Hey guys, sorry about the very late updates for like, all of my stories... I know I say this every time, but it's true, I'm very busy! :S

I hope you're not mad... :(

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Heartbreak was something that Haruno Sakura was much too familiar with after all these years. She had known what it felt like to have her heart broken in tiny little pieces, and then left alone to try to mend it on her own. She had felt the stinging pain in her heart, like an arrow piercing right through it, ripping through the most delicate part of herself. She had spent sleepless nights in her bed, crying and crying for that one person who was the cause of her pain, begging and pleading for this agony to go away. She had spent days, weeks, and even months trying to fake her happiness, trying to ignore the tugging at her heart and those tears brimming her eyes.

Oh yes, Haruno Sakura was very familiar with heartbreak.

But this... this was not heartbreak. Oh no, this was something greater, bigger. Something that hurt more than any injury, any broken heart, or any emotional turmoil. This... this was too much to rightfully explain. The pain, it wasn't just agonizing, it was unbearable. The tears leaving her eyes, they weren't just from her pain of loss, but from her anger towards herself, her anger towards him, her anger towards Madara, and of course, her pain of feeling so useless and worthless. Her heart wasn't breaking, no, no, it was shattering and disintegrating into thin air. With time, nothing would be left of her heart. Nothing but a big hole representing a space that could only be filled by one person.

That one person that would die at any given moment now. Dying for her.

It was impossible for her to describe the pain running through her entire being as she thought about the fact that Sasuke, the only man she has ever loved, was giving his life for her. The pain was swallowing her whole, invading every inch of every nerve present in her body, hazing her mind and making her heart tug and bleed and pound against her ribcage. The pain was so overwhelming for her that it made her lungs close up, and constrict, resulting in making it harder to breathe for her. Every breath she took in, every single one of them had been hard to be inhaled both because she was running, and because all of the hurt she was feeling inside.

"Sakura..."

Her eyes slipped shut tightly, and anguish continued to fill up in her being at the remembrance of the way her name sounded as it came off his lips. Not wanting to cry out and let the world know how she couldn't handle any more hurt, she bit her lips hard enough to create a small cut, where slight blood was pouring out from. At that precise moment, her eyes blurred while she was still running full speed, and thus without her sight, her foot caught hold of the tip of a rock, making her body tumble forward towards the ground.

"...Thank you."

"Thank you for what, Sasuke-kun?" the pink haired medic mumbled onto the ground while fresh, warm tears prickles her eyes. "For being a useless comrade? For letting you risk your life for someone like me, who is much less valuable than you are? For being so annoying to you all these years? For getting in your way all the time?" she was choking out the words the more she went on questioning, and the prickling tears started streaming down her face, transforming her lightly cringing features into grief-stricken ones.

"All I've been doing is watching you two from behind... now, get a good look at my back!"

Her tears streamed faster and faster, making her eyes sting. Sakura choked a sob while putting her palms flat out on the ground to help herself back up. "Why can't I keep my promises?" she whispered to herself, biting her lip to hold back another sob of desperate sadness. "I promised myself I wouldn't be a burden to any of them, no, no longer..."

"I won't be a hindrance to you any more!"

"...I promised myself I'd bring Sasuke-kun back..."

"We'll bring him back. Together."

"...I promised myself that I wouldn't be the one who will be saved all the time..."

"Next time─"

"...that I would be the savior..."

Tears continued to slide down her pink cheeks, and for once since what seems like so long ago, Sakura let go of everything she held inside. The tears started flowing down her cheeks fast and endlessly while broken sobs escaped her lips, and her body shook with such intensity that any passerby would worry about her state. She cried for her loss, she spoke of her pain, she murmured of her love, screaming about how it would never be the same without him. Teardrops wet her shirt, the ground and her skin. Her pain wavered in her chakra.

"Next time─"

And then something clicked.

"─I'll save the both of you."

The very second she remembered that promise, Sakura was gone with a murmur.

-

-

("This time, I'll save you, Sasuke-kun.")

Dodging the deadly hit thrown his way, Sasuke swung his arm gripping the katana towards the eldest Uchiha, his lips forming a thin line as he detected the movement of Madara's foot aiming to hit him in the knees. With a graceful and quick dodge, he managed to evade the attack, although it has ruined his perfect aim and instead made his katana thrust at his side. Madara dodged quickly while performing seals, which made Sasuke's eyes widen. He cursed under his breath, doing quick movements to back off, only for breath to be knocked out of his lungs as the jutsu sent him flying against a tree trunk.

"Impressive, Sasuke. Never thought you'd last this long. You sure are persistent ever since our last fight. Perhaps the girl had an effect on you?" Sasuke scowled, shakily standing from his fall while holding his murderous gaze with Madara's amused one. "Tell me, Sasuke, is this really the reason you're holding out against me so stubbornly?" he asked, his tone high with arrogance and pride. The younger Uchiha almost had the temptation to raise a brow, but he simply settled with looking apathetic at his words, even though he was a bit curious inside. Madara smirked lightly, and in a movement far too quick to be seen or sensed by Sasuke's tired mind, his enemy lodged a sword deeply in his shoulder. As a trained shinobi, Sasuke didn't show much sign of pain, but the pain was far too great for him not to let his lips form a grimace.

