A/N: Yeah, it's true… I miss you.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: INJURED

It was the weirdest dream that Naruto had in ages. Even though he couldn't see anything clearly, Naruto was running into a dark corridor towards the only light that was fading away from him ever so slowly. Then the light had been replaced by Sakura. Naruto saw Sakura standing at the end of the corridor and he fastened his pace. She was vanishing away from him. He was so close, so close that he could almost touch her but then she had disappeared saying: "I miss you." He tried to shout her name but it was no use. He missed her too, a lot.

He opened his eyes. Sakura's voice had sounded so real, so close. He looked around but saw that he was alone in the hospital's room. He looked over at the window. It was closed. Didn't I leave that open? He asked himself but then shrugged it off thinking that maybe he had closed it. It was still dark outside.

Naruto sighed and thought about the dream that he just had. Nothing was really unusual about it except Sakura's voice. It sounded so close to him and so real. It felt like it wasn't really a dream. He was sure that he hadn't imagined her voice.

Naruto sighed and looked at the ceiling. Sleep was far away from him now and Naruto knew that he won't be able to get it now.

No matter how hard he was trying to get away from Sakura, it seemed like she was getting closer. Not physically maybe but mentally. It was like she now existed inside him giving him warmth. She was making him lose control. Naruto needed to talk to Sakura, to tell her that he wanted her back. At the same time, he also wanted her to be happy and he knew that she could never be happy with him. Nothing mattered to him more than her happiness and if she didn't want to see him, he'll not upset her by forcing her to talk to him.


"You look tired Sakura chan." Lee glanced back at Sakura once more. Her speed was decreasing slowly and he could feel it. There were dark circles under her eyes. "Need any help?" Lee stopped for Sakura to catch up.

"Not really." She huffed. They had been running the whole day and it was almost evening.

"What's the matter?" Lee asked concerned. He took Sakura's hand and placed her arm over his shoulder to give her support.

"Didn't get any sleep last night." She said as her eyes lids closed slowly. Her whole weight was now concentrated on Lee and he was leading her forward.

"Maybe we should rest for a bit." Lee suggested. He didn't wait for her answer and shouted at Shikamaru who was leading the small group. "Maybe we should camp here for the night."

Before Shikamaru could turn or even stop, Sakura freed her hand quickly from Lee and punched him on the shoulder lightly, now her weight on her own again.

"Oh the hatred of love." Lee rubbed his shoulder lightly not looking at anything and sighed. His eyes unfocused as he stared at Sakura dreamily. It didn't make sense what he was saying so; she punched him again… this time a little harder.

She growled and rolled her eyes when Lee just sighed pensively once again. She turned to Shikamaru, "We can't rest now. We have to reach the sand village in the given time." Sakura tried to keep her eyes from closing.

Shikamaru nodded and turned around to face the front again, "Do try to move faster then."

Sakura looked at Lee. He was still looking dreamily at her. She frowned and started following Shikamaru again.

After a little while, her eyelids started to shut again as sleep took over her. She was feeling fatigued. Lee was on her side again looking at her with worry and concern.

"Nothing's wrong Lee." She confirmed and tried to open her eyes. There was a part of her brain that was shouting that she should just drop down on the ground and rest. It was really getting hard for her to walk and now Lee was worrying about her. What was his problem? Couldn't he just walk ahead of her?

He opened his mouth to say something but she waved a hand at him to shut him up, "No. I don't need to rest thank you." Her tone was a little harsh. "What's the matter with you anyways? Can't you just leave me alone?"

Lee shook his head lightly and started to move faster. He was only being nice, what was there to get mad?

She stopped and looked at the two disappearing backs. Weren't they a team? So, why were they both moving so fast knowing that she couldn't?

She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at their disappearing figures. Pfft, I don't need you guys. I'll do the mission my own self. And she gave a small chuckle; who needed boys as a team?

