"Hinata!"

Sakura jolted awake, desperately searching for the girl. How could she have done that? Why would she just give up like that? A sob caught in her throat as she saw images of Hinata getting killed again in her mind.

She tried to stand up and found something pulling in her arm. The pain was intense and she cried out, suddenly aware that she was no longer in the mall at all. A thin plastic tube ran from the needle in her arm up to an IV.

Sakura forced herself to calm down as she took in the surroundings. White walls, white ceiling, white floor. The sterile smell in the air was the last clue she needed. A hospital, they had ended up in a hospital.

"Naruto," she whispered remembering how he had fallen unconscious before the end.

"He's fine."

Sakura blinked and found Sasuke standing at the door, his arm in a cast and sling. He walked towards her slowly, eyes mainly on the ground.

"They said he needed some more rest," Sasuke reported. "Same as you. Something about food poisoning in the mall or something."

Sakura nodded slowly, absent-mindedly rubbing the needle in her arm.

"Stop that," Sasuke ordered. She jumped a bit as he grabbed her wrist. "You're the medic in the group; you should know that's bad." He took a tissue from the box at her bedside. Pressing down on her hand, he pulled the needle out.

She watched him until he took her other hand and placed it on the tissue. He moved stiffly, like there was something on his mind. She wanted to ask what was wrong but he stepped back towards the door suddenly.

"Get changed – we need to find Naruto as soon as possible,"

Sakura nodded dumbly and slowly climbed out of the bed. She looked around and found the remains of her uniform. She slowly pulled up the skirt, noting that her legs were cut up and stiff. Putting on the shirt wasn't any easier. It felt like every thread of cotton was a metal spike that raked against her injured skin.

There was a cough at the door and she looked up from her buttoning.

"Your jacket," Sasuke muttered. "They took it off me when they put the cast on."

She nodded and took it from his outstretched hand. She slipped it on carefully, trying not to wince too much.

"Are you okay?" He asked, closing the door behind him.

Sakura didn't know how to answer. She knew she couldn't lie. But at the same time, she didn't want to be seen as weak.

"I just wish," she said softly. "I wish I could still use some jutsus is all."

The door opened suddenly and a nurse walked in, clipboard in hand. "You're not supposed to be out of bed," she snapped.

Sakura smiled and shook her head. "I'm fine now. I'm sorry for all the trouble that I caused."

The nurse frowned. "Yes, well, that still doesn't change the fact that you have not been cleared by the doctor and are therefore supposed to remain in bed." She looked over at Sasuke. "And you… you're the one with the broken arm. Why are you not in your room?"

Sasuke shot Sakura a look and she nodded slowly. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door, pushing the nurse out of the way. The woman started screaming for security and they could hear it even as they turned the corner of the hall.

"Into the staircase," Sasuke ordered, motioning to the door. Sakura let go of his arm and pushed the door open, letting him in before slamming it shut.

"Naruto wasn't on your floor," he said, jogging up the flight of stairs. "There are three levels of patient rooms so we'll just have to search them all until we find him."

He pushed the next level's door open with his shoulder and stepped outside. Sakura was directly behind him and didn't have enough time to stop herself from colliding into him when he came to a halt.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked, taking a step back and looking around.

The entire floor was deserted, save a few empty wheelchairs. Unlike the level they had just left, there was no activity here. There were no nurses or doctors performing rounds or visitors stopping in to check on patients. The air was stale and most of the hallway lights were out.

"Did we trigger the other world?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura shook her head. "We can't have. There was no blackout period."

"Then what is this?"

Sakura bit her lip. "Before, in the nightmare, it was becoming clear that that world was falling apart. I think that this one too is also beginning to unravel."

He frowned and took a few steps forward, eyeing the wheelchair. "So we're running out of time."

She looked around nervously. "If the worlds are degrading to the point that the boundary between them is become blurred, I think that we maybe have one or two more switches before everything collapses."

"Collapses?"

"If this is indeed a genjutsu then the spell is weakening. I don't know if it's because we've been forcing it to compensate for our disbelief or if this was the nature of the illusion itself, to trap us here and…" She trailed off. It wasn't something that needed to be spoken out loud. Getting trapped here would effectively leave their real world selves brain dead.

There was a squeaking noise and Sakura jumped, stepping closer to Sasuke. They looked down the hall and saw one of the wheelchairs moving slowly into one of the rooms. They shared a glance before following it.

