Sakura watched her best friend retch in the toilet, he just got over another anxiety attack. Naruto wiped his mouth and walked back out to the living room, Sakura was waiting with a hot cup of tea. "Thanks." Naruto whispered and took a sip. "Naruto…" she whispered and he put his hand up. "Please Sakura, not now…" he wept. She sighed and looked her best friend up and down. He was skinny, pale, and lifeless.
Naruto soon after fell asleep on the couch. Sakura covered him up, kissed him on the forehead, and shut the door behind her. There wasn't much left for her to do. This was an everyday thing that was draining her since the day it all began.
Sakura stepped into her home, getting greeted by her cat. She filled her bowl up with food and went up to the shower. She stripped herself down and let the hot water bounce off of her pale skin. She thought about Naruto. She had been trying to sleep with him for months, but he just didn't seem to take notice to her advances. She and Lee would occasionally mess around, but she wanted Naruto, but he was still hung up on Sasuke. Day in and day out. She turned off the water and wrapped herself in her towel. She got into her night clothes and lied in bed. She couldn't sleep, so she called Ino.
"Hey girl, did you just get home?" Ino asked.
"Yeah, Naruto had another panic attack tonight, so I was with him for a while." Sakura said.
"Did he give it up yet?" Ino giggled.
"Hell no girl, he's too hung up on Sasuke." Sakura laughed.
"Maybe he's gay." Ino laughed.
"Yeah right okay." She laughed.
"Girl, you need a night out, let's go drinking tomorrow night, on me." Ino said.
"But what about Naruto?" Sakura asked.
Ino sighed. "Sakura, one night isn't going to hurt, I'm sure Tsunade will check on him. If only you could get rid of Sasuke, there wouldn't be a problem." Ino stated.
Then it hit Sakura, if Sasuke was out of the picture, Naruto would be all hers, she was going to ask Tsunade for a favor. "Look girl, we haven't had any missions since this place got rebuilt from the ground up, enjoy it while you still can." Ino said. "I will." Sakura smiled.
/~***~\\\\\
Naruto awoke from another bad nightmare. He felt like he was hungover, his head pounded. He was going to get sick again. This wouldn't be the first night he slept on the bathroom floor. He slipped his jacket off and lied down on the cold floor. He stared at his freshly scarred arms and asked himself if this pain would ever stop. He pressed his palms firmly against his eyes in some attempt to stop the tears from coming, but inevitably they would. Naruto punched the wall next to him and started crying hysterically. Naruto thought back to his last encounter with Sasuke, he couldn't get the last words he said to him out of his head. "Why do you even try, dobe? I can't count how many times you've come after me and failed!" the words Sasuke said echoed through his head. "Why do I try? I know, I'm gonna fall down. The more I chase, the more depressed I get. But I can't stop…I…just…" Naruto dug his nails into his arms, in some attempt to hold in all the emotions he knew he no longer could. He became frantic, he flung the door to his medicine cabinet open. It was clear of anything, Tsunade took it all, his razorblade was gone, everything that he could use to escape was gone. He gripped his head between his hands and screamed. He flipped the loose tile on the bathroom floor and found his hidden razorblade. The happiness he felt when he found it scared him, but Sasuke's voice still echoed in his thoughts. He raised the blade to his wrist and he cut. He lie on the bathroom floor, gazing at the blood flowing out of his body. It was the only thing that reminded him that he was still alive. He vision became blurry and he passed out.
Outside the bathroom window, perched in a tree, sat Sasuke Uchiha.
/~***~\\\\\
Sakura sat at the bar with Ino. "To you, for being an awesome friend." Ino said and raised her shot glass. Sakura smiled and raised her glass, they clanked together, and they drank. "Thanks for convincing me to come out tonight. Naruto actually insisted when I told him. Tsunade probably would've made me go anyway." Sakura laughed. "See, you're stressing yourself too much over Naruto." Ino said. "Only if you knew how he's been lately, you would understand." Sakura got sad. "Hey, hey, stop. Look, it's just one night, Tsunade is with him, he will be alright. Let's have some fun! I invited Hinata and Tenten along, they should be here soon." Ino smiled. "You know how to cheer me up, thank you!" Sakura said and hugged her.
Soon after, Hinata and Tenten showed up and they started dancing together and doing shots. This club was the only lively place left in the village after the destruction. Sakura was having a great night for the first time in a really long time. "To my girls!" she yelled and they took another shot. By now, they were drunk and they stumbled out of the club. "That was so much fun!" Sakura laughed. And amongst the chatter, her phone started the ring. "Oh hold on a minute." She said and flipped open her phone. "Hello?"
"Sakura, it's Tsunade."
"Oh hey, is Naruto alright?"
"That's why I called, we're going to the hospital."
"Wait, what?!"
The chatter between the girls abruptly stopped and they gathered around Sakura.
"He told me he had to go to the bathroom and he didn't come out. He was bleeding out when I broke down the door. He's going to make it…" Tsunade was holding back tears.
"Oh God, no….NO!" Sakura broke down on the sidewalk and closed her phone.
"Sakura, what happened?!" Ino asked.
"He tried to kill himself…" she cried.
They all ran to the hospital. Hinata and Tenten sat and held Sakura, holding back tears herself. Ino paced the halls waiting for Tsunade to come out of the operating room. "I had no idea…it was this bad." Ino said, tears threatening to fall. Tsunade walked out of the operating room. "He'll be in his room in a few minutes, Sakura, you can see him then." She said, tears still fresh on her cheeks. The minutes seemed like hours, but when Sakura saw Naruto through the glass, she couldn't go inside. Naruto's eyes were drawn to his wrist, freshly bandaged. He looked up to see Sakura through the glass, she broke down again, she couldn't handle that look in his eyes. Naruto's eyes screamed, "Why did you save me?"
