Chapter 6.- Mind Rebirth

"She called it: Risei Keturetsu no Jutsu." Sakura finished in a low voice, almost as if she dreaded her own words.

"Risei Keturetsu no Jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura just nodded.

"The Mind Rupture Technique." Sakura declared. "And just by the name I presume you can guess the consequences."

"It's impossible." Kakashi dropped onto a nearby chair, his face showed pure shock and denial. "Izuki…she can't go down like this."

"Tell me this is all a lie Sakura." Sasuke said turning to Sakura.

Sakura didn't dare answer him, it pained her too much. And when Sasuke took her chin to raise her head to him she just sobbed at seeing him: his face was the clear image of pain, a pain so deep it was as if he were dying from the inside.

"Tell me you're lying Sakura." Sasuke insisted.

"Gomen ne Sasuke-kun…" Sakura managed to mutter between sobs. "But it is the truth."

"Iie…" Sasuke shook his head in defeat.

And just then, something none of them would have believed weren't they seeing it with their own eyes. Sasuke dropped onto his knees, letting his tears fall, his sobs were barely audible but Sakura and Kakashi knew they were there, and his body was shaking slightly. It was as if suddenly he didn't care if those in the same room as him saw him crying, if anyone believed him weak, or a cry-baby (not that either of them could think such a thing of him); it was as if suddenly he didn't care about being the cold insensible shinobi anymore.

"Oh Sasuke-kun…" Sakura didn't know what to say.

And just then Sakura couldn't help but follow her feelings in that moment, as she moved her arms to encircle Sasuke's shoulders, pulling him to her, trying to give him some kind of comfort.

"I can't lose her Sakura-chan." Sasuke whispered as he embraced her back.

And Sakura didn't know if it was what was happening to Izuki, the fact of Sasuke hugging her back, that he had just called her 'Sakura-chan', or everything put together but she broke down and cried with him.

Kakashi was quite surprised at the sight before him. To see the Uchiha boy finally exposing his feelings, and accepting the help of someone he had for such a long time called weak and annoying; and to see that girl who just three days ago had demonstrated to be stronger than anybody might have believed her to be, giving her unconditional help to that boy; Kakashi never imagined he would ever witness such a thing.

"Calm down Sasuke-kun." Sakura whispered to him. "Izuki-san will be alright. You'll see it, she'll wake up soon and everything will be alright."

"I can't lose her Sakura-chan." Sasuke insisted. "I can't lose her when I just found her."

.---.

Sakura would have wanted to stay next to Sasuke longer, but she knew her parents would go berserk if she didn't make it home for dinner that night. Naruto had offered to accompany her, as he was going to his apartment and it wasn't too far from Sakura's house. Sakura thought to decline, but finally accepted, after all, what problem was there in accepting a friend's company on the way home?

"You know Sakura-chan, there's something I wanted to tell you." Naruto commented. "In that battle, against Itachi and Kisame you were, well, wonderful."

"Arigato." Sakura thanked him the compliment.

"I never imagined you could be that powerful Sakura-chan." Naruto insisted with a big smile. "All those abilities, and jutsus, and the healing…it is just incredible."

"I told you I would train and become strong for you and Sasuke-kun, so I wouldn't be a burden anymore, so I would be able to help you, to protect you in battle instead of being the one that always needs protection."

"Well," Naruto decided to change a bit of topic. "So that Sasuke-baka is gonna stay again tonight in the hospital?"

"You know the answer to that question Naruto-kun; and we both know Kakashi-sensei tried to convince him otherwise, but it was useless."

"Kakashi-sensei should know by now it is useless to make Sasuke change his mind. That Sasuke has been staying every night, most of the time with Izuki-san, although from what I know he would go see you every once in a while."

"Well, he stays with Izuki-sensei because after all she is his sister. And about me, well, we are friends, there's nothing abnormal."

"Yeah sure." Naruto suddenly stopped in his walk and turned to face her. "Sakura-chan, I may be crazy, and act like a stupid some times, but I'm not that dense. You care deeply for Sasuke, and for what I could see in these last days he cares for you too."

"Naruto-kun…" Sakura didn't know what to say.

But there was no need to say anything, they had finally arrived to their destiny.

.---.

