Chapter twenty

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune came hurtling into the room at top speed only twenty minutes or so after she had left. Her hair was messy and her eyes were ten times wider than normal. As she rushed into the room, she didn't bother closing the door and had circled the place once before she was able to stop herself.

"Good god Shizune what's the matter?" Tsunade said in alarm, turning from the window to face her panicking apprentice.

"Hatake Kakashi and Uzumaki Naruto were found at the village gates!" Shizune cried, close to hyperventilation. Her voice was high pitched from panic and it hurt a little to listen. "Naruto-kun sustained only minor injuries but Kakashi is in critical condition. We need you at the hospital right away!"

"What of Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke?" Tsunade demanded, getting to her feet and following Shizune out the door. Healing Kakashi would probably be no problem, so her main concern was the missing members of team seven.

"No sign of either," Shizune called back to her, now several paces ahead. "Though we suspect that Naruto-kun will be up soon. He'll know something I'm sure."

Well that helped ease her discomfort a few notches, but Naruto was a bit oblivious at times; she wasn't sure he could be trusted to recall the exact details of the past few days.

As they were leaving Hokage tower, Ebisu crashed into them. He appeared as distressed as Shizune. The force of running into the two women exiting the hokage building knocked him backwards, but he was back up in a second. Tsunade swore under her breath before he even started speaking. Don't tell me there's another problem, she groaned mentally.

"Tsunade-sama!" he yelled, in a similar manner as Shizune. Damn it! Despite the grave situation, Tsunade couldn't help but wish people would stop shouting at her whenever there was a crisis. It was giving her a headache and her ears would most likely give out before she wanted them to because of the noise.

"Can this wait Ebisu?" Tsunade sighed, exasperatedly. "I've got some major problems waiting for me at the hospital and I haven't the time to help you with another of your stupid pr-"

"It's serious!" Ebisu interrupted. "Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura have been located! One of the guards to the village gate saw them in a forest not far from their posts. You have to come immediately!"

"What?" Tsunade roared caught off guard. "What condition are they in?"

"Can't say," Ebisu panted. "I couldn't see the Haruno girl, but the Uchiha seemed fine. His leg was twisted out of its normal position, but other than that..."

"That sounds about right," Tsunade muttered. "Shizune can I trust you to keep Kakashi alive until I can get Uchiha and Sakura to the hospital?"

Shizune looked hesitant. "I don't know," she muttered. "He's showing signs of entering the first stage of a coma. It's not really a question of keeping him alive; it's more keeping him from turning into a vegetable. If he gets anywhere near a full blown coma…" she let her sentence trail off dramatically, not able to bear saying the outcome of Kakashi entering a coma.

Tsunade put her hand on Shizune's shoulder. "Shizune," she stated firmly. "You are my apprentice. I trust that you can handle this. Besides I won't be long. How long does it take to arrest a man and get Sakura to the hospital if she needs it?" She actually had no idea if Shizune could handle the given situation, but the only was to find out if her student was alive unfortunately included lying.

"That's-"

"Good I knew I was right in training you," Tsunade removed her hand and commanded Ebisu to take her to where Sakura and Sasuke were, leaving Shizune to stare gaping after her.

Tsunade couldn't tell emotion from emotion as they raced across her mind each one faster and harder to read than the previous. Fear was an obvious one, directed mostly at Sakura. Anger might have been in there somewhere, in between apprehension and a strange sense of relief. Sakura just had to be all right. She was a med Nin for crying out loud!

Pushing those thoughts and emotions aside, there was always the matter of Sasuke. The punishment Tsunade had in mind would most likely break Sakura's heart. But what else could she do? The man was an S-rank criminal and a threat to the village. If she let him a live and he decided to betray the village again the consequences could be horrible and as hokage she couldn't risk endangering the village. Execution was the only way.

But Sakura…her heart was already in fragile condition from all the times Sasuke had stomped on it, before and after he left the village. She didn't deserve anymore that was for certain. Sakura was strong and had bounced back every such time Sasuke had turned tossed away her heart with his cold hands. She was resilient and didn't take crap from anyone except Sasuke, but Tsunade couldn't help but wonder how many times she would bounce back. When would she break and fall down at the mercy of heartbreak? There was a limit for everyone and Tsunade feared that Sakura was almost at hers. One more little bump and she could go over the edge.

Then again, Tsunade didn't even know if she was alive. Relief had flooded through her when she learned that her student and Sasuke had been found, but now she was worried. If Sasuke died or did anything that would hurt Sakura, Tsunade had no idea what to expect. If Sakura was dead, well someone was going to pay big time.

"We're almost there Tsunade-sama," Ebisu called from ahead of her. They sped through the gates to Konoha and into the forest on the right side of it. Tree after tree whizzed by and Tsunade was distracted from her fear and worry by a new emotion; annoyance at the forest for playing host to so many damn trees!

"Right over here," Ebisu stopped running and Tsunade followed his example. They walked quietly around a huge oak tree and found two figures leaning up against the other side.

Sasuke appeared to be asleep; his eyes closed in a tranquil way making him seem vulnerable and innocent. His broken leg was sprawled out on the ground while his other one was tucked neatly underneath him. Leaning against his chest coating his shirt in a silky pink covering was Sakura who also seemed to be asleep. Her red tank top was torn to shreds and her tan skirt was no where to be seen. Blood was splattered on her unusually pale skin, drying but still wet enough to glisten when the sun hit it right. In spite of all this there was not a scratch on her that either adult shinobi could see.

Tsunade bent down to get a better look at Sakura, pulling her away from Sasuke's muscular arms that were holding her tight enough to crush her. They fell limp as soon as Sakura had been lifted out of them.

Tsunade searched her student's face hungrily, taking in every detail that she had missed in her short absence. Her beautiful pink hair shortened by five or six inches, but messy as ever, her unusually pale skin, so pale it made her hair brighter then usual, and her closed green eyes, soon to open.

There was a sharp intake of breath above her from Ebisu who had finished examining Sasuke and had now turned his attention to Sakura. His mouth was agape and his eyes bulging behind his sun glasses. For a moment he just opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, but finally found his voice and choked out theses two words.

"Sh-she's dead!"

The trees had never looked so taunting.

A/N: ok, before you start throwing things at me I would like to announce that THIS STORY IS NOT OVER YET!!!!!! I repeat THIS STORY IS NOT OVER YET!!!! The original story is longer than this and even with the alterations I plan to make, it will still take several more chapters, therefore I will be writing a sequel to explain what happened with Sasuke and his curse mark issue. Sheesh, are you all happy now? And please NO FLAMES! This is my first story and I would appreciate it if you all would keep it to constructive criticism or normal reviews. If you have something rude to say, KEEP IT TO YOUR SELF! Thanx