Ugh. Sick. Very sick. I have a cold. Usually I can deal but this time my head hurts, the room is spinning rather nicely (thank goodness for those typing classes so I don't have to look at the keyboard), I haven't slept, and my neck is sore. My throat is too but the muscles in my neck are killing me. ACK! Hold on a sec stumbles to medicine cabinet and grabs Tylenol okay now I have to wait half-an-hour for that to kick in. But ok…on with the fic.

Oh wait, I have a question. What kind of person flames someone's story AND insults the writer and readers? I mean, I don't flame people. This one witch called me a crack-addict and told me to get a life, excuse me but if you have to be rude to someone else that means you don't have a life. So here are my sentiments: uck. You. Btch. And don't EVER insult my readers again. Or I will be forced to hunt you down. (of course she left it anonymous) but I have my ways. (excuse my French. Don't mean to offend anyone…well none of my readers)

Oh and:

My legs hurt bc I sit cross legged on my chair in front of the comp. After 6 hours of that they start to hurt a bit.

And thank you to all who reviewed!! I got some really nice reviews so thanks so much! cough netacough (I don't have favorite reviewers but I can't reply to neta (anonymous). I love you all so much!!)

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And Miranda? If you see this be warned- You have to pick up the 13 vol. from the library! That's the only one I don't own! So grab that and I'll be back Wednesday!

Alright, on with the fic!

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15 minutes twice a day. That was the schedule they put Sakura on. The visits were short and at first Sasuke tired easily, but soon his strength started to return. He was able to smirk and grip Sakura's hand. The machines started to disappear and finally he was down to one IV (he couldn't eat much without throwing up. Not with his stomach lining as fragile as it was) and a few monitoring machines. He had had to have a kidney transplant and they had to pump his stomach, hence the weakness in his body and voice. His wrists were wrapped up and healed now- though he was under observation and he wasn't allowed any sharp instruments. He was seeing the hospital's shrink-not that he enjoyed it at all- and slowly he was getting back to his old self. (Yeah! He lives!)

It was early one Saturday morning during one of Sakura's visits that he gave Sakura's hair a tug and looked at her with clouded onyx eyes. "Sasuke-kun? What is it? Are you in pain?"

"No. But…you haven't asked me yet. You want to know don't you? Why I did it?"

"Ah…yes, but…are you strong enough? I can wait Sasuke."

"No. You…need to know."

"A-alright."

Sasuke put his head back on his pillows and looked at her. He spoke slowly, stringing his words together with spaces in between. It was hard for him to confess, she could see that. But she could also see how much he wanted to tell her the truth. "I…I didn't try to kill myself. I never meant to. I just wanted this mark to stop hurting…but I took too much. Maybe I was beyond caring. Maybe I knew what would happen…but didn't care. I'm…sorry for that. I was just being selfish. Stupidly selfish. I didn't care about what happened after a certain point. I was angry. At myself. At Orochimaru. At this mark. At everything really. I'm so…pathetic. I wasn't even strong enough to think of you. There was only pain. And then…when I realized my weakness…realized that I didn't really deserve you…I hit the fan. If I had been in a better state I probably would've launched into fits of anger. But I was so angry…and I was…hurt…and…sad." These words were hardest for him. Admitting his true feeling wasn't something he did everyday, and not something he did easily, gripping his sheets and refusing to look at her. Refusing even to open his eyes. But he went on, not allowing Sakura to speak. This scene was made for one voice alone-his. "And in the end…I just wanted to stop. If living would make me feel like that…I wanted to stop living." Sasuke slipped into silence, signaling that he was done. There was no sound for a few moments except for the beeping of the machines attached to Uchiha Sasuke. Finally Sakura spoke.

