Holding Her Last Breath: Just 3 Days
I was really motivated to get this out as I promised. So here it is!
I want more reviews for listening to "my good side" and giving you a double-chapter upload!! Onegai shimasu!!
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While Sakura stressed in the hospital, Sasuke walked through the streets of Konoha with a serene expression, nodding every now and then to a passerby who said hello.
He held back a smirk when they glanced at him. Their faces were in complete awe as their gazes casted downwards.
Uchiha Sasuke was carrying a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Was the world ending?
"That Sakura girl is really changing him for the better!" An old woman whispered to her a womanholding a newborn child in her arms. The woman nodded as she smiled at her child. "We might even see some Uchiha babies running around soon! It's about time we saw them anyway…"
"How old is he again?"
"I think 23."
"The last one of his clan and still no chil-Oh, Uchiha-san! Good afternoon!" the old woman greeted nervously as the two waved at him.
If the said Uchiha wasn't in such a good mood, he would've given them the deadliest of glares.
But instead, he gave a grunt in response before continuing on his way to the hospital. Though he wouldn't admit it, just the thought of his pink-haired, jade eyed girlfriend made something along the lines of anxiety and nervousness grow in the pit of his stomach.
Wait, nervousness?
'I'm far from nervous.' Sasuke told himself confidently. After all, Uchihas didn't get nervous. They were confident, fearless, and flawless.
Right?
Wrong.
He could just see the nurses teasing him about bringing his girlfriend flowers.
"My, my the cold-hearted Uchiha is FINALLY opening up!" they would mock as they would lead him to her office.
Che. That would be something a certain ponytail haired man would call "troublesome".
But as if on cue, he noticed a pony tailed figure walk into a small jewelry shop. (Had that always been there?). Unable to help himself, he decided to follow him.
Immediately he was greeted by a cute girl with midnight black hair tied in a short, side-ponytail and soft caramel colored eyes. Sasuke walked in and ignored the girl's cheery hello, but as he began walking past the checkout counter the woman grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him towards her.
"Return the hello you ungrateful Uchiha-and look at me when I'm talking to you!!" the girl commanded as she glared at him. Sasuke stared at her as if she had grown another head.
Who the hell did this girl think she was talking to?
The woman let go of him long enough to leap over the glass counter with one hand and rested on the edge of it. A smile replaced the scowl as she introduced herself."My name's Akayuichi Akami. I'm Inari-san's cute subordinate and partner."
The look on Sasuke's face didn't lighten up, which irked the girl once more.
She grabbed hold of the man's jacket again and gave a dangerous, creepy smile. "Look, buddy. You're lucky I'm assigned a different person or I would kick your sorry butt down Konoha and back!"
Obsidian eyes looked into the angel's caramel eyes with a "yeaaaah. Riiiight" expression. She definitely wasn't someone of this world if she talked to him like that
"Hn." he retorted as he slapped her hand away. Akami's eyebrow twitched with anger. "You little-"
"Well this is troublesome…I didn't expect to see you in here Sasuke." Shikamaru commented as he walked towards the counter. Akami appeared behind the counter with almost cartoon speed and replaced her hateful scowl into a warm smile.
"Hn." Sasuke merely replied.
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"What're you doing in here anyway?" the pony tailed man asked as he nodded to Akami who smiled and disappeared into the backroom.
"I saw you walk in here." Sasuke answered which surprised him. "Since when you do you stalk me, Uchiha?" Shikamaru asked lazily and shifted his weight so his back was pressed against the glass counter.
Was that an attempt at a joke?
The obsidian eyed man snorted. It obviously wasn't a very good one not a very good one."You wish. What're you doing here?"
"Unlike you Uchiha Sasuke, Shikamaru-san actually KNOWS what women want." Akami retorted as she emerged from the back room and returned with a tiny black box.
Shikamaru scoffed and put the tiny box into his pocket. "I have no idea what women want. They're too troublesome to understand. Especially the one I'm with." he replied before he turned to leave.
