Inhale, Exhale.

Inhale, Exhale.

Sasuke's panting, out of breath. His curse seal has activated when he was about to attack Gaara. He's trying to get up, to breathe, but he can't. He can barely comprehend what's going on. He feels himself slowly slipping away, involuntarily, and feels Gaara's attack coming closer when he hears a familiar voice. He sees orange and blue and blonde.

It's Naruto? He thinks, surprised. He tells Naruto to leave, that he's no match for Gaara.

He then smells a calming aroma of cherry blossoms and a stench of a wet dog.

Sakura…

She's saying his name, and he can hear her gasp when she notices the Curse Seal has spread all over his body. He sees her blue ninja shoes and small baby hands that pet his hair slowly, clearly worried.

Tch.. Always worried.

Before he can think anything else, he hears Gaara's scream as he's coming his way and he's scared out of his mind. For himself. For Sakura. For Naruto. For the wet dog that Sakura was just yelling at .2 seconds ago. And he watches, helpless, waiting to be attacked when all of a sudden he's blocked by nothing but the view of the Haruno Clan symbol and a kunai in front of her, her face hidden from him.

All of a sudden his heartbeat stops along with time, his eyes widen as he's lying there, helpless , watching the event unfolding before his eyes.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

This can't be happening.

But it is.

She's blown to a tree, stuck in Gaara's sand. He hears Naruto yell her name, and he loses consciousness from his curse seal and seeing her like that, it's just too much for him to take all at once.

Then he's pushed with Naruto against him, which wakes him up and he's able to get up a bit now. He sees Sakura slowly being crushed by the sand, and he's suddenly reminded of that night. He shudders and tries to talk now, trying to get out the words to Naruto to run away with Sakura and that he will stall for them. Naruto tries to protest but then Sasuke cuts him off again, saying why.

He doesn't want her to die. She's the closest girl he's been with. She's the only one who actually doesn't bicker with him and all she does these days is worry about him. He can't imagine a day without Sakura in Team Seven.

He thinks back to all the memories between the two of them, her fangirling since he met her, then crying over his dead body, hugging his suddenly alive body, asking him out for dates, her face when she's rejected constantly, but still her inability to stop liking him. Her blushing if he even looked at her, and as he complimented on her genjutsu skills before the Chunin exams. Her terrified of Orochimaru along with him, her holding onto his hand as he slipped away into unconsciousness from the curse seal. Her beaten up face from what the Sound Nin did to her, her hugging him, telling him to stop, to not let the Curse Seal take over him, because according to her, it wasn't the Sasuke she knew. Her yelling at him to not continue for his curse seal was still reacting badly to his body. Her crying, begging for him to stop.

Why did she look out for him so much? Why him?

Then he watches in shock how Naruto defeats Gaara. With a power like never before, constantly repeating, saying he'll protect Sakura no matter what. Absolutely stunned, frozen in place.

He watches Naruto fall with Gaara, his last blow as they land to the ground, but then he sees Sakura's sand slipping, so he goes to catch her without even sparing a second thought. Like a reflex, an instinct. He sets her down by Pakkun, and looks at her beat up face. He couldn't protect her, again. Just like in the Forest of Death. She got hurt because of him. Because he's not strong enough. Not strong enough to protect the ones he l- But he doesn't want to think about that now; he can't. All he can think is she's alive, she's alive, she's alive. He remembers Naruto is still with Gaara, so he tells the dog to take care of her, not listening to his protests.

He sees her at the funeral the next time, clean from any bruises she had from Gaara's attack, in her funeral clothes. He sees Naruto, bandages on his face, also in his funeral clothes. He walks right past her and Naruto a few steps. He doesn't really know what to say; but a comfortable, sad silence passes between the three over the Hokage's death and the fact that they all are alive. A cold breeze whips through all of their hairs, a chill down his spine. But there's this strange warmth inside him now, and he doesn't know how to explain it, but it must be the fact that his teammates are by his side. He starts walking, and they catch up to him, not saying a word or sparing a glance.

