I know I should be working on "Cyber Space Sweetheart" now, but give me a break. I submitted 3 chapters today so leave me be for a while.
Enjoy and don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Think about it: If I did, Kankuro would've been a major character (and I believe he is. Other people don't, I guess.).
Note: Story told through Sakura's point of view.
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There will always be a flaw in everyone.
No one is perfect and that is probably the most common generalization known all around. We tend to fail and sometimes even fall because of our many mistakes, which we almost never manage to improve. An army faces defeat if there is an error in their plans and formation like how countless things can collapse with just one incorrect decision.
They were all seen as failures.
They said that it wasn't the skills of a person that makes him who he his but it is what his decisions were. If one were to make a wrong choice, he, himself, was wrong. I had many faults, but nothing stops me anymore… till now.
I'm Sakura Haruno, a medical ninja and a student of Tsunade-sama, and I'm about to make the biggest decision of my life… but I have yet to find out if it will be a great deed or the biggest mistake I'll ever make.
At 2:27 a.m., a young man was rushed to the Leaf Hospital, where I was working my night shift. The nurses asked help from me, as I was the next choice after Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san, who were both busy with paper work in their own offices.
Seeing and sensing the emergency of the case, I offered my services. The nurses led me quickly to the emergency room, where the man was brought, and my assistants explained his state and more about him.
He was simply found in a forest between Sunagakure and Konohagakure, around half an hour ago by an ANBU ninja doing his rounds. His wounds were deep; some were infected but only few appeared to be in vital points of his body.
It seemed that he's been lying on the forest floor for hours already, half-dead. They were quite relieved to see that he was still breathing. After experiencing massive amounts of blood loss, this man is lucky to be still alive.
From what I've just heard, we had to act fast and do it now.
I pushed through the two huge doors, swinging them open as the other medical ninjas followed me inside. The man's body was placed on a surgical table and the other medical ninjas crowded over him, putting an oxygen mask over his mouth and some began to check his heart rate.
Hurrying, I immediately rushed to the nearby cleaning station, where I washed my hands, put on my gloves and a mask on. Almost frantic, I grabbed my scalpel and some surgical thread and needles, knowing I'd have to stitch his wounds and scars.
I returned to the scene, ready for anything. Three doctors supported the equipment such as his oxygen mask and his dextrose, leaving me to work on his scarred and slashed body. They looked spontaneous, like how he had multiple sword slashes down his arms and aside from the flesh cuts on his torso, he had an open wound that went through him on his abdomen, hitting him fatally.
I almost gasped behind my mask, pitying this man as I gaped back at his cuts. I did what I could as I was healing his minor wounds with my techniques and as I slowly ran out of chakra, I realized that his breathing was slowly disappearing. His chest no longer rose as he failed to breathe in every now and then and my assistant said that his heart is attempting to fail.
Seeing that this'll be a challenge, I stopped for no longer than a minute to clear my thoughts and try to figure out how I'd do this. Should I cure his minor yet infected wounds first? I'd halt any major infections that way, but what about the open wound? That was a fatal hit.
"What could've happened to him?" I thought as I decided to stitch up the wounds that could take almost two hours to close with my healing procedure. It was because he needed to be healed now and two hours, heck even three minutes, was definitely too long.
Whoever this man is, he has to live. Everyone has the right to live.
Yes, I don't know who he is. He could probably be a father or merely a spouse. He might've been a warrior of war or even just a refugee. Maybe he was plainly an ambushed shinobi, unable to defend himself rightfully. Whatever he may have been, there will be someone who's going to cry if he dies.
A fourth of all of the chakra I have in my whole body was taken but when I found that most of his wounds have already healed with my healing techniques, I knew that it was worth it.
But I was greatly troubled when my own student broke the news to me…
"Sakura-sensei," she said, fear in her eyes, "The patient is getting paler by the minute. And there are suspicions of poisoning. What should we do?"
No relief reached me but I knew that I had to move again. Luckily, the hypothesis that he was poisoned proved to be wrong. Knowing that I only had to fix the open wound now, I gave it my all, losing huge amounts of chakra as I attempted to heal it even just partially in less than a few minutes. It was definitely impossible, but I took my chances.
By the minute, I was growing weaker and when my consciousness seemed like fading, I bit back, fighting whatever stopped me.
Soon, what I thought to be an impossible feat turned out to be possible with the right circumstances. Definitely, nobody thought that I could manage to close his wound, losing more than half of my chakra. My fellow medical ninjas clapped their hands in amazement, shocked by my deed.
