Chapter 12 - Substitute

Sakura spat onto the sand, her gloved hands bracing against her knees, chest heaving as she fought to regain her breathe. She tasted the sharpness of iron in her throat as she darted a glance up, sweat sliding along her temples from her hairline. She found her target right where she's left him, leaping back and forth among the sea cliffs above her, struggling to find a stable perch among the rubble she'd just created with her fists. She would have been smug at the disarray, were it not for the charred flesh of her right arm that she'd paid in price.

She shoved the pain away as the prickle of foreign chakra at her flank made her spin, only to identify it as Hinata flash-stepping to her side from the battle down the beach. The kunoichi's silvery eyes blinked from her teammate's injury to the red-cloaked enemy above, and she raised her palms defensively.

"Heal yourself, Sakura-chan," the Hyuuga murmured as she slid in front of the pinkette. "I'll hold him off." Sakura nodded stiffly, her good hand glowing green as she pressed it to the wound. She hissed at pain that landed through to her spine at the contact, but forced herself to watch as the ripple of black and exposed flesh threaded itself together one cell at a time, until it had turned to a soft, knitted pink before her eyes.

"Why isn't he attacking?" asked Hinata once her teammate had finished, her voice tilting on anxious. Sakura met her gaze, watching the cloaked man still among the rocks.

"I managed to land a hit earlier," muttered Sakura, cracking her knuckles. "He dodged the brunt of my chakra, but I broke his ribs before he was able to get my arm."

The cloaked man suddenly launched from the cliffs into the air toward them, not giving them a second longer to strategize, moving Hinata to fling a flurry of kunai at his approaching figure . At her side, Sakura's fingers raced through a series of symbols as her body suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. The man's eyes widened as Hinata, leaped into the air to meet him, unconcerned at the disappearance of her teammate.

In an explosion of smoke, Sakura reappeared in place of a kunai that had missed at the man's flank, her fist charged as she swung it at his cheek. His own kunai whipped up just in time to parry, but he was unable to block Hinata's onslaught as her fists collided with his abdomen in a series of perfectly-placed palmed jabs.

Instead of meeting her with a face of fear, however, the man's expression melted into smugness as his body disappeared in another cloud, replacing in midair with the rutted bark of a stump that fell uselessly to the sand below. The kunoichis sprung easily to the ground, moving to defend back-to-back, eyes whirling as they sought their enemy once more.

"We were close," Hinata breathed.

"Maybe," replied Sakura after a beat as she spotted their enemy up the beach, joined now by a second figure. "I think they're toying with us."

The second figure wore a mask that covered the bottom half of his face from view, his glittering gold eyes the only discernible feature among his dark clothing. Although his body was turned toward his ally, his eyes never left the kunoichi, his glance angular and narrowed with a twisted malice. The two shinobi appeared to be talking, although their words were lost across the distance. The roar of battle down the beach had only loudened as a gale whipped across the sand, the sky beginning to darken overhead.

"Why choose now to appear?" wondered Sakura aloud, dropping into a crouch as she raised her fists defensively. "We would never have known his identity. He could have escaped. Or waited for a better opportunity to jump in."

As if in answer, a tower of water exploded out at sea. Although too far out for the Konoha teammates to determine its cause, the answer became clear as a violet vortex shot into the air in pursuit of a fiery blur of orange movement. The two chakras collided in the air, then shot back down to the surface and out of sight. The sound of an explosion followed shortly after, followed by a rush of wind that tore at the kunoichi's clothes.

"It must have something to do with them," Hinata whispered. Without a word, the two kunoichi charged forward, their fists bared. The men split off, the golden-eyed man spinning to the side to take on Hinata, the red-caped shinobi's face glowing as he shot off two bolts of red lightning at Sakura.

Before Hinata could reach her target, the golden eyed man's hands whipped through a series of signs and slammed into the sand. Without warning, the ground leapt up into life, rolling and tossing as if it were the ocean incarnate. Hinata launched backward, watching as the sand settled into humanoid figures, armed and ready with hardened sand weapons like soldiers.

The sand warriors charged at the Hyuuga, and she whirled and spun to attack and block their onslaught. When one fell from her blows, another would spring up in its place. Wind whipped sand into her eyes, but she continued to spin and move through them, always watchful of the golden-eyed shinobi watching from a safe distance. Her movements became furious as she fought for each painstaking step toward him.

Sakura, meanwhile, was locked in a taijutsu battle with the red-caped man. He was blindingly fast, darting back and then forward, in and out of her powerful attacks. She threw a punch at his cheek and he dodged left, so she dipped and dropped her hand to the ground as she threw a kick toward his exposed ribs. He flipped back, then rushed forward, forcing her to roll to the side and spring to her feet, rushing back as she blocked a series of his punches with chakra-infused forearms, sweating beading down her brow as she spun and launched her own offensive strike.

