CHAPTER TWELEVE: COME AND HEAL ME!

Someone was rubbing Sakura's hand and she could feel it. The soft palm under hers. The tingly sensation that ran all the way up her arm to her neck when the person rubbed their fingers over her hand lightly. She could feel that all. The only problem was that, she couldn't feel her free hand, the left one.

She tried to open her eyes but the eyelids seemed too heavy. She couldn't even move her body muscles. Something was wrong, why was she lying here when she had a mission to complete?

The mission, her mind shouted. They only had three days and at this tempo they will never reach the sand village. They had to deliver the letter to Gara.

The person who was rubbing her hand seemed to sense her tension because he sighed and started rubbing with a little more force as if calming her, telling that there was nothing to fear. It was like the person was trying to absorb her tension.

The panic inside of her was rising. She wanted to open her eyes, wanted to see what was happening. She wanted to feel her left arm.

There was sound of door opening. Where was she? Were they already in the sand village? Was she resting in Sand village? Was the person Lee?

"How much time?" She heard the voice of a boy from beside her and forgot everything else. Forgot to open her eyes, to move herself. It was Naruto's voice and it was so close to her. She could almost feel his body heat radiating from his hand that was still rubbing Sakura's.

"She should be coming around in ten minutes approximately." The woman's voice she had been so accustomed to for the past three years said. It was Tsunade's voice.

What were Naruto and ma`am Tsunade were doing here? What were they talking about?

The warmth on her hand left her just as Naruto said, "I should get going then."

Sakura tried to grab the leaving fingers; she didn't want him to leave her. She wanted him by her side, close by.

She wanted to open her eyes, to see his face. She wanted to call his name, to tell him to stay but she couldn't. Again panic struck her, she was going to lose Naruto once again after he had come so close and she couldn't do anything about that. She couldn't move.

She heard the footsteps leaving as the door opened once again and closed lightly. Just as the person exited the room, the warmth was gone him leaving her cold.

With as much force as she could muster, she opened her eyes. The light was blinding and a moan escaped from her lips. Maybe it was due to the light or maybe due to the sudden pain in the left side of her abdomen, or maybe a little above it. She didn't know.

"Can you hear me Sakura?" She heard Tsunade's voice but she didn't care about her. She needed Naruto. It was like he was her medicine. The pain was becoming unbearable.

She blinked her eyes a several times to adjust them to the blinding light. She looked around. The room was similar to Naruto's in the hospital. So that meant that she was in the hospital, back in the village but she didn't remember completing the mission. What had happened? What was she doing here? Why was there so much pain in her body?

She tried to sit up but another bolt of pain made another moan escape her lips.

There is no need to be weak, you're strong. She scolded herself.

She focused her eyes on Tsunade's face. She was leaned over her, observing her.

"Are you okay?" Tsunade asked concerned.

Sakura was too afraid to open her mouth because she was sure that another painful groan will escape if she did, so she settled for nodding.

"Tell me where you feel pain."

Sakura pointed on the left side and saw that her left arm was wrapped up in bandage. Maybe they had figured out that there was pain in her arm too.

Tsunade examined her and shook her head lightly, "A broken rib, I always thought that side of yours was a little swollen."

Sakura closed her eyes again as Tsunade's palms started to glow green. She brought her hands near Sakura's broken rib and touched it lightly. It felt good and warm.

"You'll be free to go in a day." Tsunade commented. "Nothing serious to worry about."

Sakura opened her eyes after a minute or two when the pain got a little better. She looked at Tsunade, observing her expressions.

"W-why can't you heal Naruto just as fast?" Sakura asked. Her voice sounded a little different. It was weak.

Tsunade looked into her green eyes for a brief second before adjusting her gaze at her hands. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. "Naruto's body contains nine tail's chakra. I can't transfer mine or anybody else's into his body. His body would not accept it and the result could be fetal. It's just like transferring blood B+ into the body of a person that contain blood group A." She looked at Sakura to see whether she was getting what Tsunade was telling her. Sakura nodded.

"His body is suffering from the loss of chakra?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade nodded, "He'll have to make that chakra on his own and building chakra is not that easy."

"But he'll be okay, right?" She asked concerned.

"Yeah."

The pain in her rib was almost gone now.

"And what about the mission? I failed?" She asked sadly. She knew that because of her the team has failed too. Shikamaru will never forgive himself for failing. She knew that he'll take all the blame on himself just because he was supposed to be their leader in the mission.

"Your safety was more important, Sakura."

"But the letter?"

"I've sent the more experienced team to deliver it." She assured her. "We didn't know that Akatsuki would be waiting."

"Akatsuki?" Sakura asked surprised.

"Uciha Itachi attacked you. Lee distracted him enough that he looked back and hit a tree. Cidori could have killed you."

Uciha? Sasuke's brother? No wonder they resembled so much. She knew that she had seen him somewhere but couldn't put her finger on it.

"Is Lee alright?"

"He's fine and Shikamaru too. Haven't got a scratch on his body." Tsunade smiled. "After Lee made his appearance, the two Akatsuki members disappeared. However, the tree fell over you."

"Is… Is Shikamaru mad at me?" She asked now looking away from Tsunade's face.

Tsunade stood up straight, removing her hands from Sakura's body. The pain had totally disappeared now. "No one's mad at you Sakura."

Of course no one was mad at Sakura; Shikamaru was upset with his own self.

A/N: So... No reviews on the last chapter proved that you all hated it. lol. I didn't like it either *Shakes head.*

Anyways, I hope the the NARUsaku in this chapter was good for you. At least they both care, ne? R&R.

And yeah... I didn't have time to check my mistakes, sorry about that.