♥ Beating hearts♥

You were lain in blood,
I thought you were done,
and when I laid against your chest,
I could feel our hearts beating as one♥

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♥Author's Note: Hey, people, it's meee. I know it's been quite awhile, and I've missed this site, and missed you guys. (: I've been busy, and, embarrassingly enough, grounded for nearly half a year. e.e; Don't ask me what I did; I can't remember, but my Mum is finally considering giving me the internet back, sooo... yeah. This is a 'possibly-coming-back-and-writing-again' treat for you guys, featuring; Naruto and Sakura! A lot of people hate this pairing; but I think it's interesting how he would risk his life to save her. This is a touchy romance for all you romance suckers(like me!) out there, with just a hint, a dash, and a trickle of action. (;

I'm begging you; if you read this fanfiction, please review. It's going to be detailed. Very detailed. Words make beauty, I always say, so, the least I can do is to make this fanfiction touchy with pretty words. (: I must warn you; this fanfiction has a lot of blood. In my personal opinion, fanfictions with lots of blood appear beautiful. Generally, it's the way blood contrasts against light skin, and how certain writers can describe it's crimson glow. I'm not sadistic; but really, just imagine it on the anime. Moon glowing; the dark sky radiantly seeming to blend; and red on white skin beneath the pale moonlight. Enjoy, and, do review, yes?

♥Rating: 'T' for violence, and the descriptions of the blood and gore. (: And the occassional 'baka', but 'baka' isn't only used as a swear word. It also signifies 'moron' 'idiot'. It can be used as 'bastard', but even in the Bible, that word was used, so I don't generally consider it a swear word. At the end, however, Sakura... loses her temper. She says a colorful word a few times. o: But it's not a bad, bad word, so, yes. :D

♥Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; probably never will. But how awesome would that be if I did? (:

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♥The sky seemingly had a pink and blue glowing light, leaves were swaying and blowing, blending with the earth. Autumn had arrived, and winds were beginning to settle. The invisible wind controlled most of nature's substances; the way the water's waves rolled over each other, whether or not fire would still burn, the way leaves would blow and the way the wind communicated with the trees. Wind controlled so many things, had so much power. Few recognized it; but someone did, and even though he would never tell a soul about it, he loved autumn.

Sitting on a swing admiring the way the wind blew wasn't really his style, though. No way. Kunai in hand, blonde hair in blue eyes, and sweat beading on his forehead, Naruto Uzimaki, future Hokage, was practicing the art of the kunai. He held the cool, slim metal between his fingertips, and thrusted the kunai as hard as he can. It was swirling, cutting through the air, whistling, and then...

"Aah!" Naruto screamed, frustrated. His orange jumpsuit was sticking to his tan skin, his blonde hair was poking out in the strangest directions, and sweat trickled down his eyelids. He fell to his knees, chakra nearly almost completely drained from him. He had been practicing a certain art of the kunai; charging it with chakra. It was exceedingly difficult and gave him a headache, but, of course, he wouldn't give up. Naruto would never give up on anything. Aside from being the village idiot, he was one of the most stubborn,(which made him highly obnoxious, but, admirable) people there, and he was certain that he could do anything he put his mind to. Standing up with the last bit of energy he had, he furrowed his eyebrows, raised his fist, pounded it against his other palm, and grinned his devilish grin. He picked up another kunai on the ground, let it slide beneath his fingertips. Then, building up a large amount of chakra, he threw the kunai at the tree, and then...

"YES!" He screamed, nearly jumping for joy, "Yes, yes, yes!" See, this techinique was that the kunai, accompanied by a large sum of chakra, could gather enough speed and strengh that it could pretty much slice through anything it was thrown at. The only problem was that it would drain you of all your chakra, and you would immediatly be weak and have absolutely no energy or strengh except your reserves. Naruto had done this technique seven times. You can only imagine how tired he was. He had already used up all of his chakra on the first try; the other six times was on his reserve chakra; the nine-tailed fox. Seeing as he had used all of the nine-tailed fox's chakra, you can only guessed what happened next.

Thud.