"Make her happy!!" Akami waved sing-songfully as the men walked out of the store and to the nearest coffee shop. Brown eyes then turned to glance at obsidian ones.
"That woman. Do you know her?" he asked curiously as they walked in and sat down near a window.
"No." Sasuke replied curtly.
But Shikamaru chuckled. "She didn't exactly act like she liked you too much."
"She knows an…acquaintance of mine." the raven-haired man added after awhile. Which was partially true, in a way. But he had a feeling that that wasn't the last he'd see of her.
After a few more moments of silence, Shikamaru spoke. "Who're those flowers for?' he asked, glancing at the white roses sitting in the Uchiha's lap which made him smirk.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Never knew you were the romantic type."
"I'm not."
Shikamaru chuckled and shook his head as they ordered black coffee. Obsidian eyes wandered to the black box that the man sitting across from him had put in his pocket. "That's a ring isn't it?" he asked which got the man's attention.
"Aah. It was troublesome to get." Shikamaru answered, pausing to reach into his pocket to show it to him. "You're showing me?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow. He was after all, dating his girlfriend's best friend.
Then again, Sasuke was never a man of many words.
He shrugged lazily. "Whether you tell Sakura or not it's going to get out. It always does." he answered as he opened the box revealing a gold-banded ring with a purple diamond in the middle.
"A purple diamond?" Sasuke asked as he raised a raven-colored brow again. Was it even real? Never had he seen such a diamond. Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's surprised expression.
"It's her favorite color. I figured it wouldn't be as troublesome if I got her something she liked."
Sasuke scoffed but said nothing as Shikmaru put the box back into his pocket. It would never be easy with Yamanaka Ino.
After taking a sip of his coffee, skeptical eyes looked at the lone Uchiha. "What about you? When are you going to pop the question to-"
"SHIKAMARU, SASUKE-TEME!!" yelled a loud voice from outside the coffee shop. The two sighed and turned around. So much for a quiet conversation over coffee.
"Dobe," Sasuke acknowledge from inside as he held up a hand.
The man grinned and ran inside. "It's not everyday that Konoha sees the lazy bastard and the antisocial bastard sitting in the same place."
"Hn." Sasuke answered and shot Shikamaru a warning glare. Naruto was not to know about their meeting in the jewelry shop. The man grunted in response. "We met by a troublesome chance."
Naruto sat beside Sasuke and noticed the flowers. "Ah- who're those for teme?" he asked. Obsidian eyes glared daggers at the man. "Who do you think, dobe?" he spat icily.
A Cheshire cat-like grin appeared on Naruto's face as he slung an arm around the man's neck slyly. "Sooo. You're finally catching on and being a good boyfriend to Sakura-chan eh?" he turned to Shikamaru. "I am just that good, Shikamaru! I ACTUALLY got Sasuke-teme to listen!"
Shikamaru said nothing, but chuckled behind his coffee cup as the Uchiha shot Naruto a deadlier glare. Time to change the subject
"Oi, Naruto, where's Hinata?" the pony tailed man asked.
He let go of Sasuke to think. "Hinata-chan's shopping with Tenten. She told me to meet her outside the shop in an hour." he replied.
Sasuke snorted. "Is she afraid of you wandering off, dobe?"
Naruto growled at him. "What was that-"
"I didn't stutter, dobe." Sasuke growled back.
Shikamaru sighed as he began tuning them out. He never understood how they were best friends. If anything they were more like oil and water from all the times they fought.
But then he chuckled. Perhaps that's why they were so close?
Complete opposites yet stuck closer than brothers. Those two were one-of-a-kind. 'Just like Sakura and Ino…' he thought. Before the cobalt-eyed man's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Oi, Shikamaru! Get your head out of the clouds! Where's Sakura-chan and Ino?" Naruto asked and looked around for them, as if they were hiding.
"That woman's got them working." Sasuke answered irritably, referring Tsunade. Though he would never admit it to the guys, he really did hate when the Hokage separated him from his pretty flower.
