Er, words. What to say when you've kept people waiting for such a long time, especially when you've told them you were going to be quick.

...

Well, I'm really sorry. That's all I have to say.

Credit goes to Bratney for betaing this for me. And then, special thanks to TeenageCrisis for getting me to get this thing uploaded so soon. :) Yes, soon, because who knows how much more I would've postponed this if it weren't for her.


Panicking at the sensation of the force in the air she widened her chakra shield to engulf Naruto wholly into it, desperately trying to keep his life from seeping out of him. It was leaking so rapidly, at this rate he'd be dead within minutes. She forced herself into him, and proceeded to shut the gates to his seal again.

She wouldn't let him die. She was going to save him. He trusted her, and she wouldn't let him down. But somehow, to her anguish, the chances of her doing just that were growing considerably.

Someone shouted her name in the back of her mind, and she was snapped out of her world and opened her eyes, though still managing to keep her both hands in place and her chakra in strong enough hold. She witnessed her green bubble flaring, it mixing with a different type of orange energy, and her eyes widened. Naruto!

She was ready to cry at both seeing and feeling him dying at her hands, and she was about to continue her closing his gaping seal, but the voice stopped her.

"Sakura! You need to seal the Kyuubi! If you do it now, there will still be time to save…" the person kept on talking, but Sakura ignored it completely, as she quickly turned her attention to her own seal.

Grief washed over her as she began to form the grand seal in herself. It took too long for Sakura, too long for her to be able to save Naruto. He was dying! She had promised him that she would take care of him, he had trusted her, and she was failing him!

Minutes passed and the gaps of time between Naruto's breathing and heartbeats were growing considerably. A hopeless whimper escaped Sakura's lips as she tore her eyes away from him to close them, in hope of heightening her concentration again. If she let her emotions get the best of her, she'd loose him for sure.

There was something behind those cold and harsh shinobi rules that was so correct that it hurt. An emotional shinobi would never succeed. Emotions weakened you, weakened your concentration. It was true for Sakura and everyone she knew, except for Naruto, that is. He had always seemed to be fueled by emotions.

Even so, tears crept their way down her cheeks, and she let them. She barely noticed them as she pumped her chakra into her gaping seal, building up the almost finished wall. Only a little left and she would be able to work on Naruto again.

But, as the last bit was closed up, Naruto's body went completely still.

Sakura snapped her eyes open, and dropped her high concentration and the bubble shield around them dissolved, shattering into a million tiny shards. Throwing both her hands to his seal she ferociously, desperately pumped chakra into him, quickly erasing the chakra seals she had just painted there; they seemed to be glued there, refusing to disappear.

No. Nononono. "Naruto!" her terrified scream pierced the silence, not noticing how the day had turned to night, not noticing how the people around her were watching them quietly, sadly and full of hope, not noticing how Tsunade hurriedly ran up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, whispering soothing words to her.

Sakura shook the hand off her shoulder and sobbed. Breathing suddenly became so difficult for her. "Naruto! Naruto, Naruto, Naruto!" she cried. "No, Naruto, wake up!"

Her seals had been removed, his seal stitched up again, but he still wasn't moving. So she gripped his shoulders tightly and started shaking him recklessly, trying to ignore the way his body limply followed her movements. "Hey, you're closed up again! There's no reason to not open your eyes!"

Two hands enclosed Sakura's wrists but she tore free of them, growling protectively over Naruto at whoever it was who dared to interrupt her.

It was Sai, Tsunade standing directly behind him. Sai had some sort of distinct upset showing in his expression; his brow was a little too furrowed, his jaw just barely too clenched to be that steady blank face he normally wore. From the years of seeing her hold her exterior blank, Sakura had learnt to see through her teacher. That let down and sorrow mixed into one had been masked with some supposedly kind sort of pity.

Sakura's eyes lowered and softened and she let go of her steel grip on Naruto's shoulder, instead laying half over him and sobbing. "Naruto…" she whimpered, and her hands gripped the material of his shirt. This wasn't right. It had happened so incredibly fast, that she just couldn't believe that it was real. No, she refused to believe it was real. Naruto wasn't normally this temperature. He was always boiling hot, always a warming comfort.