She wasn't thinking straight. It was all the cause of not getting sleep for two whole days. She was exhausted and her mind needed a little rest. That's all.

But the only problem was that Sakura wasn't thinking at all. She started moving in the opposite direction to them. She walked without realizing where she was going. She was angry at them all. They were all just the same. Caring about her when they needed her but always leaving her when Sakura needed them.

A sob escaped her throat and she finally looked around. She was surrounded by trees not knowing where she had come from. The sky above her was pitched black making it hard for her to see. Another sob escaped. This time it wasn't due to anger at anyone but at how foolish she was. She had wondered here alone in the middle of the jungle and she didn't even know from which direction she had come from. She was so absorbed in her thoughts. What's gotten into me? This is not the responsible Sakura who I used to be. She cursed herself as the tears started to form in her eyes. She took a deep breath trying to figure out what she was going to do now. Sakura knew perfectly well that falling apart now won't do her any good.

How long had she been walking alone? She didn't know and didn't remember.

She sat down on the mudded ground. There was nothing she could do now. Maybe Shikamaru and Lee were looking for her right now. If she moved further into the forest, they'll not be able to find her. She couldn't feel their chakra in the surroundings but maybe they'll come for her.

She leaned her back on one of the three trunks and brought her legs to her chest. It was getting scarier. She buried her face into her knees. All that was left for her to do was wait. Even though she was a ninja and had nothing to be afraid of but like any other girl, she was afraid too.

An alarming chuckle from close to her side made her open her eyes. She had fallen asleep and didn't know for how long. It was still dark though so that meant that she had been out for not more than an hour or so. She couldn't see properly.

"Lee? Shika?" She called out. Her voice was trembling and was barely above a whisper. There was someone close to her and she could feel their chakra, it was so strong.

She narrowed her eyes and looked in the direction of the chakra. Sure enough, there was a shadow of someone. She couldn't make out who it was though. The man had a stick in his mouth. She looked closely, maybe there were two people but they were both a little taller than Shikamaru or Lee.

Her hand tightened around her legs, bringing them closer to her chest as if she was trying to protect herself. "Shika?" She asked again in her baby like voice. She was too scared to feel the chakra of two other people other than the ones who were standing in front of her.

She got up on her feet trying to figure out who they both were. It won't do any good if she attacked her team mates.

The man chuckled again and he twisted his right hand before it lighted up. She had seen this stance before but couldn't remember where. The lighting like energy on the person's hand lighted up everything and she saw his features. They looked awfully familiar and yet so strange.

The man started nearing her with fast speed not giving her any time to defend herself or run. She heard someone shout a loud "Run." and she thought she saw Lee jump out of a nearby bush. The man who was running towards her missed her but after a fraction of second later; there was unbearable weight on her body. Sakura's body became numb as everything went black.


A/N: Haha… sorry guys. I just can't help it. I like some action in a story and I'm really sorry if Sakura's always the victim but who else should get injured when it's a NaruSaku and Naruto's almost about to die due to the decrease of chakra in his body. One more injury and the poor guy would die leaving Sakura alone in this world. =(

Okay anyways, I'm really sorry for the long delay. I'll make it up to you guys by a real NaruSaku scene in the coming chapters. Please don't hate me!

Haha… lmao! Guess what… I reread my last chapter and there is no denying that almost ALL of the sentences started with either HE or SHE. It was really funny if you look at it that way. Hehehe! Go on and read it… I bet you'll laugh too but I'll try to repost it (If I get the chance to. I'm really lazy theses days.) Thanks. ^__^

Anyways… as the mystery has been solved (or so I think) and hopefully I won't get any bad reviews now (Or so I think)… yeah whatever…. Enjoy the story, please. The next chapter will be up in a little while. Thanks!

I'm really happy today and don't know why! It's cool to be happy without knowing the reason, ne?

Wow! A little TOO big author's note, isn't it??! But WTF, I missed you guys.