Once he awoke, he awoke to a very pleasant sight. That of the very pretty Sakura. Her green orbs were staring down at him, and her face was relaxed and calm. He always thought that her pink hair contrasted against her pale skin very nicely. In fact, Naruto thought she was just plain gorgeous. With her perfect complexion, her big eyes, and welcoming face(usually, anyway. She didn't look so welcoming whenever she was mad and wanted to bop him on the head.), her forehead didn't seem so big. He thought it wasn't even really that noticable. His fingertips felt along the clean sheets of his bed, and the scent of flowers was in the room. The paneling along the wall seemed to glow, like it had been dabbed with oil. The brown table that sat next to his bed had a bowl of steaming water on it, and lots of medication pills and needles.

This was the moment, and he snatched it very quickly. He grinned at her, and bolted up, "Hey, Sakura". He said, but his voice was hoarse, "You'll never guess-" But she cut him off, and frowned at him. Not so welcoming. "Shut up and lay down, Naruto." She commanded, and he obeyed, but not happily.

But that didn't stop him. He grinned, "Wow, you really care. I mean, your taking such great care of me!"

"It's only because I have to." Sakura replied calmly, dipping a washrag into hot water, and then ringing it of the liquid. She then dabbed it along the wounds inbetween his fingers. "You're so clumsy, Naruto. You cut your fingers really badly practicing that stupid move." She grumbled.

Naruto felt like wincing, but didn't want her to feel.. well, sorry for him, so he didn't. Instead, he made sure he looked like he didn't feel a thing, and ignored her. "So, you mean you don't want to take care of me?" He pretended to pout, "I guess that I'll have to do it better, then."

Sakura didn't move, and instead raised her gaze to his eyes. He thought that her eyes looked like emeralds.. shiny, pretty emeralds which he wanted to put into his pocket and never let anyone touch. They were that precious to him; of course, gouging out her eyes just because he thought they were pretty wasn't very great. "Don't be a baka, Naruto." She snapped at him angrily, "You are most certainly not practicing that move again until I tell you it's alright to even sit up. Got it?"

"Whatever", He said, lowering his eyes, and slouching. "Why aren't you over there googling Sasuke, anyway? I bet you'd like doing that better."

Sakura frowned, but her cheeks turned pinker than they already were, "I don't google him. Just because I look at someone, that doesn't mean I'm googling them. When I look at you-"

His lips parted into a big smile, "You're googling me! I never thought of it that way. Wow. You - googling me. Awesome!"

Her face turned bright crimson, and she narrowed her eyes at him, "You know, if you weren't hurt, I'd be punching you in the face right now. I don't google you. You're such an idiot."

"I google you too."

"Naruto, shut up."

Naruto was about to smile at her just to see if she would turn red again, when Kakashi stepped through the door. His eyes looked bored; his silver hair was poking about in different directions, and he had his hands in his pockets. "How is he?" He asked, leaning against the once again oil slick looking boards that rimmed the door.

Sakura turned and smiled at Kakashi, "Oh, hello Kakashi-sensei. He's perfectly fine.. talking about googling people and stuff."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I see." He said, then clearing his throat, smiled beneath the black cover that hid more than half of his face, "He's feeling better, then."

Naruto frowned, "Okay, why do you smile at Kakashi, but you won't even be nice to me?" He said angrily, but his voice was hoarse and weak, his blue eyes staring hard at Sakura.

Sakura rolled her eyes, and Kakashi chuckled, "Yes, he's back to his normal Naruto self." A few moments later, Sasuke crept in. His black hair hung in his ebony-blue eyes, and his pale face had scratches all over it. "Naruto". He said, more like it was annoying to say the name rather than a friendly greeting.

"Oh, Sasuke!" Sakura cried, running over to his side, "Your face - it's all scratched up. What happened?" She asked, her eyes worried, and her attitude seemed like that she had forgotten all about Naruto, which made Naruto boil with anger.

"HEY! Hurt guy over here - Sasuke probably just got scratched by a cat, or something." He yelled angrily, and this time his voice got strong.

