakura should have been living her life as such:

"Love is stronger than death, even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories, either. In the end, life is stronger than death."

This is something Miss Haruno has yet to learn...but something that she will be taught, regardless of it being too late, in ninety-eight minutes.

...thefivepeopleyoumeetinheaven..thefivepeopleyoumeetinheaven..thefivepeopleyoumeetinheaven...

"Doctor Haruno, you are needed on level 5. Haruno to level 5, please. Room 512."

The nurse on the intercom had an oddly soothing voice, despite using the same tone throughout the entire calling. The words echoed through the white-washed walls of the hospital, only causing a few seconds of hesitation on the bodies currently occupying the building's part.

Haruno registered with the nurses and doctors as, "Emergency care needed!"

As for the patients, the name brought about smiles as a calm rushed into the many different rooms of the facility.

Pink hair flowed behind her white doctor's uniform as a woman entered the closest elevator on level 2, quickly pressing the correct floor number and tapping the 'close doors' button multiple times. Standing there alone, waiting for the ding to sound and the doors to open to the Operation Floor, Sakura noticed some things.

Her body felt old, and rigid.

It felt much more weighed down with days than her thirty-seven years should.

"Doctor Haruno, you are needed in room 512, please."

The doors finally opened, as a hushed, "Yes, yes, I'm coming.." passed through her lips.

.x.

The operation door fell closed behind her as she made her way down the halls towards her office. Blood was splattered across the once bleach-white coat she was in. Many years ago she had learned the hard way one of the first rules of interacting with relatives: never wear a dirty coat to talk to them. It's one thing hearing that your son just died.

It's another to see the evidence soaked onto the doctor who let him die.

And yes- it's always "let their son die". They never think the doctor who "tried to save" their son. Quickly entering her office, she threw the dirty shirt into a contamination trashcan by her door and pulled a new one off the hook directly above it, shoving her arms through it as she walked back out to the halls towards the lobby.

Sixty minutes.

The nurses and patients who passed her were a blur, with no identifying features. For Sakura, it always felt like this after losing a patient. Her whole world would slip out of focus, save for the family. As she finally stepped into the carpeted floor of the lobby, her dull emerald eyes landed on a couple who resembled the boy she'd just worked on.

They were huddled together in the corner, sitting on a cream colored leather chair that was against the vanity window. The dark blue walls that surrounded them seem to match their mood, as the man with dark black hair and pale blue eyes held his wife close to him under his arm, only her red hair visible as her head was cast to the floor. Sakura cleared her throat, and the woman looked up. Her hazel eyes were red-rimmed, but the medic didn't fail to notice the spark of hope that fluttered through those orbs when they saw her.

It was always like that. When relatives saw that it had been Sakura Haruno working on their loved one, they were always filled with hope. She was the best for a reason; and that reason had to somehow save the injured.

Unfortunately this time, there is no skill good enough and no cure efficient enough for cancer.

Sakura motioned the two over, stepping back through the doors that led to the lobby to give the three some privacy. It was the man who spoke first.

"How is Naruto? Is he stable yet?"

"Can we go see him?" This was the mother- her voice edging on frantic.

The name only pricked her heart slightly. Naruto was now one of the most popular boys names, after all. Every one wants their son to be named after a war hero, right?

Sakura shook her head. "I'm very sorry to have to tell you this..but the cancer had progressed too far this time. We tried to stop it, but it had already passed into the blood stream too heavily."

Realization hadn't seemed to set in yet, and the mother urged once more, "So we can't see him yet?"

The pinkette lifted her hand and lightly held it on the mother's shoulder, secretly letting some of her chakra out to calm the woman. "Naruto wasn't able to make it through surgery. He.. died. I'm so very, very sorry."

And she was truly, truly sorry for them as she turned and walked away, leaving the parents to deal with their grief alone. Sakura tried to block out the heart-wrenching scream she heard behind her, but it was the same scream that had haunted her since the day she lost her first patient.

It always sounded the same.

.x.

