Do not own Naruto

Hello all! I hope you have a happy holiday weekend. I get to update early since Sakura's Indecision was able to edit this so quickly for me. Bonus! Thanks SI.

Happy Easter Everyone,

K&K

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Gravity

Chapter 9-His blood Her tears

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After making sure that Sakura healed herself, Sasuke left to go help the others search for the people who had poisoned the Council and blown up the lab.

Sakura showered and changed into clean clothes before heading to the hospital to oversee the Council members' treatment. The antidote was working, but a bit too slowly for her liking. She helped it along with a good dose of healing chakra for every patient and was pleased to see that they all responded so well to the treatment. When every last one was awake and feeling well again, she finally released management of their recuperation to the Suna doctors and left the hospital.

Sakura came back to the apartment completely worn out. The heat, coupled with the lab exploding and her efforts to help save the last six Council members, had sucked the dregs of her energy. She tore off her sweaty clothes, threw on a lightweight t-shirt and collapsed on top of her blankets with a happy sigh.

Sometime later, the bed sank down next to her. With a grunt, she opened one eye to see Sasuke's still form in the dim light.

She wondered sleepily why he hadn't even bothered to knock. "Sasuke-kun? What are you doing?" she asked, yawning. "Weren't you out with others hunting down the enemy?"

"Hn."

It was odd of him to show up here without reason. She sat up in the bed and pulled on his arm, "Sasuke? What are—"

"I know you said the next time I'm bleeding not to come to you, but maybe you can make an exception?" He turned to her and her eyes grew large and frightened.

"Oh my God, Sasuke!" Sakura caught him as he collapsed and fell back into the bed with him. She wiggled out from under him and straddled his waist for a better position.

"Sasuke! Don't you pass out on me!" she peeled back his eyelid to check his pupils and quickly checked his pulse. "You've got to tell me what happened. Where are the others?"

He groaned as her hands glowed green and she sank her healing chakra into his chest. "Sasuke! Stay with me! Where are Naruto and Kakashi? Were you together?" The med-nin braced her arm against him to hold him down.

A low, pained moan ripped from him as she withdrew the enormous, broken piece of the windmill shuriken from his chest while she worked at breakneck speed to keep him from drowning in his own blood. "They…we split up…just me…too many. Black robes with the rising sun on the back." Sasuke coughed weakly and blood sprayed across her face unnoticed by her as she frantically worked to close the gaping hole left from the blade that had nearly split his chest in two.

"Ok, hold on." She paused a second to bite her thumb and summon a small slug, "Suyaka, go find Kakashi and Naruto and bring them here. Then inform the Kazekage of the attack on Sasuke." She prayed they were unharmed.

"Yes, Sakura-san." The slug disappeared to do her bidding.

Sasuke was growing weaker and she was doing her damnedest to pull him back from the edge.

"Sasuke, talk to me!" Her hands trembled and she forced herself to focus on him and not the gallons of blood washing over her arms. 'God,' she prayed. 'Not yet. It's too soon. You can't have him.'

"Sasuke, do you hear me? Tell me something else." She had to keep him conscious as long as possible while she tried to heal him. "Sasuke!"

"Sa-Sakura…forgive me."

"You arrogant bastard!" she shouted hysterically. "Don't you go acting all noble on me now! If you die, I'll never forgive you!" she cried furiously. "Do you hear me? Sasuke!"

She pushed even more chakra into his chest and the glow eerily lit their faces in the dim room. Sasuke watched Sakura silently. There were tears pouring down her face, dripping down on him, her chin was set stubbornly as she refused to let him go.

He could feel everything slipping away, tunneling down a darkening path. If Sakura continued, not only would she not save him, he felt she would be pointlessly hurting herself. He knew what he had to do.

"Sakura," he grabbed her trembling hands to stop her, "mo, yamenasai."

"Yada!" She screamed at him, pushing his hands off and drawing even more chakra by using her Yin Seal.

"Release."

Black lines began to run from Sakura's temple down her neck, swiftly twisting around and down her arms and hands straight into Sasuke's chest. The bolt of force made him jerk and convulse on the bed with its power. The light from Sakura's chakra intensified blindingly for a brief moment before flashing out and a large, warm sensation bloomed in his chest. He blinked and the afterimage of Sakura's silhouette burned behind his closed lids.