And it didn't help that he had less than 2 days to find a way around the deal he had made with the angel Inari and save her from dying in his arms again.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch Sasuke.Tsunade baa-chan's been working them so hard'cause there's something wrong with the ANBU that were admitted this week." Naruto answered nonchalantly, but it opened their ears.
"What's wrong with them?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well… Tsunade baa-chan didn't tell me much but she said that the ANBU admitted were in a lot of pain but they couldn't find anything wrong with them." The blonde explained with a shrug.
Shikamaru put a hand up to his jaw. "Mendokuse…Tsunade-sama's jounin were talking about it earlier. What about you?" he asked, turning to the quiet obsidian-eyed man.
Sasuke nodded. "Aah. Sakura had to go in early to check it out." he replied. This made the man across from them give a long suffering sigh under his breath. That meant Ino was going to be working on the same thing…
Naruto stood as if coming to a conclusion. "We should help them out!" he declared but Sasuke yanked him back down. "They can take care of themselves." he answered in response.
"Teme-"
"He's right." Shikamaru agreed. "Sakura and Ino are both elite ANBU medics. They don't need our help."
"Still!" the blonde protested, but Shikamaru interjected as he leaned against the booth seat. "This is their field. We'd just be in the way if we tried to figure out something we didn't understand." he paused to stand.
"Where are you going?" Naruto asked as the man shifted to put his hands in his pockets. "I have some work to finish up. Ja," the man answered before leaving.
After a few minutes, Naruto turned to Sasuke."I'm hungry teme. Hinata-chan didn't cook breakfast 'cause Tenten dragged her out here to shop with her…so I haven't eaten all day!" he complained as he held his stomach.
Sasuke closed his eyes. "Not my problem." he replied and opened one eye to stare at his pouting friend in annoyance. He wasn't going to let up…
"Couldn't we get some ramen?"
"No."
"C'mon, it'll be just like the old Team 7 days-just without Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei!"
Grunt. "I said no."
Nudge, nudge. "Awee why not teme? Don't be such a party pooper!"
"I'm not hungry."
Grin."Then you could just sit there and watch me eat!"
Glare. "No."
Naruto stood up to glare at his stubborn friend, but then a sly smirk appeared on his face. "Fine. If you DON'T want to hang with your BEST FRIEND I guess I'll just leave." he replied and began walking away.
"Finally," Sasuke mumbled under his breath as he closed his eyes. He had to get to the hospital and see Sakura. But something made his ears perk up and reluctantly follow the goofy blonde at the next sentence he spoke.
"But I guess you'll just have to miss out on ALL the things I wanted to tell you…like what Sakura-chan said about you the other night…" he finished before turning around and smirking in victory.
'Heheh. Gotcha.'
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"Spill."
Sluuuuurrrp. Muncha, Muncha.
"Spill what teme?" Naruto asked as he peered at the man over his ramen bowl innocently. Which earned a growl from the obsidian eyed man next to him.
Once the blonde was done with his 3rd bowl and set it down in front of him, he grinned at his best friend and slapped him on the back. "I was just kidding Sasuke. Don't look like your gonna do bad things to me, we're in public."
Sasuke glared at him irritably. 'He's my best friend and future hokage. If I kill him Tsunade will have me locked away for the rest of my life.' he reminded himself mentally. "What did she say?" he asked.
Naruto looked up and thought. "The usual stuff. It was a pretty casual conversa-"but paused to move over a seat when Sasuke pulled out a kunai. "Hey-Hey!! Put that away I was kidding again!! Kami, teme…"
Sasuke grunted before putting it away and ignored the glare he received from the old man that owned Ichiraku. "When did you talk to her?" he asked gruffly. After ordering another bowl he spoke. "When I called her last night. She said you were asleep so I could talk to her for awhile…"
"Oh! Naruto- is there something wrong?" Sakura had asked quietly as she picked up the phone and sat down on the couch in the living room.
