Sakura felt her heart pounding against her chest when she heard Naruto scream. She could just make out his figure falling to the ground beside Sasuke, doubled over himself in pain. No.. No, no, no! She bit her lips as a tear rolled down her cheek. Not Naruto too.. They couldn't do that to him.. Naruto writhed in pain for a second, before lying still. Then he stood up slowly, as if in his sleep. She felt downright scared now. What should she do? There was no way she could fight these two. The only option would be to escape somehow, and notify the Hokage. But what could they do? Even the whole village would not stand a chance against these two monsters if they teamed up. She had to somehow inject them both, before they reached Konoha.. But how?

She held her breath as Naruto straightened up and turned his head in her direction. If they could access his mind, they would know she was hiding here. At almost the same instant, Sasuke's head whipped around too, as if Naruto had told him.

Sakura remained motionless, her chakra barrier still in place. They shouldn't be able to sense her with that. But they weren't exactly blind. If she made a single movement, at least Sasuke would know. There was nothing she could do but wait. Sweat trickled down her forehead as she heard one of them move, probably towards her. Panic was rising inside her, sending a queasy feeling inside her stomach. She wished Kakashi sensei was beside her. He would know what to do. But this would have been the last thing he would have expected.. Naruto and Sasuke working as a team to kill her! Sakura laughed in her mind.

Suddenly, she heard a crash. At first she thought it was them, catching on to her. But then she realized that it had come from the opposite direction from her. She risked a peek at the two. They were distracted, and were moving away from her direction, towards the sound. Sakura knew she wouldn't get another chance, and silently ran down the tree that she was hiding on. On reaching the ground, she did a few hand signs and disguised herself as an eight year old girl with brown hair and grey eyes, all the while holding the chakra barrier around her so that they wouldn't sense her jutsu. She then took out another needle filled with medicine from her backpack, and put them carefully in her pockets. She hid the bag behind some bushes and crawled along the ground noiselessly. She reached a spot that Naruto and Sasuke would have to take if they were going to Konoha. There, she curled down right in the middle of the path and pretended to be asleep.

At least five minutes would have passed, before she heard footsteps approaching her. They came near and stopped. Her heart was beating as if she had done twenty laps around Konoha, and her eyelids were refusing to stand still, flickering against her eyes. Her every survival instinct screamed at her to run. But she lay still. She was almost sure they would thrust a weapon down her throat when she heard a voice.. Sasuke's voice. Not that horrible voice of a thousand dead people. This was her Sasuke-kun's voice that would always make her heart leap.

"Wake up, child. This is no place to sleep." He was saying. Did he gain his memory back? Sakura feigned surprise and sat up rubbing her eyes. She slowly looked up at the speaker with her hopes high. But all she saw were those dead black eyes staring at her, emotionless. Her heart felt as if a heavy stone had been placed on it. It was the villagers speaking, through Sasuke's voice. She said nothing.

"What are you doing here, child? You should go home." It was Naruto, in his own voice. She turned to him, and felt like crying when she saw the same dead eyes there.

"I'm scared." She sniffed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I got lost in the forest when playing. I want to see my mommy." It was too easy a role for her, she thought wryly. All she had to do was express her real feelings, and they would see a harmless eight year old civilian girl, innocent and scared.

"Don't worry. You can travel with us till the border. You are from Konoha, right?" Naruto asked her.

She nodded vigorously, all the while sobbing. The women inside their heads would remember their own little girls, she knew. And to her pleasant surprise, Naruto hoisted her up into his arms, carrying her as they made their way towards Konoha. Sakura leaned her head against his chest, a relaxed smile spreading on her tiny face.

"What's your name, child?" Sasuke asked.

She stiffened for a moment, before saying Kiri. It was the only name of a girl that she could come up with.

"Are you a ninja?" Naruto prodded.

"No.. I'm not." She answered.

"I see. How are ninjas like, in your village? Are you scared of them?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura knew they were gathering information. "Scared? No. They are very kind and friendly. And Mommy told me they help protect us from enemies." She said, hoping to put a kind image into their minds.

"Do they? Have you seen them fight?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes! I have. They once protected us all with their lives when someone named Pein tried to attack our village."

They were silent after that. Sakura wished they would reconsider taking their revenge. Suddenly, Naruto put her down on the ground.

"Why did we stop?" Sakura asked, trying to put on her best innocent face.

"Some people are coming this way. We should hide. They can be dangerous." Naruto told her as they led her deep inside a thicket and hid besides her.