Once again, a hand came to her shoulder. "Sakura, calm down," said a strained voice, marked with sorrow. Sakura recognized it as Sasuke's. But at the same time she was positive it wasn't Sasuke. His voice was always monotone, and when it wasn't, there were only hints of annoyance or amusement, and nothing else.

Sakura felt so bewildered. She was in doubt. No way could she have killed Naruto. But her feelings, the voices around her and the soft sobs emitting from her comrades tended to differ. Her mind was a mess, and Sasuke was telling her to calm down? She had just caused Naruto's death, and he was telling her to… calm down? She felt so warm, and she was suddenly so viciously angry.

She reluctantly stood up, hunching her shoulders as they shook with sorrow. She glared at him and he had a look of shock on his face. "What?" she hissed. A little voice in the back of her head told her that this wasn't Sasuke's fault; that she was overreacting, but she pushed it aside. "You want me to calm down?" She took a step towards him, careful not to step on Naruto, and Sasuke took a careful step back, looking worried. "You try to comfort me, after I killed him?" she whispered.

He furrowed his eyebrows, and there was a short pause as he thought of the best way of replying. "It wasn't your fault," was what he finally said, and despite its simplicity, it awakened deep feelings within Sakura.

"I just killed your best friend, and you don't hate me!" she wailed, causing him to flinch. "What kind of friend are you?" she taunted and then hurled herself at the hurt and bewildered Sasuke, who dodged just in time. Sakura's fist collided with the ground, which ended up as the greatest crater she had ever accomplished.

In an instance several shinobi were onto Sakura, and she trashed in their arms, until she finally calmed down, slumping in their hold and returned to sobbing. "Naruto…"

Tsunade walked up to her, and bent down to face Sakura. Sakura saw the grief behind her stony expression, and if possible, it made Sakura feel even worse.

"Sakura, you need to take care of the last step in the transferring. You need to seal the Kyuubi completely. The way it is now, he can affect you way to easily, as you just demonstrated." She sighed. "Your eyes are orange, and their going black."

Sakura's eyes widened at that. So that's what the heat was. "But Naruto-"

"There is nothing you can do for Naruto, however much you wish it." Then she added admittedly. "Not in this state, at least."

"What?" Sakura asked, suddenly finding a little spark of hope, unknowingly pulling a little with her arms, causing her restrainers to tighten their grips on her.

"If you get complete control of the Kyuubi, you can use his chakra to save Naruto."

The spark of hope flailed. "But that'll take days!"

"Yes, but Naruto's already dead," her teacher explained, causing Sakura to wince. "He won't be deader in a week."

Sakura let out a small sigh of relief. "Are you sure?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I'm not sure of anything, but I think it's worth a try." She then straightened. "We'll take Naruto down with us to the hospital and keep his body from hardening. You'll stay up here, debating with that Kyuubi. We'll leave two shinobi up here to guard you."

And with that, Tsunade signaled for the others to follow her down the trail leading to their village. Jiraiya gently picked Naruto's limp body up before heading down after her, and soon there were only four others left; Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi and Ino; being the ones holding Sakura back.

Sakura blinked as they slowly, warily released her. The heat that had flushed through her was dissipating, and she was suddenly feeling very full and at the same time very cold. A shiver escaped her frame as a gust of wind brushed against her.

Slowly, she turned around to face her comrades, and stared at them. They returned her stare, with sad, corrupted eyes.

She smiled at them and gave them thumbs up, the same Naruto had given her that day several years ago, and she promised, "I won't let you down."

"Good luck, Sakura," Sasuke's voice came out. It wasn't the same monotone voice as usual, but one strained by sorrow.

"You can do it," Ino assured, even though it was clear she was doing everything in her force to keep the tears from escaping from her eyes.

"Get Naruto back, Sakura," Sai said, his expression hard, not letting the tiniest emotion leak out.

"We believe in you," her sensei repeated, his one visible eye tired from emotion.

The repeated line sure was getting old, Sakura thought bitterly as she offered them a last, torn smile.