At the funeral, he's standing next to her. They watch Konohamaru cry. They watch Naruto ask Iruka questions. They get in line, give flowers and their blessings to the deceased shinobi from the invasion and mostly, the Hokage. He remembers how the Hokage would pinch his cheeks every time he saw him, asking about his family. Then only slowly watching over him, after the massacre happened, no more words left to say anymore, a sad silence between them. He was a good man, though. Sakura nudges him, relieving him from his thoughts. He looks over at her soft, sad emerald like eyes to see them staring at the sky. "The rain stopped." She whispers. He looks up. It has. The sky, which was, a few minutes ago, dull grey and depressing like the atmosphere they were surrounded in, is now clearing up to a bright, blue one. And so has the atmosphere, as everyone leaves and starts chatting with their family members and comrades quietly. People are moving on, trying to move on. They both watch Naruto run up to them, smiling. Dobe. He thinks, as he clumsily falls over them. He wouldn't have it any other way though. Team Seven isn't Team Seven without the dobe, tripping and making a fool of himself, but always the positive one of the three, preaching about his ninja way and goals 24/7. Kakashi, silent but there and always giving his side comments and good advice. Sakura, always trying to be the peacemaker between the dobe's and his rivalry, but also yelling at Naruto for being a dobe and over worrying for him. He can't imagine what would have happened if Sakura hadn't survived. How empty the team would have gotten without the pink kunoichi. No one to make them stop fighting and get along, sure Kakashi would, but his words weren't exactly comforting all the time. He was more of a lecture type, and while Sakura did lecture a lot, she barely did it to Sasuke. No one to constantly worry over him, sure he had Naruto. But Naruto bickered more than actually give words of comfort and happiness, like Sakura.

A few days later, they are all on a rooftop on a sunny day. Naruto is making Kakashi teach him chidori like Sasuke, but obviously, failing, just screaming the jutsu's name and tightly holding his hand. Kakashi looks tired from his one eye showing and his posture. Sasuke and Sakura are watching them from a distance, and Sakura faces him suddenly, saying thank you to him. She says thank you for saving him from the sand. He thinks she probably got that conclusion that he did because Pakkun probably told her he caught her when she fell. He looks down at a puddle that's leftover from the rain at the funeral a few days ago. "No" he says, pausing. "It was Naruto." She starts laughing and says he's just being shy, and he looks at the puddle, still, memorizing how it moves with the wind and how clear the sky looks in it. He tells her she hasn't seen Naruto's full powers yet. He was the one who saved her. He looks up to see Sakura's face since all he hears from her is "Naruto, huh?" and he's peeved to see a gentle smile that's usually reserved for him only. He gets annoyed and doesn't try to hide it, since clearly Sakura is still staring at Naruto with gratitude. I should have protected you. I'm always the one protecting you. He thinks back to how his family died, and that's how Sakura could have die d if Naruto wasn't there. It aggravates him to no end, how he was helpless once again. What if only Sakura came? What could I have done to save her? She would have died, just like my family. Why aren't I strong enough?

He replays these dark, consuming thoughts over and over every time, driving him crazy when he's training, on a mission, and then, after he meets Itachi, when he's at the hospital and he sees Sakura cutting apples for him, trying to cheer him up from what happened with his Nii-san.

It doesn't matter if I want to stay in the village or not, Itachi will find a way to kill my friends. To make me come to him. If he doesn't, someone else will. And I won't be able to save them, just watch them die like my clan. My only family left. Because I'm not strong enough. Not strong like Naruto. How he protected Sakura and survived. And while Sasuke is more than grateful he did, because just like Sakura, he couldn't imagine a life without Naruto, he was peeved he wasn't the one that did. Naruto's not supposed to be stronger than me. He failed in the academy. He could barely do jutsus right. Why did he save Sakura, why not him? He's supposed to be the strongest of the three.

Its right then that something inside him snaps, and without thinking, he takes it out on Sakura who has just offered an apple right then, throwing the whole plate against the floor..