-Genin Era-

Warnings: Blood/injury, major bodily harm, emotional trauma

Rating: T


The first thing he tasted when he came back to awareness was something with a salty tang.

The first thing he heard when he came back to awareness was a deep, mournful howl, followed by a hiccupping moan.

The first thing he felt when he came back to awareness was somebody's weight crushing his ribs.

Sasuke's eyelids were so, so heavy.

His breath left his nose in a shaky huff as he attempted to force his eyes to open. A panging pain felt as if it were splitting his head in two, and as he fought against his exhausted body to get up, a vibrating groan of pain escaped his throat.

Almost immediately, the sobs above him quieted. The weight shifted, thankfully, off of his sore chest.

"Sakura," he wheezed, his eyelids cracking open enough for the blurry visage of his pink teammate to come into view. "... you're still heavy."

The girl blinked in shock, either not noticing or not wanting to risk embarrassing herself further by wiping away the snot that was beginning to trickle down her face. Her cheeks were a ruddy color that almost rivaled her dress, her eyes impossibly wide and so, so heartbreakingly clear.

He felt his heart give a twist as her viridian eyes clenched shut and her crying began anew, and she seemed careful not to crush him against the ground as she hid her face in his chest.

"Sasuke-kun...!" She wailed, her hands - so tiny, so soft, so unbroken - grasped at his shoulder in one spot that wasn't impaled by needles, the other bracing her weight above the ground as she hovered.

That was all she always seemed to do, wasn't it? Sakura hovered.

Although this time, instead of being annoyed... Sasuke was confused.

Why do you cry over me? He wondered, deep in his exhausted, dizzy mind. Nobody cries for me. I'm not...

He held the words back before he could finish thinking them. I'm not worth your tears.

Yet another mission had gone awry - and wasn't that ironic? The very next C-rank after the disastrous Wave mission had abruptly bumped up a level... and here they were again, an echo of the horror that had befallen them before.

And yet again, she cried over him. It seemed their supplies were safe, as the pack of important herbs was sitting at the base of a tree nearby.

Naruto. Where was Naruto?

A quick flicker of anger came across his mind. What had happened while he was on the brink of death? Where was he now? Why had he left Sakura defenseless?

Had he... not been enough?

The flicker died, and with the rising smoke of frustration came a deep worry that settled into his fractured and broken bones, a worry that churned his stomach and caused his heart to skip.

Where was Naruto? If Sakura was here, crying, then...?

Struggling on shaky limbs, he grunted as her grip tightened. "Sakura, that hurts..."

"Oh!" Her voice cracked as her arms enveloped his sides, trying to help him sit up, "S- sorry, I'm sorry..."

As his eyelids fluttered open, he looked into the overcast skies and parted his lips to speak. "Wh... where...?"

"Kakashi-sensei's taking care of the ambush," she explained, her voice wavering with her attempts to calm herself. "And... and Naruto went berserk on the shinobi that..." She wavered, wiping away a trickling tear, "... that took you down."

Sasuke's eyes opened wider as her next words hit his ears: "It's over."

Sakura sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her arm. Pulling out a handkerchief, she turned away from him as she blew her nose.

Sasuke was stuck in his own thoughts, staring at the ground with his lips parted. Millions of words flashed by, too quick for him to dwell upon.

It seemed she was done drying her face, because at that moment, she looked over and their eyes met. Sakura tried to smile, yet her mouth still trembled. She still wanted to cry. Why is she trying to look so strong when she was breaking down over me just a minute ago?

"I've never been... as scared as that time, but this was close," she admitted, sniffling and wringing the soft material about in her hands. "Sasuke-kun... why does this keep happening? Why can't I protect you?"

Her long, frizzy hair hung over her shoulders, obscuring much of her face. Her skin was splotchy red with how hard she'd cried, her eyes downcast and still watery. Her leg looked bloody, but a haphazard bandage kept much of her supposed injury from sight.

She sniffled again, and his attention was brought back to her.

Why can't I protect you?

His chest twisted. It wasn't supposed to be this way. She wasn't supposed to feel this way.

Why can't I protect you?

"We need to go," he said, making her look up. "We need to go to Kakashi."

Her eyes widened a fraction - and oh, how they looked so unfitting for the situation they were in. It almost hurt. Sakura almost looked like she wanted to argue, but as her eyes swept across him again, she clenched her teeth together.

Nodding jerkily, she got to her knees before him, brushed off her hands on her qipao, and held out her arms. "Here - can you stand up?"

For only the second time since their team's birth, he found himself grasping her hand. It was slightly clammy, but he ignored the discomfort as his body creaked and ached, senbon irritating his wounds further. Annoyed, he grasped one in his arm and pulled - and after the initial white-hot flash of pain, he dropped it to the ground.

Sakura pointedly looked away, her lips pressing together into a tight line as droplets of his blood were sprinkled across the ground.

"I can't stand it," he hissed, rubbing his sore arm.

"Here." She tied back her hair, a sloppy job that left strands falling over her heaving shoulders as she reached for his good shoulder to steady him. "I'll help."

He glanced at her face, but all he could see was a determined frown.

Her fingers were gentle, yet her grip was sharp - and as the first senbon were wrenched from his body, he let out a grunt in surprise.

"Sorry," she was quick to soothe, brows knit together in concern as she massaged his shoulder.

"Don't apologize, just pull them out," he instructed, looking away. Her touch felt pleasant against the lingering ache of the needles. I've had enough of senbon to last three lifetimes already.

It took no time at all for them to get most of them out, and only a couple remained - ones that were dangerously positioned in his torso and back that would have to be looked at by a medical professional.

Sakura's hands lingered about his arm before she moved one across his back, sending a rippling shiver through him.

As fragile as she was, she held surprising strength as she helped him to his feet - and once he was steady enough, she wrapped an arm around his back, mindful of the remaining senbon. Her cheeks, already flushed with tears, could not redden further as he wrapped an arm about her waist for stability.

Talk about Deja vu, he thought exasperatedly. And this time, they were aiming to kill. I'm lucky they missed.

At that moment, Naruto appeared before them, looking their way worriedly. There was blood trickling down his forehead and one of his eyes was swollen shut, but otherwise he looked relatively unharmed.

"Naruto!" Sakura called, and her face blossomed with relief at their missing teammate. "We're okay!"

The blond stared in shock as he lifted his hand in a thumbs-up, and after another once-over his familiar bright grin was back, and Sasuke could feel his chest lighten as he raced over, beginning to talk a mile a minute about the fight that had just occurred.

They were okay. They made it.

He squeezed her a little tighter as they began to hobble forward, and she turned slightly to give him a breathless smile, one that made his heart skip once more.

They made it.