Sorry this is so short but I will be posting the chapter twelve either tonight or tomorrow so you won't have to wait long. Please give me feedback so I know how I'm doing... Enjoy!
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Chapter 11- Sakura
I was being suffocated. My chest had thousand pound weights on it and my internal organs were being seared with white hot pain that slowly leaked to the rest of my body until I was completely taken over by the flames.
No matter how bad I wanted to scream out, my mouth wouldn't open. I wanted to thrash around and I wanted to focus my chakra to at least ease the torture but the second that I felt it churn in my chest, the fire would increase dramatically and would leave me begging for death.
I don't know how long I was like that; unable to think coherent thoughts and unable to move a muscle. It felt like decades but honestly it could have been minutes and I would have never known the difference. I just know that I couldn't do anything to stop the pain and I was slowly losing my grip on reality.
Unlike the so many times I've fainted on missions from physical injuries, my mind didn't succumb to darkness when the pain became too much. I had to endure every agonizing second of it with no help from medicines or comfort from friends.
At some point through the fiery hell that was singeing my skin, I felt a hand. At first I could only feel the touch of something against me but as time passed, more became noticeable as the fire dulled slightly. The hand was strong and warm and rough and no doubt the hand of a well-trained ninja.
After another unthinkable amount of time, I could feel other things around me; the soft sheets underneath my body, something warm and fuzzy pressed tightly to my right side, and small weight on my knees.
Hope of an end to my torture came when the fire receded to just my chest and I could once again hear. I still couldn't move and I still couldn't cry out like I wanted to but at least I could hear the soft breathing of someone to my left, most likely whoever was holding my hand.
There was a steady beeping sound but it took me a stupid amount of time to figure out that it was a heart-rate monitor. Somewhere near my feet came several sources of snoring and heavy panting while footsteps were obviously pacing a hole through the floor a little farther away.
After a while of listening to everyone's breathing, the sound of a bottle shattering on the floor piqued my interest and a string of vulgar curses spoken with a very familiar voice drifted into my ears. I sighed and opened my eyes as the routine action brought out the familiar reaction on me.
The hand that held mine stiffened as my eyes flickered open and a strangled gasp left my too-dry lips. The pain still burned in my abdomen but I struggled to repress it the best I could as my eyes landed on the familiar blonde standing in the doorway.
"Naruto," I croaked, "You might want to get Tsunade some more sake before she throws her desk through a wall again."
I don't think I've ever seen my Naruto look so damn serious and I most certainly have never seen him burst into tears and sobs as he did right then. He ran to me, throwing an arm over my sore chest and sobbing into my neck. Strings of apologies and other unrecognizable words were meshed in with them and I couldn't get in my own words of comfort to calm the emotion boy.
Under his chest, I could see the displeasure in my little Kimi's eyes but she didn't growl at him which kind of surprised me.
The hand that had been holding me tightened slightly and I turned to see one of the most heart-breaking sights I've ever seen. Kakashi's eyes intensely bore into mine and it took me a few seconds to realize that it had been him that brought me back to consciousness.
My body tingled slightly and his warm touch and I felt my hand squeeze back the smallest bit. I was almost positive that he wasn't experiencing the same body tingling sensation that I was but I didn't miss the emotions rush passed his eyes; emotions that I've rarely seen in him.
"Kakashi…" I mumbled, barely audible over the muffled cries from Naruto who was quite frankly scaring me to death. How bad was my condition for him to be acting like this?
My ex-sensei opened his mouth to say something but Tsunade decided to show herself at that moment. "Naruto, crying is not going to bring her back…" She trailed off when she saw my tired eyes gleaming with unshed tears of my own.
Kakashi didn't let go.
"Sakura," she mumbled, stepping forward and right as I thought she was going to go into an angry rage, she ripped Naruto off of me and placed herself right where he was before. I held myself together long enough to feel her tears drop onto my shoulder before I broke down as well.
Just like with Naruto, I've never seen my Shishou cry like this and it was so saddening to know that she was that worried about me. "You don't understand." I heard her whisper, whipping back so fast that her blonde hair blurred.
"You don't understand how close we came to losing you." She whispered again. "The heart monitor stopped and you just stopped breathing and we thought- we thought that you gave up. Sakura, your heart stopped beating three times before you were stabilized."
I died? I could feel a part of my mind go numb with that information and I guess I started shaking because Kakashi tightened his grip on me in comfort.
"I- I didn't…" I was stuttering so bad I couldn't even finish my sentence.
Kakashi spoke up for the first time since I woke up and I jumped when hearing how hoarse his usually smooth voice sounded. "It's been a week since you've even tensed a muscle. We thought that eventually your heart would stop again and there would be nothing that we could do about it." He said, a haunted look slowly darkening his one exposed eye.
I've been out of it for a week? No wonder the pain seemed to never stop.
My mind seemed so sluggish and I found it hard to even coherently think of a good sentence to speak. Tsunade seemed to realize this and furiously wiped her tears before giving me a sad smile.
