Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Naruto cause if I did…heh believe me things would change! coughSasuSakucough Unfortunately it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, blah, blah, blah, insert random legal document , etc.

-------------------

Chapter 14: Recap!

"Why…?" Sasuke started to ask gesturing at the ANBU.

"The Hokage sent us when he heard that rogue ninja working for Toshikai had tried to kill you," the other ANBU answered taking her mask off as well revealing her indigo hair. "We would have come sooner, but you're not that easy to find."

"You'd better head back to the city and get everyone taken care of, Kakashi," the brown-haired ANBU said. "As soon as we make sure Toshikai isn't still here, we'll follow you."

Kakashi nodded and turned back to Sasuke, "Ready?"

"Let's get out of here," Sasuke replied taking one last look around.

The ground where they had been kneeling was covered in Sakura's blood and now he realized so was he. He rose shakily to his knees and Naruto put his arm around his shoulder to support him. With that the trio headed back The Village Hidden in the Clouds.

-----------------------

Chapter 15: Conflicting Emotions

The numb feeling stuck with Sasuke as he got cleaned up. He felt like a walking zombie going over his usual routine just like always. It almost seemed to him that if he were to just close his eyes and go to sleep this would all go away"Sasuke!" Naruto said bursting into his room. "Are you coming?"

"Coming where?" Sasuke replied in his usual tone, but the annoyance and boredom were now replaced with an inner melancholy.

"We're going over to the hospital," Naruto said his hyper tone suddenly becoming solemn and quiet. "We're going to go see her."

The way Naruto was replacing Sakura's name with 'her' meant that he was having the same feeling of disbelief. As if by not saying her name he could just pretend it wasn't Sakura. Anyone else, but not Sakura.

"Naruto…I," Sasuke started to say.

"Please Sasuke! I know it would mean the world to her even if she doesn't know you're there," Naruto pleaded. "Just come. Please?"

"Fine," Sasuke gave in.

Naruto gave him a small smile and then headed out the door. Sasuke stared after him for a moment and then followed after him. Part of him didn't want to go and see Sakura like this, but another part wouldn't let him sit in his room alone. Kakashi was waiting outside for once not reading his book.
"Let's go then," Kakashi said putting his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Then leaning down, he whispered in Sasuke's ear, "Glad you came."

The rest of the trip was in silence. Naruto looked as if there was something that he wanted to say, but after a look from Kakashi kept his mouth shut. Sasuke was glad for that. He really didn't want to talk about anything right now.

"We're here," Kakashi said heading inside a tall white building.

Sasuke followed him in and was instantly greeted by the smell of antiseptic, the hospital smell. The hospital lobby seemed huge to Sasuke as he glanced around, though it might have been for the bareness of the room. The cold, harsh, and unfeeling absence of pictures or anything, save a few chairs and such, sent shivers up and down Sasuke's spine. Kakashi had walked up to the desk and was talking with the nurse at the front desk.

"Let's see. Oh! Here it is. Haruno, Sakura: room 112 in the ICU," the nurse told Kakashi after a minute of looking for her chart. "The ICU is on the second floor. I'll show you up since my shift's almost over anyway."

"Thanks," Kakashi said. "Come on guys I found the room."

Sasuke nodded and headed after Kakashi. Their journey to the second floor seemed to take forever, but finally they were there.

"Hey Sensei?" Naruto said with a confused look.

"Yes?" Kakashi replied glancing at room numbers as they headed down the hall.

"What does ICU stand for?" Naruto finally asked.

"You dork," Sasuke said for a moment returning to his normal self. Then lapsing back to his solemn voice finished his answer. "It stands for Intensive Care Unit."

"Oh," Naruto said casting his eyes down. Even the most hyperactive ninja was now quiet.

"Here we are," the nurse said suddenly. "I would normally say not to stay long, but seeing as how you're not from here and considering the circumstances…" She trailed off thinking for a moment before finishing. "Just keep it down."

She nodded to Kakashi and smiled weakly at him before heading back down the hall. Kakashi knocked on the door and the ANBU from before opened it a crack. Seeing it was only Kakashi they opened the door all the way. Yes, the lethargic feeling stuck with Sasuke until the door of room 112 opened fully and he saw her. Suddenly a burning pain replaced the numb feeling.

Sakura lay motionless on a bed in the middle of the room; eyes were closed like she was sleeping. She was now wearing a hospital gown and someone had taken off her headband. Several wires that attached to her skin ran up to a monitor that showed her breathing pattern, heartbeat, and oxygen level. A mask that rested securely on her face, much like the one Sasuke had worn after fighting Gaara, filtered clean oxygen into her lungs. An IV in her right hand pumped liquid through her, so dehydration wouldn't be a problem. Bandages spiraled down her left arm from her shoulder. For a moment Sasuke half expected her to sit up and say 'Pysch!', but she didn't.

"Normally something like this wouldn't require stitches, but it's the internal damage that worries us. Besides, better safe than sorry…oh!" a doctor was telling one of the nurses. "I'm sorry. No one told me anyone was coming in."