I thought I had done it. I've made the best decision of my life. But this is reality. Nothing stopped there…
"Sakura!" one of the medical ninjas manning the machinery, "His breathing has stopped! He has given up!" Clearly, I turned to the heart rate indicator and there, the green line was thin and stiff, indicating his heart's failure.
My mind almost went blank. Usually, I'd never panic in these situations, but not this time.
"Well, don't just stand there!" I yelled, charging my chakra, "Help me out here! Do whatever you can!"
My colleagues felt my panic in my voice. They started to do medical techniques that brought the heart's pulse back. I tried to gather more chakra, trying to gain back the chakra I'd lost so that in case that I'd need to use a technique once again, lack of chakra wouldn't be a problem.
"Move away!" I yelled, shoving some of them, "Give him some space so when he starts breathing again, he won't have difficulty. Don't crowd around him. Only those who are passing chakra can get near enough!"
As the other medical ninjas backed away, standing by now, my eyes grew.
I knew this man.
I've seen him before, I always have. I knew too much of him and I'd never expected someone as powerful as him to end up like this. Biting my lower lip, I knew that I now had enough chakra for anything… even the forbidden technique.
"Nothing's helping, Sakura!" my assistant said, "We have to accept it now. We can't revive him." As the four who were working on him almost ran out of chakra, a back up four came forward, taking their job.
"Stop!" I screamed, halting their businesses. They all stared at me in disbelief, doubting me by the minute. I looked down at the lifeless body that was laid on the surgical table, his body completely healed of blisters and such…
But I knew that his heart was torn apart.
He has more to life rather than just to die like this, especially after the many mistakes he has made. I suspect that he regrets everything now like his betrayal and, hopefully, even the wrong he has done to me. He had pushed me around before… hurting me… neglecting me…
Although this is so, no matter how much he had done wrong to me, I will do what I can to help him without expecting anything in return.
And at this moment did I only realize that I have a choice. Only now did the big decision come. I could do whatever I had to and I could also do whatever I wanted to. Those two were rather different. I could make a decision that was beneficial for me alone, but I could also do something that would be for his good alone. I'd lose something, but I know that it'd be fine.
This choice will change a lot. If I die now, there is no one to follow my footsteps but my student, who has much more to learn. Tsunade-sama will not like this, too. "Think about it, Sakura." my conscience called, "If you risk everything for just him, what about the others? He's not the only person who needs to be healed." Struggling, I found these doubts worthless. I convinced myself that I wasn't the only one who could heal. Nothing seemed to make any sense... but...
I have decided.
Not the least hesitant now, I planted both of my hands onto the young man's chest, ready to do it.
"S-Sensei…!" my student was alerted, recognizing what I was about to do. It was a technique I had learnt from Chiyo-sama. I have studied it well, resulting to being able to use the technique. I had the will to choose to either do this or not…
And I chose to do it.
I exerted all the effort I could do, everything in me into it. I grunted as my life source poured through my palms, transferring to him. I had felt my tears rush from my eyelids, making me stifle and sob. I didn't cry because I knew that this would end up with me lost. I was crying because I was glad that I could save him… with my own life.
The cool blue chakra's glow faded away from my hands and soon, everything seemed to be a blur. My mind went null and I couldn't feel my limbs anymore. It felt worst than a dose of lethal poison and also worst than a flesh wound from a kunai. But it was better than letting the man die…
…I'd rather die, giving my life for him than go on living without him…
I still had slight consciousness, barely able to keep me up for maybe a few seconds, and I was there to witness my patient blink his eyes and wearily sit up. The medical ninjas around helped him up and as he looked around, he saw me on the floor, upright but slowly dying…
After so long, he gazed at me with his charming eyes, and I heard his low voice speak my name, "S-Sakura?"
All my energy was going to be gone so all I was able to do was whisper to him before finally closing my eyes:
"Sasuke-kun… You're alive… I…"
Soon, there, I lay on the floor, lifeless and numb like a rag doll.
And when I was in a better place, I had realized that it wasn't the biggest mistake that I've ever made. It was the best decision I've ever made all my life.
I was just glad that I died with no regrets…
All I can do now is watch over Sasuke from above and never leave his side. His ways have changes, miraculously, and he is living the normal life of a Konoha shinobi now. The many people whom he have hurt and betrayed have now learned to forgive him. I be one of those persons...
That was how much I loved Sasuke.
Sometimes, the best decisions you've ever made are when you've given up something precious for someone who didn't have it.
I gladly gave my life up for someone I loved till the end.
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If you want this to be the sequel to "This isn't Our Last Goodbye", so be it. But I don't consider it to be that. I might've used some medical terms wrongly or something, it's coz I'm not a doctor or a nurse so I apologize for that.
Reviews are welcome. Thank you.