A ghostly blade pierced the body of the young man. All eyes stared in horror as blood spilled endlessly from the fatal wound. A strangled gasp fell from cold lips as the blade pulled out from his flesh, dark hair covering even darker obsidian eyes.

As he fell helplessly to the ground and maniacal laughter filled the terror-struck air, Sasuke felt soft, warm arms catch hold of his limp body. His chakra failed him; he couldn't identify the person holding him. Were they even real?

Nevertheless, the black-haired shinobi felt calm in the tender embrace. Cracking his eyes open ever so slightly, he caught a glimpse of pale skin and dark hair.

Is that...mother?

As all his senses began to fade away, an eternal darkness took hold of Sasuke.

Is this what death feels like, nii-san?

Hinata panicked as the young man in her arms quickly lost more blood by the second. He was slipping into unconsciousness. This was bad.

Very bad.

Hinata was never as good of a medic as Sakura, but she knew her fair share of techniques. Activating her Byakugan, she frantically scanned the dying body. He had been pierced through the stomach, his organs ravaged brutally. Her small palms glowing in blue chakra, Hinata placed her hands on Sasuke's abdomen, trying her best to reduce the bleeding. But she couldn't do this alone.

Searching desperately for a medic-nin, she saw Naruto. He was occupied fighting Madara's Susanoo, his fury increased tenfold by Sasuke's deadly injury. Naruto glanced at Hinata for a slight moment, silently begging that she somehow save Sasuke.

The Hyuuga silently promised herself she would save Sasuke if it cost her life, for Naruto-kun's sake. With relief, Hinata spotted Sakura sprinting towards the scene.

The pink-haired medic, panting heavily, sat on her knees beside Sasuke's body and surveyed the damage. Resisting her urges to burst into tears, Sakura worked diligently, stopping the endless flow of blood and mending the damaged organs. Hinata followed the medic's lead without fail.

Over several exhausting hours, the two medic-nin worked tirelessly to gain a semblance of control over the Uchiha's body, but the man was constantly dipping into a near-death state. Naruto and other shinobi protected them at all costs, however, the situation began to seem futile. Sasuke was too stubborn to live or die.

When the two women had been tending to Sasuke for more than five hours, their chakras almost depleted and the situation still not brightening, Tsunade removed herself from the battle and walked towards them. Placing a tender hand on Sakura's shoulder, the Hokage's pupil turned and met an expression on her sensei's face that she knew only too well. Sakura felt herself grow bitter. How can she expect me to let him go?

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura wanted her outburst to sound threatening, but it surfaced itself as only a strangled sob.

Hinata looked on at the heart-wrenching scene, finally casting her eyes downward. She understood Tsunade-sama's intentions. The Hokage was forced to make tough decisions. Sakura was an indispensable medic-nin, and many more were dying besides Sasuke. Not to mention that Sasuke himself was a missing-nin, and although he was currently helping Konoha, nothing could be confidently said about where the Uchiha's allegiance stood. In any case, it was imperative that Sakura return to the battlefield to continue healing.

But Hinata was a different matter.

"Sakura, you must go." Tsunade's voice was tight, her expression pained. "The Shinobi Alliance needs you."

Sobs continued to rack the medic-nin's body, and her emerald eyes were crimson-rimmed from the hours of despair. Sasuke-kun...

A soft, hesitant voice broke the tense atmosphere.

"Ano, Tsunade-sama, may I look after Sasuke in Sakura's stead?"

Hinata's lavender eyes glinted with determination, contrasting with her rather timid voice. She wasn't about to break the silent promise she made to Naruto.

Tsunade smiled warmly at Hinata's proposition. This should ease some of Sakura's tension.

"Of course, Hinata."

With the Hokage's approval, the Hyuuga Heiress looked back to the handsome, damaged young man before her. She placed her chakra-infused palms once more on him and continued mending his broken body.

Sakura found herself slightly more at ease when she felt Hinata's determination to save Sasuke. Cupping the raven-haired girl's cheek in her hand, she whispered desperately into her friend's ear.

"Please...please don't let him die, Hinata."

Patting the hand on her cheek reassuringly, Hinata locked her lavender eyes with Sakura's glistening emerald orbs.

"I won't."

Two voices chattered softly in the distance. The noise irritated him, disrupting the quiet of the engulfing darkness. He could feel soft palms gliding over his body, but the feeling was so distant that he didn't think anything of it.

Supposedly, most people see a blinding light when they pass away. Or, at least, that's what rumors say. But I've been shrouded in darkness my whole life, blinded by revenge. This blackness is no different.

Sasuke thought of his family, their faces passing through his mind. His stoic father, his kind mother...his caring brother. He remembered the joyful days when Itachi would poke his forehead, when he would climb on his shoulders and watch in awe at Itachi's training.

I killed him.. I was too stupid to realize that everything he did was for me.

But then again, he never had known the truth until after his brother's death. Itachi was right in saying that he should have told Sasuke the truth. The sharingan user still held a brooding grudge against the Konoha Elders, but after hearing Hashirama's account of Konoha's history, he felt it necessary to carry on the will of fire that Itachi had. Sasuke wanted to restore his clan and change Konoha to become more accepting of the Uchiha. Madara's mistake all those years ago could be overridden. Destruction had no future, but change did.

