Warnings: Slash, violence, whatever...

Disclaimer: Not mine!! I swear!!

'Blah' - thought

"Yammer" - talking

Chatter- telepathy

symbolsymbolsymbolsymbolsymbol - switch of POV or scene

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Kakashi surveyed his students with an intensely worried look as they took to leaning against each other to keep themselves upright. Both boys were a total mess. On neither could you tell where one wound began and another ended.
"Sakura, you stay out of this. As soon as one of us gives the ok, you head straight for Naruto and Sasuke and see what you can do for them, got it? I don't need all three of my students near death," he said quietly. The pink-headed girl nodded and chewed her lower lip, obviously anxious for her teammates' lives.
"What do we do Maoko-sensei; you're the one who's dealt with this kid before," he asked the woman next to him. Maoko's fingers drifted over her neck as she kept her gaze locked with Yami's.
"Iruka-san and Sakura-chan should take care of those two boys. You be my back-up, but stay out of it as much as you can. I can't go for a kill here, but I can get him out of the region," she said. A blur of red and she had engaged Yami. Kakashi nodded and motioned for Iruka and Sakura to move.
"You heard her. Get those two back to the village as fast as you can," he snapped coolly, leaving no room for argument. Two nods and they tore past him.

!!!!!

Sasuke realized for the first time his vision was hazy. He realized this because the Sakura kneeling in front of him highly resembled a photograph taken at high speed.
"Just hang on Sasuke-kun..." she breathed to him, hoisting his arm over her shoulder and standing slowly. Sasuke stood on his own feet as best he could but was still leaning heavily on her.
"Naruto...?" he muttered, his thinking becoming as fuzzy as his sight now that he was out of danger.
"Iruka-sensei's got him, it's ok," Sakura assured him. Sasuke relaxed and slowly faded into unconsciousness.
"As long as Dobe-chan's ok..." he muttered to himself, blacking out.

Naruto watched in mild amusement as Sasuke collapsed entirely, making Sakura stagger under the sudden weight.
"Sakura-chan, trade me, Naruto's still walking on his own for the most part," Iruka said, stepping forward and shrugging Naruto's arm over Sakura and taking Sasuke onto his back. Naruto flashed a grin at Sakura.
"Sorry about all the blood. I'll pay for the outfit if you want," he said jokingly, hoping to relax her slightly. Not sure if everything was going to be ok, he made it a priority to make sure there was a little humor in things so people wouldn't see how worried he really was.

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Sakura sighed and controlled her urge to hit Naruto as hard as she could. How could he joke about something like that at a time like this? Why did he always...oh!
It struck Sakura like a light of inspiration. Of course! It was a mask to hide what he was feeling! Now why hadn't she thought of that before?

menoryutsuki

Onwards to the next chapter people!!

-Lethal-chan