Please review, even twice if you already have! I'm insecure. :0 Thoughts at bottom

The air grew still. The silence was unbroken. Sakura couldn't believe what Tsunade was saying. How did this happen? How was this possible? She had started his heart. I felt it. I know I felt it. It seemed simply impossible that her pillar, her best friend was going to die.

"No…No that's not possible! I swear I felt his heart beating before I passed out, and his injuries were bad, but….." Her words faded as her throat grew heavy with guilt. This is entirely my fault. If I'd only convinced him Sasuke was a lost cause, that he would never be happy until….I'm such an idiot!

"Sakura, there is nothing you could have done. You haven't been trained how to resuscitate a completely chakra-drained body. And…that curse seal did nothing but hamper your efforts."

"No, but his heart was beating. I know it…" Tsunade cut her off with a wave of her hand.

"There are very careful, strict procedures we follow to properly resuscitate a person in Naruto's state. As I said, you have not yet been trained how to do that." Tsunade sighed, dropping her countenance, letting a little of her fatigue show. "The truth is so few shinobi in that state survive and make it back to the village that it's a waste to train any but the highest level of medic-nins in this particular type of resuscitation."

"Remember your lessons from a few months ago? You should recall how the vital organs and our chakra systems are intertwined. Both need each other to survive, and the death of either system makes it impossible for the other one to continue. I don't know how you managed to get his heart beating. It took all of my chakra, including my seal, and Shizune to stabilize him… but there's nothing we can do for him now. The chakra systems around his heart were completely exhausted, and you only had 33 seconds from when his heart stopped before those pathways shut down for good. It's a miracle he lasted as long as he did. His heart is beating now with the chakra we pushed into him last night. So little of it got through, and his blood is saturated with foreign chakra. We can't keep him going any longer."

"B-But, there has to be something you can do! Konoha has the most advanced medic-nins in all of the nations!" Something snapped inside Sakura, giving way to anger. Her voice rose steadily until she was shouting. "He can't die! No!" All of her fury, her conviction and her defiance in the face of death left her. She felt oddly deflated, like a fake palindrome.

Tsunade looked on with kind eyes, the same eyes that saw her brother, her lover, and now her successor fade away. A dry smile appeared and her kind eyes moistened, heavy with sadness. "He's not dead yet. He'll be waking up in a few hours. He'll have a day left, may less. I'll send for you then. Now please, leave. I have to inform everyone that Naruto will die today."

As she was leaving, Sakura glanced over and saw tears sliding down Tsunade's face. She didn't notice the tears sliding down her own. Walking out the door, a new feeling assailed her. She felt weightless, as if she was plummeting off a cliff, free falling.

Sakura started walking around Konoha, trying to come to terms with everything that happened. Naruto, who had come back from his trip with Jiraiya just two months before, had grown so powerful, and yet even more determined to bring back her Sasuke. She still couldn't believe that he did it. In the worst way possible. She stopped, the full magnitude of the situation hitting her square in the chest. Naruto was dead.

The realization hit her like a brick. She had never had a close friend die. You could say she was spoiled that way. Yes, Team 7 had its share of close calls, but never, even during any of the fights did she truly fear for the lives of Naruto or Sasuke. They're strong enough, she told herself. They'll never be in real danger. After all, who could stand against the team of the sole Uchiha heir and the single most determined person to ever become a Leaf shinobi? No one, she told herself. Standing together, they were invincible. They would never be torn apart, she told herself.

But she failed to consider that they would follow different paths. True, they never were torn apart. Rather, they repelled each other. Neither could agree on anything. Both polar opposites, both eternal rivals. And most and least of all, best friends.

The hours flew by quickly. Nothing seemed to be quite the same. Her quiet companions, Sorrow and Death followed her everywhere. The air that filled her lungs, the sight of cherry blossom petals falling at five centimeters per second, nothing was as it once was. How could it be? Naruto Uzumaki, the most vibrant, shining life in all of the Hidden Leaf would be dead in less than a day. And whose fault was it? Haruno Sakura's.

She stopped, savoring the day, the pouring rain, for him. For Naruto, who would no longer be able to. She turned around and trudged back to the hospital, a thought scratching at the back of her head.

Sorry about how rough this chapter is. Still hurting for a beta reader hit me up with a pm. Please? The chapters will be longer if you do. btw, If you notice the change in tones, good for you. I won't bore you with the details, but watch 5CM PER SECOND.

Ganon – I know what you're trying to say. After all, where would we be without epics? But I'm shooting for more of an emotional core, and detail toward training and stuff isn't needed for this kind of interpretation. Neither are battle scenes. Maybe next time. I do recommend TRAINING FOR THE JOB by desaix.