Yes...I know what you're thinking...ANOTHER ONE!? Yes! I actually had this about halfway done when I finished it, and with the cable out and finally getting homework done, I felt like finishing this chapter. I probably won't get another one up for a while. I need to take a break from this for a while. It's hard to come up with this stuff. (major props to people who do this a lot.) I think this is my overall best written chapter. Probably not the most exciting though.
Oh and one more thing... PLEASE REVIEW! I want your opinions so I know how to make this better! Or else you'll get stuck with my rookie slop...
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Chapter 4: Waking up
In a small, bland bedroom, with only a window to look outside, Sakura lied on the small cotton bed, still unconscious. The fan was going on a moderate speed, not too fast, but giving the room fresher air, and giving off a slight creaking noise.
'What's that noise? I can't tell what it is. It's cold here…am I still underwater? No…I think I'm breathing…Then I'm alive?' Upon realizing that she was, in fact, alive, Sakura attempted to open her eyes. For such a simple function, Sakura found it hard to do. Once all the light came rushing in, her head began to pound. 'Ow…why does it hurt to see?' Sakura found all she could manage was to open her eyes about halfway. 'Good enough…at least I can see where I am.'
Looking around, she couldn't tell where she was. 'Wait…I'm inside now? Then…what happened back…' Remembering what had happened before she blacked out, Sakura tried to lift herself to find Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. It was a sudden movement, sitting herself up in the bed; but fell right back down with her head in agony at the sudden change in viewpoint. It hurt a lot more than it did previously, and Sakura could barely stand it. This time, she slowly tried to get up.
Her body was incredibly weak. It took almost all the energy she had just to swing her legs to the side of the bed to sit up. 'What happened? I can barely breathe and I just sat up.' Sakura tried to take some deep breaths through her nose, she found that she couldn't. Much of her face had been bandaged up and it felt swollen. 'Oh yea…I forgot about that.' Pushing herself off the bed, she found the floor was freezing to her feet. 'Okay, I got my feet down. Now let's try standing and walking.'
Now she had to find some way to stand. There was a small dresser next to the bed, so Sakura figured to use that as a push off. It took all the power in her arms to push herself up. She was standing…even though half of her was using the desk for support. 'Now…let go. I have to stand on my own now.' Letting go of the top of the dresser, Sakura tried to find her balance, but to avail. She immediately fell back onto the bed, her head still throbbing. 'Now what?'
By pushing off from the dresser, and leaning against the wall with as much body weight as possible, Sakura found a way to walk. I suppose it could be considered walking…even though it had taken her ten minutes just to reach the door. 'Damn…I'm exhausted. I can feel my legs weakening. I guess all I can do is just use the last bit of power I have and push through the door and pray someone is out there.' Twisting the knob around, and preparing to leave the wall, the weakened kunoichi used the last of the strength in her legs to push open the door and fall through. She had no balance after leaving the wall, so Sakura quickly fell down to the hard floor onto her stomach, half of her inside the doorway, half out.
The sweat was starting to run down her face, stinging some of the cuts that hadn't healed yet. There was almost no feeling in her legs. They were so tired from just getting to the door. "H-h-h-e-e-l-p-p…an-n-ny-o-on-e?" Sakura's voice was barely louder than a whisper. After trying to call for help in her weakened state, her body shot painful coughs through her body. Speaking seemed to be almost out of the question. Her body had a hard enough time breathing as it was after nearly drowning to death.
The violent coughs continued until she found herself barely conscious and breathing heavily. 'Why…why is this so hard? Why can't I breathe? Or speak? Or even move? Why me?' The last of her thoughts brought small tears to her eyes. The pink bangs so constantly stuck in the headband began brushing against her eyelashes in a desperate attempt to stop the tears from falling. There wasn't anything Sakura could do, besides wait on the floor for someone to find her.
Even though it was only twenty minutes, it felt like years for Sakura. Every second a struggle to stay conscious. "Fine. I'll go check on her. It's been three days and she still hasn't woken up yet though." Came a male's voice. 'Th-Three days?! I've been out that long?! What the hell happened?!' Trying to focus her eyes at the top of the stairs to see who was coming, she saw Sasuke casually walk up. A look of surprise was caught on his face as the Uchiha caught sight of Sakura on the ground barely conscious. "Sakura! You're awake! Are you okay?" Sasuke questioned as he ran up to her side.