He was young med-nin around 29 or so with chocolate brown hair that hung in his eyes. He nodded to the nurse who then went about checking Sakura's vitals. The ANBU nodded to Kakashi and walked outside the room and took position outside the doorway after shutting the door.

"So you must be the rest of cell seven," he said looking at each of them in turn.

"Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi said extending his hand to the doctor. "And these are my students, Uzamaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and well you already know Sakura."

"Yes, whether fortunately or unfortunately I'm well acquainted with Miss Haruno," the doctor replied shaking Kakashi's extended hand. "I'm sorry. I'm Dr. Takahashi."

Sasuke stiffly walked to Sakura's side and picked up her hand. He held it tightly in his and felt how cold it had become. Silently he listened to the rest of the conversation between Kakashi and Dr. Takahashi. What had he done?

"So how is she?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, to tell you the truth I've seen better and I've seen worse, but mostly better. However, I've never seen anyone with so much will to survive. Luckily her arm wasn't broken, but her left shoulder was severely dislocated and it tore a small part of her muscle. We managed to fix that up and get her heart up to a normal pulse rate quite easily." Dr. Takahashi explained. "It's the wound from Toshikai's sword that we're having problems with."

"What kind of problems?" Sasuke asked though his gaze never left Sakura.

"Only that the stupid stitches keep coming out. It's either the back or the front. Normally we'd seal the wound using medical jutsus, but this is in no way 'normally' as I said before. Most wounds aren't through-and-through. You can only heal so much with chakra, still the stitches are only backup," Takahashi said with a sigh. "It's not that bad. I really didn't mean to scare you. She's really lucky in more ways then one. I can't believe how close that sword was to piercing a vital organ, even one millimeter left, right, up, or down and well, it wouldn't have been good. Best-case scenario would have been something along the lines of never being a ninja again. This one is definitely a fighter though."

"Toshikai…" Kakashi muttered.

"He was once such a proud, normal kid," Takahashi said. "Then he got caught up in wanting to rule the world or something. Went off the deep end from what I hear anyway."

"Just hold on a little longer Sakura," Sasuke whispered in her ear. Then straightening up he continued, "I'll be back in a while."

"Just where are you going?" Kakashi asked.

"Out," Sasuke muttered shoving past him. "It's not a crime is it?"

As soon as Sasuke left the hospital he took off at a dead run. He wasn't sure where his feet would take him, but he needed to get away. Needed to get into the fresh air away from the antiseptic smell and needed to go anywhere, but sitting there feeling so helpless. Sitting there watching her die…

Sasuke kicked open the door to his room and grabbed his pack. He pulled out kunai and shoved them in his almost empty pouches. He dumped everything out of his pack onto the bed and froze for a minute as he saw the still bloody roll of bandages.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Naruto yelled barging into the room. "Where do you think you're going anyway?"

"After Toshikai," Sasuke said remaining calm.

"So you're just going to leave and abandon Sakura!" Naruto said still yelling. "While she dies you're going to just run off playing hero or I'm sorry avenger."

"Sakura would have wanted…." Sasuke though his demeanor was slipping slowly, but surely.

"Since when do you care? You don't know what she would have wanted!" Naruto shouted. "Since when do you give a damn?"

"Naruto," Sasuke started.

"You never cared enough before! You didn't care if it was hurting her because you were hurting yourself!!" Naruto yelled his face a brilliant red.

"You're right," Sasuke said the distant tone of his voice throwing Naruto off guard. "I haven't ever treated Sakura like she deserves. I realize that now and I wish I could change it."

"Don't you think now is a little late?" Naruto replied though the cold malice was gone from his voice.

"Yeah," Sasuke keeping his back to Naruto, "it is."

For a moment the duo stood in silence. Then once more, in he didn't know how long, Sasuke found hot stinging tears coursing down his cheeks. All the emotions he'd kept pent up for 16 or so years were now breaking loose. He wiped away his pain, feeling somewhat annoyed by it and turned to face Naruto.

"As I held her in my arms and felt her strength fading fast, I wanted to say I was sorry. I wanted to tell her so many things, but even though I knew I didn't have long to tell her…I didn't, I couldn't," Sasuke said his eyes growing distant. "My lips wouldn't move to tell her."

"Sasuke…I didn't know. You held her?" Naruto asked sadly.

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded, "but what does it matter?"

Sasuke turned and grabbed the picture he had, though at that time he had had no idea why, and went to leave.

"You're not still going after him are you?" Naruto asked.

"No, I won't today. At least not yet," Sasuke said with a wave of his hand.

With that he left Naruto standing there rather confused and not knowing what to feel. In all reality though, Sasuke didn't either.

-------------------------

A/N: So hopefully you liked this chapter and I can get the next one up sooner than I have been. I wasn't sure how to go about having Sakura hurt and I know Sasuke is extremely out of character (heck so is Naruto), but his personality is getting redone or something, I dunno. I like constructive criticism so don't hesitate to help me out. Oh any suggestions on what to call the two ANBU would be great cause I have no idea. All ideas are great so remember to review!!! I live off reviews!

Miharu Uchiha