Chapter Three

As the hours dragged on, Sakura grew more and more exhausted. They had had to jump-start Sasuke's heart four or five times, but had managed to close up all the gashes. They were starting on the smaller cuts when Sakura suddenly stopped.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" asked Tsunade, also stopping.

"I think I'm almost out of Chakra," Said Sakura, faintly. She swayed and her exhausted green eyes finally closed.

Tsunade sighed and muttered, "Well, that was kind of expected." She scooped Sakura up off the floor and gently laid her on a nearby chair. Sakura was a mess. Her light pink hair, which had grown out and now almost touched her waist, was a tangled mess. Sasuke's blood was sprinkled all over her clothes, arms, legs, and even her face. Plus there were cuts and scrapes all over her, from her earlier mission. Tsunade decided to let her sleep. She could handle Sasuke alone.

Sakura slept through the rest of the night and next days. Tsunade had pushed two chairs together in Sasuke's hospital room for Sakura to sleep on. Sasuke hadn't woken up either. Although they had managed to patch up most of his wounds and his broken leg was healing pretty fast, he was still in bad shape. His fever was still very high and he had trouble breathing. If his fever didn't go down soon it was unlikely that he would survive. Naruto and Kakashi went in and out of the hospital room, visiting when they could. Naruto, of course was most concerned about Sakura. It was during one of his and Kakashi's visits that she finally woke up.

"Uh…"she moaned, as she opened her eyes. She got a brief glimpse of a hospital room and Sasuke's bed before her view was blocked by a yellow and orange blur.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" yelled her hyperactive teammate.

"N…Naruto?" said Sakura confusedly. "Where am I? What happened? Where's Sasuke-kun? Oh my god, Sasuke-kun! Is he all right?" Sakura bolted upright. "All I remember is running out of Chakra or something. I never finished healing Sasuke-kun's injuries. Is he de-''

"Whoa! Easy on the questions," Said Kakashi, holding up his hands to halt the flow of Sakura's questions. " First of all you're in Sasuke's hospital room. You've been here for the past three days; ever since the night you brought Sasuke here. When you and Tsunade were healing him, you almost ran out of Chakra and collapsed. Do you remember?" Sakura slowly nodded. " Tsunade finished up with Sasuke and thought you might like to be near Sasuke, so she let you stay in his room. Sasuke is in that bed,'' Kakashi pointed to Sasuke's bed. " But he isn't doing very well. His fever is still very high. Don't give me that look; I'm not even finished yet. Tsunade says that if it goes down even a little bit, he'll survive. It's complicated though because Orochimaru put a jutsu in him so that it will take an extremely long time to-''

"Why have I wasted so much time? Sleeping when Sasuke-kun needs me! I'm disgusted with myself!" Sakura interrupted. She jumped out of her makeshift bed and accidentally kicked Naruto, who was less than a foot away from her, in the face.

"Ow!" yelled Naruto. Sakura ignored him. She rushed over to Sasuke's bedside, just as Tsunade walked in.

"Oh, Sakura you're up. I was get-" "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? I was sleeping for three days straight while Sasuke-kun's been suffering! Why?" Sakura demanded.

"Hey, it's not my fault you fainted! You shouldn't have helped if you were so low on Chakra," Tsunade snapped.

"Well, he's my teammate I had to help. If you had lent me some of your Chakra it wouldn't have happened. Or you could have woken me up!" said Sakura.

"Do all women do this or just the ones I know?" muttered Kakashi. While Tsunade and Sakura were arguing, he slipped out unnoticed. The arguing was cut off by a small moan from Sasuke. Both of them turned their head in his direction. Just then a nurse rushed in.

"Tsunade! We need your help in the emergency room, immediately!" she said.

"Ok, I'll be right there," Said Tsunade as the nurse rushed out again. "Sakura, I'm leaving Sasuke in your care." Sakura nodded and Tsunade rushed out. Behind her Sasuke gave another moan of pain. Sakura turned and saw that the curse mark had been activated and was spreading all over Sasuke's body.