Photograph

Chapter 3: The Little Girl

A/N: I've been told by my friends that this particular chapter is a tear jerker. So let me know what you think.


A photo, old yet well preserved was laid out.

A little girl, with bright blue eyes and long black hair, laid in a small hospital bed. Her skin was a pale sickly white and the dark circles under her eyes were a ghastly shade.

A tall young man, with spiky black hair and cold dark eyes, sat next to her. His expression was that of mixed emotion. Sad and contemplative, plus angry and dejected.

The little girl smiled, despite her prognosis.


The five shinobi walked through the streets of an old run down village. It seemed to be abandoned. The stores were closed as well as the small apartment homes. The only sign of life was seen through the cracks of the slightly opened windows where they could see people peaking nervously out at them.

"We have a lot of work to do." Jugo noted looking around at their surroundings. The others agreed silently. They all stopped in the middle of the street when they noticed a tall, built, muscular man with short brown hair, walking toward them. He wore a white lab coat over his regular clothes.

"Is Haruno Sakura among you?" the man asked. Sakura stepped forward.

"I'm she." Sakura replied.

"I'm Shuriko." The man greeted shaking her hand. "I'm the chief of medicine at the hospital. Lady Hokage informed me that you are here to lend us aid." Sakura nodded.

"We are. We'll do our best." She said.

All the while Shuriko and Sakura were talking, Sasuke couldn't help but notice the young male doctor was admiring Sakura quite closely. Although he didn't understand why, he couldn't help but see red.

"Thank you for your help. If you come with me, I'd like you to meet some men who you'll be working with." Shuriko said leading the group of five toward the hospital. Once there, Shuriko lead them towards three other men, each varying in height.

Shuriko turned to address the shinobi group.

"This is Kenske, Tai, and Rumo." Shuriko introduced. "Kenske is the construction foreman, he's restoring the run down buildings. Tai is a business man, he's helping get out local merchants back on their feet. And Rumo is a doctor from the sand village."

Shuriko then turned to the three men.

"These are the volunteers from the leaf village." Kenske stepped up.

"What can each of you do?" he asked. Sasuke spoke up.

"Jugo, Suigetsu and I can help with manual labor." He explained.

"Good then you can come with me." Kenske said leading the three men out. When they were gone Karin spoke up.

"I'm a medical assistant." She said. this gained Rumo's attention.

"Perfect, I'll need assistance in the trauma unit." He explained leading the young woman toward the far side of the hospital.

"Well then I suppose that leaves us." Shuriko said. "Shall I give you the grand tour?" Sakura nodded, before she too was led away.

Sakura walked with Shuriko through the halls of the hospital.

"We have the hospital separated as best we could. The check ups are done in the exam rooms in corridor three. Beds for adults are in corridor four. The children's ward is in corridor two and the offices corridor one. The ER and the ambulances entrances are on the other side of the hospital."

This place sounds pretty big for such a small village." Sakura noticed.

"Oh it is. It's just, we don't have the supplies to take care of everyone. And trust me, there's a lot of injured and sick people here." He explained.

"What exactly did Orochimaru do to this village?" Sakura asked. Shuriko sighed.

"The easier question is what didn't he do. He captured a lot of our people, only a few of them returned unharmed, but the ones who didn't, god only knows what happened. And of coarse there are a few who returned seriously injured or sick and there's nothing we can do for them."

Sakura looked around sadly. "It's heart wretching." She said quietly.

"It is." Shuriko replied. "But thanks to you, there's a little light at the end of the tunnel." Sakura blushed a little. "I've heard great things about you, Sakura-san. I'm quite impressed. For someone so young you've accomplished so much."

"Thank you." Sakura said quietly, feeling a little awkward.


Jugo exhailed a tired breath. "What a day." He said. the other two men agreed as they slumped down to rest under the shade of a large tree.

"Hard day?" Karin asked, as she appeared out of nowhere and sat next to Sasuke. They nodded. "Poor Sasuke, you must be so exhausted, is there anything I can do for you?" Suigetsu and Jugo rolled their eyes.

"Where's Sakura?" he asked gruffly. Karin crossed her arms over her chest and snorted in disgust.

"She's still at the hospital." She replied rejected and pissed.

Sasuke stood up and walked away from the group, leaving a pissed off Karin and two male shinobi trying their hardest to laugh out loud at said woman.


Sasuke walked down the halls of the hospital. He guessed he was in the children's ward by the childish air of the rooms and hall ways.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke heard softly behind him. Sasuke turned around, but no one was there. "Excuse me?" he heard again. He looked down.

There at his feet was a small little girl, no younger then five. Her hair was black and she had big bright blue eyes. Despite her pale skin and the dark circle under her eyes, she was quite beautiful.

The young girl gestured for him to come closer. He crouched down so he was level with her. She came closer to his face and whispered.

"Have you seen Sakura?" Sasuke shook his head 'no' "Good, I'm hiding form her." She continued backing away a little.

"Why?" Sasuke asked finally speaking.

"Cause she wants to give me a shot." The little girl said. Sasuke chuckled.

"You're not afraid of a little old needle, are you?" he asked.

"I'm not afraid of anything." She said crossing her arms defiantly.

"Well then, why are you hiding?" he asked. She starred at him for a minute, as if to say she was thinking about his question.

Finally she answered. "I don't know." she shrugged her shoulders.

Sasuke burst into a rare fit of laughter, and the young girl laughed along with him.

Sakura came around the corner just then.

"There you are Kai-Lee." She said.

