"Sakura-chaaaaaaan!" A youth whined, running up to the pink haired woman and throwing his arms around her legs. She sighed, kneeling down and gently detangling his iron grip.

"Satoshi, what's wrong with you now?" Sakura lowered herself to eye level.

"I cut my finger!" he wailed, showing the bloody finger for all to see. The others behind him winced and squealed.

Sakura sighed, and immediately squashed the urge to heal him on the spot to stop him from complaining. "Honey, I need to save my energy for Hinata so her leg can get better," she said gently. Hinata had gone over leaps and bounds, but occasionally, the pain was too much. "It's only a cut. True ninjas have to go through cuts like that all the time.

Satoshi sniffed. "R-really?"

"Hai. Can't have the others think that you aren't brave enough to handle a cut, can we?"

A slow smile crossed over his face. "No! That won't do at all!"

"Atta boy." Sakura patted him on the head. "Off you go. Here's some cloth, wrap it around your finger to stop the bleeding." She handed him some. "It'll be fine."

"Okay, Sakura-chan!" The boy ran off, obviously to show off how brave he was to the other students. Sakura laughed softly before standing up, shaking her head at the little kid's antics. She had a soft spot for them; that much was certain.

"Sakura-san?"

"Hello, Hinata-san." Sakura smiled, trying to block her exhaustion out of that smile. "Ready to get to work?"

"Hai."

It was a month after Hinata and the rest of her team dragged themselves back home, and their progress was astounding. Tenten was officially out of the hospital as was Kiba, and both had been on missions since the attack. Hinata was still on a cane, and while Chouji was still in the hospital, he was recovering nicely from his injuries and was to be released in a couple of days.

Naruto was still on that blasted mission Tsunade sent him on. Sakura was seriously beginning to wonder if her sensei had completely and utterly lost her mind. It was obvious that Naruto was in no shape to do any sort of mission; hell, even she wasn't ready for a mission quite yet. But she couldn't argue, or else she'd be the one flying through a wall.

"Hinata-san, I want you to walk just like this, but use your cane, we're just trying to keep your knee straight," instructed Sakura once the path was clear.

Hinata was wobbling horribly, but she got the exercise pretty well. Her kneecap was almost completely back on straight, and the fractures were finally starting to heal. It would probably take another month or two for her to be completely back to normal, but she was on her way.

"Is this good?" Hinata shot Sakura a brilliant smile, despite her labor.

Sakura was taken aback from the grin, before she smiled widely back. "Hai! Perfect! Keep it up! Walk a few more steps and we'll go back to stretching."

Sakura watched intently as she hobbled those extra steps. The pain etched clearly on the young woman's face and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but Sakura could feel her determination even from where she was standing. Hinata even a took a few more steps after Sakura only said a few before she stopped, and she turned her head with bright pearl eyes fastening on Sakura's emerald ones.

"Sit down, and start your stretches. I'll watch."

Sakura was looking at her like a hawk as Hinata went through her usual stretches that made up her physical therapy. A few times, she had to grit her teeth from the pain and her leg wouldn't let her go any further, so Sakura had to hurry up and give her some of her chakra.

"Hang in there," growled Sakura at one point when Hinata's leg was frozen in midair, tears brimming from her eyes in the physical pain. Sakura touched Hinata's leg and the blue chakra streamed into her leg, and Hinata was moving again.

"That was fantastic, Hinata-san," she breathed, standing up and placing her hands on her knees.

"I feel so bad." Hinata shot a worried look towards Sakura. "This is such a drain on you and I can tell you always get tired when we do this and-"

"Hinata-san," Sakura cut her off. "Breathe." She shot her a dazzling smile through her deep breaths and rapid heart rate. "Do you seriously think that if I didn't want to do this, I would do it? You can continue physical therapy without my chakra; it just makes things easier and faster."

"Are you sure?" Hinata still looked worried.

"I'm a doctor. It's my job." Sakura straightened once she caught her breath. Hinata was back to normal too, and Sakura helped her back into upright position and grabbed her cane.

