||Seven

They were within walking range of Konoha gates when it happened.

Sakura was going back to the village after a mission in Sunagakure. Chakra depleted, and almost moments away from fainting—Sakura could only hope to make it in time before she got unconscious. The pouch in which she kept the chakra pills was empty, and her only hope was to at least make it to the village gates so that someone would carry her to the hospital.

There had been no ambushes or rouge nin on her way back, but there was nature, ready to fuck things up for her. A sandstorm which lasted two days and three nights threw her off balance. With limited food rations and no sign of human life, Sakura was lucky she could come this far.

She sat down leaning against the trunk of an old tree at some point of her journey—she just couldn't go any further. She closed her eyes as sweat beads trickled down her back—she had always hated when that happened. She would rather choose to fight a tough opponent instead.

But something caught her senses.

Maybe it was the rustling of the leaves or sudden change in the wind that was surely caused by an external agent. Or maybe it was just the small spike of Sasuke's chakra that alerted her or the way how his chakra was close to extinguishing that made her skin prickle. Sakura stood up.

Why was Sasuke so nearby? She thought as she started looking for him. Why was his chakra so low?

Sakura's heart sunk at the possibilities.

Moments later, she found him on top of an ancient tree branch, hiding underneath the leaves. He looked pathetic with his form writhing, panting and aching. His body bled from multiple places, and his Sharingan was activated. Multiple bone fractures, internal bleeding, broken ribs, the list was endless.

What had he gotten himself into?

Tears brimmed in her eyes as fear engulfed her. Sakura had to force chakra into her brain to stop herself from shaking. Her body did not cooperate at all, not when she had spent the last week under extreme conditions.

Sakura could not think.

She looked at Sasuke, who had noticed her presence now. His lips moved to utter something, but she couldn't decipher what he meant. The irony of the situation was not lost on her—she was only a few miles away from the village yet she could not do anything. Hell, she didn't even have the chakra to summon Katsuyu, her slug, let alone heal herself and Sasuke-Kun, who looked like he was about to…

No!

Her mind screamed.

Sasuke was not going to die. Neither was she. She wouldn't let it all go to waste.

She wouldn't.

She saw Sasuke smile apologetically, as his lone hand came up and tapped her forehead, Sakura looked at him with wide eyes as he muttered something unintelligible…

"Sasuke!" She yelled as she held out his hand, "You're not dying on me…I won't let you do this to me!"

Sakura moved her arm forward to create some signs and released her seal. This was her only option, even if it came with a price to pay. Black stripes covered her arms and neck, and her seal came to life. She could feel chakra surging through her veins now.

Sakura smiled as a tear slid down her cheek.

"Just hang in there, Sasuke-Kun." She told him as a green aura covered her hands.

When Sasuke woke up three days later, he wasn't lying broken on a tree branch anymore. Naruto was sitting on the stool next to him with a serious expression on his face.

Was it wrong of him to expect Sakura to be sitting there instead?

Naruto touched his hand gently as he ran a hand through his hair, Sasuke noted how the dobe hadn't gotten any sleep. He was probably here with him all this time…

"You're okay now." Naruto assured him, "what happened though?"

"Hn." Sasuke said, "Dobe, you look like shit." He smirked as Naruto's face turned from melancholic to annoyed.

"S-SASUKE! You bastard! Don't talk like you look any better than me!" Naruto protested with an obnoxiously loud voice as he pointed an accusing finger at him. Sasuke merely "tsk"—ed as he looked out of the window.

"Hey, you two! Stop shouting! My hospital is not a flea market!" Tsunade yelled as she slammed her fist into Naruto's head.

"Tsunade Ba-chan, what are you doing here?!" Naruto exclaimed as he rubbed his aching head.

"This is my hospital! There are other patients around, keep your voice down!" The legendary sannin said as she cracked her knuckles.

"H-Hai! G-Gomen!" Naruto said, "Well I just remembered something. Hinata is waiting for me, fix yourself, Teme!" as he scurried out of the window.

"Use the doors like a normal person!" She yelled again as she exited Sasuke's room, who sighed.

When the sixth personally came to Sasuke's room to check up on him, he couldn't help but snort.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" He said, his voice as angry as ever. Kakashi sighed, "Is this a way to treat your sensei?"

"You might be right about Kaguya's clan," Sasuke said, in all seriousness. Kakashi's eyes widened. Shikamaru stood by the door as he listened to all the mission-related details that Sasuke supplied the two with.

"That's when I got the chance to get out of that dimension, but I got severely injured while escaping." Sasuke finished as he pushed his hair back, "My rinnegan is not going to activate until it gets fully restored again."

"You were lucky that Sakura just happened to pass by at the exact moment when you teleported back," Kakashi said thoughtfully.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"It seems like she was completely out of chakra when she was coming back from her mission in Suna. The sandstorms had taken a toll on her and I don't know how she managed to save you." Kakashi said with a hint of pride in his voice. His student had come so far, how could he not feel proud of her?

Shikamaru walked towards Kakashi as he handed him a scroll, "Sakura used her byakugou no in seal and used the rebirth jutsu. It wasn't sheer luck that you're alive, Sasuke." He said, merely stating the facts, "Well, I better leave. Women are troublesome. Mine will have my head on a silver platter if I don't reach home within the next fifteen minutes. Take care." He said as he bowed to the sixth and took his leave.

Sasuke stared at the ceiling of the hospital room as he felt guilt surface. Sakura had risked her life for him yet another time. And him? Well, he had always tried to take her life instead.

How could he ever thank her enough?

How could he stand next to her, and look at her in the eye, knowing that he had been the reason she almost lost her life…

Again?

As he began mulling over his fucked-up-ness, Kakashi's words started to become vague. He couldn't concentrate or even bother to make out from lip reading what his former sensei spoke.

At last, Kakashi sighed as he walked out. He knew waiting for Sasuke to speak up wouldn't help.

"Well, now that I'm here. I guess I should check up on Sakura too. Heard she exhausted herself so much that she hasn't yet recovered." Kakashi said out loud on purpose, his lone eye noticed how Sasuke's ears perked up at that.

He deserved to feel that guilt, Kakashi thought.

But one thing that nobody told Sasuke was the fact that Sakura was actually in a coma, and the rebirth jutsu that she used cost her at least five years from her own lifespan.

When Sakura finally recovered after a week, Sasuke was already gone. She wanted to protest and complain—that he wasn't healthy enough to travel, or that he needed more time to recover, or that he should rest.

But she couldn't scream that to the empty rooms, could she? He left her, again, but this time he left her a small piece of paper that she would cherish for years to come.

"Sakura,

Arigatou.

Gomen."

Miss Kirei: "The reviews are so refreshing and encouraging to read. Thank you for the love."