"Stop! SAKURA!! STOP!!" Neji screamed. His voice was tainted with fear.

Sakura stopped in her tracks, firmly planting her feet on the branch of a tree. She felt Neji lift Naruto off her back.

"What?" She asked, panicking.

"He's coughing up blood," Neji said shakily, propping Naruto against the trunk of the tree that were on so that he would be in a sitting position as to not choke on the blood he was coughing up.

"What!?" Sakura repeated, watching Naruto helplessly.

"Your jumping movements are speeding up the spread of the poison even more. If we continue on like this, he'll die," Neji said, his voice sounded slightly raw.

"We can't just stop here though. We have to get to Konoha, and we have to get there now!" Sakura interjected hysterically.

"And we will, but we're going to have to go to the ground and run on foot. The jumping motion is killing him faster."

"Neji, we can't do that. If we stay on the ground, it will be another hour before we reach the village. Up here its less than half an hour," Sakura argued, stubbornly.

Neji stared at her intently for a moment, then nodded, "Alright. We're putting his life in danger even more by stand here arguing. We'll do it your way, but I'm going to go ahead of you and get help. That way we won't have to wait any longer for it to come to us."

Sakura nodded, starting to pick Naruto up again, "Go!"

Neji nodded and disappeared. Sakura's heart started to pound in her chest anxiously. As soon as Naruto was on, she took off at top speed, taking special care to make her landings softer if she could.

"Don't you dare die on me now, Naruto…not when we're this close," Sakura pleaded. She pushed the thought of him dying out of her mind. She could afford to cry now. Crying would only weaken her and slow her down. Each branch seemed like her enemy as she continued. One foot after another, tree after tree, she made herself focus on navigating. Seconds ticked by in slow motion and she became aware of everything. She could hear every huff of her own breath, telling her she should slow down. She could hear every wheeze from Naruto that told her she needed to go faster, an occasional cough from him that told her that the poison was reaching his vital organs, every leaf rustle as she passed by, and the whistle of the wind protesting her speed. Her body ached with the task of constant running and little rest, but she could not give in to its protests now.

After what seemed like an eternity, the trees started to clear and she came face to face with the gate of Konoha. Jumping down from the trees, she made a dead run for the gate, attempting to fight back yet another bout of tears. As she reached the paved stones of Konoha, she was greeted with the sight of Shikamaru, Iruka, Kakashi, Ino and several other shinobi, all standing completely still, awaiting her arrival. She had not doubt that Hinata, Shino and Kiba would have been there too, accept that they were currently away on a mission of their own. As Kakashi began to walk towards her, she looked for Neji but could not find him. Frantically, she stopped and looked at the crowd of people before her, searching for him. Just then, Lady Tsunade pushed through the crowd with Neji following close behind. She gave a side-glance to Shikamaru as she walked.

"Come Shikamaru," Lady Tsunade commanded, walking towards Sakura. Shikamaru was immediately at Tsunade's side. Reaching Sakura, he took Naruto off her back and positioned him in his arms. Naruto's neck lay on top of one arm and his legs lay on top of the other. Lady Tsunade did not interact with Sakura at all. Instead, she led the way back through the crowd to the hospital. Sakura watched Shikamaru take the limp Naruto away and it was then that it all hit her. What if he did die?

Sakura fell to her hands and knees and sobbed. While the crowd watched her sympathetically, Kakashi continued to walk towards her until he stood just in front of her. Then kneeling down, he tried to lift her face to look at him. Instead, she threw her arms around him and sat there, crying into his jacket. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, but after a moment, he gently put his arms around her.

"He's a tough boy, Sakura," he said softly. "He's survived everything the world could throw at him, so far. So I believe…if anyone can survive this, he can."

Sakura said nothing. She was too exhausted to move, and too dejected to care.

"He'll beat it…'believe it'," Neji said softly, walking up to stand next to her. "I would know. He beat me, remember?"

Sakura slowly withdrew her arms from around Kakashi and began to wipe the tears from her eyes. Kakashi removed his arms from around her as well and watched her silently.

"But…what if he doesn't?" Sakura squeaked. Every ounce of her was spent.

