Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I am currently very disappointed in the current story arc (Curry of Life). But all of them are just so lovable and the manga remains awesome that my love for Naruto is not faltering.

A/N: I didn't get any reviews for last chapter, which was a little disappointing considering the amount of work I put into getting the dialogue word-for-word with the series. I guess though, that since it was not an original idea or something, and just a replay of the series, it did not really warrant any reviews.

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Sakura was panicking. Kiba's vitals had been all over the place—she had never seen anything like it before. His heart would race and then drastically slow down, only to speed up again. All over his organs were failing him—as soon as she would restart one, another would stop. Her chakra was almost taxed, her mind at it's breaking point. Her body was sweaty and shaky, like she had been healing for hours.

It had only been five seconds sine Sasuke had begun the justu.

In those two seconds, Kiba's body went through decade of trauma, it seemed. And while she wanted to sit back an understand it all, there was no time. She was completely and utterly focused on keeping Kiba alive. Because having Kiba alive was the only way she knew of to save Sasuke, and Sasuke's happiness was everything to her.

She felt Kiba's chest heave—he was trying to gasp. Alarmed, she looked with her chakra into his chest cavity again.

His heart was still beating.

But not strongly.

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Neji watched as the justu finished. Before, he had seen what appeared to be infinite amounts of chakra coming from Sasuke. But when Kiba's body twitched, all of the chakra disappeared as if the jutsu had never happened. While he watched Sakura desperately try to heal the Inuzuka, he himself caught Sasuke as the boy fell to the ground.

He could hear Sakura grinding her teeth as she furiously worked to keep Kiba alive. Looking over, he watched Kiba's body fight to cling on to life.

Disengaging his Byuukagen, Neji studied the face of the boy in his arms. Eyes closed, mouth slightly parted, skin pale…he could see it, just a bit. He could see something in that face worth the trouble Kiba had gone through. Worth all the turmoil and the struggles. Passed out, Sasuke looked beautiful, some of his innocence regained in his vulnerable state. Sasuke's face was caught in between a child's and a man's, a demon and an angel…the perfect mixture of sinful grace. For a minute, Neji was jealous of Kiba, for he knew the boy must see this face often. God knew no one else ever got to see the Uchiha in such a compromised position. Sasuke strutted around, all arrogance and cold, never letting anyone past his thick wall.

But there, there in that room…Neji caught a glimpse of what Kiba loved in the Uchiha.

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Kiba was alive, but just barely. Sakura was literally pouring all of her own chakra into the boy to keep his system from shutting down. If he didn't improve soon, she was going to run out of chakra.

And that would mean trouble.

Tsunade didn't know they were doing this. She would never have allowed Kiba to place his life on the line for a jutsu that no one knew about. Sakura could remember what the jutsu had done to Kakashi, a skilled jounin with his own Sharingan protection. She had wanted to help, but now that Kiba was dying under her hands, she couldn't help but doubt herself—had she made the right decision promoting this?

"Neji, I need you here."

She glanced over and caught the Hyuuga holding Sasuke delicately with a look in his open white eyes of…longing? Was Neji actually looking at Sasuke with longing? But there was no time for her to debate what she was seeing.

"HYUUGA. I NEED YOU HERE. NOW." Her forceful words snapped Neji out of whatever place he had been in and he rushed to her side.

"What can I do, Sakura?"

She was nervous—she knew of this technique, but had never tried it. Hell, Tsunade had never tried it. Then again, the Hokage had never needed to. But she was about to give, and then Kiba would die. This whole thing had been a gamble…why shouldn't she push her luck just a little further?

"Neji, listen carefully. Place your right hand on Kiba's forehead." She watched as Neji followed her instructions. "Now, slowly move your left hand to my right. I will lift off my hand and we are going to hold hands, tightly. My left hand will remain on Kiba's abdomen."

Neji followed her instructions quickly. If he was curious about what she was going to do, it didn't show in his face.

"Ok…on the count of three…grab my hand. You will feel a big pull because I am borrowing your chakra."

"Hn. Have you ever done this before, Sakura?"

"No, Neji…I haven't."

"Ok."

They locked gazes for an instant, fear and adrenaline coursing through their veins. But there wasn't any time for hesitation.

"One…"

They moved their hands close to one another.

"Two…"

Their fingertips touched, trembling.

"Three."

Their fingers interlaced, gripping hard. Sakura closed her eyes, focusing her energy. It was the most difficult thing she had ever done. Half of her was devoted to drawing Neji's chakra out of his body and commingling it with her own. The other half of her had to forcefully, yet with precision, push that mixed chakra into Kiba's body, then back into Neji's hand, causing a circular flow of healing chakra. On top of that, she soon discovered why this technique was not used—Neji's chakra burned her. When it entered her body, it burned, and she could feel her own system trying to reject the foreign chakra. It took endurance on her part to endure the pain enough to continue the conversion. If she stopped sending chakra into Kiba, not only would he die but she would suffer injuries from her own chakra overload.

Sweat was forming on her brow. She heard a moan and glanced at Neji. His eyes were closed and he was swaying, but he didn't loosen his grip on her hand. Losing chakra at a fast rate was taking its toll on him as well.

But…

It was working. Kiba's system was slowly beginning to stabalize.

If I can just hold on a little longer… she thought.

Kiba…we'll save you.

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Kiba was in hell, he was sure of it. Somewhere during the jutsu, Sasuke had lost him and now he was in hell.

His whole body felt like it was being ripped apart. He knew this feeling—he had felt it with Itachi in the woods, so long ago…Had it been that long ago?

