Author's Note: Enjoy! (Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters)
Sakura raced across the battlefield in a blur of pink and green. She watched the flashes of gold and blue play across the horizon. She listened to the whirl of wind and the crackle of electricity that announced the arrival of each new blast. The ground rumbled and shook under her feet with growing intensity as she approached the furious battle. Only two people could be the source, and Sakura had a feeling whatever she arrived to would shatter the remainder of her heart.
She paused and scanned her surroundings. The forest was beginning to thin, indicating that she was close to the end and her boys. However the clearings where most of the war had waged were of varying size. Sakura could be far on the other side of where Naruto and Sasuke were fighting, and she did not want them to notice her arrival just yet. If Naruto caught whiff of her, he would be distracted, and Sasuke wouldn't hesitate to kill. Unconsciously, one of her gloved hands rubbed her throat at the thought.
"RASENGAN!"
Sakura froze at the piercing scream.
"CHIDORI!"
Her apple green eyes glazed over. If Naruto and Sasuke were true to form, then this was their end move. She tore off in the general direction of the voices, following the noise of a thousand chirping birds. Desperation urged her to go faster, and somewhere in her mind she thought even the Raikage would admire her pace. A flash brighter then the sun nearly knocked her off her feet. Time seemed to slow as she fought to keep going through the blinding white. She could hear faint screaming and cursing in the distance that faded into eerie silence.
Sakura feared she'd gotten there too late. She peered around the charred and broken tree trunk she was hidden behind. Naruto and Sasuke were on the ground, as still as stone. Crimson coated their clothes and stained their skin. She took a quiet step forward, fear seeping into her mind and clouding all other thoughts. Neither stirred, there was no victory cry from Naruto or mechanical laughter from Sasuke. There was just silence, and smoking trees, and Sakura.
She sprinted to her teammates and stopped directly in between. A quick scan told her that both needed immediate medical assistance. She took a step toward Naruto, but her cracked heart cried for her to turn around. She felt like a tug-of-war rope being pulled to the snapping point. How could she choose between her love and her best friend?
Sakura wiped at her eyes which threatened to spill over with tears. Crying was for the weak she reminded herself. The obvious choice was Naruto, the boy who would do anything for her and Hero of Konoha. Yet every fiber of her being screamed for Sasuke.
She glanced around the war-torn clearing, as if looking for the answer somewhere among the ash and blood. The glint of metal caught her eye, and she realized that Sasuke's katana had been knocked away during the fight. It implanted itself in the ground and blood dripped off the hilt onto the cracked earth. Images of purple poison, and puppets, and sand flashed in her mind. Sakura gave a weary smile to Naruto, and crossed the space separating her from Sasuke. Bright Green chakra flickered to life around her hands and as she healed his wounds. She finished with his face, running a finger across a deep scratch on his cheek. Sakura leaned forward slowly and placed a kiss on his cheek where the wound used to be. He started to groan, and she took this as her cue to move.
Naruto laid unmoving on what was probably the only patch of grass left in the field. He looked peaceful, she thought, even though his face had fresh blood splattered on it. Her chakra was almost depleted, but she could still save him. Sakura kneeled next to him and placed her hands over his heart, like Chiyo taught her to. It was painful for a brief moment, but then a blue force massed at her palms. His wounds closed up faster than any healing procedure she'd ever witnessed, and as a medic she couldn't help but be amazed despite the cost.
When his heartbeat sputtered to life, she felt her own skip a beat. As his eyes darted under his lids, her vision began to dim. A numb feeling enveloped her chest and spread to her fingers and toes. The blue light in her hands grew smaller and smaller until a gust of wind blew it out like a candle. A hand was at her shoulder, warm and large, and she thought she saw the color black. A deep voice kept calling out to her, but she couldn't make out the words. The last thing she saw before her eyes failed completely were Naruto's cerulean blue ones popping open. And then there was nothing.