Sakura frowned, looking back over at him, "You're fine. You'll heal on your own." Then, she turned back to Sasuke. "Are you okay?"

"So will he!" Naruto shouted, frustrated and angry.

Sasuke ignored the enraged Naruto, "Yeah.. I'm fine..." He said boredly, his eyes lowered to the ground, "Just got scratched by some branches on my way over here. No big deal." He said in a monotone, then raised his eyes to Naruto, "What happened to him?"

"Oh, Naruto? He fell on his head just a little too hard." She looked over her shoulder and frowned.

"Oh, come on!" Naruto shouted angrily. The effects from his previous engagement, however, hadn't worn off, and...

Thud

This time, however, poor Naruto didn't wake up for an period of seventeen hours, and even though he woke up to a pretty face, it wasn't Sakura's.

"Lady Tsunade!" He said hoarsely, and bolted up, "What're you doing in here, old woman?"

"With that kind of attitude", Lady Tsunade said frowning, "I ought to slap you across the cheek, brat."

"Well, you still haven't answered my question." He said, folding his arms over his chest.

Lady Tsunade rolled her eyes, and blew a strand of her blonde hair that fluttered across her forehead. She mockingly folded her arms across her chest, "And you ignored me." And with that, WHACK!, a quite loud slap flew across Naruto's cheek.

"Hey! I'm already hurt! Or did you not hear?" He shouted, his eyes glowing with anger as he rubbed the red hand print on his now swollen cheek.

"Just shut your mouth and listen, Naruto". She scowled, "we have a B rank mission on the line, and I need you and Sakura to take care of it." Then, her face softened, and a mischevious look glowed in her feline-shaped eyes, "Unless..."

"Unless?" Naruto asked eagerly, already forgetting about the slap on the cheek.

Her glossy lips tipped into a slight smile, "Unless of course," She cooed softly, "you still happen to be tired and.. helpless."

Naruto's brows furrowed, "Me? Tired? HELPLESS! No way, old lady! I'm going to knock that mission into the ground!"

She smirked, "Good." She said, but her smirk quickly faded into a frown, "And don't call me 'old lady', Naruto. Have some respect."

He ignored her and jumped up, his toes burying deep into the mangled sheets on his bed, "And," He added, throwing his fist into the air and grinning, "I get to go on a mission with Sakura! ... Alone!" His determined look faded to a puppy love gaze, "Just me and her. No Sasuke. All alone..."

"Naruto", Lady Tsunade said, snapping her fingers in his face, "look, this isn't about you and some girl, it's a mission. Got it?"

Naruto turned red, "Yeah, I know." He said, scratching his head, "Anyway, what do we have to do?"

"I'll explain that later." She said, standing up and turning to leave, "Get dressed and meet me by the ramen shop. Don't forget to bring Sakura."

"You can count on it, old lady!"

A vein throbbed at her temple, "Look, Naruto, do you want me to slap you again? Next time, I'll do it harder and you'll be out. Again." She said, and walked to the door, then closing it behind her.

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Naruto and Sakura argued the entire time while traveling to the ramen shop. Sakura hit him a few times on the head; and then smiled amusingly at him as he yelled at her. They did this the whole way there until Naruto's nostrils inhaled the fumes from the steam that simmered off of the ramen noodles.

"Raaaaaaaaameeeeeeeen!" He screamed, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the shop, sat down, and immediatly ordered three bowls of raman.

Sakura followed him with a dreary sigh and brushed a strand of pink hair out of her emerald eyes, then sat down. Lady Tsunade was busy talking to Kakashi awhile away, but soon came over and sat down in one of the wooden chairs. As she sat, she quirked a brow at Naruto's raman portions. "Naruto, Sakura." She said, and tapped her long nails against the wall while crossing her legs over one another.

Sakura smiled, "Lady Tsunade." She bowed, "How are you?"

"Fine." She answered, "Let's cut to the chase," She said boredly, "this is a B rank mission that could possibly become an A rank mission along the way depending upon whether or not your discovered."