"No, no nothing's wrong Sakura-chan." the blonde replied. She could almost hear the grin on his face. "That's good. What did you want?" she asked as she stifled a yawn. It couldn't have been anything past one or two in the morning.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Naruto responded sheepishly which made her smile. Over the years and after him and Hinata had become an item, he had gotten over his childhood crush for her and saw her more as a brother. So whenever Sakura was depressed or upset, he was always a phone call or a few blocks away.
And when Sasuke had made her cry, but refused to let it show, he often called or came to check on her so she could cry her heart out to him. Naruto was the only one she could truly go to about the lone Uchiha, because he was the only other one that really understood his cold, indifference.
"I'm fine, Naruto. Just a little tired." Sakura answered gently. She could hear him chuckle. "Did Sasuke-teme 'keep you up' when you guys got home?"
The pink-haired woman blushed. "I-I don't need to tell you that, Naruto." she told him quietly, which made him laugh more. "Hah! I knew it. I'm surprised you're not pregnant yet Sakura-chan."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Where is he anyway? By now the bastard cuts the phone line." Naruto asked casually, as if he was stretching. Sakura smiled. "Sasuke-kun's sleeping. He got back from a mission a few days ago. Remember? And it's one am."
"Heh. Sorry Sakura-chan. I think Tenten broke the clock. Y'know…teme was acting like he was…trying NOT to act like the bastard he is…" Naruto said, as if he were raising an eyebrow. Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "Aah. I noticed it too. He was really sweet. Sorta how he's…"
"Supposed to act?"
"Exactly."
"Hmmm…" the blonde said into the phone as if he was deep in thought. "Maybe…hell is freezing over?"
Sakura couldn't help but laugh at his goofiness. "That's no way to talk about your best friend." she scolded playfully. She could almost see him shrug. "He doesn't need to know."
After a few seconds of silence, Sakura spoke. "I like it though."
"Huh?"
"This 'different Sasuke'. I mean, he's sweet and considerate…he doesn't ignore me like he usually does. It's…nice."
"Seriously Sakura-chan. You should really stop caring medication around the house…I think Sasuke-teme got a hold of some."
Sakura busted into a fit of giggles. "Naruto I was being serious!" but then noted to herself to hide all the pills later.
"Heh. Sorry Sakura-chan-"he paused to let out a long yawn, which made her smile. "Just look at you. You're probably exhausted."
"No-really I'm not Sakura-chan, believe it!" Naruto protested, but he could almost see the girl shaking her head and holding up a hand. "Go to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow. And I mean it, don't make me tell Hinata that ramen is the only think you've been eating lately." she said threateningly.
"Gah! No! Okay, okay, I'll listen please don't tell her Sakura-chan!" he pleaded.
Rule Number One: Don't NOT take the ramen away from the Naruto.
Sakura laughed. "Good night, Naruto."
"Night Sakura-chan!"
Sasuke couldn't help but allow his mouth to curl upward slightly at the thought of this. Though he hadn't been aware of Sakura talking to Naruto nearly every night, he was pleased that they mainly talked about him.
"Hey Sasuke,"
"Hn?"
"You know-if you ever- hurt-Sakura-chan again you're going to die right?" Naruto asked through slurps. Sasuke closed his eyes. "Aah."
Before finishing it he set the bowl down, signaling that he were completely and utterly serious. "No. I mean you're head is going to be run into a wall before I throw you off the roof of Hokage tower if you ever hurt her."
He stayed silent as his friend went on. On these rare occasions when Naruto was serious, Sasuke couldn't do anything but listen and hear him out, because normally, they were important matters.
And this matter was the most important of them all.
"Sakura-chan tells me everything. How you treated her. How she's felt. When you were gone on those missions I was the one that listened and held her when she cried every night because of you." Naruto explained as Sasuke clenched his fists and furrowed his brows.
Damn. He didn't know that she cried every night.
"Last night was the first time in a looong time that she's actually looked happy, teme…" the man said quietly as he turned to look into his obsidian eyes. "I look up to Sakura-chan. She's not the weak little girl we used to protect. If anything…she protects us."