A yelp sprung to Sakura's ears after she nearly landed a blow on her attacker, and she shot a glance to the side to find Hinata surrounded and by sand soldiers down the beach. She sprinted toward her teammate, ignoring the shinobi who followed hotly on her heels, then flung her chakra-infused fist into the earth at the edge of the fray.

Hinata sprang from the earth just in time as the sand around her erupted in a great froth of sand and boulders. The dark-haired kunoichi landed easily at Sakura's side and dropped into a seamless crouch as the rosette's grip closed around her ankles. The air hissed with chakra as Sakura channeled all the chakra she could manage into her arms, wrenching Hinata's weight out from under her, whipping her body around in a circle and hurling it like a missile toward the golden-eyed man. He staggered back in surprise, Hinata's fists already flying toward his face, as her weight collided into his, slamming him into the ground. She rolled to the side as he heaved himself to his feet, blocking a series of palmed jabs from her as he moved back and away from her in defense.

Satisfied that her teammate had regained control of her duel, Sakura turned toward the red-cloaked man. Her heart skipped as she found him hurtling toward the waves and away from her in a dead sprint. Her emerald eyes stuttered from his retreating form—and the flashes of chakra out at sea that he aimed toward—to Hinata in worry.

As if in answer, the Hyuuga's pale eyes flickered back to meet hers. "Go!" Sakura saw her lips move.

Without question, the pinkette tore toward the waves and after the red-cloaked man's back. She saw another dance of purple and orange alight amongst the darkening clouds and felt concern bubbling in the pit of her belly. While the Kyuubi's chakra had tripled in size, Susanoo's remained small, its edges flickering dangerously.

She swallowed, her gaze tightening. Sasuke's chakra reserves had been sparse to begin with, and she wondered suddenly if she would make it in time.

Sasuke spun his foot back to avoid a blow to his abdomen, then launched up and twisted his body through the air, whipping his kusanagi with crackling speed toward Naruto's shoulder. The blonde slid into the water below his feet just in time, leaving Sasuke to leap backward in anticipation. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as his eyes darted across the water's surface for the next hit.

He swore under his breath, pushing exhaustion aside as violet chakra roared to life in front of him, just as the fiery, spectral hand of the Kyuubi shot out from the waves toward him. The giant fingers closed around his Susanoo, squeezing until Sasuke's chest heaved with effort, then picked him up and tossed him across the water. The violet shield flickered and died out as the Uchiha's body skidded across the water hundreds of yards away, coming to rest with blood pooling from his mouth.

Naruto shot out from beneath the waves, landing easily on his feet within range. He smirked as Sasuke picked himself up into a crouch. The Uchiha smeared the blood from his chin on the back of his hand and spit the remnants to the side, the tomoes of his crimson eye spinning dangerously.

The shell of his blonde friend cocked his head, aquamarine eyes narrowing into slits. He shouldered his way out of his orange jacket and tossed it to the side, the fabric soaking through stitch by stich, sinking slowly into the rolling tide. He cracked his back smugly, stretching his arms from side to side.

"You're never going to win if you aren't willing to kill me," drawled the enemy in Naruto's voice. He placed his hand on his hips as the bright yellow chakra of the Kyuubi began to fade from his fingertips, withdrawing until his skin returned to normal.

In a flash, the orange jacket appeared where Sasuke had once been, the thin blade of Sasuke's kusanagi slicing through Naruto's flesh, stopping where it protruded through Naruto's chest. Not through the heart, but through an artery large enough to seriously wound him. Blood seeped through his white undershirt, dripping down his front and back, with Sasuke standing just a breath behind him.

Naruto's head twisted slowly back. He smirked. "Just missed," he sneered in a whisper.

Sasuke sensed movement behind him and tried to wrench the blade from Naruto's back in order to defend himself. The blade wouldn't budge, and Sasuke swore as he dropped it entirely and spun to face another attacker. His eyes widened.

The red cloaked man, hand screeching with lightning, was rushing at him, a breath away. The attack was moving too swiftly and too closely to be avoided, screaming right at his chest with deadly intensity. Sasuke couldn't dodge, couldn't defend. Time slowed as he stood there, the breath hissing from his lungs. The attack rushed to hit him square through the chest. He was aware distantly of Naruto's body collapsing behind him, and of the flicker of movements in front of him.

Heat splattered across his face, his vision blurring with crimson as he staggered and fell back to the water's surface. He choked in a breath as his hand flew to his chest, feeling flesh and fabric intact beneath his touch. His eyes shot up, suddenly unable to breathe. His skin went cold.

Sakura stood over him, blocking the attacker from view.

She stood with her back to him, facing the red-cloaked shinobi with her arms crossed in front of her, rosette locks coiling past her shoulders, wild with wind and salt. The lavender crisscrosses of her Yin seal slowly receded from where they had risen to her skin in combat, fading until the paleness of her skin seemed to glow. Sasuke thought he heard her voice, but the words were lost in the ringing in his ears.