After dinner Sakura went to her bedroom, took a long well-deserved bath; and right as she was about to get in bed to get some sleep she noticed something on her desk. Right in the middle of the desk, in front of the photograph of team seven was a certain notebook. Sakura immediately took it in her hands. It looked a bit old, with dark-purple covers and yellowish pages, each of them referred about a different jutsu, the name, classification, rank, description and any other information that could be useful for the one who may wish to learn it.

"It's Izuki-sensei's notebook." Sakura murmured to herself.

She remembered that right after Izuki had taught her the 'Cloud Walk' and some basics for the healing, she gave Sakura that notebook, so she would choose what jutsu she wished to learn, and what difficulties she might have to learn it.

"Maybe in here I'll find something to help Izuki-sensei." Sakura said while flipping through the pages.

And after a few minutes she indeed found something that could be useful.

"It's difficult, and dangerous." Sakura murmured to herself as she thought hard about it. "If anything goes wrong I might not come out of it…"

Just then Sasuke's tearful face came into her mind.

"But I must do it." Sakura said suddenly serious. "It might be the only way, the only way of ever seeing Sasuke smile again."

.---.

During the following weeks it was almost impossible to find Sakura. Every morning she would pass by the Yamanaka Flower Shop, buy a daffodil and put it in a vase, next to Izuki's bed. Sasuke recognized the flower as the same he found next to his bed the day he woke up in the hospital, just Sakura could think of bringing to him such flowers in that time, and now she was having the same gesture for his sister.

Sometimes Sakura would find Sasuke sitting in a chair, sleeping while holding one of Izuki's hands between his own, others she would find Kakashi-sensei in the same place; or the few times that neither of them were of the room Sakura could guess it was because they were on the cafeteria eating something, or in their respective departments taking a bath.

After she had left the hospital it would be impossible for anyone to find Sakura, as she went deep into the woods of Konoha to be able to practice the jutsu that, at the moment, was her sensei's only hope.

.---.

One certain morning, some days after Sakura had begun her new training, Sasuke caught Sakura as she was about to leave the hospital.

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun." Sakura greeted.

"Ohayo Sakura-chan." Sasuke replied.

Sakura had to admit she was really happy Sasuke hadn't stop calling her Sakura-chan after that conversation in the hospital room.

"Here again?" Sasuke asked as if he didn't know she went everyday.

"Hai." Sakura nodded. "I like to come and see how Izuki-sensei is doing, and to bring her a flower, along with my wishes for her recuperation."

"It's so kind of you." Sasuke commented.

"It's the only thing I can do. Even if she isn't family to me, I really appreciate her."

"That I can see."

"Excuse me Sasuke-kun, but I must be going."

"Just one more question Sakura-chan."

"Hai, what is it?"

"You come here every morning, but all throughout the rest of the day no one can find you. Where do you go?"

At first Sakura was rather surprised that Sasuke would ask her such a thing, or that he had even noticed.

"I'm just training." Sakura answered simply. "Matta ashita Sasuke-kun."

And the Uchiha didn't seem to be able to see the deep meaning behind those simple words.

.---.

Three weeks had passed by since Sakura's awakening when she believed it was time to act.

'I'm not sure if I'm truly ready to do this.' The pink-haired kunoichi murmured to herself. 'But Izuki-sensei has been asleep for too long already, I don't think Sasuke-kun will be able to handle this much longer.'

Sakura wasn't unprepared. She was carrying in her belt five bottles filled with a blue hue, it was chakra.

Sakura managed to make a transformation technique to make herself look like Shizune. The nurses let her pass to Izuki's room and then helped her take her to a Healing Room. The Healing Room was a big place, completely empty; done like this so the medi-nins could use any necessary seals or jutsus, and as the walls were chakra-proof, no one would feel what she would be doing, and so no one would be able to stop her.

"I must be completely crazy." Sakura murmured to herself as she closed the door and canceled the transformation jutsu.

She finished the preparations as she laid Izuki right in the center of the room, then she put the five bottles around, uniting them using chakra-strings, making the form of a five-pointed star. After leaving everything ready Sakura situated herself right at the feet of the star.

"Izuki-sensei is going to kill me when she finds out what I did." Sakura murmured to herself.

The special healing jutsu she was about to perform was classified as an S-rank jutsu, and according to the notebook it was supposed to be performed with five helpers; each of them who were to give chakra to one point of the star, while the main ninja performed the seals and everything else.

