Title: Blood stained love story.

Rated: T

Dedicated to: Anyone and Everyone

Summary: When you die you're supposed to be able to go to heaven, right but what if you never make it? What if you were supposed to live and someone else was supposed to die instead?? When you are a ghost and only that one person can see you. What do you do when you find out you can kill them and get your life back, but what do you do when you find out your in love with that person?

Stay. Stay here, with me. Don't leave, don't ever leave. Lay beside me as I sleep and watch over me. Tell me it's safe, even if you're lying. Let me believe everything will be okay even if everything in my life is falling to pieces. Stay with me and nothing else matters. Nothing. Leave me and nothing will make sense, nothing will matter anymore, leave me, and there is nothing left worth fighting for, but to know that I can save you, to protect you, the one and only person for whom I have ever truly loved, isn't that worth dying for?

Chapter 5 Forgive Me?

Who is it that gets to say whether or not you get to live? Who is to blame for death? Who is responsible for creating life? Why is it that we continue to search for these answers aimlessly and without reason, when we know that we ourselves cannot find the answer? Why is it that humans waste their breath, their time, and their lives, wishing for death, waiting for death, or practically begging for death; and yet, when confronted with death it's self, they try so hard to hold on, they stand and fight, and they finally realize they have something worth living for? And when you realize this, it begs the question….WHO and or WHAT do YOU live for?

Sakura P.O.V.

I don't understand what was happening. I was awake just a moment ago. I know I was. Naruto was hugging me, holding me, whispering in my ear. But now… all of that is gone. Where did it all go? Where am I now? Why can't I see anything? Did I pass out again? Or were the doctors wrong when they said I was in a stable state and that there was nothing to worry about? Did I actually lose too much blood, and now I really am dead? If only I could see Naruto again. I loved Naruto, more than anything. It was my parents that I couldn't stand! They were the ones who were always nagging me, always pushing me to be someone I'm not, trying to 'make me a better person'. They even pushed it as far as telling me they thought I should stop seeing Naruto. If only they knew that he was the only thing keeping me alive for as long as he did…

"Hello Sakura." A light voice came flowing into the empty space all around me.

"Hello?" my voice sounded rough and out of place compared to her harmonic singsong voice.

"My name is Akiko."

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Come, follow my voice, I will lead you to the garden where I'll explain everything to you there." I agreed and let her lead me to this faint glowing off in the distance.

Sasuke P.O.V.

Where the hell am I? How did I get here? I was just in the hospital a few moments ago…and now…I don't know. Where did everyone go? Where are all the nurses and doctors? Why is it so dark in here? And what is that sort of glowing over there, it's almost as if… it's a light of some kind. What would happen if I try to get over there? How will I know where I'm going to get there if it's so dark in here I can't even see my own hand in front of my face? What if there is nothing in front of me and I fall, if I drop far enough I could die in this place. But then again, didn't I already see myself die? Isn't that what was going on in that hospital room? And was that why I saw myself lying in the bed? And if it was me, and I did die, then am I dead now? Am I in heaven? No, that can't be it. Heaven is supposed to be a paradise, or at least that's what I've heard. So is this hell?

"This is no heaven. This is no hell." There was a voice that surrounded me and filled the air with its presence. I stood there, still, and not breathing. If someone else had spoke, then it was obvious that I am not the only one in this room anymore, or maybe I never was alone to begin with, maybe the person the voice belonged to was there all along. And how did they know what I was thinking? I'm positive I wasn't thinking out loud… can they read my mind? Should I try talking to whoever it was that spoke? No.

"If you do not wish to speak, then I will go." The voice sounded female, soft, and almost childlike.

Don't go. I responded in thought. If the person could read my thoughts then they should understand.

"Then you wish to speak?" the voice answered me as I had hoped.

Depends…

"On what?" the voice sounded interested.

On who you are, and what you want with me.

"Who do you think I am?" the voice asked in an almost playful and taunting tone. All different options went flying through my mind in an instant. Angel? Demon? Ghost? Ancestor? My imagination? As I was thinking through the possibilities the voiced laughed. "I am no angel. I am no demon. I am not your ancestor, nor am I part of your imagination."

Then who are you?

"The name's Akiko."

I thought about the name I was given. The name Akiko is given to girls, it comes from the Japanese origin. In Japanese The meaning of the name Akiko is: Iris; light and bright.

"You are correct, about my name. You are also very intelligent. Many of the people I have seen come through here have proved to be extremely dim-witted." I almost laughed at the comment but something she said caught my attention.

What do you mean "other people" and where are we exactly? I quizzed her.

"Ahh… So you're observant too! " the voice commended.

You still haven't answered my question.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed. Come on, follow me, we have much to talk about."

I can't.

"Why not? Is it that you are afraid?" the voice asked.

Well, for starters, I can't see you!

"Right, I'm sorry about that. You won't be able to see me until we reach the garden. You will need to follow me, I will guide you with my voice. "

Sure. Why not?

The voice lead me towards the glowing light which had then seemed so far away was now growing closer with each step. This place was weird to me; I couldn't fully grasp what was really going on, or where I was. I was still confused as to why I was here and what got me here in the first place. This Akiko chick said we had a lot to talk about, so maybe she would help to explain thing better to me.

There was something that could only be described as a stone wall towering over us, blocking our way from continuing on further. Akiko told me this was the place we needed to be. I turned to get a closer look at the wall to see if there was a door or gate where we were supposed to enter but I suddenly stopped. I had to do a double take where I realized what I was looking at. I was looking at Akiko. I was actually looking at her! She was surprisingly beautiful to look at. Just glancing at her you would assume she was a child, she looked no older than seven or eight and had chalky white skin and piercing blue eyes. Her dark curls hung down loose over her solders and passed the middle of her back. She had a certain glow around her. She had the body of a child but it was obvious that she was way beyond her years, very mature, and had that feeling of authority. When she realized that I could see her she turned and smiled at me.

