Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying-- Sasuke/Sakura After the 2 ½ years or so time jump. Sasuke is back, willingly or not. And Sakura is dragged back into a severed friendship, of sorts. This is a repost of a story I started. I didn't like where it was going. Meant to be a couple long parts.
DISCLAIMER: I actually don't own Naruto characters, plot, or ideas and (sadly) will most likely never will…
…
"Am I supposed to be happy? With all I ever wanted, it comes with a price (1)."
…
Voices. Two of them.
"They want to pull the plug on him."
Female. Young; probably around his age; whispered with a mix of emotions lacing through the words.
The other person sighed. "Will they?"
Male. Around Sasuke's age again; tired but bold.
"I said they wanted to. Not that they will. Come on, Naruto, it's already been two weeks. Tsunade's worked on him even!"
Sasuke recoiled in his mind, stiffened at the name. Naruto? Then that meant…
"Well, what about you, Sakura?"
Sasuke listened Sakura's sigh. Her voice had changed. Sasuke strained to hear her now soft voice but an underlying tone betrayed that softness in her voice. She was extremely uncomfortable but being as prudent as ever she tried to cover it up even when he was unconscious.
She whispered, "I have…but Naruto, there could be damage that no amount of chakra can fix. And we won't know if any exists until he wakes up."
Damage…? What damage?! Sasuke immediately opened his eyes. But they didn't move. He tried to open his mouth; lift his hand; scream at the top of his lungs that he wasn't gone yet: no movement whatsoever. He was a prisoner trapped within his own paralyzed body. Maybe he had hit his back a little too hard… had his spine snapped? Had any of the nerves connecting his vertebrae and brain been severed?
His thoughts scattered as he heard Sakura sigh once more and this time velvet soft skin gently brushed his calloused hand. Her voice was shaky, like a song over the radio going in and out of frequency, in and out of silence.
"I don't know anymore, Naruto. But if this lasts any longer than…"
Sasuke wanted to panic. For the first time in his life. He willed his body to react violently, to show Naruto and Sakura that he was still there listening to every word of their startling conversation … Maybe then they wouldn't pull the plug; maybe then they wouldn't kill him.
- - -
Sakura sat legs curled beneath her in a comfortable chair in Tsunade's office, a larger-than-normal medical textbook open in her lap as she propped her chin on her hand, staring numbly at the book she held in her hands. Her bangs fell into half closed green eyes as she absorbed the dense text without actually reading it. Her thoughts were far away from the words she read, drifting back to the previous morning.
A loud blare of the village alarm sounded, wrenching Sakura out of her thoughts. Her head flew up. And the pebble she had been nudging with her foot fell into the creek, disrupting the image of the girl. She was already gone by the time the water stilled, disappearing in the blink of an eye, running on the branches at the treetops directly toward the village gate. Naruto, Neji and Sai were coming back from a B-ranked mission.
Trees and brush blended like running watercolor as Sakura poured on the speed, loving the feel of the chakra flowing through her muscles. She suddenly ran out of branches and had to slam on the brakes; the force almost yanked her out of the tall, tall tree. Sakura exhaled calmly and settled into a crouch, waiting.
Jade eyes widened a hair's breadth. Frozen in shock, Sakura dimly felt her heart skipped a beat.
There Naruto stood shifting uneasily, blood covering his tattered black-and-orange jumpsuit. He was sagging slightly under the weight of the teenager draped around his broad shoulders. Dark hair with a tint of navy was naturally unruly spikes that fell over an impassive pale face with dark eyes closed. He appeared tall, nearly as tall as Naruto or slightly taller, and was wiry muscular. But his body was molted with bruises and cuts, and at least 5 visible bone fractures. Sakura's throat constricted.
Sasuke.
ANBU officers surrounded Naruto, his ragged mission team, and his captive, interrogating them. Their weapons were pointed at Sasuke. But Naruto's eyes focused past them and he remained silent. Abruptly he turned his head to glance over his shoulder. Sapphire eyes met ominous jade ones. And he sighed, suddenly looking older than his 15 years.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Naruto whispered under his breath. His best friend read his lips and then from the corner of his eye he watched her vanish.
A solitary tear glistened as it fell from her right eye. Yesterday he had finally come home; it was just too unbelievable… and painful.
A soft knock echoed through the wooden door. A cold mask slide over her features as Sakura lifted a hand to casually brush away the tear.
"Come in, it's open," she called, lowering her eyes to the pages of the tome she was assigned to read. The scrambled words flooding her eyes refused to decode themselves as the door opened and a tall figure slipped into the room. Silence weighed in the air, Sakura did not lift her head.
"Moshi Moshi Kakashi."
"Sakura…" The copycat ninja inclined his head as he leaned a hip into Tsunade's desk. Sakura heard the question in his tone before he spoke.
"I'm fine, Kakashi," she said shortly.