Sasuke's eyes widened a little as he said this.
"And she's so damn strong. I'm not talking about her punches either. You know why?" Naruto asked as he fully faced his best friend now. Then, reached out a finger and poked his chest.
"She's strong because of you."
Sasuke looked at Naruto in confusion. He was the source of her strength?
Naruto grinned at him. "You and I were the reasons why she became medic nin, but because of you she wants to get stronger."
The man beside him ran a hand through his hair before speaking. "Why?" he asked which made the blonde sigh. "Man, you really ARE clueless. And you call ME dumb?" he mumbled before ignoring the death glare Sasuke was sending him.
"Sakura-chan understands how you've been alone more than anyone. She told me that she wanted even though she's a medic nin, she couldn't be happy with herself unless she healed you." Naruto replied.
The words sunk into him as he closed his eyes to drink them in.
He had hurt her so much. Much more than he had ever realized. He was the source of her tears, her sorrow. Her pain.
But at the same time, he was also the source of her strength. She grew because of her love and desire to heal him. She really did understand him more than he would ever be able to grasp.
She understood the loneliness and pain he felt and made it her own…
That was real love.
Kami, what had he been doing all this time?
"Oi, Sasuke..SASUKE!!" Naruto shouted into the man's ear. Sasuke snapped his head up to stare into cobalt blue eyes before rubbing his temple.
"You're too loud, dobe." he grumbled.
It made him frown. "Well it's not MY fault you just zone out."
The two stayed silent for awhile before Naruto stood. "I should find Hinata-chan." he replied with a sheepish grin. "She might get mad if she finds out I was here."
"Hn." Sasuke replied as the two began walking out of the shop, but Naruto grabbed his shoulder and spoke in a low voice. "Ask Sakura-chan about those files. I have a bad feeling about this."
The man looked at him skeptically. "Sure it's not from the ramen?" he asked. Naruto frowned. "Teme! I'm serious! Something bad's gonna happen, Sasuke. I can feel it."
Sasuke thought about this when he looked at how serious Naruto looked. 'Does Naruto know about Sakura's death?' he wondered before giving a stiff nod and dismissing the thought. "Aa," Sasuke said.
Naruto then replaced the serious expression for his normal goofy one. "I'd better get going. Ja," he said before heading off as the two headed in opposite directions.
Sasuke looked back at Naruto's retreating figure for a minute and felt a smirk curled at his lips. The childhood friend he had grown up with, the same one that wasn't able to pass the Academy exam, perform one henge no jutsu right, and was loud and obnoxious had really grown up.
'You're going to make a great roku-daime one day, Naruto.'
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Sakura sighed in exhaustion and sat down. Ino sat down with her as they wiped the sweat from their foreheads. It had been more than 4 hours healing without breaks, they were finally done.
The patients were recovering and resting.
"How are they?" Sakura asked when a nurse gave her a glass of water. "His heartbeat is finally beating normally. You saved his life, Sakura-sama."
"I wouldn't have been able to do it, Sakura." Ino sighed. They all had been running back and forth down the hallway to each of the 5 patients room to check their condition while obeying Sakura's commands, but if Sakura had slipped up once, she might not have made it to the last one's room.
Sakura smiled sheepishly. "Just doing my job." she replied, but couldn't help but think of the time in the sound when she had saved Kankuro's life.
"Y-You're amazing…Sakura-sensei (a/n: a doctor is the nurse's 'sensei'.)!" the nurse exclaimed. Sakura turned to look at her and smiled. "Please, it's nothing really."
"You're too modest Sakura-sensei. Without your guidance the patients would've died! And then, you drew the conclusion to psychological attacks whether than normal ones!" the nurse protested.
Sakura sighed, too tried to argue. "I suppose. But we aren't finished yet. Assign a nurse to each patient and keep a close watch over them. They should be fine until we figure out what to do. Ino- do you think you can take over? I have to report this to Tsunade-sama."
