And we all stood like that, staring at the figure lying before us. None of us wanted to believe he was really there. Oh, we wanted him back but we had imagined him coming home much differently. We were happy in our fantasies instead of run down from a failed mission.
"Come on. Let's go." Kakashi-sensei's voice was emotionless, almost cold. He wanted this moment to be different just as much as the rest of us. "Come on."
Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei began to check their things, making sure that everything was in order, trying act as normal as they could. I refused to move, still staring at the motionless form or Sasuke.
"It could hurt him if we move him. He still isn't healed all the way." I was surprised that my voice came out strong instead of the weak whisper I thought it would be.
Hinata-san and Lee-kun were standing off to the side, not sure of what to do. Neither of them had been very close to Sasuke-kun, so they kept their distance.
I kneeled down next to him again. "Sasuke-kun… I really hope th-this isn't you." I didn't expect him to answer since he was unconscious. I already knew that it was him, but I still didn't want to believe it. Maybe if I turned my back he'd disappear. Maybe I was asleep. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't. I was in real life and he had come back. I wished I could make the pain go away even if it was a childish wish. I had never liked it when he was unconscious.
"Come on. You want to heal him back in Konoha, right?" I jumped at Kakashi-sensei's voice, it being cold as ever. I only hoped this was his way of coping.
"Y-yeah." I nodded and began to gather my things, strewn about from looking for the small kunai.
As I gathered my belongings I couldn't help but to glance over at Sasuke every once in a while. He seemed different, like the air about him had changed. He seemed… older. I couldn't wait to take him back to Konoha, get to know him again.
I looked over my shoulder to see Naruto-kun standing stiff as a board, Hinata-san standing very close to him. His shoulders were shaking a bit and I longed to tell him everything was going to be alright. But I didn't know if it would be so I kept quiet.
After gathering all of my belongings I put one arm under Sasuke's head and another under his legs and tried to carry his weight. I assumed that he'd gotten heavier or that I was very weak right now.
"Do you need any help, Sakura-chan?" I looked up at Lee-kun as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
"Y-yeah… Just be careful with him."
"Of course I will. If he is special to you, I will protect him the same way I would you." I smiled at Lee-kun, wondering why he thought I was worth protecting.
"I, um… Th-the tr-trail… if w-we t-take the p-path back and, and t-take the f-fork that h-heads st-straight w-we'll make it b-back in about t-two days." We all focused our attention on Hinata-san, making her even more nervous.
"How we will get Him back without losing all of our strength? If He's unconscious we'll have to carry him, right?" Surprising, Naruto-kun's voice was strong, too.
"Only if we switch the person who carries Him once in a while." Kakashi-sensei's voice was still flat, distant.
I shook my head at his statement. "That could make the damage worse. We want to move Him as little as possible."
"Why is that?" Naruto-kun looked confused. He hadn't known that Sasuke was wounded.
"Because. I could only heal the external wound. On the inside he's still pretty messed up. If we move him around a lot it could make the internal wound worse."
"Oh, so what do we do, Ms. Doctor?"
I glared at Kakashi-sensei. He went from being cold to just plain mean. "I don't know. I'm just saying that we can't move Him around a lot."
"But… what if the wound becomes too much before we get Him back to Konoha?" Naruto took a step towards Sasuke.
"I… I can try to work on it. U-um, who wants to carry Him?"
"I will do it! You can trust me!" Lee-kun broke out into the Nice Guy pose, bringing a weak smile to my face. I was glad that he could keep his spirits up in tough situations.
"H-how should w-we d-do th-this?"
"Um…" I quickly mapped out where we should be placed in line. "Lee-kun, you're in front of me. Hinata-san, you're behind me. Naruto-kun is behind Hinata and Kakashi-sensei and Pakkun are in front of Lee."
We all got into our positions and began to walk the path in silence. I fell behind sometimes, getting caught up in my thoughts. There was little I could do back in Konoha. And nobody would be willing to heal Sasuke-kun after what he had done. After all of this, he still screwed.