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Episode 14 – A DESPERATE PLEA
Tears forced to break through, but Sasuke held them back with whatever strength he had left. Kaiya's fire whip vanished. Her eyes were hidden in the shadow of her lowered head. Neither spoke, until Kaiya coughed up blood onto Sasuke's cheek and chest.
The rain suddenly started to pound the earth, diminishing all fires around them. Sasuke yanked the knife from Kaiya's chest. She swayed to and fro, coughed up pools of blood, and finally collapsed onto the ground, lifeless.
Sasuke dropped to his knees and hung his head.
It's all over…
All of the pain inflicted on Sasuke during the battle suddenly took its toll. It struck in his stomach and then spread to the rest of his body. His head was pounding.
Sasuke dropped onto his hands cried out in pain. Blood continuously dripped out from his mouth and copious wounds.
Sasuke's vision became severely blurred as he tried to stay conscious for long enough until someone came across him and Kaiya. He then flopped onto the wet ground, unable to move anymore. The rain washed over him and the now lifeless Kaiya. Most of the fires around them had diminished. The heavy, metallic scent of blood filtered and stung inside his nostrils.
Sasuke shifted his gaze to Kaiya. He could not see her face. He just watched a pool of blood appear from underneath her. He cringed.
He was about to lose consciousness when, in the distance, he heard a familiar voice calling his name.
Sasuke lifted his head and held his breath, surely believing it was only his imagination. He listened hard.
"…Sasuke…!"
Sasuke rolled over so he was facing the direction of the person calling his name. At the end of the street, he saw three figures running towards him.
"…Sasuke…? Hey, Sasuke…!"
Naruto…?
"…It's him! It's Sasuke!" he heard the scratchy voice, belonging to Naruto, shout out.
Seconds later, all three were huddled around him, examining his wounds. Sakura gasped at how beaten up Sasuke was, and turned her head in disgust. Kakashi shook his head while Naruto was frantic.
"Sakura! Sakura! Can you heal him?" Naruto asked desperately. She immediately turned around.
"I… I'll try," she whispered. Her hands suddenly became surrounded by her green healing aura. Before she could apply her hands to Sasuke, he feebly brushed her aside.
"Sasuke, you have to let me heal you," she whispered sternly, trying not to cry.
"…No, Sakura…"
"Please, Sasuke, let me he—" Sasuke cut her off by gripping her wrist. He then pulled his mouth up to her ear and whispered ever so softly.
"…Sakura… heal Kaiya for me…"
"W-what…?" her green eyes widened.
"Please, S-Sakura… heal her… please…!" Sasuke pleaded softly into her ear through his choked up voice, squeezing his eyes in pain.
Nor Naruto or Kakashi could hear Sasuke whisper, they only saw Sakura's eyes widen in confusion. After a few more seconds, Sasuke let go of his grip on Sakura and immediately, she scrambled over to Kaiya.
Sakura stared back to Sasuke with sadness at his desperate expression. His bloodied face and trembling body caused tears to brim in her eyes. She had never seen him desire this much of her, never. They way his eyes pleaded with her; there was no way she could say no.
Sasuke…
Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…
Sasuke groaned.
Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…
Where am I…?
The constant, steady beating continued, and began to irritate Sasuke.
Slowly, he lifted his eyelids. Wherever he was, it was bright, silent and cool.
Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…
Things started to float back into place as his eyes began to focus. Suddenly, Sasuke shot up in the bed, breathing frantic, short breaths. The drip inserted in his forearm tugged on him slightly.
Bed? A hospital bed? Why am I in the—?
Memories of the battle suddenly flooded back. As soon as he sat up, the pain swirled in his head. The room swayed and he felt his brain pulse heavily against his temples. Sasuke raised a hand to his head, brushed it through his midnight black hair, and closed his eyes.
"Sasuke!" a small, female voice whispered. He looked to his left to see Sakura sitting in a small, white chair beside him, partially wrapped in bandages. Some bruises were visible on her arms.
Sasuke tried to lift his other hand to his stomach, but it was stiff.
He looked down to see his arm bandaged and in a sling, as well nearly his whole torso and legs bandaged up.
As he replayed the memories in his mind, his breathing calmed down.
Light shone brightly through the crack of the closed curtain. It was early morning.
"Sasuke, you mustn't move! You need rest!" Sakura scolded, standing up to assist him. He held up his good hand to stop her. Obediently, she sat back down, her face tainted with worry a she avoided Sasuke's gaze.
"Where is she?" demanded softly.
Sakura looked up at him and blinked.
"Where is she?" Sasuke demanded, a little louder this time.
Instead of waiting for a reply, Sasuke stubbornly pushed back the tightly tucked sheets of the white bed, swung his feet over the edge, yanked out the drip with a short, hard tug of his teeth, and headed for the door.
Sakura could not help but watch Sasuke limp to the door, pull it open and disappear.
Sakura jumped out of her seat and dashed after Sasuke.
"Sasuke, wait!" she called. Nurses rushed to his side before Sakura could get there. Sasuke pushed past all of the nurses; they were afraid to touch him.
Kakashi suddenly appeared from around the corner and stood in Sasuke's way. Sasuke glared up at Kakashi as he refused to move.
"I have to see her," he hissed. Kakashi examined his body; he was covered in bandages and countless stitches; his eyes were sunken; he appeared frail and weak. Some of his burns were bleeding under his bandages from so much movement. Even though he wouldn't show it, Kakashi knew Sasuke was using every ounce of his strength to stand up and walk, no matter how hard it was.
He shouldn't even be moving, let alone walking with these injuries…
Kakashi tenderly laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and led him aside.
"I'm not going to lie," he said in a hushed whisper. "She's in an extremely unstable condition. The doctors are doing everything they can to—"
"—where…is she?"