The blonde woman who had laid herself down on the chairs jolted up in shock. "W-What?! Sakura, I can't-"
Sakura bent down and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ino, you're second in command which means you're the second best medic nin in the country. I know you can do it. Besides, you did as much as I have. And if anything goes wrong that you can't handle, you can always page me, okay? You're a strong, Ino-pig. Stop doubting yourself."
Ino sighed. "Go on, forehead girl. Before I change my mind."
The women exchanged smiled before Sakura hurried down the hall and disappeared around a corner.
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Sasuke sighed. He really hated being in hospitals.
And he was never going to find her in this particular one. Eeryone was too busy to even stop to help him. He didn't know what was going on, but the nurses and doctors were hurrying somewhere.
When he turned a corner there was a yelp. He had run into someone. "Sorry." Sasuke mumbled when realized he ran into one of the nurses who had been carrying a bunch of files.
"No problem." The nurse told him as they bent down to pick them up. "You're- Uchiha Sasuke-san aren't you?" she asked him.
"Aah." He mumbled as he glanced at every file he picked up discreetly. But to his disappointment, it wasn't anything more than a bunch of charts he didn't understand.
When he handed them over to her, the nurse noticed that he was carrying a bouquet of flowers. "Oh! Are you here to give those to Sakura-sensei?" she asked with a smile. He gave a stiff nod. "Aah. Where is she?"
"Oh, you just missed her. She went to see Tsunade-sama to give a briefing." She replied before leaning closer to him to tell him something important. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but since you're an ANBU captain yourself, I suppose you should know what's happened."
Sasuke 'hned' in response. After he served his punishment, Tsunade decided to put him on a series of S rank missions as his chuunin and jounin exams, since his abilities was well beyond that of needing to be tested for it.
But since he had so well, the Hokage awarded him the title of ANBU. In less than a few months, he became an elite captain.
"Sakura-sensei looked through the records and discovered that the injuries weren't internal and external, as they normally are, but psychological." The nurse explained, pausing to adjust the papers and place them back on the clipboard she was holding.
"The injuries were overlooked until now?" Sasuke asked with a hard expression. How was that even possible?
The nurse nodded. "The first patient spiraled into a seizure. About half an hour later the rest began to have bizarre reactions. "She paused to sigh. "We're lucky that Sakura-sensei came in today or we would've had to have 5 deathbeds ready. She came to the conclusion that they couldn't have been done anyone except someone with great medical experience."
Great medical experience…
"Sasuke-san? Could you ready the next test subject?"
"Che. These are pointless."
"Oh, hardly Sasuke-san. Each test subject serves their purpose as important medical research for me."
"Hn."
"Don't look so disgusted, Sasuke-san. What I'm trying to create is a special medical ninjutsu of my own creation. It'll serve as bait to our enemies…but things would go much more smoothly if we had another medic here…"
Sasuke then realized what was happening.
"Sakura. Why are you so…loyal to Konoha?" Sasuke asked the pink-haired woman as she cooked them dinner. The woman smiled. "It's my home, Sasuke-kun. Our home. If a threat came and tried to harm the people I loved, I'd protect them until the end."
"Even if they were stronger than you? You'd give your life for Konoha?"
"Of course. Even if I couldn't win, even if I'd be killed on the spot, I'd give my life for the people of this village."
'I have a bad feeling about this, Sasuke. Something bad's gonna happen. I can feel it."
"Can I die in your arms, Sasuke-kun?"
Sakura…
Without another word. Sasuke ran off out of the hospital.
'Shit, Sakura…you're going to dig your own grave again!' he thought as he gritted his teeth and sprinted towards the tower.
Sasuke just hoped that he'd make it in time…
'I'm not letting you die again!'
TBC…
Ugh…midnight. I'm finally with chapter 8 and 9. That took longer than expected, but I cut and edited a lot more than I thought I would.
Hope you guys like this double upload!!
Don't hold your breath…
xxasukachanxx