Warnings: Violence, blood, implied death. Sasuke's still a missing nin. Sequel to follow, though I would love to see you guys write some sequels for it. Thanks for reading.

The Martyrdom of Saint Me
by vernajast

Team 7

(this could only ever have ended one way)

"Why?"

My body just moved on its own.

"Why, y-you idiots!"

It's my promise of a lifetime!

"Why did you do it!"

Sakura slid her gaze over the two fallen bodies lying across her legs. She could feel their blood running in hot streams over her skin, but she couldn't make herself move away.

A person who abandons his teammates is trash.

This is my ninja way!

You are my closest friend.

Sasuke!

Usuratonkachi.

TEME!

She squeezed her eyes shut when Naruto shivered, not wanting to see the jerky movements as he slowly reached for Sasuke's hand. Through clenched teeth, she asked again, "Why...Naruto?" Opening her eyes, she peered at their joined hands in a detached way-aware of her jealousy, but not a part of it.

"Because..." Naruto coughed. Blood flecked his lips. "Because he would have done...the same for me."

"LIAR!" She didn't care if anyone heard now. In fact, if they heard, maybe the rescue team would arrive sooner and Shizune (please let her be on that team) could save one of them. Both of them.

"Hey, hey, Sa-sakura-chan! You gotta believe me. He did it before. We...were always s-saving each other...tebayo..."

Sakura pursed her lips, mentally assessing her own injuries. There was nothing life-threatening, cuts and scrapes, mostly from where Sasuke had knocked her to the ground. She pushed a bit of her chakra away toward her teammates, shocked at the damage they had both sustained. "Your organs..."

"Kyuubi's being a jerk about it, too," Naruto muttered, but he flashed her a smile and squeezed Sasuke's still hand in his own. "It'll be all right, Sakura-chan!"

"Idiot..."

Naruto tilted his head in time to catch Sasuke's faint smile, though his eyes were closed and his body unmoving. "What did you call me, b-bastard?"

There was a tremble in Naruto's voice, warmth in the automatic insult, and Sakura suddenly felt as if she were intruding on something private between her teammates (Sasuke will always be a teammate, no matter what happens).

"An idiot, of course." The evenness of Sasuke's voice betrayed his pain-it was practically monotone-and he was smirking, still pretending to be brave.

"Right..." Had Naruto always been capable of being so quiet? "I guess you're right. I couldn't let ya have all the attention, eh?" A fake laugh to go with his fake smile.

"You didn't...have to...mor-on"

"Yeah, I did." Naruto shook his head a little, shifting the path of a bead of sweat before it could find its way into his eye. Sweat or blood. "I slowed that thing down, but...you stopped it. It h-had to be both of us...bastard, no other way." When he coughed, more blood colored his lips and a few drops landed on Sasuke's ghostly skin, white from bloodloss and contrasting sharply against black Akatsuki robes.

"Can't do 'nything...on your own, d-dobe..."

"Wouldn'...wanna, teme."

Their voices were growing fainter, and Sakura sat frozen in shock, listening to the last words of her teammates. They had given their lives for her, and it had been just like Naruto said: his body had slowed the strange jutsu before it embedded itself in Sasuke. Then, Sasuke must have done something...the enemy had disappeared in a gout of black flames. (It was all so fast.)

"So, so we saved you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto didn't turn his head up to smile again, and a hollow feeling in Sakura's gut told her he probably couldn't anymore. "It's okay, S-Sakura-chan...w-we saved you..."

Sasuke made a quiet noise, a whimper. The utter wrongness of it snapped something in the young medic nin pinned beneath the two boys. "NO! This isn't how it ends!"

Her words echoed off the trees and the rockface behind them, but neither of her teammates heard it.

[ .end ]