"I asked you a question, young fool." Madara hissed, his lips twisting in a malicious smile as he pressed harder on his blade. Sasuke let out a low hiss while his nails dug in the hard bark of the wide branch he was on, but he managed to lift his head up to glare at the man again. "And what if she is the reason?" he hoarsely revealed, clenching his jaw tightly as the blade dug itself in the trunk, making him completely unable to move his shoulder without cutting more flesh.

"Well, I guess it'll be time to say your last farewell to the girl before I kill you ahead of her very eyes."

Sasuke thought that Madara was merely bluffing with him, but it was when he saw the truth in his glimmering orbs and the malice held within them as they rose to somewhere past him that he began to fear. In very slow, languid movements, Sasuke turned his head to where Madara was looking, and he felt his breath catch in his throat as he took in the scene that lay before him.

She was there alright, just like Madara had said. She was panting harshly, and tears were streaming down silently on her cheeks, but she looked as determined and fierce as he's ever seen her been. The words left his mouth before he knew it.

"What the hell are you doing here, Sakura!?" he snarled, struggling out of the blade's grip in hope to dash towards her and bring her away. But to no avail, his shoulder kept being pinned by the eldest Uchiha's blade, and Sakura remained unmoving. "I told you to run! I told you never to look back! I told you I would buy you some time so you could live!" He went on, his voice high with anger and fear. "And what do you do?! You're making our efforts worthless!"

"I know." She replied softly, while she was still catching her breath. She narrowed her eyes to the branch, and smiled lightly. "But I just couldn't, Sasuke-kun. I haven't kept any of my promises. Any of them. I had to keep at least one of them, and then at least I'd feel like a worthy and loyal kunoichi. At least I wouldn't feel like a liar and a betrayer." the young kunoichi went on, exhaling a long breath before she wiped her tears and raised her head to meet his furious gaze.

"You told me you would die to protect me, a medic nin needed for the village. You told me you would die as a ninja complying to the duty of any other ninja of its village. You told me how you would die for someone who is more valuable then you are..." she smiled sadly, and moved her arm at her back, where she touched a scroll. "...and when I think back about this, I can't help but to disagree." The shock Sasuke had felt then was so immense that he could not hold back showing his surprised features. "You're the last Uchiha willing to rebuild the clan, Sasuke-kun. You're a ninja who possesses the rare skills and endless strength that not many do these days. You could help the village so much with the war going on. And me? I'm just a medic. A damn good one, but there are other exceptional medics in the village, Sasuke-kun. I can be replaced," her gazed saddened lightly. "but you can't."

Sasuke would have wanted to retort back to her words and tell her to run away, once again, but he could clearly see where she was going with this. It was true, her skills could be replaced easily, and his clan could not, as well as his skills. But he had to let her know somehow, that Sakura as a whole could not be replaced. She was so loved by so many different people, so lovely and cheery. Her death would affect more than half of the population in Konoha.

The cherry blossom flower could not die for his sake.

But before he could even speak up and let her know just how truly valuable she was, she bit her thumb and let her blood smear against the parchment. The discovery of what exactly the parchment was a summon for shocked Sasuke almost out of his mind, and he soon found himself thinking that this site was somehow... odd to see.

There she was, in all her beautiful seventeen year old glory, holding an axe that was almost bigger than herself. The axe was made of a firm, shining metal that he could tell was probably almost indestructible, and from the looks of it, it would be about three or four times heavier than him. 'It might even weight more,' he thought to himself while unblinkingly staring in awe at how Sakura held the axe so easily in her hand. She held it as if it were a light toy made out of feather, and it made Sasuke wonder just how much she had changed ever since he left her that night.

"I'll save you this time, Sasuke-kun. I'll do everything needed to protect you." Her tone was firm, and in no way delicate, revealing to him that she was deeply serious and determined to hold her promise. He opened his mouth to snarl back at her to run when she still had time, but when he felt the blade being sharply pulled out of his shoulder, his biggest fear was now coming true.

It was too late for her to run away.

To say Naruto was worried would be a horrible understatement.

He hadn't seen his team mates ever since he alerted them of how the Akatsuki found them out, and it was only natural he had to worry a bit. But since this was Akatsuki they were talking about, and that both ninjas were alone and weakened, Naruto could not help but to freak out.

Neji, Shikamaru, TenTen, Ino, himself and the others had been traveling as a pack in order to find the both of them. Every single one of them had come close to death, but Naruto had put his heroic self to act and had managed to saved them all by knocking sense into Nagato's thoughts.

It seemed a bit ironic that the battle against Akatsuki was won by talk, else than violence.

But in the end, Naruto was sick and tired of having blood shed over in battles. He was sick and tired of all the hate, and blood, and tears.

It was a miracle what the young boy had managed to do. But Nagato had warned him about Madara, and how suspicious he had been about him. He feared (yes, even the leader of Akatsuki feared things and people) that Madara was plotting against both the village and his group itself. He feared that this man would cause havoc into the world that he previously thought was incurable of hate. Naruto then had the feeling that Madara would be after Sasuke and Sakura, and would want something from them.

And so here they were, jumping from tree to tree in frantic state of minds, hoping to find the slightest clue of it all, or to pick up a track from the pair.

Hoping to Kami-sama that they were not too late.

Alright, I'm stopping here. Sadly, I am leaving you on a cliffie. Lolz.

I'm planning on updating very soon, though!

Review, my loves! :)