For You
Dedicated to .0 for her wonderful piece on "Bleed Cherry Blossoms."
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Sakura…"
"Shut up!" She snapped, desperation ringing in her voice before dropping to a grieved whisper, "Don't talk…save your strength."
Her viridian gaze dropped to her hands, stained and hot with his blood, glowing green with light that seemed pathetically weak compared to the gashed in his torso.
"You know…I don't know when…" He winced painfully, his exhausted smile never dimming, "To pipe down."
"Maybe you should learn." She wanted to shout at him, wanted to be angry, but even so her own mouth pulled up in a tired grin.
He laughed, blood gurgling in his throat, rushing up from his chest, spilling over his lips.
"Naruto…" She trailed off, losing her thoughts in the dire need to treat the gaping wounds. Already, the ground where she knelt was soft and reeking of the decaying metallic odor of old blood.
She started when his hand drifted up to cup her cheek, very nearly breaking her concentration and the steady flow of chakra that gleamed at her hands…bringing unbidden memories that threatened to break her…
She remembered their first mission with Sai and how she had lost her grip on the tree branch…the sudden, terrifying plunge as gravity ripped her free from the tree and yanked her down. She remembered how his cry rang in her ears and the desperate, clawing panic in his eyes when she reached for him and the realization that their hands wouldn't reach lit in his gaze…but this time it was him falling and she was racing after him and if she couldn't reach him, he would die…
"You try…too hard, Sakura." He coughed, coloring his lips with red wetness that spilled over his chin.
She shook her head, fighting for focus above the statement lodged in her dry throat: You try too hard, Naruto…not me…
"I remember," He said suddenly, his blue eyes drifting to the sky above them painted almost as red as the ground around them, "The last time you cried…"
Her eyes widened as she realized that the damp chill on her cheeks wasn't blood, but her own tears. She swallowed hard, tasting metallic bile, "I don't…" But of course she knew…
It was the worst solo mission of her life…a preemptive attack on the Oto base: Tsunade had wanted a spy in the workings, and…with her infatuated past with Sasuke, she was the only kunoichi that fit the profile…She abandoned her village and made for Oto…She was captured, interrogated, tortured with drugs and brute force and rape until they were sure she could be trusted…
She had been a virgin when he stepped in the room, tall and dark and devastatingly beautiful in his haunting presence…but appearance were deceiving and even before he shoved her roughly to the ground and tore her clothes from her bleeding flesh to force himself inside, she knew there was no hope to save him…
She waited, got the information she needed and shed not one tear, had not a single regret…Then she fled, back to Konoha. She stood before the Counsel and gave her report in a clear voice, answered their questions, and when they dismissed her she stepped into the streets, head held high, to walk home…
And then she saw him…sun-kissed flesh and the sky-blue of his eyes and…something just broke. His arms, held out in an open embrace, caught her as she stumbled forward to sob against his chest. And he didn't ask questions as they sat there in the street for a long time.
"I remember." She said simply.
"I…wanted to tell you, then, Sakura…I wanted to save you."
"I did what I did for the sake of my village."
"Bullshit." He replied, turning his head to meet her gaze.
"You did it for the same reason I marched out here today…"
"And what would that be?" She asked, knowing the answer wasn't the one he would give.
"You wanted to save him…"
"I let go of him, Naruto, a long time ago…I came out because…" She stopped, her hands burning where her raw chakra had scorched them.
"Because?" He prompted.
Her hair fell over her eyes in a pink curtain as she shifted to look down. "Naruto…do you remember…the day you left with Jiraiya?"
"Sakura…why does it…"
"Do you or don't you?" She asked, her voice sharp with something that wasn't anger or sorrow, but some sad shade of the two.
He nodded-he remembered watching her stand at the gate, her face set in a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and he knew she was trying to be brave for him. He saw how her composure cracked when he followed the line of her arms, held limp at her side, to her hands, clenched so tightly that the nails drew blood and the knuckled blanched. And he knew that if he turned around and walked back through the gate that she would never forgive him for leaving an opportunity for her.
"Do you know why I was there?" She asked, turning to the side so her green gaze met his.
He shook his head reluctantly-he had never asked, afraid of infringing on the private sanctuary of her inner thoughts.
"For you, Naruto." She smiled.
"Why does it…matter now?" He asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Her eyes darted back down to the wound she had been bent over for more than half an hour. "I marched out onto this field for the same reason: You!"
An orb of green chakra erupted around them as she broke into her final reserve; the palms of her hands tore open with the force of the sudden influx. The edges of the wound and his body blurred beneath the wash of light and then…darkness.
"Here she is."
"Your student doesn't look good, Kakashi."
The voices were distant and fuzzy and focusing on them made her head hurt and her body ache.
Something warm was pressed against her neck and for a moment she thought it was the edge of a kunai blade…but then it was gone and an arm was coming around her.
"She has a pulse."
She was pulled from the wet, cold ground and against something warm and soft. Her eyes flickered open and she looked up to see Kakashi's face, spattered with blood and smeared with grime, smile down at her.
N-Naru-t-to…?" She muttered.
Kakashi's gaze never faltered as he met her eyes with the glowing crimson of the Sharingan, "Sleep."
And she did.
The sunlight streaming into her window was what woke her and for a moment she didn't know where she was or what had happened. She laid there for a long moment, trying to remember, before the pain and the darkness and despair came rushing back.
She bolted up, throwing aside the light blanket and forcing her panicked mind to focus: She was in Konoha's hospital, she knew that much, but where was he?
She threw her chakra out in a wide net and found his, flickering and weak, down the hall. With panic rising and clawing at her breast, she darted from the bed and between the startled nurses. She ran down the hall, her bare feet slapping stingingly against the cold linoleum, fear-sweat dampening her hair.
She jerked around the corner, grinding to a screeching halt as her wide eyes fell on an empty bed. She sheets were rumpled and the machines had long since been detached. Their static, latent beep filled the room to bursting, pounding in her ears over her heart.
"Na-Naruto…"
"What's up, Sakura-chan?" He replied as he stepped from the a bathroom at her back.
"You…" Tears welled up in her eyes as she turned her head over her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" He asked, genuinely confused.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" She snapped, lashing out with her back-handed fist.
He ducked fluidly, letting her own impetus spin her around. He bounced up on his heel , wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close.
"I'm sorry I worried you." He whispered.
She brought her arms up to hold him.
"Do you know why I marched out, Sakura?" He asked after a long moment.
"For Sasuke?"
"Well…that's what I said. But…really, it was for you."
She turned her head up, tears of mingled emotions, fear and joy, regret and hope, sorrow and acceptance, to look into his eyes.
He captured her gaze and then leaned down to capture her lips.
END