Sasuke lurched to his feet—to intervene, to protect—but froze with his hand outstretched. Something was wrong. The kunoichi had stood too still for too long, the attacker equally so. A tiny droplet plummeted from the hem of Sakura's shirt to the water below her. Sasuke's eyes tightened as he tracked the crimson bead mingling with deep blue. Another drip rippled to join it, then another. The pulse picked up in a rhythm until blood was streaming from her clothes to the ocean in sickening waves.

The wound—Sasuke could see it now. He felt a wave of nausea grip his stomach. The damage went right through her abdomen, and as he stumbled forward to hold her steady, he couldn't tell crimson flesh from crimson fabric. A horrible sucking noise ripped his attention past her as the attacker yanked his hand from her stomach, his cloak swirling around his boots.

Sakura wavered for a moment, then crumpled forward. The red-cloaked man stumbled back as he watched, his arm dripping with her blood, his mouth hanging open as he stared from his fingertips to the kunoichi, then finally to his unmarred target behind her.

A guttural noise ripped through the air as Sasuke ripped his blade from Naruto's collapsed form and sliced it through the air with a blinding rage. His enemy's eyes widened as he leaped back, but not quickly enough. The man blocked one swing from the Uchiha prodigy with a flimsy kunai, but was no match for the ensuing slaughter of blows. The red-cloaked man fell easily into the waves only a moment later, his jugular emptying into the tide as he sank.

Sasuke dropped to Sakura's side and towed her limp body from the water before she could sink, pressing his palm to the wound at her stomach. Blood poured from her in violent bursts, and he was covered in it before he knew what to do. Her eyes were open, glazed, staring without sight toward the sky above him. Her skin so pale it was almost translucent. Her lips twitched as if to speak, but no sound emitted. He pressed harder into the wound.

"Sakura!" he shouted her name into her face, as if it were all a dream they would soon wake up from, if only he were loud enough. His heart beat hammered in his ears until it was all he could hear. He didn't know anything about medical ninjutsu—he possessed only the power to kill, to destroy. He didn't know how to stop the death that was pulsing past his fingers.

His sharingan swirled as he drew from the memory of her healing him from only a few days prior. He drank in the memory of how different the chakra signature had felt, how unlike his own. He concentrated on that difference, willing what little energy he still possessed into his hand, until his hand flickered weakly with green. Sweat dripped down his face. He could feel her pulse weakening with each beat until it was a whisper he could just barely sense.

"Sakura!" he screamed again, the green from his hands intensifying, still not strong enough to mend the hole that she had been so willing to take in his place.

Sasuke felt her heart stop. Felt it in the last, flickering pulse of blood from her wound. He was screaming with effort, eyes squeezing shut. He needed a hospital, he needed medics, he needed to get her real help. She was dying. She was dying in his hands.

He was shaking violently, vision blurring with exhaustion. He didn't have enough chakra, or enough control, to maintain the healing that wasn't even working.He screamed for help across the water, the sound of his voice going unheard across the space. Naruto's body just behind him, drifting among the waves.

"You—can't—die!" he bellowed, wrapping his arm around her and holding her limp body against his. He pressed his face into her neck, aware of the warmth fading fast, her scent tainted with metallic as his hand continued to pulse with his feeble healing chakra.

Take us home, take us home, take us home. His eyes screwed shut as he focused all of his energy on that one thought. Chakra pulsed suddenly from his rinnegan, and a blinding white light engulfed them. He squeezed her against his chest.

When he opened his eyes, fluorescent lights met his stare. Everything was spinning, his mind flickered in and out of consciousness. Her body was still against his chest, but he was lying flat on his back on a cold floor. He was aware of voices yelling around him, frantic movement that he wasn't able to track as his eyes rolled back into his skull.

He forced them open to see people in scrubs and masks crowding around them. The weight of Sakura was lifted from his chest, and he opened his mouth to protest but succeeded only in a hoarse groan.

By some strange burst of energy, he staggered to his feet. He was aware distantly of hands reaching out to help him, of voices shouting in his ear to sit down, of blood seeping from his clothes. Was it his? He couldn't be sure. He saw a flash of pink in the darkness, being wheeled down the hallway, surrounded by medics, crimson against crisp white sheets. He took a step forward, the whole world lurching suddenly, and slammed his shoulder into the nearest wall. He passed out before he hit the ground, her name on his lips.

Sakura.

A/N

I'm the worst... So sorry for the long wait. I'm terrible and really don't have a reasonable excuse for the delay other than that life seriously got in the way. Eek! Thank you for your patience. :3

I have a lot of time off coming up soon (FINALLY) so I'm hoping to have a lot more time to write and update regularly. I can't wait! Thank you thank you for your love and all of the thoughtful reviews you've left me, and I can't wait to hear what you think!

xx

Indigo