Disclaimer: Two words. Not mine.
"Tsunade...will...will she be ok?" Naruto asked the woman standing beside him, refusing to take his eyes off the figure lying in the bed. She looked so helpless, so weak. He'd give anything to switch places with her, because it should have been him. He didn't know why Sakura did it, he only knew that one second they were laughing...and the next second, she was screaming and her blood was splashing on his cheek.
"Naruto, I'm going to tell you the truth." Tsunade whispered, trying to stay composed, if only for Naruto.
After all, Sakura had been her student. 'It was my job to take care of you Sakura. It was my job to make you strong enough to take care of your self. It was my job to keep this from happening.' Tsunade thought bitterly. 'I failed you Sakura...and I'm sorry.' Tsunade took a deep breath in, wishing her words could be different, wishing that this wouldn't break Naruto. "Naruto...She isn't going to make it through the night."
Naruto had heard the words Tsunade spoke, and they registered. Yet, at the same time, all he could think of was how it couldn't be possible. Sakura couldn't be in that bed, she didn't deserve to be. 'Why Sakura? Why me? Why save me?' Naruto just couldn't process it. She couldn't be dying. Not because of him.
They weren't even supposed to be on that mission. Sakura had come to his apartment in the middle of the night, and pleaded with him to go with her to talk to Sasuke. One last time. If he didn't come back this time, then they would have to try to forget him.
"Please, Naruto. Please. We need to try to get him back, just one more time. We are team seven, we can't give up on him. We are all he has. Please come with me to talk to him." She had shakily asked him, tears in her eyes.
"I can't Sakura. Tsunade is already pissed from our last sneak-out. She'll ban us from missions, and quite frankly, I can't afford not being able to make money." Naruto hadn't wanted to tell her no, but if Sasuke hadn't come back by now, then he wasn't going to.
"You promised Naruto. Please...for me?" She had whimpered, trying not to cry. "Just one last time. I'll never ask again." He had taken one look at the tears running down her face, ran his hand through his hair, and sighed. "Let me go pack."
They had spent two days following Sasuke's trail, and when they finally found him, he was livid. He had taken one look at Sakura and Naruto, and hatefully snarled. "What are you doing here?"
"We are here to bring you home." Naruto had answered simply. Being honest with himself, he didn't want to be here. He loved Sasuke like a brother, but he knew that Sasuke wouldn't come back. If he was even more honest with himself, he was not even sure that he wanted Sasuke back. Sasuke was still, and always would be, his best friend, but a Chidori through the chest really changes one's perspective on things. Yet, he had promised Sakura he would bring Sasuke back, and if he had to, he'd die trying.
Today, however, was different. "Why can't you leave me alone!" Sasuke had hissed, hate blaring in his eyes.
"Look Sasuke, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," Naruto had yelled, "But I promised Sakura that i'd bring you home, and this is my last attempt trying. So, are you gonna come home where you belong, or are we gonna have to fight again?"
The only answer Naruto had gotten was a fire ball aimed at him. "I thought so." Naruto had sighed, but then grinned. It had been a long time since he had gotten in an honest fight.
And an honest fight it was. Sasuke was his equal in strength, and Sasuke didn't have near as much to lose. If Naruto failed, this would be the last time he'd ever see Sasuke. If he failed, he'd break his promise to Sakura, but even worse than that, if he failed...he'd break Team Seven for the last and final time.
In the end, Naruto had finally won against Sasuke, but it was a battle barely won. He had been left with deep wounds. Wounds that even with his healing rate would probably take months to heal, and after that they would more than likely scar. He had watched from the ground, as Sakura tended to Sasuke. "Make sure you keep him knocked out." Naruto had forced out, ignoring the pain from speaking. He had a huge kunai gash across his chest, one that had been aimed for his throat. 'Try not to feel bitter about Sakura healing the Uchiha first.' Kyuubi had hissed, sarcasm imbedded in his voice. Naruto had not bothered to reply.
After his and Sasuke's wounds had been tended, or at least tended enough for them to make it home, they began the journey back to Konoha. More than halfway back..Naruto was exhausted. His chakra was nearly completely depleted, and on top of his own exhaustion from the fight, he was having to carry Sasuke's dead weight. He was struggling to keep walking, when he had heard it. It was the noise of something whistling, a noise that sends all shinobi on alert. Before he could move, he heard a yell of "NARUTO WATCH OUT!!" and there she was. Sakura stood in the place he had been only seconds before, with a total of four kunai buried in her skin. As he took the survey of the damage; he knew her chances of survival were slim. One was barely missing her heart, the other three were nearly on target to damage other critical organs.