She stepped out into the cool night air, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, letting herself feel the city of Konoha.

It wasn't very often Sakura had time to just stop. Being the highest ranking medic in all of the world often consumed the majority of her time. She wasn't complaining though. Keeping busy was a way out of her own mind. She could focus on patients, and diseases and illness' that were easy for her to cure. She could think about different antidotes to poison and the correct way to set a bone.

But the nights she got off early like this were times left for her mind to wander back to the past.

Thirty-two minutes.

When people are young, all they want to do is grow up.

They want to be able to control themselves and do whatever they please. They want to be able to go out and have a night on the town without consequences for coming home late. They want to be treated equally, and not talked to as a child.

And in the shinobi world: they want to be sent to battle.

Green orbs opened, shaking that train of thought out of her head.

Ah, yes, the infamous dream of the teenage ninja. To grow up and be strong and noble and go to fight.

What Sakura wouldn't give now to go back to those younger years and take each day as slowly as she could...and not go fight.

She began her leisurely walk towards the far end of town. She had bought a small house there at the edge of the city by the gates, a little stone one, seven years ago. The two-story house was humble when compared to the amount of money she was raking in on a daily basis, but really, who needs a mansion when she was the was only one living there?

.x.

On her way home, Sakura stopped by the memorial stone, like she did nearly every day. It had become a part of her daily routine, if not a part of her.

She would sit cross-legged in front of the rock, running her hands across the names that were once so familiar to her. There was barely any room left on the stone after the attack, but somehow all three of her important names had managed a spot together.

Her name should be on that stone too.

Twenty-four minutes.

It use to make her cry. Each step closer she would take to the stone was like another knife ripping through her heart. She would fall to her knees, face in her hands, and ball her eyes out. Weep like the world was over, because for a while it felt like her world was over. But each day it got easier, each month her heart would grow harder. After a few years there were no more tears to cry, and the ache turned in to a dull throb when she saw the stone.

Death was the way of life. Everyone is only living to die; it didn't take Sakura long to realize that while her life and heart lay in crumbles and ruins, the rest of the world moved on, with or without her.

Who decides who lives and who dies? Is it God?

Because if it is God, then he is one fucked up man. He should have known that none of these people deserved to die. There was a whole enemy army that he could have chosen from to kill off, ones that probably did deserve to die...and yet, all these names were here. All these people had families, best friends, students, teachers.

Wives.

And everyday, Sakura would try to convince herself that the sound shinobi and the missing-nin had no one; that if they died, no one would care. That's why it should have been their lives, not these innocent people. It usually worked, too, and she would leave the stone with a little more resentment in her heart than before she had came.

.x.

Twelve minutes.

Ino was sitting on the steps to her door when she arrived, a bouquet of flowers in hand.

Her hair was still platinum blond, long and beautiful. Her eyes were still deep cerulean blue, and her skin was still as flawless as the day she turned twenty. She smiled at Sakura, who was still taking her time walking despite seeing her best friend. She wouldn't ever let it show, but the pink-haired woman was trying to figure out why Ino was even there in the first place..

"Come on, Sakura. I've been waiting here for ten minutes for you! The least you could do is hurry your ass up!" Ino said exasperatedly, pulling Sakura into a hug when she finally got to the door.

"Well," Sakura answered, hugging back (because, honestly, this woman was crazy but she was her best friend, who she hadn't seen in a few weeks), "If you weren't stalking my house that wouldn't be a problem."

"Well, I love you too!" Ino spat, though the smile on her face remained. She stuck her arm out, handing the flowers to Sakura, "And here. You think I would forget?"

The smile grew bigger as Sakura took them, staring at her with curious eyes. Ino rolled her bright blue ones, "Happy Anniversary, Forehead!"

Anniversary...Today was...her anniversary?

The blank stare on Sakura's face gave her away as Ino scowled. "Oh, Sakura. Please don't tell me you forgot your own wedding anniversary."

