Sakura watched Naruto's chest rise and fall rhythmically. His eyes were closed.

"Tsunade-sama, is he asleep, or is he unconscious from the pain?"

"Well...since we gave him pain killers, he should just be asleep. If that's the case, he's going to live."

Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "He is?"

Tsunade nodded. "He's very lucky that the bleeding stopped so fast when I pulled the knife out, as well as when Sasuke stabbed him."

"I don't think it was luck..." Sakura replied, turning to look at Naruto again.

Tsunade shrugged. Just a nurse passed by the outside of the room, she said, "Now that Naruto's taken care of, I need to go find Sasuke. He should be taken into custody immediately."

The nurse peeked her head back into the room. "Uchiha Sasuke? He just checked in a few minutes ago. He's in the room right across from this one."

"Thank you," Tsunade replied, leaving the room to go check on Sasuke.

She walked into his room to see him lying peacefully on his bed, his stomach now wrapped in bandages, just like Naruto's chest. He gave her a mocking grin. "I know why you're here. Can't arrest me until I'm out of here. And that's not until tomorrow morning!"

Tsunade sighed. "You think I don't know that? However, I can put security in your room so you can't get out without them knowing. ANBU Black Ops."

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine with me. Go ahead."

"I didn't need your permission. And be prepared to go to trial tomorrow for your sentence."

"Sure. Whatever," Sasuke replied with another shrug.

Sakura sat alone with Naruto, watching him sleep and keeping a careful eye on his heart monitor. Occasionally a nurse would come in to check on him, and one even asked Sakura to leave. Eventually the nurse had given up. Sakura was planning on staying by Naruto's side until he left the hospital, no matter how long that took.

Naruto grumbled something in his sleep that sounded like "takra" and tried to roll over to face her, wincing in the process.

Sakura looked at him nervously and carefully moved him so he was lying on his back again. Her hand went to his face, pressing her palm to his cheek lightly. "You're going to be okay, Naruto," she whispered.

Naruto twitched. "Takra..."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "Chakra?" She leaned a bit closer to his face. Naruto didn't normally talk in his sleep as far as she knew.

"Sak...ra..." Naruto trailed off, and his snores took over.

Sakura gave him a small smile. "I'm here, Naruto. I'll be here until you wake up."

.

.

.

Sasuke sat up experimentally, testing to see if his stomach would bother him. The ANBU members guarding him didn't notice, as they were both standing just outside the room with their backs to him. It was now dark out, and some of the nurses had gone home, which meant that it would be less crowded in the halls. No doubt the ones that were still at the hospital found it weird that there were two ANBU Black Ops members standing in the hall.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that he felt almost no pain. Sasuke stood up almost as silently as possible, reaching for the kunai he had hid under the bed. He crept towards the two ANBU members with the kunai raised, and just as he was about to take aim with it, one of the guards spun around. Sasuke hid the kunai behind his back with almost lightning speed, and looked up at them innocently. "May I use the bathroom?"

The ANBU member's face was hidden by a mask, but Sasuke figured he was probably raising an eyebrow. "Fine. But no funny business. I'm coming with you."

Sasuke shrugged like he didn't care, and the man followed him down the hall. They found a nurse and asked for directions the the bathroom, and once they got there Sasuke headed into a stall. He stuck the kunai into the toilet and then took it out, letting the water drip into the toilet so it would sound like he was using the bathroom. Sasuke peeked under the bottom of the stall door and saw the man's ankles about a foot away. He placed the kunai on the floor and flushed the toilet, then did a few hand signs and let a steady stream of fire flow out of his mouth and under the door. A small bit of it caught on the ANBU member's pants.

"What the...?" The man leaned down to look at his ankle, and Sasuke wrenched the stall door open and kicked the man right in the face. He flew across the bathroom and hit a wall with a loud crashing sound.

"Is everything all right in there?" a nurse called from outside.

"Yeah, I'm okay! I just slipped," Sasuke yelled back. He looked back at the ANBU member and saw he was unconscious. Sasuke quickly removed the man's shirt and pants and used the kunai to cut the fabric into strips and tie it into two long ropes. He tied the man up and shoved the remaining one into his own pocket as best as he could. Once he was done, he hid the man in a stall and locked the door to it so nobody would come in. He grabbed his kunai on the way out, along with all of the ANBU's shurikens and kunai.

Once out of the bathroom, Sasuke headed towards his room through the ten foot wide halls. The other ANBU member saw him coming, but before he could do anything Sasuke flicked a kunai in his direction. The man took it in the shoulder, and before he could pull it out Sasuke was by his side. Sasuke pressed a place near the man's neck, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Sasuke quickly dragged him into his own room, not bothering to tie him up.

Sakura, meanwhile, was still inside Naruto's room with the door closed. Suddenly, she heard a thump from outside it and stood up curiously, heading towards the door.

Sasuke walked out of his room, wearing the shirt of the ANBU member so he would look like a normal person. He grinned at the door to Naruto's room, which was only a few feet away, and headed over to it, placing his hand on the doorknob. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming from around the corner.

Sakura twisted the doorknob and opened the door, looking around for the source of the thump. Before she knew what had happened, she was up against a wall and a pair of lips were pressed against hers. Her eyes widened when she recognized Sasuke, and she tried in vain to pull away. Suddenly she felt something sharp poke her in the hip, and was almost relieved when she realized it was a kunai. Sasuke pulled away quickly, keeping the kunai against her hip as a nurse stopped next to them and glared.

"You know the rules, no PDA in the hospital!" she cried.

Sasuke gave her a sheepish look, and Sakura just stared. "We're sorry ma'am, we'll leave right away."

He pulled Sakura around the corner by the hand, pressing the kunai harder against her hip, and as soon as they were out of the nurse's sight Sasuke opened a door that said "Storage" on it and pulled her inside, closing the door behind him.

Sakura recovered from shock and shook her head, glaring at him. "What the hell are you doing here! I thought Tsunade-sama had you arrested!"

"They couldn't arrest me. I'm injured," Sasuke said with a smile.

"You look fine to me!" Sakura growled.

"That's the idea. Now, if you don't mind, I have someone to take care of." He shoved her down on the ground before she could do anything and took the handmade rope out of his pocket.

"You're not doing anything to Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Hn. Think whatever you want. Soon Naruto'll be out of the way, whether you like it or not. Remember, I'm doing all of this for you, Sakura." He began to wrap the rope around her, and she struggled against it.

He looked at her. "We can do this two ways. One: I can tie you up. Two: I can knock you out and THEN tie you up. Pick one."

"Or three: I can kick your ass!" Sakura's right hand began to glow with chakra.

Sasuke sighed. "I guess that's code for option two." He quickly pressed the same point on Sakura as he had on the ANBU, and her eyes closed, her hand stopped glowing, and she slumped over on the floor. Just to be safe, Sasuke tied her up anyway. He stood up, checking through the window on the door to make sure the hall was deserted. It was. He rubbed his hands together quickly. It was time to take care of Naruto.