"Is Sasuke?" The question caught her off guard and her breath caught.
"He—He's fine!" she said hurriedly.
"Okay, I was just wondering… well, I'll see you and Team Seven later tonight then." And with that Kakashi turned to leave. As his black gloved hand pressed down on the metal door handle he stopped and turned back to his beloved student.
Sakura was now sitting bolt upright in her chair, eyes locked on her former sensei. Her mouth fumbled feebly as her mind tried to for coherent words.
"Te—Tea—Team…"
"Team seven. Yes." Kakashi smiled under his mask; Sakura read his eyes. He was happy. "Well, later Sakura!"
And with that Kakashi strolled out of the room, gently closing the door behind him as he stuffed a hand into his pocket.
Another Team Seven training with Kakashi…?
- - -
When her shift was over, Sakura smoked out Naruto from wandering the many twisting corridors of the hospital and sent him home to recover from the latest mission. He only obeyed when she promised to talk to him tonight when they met Kakashi. But instead of going home herself, Sakura's aimlessly wandering feet had taken to the path up the mountain side. She sighed as she sat in the cold wind on top of the Hokage head. She watched a small bird struggle to fly against the wind current. Her chin ducked to land on her knees that she had promptly brought up tight to her chest.
The wind tugged eagerly on her simple crimson and black kimono,whipping it around the jonin kunoichi's slender form.
After two and a half years of intense training under Tsunade, her abilities as a ninja had flourished in the form of medical jutsu and the use of chakra to create immense physical strength. Naruto and Kakashi had even gone so far to call it her "insane strength." Sakura smiled warily as she thought of her best friend and sensei.
Naruto now glared down at her from his superior height of 6' 3" to her 5' 5". His sapphire eyes still held that mischievous glint as they had before and his blonde hair was spiked at strange angles but Naruto had changed. That didn't mean he was any less annoying. He had become more considerate and careful around Sakura than anyone else. He was still her protector, even though she showed him on more than one occasion she could take care of herself.
Kakashi was the same as always: a lazy, sarcastic ninja that always had his nose in his perverted book. But he found a way, despite the team's separation, to spend hours with two of his former students. He could generally be found standing lazily at the side of his only female student while the blonde knuckle-headed ninja made her laugh or walking quietly with Saukra after a particularly long hospital shift to make sure she got home without walking into a ditch in her stupor.
Naruto and Kakashi had been all she had to turn to when her heart was shattered after he had left.
Sakura's thoughts turned cold as the last member of the dissected Team Seven came to mind: Sasuke. Her eyes glowered with confusion and hate.
And now he's back… In the Critical Ward probably about to be let go... but back.
Now what…?
- - -
"Sakura…? Sakura, hello…?"
Sakura stared numbly at her feet as she aimlessly walked through Konoha's streets.
"SAKURA!"
Hands grabbed her and jerked her out of the way of a bicycler who shouted angrily behind him at the reckless teenager. Green eyes blinked. Sakura looked up into Naruto's worried blue eyes. He still had a hand clamped onto her arm. She tried to shrug him off. His grip only tightened. He shook his head.
"Not until you tell me what's truly wrong with you," he said firmly.
The pair had met up and was presently heading to Ichiraku's. Sakura's mind was reeling from all the piled emotions from the past few torturous days.
Sakura's eyes clouded again, and Naruto frowned. He was losing her again. "Sakura."
She looked up at him again, her eyes darker then their normal olive jade. But she smiled warmly up at him. "I'm fine, Naruto."
Slowly he let his hand fall from its protective hold on Sakura's arm. She sighed and then smiled again. "Let's just hurry up and meet Kakashi and his new team; I'm just tired."
Naruto nodded, relaxing slightly, seemingly accepting Sakura's lame excuse. He knew what was bothering her, tearing her up inside. If only he knew what would happen next and could warn her in time to seal off her already broken heart. But he didn't know. No one did. It was the last thing anyone expected.
- - -
Sasuke sat bolt upright, cold sweat pouring off his body. Shaking his head impatiently he immediately brought his heart rate back to normal and his breath was suddenly slow and regular.
Sasuke panted, laboring for breath
In fact if one had not heard his whispered screams one would think he was just sitting up rather than waking from a terrorizing nightmare. Itachi still haunted his sleep.
Lowering his head to his hands he took a shuddering breath. Moving jerkily he yanked the blinding white sheets off his body. His feet touched cold tile flooring and he unsteadily stood. Several tubes connected to his body snapped. The heart monitor went flat line filling the softly lit room with a constant drone as the IV tube spilled its contents over the floor making it dangerously slick.
But Sasuke was already gone.
... - - - ... - - - ...
(1) Song Quote: "Cat and Mouse," by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
AN: Thanks for reading. Sorry its short, but I actually continued this story! Yay! Comment if you have any thoughts at all…
... - - - ... - - - ...
