Chapter 9

Rolling side to side, the girl hugged the soft material around her and buried her face into the comfortable fabric.

Her mind didn't register at first but on a second thought she noted whatever it is, it smelled minty.

She snuggled closer to whatever it is and it was then her jade eyes cracked opened. She lied there for about 5 minutes as she allowed her head to finish swimming.

"ACHOOOU!-" She felt her head processed slowly than usual but the sneeze woke her up a little. The girl sat up, drowsily looking around.

It took another minute till she noticed she was on the bed instead of the floor. Sakura rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming and yes, she really wasn't.

She looked around for any sign of Sasuke but found none.

Did I somehow crawled onto the bed…..

She decided it doesn't matter anyway since Sasuke is not around, or else he would have murdered her already for taking his bed.

Sakura sat up on the bed and placed her bare feet on the cold floor. She shivered at the contact of the freezing surface and wondered where her shoe went.

Now thinking about it, she hasn't been wearing shoes from the beginning since she took them off in the cell.

Letting out a sigh, she will have to deal with this for now.

What time is it? The girl couldn't help but wonder how long she had been sleeping as she washed her face. There wasn't a window nor a clock. For all she knew, she could have sleep for more than a day.

Deciding is time to get the hell out of here, she opened the door, surprised that it wasn't lock or sealed, and head down the direction they came from yesterday.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fuck. Sasuke hissed when the pain on his abdomen seem to rip him from the he had taken one more blow, then it will be it. He would have died back there.

Sasuke had went on a mission to retrieve the Hachibi earlier in the morning. He was difficult but the Uchiha had it in control. Killer Bee was very skilled but it wasn't enough to defeat him.

His sharingan proved an advantage against the jinchuriki, he had the upper hand. However, he knew his mission have failed when Raikage showed up.

He was in no shape to fight him off.

Luckily he only received one blow from Killer Bee's brother, and was able to transfer away in time.

He cursed when another pain erupted from his lung. Blood was dripping down his lips and everywhere from parts of his body nearly soaking his shirt. His steps were heavy and he could feel his vision double on every steps he took.

His hand clenched onto the bleeding as he made his way back to his room. Using the wall as support, he moved slowly each step hurting his broken leg. Both of his legs are either broken or cracked along the bones, it wasn't pleasant as the sharp pain run through his nerves.

Shit.

Sasuke lost his footing as he fell forward, his conscious slowly slipping away.

He waited for the contact of the hard surface but it never came, instead, he was leaning on something soft.

"Sasuke."

He heard his name but his head was too heavy to lift up to see who it was.

The smell of strawberry.

Before his vision blacked, there he saw a flash of pink.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Oh. Great, him again. Sakura sighed when she spotted her captor around the corner. How did she not sense his chakra, damn it.

She stood there waiting for him to say something or waiting for a glare. He always does that to her anyway.

"I'm not staying in the room." She emphasized, if he wanted her back there, he will have to force this one.

Dead silence.

"Sasuke?" He was leaning against the wall but without any sign of acknowledging her.

Still no response.

The hall was dark with only a fire lighted a few meters away, Sakura couldn't see his eyes with his bangs covering majority of his face. She stepped closer when he did not move.

She bended down her head a little to see what is going on and he nearly surprised her when he fell forward.

Sakura caught him by his shoulders in mere reflex so he would not face plant the floor.

W-what's going on?! Her eyes widen in shock when she realized his cloak was soak in blood and so were his clothes. Behind him was a trail of dark liquid that she concluded is blood.

Her medic sense kicked her out of the shock and she quickly put his arm around her shoulder, the most important thing is to get the blood to stop.

Deciding to enter the closest room, Sakura kicked the door open and she was glad to find a sofa at the side of the room. She also recognize this is the place where she ate lunch yesterday, but that isn't important.

She need to help him as soon as possible.

He was sweating and his brows narrowed stating he is in pain. Coughs can be heard from time to time and his breathing was uneven, showing the sign of damages in his lungs.

Sakura closed her eyes as she concentrated to channel the chakra into her hands.

Come on, come one. A curse escaped her lips when she knew this little amount of chakra isn't enough! She needs a lot more for a surgery level treatment.

"Wait for me." She mumbled a whisper before rushing out the room.

XXXXXXXXXXX

She yelled.

Very loud, she suppose.

But it doesn't matter, she needed to find someone. Anyone.

When she ran around the corner, there stood Kisame, dumbfounded at her worried expression.

Without a word, she took hold of his hand and dragged him to the room where she laid the Uchiha.

Having no idea what is going on, Kisame went along with it.

When they were in the room, she turned to the blue skin man and raised her hands to show him the cuffs.

"Please- Kisame, please take them off-" Her heart was beating very hard against her chest, she thought it would have broken out of her ribcage if she let it continue.

"You can do whatever to me after this is done. I won't escape. I-I just have to heal him," She knows she looked pathetic and helpless but as a medic, she won't let pride affect her.

"…..please."

She was worry. Very worry. He doesn't need to be a genius to tell from her beating heart and pleading look.

"I don't want him to die."

With a tiresome sigh, Kisame reached to her cuffs. "Alright, it will be a pain if we lost the Uchiha anyway."

He noted that she is very lucky that she found him, after all, this chakra cuffs were made from his hometown and he is the one who made them.