But as Sakura was completely alone (she couldn't risk to ask for help of anyone else) she had done a special jutsu to store chakra in the special bottles. It was still risky, but with a little luck, and many help from those above she would be able to pull it off.

"Well…" Sakura sighed as she got ready. "It's time to begin."

With a harsh movement the caps of the bottles flew off, and the chakra began circling around the place. Sakura immediately began the complicate series of seals. And about a minute later when she saw the chakra had already formed the star and was reaching Izuki; that was Sakura's cue to begin:

"Gosakihoshi Hijutsu: Risei Saisei!"

All the blue chakra in the room suddenly turned into green (the healing chakra); it began spiraling around the bottles and then forming the star. Sakura's chakra on the other hand came from her hands and directly to Izuki's head.

It took just a few seconds for Sakura to begin feeling the consequences of the jutsu, she was weakening fast, maybe too fast.

'Iie.' Sakura murmured as she dropped to her knees, but never lowering her hands. 'I can't give up. I knew the consequences even before I began this jutsu, I have to go through with it.'

.---.

That night Sasuke had accepted Kakashi's offer of going to a nearby restaurant to eat something, and when they were both back Sasuke immediately panicked.

"Oh no…" Sasuke immediately sprinted off.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked as he ran hard, trying to keep up with the boy.

"I don't feel Izuki-nee-san." Sasuke answered.

This worried Kakashi. It was well known that in some clans existed that ability, to be able to feel when one of their same clan was near or when they weren't.

Less than three minutes later Sasuke and Kakashi were already at Izuki's room's door. And at arriving there their suspicions were just confirmed.

"Damn!" Sasuke cursed under his breath.

Just then a nurse passed by.

"Excuse me, where's the patient from this room?" Kakashi asked.

"The patient?" the nurse seemed to be confused.

"Her name is Izuki, Uchiha Izuki." Sasuke insisted. "She was supposed to be here."

"Are you family of her?" the nurse asked.

"I am her brother." Sasuke said, getting angrier by each second. "Now, where is she?"

"Let's see." The nurse checked her pad and nodded. "She is in a Healing Session right now; a medi-nin took her almost half an hour ago."

"Nani?" Sasuke was again going to curse.

"That's impossible." Kakashi stepped in, trying to calm down the boy. "Tsunade-sama said healing sessions wouldn't help her and that she shouldn't be moved."

"Ano…" The nurse seemed to be in panic all of a sudden.

Again Sasuke cursed and immediately ran off. He already knew where the Healing Rooms were located, even one who had never been there would be able to deduce it, just by sensing the only spot in that building where no chakra could be felt.

Kakashi immediately followed.

Once they arrived they could see just one of the Healing Rooms was occupied at the moment, all the others were open, dark and empty. And just as Sasuke recovered his breath after the run the red light on the door turned off, indicating that anything that had been taking place in there was over.

The nurse immediately entered the code to open the door (the doors had to be opened by the inside when they had been used; otherwise someone had to enter a code from outside). Not giving the nurse chance to even move Sasuke got in, with Kakashi on his heels. They were both surprised to see what was happening in there.

All the chakra had been consumed already, the chakra-strings were nothing but normal threads now; Izuki was still laying there in the center of the room. Sakura turned to the newcomers with her eyes half closed already.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked confused.

"Sasuke-kun…" it was all Sakura managed to whisper before she collapsed to the floor, completely unconscious.

"Sakura-chan!" Sasuke cried out running to her side.

Kakashi slowly entered the room, observing everything around, trying to guess exactly what kind of jutsu had the pink-haired gennin just used.

The nurse was in hysterics, babbling about what her superiors would do to her when they found out what she had just let happen.

And just then a voice broke everything else:

"Sa…Sasuke-nii-chan…"

.---.

When Sakura opened her eyes she could again feel her head spinning and throbbing.

"Well, it's a miracle as it is just being awake." Sakura murmured to herself as she slowly straightened in bed.

"Sakura-chan!" a voice cried out.

A second later she was surrounded by different people all yelling at her different things.

"Could you please lower your voices?" Sakura pleaded with he hands over her ears. "My head is pounding."

"Here, take this." Sakura recognized Tsunade's voice.

And when Sakura saw what the Hokage had just given her she nodded, they were the Energy-pills, like the ones she had consumed after the battle. Sakura immediately took them with some water, about a minute later her mind was clear and her head had stopped pounding.