"Awesome!" Naruto cried with a mouthful of ramen, throwing his fist, which was holding a spoon, into the air.

Sakura turned red, and shook her head while closing her eyes. "Jeez, Naruto. Manners?"

"Manners are for idiots." Naruto replied, chewing loudly, "So, what do we have to do, old lady?"

"You are overrusing that phrase, brat, so if you don't shut up, I am going to slap you again. We clear?"

He waved his arms, "Whatever".

She groaned, "You are to protect a child. However, this child-"

"A kid!" Naruto groaned, "Oh, come on! Like I want to protect some bratty little kid. This isn't a B-rank - it's more like.. like a.. a LOW RANK!" He shouted.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura hissed, and made a fist at him.

"Anyway," Lady Tsunade went on while rubbing her temples, "as I was saying, the child, however, is no ordinary brat. She's a trained shinobi. Probably a better shinobi than either of you will ever be."

"Watch your trap, old lady!"

"Watch your's, brat!" She growled threateningly. "You are to protect this kid at all cost; because she's being chased by highly experienced assassins. Our village is trying to sign an alliance with her's; if there's no protection for her, we might gain new enemies. Get the drift?"

"Yeah". Naruto nodded.

"Hai, Lady Tsunade." Sakura replied.

"Good. You'll start tomorrow. No Kakashi. No Sasuke. Let's see if you two can handle it."

"I can!" Naruto said, sneaking in a wiggle of his eyebrows and a grin at Sakura.

She didn't swoon as he planned. Instead, she rolled her eyes, "I hope so, Lady Tsunade."

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The ninjas trudged through a nasty forest, one that was swampy.

"Sooo... Sakura.." Naruto said with a smile.

"Shut up, or you'll get this shoved up your teeth", Sakura growled, making a fist at him.

He frowned, "Come on, Sakura, can't you be a little nicer to me?" He sighed, shaking his head, blonde hair falling in his blue yes.

Sakura smiled sweetly, "Yes." She said politely, then with a softer tone, repeated, "Shut up, or you'll get this shoved up your teeth."

Naruto frowned even more. "Jeez!"

However, as the journey pressed on, they eventually started talking. And even though their conversation mainly revolved around Ramen, and ninja things(Naruto was doing most of the talking, you see.), he could be serious at points.. and even possibly... admirable. Sakura never thought that he could actually be anything except for an annoying loudmouthed brat. Of course, after the serious moments, he'd go right back to rambling about something that didn't even relate to the serious things.

Naruto was bragging to Sakura about how he had a plan to one day become Hokage, when all of the sudden, she came to a screeching halt. He bumped into her, then rubbed his head, "Sakura, what did you do that..." He didn't finish his question. He knew the answer. Blood was splattered all over the trees. It dripped from autumn leaves onto Sakura's pale face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open in an 'O'.

"Oh, Naruto.. What happened?" She asked softly, but Naruto didn't answer.

He already knew. A slaughter.

Battered bodies resided on the ground, many kunais and weopons that were unidentifiable stuck into the chests of men whose mouths were opened in screams nobody could hear.

He heard a rustle, and jumped, grabbing Sakura by her waist. They tumbled hard into a pile of bloody, torn leaves. Where they were standing, a katana dug deep into the ground. It would have sliced Sakura straight through her head, and Sakura knew it.

Out of the corner of Naruto's eyes, he could see a tiny figure hiding in the trees, crouching. "Hey, up there!" He shouted. "It's okay; we mean absolutely no harm."

"Naruto, what're you d-"

"Shh. It's her."

A voice that was no louder than the coo of a dove answered, "How do I know?"

"Come down; we were sent by Lady Tsunade."

"Oh." The voice answered, and a small person dropped from the trees. She had white hair that fell on her shoulders in severe spikes, and a cloth wrapped over her eyes. Her black and white clothes were soaked entirely in crimson blood, and there were deep gnashes in her cheek, leaking red liquid that streaked her neck.

"I can tell you aren't lying." She said quietly. "I am Ayume. Pleased to meet you." She bowed.

Sakura bowed. "I'm Sakura. The boy next to me is Naruto."