Her heart skipped a beat. Who were coming? If it was from her own village, she could try to signal them. But they won't be able to do anything against these two.. Their footsteps approached their hiding place. Naruto and Sasuke had turned their focus on the intruders. This would be as good chance as any, she thought, silently sliding her arm into her pocket and taking hold of her needles. She then slowly took a step backwards, as if scared. Naruto and Sasuke didn't even glance at her. She took out the needles and carefully lifted them. As she took note of the veins in the back of their necks, she brought them closer, and with a final glance, thrust them deep inside their skin, emptying the medicine she had prepared for Sasuke into their chakra systems.

They whipped their heads around to face her. All the traces of gentleness had left their faces. Sakura trembled as a growl-like noise escaped their lips. They moved forward to kill her. One of their hands started squeezing the breath out of her throat, while the other took out a kunai. She felt the tip of the kunai cut into her chest when they froze. The next moment, their faces were flooded with emotions, and they stared at her, confusion and guilt spreading on their expressions. Sakura gave them a tiny smile, before releasing her chakra barrier and disguise. Then the pain engulfed her and everything went black.


Naruto woke up in the hospital bed, a plain white ceiling staring at him. Golden rays of light filtered through the window nearby. Was it morning or evening? He tried to remember. What was he doing here? He realized that there were several wires connected to different points on his body. He looked to his side and saw a needle sticked on to his arm, supplying a greenish liquid into him. Yuck! What is that for? He was about to sit up when Sakura walked in, wearing her medical clothes.

Seeing her was like a trigger for memories to flow into his confused brain.

He remembered his fight with Sasuke in the forest, seeing those terrible black things coming towards him. After that, all he remembered were snippets of memories, as if seeing from the eyes of someone else.

He had seen a little girl, lying curled on the ground..

Him, Sasuke and the girl waiting for someone to appear..

The girl's scared face after she had plunged something sharp into his neck..

The anger he had felt at being betrayed..

Plunging a kunai into her chest..

And he remembered that the girl had suddenly turned into Sakura-chan, who then fell to the ground unconscious. He didn't remember anything after that.

"Sakura-chan.. I.. I tried to kill you.." Naruto felt disgusted with himself. He lowered his head, unable to look her in the eyes.

To his surprise, Sakura came near the bed and gave him a gentle hug. "But I'm still alive, am I not?" She smiled at him. "It's alright Naruto, it was not your fault. And I could heal myself almost back to normal. But more importantly, how are you feeling?" She checked the monitors that showed changing data from the wires that were connected to his body.

Naruto checked his mind. Everything seemed normal. Except his chakra. He couldn't even access his chakra.

"I can't-"

"Yeah. You chakra channels are blocked for now. But everything else is okay, right? I mean, your mind.." Sakura trailed off.

"My mind is doing great." Naruto grinned. "Those people are locked away safely, I guess."

"That's good." Sakura nodded with satisfaction, as she turned the knob of one of the devices, which began showing a steady graph.

"How is Sasuke?" Naruto asked her.

Sakura was silent for a moment. She backed away from the monitors and checked the green liquid that was being pumped into Naruto. "I don't know how he was fighting you. He shouldn't have been able to stand up, even." She gulped. "When I inspected his damages, he had three broken ribs, seven deep gashes in his chest and stomach that had festered, torn ligaments in his arms and legs, internal bleeding in lungs and intestines.. and.. and his chakra system was damaged severely."

Naruto took in a sharp breath. "Will he be okay?"

"I hope so.. I have done everything I can. Physical injuries can be dealt with. It is the chakra system damage that bothers me. It is as if his body has gotten used to that foreign chakra, and his own chakra production is very low now.. almost that of a civilian!" Sakura bit her lips, worrying. "I don't know if he will be back to normal on that aspect."

Soft green chakra surrounded her hands as she held them over Naruto's head, the soothing feeling making him feel drowsy.

Naruto stared at her for a moment, and then smiled. "Don't worry Sakura-chan! The bastard won't give up that easily! I will see to that."

Sakura smiled gratefully. "You should sleep now, Naruto. The green liquid will cleanse your chakra system in about four hours. After that, I will open the blocks so that you can start using your chakra again."

"That sounds good." Naruto smiled at her, his eyelids feeling heavy. "Sakura-chan.. You promised to dance with me.."

Sakura grinned. "I haven't forgotten, Naruto!" But Naruto was fast asleep by then.

She stared at his peaceful face for a moment. On an impulse, she bent down and kissed his forehead, lightly so that he won't wake up. She then left the room, closing the door as she stepped into the hospital corridor.

She did not see the happy smile that was spreading on Naruto's face.


A/N: I know I've written SasuxSaku in the summary, and all you get are suspicious NaruXSaku moments.. :-D I was not lying, you know! I'll prove that in the next chapter. Planning to make it a romantic one! :-)