"It's…alright. You don't have…to be strong all the time. I'm happy. I'm happy that I can be with you Sasuke. I love you." with that Sakura threw herself into Sasuke's chest. He absolutely refused to wear the hospital gown ("Uchiha's do not wear dresses") and so the frustrated nurses said "Fine. If you don't want to wear what everyone else does then you can walk around naked for all I care!!" (half the nurse interns fainted at this point) The nurse had expected Sasuke to give in but she hadn't counted on the only Uchiha's stubbornness. He said fine and stripped to his black boxers and that way he had stayed the entire time he was in the hospital (though he now slept with a sharpened toothbrush under his bed since the night he woke up to interns drooling over his sleeping form) (A/N ahahahahahaha!! Sasuke: glarehave you ever been stalked? It's creepy. SDJ: ahahahah- hack, cough, choke ok no insane laughter until I'm better). So now Sasuke's chest was bare and Sakura's face was buried in the flawless flesh and he laid one hand on her head. His fingers slipped threw her soft pink hair and he watched her with tender eyes. I'm so sorry, Sakura. He thought as he pulled her face back from his chest and looked at her. "Sakura…we need to talk."

"About what?" (A/N Don't pretend to be so innocent. It's painful to watch.)

"Sakura…I think we should take a break."

"W-what?"

"A break…from each other. Just for a while. Just until I'm stronger. Not just here," he tapped the machine next to him with a knuckle. "but here too." he tapped the side of his head "And here." he touched his left shoulder.

Sakura was just opening her mouth to speak when the door opened and a nurse appeared. "Haruno-san? Your time's up ma'am. We have to check Uchiha-san's vital signs." Sakura nodded dumbly and stood quickly, turning her back on Sasuke to hide her tears. She hurried out of the room and the door closed behind her. She turned and ran out of the hall of the CCU. She kept running until she reached the streets of Konoha. From there she ran home.

Sakura burst into her house and ran towards the stairs. Her mother called her name and her father ran up the stairs after her. She ran towards her bedroom and reached for her doorknob, but her father caught her wrist before she reached it. "Sakura?! What happened, what's wrong?" Sakura brought one hand up and hid her face in it. She sniffed, "Daddy. You won't have to worry about me seeing Sasuke again. Because…because… He left me!!!" Sakura turned and ran into her father's arms. She sobbed into her palms and Taji turned his head to look at his wife who had come up the stairs. She shook her head and he turned back to look at his daughter. This really was turning into a mess.

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Sakura's eyes opened slowly and stared into the lightness of her room. She closed her eyes again, ready to surrender to sleep once more. She wasn't ready to face the world after what happened with Sasuke. That was why when she heard the soft knock on her door she curled up under the blankets and tried to ignore it. But soon the soft knocking withdrew and furious pounding replaced it. "Billboard brow! Let us in!" Sakura's friend Ino's voice came from the other side of the door. Sakura told her, weakly, to go away. Her friend's reply was "Hey! Let me in or I'm breaking the door down!!" Sakura groaned and reached for the scroll she had placed against the wall. Removing her Chakra from it she pulled it away and threw it across the room. The door opened when it was gone.

Yamanaka Ino and Hyuuga Hinata entered the room. As usual Ino was yelling her head off from being left outside and Hinata was quiet. Ino stared down at her friend and Hinata came close. "Sakura-chan? Are you alright? You haven't moved from this bed for 2 days." Hinata frowned down at her friend, gently pushing her hair out of her face. Sakura simply shrugged. Hinata was worried, this was obvious. She gently pulled up the girls blankets and slipped into the bed next to her. (They're not lesbians not that there's anything wrong with that, some of my bf's are gay my friend laid in my bed before until I woke up bc she's impatient) Ino sat down on the edge of the bed. "Sakura he's not worth this. You haven't eaten. You haven't got up from this bed. You haven't moved. This isn't healthy. You have to do something, Sakura. This isn't healthy and you know it."