Hinata was silent for quite a long time, and Sakura could tell she was contemplating something. She knew better than to interrupt and dig into her thoughts like she did back when she was the obnoxious age of twelve, so she waited. If Hinata never brought it up, it was her choice.

"Where do you think he is?" she asked at last, shaking back her long, dark hair.

It didn't take rocket science to figure out what Hinata was talking about. Sakura took her time with her answer, matching Hinata's drastically slowed pace.

"I honestly have no idea," Sakura replied at last, looking up. "Tsunade hasn't been giving out much detail about it, which I can understand, and-"

"Sakura-san, with all due respect, I don't think that's what's going on." It was Hinata's turn to cut her off, and Sakura stared at her in dumbfounded surprise. Their walking abruptly stopped, and they were staring at each other as Hinata's sentence rang in the air between them.

"What do you mean?" Sakura finally asked, and they continued to walk on.

"Well, think about it. While Naruto is extremely brave and very hardworking, he can be a little thickheaded sometimes." Sakura couldn't stop a loud snort, and Hinata chose to ignore this. "Tsunade-sama would be insane to let him go on a mission alone, because he always has to prove himself, you know?"

Sakura was silent. What Hinata said made sense, but why would Tsunade lie about it?

"My sensei wouldn't lie to me." But only a deaf person wouldn't be able to hear the doubt and uncertainty in her voice.

Hinata smiled, but it seemed strained. "To protect the people of the village? I believe Tsunade would do anything. I would hope she would do anything. Just… think about that, all right?"

Sakura nodded. This bit of insight had more than unsettled her, but she shook her head hard. She couldn't think about that. Not now.

"Since when are you not afraid to speak your mind?" said Sakura, but it sounded affectionate. She gave Hinata a gentle whack upside the head, and the dark haired woman immediately blushed.

"Too much time with Kiba, perhaps?" Hinata suggested shyly, scratching her head and smiling wanly.

"…Hai, that would do it." It didn't matter how shy anyone was, the proper amount of time with that obnoxious youth was enough to make anyone at least a little brazen-minded.

"Well, I'm going to head home." Hinata put the cane firmly on the ground. "Have a nice day, Sakura-san."

"You too!" Sakura waved as she jogged back to her house, quickly unlocking the door and letting herself in. She wiped the sweat that had formed on her brow, and winced. Her sessions, no matter how willing, with Hinata were always tiring. She stripped down and jumped in the shower, sighing as the cool water hit her skin.

"I wonder…"

She scrubbed at her filthy hair absentmindedly; for Hinata's words had more of an impact than she would ever realize. Was Naruto really on a mission, or was that an excuse? He did seem rather weak last time she saw him, and the circumstances just didn't really add up. At any rate…

The water slicked off her skin like rain, and with every drop Sakura grew more and more apprehensive of the fact. Why would Tsunade lie to her? Why?

To protect the village… I believe Tsunade would do anything. I would hope Tsunade would do anything.

Of course that was right. Tsunade was Hokage, the supreme leader of this village. And to keep it safe… but how would this lie protect the village?

"I need to know the truth."

Protecting the village or not, she had to know the truth. Something was up, and with Naruto, she cared too damn much. Maybe she was being a busybody. Maybe she was acting like the snotty twelve-year old brat she once was… but this was different, wasn't it?

She turned off the shower with a quick turn of her hand and stepped out, toweling her hair and the rest of her body. She would head out tonight. She quickly dressed into a fresh change of clothes and fastened her forehead protector in her hair once more before jogging out the door.

However, all thoughts were quickly and mercilessly erased when she heard the village sound its dreadful alarm. ANBU ninja ran through the quiet town, and there was no mistaking the stretcher splattered with red.

--

"Where and when did you find him?" Sakura demanded, sitting down at Tsunade's desk. Tsunade sighed and ran her fingers through each of her pigtails: she knew her student wouldn't leave without an answer.

