THIS STORY IS PURLEY FANMADE AND HAS NO CONNECTION TO THE ACCTUAL NARUTO SERIES. ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO. ENJOY, AND REMEMBER: SASUSAKU FOREVER!

-Summary: Sasuke has come back to his village and asked Sakura to marry him. Now they've been married for about one month, but no one knows. They are both in the ANBU on the same team. But while they were on a mission, the oponent is bent on killing Sasuke!! When the opposer does an ultimate death attack! But then, something extremely unexpected happens...-

"Take this!" the ninja yelled, and for the first time, Sasuke realized he had three senbon between each finger and - he knew- more stashed away with easy access. Sasuke had no time to react when he threw the senbon- with blinding speed - toward every vital area. He reloaded and threw three times. Sasuke stood, frozen in fear. Time seemed to slow down. Sasuke couldn't move... he knew he couldn't escape it. Suddenly, he heared a voice scream out to him... "SASUKE!!" With a flash, Sakura had jumped in front of Sasuke just as the thousand needles were about to kill him, causing the needles to fully cover every inch of her body! The assassin couldn't believe it. He was caught off guard by Sakura's speed- and her sacrifice. She had willingly sacrificed herself for her teammate.

Sasuke stared at Sakura's back in horror, trying to contemplate what she had just done for him. He could see all the needles through the backs of her arms, legs and her back. Wide-eyed, he said, voice shaking, "S…Sakura?" From the front, the assassin could see her smile. Then the assassin's teammate ran up to him. "What's up with you?! Just finish her off!!" He yelled. The assassin looked back toward Sakura, who was still standing, but hunched over and her eyes were half-closed. She coughed, and some blood splattered on the ground. "Screw this lovey-dovey crap!!" The teammate shouted, drew his sword, and stabbed Sakura! Her eyes widened, then closed, and she began to fall.

"Sakura!!" Sasuke yelled as Sakura hit the ground on her side. He ran forward, dropped to his knees, and pulled the sword out of her chest and chucked it to his right, and placed her head on his lap, holding one of her hands. With the other hand he held her head up. When he tipped her face toward him, some blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. "Sakura… I know you can hear me… Sakura…" Sasuke whispered, staring at Sakura's lifeless face. Despite himself, he let the tears fall down his cheeks as he gritted his teeth in agony. His life… it was dead… "Sasuke-kun…" a barely-audible voice said. He looked down at Sakura, and saw that her eyes were open a little. "Sasuke-kun…" She whispered again. He squeezed her hand and leaned in close to her. "Yes, Sakura-chan?…" Sasuke whispered back. "I… I had to." Sakura whispered. "I know." Sasuke choked out. She smiled weakly. "I'm sorry." she murmured. A single tear ran down her cheek. Then, her eyes closed, and she went limp in Sasuke's arms…

Sasuke stared at Sakura in horror for a couple seconds, then hugged her close. "You killed Sakura…" Sasuke mumbled, in a voice unrecognizable, somewhat strained. The two assassins stared at Sasuke, wondering what was going to happen. "You killed Sakura…" Sasuke said, his voice louder. His tears hit the ground silently. Then, the two assassins noticed something strange. Black marks began to creep down Sasuke's arm. Suddenly, Sasuke looked up an the two assassins gasped. They saw his curse half-taken over his face, which was discontorted with rage, and his tears. Sharingan had taken over his eyes in his extreme anger. He stood up and stepped over Sakura. Now standing in front of her protectively, he drew his own sword. "You killed Sakura…" he growled. "And now you will die… slowly and painfully." Then, he smiled, but it was not a kind smile. It was evil and seemed to say: 'I wasn't kidding. You will die. It will hurt. And I will enjoy it." He stalked toward the two men, whose eyes were wide with fear. "Please, spare us!" They begged, backing up as Sasuke walked toward them. Eventually both fell over and looked up in horror at Sasuke, who was staring down at them in hatred. "Looks like it's your time of dying." he murmured, still smiling evilly. Suddenly, his Sharingan changed. "Mangekyo Sharingan!" He yelled.

In a few minutes, it was all over. Sasuke had killed both the assassins, but I'm not going to tell all the gory things her did to make up for Sakura's death. After he had burned the two assassin's bodies as is the law, he walked over to Sakura and picked her up, carefully making sure he didn't stab himself with a needle. He went back to the ANBU headquarters. When everyone had seen what happened, Tsunade was sent for. She was the best healer in the Leaf Village.

When Tsunade arrived and saw the damage done on Sakura, she frowned and said, "This is really bad… what happened?" Sasuke sat brooding in the corner, refusing to talk to anyone. So one of the other ANBU members had to tell the story, which only made Sasuke even quieter and more broody. Tsunade kept glancing at Sasuke while the story unfolded. "As her husband, you should have took better care of her." Tsunade said, scowling at Sasuke, when the whole story had been told and they were alone. Finally talking, Sasuke scowled right back and said, "I couldn't stop her. She jumped in front of me at the last second! I couldn't react that fast… and I didn't think she would… I never even thought…" he trailed off and looked ashamed at himself. "Well… I suppose that is true. Luckily for you, Sakura is alive but just barely. But, I must heal her, while there is still hope left of her survival." Sasuke nodded as Tsunade shooed him out of the room.