She walked up to the wall and placed her palm against cold stone. There was a brief moment of waiting before an opening in the wall appeared and Akiko disappeared through it. I hesitated a second before following her through to the other side.

As soon as we passed the stone wall it took me a few moments to gather my surroundings. Akiko was right, this place was a garden. There were flowers everywhere. The majority of the plants were rose bushes in a wide variety of color, including, red, pink, yellow, white, peach, and even lavender which was surprising. Vines grew along the sides of the large stone walls that contained the garden and little tiny flower blossoms were peeking out of the greenery. Everything was so alive, so full of life. Everywhere I turned my vision was filled with green lushness, of full of color and all of it was beautiful. I couldn't remember seeing anything so peaceful, so serene, it was quiet and still, this was a place where you could feel safe no matter what. The nature of it all, it was undisturbed and untouched. There was light illuminating the garden with a majestic glow. Akiko watched me as I took it all in with a smile on her face.

"Come now, there is more to see, and much, much more to discuss." She spoke now in her delicate and tantalizing tone of voice. I nodded my head in agreement as though I understood and followed her still gaping at the settings around me. We walked into a more woodsy part of the garden I began to notice just how large this place was. As we were walking she explained to me that this was where she lived. The walls were so that no spirit, unless granted by her, may enter into her domain; this was to keep the tainted and unclean spirits away. I picked up the word 'spirit'. She looked at me as if waiting to hear my question on it, but I remained quiet for the time being. There was a clearing in the woods and there were several bobbing globes lighting up the area making it possible for us to see. A bench was placed in the middle of the clearing, and sitting there on it, was another girl. Akiko held out her arm in the general direction of the bench (and the girl) as if to say, go, sit, and I will explain everything to you now.

I walked forward and sat next to the girl beside me who looked to be about my age. She had light cherry colored hair and long eyelashes that went perfectly with her big emerald colored eyes. She looked at me as I was looking at her and smiled at me. I would be lying to myself if I said this girl was beautiful. No, she was more than just your average beautiful girl, she was more than that. She was absolutely gorgeous.

"The names Sakura." she said.

"I'm Sasuke." I answered her back.

"Oh, right. Sasuke, sakura. Sakura, Sasuke, and you both already know me of course." Akiko chipped in. "Okay, Okay. Now is the time where I need to get some explaining to do." She took a deep breath and sighed.

"You both…died. Whether it was by accident (she looked at me) or not…(she looked at the girl named sakura) you both DID DIE." Akiko stopped talking and took a moment to watch out reactions. I had a aort of shocked look on my face even though I already knew seeing as I was there, and I WATCHED my ouw death. Sakura on the other hand, did not look surprised, she looked down at her lap and let her hair cover her face for the most part.

"I understand how you feel, I honestly do. This is probably shocking and you may not believe everything I am going to tell you, but you must try to listen and understand." Akiko continued.

"Sasuke, you just so happened to be crossing the street at the same time a major accident was happening and it killed you on impact almost instantly. Sakura, you on the other hand decided to commit suicide when you felt you could no longer live the life you were given. Do you understand this so far?" Akiko asked and waited for our response.

"Yes." Sakura whispered, and I nodded in agreement.

"The thing is, neither of you were allowed to pass through to the 'other side' or what you refer to as heaven, because there has been a mistake, one that has confused us all, and this is NOT something that happens very often." She took a second to pause. "Both of you died at the exact same moment, and a transition was supposed to take place." we waited in silence for her to finish.

"Sasuke, you need to understand that you were supposed to enter back into your body after the doctors had revived you. This however did not happen, as you can see."

"Sakura, you however, were…not…supposed to live after your suicide attempt. This has happened before and it has been my job to help you with the situation at hand. So, any questions?" She stopped talking.

"Yeah…WHY?" Sakura asked looking intrigued.

"Why what? Can you be a little more specific?" she asked.

"Why me, why was I the one to live? Why didn't Sasuke live if he was supposed to?" Sakura asked her.

"I don't know the answer to that question. Only you would know. It might be that deep down, you really didn't WANT to die, never wanted to actually go through with killing yourself; my guess is that wht you really wanted was for someone to come running through the door, calling out your name and begging you not to do it. You were waiting for someone to actually show that they loved you, to make you feel safe, but that person never came, and so you went through with it."

"Hmm…" Sakura responded.

"Umm, excuse me…but I have a question." I said.

"Yes?" Akiko asked.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME?!?"

"That, Sasuke, we will have to talk about later, alone, with just the two of us." Akiko said glancing at sakura.

"What am I going to do now?" sakura asked. "I can't…I can't just go back knowing that it's not supposed to be me…I can't live knowing I did this to him…I…I STOLE his life! I can't, I'm…I'm so sorry! I didn't know… I didn't-" sakura was crying and sobbing next to me. I felt bad for her even though she was feeling sorry for me, and I technically, had the right to be mad at her. I SHOULD have been angry at her, but I wasn't, I couldn't be, and I didn't know why.

"Sakura, for now, we must send you back. You will go back to your life today, and we will talk again later. Trust me, this will not be the last time you see us." Akiko said standing.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried looking at me.

"It's okay. I forgive you, this isn't your fault." I said to her.

Akiko came and stood by us, and we rose. Sakura wrapped her arms around me tightly and hugged me. She mutter that she was sorry again, and wiped her eyes.

"Good-bye Sakura, for now." Akiko said just before sakura disappeared.

OK, So, I hope you all liked the update. Sorry it took so freaking long, blame the damn school and all the homework they give us. Well, at least we only have a few more weeks till summer vacation is here and then were free! Thanks for reading!