"Of course I didn't." I forgot my own anniversary? To hide the shock, and embarrassment, she turned and walked inside towards the kitchen to find a vase for the flowers. Of course, she never forgot her husband. But over the years, she had managed to force herself to forget some of the memories that may cause more pain than necessary.

Ino followed on her heels, "I think it's time you took a break from the hospital. We can go on a vacation. Shika wouldn't mind much if I left, anyway, and I know you always get depressed this time of year.."

Ino was now leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, watching as Sakura filled a green vase with water and stuck her flowers in it, setting it on the window sill above the sink. She failed to notice the slight stiffen of the pinkette at her words.

"I'm fine, Ino. Really. It's been how many years? Anyway, the hospital needs me. The recent rise attacks has us really busy lately." She didn't meet the blue orbs of her friend as she was talking.

Two minutes.

"They have other doctors. I know you're great, but still, a few days won't hurt anyone."

Green eyes caught sight of the open front door as she was ignoring her babbling friend. Sakura walked towards the front of her house to close it.

"It will only be a week. It won't kill you, Sakura. And I know you need it." Ino gave her another smile as Sakura passed her. "It will be fun!"

Her hand reached out to the handle, pushing it forward.

Then a sound caught her ear, and she caught the closing door with speed that warned Ino something wasn't right.

"Ino, listen."

Footsteps were coming from the front gate, with slow progression that indicated that stealth was the purpose. If her house hadn't been so close, she never would have noticed.

Sakura put a finger to her lips, glancing back at Ino, as the two women stepped outside and made their way towards the sounds.

One minute.

Sound nin- ten of them.

Glancing back at the gates from her position behind a tree, Sakura could see the two guards at the front gates laying unconscious- or dead- on the ground.

Ino, trailing right behind her, suddenly stepped on a leaf.

A dead leaf.

The crunch had ten pairs of eyes looking in their direction, and suddenly one was behind Ino, yanking her up by the hair. Sakura was ready though, and stabbed the man in the chest before he did anything more. Ino, eyes wide with surprise, flung herself at a man advancing on Sakura's back, as the pinkette moved on to the next victim.

They were both a bit rusty with their fighting skills, but these kids were obviously not a very strong bunch. They must be only here to get information.

Eight down- two to go. Both were on Ino's side, though one was standing in the back watching his team mate fight the woman. It only puzzled Sakura for a little before she joined in with Ino, quickly realizing that this ninja was far more skilled than any of the rest they had killed off already.

Twenty seconds.

Jutsus were flying all over the place, but finally Ino caught the man off guard and stabbed him in the back.

The other man who had been standing on the sideline suddenly moved faster than Sakura had seen in many years- something that reminded her of the speed her late male team mates use to possess. He was behind the blond before her knife was even being pulled out, his knife flying towards her spine before Sakura even took a breath.

An image of Ino's little boy, the ten year old Asuma with his dad's bushy hair and his mother's blue eyes, flashed through her mind as Sakura jumped, forming hand seals faster than she had in years.

She briefly wondered if she was even doing the correct seals. It was her only chance, she'd thrown all her weapons. She was between Ino and the man just as the blade was about to make contact; it pierced through her chest cavern as the last seal formed. One look into the face of her enemy gave him away. He was the leader of the sound- the one who had recently started the uprisings again against Konoha.

Two seconds.

She heard Ino scream before the darkness consumed her. Was she screaming for her? Or her life?

She'd done a life-linking jutsu. Or tried.. Whatever wound he inflicted would hurt him just the as it hurt her. Yet, as he had impaled her, the man had looked the same. In fact, he had a sick grin on his face like it was a pleasure to watch her fall.

The black had taken her over too quickly, she hadn't been given time to see.

Zero.

Nothingness suddenly surrounded her, and she was floating away towards an unknown destination, free of her body and of the pain, as the sound of Ino's scream dulled into silence.


Hmm. Might as well tell you who she meets next?

Sakura gets to meet...her mother! Who knew! Besides me..and now you...

Anyway. I realize this was short. But I didn't want to waste time on her dying. It happened, that's it. Now on with the story! Haha.

Continue or delete?

-starry