Where Kiba was, time no longer meant anything.

He had seen his lover Sasuke, had been his lover, feeling the torment and agony of years of solitude. He felt as if he wad watched his own parents die before him, killed by the brother he admired the most.

Itachi.

How foolish Kiba had been…how they all had been. If anyone had known what Itachi had been like that night, if anyone had witnessed what Sasuke had seen…they wouldn't be able to remain sane. To watch one boy ruthlessly wipe out an entire clan…

And for what?

Kiba was taken back to that night repeatedly in his mind. He watched the blood, felt it spray on to him, each drop burning a hole in his skin.

He was so absorbed in Sasuke that he was no longer sure where Sasuke began and Kiba ended.

And underneath the physical pain, underneath the repetitive memories…Kiba could feel his sanity breaking.

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Sakura gasped as she broke the chakra chain. Her palm was seared from Neji's chakra. She watched the Hyuuga lie down beside her, his chest sharply rising as he struggled to catch his breath. Neither of them could move. But Kiba was stable in front of them, his face calm, his breathing even and his heart beating healthfully. Even his eyes were open, black slits staring at the ceiling. He hadn't said anything yet, and Sakura felt a need to give the Inuzuka a chance to digest.

But after two minutes he still hadn't spoken, or even turned to look at her.

"Kiba?" She whispered.

But he kept looking up, mouth slightly agape.

"Kiba?" She said it louder, hoping maybe he just hadn't heard her the first time.

There was no response.

"Kiba! Answer me!" Sakura was panicked. The boy was physically fine, but there was no response. It pained her to move, but she crawled over to him and waved her hand over his eyes.

He didn't blink.

There are limits, Tsunade had explained while training her, to a med nin's healing capabilities. Someone with great amounts of chakra could do incredible healing feats. They could regrow tissue, sometimes even organs. They could sew together a heart ripped into shreds and help it to beat again. Some medical ninjas could even, very rarely, bring someone back from death (afterall, Tsunade had brought back Naruto and Kiba both). But a person's mind was something no amount of skill or chakra could heal. If someone's mind had been broken…it could not be repaired.

Looking at Kiba's blank, unresponding eyes…Sakura knew that Kiba was broken. A vegetable.

If she had had any more energy, she would have wept. Instead, she just closed her eyes and lay down beside Neji. Neither she nor he were very close, their teams having little to to with each other, but the Hyuuga offered her his embrace and she took it. They mourned together, each too exhausted to even shed a tear.

But then, just as Sakura was about to pass out from the fatigue, she heard a scratching noise.

It was soft and slow, and awkwardly paced.

She didn't even have the energy to sit up, but somehow she managed to roll over enough to see Sasuke. He was pulling himself along the floor toward Kiba. She felt Neji turn to watch as well.

"S-Sasuke?"

The Uchiha turned to her, his eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

"Is he alive? D-did I kill him…again?" She could see the panic in his face.

"No! No, you didn't kill him. He's alive. But…"

"But what?"

"Sasuke…Kiba isn't…he isn't responding."

"What do you mean, he isn't responding?"

But she could see in his features and the way they twisted that Sasuke already knew. He knew what had happened.

"Sasuke…I'm so sorry. I tried my hardest."

"Sakura, Neji…thank you."

And with that, Sasuke began to pull himself toward his lover again. When he finally made it next to Kiba, Sasuke bit his own tongue to keep from crying out. The blood tasted like metal in his mouth. He looked into those eyes…those eyes that had been so full of life and love and compassion and…forgiveness. Now all of that was gone, and all that was left was a blank stare.

Grunting, Sasuke heaved himself on top of Kiba. He didn't care about what Neji or Sakura saw. He somehow instinctively knew what he needed to do. The Uchiha lay his body flat on top of his lover's, forming himself to familiar curves. He buried his face in Kiba's hair, his lips next to the Inuzuka's ear.

"Kiba, I know you can hear me." Sasuke was barely whispering. He knew Sakura and Neji couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Kiba. Feel my warmth. Feel my heart beat. Feel the breath coming in and out of my chest. Feel those things, and come back to them." A few tears escaped, tricking down Sasuke's cheek and into Kiba's mess of brown hair.

"My love…it is ok now. As I took care of you, and you took care of me, I shall take care of you again. I understand now that we are destined to forever care for each other, fixing each other, making each other stronger, better. I can never be better…can never beat my brother…without you."

Sasuke felt closely. He could feel Kiba's heart and breath beginning to match his own. Their chests rose and fell together. The gentle thumping came in unison. It was calming, reassuring to feel another person's body aligned so similarly to his own.

"Kiba. Come back to my warmth. Follow my voice. Feel our hearts beating together. You are safe now."

The skin below his was beginning to warm.

"You are my love. You are Inuzuka Kiba. You are a strong ninja who fights like an animal. You care for Akamaru, the most loyal dog in Konoha. You saved me, Kiba."

Sasuke was too tired to continue. He relaxed his whole body on top of Kiba's, letting himself sink into his lover's flesh.

"I love you, Kiba."

Blackness threatened to overtake him. Just as he closed his eyes, Sasuke felt two arms circle around his waist.

"I love you, Sasuke. I am never letting you go again."

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A/N: One more chapter, so for the love all things Naruto, pleeeeaaaaase review my fic. My writer's ego is in serious need of stroking, folks. Because I am worried that, after putting the fic aside for so long, I've lost my touch and that things aren't flowing as well, or aren't as interesting anymore. Please feel free to critique the fic—I can take it. Is it too slow? Too sappy? Let me know!

One more chappie left!