Sakura lay on the ground in pain. The blood poured just as much as the tears did. She lifted her trembling right arm over to her left side to feel the red liquid coming from her body. The bullet had hit her right above her left hip. The more she felt her blood, the more pain she felt. But, it wasn't just from the one area; it traveled across her midsection and paralyzed her body. I-I…I'm going to die. I've got… to… get help.

She managed the strength to move her head to try and find something she could use. Screaming or calling for it was out of the question, she could barely move, let alone get her vocal cords to function. She now tasted blood within her mouth. She recognized this symptom as one meaning that she was internally bleeding. Sakura slowly moved her head to her right side to see the phone sitting against the couch. Who would I bother to call? Wait… She remembered that she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday. She took her hand away from her wound and dug into her pocket and reached Kaiba's business card. Her fingers smudged blood onto it, but she could still read the numbers. Putting the card on her chest, she reached for the phone, but it was too much of a distance, only by about a foot.

Sakura scooted her body closer to the phone, which caused her to cry in pain. Her outstretched arm reached again and the tips of her fingers touched it. Her trembling fingers made the job difficult, so she decided to try and get closer to it. Another yell escaped her lips. Her hand finally grasped the phone and she lifted her other one to pick up the card. By now, the carpet, her clothes, the phone, and the card all had the red liquid stained on them. Sakura's shaky hands slowly began to punch the numbers into the phone. Any other person would've called an ambulance, but Sakura's head just wasn't thinking rationally.

Sakura finally typed in all the numbers and then held the phone to her ear. The ringing seemed like it would last forever and Sakura thought she'd die before he'd pick up.

~.~.~

Kaiba still sat at his desk and ran his fingers through his hair. Suddenly, the phone next to him began to ring. He glanced at the clock. 2:58 am. Who would call at this hour? Unless… no, it couldn't be, could it? Kaiba slowly grabbed the phone and placed it against his ear. "Hello?" he spoke.

There was no response. The only thing he could hear was the sound of someone breathing heavily into the receiver. Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "What kind of prank is this? Whoever you are, I'll hunt you down unt-!"

"K… Kai…b…a."

Kaiba was puzzled at first, but then immediately recognized the voice. "Sakura?"

She still didn't respond. Her breathing was still muffled and she was unable to speak.

"Sakura? What's going on? What happened?"

"K… Ka… iba… I….I."

From the way she sounded, she sounded like she was in a lot of pain. Sakura opened her mouth to speak again, but gagged at the blood from her mouth. "Sakura! Where are you?"

The line went dead. Sakura had hung up by accident. Kaiba slammed the phone down and shot up from his chair. Although he couldn't be one-hundred percent, he had an idea of where she was. It was one of the only logical places to find her. He ran downstairs wearing a pair of dark dress pants and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he ran into one of his maids. "Bring my driver around. And make it fast, I don't have any patience tonight."

She nodded and ran off somewhere. Kaiba hastily slipped on his shoes and walked outside into the night. He didn't have the time to grab a coat. The limo immediately pulled up and Kaiba jumped in and directed the driver to the right address. The minutes seemed to tick by even slower than they were happening. To Kaiba, the world seemed to have stopped spinning and everything was just frozen. What kind of trouble was Sakura in? Was this what she was so concerned about yesterday?

The limousine came to an abrupt halt and Kaiba looked out the window to see he was there at his destination. He briskly walked out of the limo and approached Sakura's house. He stood by the door and gave a hard knock. No one answered. He knocked again. Nothing. "Sakura!" he shouted.

Still nothing. It was like knocking on the door of a long abandoned home. Kaiba reached for the knob and went to turn it. Darn it. Locked. Kaiba took a step back and then went to kick the door down. Lucky for him, it came straight down. "Sakura!" he shouted again.

He walked into the house and stared through the darkness. Then he noticed it. One of the front windows had been broken and the ground was littered with shards of glass. He cautiously stepped over them and found himself staring into the living room. His jaw dropped at the next sight. There, by the couch lied Sakura. He ran up to her and crouched down next to her. "Sakura!" he said shaking her.

Kaiba held her in his arms and he stared into her eyes. They were open, but she appeared to be in some sort of daze. But, as he held her, he sighed of relief at feeling she was still alive. "Sakura…"

This made her turn her head toward him. "Y… you… ca…came." She smiled.

Kaiba nodded and looked her over. There was a faint trickle of blood coming from the corner of her mouth and he saw the phone and his business card lying next to her, both with the faintness of blood on them. He then noticed the blood to the left of her on the carpet. He looked down to her left side to see her right hand covering the area. He lifted his own hand to move hers out of the way. He gasped at the sight of it. There was a gunshot wound within her skin and the blood slowly dripped from it.

Sakura noticed where he was staring. "I…I'm… f….fine."

Kaiba had heard that people often went into weird delusions when they were dying, so that could explain her words. She and him both knew that she was nowhere near 'fine'. "Quiet." He said. "You don't need to lose any more blood than you already have."

Sakura nodded and closed her mouth. I'm… surprised he came for me. He never really seemed like he cared at all. Kaiba reached over and grabbed the phone from the floor and dialed 9-1-1. He held the phone to his ear, but kept it at a distance so Sakura's blood wouldn't get on him. "911, what is your emergency?" the operator asked.

