Chapter 29

"Sakura, are you ok?!" I look up trying to focus through my tears, and see Sasuke and another man running into the room, Sasuke throws his arms around me and squeezes me so hard I almost lose my breath.

"Sakura" he murmurs "you're all right, you're ok, I was so worried!" he strokes my hair and kisses me softly, "I got backup, I was coming to save you"

"silly vampire" I say laughing through my tears. "I'm the slayer, I can save myself…. Well sort of. But we can talk about that later" now it's not the time to tell him about my approaching expiration day. I can feel his smile against my lips. Sasuke pulls away and looks at my neck.

I'm sure it's nice and crusty by now.

"you've been bitten" he cries.

"it's ok, it doesn't hurt" I lie

"you've done well Sakura" the man who entered with Sasuke says. "Asuma will be pleased" I look up and my eyes widen… Kakashi? Moms boyfriend?!

"you're… but you're"

Kakashi laughs, "yes, it's me Sakura"

Ok WTF!? Is going on here.

"I work for Slayer inc, as your guardian"

"guardian? I have a guardian?" I ask

"but why didn't you tell me, I thought you were a vampire"

Kakashi laughs "is that why you tried to feed me garlic and soak me with holy water when I came to diner?" Sasuke raises an eyebrow "you what?"

I can feel my face getting so red.

"well I didn't know I had a freaking guardian" I try to defend myself.

Kakashi shuffles his feet. "I was told to get close to your family, to see how things were going. And I thought dating your mom was the easiest way to get into your house" he explains.

"that's a rotten thing to do, mom really likes you and you're just using her?"

"hey wait a minute, hear me out" Kakashi holds up his hands "as I said, that's how it started, but then I actually met your mom and she's… wonderful, look what I'm trying to say is now that the assignment is over, I'd like to be allowed to date her. If it's ok with you" he says

"we'll see if she still wants you"

"thanks" he says "I'll prove you I'm worthy of her" his words bring me back to reality, and I remember that I'm not going to see how their relationship turns out because I'm going to die in 3 days. I turn back to Sasuke, he's staring at me with such concern, I wish we could be alone so I could tell him about my unstoppable doom. Let him hold me as I cry in his arms. Then I remember "Naruto, we've go to warn Naruto" I cry

"warn him?"

"Anko and Shizune, they're infected, if he drinks their blood, he will lose all his powers" I explain in a rush

Sasuke pulls out his cell phone and dials Narutos number, after a moment he greets his boss and warns him about drinking the blood. He then clicks off his cell phone "I reached him in time, Anko and Shizune had just arrived, but he hadn't drinked their blood yet" he says. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. "thank god"

"ok we better get out of here, pronto" Sasuke says rising to his feet and turning to Kakashi

"do you know of an easy way out?" he asks

Kakashi shakes his head. "don't worry, I'll lead you out" a new voice says.

We all whirl around at the voice in the doorway.

"Jira" I cry

"so you did it? Did you get the virus?" he asks

"yup, and dusted Orochimaru too" I say pointing at the pile of ashes by the wall.

"thank you Marian, and now if you'll all follow me, I'll get you guys out of here" Jiraiya leads us out of the bar. "thank you again Marian" he says gratefully.

"actually, my real name is Sakura, that was a fake ID I showed you"

"really, I would have never guessed" he laughs, we say our goodbyes and head over t Sasukes BMW. Kakashi says he's going to check on mom.

Sasuke and me get in the car and he starts the engine.

"do you want to go somewhere in particular?" he asks

"can we got o the ocean?" I beg, for some reason I have the urge to see it. Maybe its because I feel it's the last time I'm going to.

Sasuke nods and we ride towards the ocean.

We get to the beach, park the car and walk towards the ocean. I kick off my shoes and dig my toes into the sand. Sasuke slips his hand into mine and strokes my fingers.

"so, you did it, you finally accomplished your mission" he says looking into the ocean.

"I guess, but all that good is going to get me killed" I say. Sasuke jerks his head around. "what are you talking about?"

I reach up to touch my neck. It feels all nasty and diseased. "Orochimaru bit me, and then injected the virus into my bloodstream, so I'm going to die in a couple of days, like all the donors" I say. Even in the darkness I can see Sasukes horror struck face.

"Sakura" he cries and his voice breaks with emotion, he pulls me into a hug and squeezes me with so much strength I can hardly breath. "oh my darling no! I cant lose you" he murmurs.

"yeah, well I don't want to lose myself either" I say. Sasuke pulls away from the hug, his beautiful onyx eyes hardened and angry, and out of nowhere they turn red? (it's actually pretty cool) "stop making self-protective jokes, this is serious. We have to do something"

"what?" I ask, "there's no antidote. Face it. In 2 or 3 days I'm going to be pushing up daisies" I know I'm being a bitch, but I cant help it. Sasuke sighs and pulls me down into the sand, we sit there for a moment not speaking. "you know, you can be so cold and hard. Always pulling up a brave front so others don't see your vulnerability" Sasuke says.

I kick the sand with my foot "yeah, well its not like you're Mr. open up and share yourself"

"you're right, we are both a lot like in many ways, we have both pains in our pasts which has caused us to put trust in ourselves, and not others" he says deeply. "I never told you why I don't want a blood-mate"

I turn to look at him "no, you never have" I say slowly.

Sasuke goes silent, then he starts.