"A pleasure." She said softly.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, yeah. Why do you have a black cloth on your eyes?" Just as he inquired, Sakura stepped on his foot very, very hard, and he almost yowled except for the fact he didn't want to embarrass himself.

Her lips tipped into a halfsmile. "I am blind. I feel vibrations and movements, not see them."

"That's how you are such a good shinobi, then? I mean, so I've heard."

She nodded.

Sakura smiled at her, "How old are you? Did you kill all of these men by yourself?"

Ayume nodded, "I am seven. And yes, I did. But I didn't do so well this time." She frowned, her frown seeming to be faroff just as her words, and touched her bleeding cheek.

"It's okay." Sakura said, and smiled, "We will make sure you'll be alright."

"Alright..." She mumbled, "Some things will never be alright.."

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Sitting beneath the glowing moon, Sakura dipped a washrag into boiling water, then rung it of the liquid. She gently wiped Ayume's cheek. Ayume didn't even flinch. Sakura tried to talk her through the pain as she injected a medication into her arm that left most adults sprawled on the floor crying, but the girl acted like she didn't notice.

"Ayume, you are very brave. Doesn't that hurt, even a little?"

"Just a little bit." Ayume replied, and smiled weakly.

"I'm very sorry; but it's to make sure that you don't catch any diseases through blood that isn't your's."

"You're just doing your job." She said with a smile, and Sakura couldn't help but smile back.

Sakura and Naruto took their packs of their backs and laid them on the ground to use as pillows; considering the packs were tightly wound in a cylinder-like shape.

Naruto gave Ayume his pack-pillow, and leaned against a rock.

"That looks uncomforable", Sakura said with a frown.

He grinned at her, "Not at all!" He said, "It's actually probably more comforable than those things."

"Suuuure." Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Goodnight, tough guy." She said sarcastically.

"Thanks for noticing!" Naruto said, oblivious to her dryness.

She sighed, "You are so entirely hopeless, Naruto." She mumbled, then turned to Ayume, "I hope that... thing... is comfortable enough for you."

"Hai." Ayume replied sleepily. "Very. It's better than sleeping in the trees. Goodnight."

But as the ninjas were fast asleep, footsteps were padding along the ground, whispered words barely hearable bouncing off the trees. The moonlight poured between the trees, giving it a magical tigerstriped glow.

Sakura mumbled in her sleep, and rolled over onto Naruto's side. Naruto's eyes quickly opened, and he looked down to see Sakura all snuggled up against him. He smiled, and could feel his insides bursting with joy, but as quickly as he had woken up, he fell asleep.

The figures in the shadow dropped down from the trees. The moon glowed off of their shining suits, and then...

A sickening sucking sound wavered through the air, and blood was splattered all over the trees. Sakura sat up groggily. Her eyes soon opened wide, and her mouth opened in a scream, but nothing would come out. Until finally, a ear-splitting scream rose out of her mouth. Birds fluttered out of the trees, and the wooded area seemed so perfectly green. Only now it had an imperfection. Death, and blood splattered on the trees and squirting onto the ground.

Naruto bolted up, "Sakura!" He shouted, and his eyes got big once he saw the situation. "NO!" He screamed, jumping up and diving at the man holding Sakura by her hair. Blood was dripping down the side of her face, and her eyes were wide and full of tears. The man had a hand over her mouth, and blood was all over his glove. Ayume was cold and dead; lying on the ground faceup. There was blood all over her face, and it was squirting out of a wound in her neck.

Naruto tackled the guy and began throwing punches as fast as he could. The man smirked and punched back, and before you know it, Naruto was flying through the air 30 miles an hour and being flung into a tree. Naruto moaned and struggled to get up before his eyes got wide. As the man got up (at least 100 yards away), Sakura pinned him with a kunai by sticking it through his shoulder into the tree behind him, but he kicked her hard in the face. Blood shot out of her mouth as she screamed a little and fell to the ground.

"SAKURA!" Naruto shouted, and without thinking about it, took out a kunai. He charged it with all the chakra in his body, then focusing, he threw it at the man.

