Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Naruto ran down the street. He had no idea where the award ceremony was. He had no idea where Sasuke would be, having only met him once, but he decided to go back to that street where he had seen Sasuke and see from there.

No one was more shocked than Naruto when he actually saw Sasuke there. Sasuke was in tuxedo with an untied bow tie hanging from his neck and he shuffled slightly as he walked with his back hunched over. Suddenly, Naruto's voice got stuck in his throat. He realised that he was about to tell this man, that he barely knew, that the woman he loved was probably dying. Sasuke caught sight of him and then did something that made what Naruto needed to do a lot more difficult.

Sasuke smiled.

He walked to Naruto and said, "Hello, have you seen Sakura?"

Naruto opened and closed his mouth several times. Sasuke frowned.

"Are you okay?"

Naruto still couldn't find the words to say.

"There was… Sakura…" he said before trailing off again.

"Sakura?" Sasuke answered to her name.

"Um…"

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked.

He was so painfully oblivious that it hurt to look at him. His expression was unwittingly happy. Naruto didn't want to tell him because he knew that after he did, Sasuke's expression might never return to this unconditional state of happiness.

"She… She's not okay," Naruto said uneasily.

Sasuke frowned, "What do you mean? What happened?"

Naruto breathed in deeply.

"She was hit by a car."

At first, Naruto thought Sasuke hadn't even heard him. He just stared blankly at Naruto, not moving for a full minute.

"What?" Sasuke said finally.

Naruto didn't trust himself to speak again. He remained silent.

"Where is she, Naruto?" Sasuke hissed.

"H-hospital."

Sasuke thought he was going to be sick. His skull filled with white noise and he broke out in a cold sweat. He breathed in deeply like he couldn't catch her breath. He tore at his hair as he screamed.

Naruto stared at him, no knowing what to say or do.

"I don't understand," Sasuke said suddenly, "What the fuck is happening to us?"

Naruto shook his head mutely.

"Where is she? Where the fuck is she?" Sasuke shouted.

"She's in the hospital." Naruto repeated and, out of nowhere, Sasuke punched him. Naruto stumbled a bit, feeling his head throb slightly but it was okay. Naruto could take it because, if anything, Naruto believed he understood.

"Which hospital is it, you moron?" Sasuke shouted.

"I-I don't know, the nearest one, probably." Naruto muttered.

"You don't even know where she is?" Sasuke cried.

"I came straight here!"

Sasuke grabbed him by the front of his shirt and glared at him. He leaned in dangerously closed to his ear and whispered menacingly, "You know what? I don't trust you."

He let Naruto go and shoved him away then turned around and walked away. Naruto ran after him.

"Wait, Sasuke, I swear I'm telling the truth," Naruto begged.

"Fuck off," Sasuke snapped.

Naruto continued to beg Sasuke as they walked to Sakura's apartment building. Sasuke ignored him. He refused to believe Naruto, about the accident, about Sakura being in hospital, about anything. He walked to Sakura's door and knocked repeatedly. There was just the dull knocking sound of his fist against wood and nothing else. Sasuke could hear the blood pounding through his veins.

"Sasuke, she's not there."

"Shut up," Sasuke snapped and knocked again.

When there was no response, his mouth went dry. He began to think of all possible reasons besides the one Naruto continually insisted on. He tried to open the door but it was locked.

"She's-," Naruto started but before he could utter another word, Sasuke shouldered the door open with force. He stumbled into Sakura's apartment.

"SAKURA!" He shouted but the all the lights were off and the room was cold.

Naruto flicked on the light, illuminating the lounge.

"See," He said and his voice echoed, "She's not here."

Sasuke ignored him. He was looking at the walls.

"She didn't paint over it," he muttered.

Naruto looked around, noticing the words on the walls for the first time. Sasuke clenched his jar, clenched his fists. He shut his eyes and willed Sakura to be there when he opened them once more but when she wasn't, his onyx eyes burnt red with tears. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

"It's true, isn't it?" he muttered and his voice echoed through the empty apartment.

Naruto nodded softly.

Sasuke turned and walked out the door.

They brought in Ino's best friends in tatters. At first, she didn't believe it was her. Sakura looked so small, so broken, that Ino's mind simply refused to accept it. She watched as they wheeled Sakura into surgery, frozen to the spot. Even when she managed to move again, the other doctors wouldn't let her help with operation on her friend.

They let her take the rest of the day off but she remained in the hospital waiting room anyway. She cried for a long time with her hands twisting and bending on her lap. Her eyes were red and blotchy so she almost thought it was an hallucination when she saw the author of her favourite book walked, briskly, into the waiting room and march to the receptionist's desk.