Casing the chakra into his palm, Kisame wrapped his hand around the cuffs and release them into the metal.

The cuffs split in the middle and clattered against the floor with a loud noise. Before she can even take the first step, her eyes fogged and felt her legs shook.

"Oh be careful. You probably won't feel great for a while cus your chakra is rushing back in every parts of your body all in one go." He caught her arm before she fell to the floor.

"I'm fine." She stood firm and rushed to Sasuke who is painfully clenching onto his lung.

"Sasuke." She gently touched his arm trying to pray it off from his bleeding chest.

"Don't touch me." He growled and she realized his eyes were open. He regarded her with hate or disgust, she assumed.

"Shut up." She narrowed her eyes before shoving his hand away but careful not to injury him more.

"I'm trying to save your sorry ass here." Her hands glowed in green and she placed them above his most severe wound.

At that instant, Sasuke lost conscious with the amount of pain dragging his life down. Sakura continue to work her way towards fixing the damage lungs and at the same time trying to lessen his pain by hitting the numbing nerves.

She didn't want to think who possible did it and she doesn't want to know if he deserves it or not. She just wanted to keep him alive.

I won't let you die.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kisame yawned for the nth time as he watched the pink hair medic pour more chakra into the unconscious Uchiha lying motionlessly on the sofa. It has pasted more than 6 hours and there she is, still kneeling there fixing him.

To be honest, he is greatly surprised by the amount of chakra and concentration she has. He knows 4 hours are max for top medic-nin but she has surpass that time long ago. No wonder every country is considering Haruno Sakura as the world top level aside from the fifth Hokage.

Though he is more surprise, shock even, that she didn't pass out when her chakra rushed back into her body after the cuffs were off.

Even Akatsuki members have a hard time remaining conscious after being released from a chakra restraining cuffs. Jounin, he had seem took about 2 days and some can take as long as a week to recover.

He smirked as she watched the girl's concentrating eyes.

The Uchiha brat really need to thank her later.

*cough, cough. She has been coughing quit a lot durning the pass few hours. He let out a sigh thinking when she will stop.

"Are you going to be done anytime soon?" He asked wondering if she can even hear him with all that concentration.

"…..Almost." She wiped the sweat forming on her forehead with the back of her palm.

Minutes later, Sasuke stirred slightly before his eyes cracked open. His head swim in a uncomfortable way but the pain is no longer there.

The first thing he saw was a blur of pink before her worried expression became clear to him.

When he looked her in her eyes, she let out a small smile.

"Are you feeling fine?"

His heartbeat jumped for a brief moment but his stoic expression was quickly replaced by an annoyed look. He sat up, slowly , but managed.

"I said don't touch me." He shoved her away, away from him. He doesn't want to see any konoha-nin the first thing he woke up.

Without any strength left in her, Sakura fell backwards when Sasuke shove her away. She fell on her rear but was glad her arms were still able to hold her up or she will looked so pathetic lying on the floor.

When she fell backwards, he almost, almost reached out for her, but he controlled himself.

"Woww…..this is the only thank you I get from saving you jerk." Sakura cursed and some indignant words escaped her mouth as she rubbed her sore back.

Kisame laughed at the scene before standing up from his sit.

"Sasuke, you really gotta thank pinky this time. You probably will have died right there if she didn't spend hours fixing you."

He walked towards Sakura and the worn out girl let out a tiresome sigh before she raised her hands.

"Now then…..sorry pinky, but couldn't let you go loose." Sasuke watched the blue skin man kneed down in front of her and placed the cuffs around her wrists. He pieced the evidence together and concluded she did save him from the edge of death.

His brow narrowed at that. This idea is certainly not pleasant to the Uchiha. He wouldn't want her to save him even if he dies, his pride wouldn't allow that. Though he knew she wouldn't watch him bleed to death even if he forced her not to heal him.

Sakura's hands instantly dropped when the constrains were placed on her again. This feeling of having her chakra cut more even though she doesn't have any left made her feel like hell.

"Since my job is done, see ya pinky, and don't forget our little promise." Sakura waved him bye and gave him a smile for willing to listen to her request.

When the door clicked close, Sakura let out a tired sigh.

"What promise." The Uchiha demanded not liking the way Kisame talked to her.

"None of your concern." Being a bastard he is, Sakura didn't want to talk to him anymore.

Using the remaining strength she has, the girl lean herself agains the sofa and placed her head back. Because there is no way she can place herself on the sofa so all she can do is sit by it on the floor and lean against it.

All she can do at most.

She really felt like shit.

"What? Aren't you going to go. You can see that I can't escape this way anyway…." Her eyes remained close when she directed the words towards the Uchiha.

He didn't answer and Sakura find there is no reason to force out a answer anyway. It doesn't make a difference.

He watched her breath in and out rather heavily as he sat there. He doesn't know why he is sitting there. He can just leave, he knows she couldn't escape at this rate.

Why is he still here?

He found himself playing with the strands of pink hair spread on the sofa where her head is resting.

She fell sleep already.

He wiped off the sweat forming on her forehead and bend down to her level. Her chakra level is nearly gone, he can barely sense her even from this close. Usually he can sense her even from the entrance of the base but now, there is nothing.

Stupid woman. Why force yourself…. He cursed inwardly before scooped her up in his arms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reviews are appreciated thank you!