"Much better." Sakura murmured to herself.

It was until then that Sakura noticed the sun coming in through one of the windows, the night had passed already and it should be around nine or ten in the morning. Her parents were sure going to kill her.

And just then something else called Sakura's attention, a presence in the nearby bed, a presence she had come to know perfectly well.

"Izuki-sensei!" Sakura cried out in ecstasy as she jumped out of the bed and dashed to the dark-eyed kunoichi. "Daijoubu ka?"

"I'm fine Sakura-san." Izuki assured her. "And thanks to you if I may add."

Izuki was sitting in the bed, propped in some pillows, still wearing the white hospital-robes. Kakashi was sitting in the end of the bed, right next to her. Sasuke and Shizune were sitting in some chairs, and Tsunade and Naruto were in the same room but standing.

"And now that we're all awake and happy." Tsunade said with a raised eyebrow. "Will you please explain girl exactly what you did last night?"

'So they couldn't guess it by the threads and bottles.' Sakura thought. 'Maybe they suspect. But when they find out…'

Sakura didn't even want to think what those in the room would be saying, but they really deserved to know the truth.

"I did the 'Five-Pointed Star Secret Technique: Mind Rebirth'." Sakura confessed.

"Nani?!" Izuki almost jumped out of the bed.

But the most incredible reaction were the shrilling screams that came from both Tsunade's and Shizune's mouths.

"Why that reaction?" Naruto asked as he tried to block the echo of the screams from his ears.

Sasuke too wished to know, although at the same time he suspected none of them were going to like that answer.

Kakashi was never one to know of medical jutsus, but just by the reaction of the three medi-nins he could easily deduce it had been something bad.

"Sakura-san, will you please explain your friends what that jutsu is about?" Shizune asked.

"Hai." Sakura nodded. "The 'Gosakihoshi Hijutsu: Risei Saisei', also known as the 'Rebirth of the Star' it is considered as an S-rank healing jutsu. It was created to heal those who had acquired mental damage during a battle, most of the times because of a very strong genjutsu. But as this is a secret technique, and with a very high level, it is recommended to be done with five helpers."

"Five helpers?" Kakashi asked. "But you were all alone in there."

"Hai." Sakura nodded. "The five helpers are needed because the chakra must flow from each point of the star, and from outside of it into the center. And I was alone in that room because I did it all on my own."

"How could you manage that?" Tsunade had that doubt.

"Chakra bottles." Sakura answered. "I read about them in a book, they were a bit hard to find, but once I had them they weren't too hard to use. It was the only thing I could think about because if I asked for help you may not have let me do this."

"Of course not!" Shizune said immediately. "Even Tsunade-sama must analyze everything seriously before making the decision of making a jutsu such as this. The risks you went through were too big. You could have ended in a comma forever, or even brain-dead."

"I know." Sakura nodded, a bit more calmly than expected. "I knew the risks before I did the jutsu. I must have read the two pages of information about it at least a hundred times before I decided I would be doing it."

"Why?" Sasuke's question called everyone's attention.

"Eh?" For a moment Sakura didn't know what to say.

"Why?" Sasuke insisted. "Why did you do all this?"

"I did it to save Izuki-sensei." Sakura answered. "I really appreciate her, she's an incredible sensei, and a wonderful person," she turned to the mentioned one. "I don't know about you Izuki-sensei, but I consider you as a great friend, I didn't want to lose you." She turned again to Sasuke. "And then I saw you Sasuke-kun, every morning I came I could see you right there, next to your anehue, the pain in your eyes, it was impossible to hide. I knew that if there was at least the smallest chance of making this work, it was worth it; No matter the risks or the consequences if it would just make you happy."

Sasuke immediately stood from his chair, went to Sakura and hugged her tightly.

"Arigato, Sakura-chan." He whispered in her ear, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Do itashimashite Sa...Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered back, completely flushed.

And when Izuki saw them like that, together, she couldn't help but smile openly.


Yes, I know Sasuke is way OOC on this, but I just thought it was possible, his sister means that much to him, at least in this fic.

Also, as you can probably notice, I decided to leave the pairing SasuSaku, hope you like it.

So, we have one more chapter to go, and then this story's done (or not, depends on if I upload the sequel...I have one, by the way, not too long, and it centers more on Naruto, but still).

See ya soon!