"I realized that something was wrong when you asked if Sai and Naruto were okay. You had only been unconscious for about two days and I knew that that was way too soon for you not to be feeling the results of the fight. You were talking, laughing even, but when you breathed out that one time, your pupils dilated drastically and your heart palpitated.
"I went to scan your abdomen because that was where most of the damage was but all of your internal organs were failing. Sakura, whatever kind of poison was in your system literally was made to kill you without you even knowing it. I've never seen it before.
"When I went into the lab once you stabilized, I tested it on different types of muscle and fat tissues but nothing happened. When I tested it on a rat, the results were instantaneous. All three rats that were injected had an adrenaline rush for a good ten minutes before dropping like flies. They woke up after about sixteen hours but they could barely move; they were completely numb all over.
"When I went to scan their bodies with my chakra, they literally burst from the inside out. The poison is meant to almost completely paralyze the body and then slowly attack everything it comes into contact with. It resists chakra; so when I went to inspect and heal you, it sped everything along and ripped open all of your injuries again as well as completely shutting down all of your internal organs. I don't know how we did it but thank Kami you're still here. I don't know what I would have done if…" She cut off, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.
The pills. All of that happened because I took those stupid pills. I would have been okay with one but no, I had to take three. I'm so useless; torturing my friends like this because of my own selfish thoughts. They've been here worrying about my safety all because I decided to be a dumbass.
I weakly smiled and tried to reassure them but if anything, their faces fell even more. "I'm sorry, really. I just couldn't watch any of you get hurt." After looking around and noticing only them in the room, I hesitated. "Where are Sai and Genma?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck slowly, trying to calm himself down. "Sai is with Gaara, helping with paperwork and Genma is drinking himself into a coma in his room."
My eyebrows furrowed. "Is he okay? Did something happen?"
Kakashi visibly flinched beside me. "He's not one to handle alcohol and… stressful situations very well."
"He heard everything that happened the first time and couldn't stomach coming in here. I don't blame him or Sai though; you've bled out almost every day so it's really just been us three and the dogs in here." Naruto said, petting Pakkun on the head which I realized was the small weight on my knees.
I nodded slowly, feeling my eyelids begin to get heavier with each passing second. "Shishou, I'm really tired." I mumbled, letting my muscles relax slightly.
"I'm sure you are. You can sleep Sakura, you're safe now. We'll be waiting for you to wake back up." She didn't lie.
I woke up the next morning to see everyone, even Sai and Genma, standing around talking or, in Naruto's case, fighting with Sai over something stupid. Their eyes shined when they realized I was awake and they didn't leave the room once that day.
Every time I woke up after that it was always Kakashi. It was always Kakashi that welcomed me back into the world of the conscious and it was always him who would sit with me in silence to watch the sun rise high in the sky.
I looked his expressionless face as he gazed out of the window early one morning and I couldn't stop the small voice in the back of my head repeating, it always was him…
….1 week later
I shielded my chakra the best I could and slipped down the long, dark hallways that was barely lit with the occasional torch. My limbs felt heavy and weak from lying in a bed for over two weeks and my abdomen still hurt bad enough to hinder me from too much physical activity but I was determined to not let it stop me.
After getting lost numerous times, I finally came to a dead-end hallway with a wooden door at the end and two bored guards talking casually. A part of me was overly pleased at the fact that my plan was falling into place so nicely.
The guards that had Jonin vests on and sand symbols on their vests tensed slightly at seeing me but relaxed when they realized who I was. The one on the right smiled brightly as I slowly approached with a limp.
"We've been waiting for you, Sakura-san. Finally managed to slip away from Hatake, huh?" the brown-headed shinobi joked.
I forced a smile and nodded my head. "You know how he can be. Did the Kazekage retire for the night?"
The guard on the left responded this time. "No, we informed him that someone wanted to speak with him and he has been waiting for your arrival."
"Thank you; I appreciate the help. I would appreciate it even more if you kept this between us."
They both nodded. "Anything for the Kazekage's friend. If you ever need help or a sparring partner, feel free to hunt me down." The guard on the right smiled and knocked twice on the heavy door.
After a quiet voice informed us that I could enter, I shoved the heavy door before securely closing it behind me. Gaara sat behind a dark-wooded desk with papers scattered all over the top. His eyes widened slightly upon seeing me slump into the closest chair.
"Sakura, if I had known that you would want to see me then I would have come to you. You should be resting so that you can regain your strength." He said, putting down the pencil that he had in his hand.
I didn't want to bother with small talk. "That's why I'm here. I have business between the two of us."
His eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"
"I'm losing strength and valuable training time staying in bed and since Tsunade doesn't want me leaving Suna for another two months, I wanted to request something of you."
He dropped the paper that he had been holding in his other hand and entwined his fingers together, folding them on his desk. "And what would that be?"
I lifted my eyes from my own hands and fearlessly looked him in the eye. "I want you to train me as your student."