The room itself was laid out exactly like the room Sakura had woken up in. The only addition was a desk in the corner. Sasuke examined the wheelchair while Sakura walked to the desk.

She ran her fingers against the cool wood and opened a drawer. Inside was a red journal, covered in leather with pages that had been tinged yellow with age. She opened it up and found most of the pages were filled with delicate writing.

"Sasuke…" she whispered. "Look."

He turned to face her and eyed the book in her hand. "What is it?"

"A journal," she replied. "And… I can read it." His brow furrowed as he watched her eyes glance down and trace the words.

"December 12," she read out loud. "I arrived at the hospital today. Father is very worried but the doctors tell him I should be okay. Neji-nii-san was so upset he cried and they had to leave early."

"Neji-nii-san?" Sasuke repeated. "That's what Hinata calls her cousin isn't it."

Sakura nodded as she flipped through the pages. "January 27. The doctors say the disease has progressed rapidly. The antibiotics aren't working and worse, they've caused my skin to blister and peel."

Sasuke moved to where Sakura was standing and looked over her shoulder as she read the pages.

"February 2. I keep hoping to wake up. This has to be a nightmare. The drugs make the doctors and nurses look like monsters. Even the walls look like they're bleeding sometimes. I begged Father to let me go home but he said I needed to get better. I know that's what he really wants so I decided to stay."

"What does it mean?" he asked.

"I guess she was really sick and…"

"No," he interrupted. "It's more then that. More then just Hinata and her being here. Why is this the only thing you can read?" Sakura could only shake her head. "Turn more towards the end."

She nodded and began to flip through the pages. The lettering became less neat and more frantic. There were drawings suddenly, uneasy attempts to draw the things that were haunting her. And then suddenly the pages went blank.

Sakura turned a few pages back and realized the writing on the pages had returned to normal.

"September 1," she whispered. "I know it's over. Father speaks softly to the doctors now. No more yelling, no more pleading. Neji-nii-san doesn't cry anymore, he just sits silently and doesn't know what to say. There are no more drugs, no more tests. This is what I wanted from the beginning. I think this is all I ever wanted. Peace, finally, peace."

Sakura closed the book slowly. Sasuke could only stare at her fingers as they traced the binding of the book. He didn't understand and it infuriated him. This journal was obviously a clue, possibly the key to the entire mystery. It was right in front of him and he didn't know what it meant.

There was a noise and they both jumped. The room was empty save for them, and when they heard it again it was clearly coming from across the hall. Sasuke edged towards the door, Sakura right behind him. He sent her a few hand signals and she nodded in understanding.

He counted down silently and they both looked outside, checking either side of the door to see if the hallway was clear. They both ducked back inside a second later. It was all clear in the halls at least.

Sasuke started to advance to the room across the way but Sakura caught his arm. He glared at her but she firmly pointed at his arm. His eyes narrowed but she held her ground.

"What the hell?"

Sakura and Sasuke both blinked at the voice.

"OI! Get me out of this thing!"

No longer worried about the danger across the hall, the two dashed to the other room. Naruto was there, struggling to get free of tightly tucked bed sheets.

"Stop moving!" Sakura ordered, quickly pulling the sheets free. "Only you would get defeated by a bed!"

Naruto's cheeks turned red but he let her work around him. He heard the snicker from Sasuke though and that brought back his anger full force. He was about to charge his teammate but the pain in his shoulder made him stop.

He looked down at the bandages with surprise. There was a faint red tint to them and Sakura let out an exasperated sigh.

"You need to be more careful. That wound is obviously going to take time to heal," she lectured.

He just looked at the bandages. "It never did before."

Sakura slowed her actions a bit and carefully examined the wound. She knew Naruto could normally bounce back from most things in a matter of hours.

"You'll be fine," Sasuke snapped. "We have bigger things to worry about now."

Sakura quickly filled Naruto in on what they had found. His face didn't change but the self pity in his eyes was gone. After she was done, the three of them sat in silence for a few moments digesting the information.

"So," Naruto said. "We're running out of time."

Sakura nodded. "We need to finish this soon."

"Hinata has to be the key," Sasuke added. "If we can keep her alive and kill the beast, then it should end the illusion. We just need a better plan."

"There will be eight appendages this time," Sakura stated. "Without weapons or jutsu, we need to think of a better way of controlling them."

"We have to stop them from flailing around," Naruto replied, bringing his teammates to a stunned silence. "What? Think about it. Every time we get defeated it's because we get knocked around by them."

"He's right," Sakura smiled. "We need to pin them down somehow, keep them from moving."