It hit him directly in the heart. Blood flew out of his chest, and the man's eyes went wide and bloodshot and his mouth opened in an agonizing scream. He twitched and moved for a bit, before his eyes rolled back in his head and he died with red simmering liquid all over him.

Naruto grinned, and pumped a fist into the air weakly, "That's... what.. I'm... talking about..." He said hoarsely and tumbled to the ground.

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Moments later, he awoke to Sakura's tear streaked face. "Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura asked, her voice choked with tears. She shook his shoulders and then hugged him. "You're okay!" Her tone went from relieved to angry, "Don't ever do that again, moron! Hear me?"

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, whatever, Sakura."

Sakura's eyes opened, and she saw her fears coming to life. There was a katana(I hope that I spelled that right. It's way late and I can hardly think.) in his body that poked all the way through his stomach tightly. She felt her eyes beginning to become wet again.

"I beat that creep, didn't I?" Naruto asked, and coughed, choking up blood. He grinned, but his teeth were stained in red and watery blood trickled down the corner of his mouth. His head rolled around on her shoulder, and his mouth bled all over her skin that was showing from the tears in her red kimono.

"Yes, you did", Sakura said softly with a smile, "You beat him."

"Good". He said weakly, his eyes beginning to close, his breathing becoming hitched and slow.

"Hey - no, Naruto, d-don't sleep!" Sakura said trembling, and shook his shoulders.

"Stop it", Naruto said, eyes opening again.

"I can't." Sakura said defiantly, "I'm not letting you go". She said, and then gently clasped her fingers around the sword.

"Don't pull out the katana.. it won't do any good... probably will make me bleed to death..."

Sakura winced, and let go. She knew that, but she didn't know what else to do. The katana was holding his insides in, and without it's substance to hold the hole, they would all come pouring out. It was only a matter of minutes. "You're so stupid, Naruto. Why are you so clumsy when you're fighting?"

"Hey, I don't think.. I just do."

"That's your problem", She said with a smile.

Naruto felt his heart giving in. He looked up into her perfect ivy green eyes, and wished that he could pocket them once more. Her light skin contrasted perfectly with the blood that was on her face and dribbling down her neck onto her chest. He wanted her hold him like she was for eternity and to never let go, but it didn't seem like that would ever happen.

"Not really", He wheezed breathlessly, "It's worked every other time, right?"

"I guess so". She smiled warmly.

He grinned his best grin that he could at the moment. "I knew you would agree with me..." His eyes began to shut, his head laying on her shoulder, his blood all over her. "... someday.." He said softly.

"No!" Sakura shrieked, her voice wrung with tears, "Don't die on me, Naruto! Don't die on me, you baka!" She started to shake him violently out of desperation, her eyes searching his closed eyelids. "Don't you do this to me!" She screamed, gripping him by both cheeks and pulling his face close to her's. Her heart was pulsing so hard and fast it felt like it would burst out of her chest. "Damn you Naruto.." She sobbed hysterically, and beat his chest with her fists, "Damn you, you baka!"

He didn't budge. She gently laid him on the ground, and pushed a strand of blonde hair that was now soaked in blood out of his closed eyes. She laid against his chest. "Don't die on me, you clumsy baka.. don't die on me.." She sobbed into his bloody shirt, and clutched the orange-red material.

To her surprise, his heart was still beating. A slow, imperfect beat that was so faint she had to strain her ears to hear it. He was alive, but his heartbeat was dying, and in a matter of maybe thirty seconds, he would be dead. So she said nothing else, and rested her heart against his chest, and her chin on top of his hair. She held him like a small child and rocked him gently, tears staining her blood-smeared cheeks. The pace of her heart slowed down in her mind, and for just a perfect moment, she could feel their hearts beating as one.

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♥End Author's Note: This was a quicky. It wasn't written in my best form, but I still hope that you guys like it. I'm not that happy with the ending, though. But I still hope you enjoyed it! I will promise to give all who review a cookie. Thank you kindly!

Sincerely && Honestly,
-L a c e d I v y.