Then she walked away from them, back to the oval in the middle and lay down there. Sakura noticed that Naruto's body warmth still lingered there, and Sakura inhaled as she put her hands over her belly. Oddly enough, she felt like an involuntary mother, carrying an unwanted child in her tummy. She'd always thought it wrong of the women who chose abortion instead of giving the baby a life. But now Sakura thought she could understand how they felt; the feeling of some hopeless creature inside you, living off of you, demanding you to give it your life and affection for it to be able to survive. Because if you didn't take care of it, rejected it, you'd be the monster, instead.

Now, Sakura's situation wasn't wholly that same, but the Kyuubi was demanding her life now, living off of her, and demanding her to give it her fullest attention, or it would grow mad and revolt against her.

And she was immediately sucked into herself when she let her senses go and her concentration was fixed on the pit of her stomach where the demon lay.


Kyuubi was furious. His feelings were so messed up, and he was confused. There was something very wrong with this. He, the mighty nine-tailed demon, had been transferred. It was such a humiliating event that he had started to do everything in his power to wound the little girl. But she hadn't budged. Not even once. It was as if his actions didn't matter to her at all. Her hold was resolute and immobile, no matter what he tried.

He thought he'd die from the degradation. Until he could catch the whiff of life in the air. It had caused a wicked grin to form over his mouth, making him bare his menacingly sharp teeth. That little brat was dying. Finally. It was sad and frustrating that Naruto couldn't have died earlier and the Kyuubi would be set free, but nevertheless, the beast was pleased to see him go. The kid had had it coming.

And, due to the Kyuubi's new Jinchuuriki's strong love for the little cub, the girl was getting unstable. Her recently firm concentration was wobbling, and the Kyuubi was amazed by how easily affected she was. With just one tiny push from him, her emotions rose and were uncontrollable.

The grin grew. This was silly. Would she really be this easy to take over? He pushed a little more, but was both surprised and agitated by the sudden wall. He'd been mistaken. Her emotions for Naruto had been so full of hurt love, and she was so stubborn, that it would be impossible for the Kyuubi to make his move.

He snarled, the grin fading away immediately. This girl was too damn confusing. Even that little cretin had been less emotional than the girl. It was hard to beat this girl when she was so foreign to him. Reluctantly he thought he'd just have to lie back and wait until he knew her better.

But wait. The Kyuubi sniffed in the air. He caught the traces of something that would be of great help to him. Oh, the sweet scent of anger and disappointment. And sadness. The scent was swelling over with devastation. All ingredients to his escape and freedom.

Now, he almost hurled himself over that little piece of control she had left. However little he knew of her, he had already learned that this girl ran on emotions. Maybe she wouldn't be as much of a pain as he originally had thought.

And he almost got her. He hadn't expected her emotions to be wild. They were slippery little suckers, as soon as he got a hold of them they slipped out of his grasp. It annoyed the hell out of him. But he tried, and he tried. Until they calmed down a little, and weren't big enough to even hold onto anymore.

Someone had successfully calmed her down.

So, once again, the Kyuubi sat back and was forced to wait. This wasn't fair. All the Kyuubi really wanted was to be free, and he'd gotten his hopes up, time after time, but they'd dropped just as fast. The humans had no right to toy with him the way they did. No way.

He wanted to be free, so that he could roam the world once again and hope to find that which he was searching for. That thing which frustrated him every time he thought about it, due to him not knowing what this thing was.

The Kyuubi waited. And soon he realized the girl was entering herself. He snorted. What would that accomplish? It would only give them a closer bond; he'd be able to read her better. That was one of the things he'd learned while the squirt had been alive; the more they had almost direct contact the easier it was for the Kyuubi to take over. Didn't humans ever learn? But then again, it was beneficial for him, was it not?

The Kyuubi hadn't taken on any form, so he was pretty much scattered everywhere in the dark pit she'd dumped him in. Or rather, he was the dark in the dark pit. She'd definitely not be able to see him. No, it would be impossible for her.

And then, she dropped from nowhere, landing on nothing and then standing to get up on this nothingness. The Kyuubi had been encountered by what he had expected; a determined looking Kunoichi who stunk of fear. Her pretense didn't work on him. Though, what he hadn't expected was the weird swirly feeling in his stomach that he'd gotten as soon as she'd arrived. He ignored it. It was too troublesome for him to care.