"Hi, Sakura." Kai-Lee greeted cutely. Sakura looked over at Sasuke and smiled at him.

"I see you've made a new friend." Sakura said smiling down at the young child. Kai-Lee smiled back and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yea, this is…..um….." Kai-Lee looked back at Sasuke, at a complete loss.

"Sasuke." Sasuke and Sakura replied at the same time. Kai-Lee looked back and forth between them.

"You know each other?" she asked, they nodded. She smiled widely.

Sakura crouched down in front of her. "I know you don't want to, but I have to give you your shot." Sakura explained.

"Ok." She said. "Can Sasuke come?" both girls looked back at Sasuke. He nodded 'yes'

"yeah." Kai-Lee exclaimed, grabbing Sasuke's hand and pulling him along. Sakura followed close behind.

Eventually Sasuke scooped Kai-Lee up and put her on his shoulder.

"Wee." She laughed.

Sakura smiled as she watched the two new friends.


"Ok sweetie, this is going to make you sleepy, ok?" Sakura said.

"I know." Kai-Lee replied, snuggling down into the bed with her teddy bear.

Sasuke and Sakura both watched over her as she slowly drifted to sleep. Once she was asleep, Sakura gestured for Sasuke to follow her out of the room.

"What did you say to her?" Sakura asked once they were outside. "She was dead set against that shot." Sasuke smirked.

"Reverse psychology." He replied. "My brother used to do it to me all the time." Sakura smiled.

The two shinobi watched the young child sleep through the window in her room. After a time of silence, Sasuke spoke up.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked thoughtfully. Sakura sighed

"When she was two, Orochimaru's men captured her and her parents. They were used her to develop a cure for a disease that swept through Orochimaru's assests. Needless to say they didn't find one." Sakura took a deep breath. "There's nothing I can do for her."

"How long does she have?"

"Only a few months." She said tears forming in her eyes. Sasuke walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Both shinobi stood in the doorway watching the young child. A sense of dread and despair fell over them.


One Month Later

Bright blue eyes peered over the top of a small chair in the playroom. She giggled as she heard footsteps. Ducking down under one of the covered tables, she scrunched up, sat and waited.

Sasuke stood in the doorway to the playroom, surveying the scenery. He smirked as he activated his Sharingan. He chuckled inwardly when he caught sight of her scrunched up under the table.

"Oh, Kai-Lee, where are you?" Sasuke asked in a joking manner. Creeping up on the table, he knelt down and lifted the table skirt quickly.

Kai-Lee 'eeked' then giggled like crazy.

"You found me." She exclaimed happily as Sasuke reached in and scooped her up. "Can we go outside?" Kai-Lee asked as Sasuke proceeded down the hall way. Her eyes were wide with hope and he hoped that they could, he hated to have to let her down.

"Well, why don't we go and find Sakura and ask?" Sasuke said.

"Kay."

Sasuke and Kai-Lee walked down the halls of the hospital. Turning the corner, they spotted Sakura at the end of the hall, standing at the nurses station with Shuriko. Sasuke tensed at seeing them standing so close. Kai-Lee giggled.

"Sasuke's got a crush." Kai-Lee said in a sing song voice. Sasuke blushed lightly. "Sakura." Kai-Lee called. Sakura turned toward them and smiled.

"Hey." She greeted when they stopped in front of her.

"Can I go for a walk outside?" Kai-Lee asked.

"Sure you can." Sakura replied. "Just stay close to the hospital and be back on an hour so I can give you your medicine."

"Kay." Kai-Lee replied happily. "Come on Sasuke, let's go." She continued excited. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back down the hall.

Sakura smiled as she watched them.

Outside

Sasuke now had Kai-Lee on his shoulders and was carrying her through the village. They stopped every once in awhile to greet people who talked to them, but mostly they walked and watched all the work being done.

Eventually they reached a small patch of lush green forest. Sasuke brought Kai-Lee down off his shoulders and set her down on the grass and sitting next to her under the large tree.

They both sat in silence for awhile until Kai-Lee spoke up.

"Sasuke?" she said quietly, gaining Sasuke's attention.

"Yea?" he replied.

"Will you remember me when I'm gone?" she asked. He looked down at her surprised. "I don't want to be forgotten." She continued.

"Of course I will." Sasuke replied quietly pulling the young child into his lap and hugging her closely.

"Promise?" Kai-Lee asked looking up from where her head was lying on his chest.

"Promise."


August 7th

Sasuke ran down the halls of the children's ward. Coming up on Kai-Lee's room, he could see Sakura and the other doctors standing outside her room.

As he got closer, Sakura looked up at him. he could see the tears forming in her eyes.

"She wants to see you?" she said. Sasuke didn't stop. He walked directly into her room. Kai-Lee laid in bed. Her skin paler, her eyes not as bright as she starred off out the window. Sasuke walked closer and sat in the chair next to her bed. She looked toward him and smiled.

"You came." She said weak, but happy.

"Of course." He replied a little chocked up.

"It's almost time." She said. "I'm gonna be with my mommy and daddy." Sasuke smiled down at her, tears forming in his eyes. "Don't forget your promise." She continued. "You promised not to forget me." He nodded. "And don't wait to long." She looked over his shoulder gesturing to Sakura on the other side of the window.

As she finished her sentence, she laid back and closed her eyes. Her breaths became shallower as a smile formed on her lips. The heart monitor flat lined a few minutes later.

Sasuke took her small hand in his and held to comfortingly.


A/N: Chapter 3 down. Please review.

-RED