Kaiba's cold side began to take control. He didn't want to sound like he cared. "There's a girl that's been shot. She needs an ambulance fast."

"Okay, we'll send one right over. What is the address?"

Kaiba displayed the address and then hung up. He dropped the phone back to the ground and glanced back to Sakura. She looked like she was struggling to even keep her eyes open. Ugh… it's so hard to stay awake, Sakura thought. "Keep your eyes open." Kaiba said. "You'll live longer that way."

"Y…ye…ah." She responded.

"What did I say about you talking?"

Sakura clamped her mouth shut and stared up at Kaiba in an attempt to distract her from the internal agony. His facial muscles were tense as he cursed under his breath wondering where the ambulance was. Even when he's angry… he still looks gorgeous, Sakura thought. At first, she thought what she had said was a delusion of her mind, but then realized that it was the truth.

After another few minutes, the two teenagers heard the sound of an ambulance riding down the street. Finally!, Kaiba thought, could they have gotten here any slower? Sakura was really struggling to stay awake now. Her wound was draining more and more of her energy by the second. Kaiba looked back down at her and sensed her struggle. "Sakura, you're going to make it, got it? You're not going to die tonight."

Sakura, and even Kaiba, were both surprised at his sudden tone of voice. It was so soft… Sakura thought, does he really care that much?

What kind of tone was that? Kaiba thought, I've already told myself, I'm not the boy I used to be.

Aside from her thoughts, Sakura nodded at Kaiba anyways. They looked over to hear the ambulance stop in the driveway and watched at the paramedics rushed into the room with a stretcher. Kaiba released Sakura from his arms and stood away from her as the paramedics stared in awe at Sakura's state. They bent down and slowly began loading her onto the stretcher, trying not to upset the wound and risk her losing more blood.

As they were doing that, a police officer walked into the living room and spotted Kaiba first. He began to question him and Kaiba gave as much information that he knew, including the part about her being so afraid just yesterday. The officer nodded as he wrote down every word that Kaiba had slipped from his mouth. "Mmhm," the officer nodded as he finished writing, "and what is your relation to her, young man?"

"I'm her… friend." To Kaiba, that term insulted him for calling himself that. For Sakura was more, but also less, to him.

"Alright, we'll take it from here. Do you want to come in the ambulance with her?"

Kaiba swallowed, "Yes."

The officer nodded. He turned toward the paramedics who were strapping Sakura into the stretcher. "Hey, let this kid into the ambulance."

The paramedics nodded. Kid? Kaiba thought, I'm eighteen! I bet I'm a heck of a lot more successful than any of these people will ever be! Kaiba didn't let it bother him to much though; there were more important things to worry about. He merely followed the paramedics outside and jumped in to the ambulance next to the stretcher-bound Sakura. Only now that he was in an ambulance, is when he realized that this was actually happening. It would not be some figment of his imagination.

Sakura's vision began to turn blurry and was trying to figure out where she was at this point. The walls are so bright… but what is this? Is-is that the sound of a door closing? Am I in an ambulance? She glanced over to see Kaiba sitting next to her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Th… anks… Ka… iba." She stammered.

Kaiba glared at her for talking, but answered anyways. "For what?"

"F-for… sav… ing… me… and… get…ting… help… for… me."

Kaiba nodded in response. For any other person, he would never have done anything of the sort for them, but somehow, Sakura was different. Deep down, he may have had some kind of feelings for her that he would never accept. The two sat there quietly as the ambulance made its way to the hospital. The paramedics were working every second to try and address and stop Sakura's blood loss, but the flow just kept coming.

Aside from the delusions and pain medications, Sakura still had a conscious of what was happening. I'm not going to make it. I can see it in everyone's faces. She glanced over to her right. Even Kaiba's. Kaiba had not shown such concern on his expression for a long time. It was only exposed when Mokuba was being kidnapped by notorious villains at least two years ago.

But, as soon as he saw Sakura look at him, he masked it again. She doesn't need to believe she's dying. But, any genius could figure out that she is. At least she's putting up a fight. I hope she can withstand everything until we reach the hospital.

"K-Kai… ba. You… don't... ne-need… to put… on a… brave… f-face… fo-for… me."

Kaiba looked at her in shock to see her smiling at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it again. Sakura looked back to the ceiling and her eyes began to droop.

"Ever…y… thing… is… going… dark."

Kaiba's eyes widened. "Sakura, you need to stay awake, you got that?"

She shook her head. "Can't…"

Kaiba felt like he was going to die along with her. This can't be happening. She's not going to die. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Sakura, stay with us. You've got to make it until we reach the hospital. Sakura?"

"I'm… sorry."

Sakura closed her eyes and the heart monitor next to her began dropping pace quickly. The paramedics started to try and revive her, but her eyes remained shut. Kaiba felt like his body was about to shatter into glass. He didn't care anymore whether he was fire or ice, he just wanted her back. This isn't happening… "Sakura!"

Chapter name was inspired by the Evanescence song 'Hello'. Everyone must listen to it now! Maybe went crazy with the periods in Sakura's speaking, but whatever. I'm also surprised that a few people predicted how I was going to put Kaiba into the picture, but you guys aren't stupid, so… I'm ruining that ending with my chit-chat aren't I?