If they actually made it to their original target, he knew that it would have killed him, Kyuubi or not. It made it even clearer how bad it was, as he fought back the instinct to pull the metal blades from her injured body, when it subconciously clicked for him that it had been their height difference that made their assailant miss. It had been their height diffrences that gave Sakura a chance to live. He flared out his chakra in search of the assassin's, but they had fled the second Sakura had shouted. He turned his attention back to Sakura, knowing he had to get her back to the village as soon as possible if she were going to live. But first, he needed to know...
"Why?" Naruto asked, obviously in shock. He needed to know why she had done this to herself, why she had risked her life for a demon.
"Because I'm not going through the heartache of losing another teammate again, and I won't let my best friend be killed." Sakura whispered, and then passed out from blood loss.
"Hang on Sakura! You'll be okay. Believe it." Naruto had told her in a choking whisper that could have been taken for sobs. He knew he didn't have a minute to lose. He had unarmed Sasuke completely, and then tied him to a tree. Then, he raced towards Konoha with a dying Sakura.
He had bust into Tsunade's office screaming for Tsunade's help, and then when Sakura was being operated on, he went back for Sasuke. He had not seen the cherry blossom since then, and now that he was looking at her, all he could do was stare. He couldn't believe this girl lying infront of him was Sakura. She was a mess. A faint bitter smile crossed his lips because he knew that she would have never allowed people to see her this way. Her normal ninja attire was soaked with blood, her pink hair was matted with the red substance, and her skin was so chalk pale it looked whiter than the sheets under her. She was more than a mess.
She was going to die, and he knew it.
"Hey Sakura," He approached the bed, "How are you doing?" Naruto asked shakily, not really wanting to hear the answer.
"Sasuke is that you?" She asked quietly, drifting in between consciousness and unconciousness. Naruto couldn't believe that she had just called him Sasuke. It was like she didn't see him standing there. Her green eyes that were once bright and full of life were dull and dialated- she really didn't see him. She may as well already have been gone.
He wanted to cry.
He came up closer to her and brushed the matted hair off her face. He took her hand, and had to fight the urge to recoil. He shuttered slightly, 'She's so cold.' He held her hand tighter, trying vainly to warm it up.
"Yeah Sakura it's me." He wasn't Sasuke, but damn it.. before she died, he'd give her the conversation she had always wanted from Sasuke.
"Naruto got you back?"
"Yeah. The dobe brought me back...that... and I missed you." Naruto knew he wasn't sounding like Sasuke at all, but he didn't care. He'd do whatever it took make Sakura happy.
" I missed you too. I never stopped thinking about you. I'm glad Naruto brought you back. I knew he would. He's a great friend." Sakura whispered, unable to actually speak.
Naruto had to take a deep breath to keep from crying on her.
"Sasuke?"
"Yeah?" Naruto answered weakly.
"Im tired. I'm gonna go to sleep. See you when I wake up. Okay?"
"Okay, I love you, goodnight. Wait for me and the dobe alright?"
"Alright." Sakura answered sleepily.
He watched her closely and just like she slipped away from this world-away from him. He'd never forget how she closed her eyes and how the heart monitor slowed down and stopped.
It was then that Naruto allowed himself to cry-to sob. He scooped Sakura into his arms and found himself buring his face in her bloody hair. He couldn't believe she was gone. It was just something he couldn't accept. He remembered Tsunade coming in and calling her time of death as he kept repeating words like "Wake up! Please don't go!" and "I'm so sorry." It was four and a half hours later when he managed to calm down enough to let Tsunade take her and clean her up for her funeral.
Her funeral. "Why did she have to die?" He thought to himself. "If I hadn't of agreed to go on that stupid mission..."
That mission. The mission to save Sasuke that he had followed her on. He clenched his hands into fists. This was all because of Sasuke. If he could get his hands on Sasuke, he would bash his skull in. None of this would have happened if Sasuke hadn't of ran off. If he hadn't of been such a coward. If Sasuke hadn't been so impatient. If not for Sasuke...Sakura would still be alive and they'd be a team now instead of three people with broken memories.
No- two people.
Sakura was dead, and she wasn't coming back. His best friend, his shoulder to cry on, everything he considered a sibling and everything he lived for was gone. All because Sasuke had to be an avenger and betray them. He grimaced as he fought back Kyuubi influences. Naruto would never accept revenge for an answer. No amount of vengence or glory was worth Sakura's life. If Sasuke had wanted to kill for Itachi, then it should have been himself. Sasuke should have died back there, not Sakura. 'I should have died back there.' Naruto thought. 'This is both of our faults, and I'll never forgive either of us.'
These thoughts had him seeing everything in red. If Sasuke had just stayed with them, Sakura would be alive. Naruto wouldn't be broken.
Sasuke wouldn't be a missing-nin.
He went to Sasuke's hospital room. Hopefully the bastard would be awake and Naruto would be able to tell him what happened.
He wanted to see the look on Sasuke's face when he realizes he just killed one of his friends, maybe even two.