She thought that, perhaps, before this moment she hadn't fully believed that her Sakura was the Sakura. She had thought it was all a game but when she saw S. Uchiha ask about her frantically like she was all that had ever mattered and ever would, Ino realised that it was all true. Every snatch of information she had gotten from Sakura or the press was utterly and completely true.

She felt her heart break for the beautiful man she had never met.

Sasuke was sent to wait and he sat across from Ino. Of course, he didn't know she was Sakura's best friend and he ignored her completely. Ino didn't speak to him. She just watched his reaction. He sat down, placed his chin on interlaced fingers and stayed exactly like that until a doctor came out of her surgery.

They got up at the same time and he looked at her in confusion when she approached the doctor too.

"I'm Ino, Sakura's best friend," Ino said quickly and quietly. Sasuke frowned. He felt like he should have known that. He turned back to the doctor.

The doctor shook his head.

Sasuke felt his heart drop from his ribcage and into his stomach. He felt his mouth go dry and his throat clog up. Suddenly, and without hesitation, he wanted to die.

"She's in a coma. If she doesn't wake up in three days, it's most likely that she brain dead."

Ino gasped and began to sob. Sasuke blinked his onyx eyes and immediately said,

"She'll wake up."

He spoke with such certainty that Ino almost believed him. Almost.

"Can we see her?" Ino asked.

"She's in room 52," Said the doctor and pointed.

Sasuke left without a word but Ino waited and thanked the doctor. Sasuke wasn't prepared when he walked into the room. When he saw her, he froze.

Her face was painted black and blue with bruises and there were stitches across her forehead. Her eyes were closed. He had not seen her in a month and yet he could picture her face perfectly as it had been under the bruises and cuts. Her lip was split and bleeding. His fingertips brushed the side of her face delicately as if he might break her like glass.

"Sakura?" he whispered as if he could wake her from her sleep.

A part of him had believed that if he called her, she'd wake up. Her emerald eyes would blink open and she would smile at him.

But she didn't wake up. She didn't move at all.

Sasuke felt like there was a heavy weight in front of his skull, weighing down his head. He wanted nothing more, nothing less, than you go back a couple of hours where she as safe and protected.

He should've been there when it happened. He should've been with her. It should have been him.

He slowly lowered himself in a chair beside her bed. He felt sick and sore all over. His muscles were aching. He didn't take his eyes off her, not once. Her hands lay on top of the blankets and slowly, he intertwined his fingers with hers then lowered his head on to her stomach. He closed his eyes.

Ino did not walk into the room. She stayed at the door, staring at them. Sasuke did not cry. What he did was worse than tears. He seemed to automatically become what she was. He stopped moving, he stopped talking. He stared at her. It was as if he was desperate to get back in sync with her. She didn't know how long she stayed there, staring at the writer and his muse, but she was only awoken from her trance when she was joined a blond man called Naruto and a doctor.

"We need to talk about who will… who will switch her off life support if she doesn't wake up in three days," The doctor spoke in a whisper, "Does she have any other family we need to contact?"

Ino shook her head, "No. Her father died about a month ago and her mother died giving birth to her."

She looked at Naruto, "Who the hell are you?"

Naruto blushed scarlet, "I'm Sakura's friend. I live near her house."

Ino shrugged. She didn't have the energy to question him further.

"Maybe we should give the decision to Sasuke?" Ino said.

Naruto looked into the room and shook his head, "No… Sasuke will never do it, even if that's the only choice. He will never, ever give up."

One look at them together in that room was enough to know that he was right.

Ino sighed, "I don't want to think about this now. It's all too much. She might still wake up, right?"

The doctor looked at her sadly, "It's possible… but unlikely."

"But it's still possible!" Naruto exclaimed, "She'll wake up. I know it. This is Sakura and now Sasuke is with her so she'll definitely wake up."

Ino smiled sadly. She admired his optimism.

"I think Naruto should decide. I think he should be the one to turn the life support off if it gets to that."

Naruto looked at her in shock, "But you've known Sakura the longest."

She shook her head, "I can't handle that decision. I wouldn't know what to do. Sasuke can't do because… he loves her too much to let her go but you'll make the right decision and you'll know when it's the right time to let go."

Ino quickly dissolved into tears. She understood that she barely knew Naruto but she knew Sakura and this would be what she would want.

(A/N): Sad Sasuke is sad. For the next three chapters, it'll be a day by day countdown until Sakura officially declared brain dead… or wakes up. I should warn you though, I have an odd disliking for happy endings. Doesn't mean I won't write one. Trololololol.