"He'll be alive tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that. Naruto's not a quitter," Neji said softly.

Sakura nodded, wiping more tears out of her eyes and taking a long shaky breath.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think I want to go home for now," she said quietly.

"Alright. I'll let you know when they're done working on him," he said giving her a confident nod.

"No, sensei. Actually, its not that. You see…I don't think I can stand up on my own right this second, so if you wouldn't mind helping me…"

"Oh," Kakashi replied, registering her words. "Yeah, of course!"

"I'm going to take off too," Neji said.

"Alright. Get some rest," Kakashi said.

"Yes," Neji said, nodding and walking off.

Kakashi stood up, extending a hand towards her. She took it and the two tugged towards each other. When she was on her feet, Kakashi put her arm around his neck, holding it there with one of his hands. He then extended the other arm behind her back until it reached her opposite shoulder. Slowly, they began to walk back towards her house.

"So, how did all of this happen anyway? I mean, it was a pretty big surprise when Neji came running into the village screaming for Lady Tsunade. I mean, that was a sight I never thought I would ever see. But when I heard it was because of Naruto, I just got confused," Kakashi said gently.

"Long story," Sakura replied.

"We have a few minutes to kill," Kakashi said.

"Well, we confronted Sasuke. Naruto went out on a limb and tried to reason with him and in the process got cut with his blade and—"

"Didn't Naruto fight back at all?"

"Not a first, but by the time he realized that Sasuke was being serious about killing him, it was too late."

"I see. Naruto has always been a real softy. So then what happened? Where's Sai and Yamato?"

"Sai went over to Sasuke's side and Yamato went after him. And since I had nothing to cure Naruto, I got Naruto and took off for Konoha. I met up with Gai-sensei's group on the way. They carried me and Naruto a bit. Then they decided that they needed to rest so I left the group and they sent Neji with me. Naruto started getting really bad about half an hour ago, so Neji went on ahead," Sakura said.

"You know…for someone who's just been through what you have, you're head is surprisingly clear. You really have grown up a lot," Kakashi said. The crowd had subsided by now and were all going to see what was happening with Naruto.

"Yeah, but sometimes I think I still have an awful long way to go," she said.

"Or course you do," Kakashi said. "We all do. I didn't really start to learn any of the skills I have now until I was almost twenty. For fifteen, you're doing just fine."

He stopped in front of the door of a nice house towards the center of the village.

"Thank you, Sensei," Sakura said.

"No problem," he said waving thought away with a smile.

Sakura leaned forward to knock, but stopped just short of the door, "Kakashi-sensei…"

"Yeah?"

"I forgot to ask…how have you been as far as recovering goes? After all, we did get teamed up with Yamato because of that."

"Me? I'm much better now as you've seen," he said.

"Will you be joining us on the next mission?" she asked.

"Yes, whenever that will be. Tsunade's been concerned with how long you've been away recently. Now that you're back and Naruto's injured, I don't think she's intending to send any of us out again for quite some time. But in any case, I'll check on you in the morning and tell you what happened to Naruto. Until then, try to get some rest, okay?"

Sakura gave a slight smile and nodded, "Okay."

With that, she leaned forward the rest of the way and knocked on the door. There was silence for a moment before the door opened.

"Sakura?" said a thin, red-haired woman.

"Mom…"

Her mom took a moment to take in the sight before her. Her pink-haired daughter had an arm around an older team member for support. Her entire body sagged slightly with exhaustion.

"What on earth have you been up to?" Her mom scolded, gently taking Sakura from Kakashi.

"She's not injured to my knowledge, but she is exhausted. She had to carry someone who weighed over what she does, at a dead run for several days on end. She should take it easy for a while," Kakashi said, explaining the situation to her mother.

"I see," said Mrs. Haruno. "Well, she can tell me all about it later. For now, I think I better get some food in her. Thank you."

Kakashi bowed, "My pleasure, ma'am." With that, Kakashi closed the door to Sakura's home and started towards the hospital, silently dreading what he might learn when he got there.

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Hey, hope you liked it. More later! Bye all!