"Sakura," Sasuke called when she collapsed on top of him, immobile, no longer able to heal him.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, panting "please, don't die…" Her voice broke. "You can't…I need—" She fainted and the black lines slowly faded from her skin.

Sasuke put his arms around the unconscious girl who had just saved his life and when he was sure she was ok, he let himself follow her into sleep.

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"Teme!"

Sasuke faintly heard his bothersome teammate cursing him out.

"Hey, Teme! Wake up! Oi! What the hell are you doing to Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke's arms tightened around the kunoichi. He slowly opened one eye to see a head of bright, blond hair over the pink one on his chest, "Go away, Dobe."

"You're joking, right?" Naruto shook his fist at Sasuke. "You are lumped in bed with Sakura-chan and there is blood everywhere. Is she ok?"

"It's my blood, baka. Let her sleep. She used up everything healing me."

"Are you ok? Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"No. Go away and let us sleep." He pulled Sakura closer and she murmured uncomfortably.

"Teme!" Naruto grabbed his arm, "Quit squishing her!"

A puff of smoke revealed Kakashi. He simply raised an eyebrow as he took in the scene with mild interest. Sasuke lying flat on his back with Sakura sleeping in a t-shirt and underwear atop him and massive quantities of blood splattered everywhere.

"Seems like we missed all the fun, Naruto. You two ok?" he asked Sasuke.

"Aa," Sasuke grunted. "Did you find them?"

"Gaara has a regiment pursuing them right now. Seems you left enough of them broken and bleeding, so they've left a good trail. They didn't even need my ninken. The Kazekage believes it will lead him to their base."

"Do we need to help?" Sasuke looked like he was about to try and get up. Kakashi raised his hand.

"Stay right there. You've done enough. You and Sakura can rest. Naruto and I will keep track of their progress, but they will want to take the enemy out themselves. It was their loved ones who were poisoned and murdered."

"Hn," Sasuke closed his eyes and nodded.

"Naruto, let's go."

The blond ninja stomped his foot and pointed at the bed. "But, Teme has Sakura-chan!"

"She looks safe enough." Kakashi's mask lifted in a smirk. "Sasuke will take good care of her. Come on," he chided the young man. "Do you want Gaara to have all the fun?"

"Hell no!" Naruto made a fist. "Let's go, Sensei!"

The two ninja disappeared in with a swirl of leaves, leaving Sasuke alone with Sakura on the bed. He was grateful—if not for her quick action and medical prowess, he would be dead right now. He sat quietly holding her in his arms. Her skin was smooth and soft. He kissed the top of her head tenderly, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair. She sighed softly in her sleep, warm and still, not her usual ball of nervousness around him. He preferred her this way, calm and steady—not trying to avoid him. His hand slipped down to her waist, stroking the scar on her back. He closed his eyes and let her warmth comfort him as he fell back to sleep. He wasn't sure why, but holding her close like this just felt…right.

Hours later, the loss of her warmth woke him.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I must have passed out." The pink-cheeked girl sat next to him on the bed checking his wounds with a glowing hand that was still tinted with his dried blood. He grasped her hand, stopping her.

"I'm fine, Sakura. You've already used too much chakra."

"I'll be ok." She smiled without looking him in the eye. "I was just making sure."

"I'm completely healed. I was only sleeping."

"Well, if you want to get up, I will change the bedding." She rose and started to pick up the gory aftermath of the chaotic mess. She threw the broken metal in the trash while considering if it would be better just to throw the blood covered bedding in the trash or try and remove the myriad of stains. "You can take a shower and get out of those bloody clothes."

She was definitely avoiding him, he decided, growing irritated that she was suddenly acting detached toward him, like a patient in the hospital that she'd just met. He reached out and snagged her wrist.

"What about you?" He showed Sakura her own bloody hands and looked pointedly at the blood-spattered shirt she wore. She had slipped on some shorts over her underwear. He grunted in disappointment that she had covered up her long, lithe legs.

"I, uh, can wait," she stammered, wiping her hands on her already dirty shirt. "I'm used to this."

"Me, too," he argued, his eyes narrowing when he saw her lip quiver before she turned away from him.