"What else am I supposed to do?" Sakura whispered quietly. She felt Hinata touch her cheek and she buried her face in her shoulder, sobbing. "What can I do? He doesn't want me anymore-he doesn't even love me! I don't know what to do anymore! I just don't know! I'm alone-I'm all alone! I wanted so much to be with him-and I had him! He was so close! But then-! But then-! I lost him. Without him- without him- I don't make sense! Without obsessing over him or being with him I don't make sense!! I need him-but he doesn't need me! Do you know how that feels!! To be alone and useless!!" Sakura's arms were around Hinata and were gripping her shoulders as she sobbed wretchedly into her. Hinata held onto her tightly. "You're right. Being alone is scary. It's a scary way to live." Hinata whispered. How many nights had she cried herself to sleep, feeling so helpless and useless, so alone because she couldn't do anything right? It was scary being alone. But she didn't fell like that anymore. She had Naruto. Every time she started feeling like that he would appear, carefree and grinning. He made her make sense. What would she do if she didn't have him? It scared her to think about it and she buried her face into Sakura's pink hair.

"But…you're not alone…are you? You have us. We love you. And Sasuke didn't say that stuff just to hurt you did he? He's not that kind of person. He said until he was stronger right?"

"Ino-chan. She's asleep."

"I know."

"? So why did you say that?"

"Because it's time we paid Sasuke-kun a visit." Ino said, standing. Hinata nodded and slowly detached herself from her friend. She made sure Sakura was covered up, drew her shades, and her and Ino disappeared from the room.

-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 At the hospital

96. There were exactly 96 panels on the ceiling of Sasuke's hospital room.

67. That's how many times his heart beat per minute. (according to the machine next to him)

15. The times (in one day) he had told that ditzy intern that he hated hospital food.

3 days. It had been three days since he saw Sakura.

289. The times he had wondered if he had made the right decision.

289. The times he had had to resist reaching for the sharpened toothbrush under his bed, just to make the (emotional) pain stop.

1,569. The number of times he had told the empty air around him that he missed her.

Now Sasuke put his head back and put one hand under his leg to resist the urge to scratch at the scars on his wrist. It would make them bleed. It would make them hurt. It would make him forget.

That's why he pulled his hand from beneath his leg and was undoing the bandages when a soft knock hit his door. He hid the arm quickly and called for them to come in. He was surprised to see Hyuuga Hinata walk into his room, closely followed by Yamanaka Ino. He rose an eyebrow at them. "Hello Uchiha-san." Hinata said respectfully.

"Sasuke-kun." Ino grunted moodily. She plopped down at the bottom of his bed and Hinata walked over to a vase next to his bed, placing some flowers in it. She gently started to arrange them in that soft way she had. Sasuke leaned back into his pillows and turned his head to look out the window. "So? What do you two want? Surely you didn't come here just to say hi."

The two women remained silent for a moment. Hinata leaned into the flowers to smell them and spoke, "Sasuke-san? Aren't you going to eat your food?" Sasuke pushed away the tray. "No. Why? Does that look appetizing to you?"

"No. But I'm not in the hospital. You need food to heal quickly."

"What do you want?" he replied, already getting annoyed.

"Was it true? What you said to Sakura, did you mean it? You don't want to be with her?"

"…that's none of your business."

"How isn't it! Sakura's our friend!! And you hurt her so much-how can you believe that this isn't our business." Ino yelled, smacking her palms against Sasuke's bed. He didn't react. She silenced with a look from Hinata and angrily shut her trap. Hinata looked at Sasuke. "Answer me."

"Why should I?"

"Because if you don't we'll just have to assume that you mean what you said. And that means we would have to accept that you don't love her anymore and tell her that. And that would just crush her. We don't want to do that Sasuke. So we have to make sure for ourselves."

"Is that what she told you? That I said I didn't love her?"

"She didn't tell us anything. We found out from someone else."

"…Good. Because I didn't say anything like that. I told her we should take a break. Not that anything had changed. Nothing has. I still feel the same way about her."

"Then why, Sasuke? Why did you leave her?"