"We found him just on the edge of our territory, near the Sunagakure." Tsunade rested her forehead in her palm. "He was starting to skeletonize, and even a few of his organs had been removed. Kami!"

Sakura felt all the blood drain from her face. She was never close to Shino, but having a fellow student so brutally murdered…

"Other injuries?" Sakura pressed, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Similar to Hinata and Chouji. He must have been separated from the group. There's no other way the others would have made it out alive. Tenten and Kiba were lucky." She stood up warily. "And with Naruto…" She stopped cold, but Sakura picked up on it right away. Her eyes went a deadly narrow.

"What about Naruto?" Sakura couldn't stop it- there was a challenge evident in her tone. Tsunade gave her a brutal glare, but Sakura held her gaze. Her foot tapped nervously on the floor, but luckily, she had the rest of her under control. The room was so silent that it was almost loud.

Finally Tsunade looked exhausted beyond her years, and leaned back into her chair. She sighed. "Naruto… he's not on a mission. He ran away."

Obviously Tsunade wasn't expecting for Sakura to jump up and slam her palms on her desk, leaning over. Sakura shocked herself too. Was this what losing her mind felt like? Acting out of pure impulse, doing things as the saner portion of herself watched on helplessly?

"Naruto wouldn't do that!" she snapped angrily. "How dare you say that! This village means the world to him, he's even going to become Hokage, he's-"

"Sakura."

Sakura immediately stopped her tirade at Tsunade's voice. "He didn't run off because he was a coward. He never would have done that; you're right. But to protect you and the village… he would."

Sakura stared at Tsunade's bright orange eyes for a long, long time. Slowly, she began to back off and sit in her chair again. Tsunade waited for her pupil to catch her breath, to let her calm down. He left to protect the village? How? It couldn't be the Kyuubi, such a thing has never stopped him before. But… maybe a change in something?

"I owe you an explanation, I suppose," Tsunade slumped in her chair. "I'm sorry, Sakura… it's just one thing after another, isn't it?" Sakura was shocked to see her eyes brimming with tears. Never had she seen her mentor so upset. Sakura sat back in her chair, not saying a word. What could she possibly say?

She kept screwing up. She had been a screw up since Sasuke left. Sasori and everyone else were just small victories to distract her from the bigger picture. She was still proud of her feats, but… there was always something there. Something there and Sasuke would always call that failure.

The thought usually would have brought tears to her eyes, but not this time. Maybe she was just too tired to really feel anymore. Ever since that day in the hail… every day since then she had felt defeated.

But Tsunade's simple words made her want to get up and run out of the room.

"Naruto's dying."

It felt like the floor went crashing out from under her feet, and she was falling. Sakura's jaw went slack, but she managed to keep it closed. What could she mean? No… it couldn't be.

"W-what?" she whispered.

"The Kyuubi… it's always had an effect on his cells." Tsunade sounded detached, as if she would break down from the news. "He would have a shorter life than most anyway, because the human body just isn't capable of housing a demon of that magnitude. But he's been stressed, obviously… and his cells are breaking down at an alarmingly fast rate. His body is getting weaker and weaker… and there's even a bigger problem."

Sakura stared at her, her already fair skin drastically pale.

"Usually, he bounces back. He responds very well to stress. He doesn't give up, and he keeps going. That's the only reason he's still alive. But… finally, whatever happened, it was too much. The fact of the matter is, he's not even trying anymore. His entire body is shutting down, and blood vessels are bursting every second in his body. He's given up, Sakura, and he wanted out of here so you wouldn't have to watch him die. He's out of here so he wouldn't risk the Kyuubi destroying us again."

It was like all the air was sucked out of the room. She couldn't speak, she couldn't breathe, and she couldn't even see. Her vision was so cloudy… Sakura shoved herself out of her chair, stumbling as she did so, and bolted blindly out of the room. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't escape Naruto's words that stormy night in his house.

"You'll probably even kill me."

--

No FAQ's.

Meh. I suck at updating on time, don't I? Well, here's another chapter… obviously. Have fun reading. And reviewing if you so desire. :P