It was all a blur.
Sakura had been tending to the fallen Naruto when she heard the anguished cry at the other end of the battlefield. She looked up to see Sasuke impaled on a sword , up in the air , in front of Madara Uchiha.
"No ... not Sasuke - kun" , was her only coherent thought.
She watched helplessly , with her healing chakra still pouring into Naruto , as Madara withdrew the sword and Sasuke fell lifelessly to the ground.
Then , suddenly , Tsunade and Naruto's father the Fourth Hokage Minato , were at her side beside Naruto.
"Go on ... go to him , Sakura " , her old mentor urged her.
"But ... Naruto ... "
"Naruto will not die here , ... I know what I must do now " , Minato interrupted , "go on ... ...go save your teammate."
That was all the reassurance she needed as she was off , sprinting towards where she had seen Sasuke fall. She did'nt even have any plan to distract Madara so that she could carry him away , but it was'nt needed as the Edo - tensei Second and Third Hokage had re-appeared and seemed to be keeping the Uchiha busy.
She gasped when she reached him , his pallor was unnaturally pale , even more so than usual and his skin was cold to the touch , as though he were already dead. Thankfully though , she could detect a very faint but nonetheless present pulse.
She carefully hoisted him onto her back , so as to not open his wound any further , and carried him away from the thick off the battle to a relatively empty area , where she could begin to heal him.
"Sakura ..." , he gasped in recognition , eyes squinting open , as she set him down.
"Shh ... Its all right Sasuke ... I'll save you " , she whispered as she placed her hands , glowing green , over his heart.
Medically speaking , she knew as soon as she sent her healing chakra into him that the damage to the tissues of his heart was too extensive. She could mend the tissues , sure , but his life force was already rapidly seeping out of him and the treatment itself would be too painfull for him to handle and would cause his heart to stop.
Medically speaking , she knew it was almost impossible to save him at this point. But , who listens to sense when faced with the death of the one you love. So , she would try. She would try her damned best to save him.
Yet , even as she worked desperately on healing him , she could feel his pulse weakening , his heart slowing under her hands.
"Sakura ... there's no point ... I'm going to-" , he panted out , the pain making his breathing laboured.
"You , Sasuke , are not going to die . As long as I'm alive , I will not let you die " , she ground out , frustrated that he was giving up.
Even as she said it though , she could feel his heart was slowly giving out.
"Arigato , Sakura " , he said , his eyes closing.
Then with a final thud his heart went still under her hands , still glowing with the green , healing chakra.
"NO!"
She could not let this happen , she would not. She knew what she had to do. The decision was made even before the wail of anguish completely left her lips.
With a renewed determination , she set her hands over his heart again , her hands now glowing a brilliant blue.
It was'nt even a conscious decision to be made on her part. Living in a world where he did not exist could make no sense to her.
As she poured her life force into the still body of the man she loved , she looked up accross the field , where she saw Naruto sitting up helped by Tsunade , the Fourth nowhere to be seen.
"Good ... he's alright then" , she thought. Her only remaining worry being that she did'nt know if Kakashi - sensei , Sai , Ino and the others were alright. But , they would be okay , Naruto was better now , he would take care of them all.
A few minutes later , she could feel the dull thumping of Sasuke's heart , as it restarted under her hands , and sighed with relief. It worked.
He moved to sit up and blinked dazedly at her , "Sakura ... ?!".
She could feel the wetness on her face. She was crying , she realised as she said , for the last time , "Goodbye Sasuke - kun ... I love you ".
Her eyes closed as she fell forward , into his arms and took her last breath.
It was a bright , sunny day , that found Kakashi walking towards the Shinobi memorial stone that he visited every morning. It was 3 months after the war , and peace had mostly returned.
His visible eye filled , as his fingers traced one of the newly etched names on the memorial stone.
He had known , even back then , as a fifteen year old Sakura watched , with the possiblities gleaming in her eyes , as Granny Chiyo brought back to life the Kazekage Gaara , pouring her own life force into him.
He had known , even back then , that if such a situation should ever arise with Sasuke , even he would'nt be able to stop her.
Still , he wished for the hundreth time that he'd been there , to atleast try to dissuade her , or atleast to say goodbye.
It had been atleast a month after the end of the war , before Naruto could bear to look at Sasuke. But gradually , he had recognised her sacrifice and realized that he could not blame Sasuke for her choice. It was'nt his fault that she loved him.
But Sasuke ...
Sasuke was even more lost than ever , unable to comprehend how someone could love him so selflessly , to throw their life away for him. His self - loathing , for being the reason for her death , was so intense that he tried to end his own life before Naruto beat some sense into him , saying that he did'nt disagree that Sasuke did'nt deserve her sacrifice. But seeing as how it had already been made , the least he could do was to try and respect it by not throwing away the life she had given him.
His Team 7 was now more dysfunctional than ever , mused Kakashi.
The unbreakable bond between Sasuke and Naruto had now been broken , by the death of Sakura , the invisible glue that had held them all together.
Naruto understood that it was not Sasuke's fault that Sakura had died. But that did'nt stop him from resenting the way Sasuke had always treated her love callously , when all she had wanted from him was recognition.
He hated Sasuke for the fact that , all her life , she had been hurt by him and is decisions.
He hated Sasuke for the fact that he lived , while she was gone.
And Sasuke hated himself no less for it.
a/n: this scene wrote itself in my head while i was listening to The Call by Regina Spektor. Reviews will be appreciated :D