Title: Critical
Summary: Surrounded by enemy ninja, outnumbered and low on chakra, what are Sakura and Kakashi gonna do?
Pairing: KakaSaku
A/N: This was also taken from my Tumblr and just decided to upload it now! I hope you all enjoy!


Sakura cursed herself and this entire situation. Grinding her teeth together, Sakura hastily pressed her hand against the profusely bleeding wound on her stomach.

She was low on chakra and if she wasn't careful, any moment now she could be knocked down or worse, fall over herself. She had over exerted herself on this mission, but it wasn't much of a surprise since her and her teammate had been being chased by these thugs for over an hour. After a particularly exhausting mission, Sakura had been looking forward to arriving home and soaking off all the sweat and grime that had built up over the past few weeks in a nice warm bath.

It seemed she'd be waiting a bit longer for that bath.

Her enemy, a short, thick man smirked at the sight of her - it was clear to anyone with eyes that she wasn't fairing well. Tch, he probably thought he was going to win - he could win. But Sakura would rather die than ever let herself be beat by such a pathetic excuse of man.

"Give up, little girl," the man sneered, eyeing her with a disgusting look that made Sakura's insides crawl. "You can't beat me."

That was it. This man had been teasing her for far too long. Sakura sent a quick glance her teammate's way, noticing how the one enemy he'd been fighting before had doubled and it seemed like Kakashi wasn't doing too well either. She needed to get rid of this guy and go help him.

Tugging on her fingerless gloves, Sakura pushed back her fatigue and exhaustion. "Cha," she spat, sneering, "i'll show you."

With a sudden burst of energy, Sakura flung off the soles of her feet, lunging towards the man with her fist raised. The man, still underestimating her strength, reached out to grab her fist, sorely regretting it the moment her fist made contact with his palm. His wrist cracked underneath her strength, a sickening snap echoing around the forest as his lips parted in a shrill scream.

Landing on her two feet, Sakura huffed, deflecting the kunai sent her way and shooting her leg out. The man expected her to lash out at his weak spot - his legs, and jumped back. He was once again mistaken when her heel made contact with the forest floor, shattering it into a million pieces. The ground rumbled, and through it all Sakura teetered on her feet as the man fell down. His body smacked harshly against the forest floor, and Sakura let her lips curved just slightly in victory.

But the moment the threat was gone, Sakura felt herself lose all strength. Closing her eyes for a moment, she cursed - she was now extremely low on chakra.

"Agh!"

Snapping her eyes open, Sakura saw her teammate and ex-sensei being thrown across the forest floor, his back smashing harshly against the truck of a tree. He had his hitai-ate raised, sharingan blazing.

"Kakashi!" His name left her lips in a shrill scream, her mind forcing her feet to run forward. As she made her way over, she noticed that one of the men Kakashi had been fighting was down on the ground, leaving only the one. He obviously was strong if Kakashi had to whip out his sharingan, not to mention the fact that he'd just been flung off.

Grunting, Kakashi crawled back up to his feet. "I'm fine," he mumbled, joining Sakura's side. Ignoring the enemy that loomed before them, Sakura turned towards Kakashi, pressing a hand against his chest. Kakashi pushed her hand away, "no time," he rasped.

"Have you come to join us, kunoichi?" The man before you leered, pulling your attention back on him. Again he regarded you with that same leering look as his teammate had, taking the moment to let his eyes run up and down your body before settling back on your eyes. "How nice."

"You little…-" Snarling her lip, Sakura moved to step forward, her fists clenching before Kakashi gripped onto her arm. "Kakashi?"

"He's dangerous," Kakashi warned, eyes meeting Sakura's. "You can't just fling your fists at him this time."

Sakura flushed, stepping back.

"I'm flattered, Sharingan Kakashi," the man smirked. "But all this talk is boring, show me how strong you really are."

And then a full out fight broke out. Sakura could barely focus on one thing, watching as the two flung at one another and then she lunged forward. The earth beneath her was utterly destroyed and trees had been knocked down. But as Sakura landed back on her feet, crouched and panting heavily, she realized that their enemy barely had a scratched on him. While she was severely injured herself and losing strength by the moment.

Kakashi didn't look too much better, but was hiding it better.

"I have to say," the man leered, "i'm quite disappointed. I would've thought you'd bunch would've been funner."

It was then that Sakura realized just how weak Kakashi was. She realized in that moment that in all her years of knowing the man, she had never seen him so exhausted. He was crouched down, hands held before him but his eyes were narrowed and his breaths were uneven. While Sakura was a safe distance away from the man, Kakashi was directly before him.

Sakura watched with wide eyes as the enemy took quick - too quick - steps over to Kakashi, sending a disgusting smirk his way before raising his sword and thrusting it into Kakashi's shoulders. Sakura hadn't even noticed she'd started running until the moment happened and her feet came to a stop, her eyes widening as she regarded her long-time friend with utter shock.

No… No, this couldn't be happening.

Without even wasting a moment, the katana was ripped from Kakashi's chest and the man placed his foot on his chest, shoving him to the ground. His glinting eyes fell on Sakura. "Now," the man smirked, "I get to have some fun with you."

Completely chakra-depleted and at a lost, all Sakura could do was pathetically stumble back. Eventually she lost her footing, falling to the ground in a mess of pink. With one eye busted, Sakura regarded the enemy before her with a new-found fear.

"Don't be scared, kunoichi," the man whispered, eerily gentle. "You will enjoy th-"

Just as his hand shot out to grab Sakura, a sudden spark erupted and the man before her had a gaping hole in his chest.

"Kakashi!"

The enemies eyes widened, and his head turned slightly to regard the thought-to-be-dead man behind him. "H-How…"

Kakashi said nothing, and ripped his hand out of the man's chest. Teetering for a moment, the man fell with a loud thud before Sakura, smacking against her legs. Sakura stared in shock at the dead man, before hesitantly glancing up at her ex-sensei with bafflement.

Kakashi wavered and his sharingan eye fell shut as the wound in his lower chest finally hit him. Pushing the man hastily off of her, Sakura crawled to her feet, catching Kakashi just before he collapsed to the ground. "Kakashi!" She screamed, eyes watering as the severity of the situation dawned on her.

Setting him on her lap, Sakura ripped off Kakashi's jounin vest and shirt, placing her hands over the gaping wound, green chakra glowing.

Kakashi set his gloved hand on top of Sakura's arm. "Save your chakra…"

"No," Sakura cried, "no, you are not going to die."

"Sakura-"

"I'm not going to let you die, Kakashi." Sakura snapped, determined eyes flashing. "Now let me heal you."

Kakashi didn't say another word and instead focused on the soothing feeling of Sakura's chakra.


R&R!