"Sakura!" Gaara screamed, clutching the bleeding girl closer to his chest. "Don't leave me! Please! Don't leave me!" He grabbed the phone with one hand frantically, trying to stop her bleeding with the other.
"Hello?! 911?! Hinata?! It's Gaara! Please, get an ambulance over here! It-it's Sakura! She's dying!" The minute he heard the girl's response, he dropped the phone, knowing that she knew their address, and held his wife close to his chest.
"I'm sorry!" He was whispering now, stroking her bloody hair with his fingers. "I'm so, so sorry! If-if I didn't, then you wouldn't be like this! Sakura, I'm sorry." He buried his head buried in the crook of her neck, sobbing.
"G-Ga-Gaara..." The man's head shot up, and he looked into his wife's dull, blind eyes.
"Sakura! Don't speak; don't do anything! Hi-Hinata's coming with the ambulance and our friends, okay! Just-just stay with me until then!" But she couldn't hear him, the sound of a single gunshot still ringing in her ears.
"I should hate you..." Gaara ceased his cries, looking at his wife in horror. "I've known for so long…So long that I should hate you, but I can't-I just can't! I've tried to-believe me, I have-but every time-every single time- it fails…All because I love you…" Sakura let a long, bitter laugh that chilled Gaara to the bone; blood trickled out of her mouth, staining both of their clothes.
"Isn't it funny how I still love you after all of this, bastard…?" Sakura muttered, looking around even though her eyes were blind and unfocused. "I love a lying, cheating bastard! Did I do something to anger the gods?" Gaara's heart fell. Is this how she truly felt?
"But…" Her husband looked into her beautiful emerald eyes, a spark of hope found. "I forgive you," More tears fell as he buried his head in the crook of her neck once more, his hair barely touching her mate mark.
"The girls don't, and the guys most certainly won't, but I do." The girls know? The guys don't? How? Why? Just as he opened his mouth, the door burst open as Hinata, several other paramedics and their friends charged through the door.
"Gaara," The Hyuuga's soft voice rang throughout the tense atmosphere. "Gaara, let go. We need to treat her." When the girl's attempts failed, Ino and Ten Ten ran forward, the former slapping him on the cheek with all her might while the latter kicked him till he was on his knees.
"Let her go so that they can save her, asshole! You made her like this; let them fix her! Don't hold her like she's your life, because she's mine! She's my life! Let her go so we can save her! Let her go! Let my best friend go!" Finally able to yank the pinkette out of her husband's arms due to a furious blonde's attempts, Hinata glared and gave the girl to her workmates before pinning Gaara with a glare.
Akane and Saaya loaded Sakura onto the stretcher and began carrying it to the ambulance before pausing to ask the female Hyuuga if she was coming.
"No, she's my friend; I'm staying here with Ino to deal with this bastard. We'll be back after." The Hyuuga growled, and her workmates nodded frantically, disappearing immediately.
"You're an asshole!" Ten Ten screamed, her eyes shining as she glared at the kneeling man. "You're a fu*king asshole that never deserved our best friend! She never deserved that treatment! Sakura never deserved-"
"I get it!" Gaara yelled, his voice vibrating throughout the room. "I know already! She never deserved an asshole for a husband! I know that already, so don't-"
"No, you don't know!" Hinata screamed, and everyone turned their stunned eyes onto the usually quiet girl. "You don't know! She came crying to us every single night, her arms bleeding because she cut herself, thinking that she would never be good enough!" As the Hyuuga fell to her knees, breathing heavily with tears pouting down her face like never ending waterfalls, Ino took over.
"Do you really know, Gaara?! Do you know how she passed out on my doorstep when we were all supposed to be having a sleepover?! Do you know how she has to cry herself to sleep every night? Oh, sorry, of course you don't! You were out fucking Matsuri!" Suddenly, the boys stepped forward, three going over to comfort their screaming girlfriends.
"Shh, shh, Hinata-calm down. Shh. What happened?" Everyone watched as the girl turned to her boyfriend and his dog, eyes teary.
