As Kakashi took over for the second watch he was afraid that something had happened, as he looked at his former student."Are you sure that you don't want to talk about it?" he asked her again, and the concern in his voice got to her heart. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks, what surprised him even more."I haven't seen you cry for quite a long time now. It's because of Shikamaru, right?"
Sakura just nodded.
"But Tsunade told me that he's fine already. It only was a cut."
"That's not the point." She stated. "I've got a really bad feeling, something is going to happen."She took a deep breath and stared into the fire. "The nearer we came to Suna, the stronger this feeling grows, and I'm sure that's nothing to do with the traps. Since we have Neji-kun with us there's no need to worry. It's like an approaching storm."
"You fear that something could happen to him, right?" He said in a calm tune. She nodded again, even more tears falling down. "I've lost the first one I loved, I think I can't take another loss."

He laid his hand on her shoulder to comfort her and she turned around, crying on his chest. First he didn't know what to do or say, so he just pats her back. "You should trust more in his abilities. He's a good fighter, one Akatsuki on his list, remember?" She stopped crying, rubbed her eyes and nodded. Kakashi-sensei sometimes really was a help. Sakura gave him a grateful smile and got one back. "You should take a rest. Just try to sleep, ok?"
"Hai." She nodded and went into the girls' tent. As he thought about it later, he hoped that he was right. Losing another one she loves would definitely be too much for her. He sighed and took out his latest 'Icha-Icha' book.

Neji had the third watch and Ino the last. Their journey went on quiet, and after two days they reached Sunas border. "Only one day left and we'll be in the village." Kakashi said and the rest nodded. Ino has never been there before and was curious how everything would be. The other ones were in a way just looking forward to the meetings with old friends. Even Kakashi was happy, but only because of the simple fact that Jiraiyas books were cheaper there than in Konoha.

"Neji, from now on we'll need your guide." Kakashi said and Neji took over the lead."Alright then, please stay close behind. If I only have to look for one way through we'll be faster."Everyone nodded. With every step they came closer to the village Sakuras bad foreboding became stronger. Kakashi let himself fell back behind Sakura, he was afraid that she wouldn't react if they got attacked. After three hours he found traces in the sand, and if he read them right there were hundreds of Iwa-nin marching towards suna. He was pretty sure that Neji had seen them too, and one hour later he stopped. "Ino-chan, could you please take a look of what's in front of us?"She only nodded and caught a hawk with her shin-ten-shin. After a few minutes she returned and said: "I think we should hurry up, there are at least 300 Iwa-nin marching towards the village, and on Sunas' side I've seen only around 100."

Sakuras eyes grew wide in shock. So her feeling was right. 'Damn it!' she cursed inwardly. 'Shannaro! Don't cry sis, let's fight! We'll rip them apart!' 'Right!'"Then, why do we wait here?" she said, forcing them to continue their way. "We'll have a good chance for a surprise-attack, but we should fight our way through to Sunas' side. We're only four."Kakashi mumbled. Now Sakura let herself fell back to Kakashi. "You better don't use your Mangekyo Sharingan. That would be ways too dangerous for you." "And you try to keep a cool mind." He replied. She nodded and sped off again. It took them one hour to reach the battlefield and to their surprise there were at least the half of the enemies beaten. Sakura stood there for only one moment, her eyes rushing over the scene. She could see Kankuro and Temari, a short way away from them there was Gaara, she also could see Lee and Kiba but where the hell was…
"SHIKAMARU!" Inos scream showed her where he was. "No!" she whispered breathless. "NO!"

The same morning in Suna:

"Yo Brainiac!" Kankuro greeted him. "You look shitty today."
"Friendly like always." He grumbled back.
"No, just honest. Haven't found sleep last night?"
"No, not really. Kiba snored too loud and Lee talks when he sleeps."
"But to me that doesn't seem to be the true reason."
Shikamaru sighed. "Gaara got a letter from Tsunade. The team had left the hidden leaf, they should arrive today."
"Shouldn't you be happy about that?"
"No, we expect Iwa to attack with full force today. And I'm afraid that they might be unable to make their way through enemy-lines."
"I thought that Hatake and that Hyuga were tough guys. And as you said that Sakura Haruno should be a good fighter too?"
"Yeah, at least that's what I hope now."
"You should have more trust in your people, man." He said patting him on the shoulder. "Better get ready, Gaara wants a short meeting before we leave."