"She's in the ICU, ward 3, but—"
Sasuke cut Kakashi off by pushing past him and walking briskly towards the ICU, ignoring requests from nearby nurses for him to get back to bed and rest.
The one thing Sasuke hated was hospitals. The constant reminder of the fact that people die here every day made Sasuke uncomfortable. Although, there was no doubt he had the up-most respect for doctors; he just didn't like hospitals.
Just steps from the ICU, an alarm sounded shrilly overhead, and a barrage of medical ninja and nurses sprinted past him, constantly knocking him on the shoulders.
"Something's wrong!"
"She's deteriorating!"
"Quick! Find Lady Tsunade!"
"There's no time! We'll just have to make do with—"
"—Doctor, what do we do?"
"Hurry! Hold her down!"
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. He continued to walk until he broke into a light jog, and then a sprint.
He had finally reached ward 3 in the ICU, and what his eyes rested upon next was the most terrifying and gruesome sight he had ever seen.
BEEPBEEPBEEP...BEEPBEEPBEEEEEEP…BEEEEEEEPBEEPBEEP…BEEPBEEPBEEP…BEEPBEEP…BEEPBEEPBEEP...BEEPBEEP…
Machines beeped and rang in alarm as nurses and doctors swarmed around a large, metal table.
Even though doctors dressed in white surrounded the large, metal table, he could still see a familiar, black figure, being forced down onto the table.
Sasuke stood in the doorway. His breath cut short as he examined the room properly. Every single doctor and nurse was covered in blood. Blood puddles stained the floor and dripped off the edge of the metal operating table.
"Nurse! Restrain her! Hurry!"
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP…
Sasuke could hear vile, disgusting choking sounds. He finally caught a split-second glimpse of Kaiya on the metal table.
Without realizing what she was doing, Sasuke was walking into the blood-spattered room. As he got closer, his eyes widened in horror.
Kaiya's body was convulsing and writhing violently on the table. She was shrieking and vomiting up copious amounts of blood. She was still in her singed, burnt clothes.
"Doctor! She's deteriorating at an alarming rate!"
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP…
The whole of her face and torso was caked with wet and dry blood. Her screams muffled by the vomiting of blood.
Doctors had their bloodstained hands gripped tightly around her neck, wrists, elbows, thighs and ankles. Tools were violently kicked off the table and landed on the floor.
"Bring me the sedative! Triple dose! NOW!"
BEEPBEEP…
"Yes doctor!"
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP…
Tears brimmed in Sasuke's eyes as he gazed on this unholy horror, but he bravely fought them back.
Kaiya's eyes had rolled in the back of her head as she continued to convulse violently. Her arms and legs thrashed everywhere as her body slipped and slid in a dark pool of her own blood.
"She's losing too much blood!"
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP...
"Give her the sedative!"
"Right!"
A nurse prepared a steady grip on Kaiya's thigh and waited for an opening. As soon as she saw one, she jammed the syringe into Kaiya's thigh and pressed her thumb down, down, down.
Little by little, Kaiya's body stopped convulsing and the vomiting blood stopped. The doctors and nurses held their grip on her until they deemed it safe to let go.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEEEEEEP… BEEP BEEP… BEEP… beep… beep… beep…
"Come on, Sasuke," Kakashi whispered solemnly from behind him, placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Time to go back to your room and rest."
Sasuke opened his eyes.
It was night time. And even though it was night time, all the nurses and doctors had been kept on extremely high-alert for Kaiya's unstable condition.
Sasuke had heard some nurses talking outside their door.
"Kaiya's condition has finally stabilized," one breathed in relief. "Lady Tsunade said we could go rest for an hour."
"Okay," the other agreed.
As soon as their footsteps had vanished, Sasuke quietly sat up and slowly pushed down his bed-sheets. He swung his legs over the bed and limped for the door. Sasuke pressed his ear against the wood to make sure the coast was clear. Once a passing nurse's footsteps faded, he slowly clicked open the door and hurried out.
The hospital was quiet. His footsteps made no sound as he shuffled to the ICU.
He hesitated before he pushed open the door labelled, "Ward 3". Taking a deep breath, he clicked open the door and pushed it slowly outward.
Three soft raps on the door awoke Naruto from his slumber. He moaned, and the guest took that as a "come in" and opened the door.
"Naruto…?" Sakura whispered.
Naruto stirred, rose up from his pillow and rubbed his eyes. "S…Sakura?"
"Hey, how you feeling?" she said soothingly as she clicked on the lights and strode over to Naruto's bedside.
Naruto raised his arms above his head and stretched, but then cringed slightly in pain. "Been better," he chuckled.
Sakura smiled sweetly as she sat on the edge of his bed.
"How 'bout you?"
"Yeah, I'm doing okay," she sighed.
Moments of silence passed until Naruto awkwardly cleared his throat.
Sakura turned to him. "Hm?"
"Well, Sakura, there was something I wanted to ask you," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
"Yes?" she blinked.
"Well… Y-you know that girl? The one that almost destroyed everything?"
"Oh, Kaiya? What about her?"
"What I was wondering was… why did you heal her? I... I mean, she destroyed nearly the whole village! Why would you let her live…? It if was me, I would've let her die," he said softly.
Sakura lowered her head down at the floor with sad eyes. Her pink bangs covered her expression from Naruto. She rested her hands in her lap and started to fidget.
"Naruto, believe me when I say I wanted her to die too, but… But seeing the hurt and desperation in Sasuke's eyes, it just… It just made me realize that… That no matter how much I hated Sasuke for what he did to you and I; no matter how much I wished he had never came back, I… I just couldn't stand to see him suffer the way I suffered…"
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