But, I'm dying, so there's really no point anymore. I'll find peace in death, I guess. At least I died fighting for Konoha.

His roaming thoughts slowly moved to the shinobi he spent much of his life with. The same shinobi that were probably continuing to fight as he drifted into nothingness.

Are they mourning me?

The sharingan user sighed and a smirk almost appeared on his nonexistent face.

Well, I abandoned them for so long. I highly doubt they would care much. Except maybe Naruto...

The blonde-haired shinobi flashed through his mind. Sasuke had a bond with Naruto that he couldn't explain. It had never broken, despite his desperate attempts. Whether it was one of friendship or hate, no one would know, but there was something there. Fighting alongside Naruto in the last hours of his life had been interesting and nostalgic. A flash from the past.

For God's sake, I'm getting sentimental now about that blonde idiot. Just let me die already.

Slowly, he felt one of the distant voices he had been hearing drift away. Only one tender voice remained. It breathed softly and was filled with determination. Sasuke recognized it as the small voice he had associated with his mother.

Pale skin, dark hair...Wait, was she talking to herself?

Sasuke quieted his talkative thoughts, tuning his ears to the noise. He focused his senses on deciphering the distant and quietly spoken words. Straining his ears, Sasuke finally was able to understand what the woman was chanting repeatedly.

"Sasuke-kun...please...don't die."

The sharingan user didn't recognize the voice, but was contented to think of the woman as his mother. Her tender voice calmed the man's mind and he rested in the peace that it brought. Can't I get a little comfort in my last few moments?

But then, sobs began to rack the soft voice. Distantly, he could feel tears on his body. Sasuke felt the instinct to calm the girl down, to assure her that everything was okay. He wanted her gentleness to wash over him once more. Why was she even crying?

Oh. I'm dying. Right.

He listened painfully as the girl continued to sob. Wishing to wipe her tears away as if she was really his mother, Sasuke wondered if he could reach out his hand to her cheek. But she was so far way...

Might as well try. I'm already half-dead anyways.

Mustering all the strength left in him, the black-haired shinobi miraculously found connection with his body and raised his hand slightly. He listened as the quiet sobbing immediately stopped, and felt the weight of the girl's tense, hopeful gaze on his hand. Painfully, Sasuke barely opened his eyes to find the same pale skin and dark hair from before. Lifting his hand to her blurry cheek with all his might, his thumb passed across smooth skin, but all too soon his hand failed him and fell to the rough ground with a thud.

As his vision declined, Sasuke watched as strained lavender eyes met his own obsidian, and then the young shinobi was no more.

Hinata's tentative joy was unexplainable as she saw Sasuke's hand reach shakily towards her face. His vitals had stabilized, and he was finally, finally out of the danger zone. The Hyuuga wiped sweat off her brow and sat back on her feet, allowing herself a well-needed rest. The Uchiha had drifted into slumber, and she smiled as a sense of accomplishment took over her exhausted mind. Taking a look at his resting face, Hinata mused at how peaceful Sasuke looked in his sleep.

Right now, he really doesn't look like the madman everyone claims him to be...

Even though Hinata never knew Sasuke very well, through these hours of desperately trying to save him, she felt as if she had been on a long journey with the man before her. As if she understood him. Shaking her head at her silly thoughts, Hinata let a smile grace her face as she looked around the area for Tsunade or Sakura to inform about Sasuke's condition. Her eyes falling on Naruto, the young heiress' brows furrowed as she saw the blonde shinobi sprawled on the ground.

Quickly checking Sasuke's condition, Hinata ran to where Naruto was.

"Ano, Naruto-kun?"

She bent over the jinchuuriki and lightly tapped his shoulder. His bright, blue eyes fluttered open in surprise, but softened when he saw the girl before him.

"Hinata-chan...I did it."

Naruto sat up and smiled his usual, toothy grin, and Hinata couldn't help but follow his lead as well.

"I did it too, Naruto-kun."

At her words, if it was even possible, Naruto's smile grew wider. Forgetting all restraints, the blonde shinobi wrapped his arms around the girl from where she bent above him and pulled her down into his lap. As Naruto held her tightly, a crimson blush blossomed across Hinata's face, and she thought her cheeks were going to burn. A laugh escaped Naruto, and all of a sudden he fell to the ground with a thud, Hinata still on top of him.

"N-naruto-kun?! Are you okay?"

The Hyuuga almost started to panic, but a reassuring hand rested on her shoulder, and she turned to see a smiling Hokage looking down at her.

"It's just the exhaustion, Hinata. Don't worry. I'm sure you need a good rest too."

"Tsunade-sama." Hinata felt her face brighten and was about to mention Sasuke when an excited pink-haired medic-nin pulled the lavender-eyed girl into a strong embrace.

"Arigatou, Hinata. I saw Sasuke-kun."

Hinata smiled warmly at the kunoichi before her.

I really did it.

A/N: Recently, I've been in a SasuHina craze. I think they're a really adorable couple, even if its rather unreasonable canon-wise. Anyway, here's the product of my SasuHina musings. I'm really excited about this story; I already have a lot written! Pretty interesting stuff coming up, so please review, favorite, follow, and whatever else everyone does! ^-^ Since I already have a good amount written, I'll be posting regularly. Every week or every other week. Please look forward to it~