All shinobi who were able to fight met at the main gate and Gaara gave them last instructions.
"I hope the enemy is tired." Kiba mumbled.
"That would be no fun Kiba-san." Lee said. "I want to fight."
"Good idea, bushy-brows." The Inuzuka answered sarcastically. "If there are I don't know how many more of them than us, you'll have enough to fight. And if they're relaxed wouldn't make things better for us."
"Kiba has a point, Lee-san." Temari answered, who was standing next to them. "As Gaara said, we expect an attack with full force. You'll have your hands full."
Shikamaru didn't pay attention. His mind was wandering, nearly racing to find plans how to defeat as many enemies as possible.
"Yo, Brainiac."
"Is there a chance that you ever look for another nickname?"
"If hell freezes over." Kankuro grinned. "I just can't imagine a more suitable one."
"Mendokusai." He sighed silent.
"Now, let's kick butts!" Kiba laughed.
"You sound like Naruto-san, you know." Lee stated.
"Then let's hope we have his luck in surviving." Shikamaru mumbled, and followed the other ones out of the village.

They just stood there for nearly half an hour, as the silhouettes became visible. "Man, that's really full force." Kankuro whispered as he realized that there were coming more and more. "Shit, if we would've found out earlier, we could've asked Tsunade for even more backup." Shikamaru whispered back."Then let's do our best. Otherwise there may be no tomorrow." "Just trust, right?" They looked at each other, took a deep breath and then the battle started.

At the beginning the Suna-nin had problems because of the mass of enemies running towards them. Many of them where looking at their Kazekage, and since he looked determined and his aura let them feel his will to fight and win, that they started battle more confident. Thanks to the sand they were fighting on and the very good placed traps the enemy wasn't as fresh and relaxed. Some of them were already that tattered that they were hardly able to stand. Shikamaru had no idea why they joined their comrades, if they had no chance of hurting only one of the Suna-nin. He caught nearly twenty Iwa-nin in his mass-shadow-binding-jutsu and Kiba took the advantage and finished them off. But no matter how many they finished, it seemed that there were even more appearing. "For one you kill, two appear." Kankuro grumbled as he fought his way past Shikamaru. All of them were exhausted, even Gaaras sand had become slower.

He heard Akamaru howl with pain and turned round to look what happened, but that was his fatality. The sound of the kunai which made his way through his vest and into his flesh was even worse than the pain that it caused. He tried to turn round but a fist hit his face that hard that he literally got knocked off his feet. He flew a few meters, and before he hit the ground he heard a very familiar voice calling his name. The kunai had hit an artery, his vision already became blurry. The Iwa-nin was coming towards him, another weapon in his hands, ready to finish him off. Shikamaru waited for the pain to come, but instead of that he heard another scream.

"NO!" Sakura screamed, and started running towards him. That Iwa-nin walked towards Shikamaru, a big grin on his face and another kunai in his hand. "Don't you dare touching him again with those dirty hands of yours! SHANNARO!" Her punch hit him that hard in the neck, that said thing gave in and broke. She fell on her knees beside him, looking at the intense bleeding wound. Tears welled up her eyes, his breath and heartbeat has already become weaker. "Sa… Sakura…" he whispered, then he closed his eyes. "No!" she whispered crying, focusing her chakra to close the wound and stop the bleeding. "No, please don't die." She whispered again. "Please, don't leave me. I need you." Her tears dropped on his face. "I love you." She whispered.

"No, please don't die." He heard her voice, the beginning very clear, the rest muffling away. "Please, don't leave me. I need you." He heard it like it was miles away. The darkness was already pulling on his body, whispering promises that the pain would end. How sweet that promises seemed to him. Then he heard something, he had never expected. "I love you." Her voice still seemed miles away, but somehow it forced him to start fighting this comforting darkness. He wanted to live, wanted to open his eyes just to look at her, but he was already too tired. The blood loss was too much for him, he fell unconscious. For him the battle was over.


Tadaa! Another one done! g It's exciting. Please don't kill me because of the end of this chap, but somewhere I've got to make a stop. I promise you that I'll update the next chap tomorrow. Please review! Please! bagging with puppy eyes :3