An hour or so of excruciating waiting later, a frowning Tsunade came out of the room where she was tending to Sakura. Some of the ANBU members who were friends of Sakura and Sasuke hung around to both comfort Sasuke (Which was kind of impossible at the moment) and see if Sakura was going to make it. Tsunade walked right to Sasuke, who looked up at her hopefully. Tsunade smiled. "Sakura will be fine. She'll wake up in a couple of hours. Take her home, Sasuke."

After sincerely thanking Tsunade, Sasuke picked up Sakura and ran outside. He jumped into the nearest tree and began to make his trek home. The trip was unusually quit, due to the fact that Sakura was passed out and not talking to him. That was something he had taken for granted, Sakura's quiet conversations with him. He shuttered, thinking that he almost would have never heard her voice again. He looked down at Sakura's face. Even though it was covered in scratches and she had some dried blood on her cheek, he thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

Before he knew it, he was back at their house. He kicked the door down (no free hands, he was carrying Sakura) and made a mental note to repair it later. He went right upstairs to their bedroom and set Sakura down on the bed. Then he rushed downstairs and quickly pushed the door back into it's frame. He ran back upstairs, sat down next to the bed, and stared at Sakura. She seemed to breathing. But how could he really tell? What if she was really fated to die? What if Tsunade didn't really try to help her at all? What had he done to deserve this?! Millions of 'What Ifs' ran through his head for one long, agonizing hour. Sunset came and went. Darkness over took the room, and moonlight poured through the large window over Sasuke and Sakura's bed.

Sakura still wasn't waking up, but Sasuke kept staring at her. One sign, ANY sign that she would wake up soon was all he was looking for. He refused to sleep until he knew she was awake. Alive. While he waited, he thought about Sakura. Everything he loved about her. How he had hated her in the beginning. All the things he had taken for granted. Sakura's love. Sakura smiling at him when he first woke up in the morning. Sakura helping him through anything and everything that came his way. Sakura kissing him right before he left to go somewhere. Sakura… Sakura. He loved her. And deep down, he knew that he always had. Even if it was just the smallest spark in the beginning, he knew now that his love for her was a raging wildfire. He loved her then, now… and he vowed, right there, to love her forever. And longer.

The time was about 12:30. Sasuke was just about to give up Sakura waking up. He had set his forehead down on the edge of the bed and before he knew it, he was asleep. Suddenly, Sakura opened her eyes. She groggily sat up, but then snapped back to reality. She was dead. She had sacrificed herself for Sasuke. Not that she regretted it. She pulled her knees up under her chin, wondering what Sasuke was doing. She looked around. "Huh." she thought. "Heaven sure does look a lot like me and Sasuke-kun's bedroom…" Suddenly, she had an epiphany. If she was dead, why was Sasuke here with her? She gasped and jumped off the bed. She kneeled next to Sasuke. He was asleep. Then she gently kissed the side of his head. She stood up and began to walk away to look out the window. But at the same time Sasuke remembered he wasn't supposed to be sleeping and woke up. When he saw Sakura's pink hair shimmering in the moonlight, he jumped to his feet and gasped. "Sakura-Chan!" he gasped. She turned around to look at him. "Sasuke-kun." She said, smiling at him. It took him two strides to reach the place she was standing. The second he reached where she was standing, he kissed her. Sakura pulled his face closer. If this WAS heaven, even if it was hell, she would take it. One of Sasuke's hands slid down to her lower back while the other held the back of her head. Sakura hugged him close, as if begging him to never stop. Eventually his lips had to move away form hers, so they could breathe for a second. Sasuke rested his forehead against Sakura's and said, "I thought…You were dead…I was so…scared." Sakura smiled and hugged him so she could whisper in his ear: "I'll always be here for you, Sasuke-kun. I'll never leave you… or almost leave you… ever again. I love you. And I'm sorry." Sasuke smiled and held one of Sakura's arms to the wall beside her. "Enough with the apologizing already…" he said, smirking, and silently reaching for her shirt's zipper…

Morning came like always. Sasuke groggily reached to the ground where his shirt was. To his surprise, it wasn't there. He turned over and faced Sakura, who, as he predicted, was wearing his shirt. "Sakura, can I have my shirt?" Sasuke asked, pretending to be annoyed. She smiled coyly at him and said, "Why don't we just skip work today?" She asked, placing her hand lightly on the side of his face. "We can't skip work!! We have an obliga…" he stopped when he saw the way Sakura was smiling at him. "Oohhhh!!" He realized what she was saying. Sakura laughed and kissed him. "Yeah…Let's skip work…" Sasuke whispered, smiling.

Did you like it!? R&R!! My second story! How momentus (Is that even a word? -sweatdrop-)!! I hope you liked it! I already wrote a sequel...

- suddenly holding a skull and wearing a shakesbere costume- To publish or not to publish... that is the question. LOL

Uchiha-Griffin