Ino was glaring at Sakura in front of her flower shop, face red with anger. Sakura was fighting back tears as she said in a small voice, "Ino, I didn't-"

"I don't care, Sakura!" Ino shouted, her figure shaking with anger.

Sakura hung her head and brought her hands to her chest, twisting her fingers into the fabric of her shirt as her eyes filled with tears.

"I can't believe, you of all people, would say something like that! You have no right to say anything about how I handle my child."

Sakura said nothing as her tears fell to the ground, a small puddle forming at her feet. She didn't know what to say. There was no sense in talking to Ino when she's this angry.

"Aren't you going to say anything?!" Ino raised her voice louder than Sakura had ever heard, causing people to stop and see what was going on. She tried to ignore the stares, but right now, she didn't care.

Sakura shook her head and sobbed quietly, unable to speak.

"Get out of my face. I never want to see you again!" Ino spat as she turned on her heel and left Sakura in front of the shop.

Sakura let out a shaky sigh and wrapped her arms around herself, slowly walking back towards her apartment.

Her legs shook with every step she took. Eventually, she walked into an alley between two buildings and sunk to the ground. She hugged her legs to her chest and just weeped.

The sun was setting, but she didn't care. She continued to sit there until she heard a soft rumble of thunder in the distance. Wordlessly, she rose to her feet and walked the next block over until she was standing at the top of the stairs leading to her apartment.

She leaned her head against the cold wood of the door and closed her eyes. All she could see was Ino's face, yelling at her. Fresh tears threatened to fall as her thoughts slowly took over.

She felt worthless. The worst kind of trash one could be. The sound of heavy rain broke her out of her thoughts. Opening her eyes slowly, she reached a shaking hand into her pocket and took out her keys. She missed the lock twice and swore under her breath. After finally getting it open, she stepped into her cold, dark apartment and softly closed it behind her.

Sakura felt so alone and abandoned. How could her best friend, practically her sister, assume a rumor to be true? Ino didn't let Sakura get any word in as she yelled.

Sakura's broken sob was the only sound in the apartment. She fell to her knees and cried. Cried for the loss of her friend. Cried for not being strong enough to tell Ino that the information she'd heard was wrong. Feeling helpless and broken, she numbly walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

A soft knock was heard on her door early the next morning, but there was no answer. Day after day, at the same time every morning and evening, there'd be a knock on her door.

A week had passed and no one had seen or heard from Sakura. Naruto demanded a search party be sent out, thinking something had happened while she was out, but Kakashi shook his head.

"I'm sure she's fine, Naruto. I'll run by her apartment again later, but I doubt she'll be there. Even she can't mask her chakra for this long. The ANBU stationed outside her complex haven't seen her enter or leave. She's not in the village, so she's gotta be out. She's a strong ninja, if she needed backup, she'd have called for it. Now please, I have work to do." Kakashi dismissed Naruto with a wave of his hand.

Naruto wanted to speak again, but Kakashi's tone told him that the discussion was over.

Kakashi sighed when the door closed behind Naruto. Pulling his mask down, he let out a shaky sigh.

"Where are you, Sakura?"

When Kakashi knocked on Sakura's door again that evening, there was still no answer. Panic finally began to bloom in his chest when he smelled the faint scent of blood coming from inside.

"No," He whispered to himself as he fumbled around his pockets for the emergency key she'd given him when she became head of the hospital.

Finding the key in the left chest pocket of his vest, his shaking fingers fought to keep hold of the cool metal.

"Damn it, come on." He mumbled to himself before successfully unlocking her door. It slowly creaked open and an odd smell was coming from inside that Kakashi would know anywhere.

His heart lurched into his throat as he ran into the apartment, checking every room. The last room to check was where the smell was strongest. The bathroom. Kakashi's heart hammered with fear as he broke the lock and the door swung open, revealing his worst nightmare.

Sakura was laying naked in the empty bathtub, deep red stained her pale thighs and fingers. Kakashi choked back a sob as he fell to his knees next to the tub. He ripped his mask down before reaching a shaking hand up to run his fingers through her hair.

His heart stopped when his fingers touched her skin. She was too cold. Attempting to keep his panic under control, he leaned over the tub and put his arms underneath her, one under her knees and one under her head.

He picked her up and pulled her into his lap, grabbing the towel that was on the counter to cover her body.

"Sakura," he whispered as he held her tightly against his chest. He didn't know he was crying until he felt her hair grow wet.

"Why did you do this?" He mumbled as he looked over her arms and legs with the help of the full moon dimly lighting the room.

"Why did you have to go and leave me like this? I never got to tell you…" his voice broke off as he held her even tighter and sobbed into her hair. Her cold body warming as he tried to share his body heat with her.

Kakashi knew he had to get her out of here and to the hospital, but there was no way he could do that without alerting the ANBU outside.

He felt his heart breaking with every passing second. He brushed her bangs out of her face and he saw that her lips weren't blue from the cold, nor were they as pale as they should be. Kakashi felt a flicker of hope in his chest as he began to cover her face with kisses, tears following behind in their wake. He felt a faint thump of her heart fighting to beat.

She wasn't gone. Not yet.

Kakashi's eyes widened and he immediately summoned Pakkun, keeping a firm hold on Sakura's body.

"It's late, boss. What's-"

"Pakkun, listen, I need you to run and find Tsunade. Tell her it's Sakura." The panic and fear in Kakashi's eyes must've been noticeable because Pakkun took off running without a word.

"Hold on, Sakura." He whispered into her hair. "Hang on, love. Please. I can't lose you, too. I promise, if you wake up, I'll personally see to it that whoever made you do this will be put away for a long time. So, please," his voice was as broken as he felt. "please wake up."