"A few well placed kunai would work, we just don't have any," Sasuke added.

Sakura stood up from the bed and looked around the room. "We can improvise." She eyed the stand holding an IV bag and nodded to herself. "A few of these can make improvised spears."

Sasuke walked over and wrapped his hand around the stand. "It could work." He moved it a bit and it squeaked in protest as he pulled it free from its base. He balanced it in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

Sakura carefully untangled Naruto from the mess of tubes and wires. The IV needle had torn his skin during his attempts to get free but for the most part, he was largely unharmed save for the wrapped shoulder wound.

She helped him off the bed just in time to see Sasuke tense up behind her. She was about to ask him what was wrong but he held up his hand to keep them silent. It took a few moments of stillness before she could recognize the squeaking noise.

It became progressively louder, a steady crescendo of whining. Sasuke gripped the pole in his hand and eyed the door, waiting for the enemy to show themselves.

A solitary wheel chair appeared at the edge of the door frame, wheels protesting the movement as it did. It came to a pause in front of the door, as if examining the inhabitants inside before it continued on its way.

"All in favor of leaving the floor with the freaky wheelchairs?" Naruto asked, receiving silent ayes from his teammates as they ran out the door. Sasuke reached the stairway first and tugged the door only to find it was held shut.

"What the hell?" he demanded, pulling harder.

"It's locked?" Sakura asked, watching him struggle. The only response she got was him kicking the door in frustration.

"Elevator?" Naruto asked.

"It must be at the other end of the hall," Sakura replied.

"Let's go," Sasuke stated, turning around to lead them. But no more then two steps into it, he came to an abrupt halt. The metal pole moved in his hands as he examined the situation.

The entire hallway was filled with wheelchairs. None of them were moving but there was something ominous about the way they suddenly appeared. Sakura shifted behind him nervously while Naruto turned to examine the hall behind them.

"What the hell," he whispered, finding a similar situation. "Where did they all come from?"

One of the chair moved suddenly a few inches forward, making a noise that made Sakura jump. "We need to get out of here," she whispered.

"Any suggestions on how?" Sasuke snapped back.

She looked around frantically for another way out just as a few more chairs began to roll forward. Her eyes rested on a grate just a few feet away.

"Air ducts," she said softly. Naruto and Sasuke followed her gaze. She made the first move, slowly sliding along the wall until she reached the grate. A careful tug showed it was fairly well wedged in place.

Sasuke stepped forward and drove the spear through one of the grate's holes. He leaned forward and pushed with his weight until it snapped open. The noise seemed to startle the wheel chairs and they all began moving, picking up speed as they headed towards the trio.

Sakura dove in first, followed quickly by Naruto. Sasuke slid the staff into the duct and grabbed the grating before he went in himself. He closed the duct again, knowing that nothing could follow them but not wanting to take the chance.

Sakura slide forward, trying to navigate the turns of the air ducts until she was forced to admit to herself that she had no way of knowing where she was going.

"Ah… guys?" she asked, trying to turn her head to see them. "Which way am I supposed to be going?"

"Towards an exit," Sasuke muttered.

"Obviously," Sakura retorted. "But which way? Up, down, left right?"

"Down," Sasuke replied. "We need to go down."

Before Sakura could answer her, the duct began to whine. She looked around, noting that the stop in their advance had placed pressure on the metal. It began to bend downward as the bolts holding it in place started to leave their sockets.

"Oh… damn," she whispered just as the metal buckled and they crashed downward.

It hurt to suddenly meet the ground but the fall had been relatively short. Sakura pushed the debris of the air duct off of herself and looked around. They had gone down indeed, right into the middle of the lobby of the floor below them.

"Ah… guys?" she asked, looking at all the faces staring at them.

"What's going on here?" a woman demanded.

It took a second to recognize her but Sakura finally managed to place the face. The flat- chested, elderly, blonde-haired doctor in front of them was easily distinguishable by the pendant around her neck.

"Shishou," Sakura whispered.

Before Tsunade could answer, Sasuke swung at her with the staff, aiming right for the head so that that it snapped back violently.

"What the hell?" Naruto cried.

But then he heard it and realized what Sasuke was doing. Getting to the other world always required forcing some one in this one to question reality. As the bloodied Tsunade turned back toward them, the look on her face made it obvious that the trick had worked. That, and the dull noise growing in the background.

"Why did… why would…" Tsunade sputtered.

But her words were drowned out as darkness descended on the trio once more.