Sakura didn't move, and was having a hard time breathing. "S-s-s-s-a…" was all she could manage before another string of coughs struck her once again. These where even worse than the first ones. These hurt every inch of her body. As soon as the last cough left her mouth Sakura quickly passed out with her head in Sasuke's hands.
The next time she awoke, Sakura found herself on a couch, covered in blankets. Her body was shivering, but she didn't know why. 'It hurts…why does it hurt?' Opening her emerald eyes for a second time, she didn't see much. It was dark out now, and there wasn't much to see. However, Sakura could make out a dark figure on a chair next to her. Knowing talking was not an option, fearing another coughing attack, she made slight whimpers in her attempt at making noise. It wasn't much, but it worked. The figure moved around and turned on the lights.
With the lights turning on instantly, another shot of pain ran through her head. "Sakura? Are you up now?" came Naruto's voice this time. Even with her eyes only open a crack, Sakura could tell Naruto had a look of worry on his face. To confirm she was awake, she made more soft whimpers, but they were even weaker than before. "Guys! Get up! I think she's up now!" 'That idiot…that hurts my head. Why does he have to be so damn loud? This sucks, I can't even do anything about it.'
In only a matter of seconds Kakashi, Sasuke, Tazuna, and two people Sakura had never met before; a woman and a boy, rushed into the room. "Wow…you are up." Tazuna actually sounded concerned for once. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" asked Sasuke. Having seen her before, he was more cautious in trying anything so not to send her back into her unconscious state. "Guys, everyone, back off. Give her some space." Kakashi said pulling everyone a couple of feet away. "She needs to breathe."
With everyone now around her, Sakura found the strength to open her eyes halfway again. Everyone looked worried and concerned. "Are you hurting at all?" questioned her sensei. She made a few more soft sounds and slightly shook her head no, despite the pain in her head. 'I don't want to worry them any further. It's hard enough to look at them like this.' "I suppose we should try to explain what had happened. I guess we'll start at the beginning…where you fell into the water."
So Kakashi and her teammates recalled on how they managed to escape. Apparently, Naruto was able to send one of his shadow clones down into the water to grab her. They said when she was finally pulled out, her face looked really beaten up, and she was coughing uncontrollably. Sakura found it difficult to concentrate on the later parts. It was difficult to take in what had happened up to that point. "Once we managed to get your face bandaged up and your breathing steady. We had to let you sleep until you woke up. You had been asleep for three days until the first time…which was about ten hours ago or so."
Quite honestly, Sakura didn't really care on how she got to Tazuna's house (or so she was assuming). She just wanted to know what was wrong with her. The questioning look in her eyes managed to get through to Kakashi, who was able to tell what she wanted. "As far as you're injuries go, there is both good and bad news." 'Of course it's bad news, I can't move…' "Good news first. You're face as a whole is only swollen. It should go down in a day or two." 'At least that wasn't as bad as I thought…I thought half my face was broken.' "Now the bad news. Between the blow to your head, and nearly drowning there is some brain damage. Luckily it isn't permanent. However, you won't be able to do much of anything for a while. I'm guessing from the fact that you can't really sit up or anything, I think it's a balance and coordination issue. I can start doing some exercises in the morning to stretch your body out some. Getting the blood flowing again should help a lot, and you might be able to move some."
"Well, it's just good that you're finally awake dear." Said the woman Sakura didn't know. The kid didn't even say anything at all, but Sakura didn't really care. She just felt how dry her throat was and how parched her lips where. Everyone was going to leave the room for the night. 'No…don't go…I'm so thirsty…' Before Sasuke was the last one out, Sakura managed to force out a few more sounds to get his attention. "What is it? Do you need something?" She licked her lips and tried to swallow to give him a clue, she couldn't speak after all. "Oh, you're thirsty." came a reassuring smile. 'heh, so the guy can actually smile.'
Once Sasuke had returned with a glass of water, he lifted her head up a bit so she wouldn't choke on it. "Nice and slow now. We don't want you to pass out again." The water felt so good to her mouth and body. She could feel herself getting even slightly better, even from just that. "Okay, now try and get some non injury related sleep." Sasuke was turning to leave when a soft "T-t-t-h-h-a-n-n-k-k-s…" came from behind him. "Don't worry about it." As he left Sasuke turned out the lights, and Sakura fell into a peaceful and welcomed sleep.
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Oh...and please REVIEW!