The girl was looking around, supposedly searching for something that wasn't darkness. Either she gave up or found what she was looking for, and settled for staring out at nothing. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, she did something odd with her chakra. She mostly just let it out, masterly using it to trail and search through her surroundings.

The Kyuubi instinctively held up against the trespassing chakra, and snarled as he'd fallen for her trap. She had merely been trying to find him. Of course.

The girl snorted humorlessly. "Why do you even try?" she drawled dryly. Her voice was torn and weary from sorrow, but it was still as mocking as she had intended it.

The Kyuubi snarled viciously at her ignorance. "You humans believe you own everything. Is it that hard to understand that great creatures such as me do not thrive while sealed away in petty humans?"

She didn't answer his question. Instead, she seemed to be thinking hard on something else.

The Kyuubi's upset growl rumbled through the pit, but she seemed unfazed by it. Then, another unexpected thing happened.

What am I supposed to do now? The words echoed through the Kyuubi's mind, and he couldn't quite place them anywhere. The scroll hadn't said what to do while inside. Should I pursue him into giving up? Or should I just dominate him with chakra? There was a slight pause. ...Is that even possible?

Then, understanding dawned on him, the Kyuubi roared out in laughter. Ridiculous. "If you do not even know how to defeat me, why do you even try?"

With eyes big as saucers, she hesitantly pondered over the possibility that he might just have read her thoughts. Then she turned completely bitter. Apparently, she was emotionally exhausted, and was very irritable about it at the moment. And she was about to turn her bewilderment upon the one who had caused her all this distress; the Kyuubi. "Why I try? You moronic monster haven't even understood that I already have come halfway, by taking you out of Naruto and into myself." Her eyes snap shut at the stab in her heart after mentioning Naruto.

Right. This whole mind reading thing was fun and all, but it was starting to get on the Kyuubi's nerves. He didn't want to know how sad she was about this, how upset she was with that. Why was he hearing her thought at all in the first place? That hadn't happened with Naruto. Sure, he'd been able to read the little brat like an open book, but based on his emotions, not his thoughts.

And it couldn't be because of the different sealing type. He was almost positive of it.

The Kyuubi didn't ponder any further on it, and decided to answer the little girl's stupid comment. She had completed the thing already; whatever it was she was trying to do now was only making things worse for her. Not that the Kyuubi would complain. "You meant when you killed your best friend when you said halfway, right?" Her eyes opened, and dared him to continue. Which he did. "It's quite sad that he died, since I was looking forward to ripping him apart." And to add to his point, he let out a low, rumbling chuckle.

With clenched teeth and tight fists, Sakura trembled slightly. She glared straight before her with hateful distaste, her left upper lip curling and her eyes narrowing. "If you ever talk about Naruto again, you'll thoroughly regret it," she snarled viciously.

And she really meant it. She even thought of several creative and colorful ways to cause the demon as much pain as possible.

Well, see it on the bright side. At least she couldn't kill the Kyuubi without killing herself. So death wasn't going to be a possibility, since she knew she would be needed alive.

A sudden urge to scream, stomp and rip out her hair broke out in Sakura, but she resolutely stood put, and succeeded in ignoring it.

The Kyuubi was overwhelmed by an impulse of his own; to just agree to her. Just get her sadness out of his head.

Now the Kyuubi was extremely startled, and then he got infuriated. What the heck was happening to him? Even his instincts were telling him to do what the impulse had said.

So he gave in, not finding any reason to keep on dwelling. "What do I have to do to get you out of my head?" He drawled, letting his annoyance and upset pour into his voice.

She ignored the way he'd asked his question, and went directly to answering. "I need you to help me resurrect Naruto."

He should have known. Funny thing she hadn't thought it, since then he would have. "Fine." He couldn't help but add those words which had been tickling inside him. "But don't expect me to give in to your every wish. You'll have to defeat me completely for that to occur."

Her expression hardened, even though she was half relieved. She nodded briefly, before twirling back up where she came from, leaving Kyuubi alone in the pitch black hole she'd stuffed him in.


I'm not going to promise anything, but I'm sincerely going to try to get the next chap up pretty soon. At least it won't take as long as this one did. Probably. Hopefully. Hm, no, just kidding, I'm pretty sure. :)