"No. You go ahead." She rose quickly, sounding professional and detached once more. The emotional woman who had pleaded with him to live was gone and he didn't like it one bit. He scowled at her refusal to look at him. "I'll make us something to eat while you get cleaned up. I'll put your bag in the bathroom." She carefully snagged a clean t-shirt on her way out the door. She was gone before he could stop her. Her discomfort was clearly evident and there seemed to be a layer of sadness just below the poised surface.

Sighing, he sat up. He felt pretty, damn good considering he had been a hair's breadth away from death a few hours ago. To think she was able to heal such a grievous wound with just her chakra astounded him. He smirked; it especially amused him when she had warned him at her house that she wouldn't lift a finger to help him even if he was dying.

When he reached the bathroom, she had been and gone. Her bloody shirt was lying in the corner waiting for him to add his clothes to. He stripped and entered the hot water. It felt good to wash the sticky clots from his skin. He ran his fingers over the spot where the enormous shuriken had entered and split open his chest. He was amazed. There wasn't even a trace of a scar there. If he hadn't felt his own life slipping away, he wouldn't have believed it.

And here he had himself believing she needed someone to watch over her. Sakura was more capable than any woman he'd ever come across.

He didn't know what to do with her.

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When Sasuke came out from the shower dressed in a loose pair of nin pants and nothing else, Sakura sucked in her breath. Tiny droplets of water slid down his perfectly healed chest, past pale, chiseled abs, dipping into the small crevasse of his hip where his pants were slung low.

'Oh my God!' she suddenly realized. 'I'm staring at Sasuke's body.'

Her Inner growled appreciatively and suggested she use her hands to examine him before she brutally shoved the thought away.

"Well, you look ok," she started anxiously looking for an escape route. "I'm gonna get cleaned up. The bedding is changed if you want to sleep more, but you should have something to eat to regain your strength. You need lots of high iron foods to make up for the blood loss. I-uh…" She stopped, thinking, 'Oh crap! Now I'm babbling. Stupid! Stupid!'

The embarrassed kunoichi turned and left mid-sentence, fleeing to the bathroom to avoid more pointless conversation. Sasuke smirked at her faltering speech and decided maybe he did know what to do with her after all.

Maybe he would keep her.

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Sakura sank into the heat of the shower with a heavy sigh—finally letting go of the stress of almost losing Sasuke again. Tears slipped from her eyes and mingled with the spray, disguising her grief. She sobbed quietly with the realization that she would probably never be over her first crush. It had transformed into full blown love, no matter how much she denied it. Ino had seen right through her. When she had felt Sasuke's life slipping away from her, she couldn't lie to herself anymore.

Maybe it would be better if she left Konoha altogether, she thought. Jounin exams were coming up soon and there were more medic ninja taking the test this time. Tsunade wouldn't need her as much at the hospital. She could work at one of the outposts or even become a Konoha diplomat to another country. Gaara had invited her to stay in Suna and help with more advanced poison training for their medics. She would have enough work to fill her time and she wouldn't be faced with the pain of seeing Sasuke. She could always come to visit her friends or even move back after the years had eased the pain of her unreasonable obsession with her teammate.

Yes, she acknowledged, it would hurt at first, but it would be for the best in the long run. She decided to talk to Tsunade about it after they returned. She would have to sell her house to pay off the mortgage, but she could store what few material possessions she kept in some sealing scrolls—any money left from the sale of the house would pay for the pricy scrolls. With her skills, she could earn good money anywhere she went.

The water turned cold before she shut it off and stood listening to the drip in the quiet of the apartment. She couldn't help but wonder if Sasuke had left to find the others.

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Sasuke stood leaning against the wall outside the bathroom. He wanted to go in when he heard Sakura crying, but he knew firsthand she wouldn't appreciate any intrusion. She had started to open herself to him only to shut herself off the moment she knew he wasn't dying. Now, she was closed off again. When the water finally turned off, he waited only a few seconds before deciding to leave the apartment to give Sakura the space she seemed to need. Whatever he wanted to say could wait until they were home and things had settled down.

They weren't going anywhere.

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Things you probably already know:

Mo, yamenasai-Enough already, stop.

Yada-No way!

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