"I didn't leave her." He said. The two girls could tell that he was angry at the terminology. "I…still love her. But I can't be with her. Not like this. Look at me. Sitting in a hospital bed, full of wires." he gave a despondent laugh. "Look at me. I'm pathetic, aren't I? I'm sickening aren't I? I can't even control my own body. I can't even control me!" He placed his face in one hand. "I can't…I won't let her see me like this. If she gets too close. If she sees everything…if I lose her…what will I do then? What could I do without her? What do I have but her? If I hurt her people would say such cruel things it'd make you sick. So…I'm sorry but I can't be with her right now. I don't want her to love me…if it's going to hurt her." Sasuke shook his head which was still in his hand. He felt Hinata sit down next to him and touch his bare shoulder. "But not being with you…is killing her. She can't do anything without you. Without you she gets depressed and lonely. Is that what you want? Is that what you intended to do when you told her you wanted to 'take a break'?"

"…" there was a pause and Sasuke closed his eyes, his other hand fisting his blankets. "No…I…don't want that. How could I want that?"

"Your relationship is still young." Finally Ino spoke from her spot on the edge of the bed. "There's still a lot that you don't know about each other. But that's ok. Because as long as you're together you can learn about one another. I'm sure you both have different qualities but that didn't stop you from falling in love did it? So if you try hard and stay together then you can learn to draw power from each other's qualities-the good and the bad. If you really love one another then you can learn to make anything work. I mean look at us. Hinata and Naruto are polar opposites."

Sasuke chuckled, "That's true." Hinata blushed.

"And me and Shikamaru don't exactly fit. But that doesn't stop us. Sakura loves you more than anything. Isn't it time you told her the same?" There was a long pause as Sasuke pulled his face from his hand.

"…yeah. Yeah. I miss her…so much. It's hard to be without her. I don't want to be without her. I…love her. 'I can't even control myself. What if I end up hurting her?' I was only thinking those things. But I didn't realize how much it would hurt to be apart. I thought it would be easier if we were apart. But it's not. No, if anything it's much harder now that we're apart. I want to be with her. I want to be with her so much. Sakura…my precious cherry blossom…I don't want to hurt you anymore. I want to be strong for you. But I can't be without you near me. I need you. I just want to be with you."

"It's alright." Every head in the room snapped to the doorway to see Sakura standing there. She had a short light pink skirt with red cherry blossoms stitched on the bottom on and a light pink Chinese-style shirt with the same cherry blossom's stitched to one shoulder. Her arms hung at her sides and her face already had tears coming down it. She took another step into the room and Hinata stood away from Sasuke. " You don't have to be strong without me. I told you didn't I? You can't let me down if I hold you up. Your strength doesn't matter to me. I…just wanted to be with you. I love you Sasuke. I love you more than anything!" Sakura ran to the boy who quickly sat up and opened his arms to pull her close. They clung to each other for a while and Hinata and Ino sat up and walked out of the room. They wanted to give the two some time alone and they also had a sudden need to go see their own boyfriends.

Sasuke buried his face in the young woman's shoulder. 'Why would someone like you stay near me…and cry for me? I don't deserve something like that. You ended up near me by mistake. This time will be different. This time I want to care for you. I don't want us to be apart. How could I ask for that? I…was so stupid. I never thought I'd be forgiven. I always assumed that no one would ever understand me. I never thought I'd hear those words.'

You don't have to be strong without me.

You see? Just like that you do what no one else in my life could.

You promise to stay with me.

You except me just as I am.

You love me just as I am.

You don't want to change me or make me into something I'm not.

You would rather me be happy than make everyone else happy.

I love you. I love you so much. So please…even if it's a lie…say it. Tell me you love me. Just one more time. Because that'll give me the strength…to change.

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Ok that was long. But I like the last part of this chap. It's cute. And if you're wondering why Hinata was doing most of the talking it's bc Ino would probably leap across the bed and kill Sasuke if she had to put up with him (most people would). Well I'ma go eat. Cya! Oh and please review!! Much love 3. Ja ne.