Chapter 12
"Sasori, let me help him," Sakura begged him, but he stayed emotionless in the struggle.
"I can't do that, Sakura-chan," he replied, which caused tears to roll down her face. She could hear Naruto call out in pain, calling her name still, even through his own battle. "Besides," Sasori interrupted her thoughts. "This is your poison, you made it incurable." Sakura saw behind her that Deidara had landed, obviously waiting to carry the Akatsuki members away from this unnecessary battle. With a loud gulp, Sakura drew her hand into her pocket,
"Not exactly." She tried to smirk coyly as she drew a vile of purple liquid out from her clothes. At first, Sasori was angry. He had been lied to, but for some reason, he couldn't stay angry at her. He knew why she did it and a twinge of guilt hit him.
"I-I was scared," she admitted. "I-I thoug-ght you'd k-kill me with th-that poison… So I made an antidote," Sakura stuttered a lot. Kisame chortled in the background as he listened to the sob story. He was always heartless and this was no exception for him. Sasori just looked down to her and didn't say a word. He just stared at the vile that she held. Something in front of Sasori caught his attention and he looked straight over Sakura, who slowly turned around, not wanting to look at Naruto struggling for his life.
"Sakura," Kakashi said as he slowly approached the couple. Kisame took a step forward, but Sasori held his hand out to him, letting him know that he didn't need any help. He walked straight up to Sakura and Sasori, but she stayed by his side, shocking her former sensei.
"Please, Kakashi," Sakura stuttered. She looked back up to Sasori, and even though he didn't look back at her, but kept his eyes on Kakashi, she knew he trusted her. She slowly reached her hand out to Kakashi, who took her gently and brought her over to the ill-stricken Naruto, along with her other friends.
"Sasori, aren't you-" Kisame began, but his voice trailed off from Sasori's ears as he climbed onto Deidara's clay bird, preparing to leave.
"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura whispered on their walk back to Naruto. "This is all my fault." Kakashi didn't look down to her. He just stared forward, but he could tell she was worried and nervous.
"Naruto hasn't stopped thinking about you," the copy nin admitted. "Even Tsunade-sama wanted to stop the search, but he insisted." Shock set in for Sakura. She was literally forgotten, a lost hope, but Naruto still cared. She felt herself welling up with guilt and sadness.
"This wasn't the way it was meant to be," the kunoichi told Kakashi and he seemed to understand. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Kakashi paused in his steps, causing Sakura to also stop and as Sasori watched in the distance, he tried desperately to see what they were talking about, but it was useless with Kakashi's mask. Deidara called him over and he slowly walked backwards, not taking his eyes off Sakura.
"What happened, Sakura?" the grey haired shinobi asked, but all she could do was blush and cry at the same time.
"I didn't mean it, it just happened. I-" she stopped, unsure on how to word it. But before she could even begin to explain, Kakashi understood her totally. He placed his hand on her petite shoulder and smiled through his mask, although as sad as a smile could be.
As she approached her friends, Ino looked at her with angry eyes, but she soon cried into her old friend. "I thought you were dead," she told her, but Sakura tried to stay as stoic as possible. She knew it was too good to be true.
Naruto was unconscious and barely breathing.
'To think I did this to him.' Sakura tried, her tears falling onto her dying friend. She opened the lid on the vile, exposing the needle at the end, and jabbed it firmly into Naruto's chest, as close to the heart as she could get it. Straight away Naruto coughed and spluttered dark blood from his mouth, so she placed his head to the side.
"Naruto," she whispered to him, stroking his brow, wiping it gently. "Only you would do this for me, you fool." She laughed through her tears. She gathered her chakra in her hand. As it glowed green, she moved her hand to his abdomen to heal the wound where the poison had entered him to begin with.
"Thanks, Sakura," Ino sighed in relief. She knew Sakura was far better than her at medical ninjutsu, especially under pressure.
From behind, Sakura could hear Deidara arguing, most probably with Sasori over their art and she knew it was time for her to leave soon. She took her time healing Naruto, loving every last second she could spend in his company, no matter how fleeting the moment would turn out to be. When her chakra disappeared from her hand, she lay it on her lap and took a deep breath inwardly.
"What now, Sakura?" Kiba asked her, but all she did was look up to her old sensei Kakashi. As she stood up, she smiled up to him.
"Thank you, Kakashi." The others just stared. They couldn't believe what they were witnessing.
"What should we tell him?" Kakashi asked her, referring for when Naruto regained consciousness. For a moment, Sakura shrugged and sighed loudly to him, unsure of what to say, but as she looked back over to Sasori and the others, she couldn't help but feel content with her choice.
"Tell him..." Sakura began, bringing her attention back to the group. "I fell in love." Ino's mouth dropped, as did Kiba's and Shikamaru's. The trio stared in disbelief as Kakashi allowed her to leave with the Akatsuki.
Sakura walked quickly to the large bird, edged on by Deidara and Kisame, who made fun of her for the dramatic scene she just caused by leaving.
"Sasori," she cried happily, delving into his arms as she sat down next to him. The puppeteer played with her new Akatsuki cloak as the bird took off and Kisame and Deidara left the couple alone to finally be together.
"Sakura?" Sasori mused, as they stared out onto the sun which was setting in the sky, leaving a misty red and orange shade in the trees.
"Hm?" Sakura sounded from her throat.
"I love you too."
It wasn't until they got back to Konoha and placed him in the hospital that Naruto woke up and fully recovered from the poison which almost took his life on that fateful day.
"Sakura? Where is Sakura?" Naruto asked in a dizzy haze. "Where am I? Why am I here? Where's Sakura?" He bombarded Kakashi and Ino with so many questions within the first twenty seconds of waking up.
"Naruto, Naruto," Ino shook him, to try to calm him down. "She-uh-," Ino began, but she just couldn't handle it and the blonde girl began to cry just thinking about her friend.
"Kakashi?" Naruto asked, his voice breaking, for he feared that he knew what was coming.
"She's uh-," Kakashi also stuttered, rubbing his face "She's dead, Naruto," he lied. Naruto tilted his head back, holding back the tears which quickly filled his eyes.
"Sasori. The poison," Kakashi broke. "She had one vile of antidote. And she gave it to you. She saved you." Ino smiled to herself, pretending to go along with the lie that Kakashi had just made up on the spot.
"S-Sakura-chan," Naruto cried heavily, his chest feeling locked up and his head so dizzy from what he heard.
"Naruto, you should rest," Ino instructed him, and as the pair left Naruto in the room, all they could hear were his sobs and broken voice calling out for his pink-haired friend.
"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" Ino cried, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Naruto would never forgive her," Kakashi admitted. "And neither of them would want that."
"So why death, Kakashi?"
"So she could be remembered as the remarkable medic nin, the kunoichi, the student...the friend. Not the traitor."
As Ino nodded, she felt relief and closure. It was better for Konoha to think of Sakura as dead. It preserved who she was whilst she was here. And Naruto would forever remember her as the friend, not the traitor.
And Sakura could live happily with the man she found love with, in the most inconvenient of times, Sasori.
THE END
A/N: I don't own anything