"He-he *hic*ch-cheated o-on *hic* S-Sakura-chan wi-with *sniffle* M-M-Matsu-no…G-Gaara ch-cheated on Sakura-chan w-with a *hic* bitch! O-one month a-after th-they got married, h-he st-started l-leaving a-and st-staying o-out l-late…W-we w-were all o-out *hic* with *hic* Temari-chan and *hic* then we-we s-saw him k-kissing h-her, and *hic* S-Sakura-chan d-didn't do an-anything; sh-she just st-stood *hic* th-there an-and w-watched…A-after, she j-just said *hic* that *hic* he-he *sniffle* Ten Ten!" The girl screamed, breaking out of her boyfriend's grip and launching herself at the brunette, pushing her cousin off in the process, crying hysterically.
"Hinata-chan," The older girl whispered, stroking the girl's hair as they both fell, Ten Ten's legs sprawled out. Ten Ten looked up into the expectant yet caring eyes of her friends and sighed sadly before continuing. "Sakura-chan said that he had been disappearing for a while, and that one night, after a mission, she came home to see him fu*king her in their bedroom…S-Sakura-chan didn't sleep there after that; she slept in the guest room and said that she told Gaara that she liked the bed better and that he could stay in their room…" Her lip trembled, and the sight of all three girls crying nearly made the guys tell Ten Ten to stop talking, but she had stopped already, looking at Ino with wide, watery eyes. Sighing, the blonde girl continued while her other two friends laid on the floor crying, the older hugging Hinata protectively.
"Luckily, he stayed. After that, w-we tried to convince her to confront him-or, at least, let us confront him, but she wouldn't allow it. S-Sakura said that if everyone was happy, then that was enough. Sh-she said that she wouldn't let us ruin the image of our 'perfect family' because if everyone else was happy, then that would be enough. S-she said that she would n-never forgive herself if everyone got angry and drifted away from Gaara because of her." She stopped for a moment, watching the red head's reaction before continuing.
"S-so she kept it all in; Sakura didn't say anything…She just plastered a fake smile on her face every day and cried herself to sleep every night. I-it was only when Tema and Hina went to visit her that we realised she was cutting herself. Being a qualified medic-nin, it seemed, only helped her learn where and where not to cut and how much she could without it scarring. W-we think that she saw something that day…Something worse than usual, because when they got there, she wasn't breathing, and the crimson pool surrounding her was around about the same amount as the one here." Ino paused, gesturing to the blood staining the beautiful carpet, her eyes pooling with even more tears.
"We tried to make her promise not to cut, but she refused every single time. I-in the end, we got her to come to Hinata or me to heal or because even though I have little medical knowledge, I can heal. She-she…Yesterday, she started thanking us and saying sorry over and over again. W-we d-didn't know that-that sh-she was going to-OH KAMI-SAMA! FOREHEAD, WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?! WE WERE HERE FOR YOU!" Everyone watched as the girl fell to the ground with the other kunoichis, immediately hugging Hinata from the other side, crying.
Only the sobs of the girls echoed throughout the room before someone strode forward and picked the heartbroken red head by the collar, delivering a swift punch to the side his jaw. Gaara remained motionless as more hands and feet hit him, his thoughts solely on his dying wife. The rest of the guys, however, only got angrier, their thoughts focused on their dying pinkette and sobbing girls.
The door was flung open, but no one paid it any attention until the girls noticed a crying Temari standing there. "Even though he deserves it, I don't feel like my baby brother's life should end here."
"Temari! S-Sakura…She-she…" The girls flung themselves at the other blonde, all crying hysterically as they tried to finish their sentence.
"Shh, it's okay. I heard what happened," Temari stroked all of their heads in a comforting manner, while Sasuke and the others abandoned Gaara, walking towards the small group of girls in the doorway.
"But…" Temari ceased her actions as they all shot their heads up, staring at her in dread. "Guys, I stopped by the hospital on the way here…Kura…Kura's gone…" As they all fell to their knees and began shaking their heads disbelievingly, Temari realised her mistake.
"No, she-Kura isn't dead, guys. I didn't mean it like that," Suddenly they looked up hopefully, the girls' eyes still overflowing with tears and the guys' faces slightly stained with tear marks.
"Then what happened, Tema?" Ino asked, trying not to get too hopeful in case her, and everyone else's, hopes were crushed.
"Guys," The sister of the Kazekage sighed and looked each and every one of them in the eye. "Kura…She…Kura left with the Akatsuki."