The last thing Asuma remembered was her eyes, Juliet's beautiful mismatched eyes boring into his own as he felt himself slipping away. He closed his eyes, but he still could picture them in his mind, her one turquoise orb stunningly contrasting the other that was a unique shade of hunter green. He had never seen such a beautiful set of eyes on anyone. They stared down at him in desperation willing him to struggle on. His hope was all but gone and the pain was starting to numb as he lost feeling in his limbs. Every breath still struck him with agony due to the wounds in his abdomen. He welcomed death with a heavy heart. He was in the process of giving up when he felt an odd almost warm feeling rush over him replacing the pain that was just there not only a few seconds ago crippling him. His body was mending itself, life's breath returned to his chest again, he could feel his legs, then his arms, slowly he was regaining feeling everywhere. Willing himself to sit up, he jerked his head from the force of hands that had once held him there and opened his eyes taking in the scene before him.
'No!' his mind screamed out as he saw her. Aoba caught Juliet before she fell back into the cement surface of the roof. She hung like dead weight in his arms, blood soaked her clothes, and he took note of the shallowness of her breathing. "We need to get her to Tsunade, immediately!" he stated. Asuma nodded and they took off towards Konoha. Asuma fell back a few paces to keep step with Shikamaru. "What happened?" he asked. Shikamaru kept his eyes focused forward but Asuma could still read the worried look on his face. "She used her kekkei genkai to take the injuries that you suffered upon herself. Although they were only a fraction of the originals they are still serious. But there was no other way, tch… She saved your life, when I couldn't. I've ran this scenario through my head a million times but I still wasn't prepared for this. Dammit, if I would've…" Asuma put his hand on his shoulder cutting him off "Shikamaru, it wasn't anyone's fault. Our enemies were a formidable team and we were not strong enough that is all. I should be one lying there lifeless not her…" He couldn't say anymore, the thought of it brought on an ache in his chest that crippled him in pain.
Konoha seemed a million miles away and Asuma felt as if they were closing in on the village in increments of inches rather than miles. After an eternity or so it felt they reached the gates. Genma and Hayate greeted them as they rushed in. "What happened?" Genma yelled. Ino grabbed him by the sleeve and yelled for him to follow her to grab Sakura and supplies and told the rest that she would meet them in Tsunade's office. Aoba picked up the pace as they saw the Hokage's office come into view. Asuma looked over at the unconscious kunoichi in Aoba's arms. Juliet was soaked in blood, the rise and fall of her chest seemed sporadic as her breath came out in labored puffs. Her eyes were shut but moved restlessly under their lids. A burn had taken over the right side of her face. Guilt swept over him as hard as the pounding rain. 'I shouldn't have been so reckless and this never would've happened' he mentally chastised himself and pressed on towards the Hokage's office.
Tsunade was sitting at her desk looking over mission reports when Asuma burst through her door, holding it open for Aoba who held her cherished student in his arms. She looked at him in horror and shoved everything off of her desk. "Lay her down here hurry. Someone go get Sakura and Ino fast have them bring me supplies!" As if on cue they hurried through the door arms full of medical supplies. "Oi, Sakura I need your help! Get to work on the abdominal wounds first, Ino try and control the bleeding in her leg! Genma go down to the hospital and tell Shizune I'm going to need an emergency blood transfusion type O along with an IV and a stretcher we need to move her into the critical unit. Sakura attach the heart monitor. Let's get going" Tsunade yelled, Genma ran to get Shizune, and Sakura attached the heart monitor and got to work.
The shinobi sat in silence as the three worked their medical ninjutsu on their comrade who lay bleeding out on Tsunade's desk. Ino was starting to tremble her chakra was fading fast the leg wound seemed to not want to close. Shizune returned and began the blood transfusion and IV. Tsunade watched Ino falter as she became exhausted. "Shizune, take Sakura's place, Sakura you take over for Ino. Be careful we have to make the transition as seamless as possible so we don't put her body into shock." The three got ready Shizune stood behind Sakura, and Sakura poised herself to move "One, two…." Ino's chakra ran out too soon leaving the wound wide open, Sakura ran to take over but it was too late. Juliet flat lined. Her heart stopped beating.
Tsunade clenched her teeth and swore under her breath. She began attempts at resuscitation. Asuma watched Juliet's body jerk with each chest compression, sure Tsunade was going to crush her if she kept up the pace at which she was going, but he didn't dare say a word. The usually reserved Hokage's eyes had welled with tears he was sure of it. The rest of the shinobi in the room stood horrified, afraid to move watching the heart wrenching scene unfolding before them. It felt like the minutes had turned into hours and Tsunade's attempts were beginning to look more desperate with each set of compressions.
Asuma watched as the Legendary Sanin slumped down into her chair, her disheveled hair hung in her face in an attempt to hide the tears that slid down her cheeks. He saw her mouth open as she went to sigh but her voice broke and a sob tore from her throat instead. She placed her head in her hands as the alarm on the monitor ripped at her heart. Looking down at Juliet she stroked Juliet's cheek and tried to smooth her wild red hair.
Asuma tried to grab Shikamaru before he could step any closer but his attention once again was on Tsunade as she stood up. Her fist glowing green with chakra, she drove her fist down onto Juliet's chest screaming at her "Breathe Dammit! Don't you dare give up on me now!" Her fist made contact with the young kunoichi's chest forcing chakra into her lungs, the force caused Juliet's lungs to contract and her blood to flow. Her heart was beating again. Tsunade immediately called the medics and Juliet sat up in a fit of coughing. Asuma held her as she shook, coughing up blood. He helped the medics put her on a stretcher and watched as they wheeled her down into the critical care wing, Tsunade and Sakura on either side of the bed healing her.
Shikamaru cleared everyone out of the room as Asuma slumped against the wall. He sat down next to his sensei and lit up a cigarette, "She'll be fine now. She's in good hands" he reassured both himself and his sensei. Asuma sighed and lit one up as well "I know, but still… I can't shake this guilty feeling" he sighed 'this was all my fault' he closed his eyes and took a long drag