Chapter 6: The Ice Queen Relapses

The jolting of the car speeding up and down the bumpy muddy roads was making it harder for Sakura to breathe. Her body had collapsed from hypothermia and now her heart was pumping at a slower rate. When the car finally arrived in front of the hospital, Gaara quickly lifted her and ran towards the emergency unit.

"Hnn." She moaned in pain.

A nurse who saw Gaara's worried state escorted him to a theatre room; she quickly contacted a doctor who was on duty. The doctor rushed in and began to check for Sakura's pulse, her breathing was really faint so the doctor placed an oxygen ventilation mask over her face. He attached some electrodes on her body to monitor her heart rate; the line on the machine was flicking ever so slowly.

Gaara had to wait outside with his wet clothing; the nurse warned him that he could suffer the same fate as his friend. She got Gaara to change into a white patient gown and to wrap himself with a warm blanket. He continued waiting for the lights of the theatre room to flick off. He was waiting desperately for some good news.

Yoroi came up to him and gave him Sakura's wallet which was located inside her skirt pocket. Gaara looked inside the wallet to find her school ID. He ran his fingers over the flimsy card; he pretended it was her face. His beautiful pink haired Goddess.

Sakura Haruno.

Sakura's pulse flicked really quickly and suddenly the beeping of the monitor was replaced by one long beep. She was going through a cardiac arrest and this made the doctor very anxious. He and his nurse assistance quickly grabbed the electronic defibrillator to give her heart a shock. They shocked her a few times before they declared her time of death.

The theatre lights turned off and the doctor came out with his head shaking sideways. Gaara stared at him in disbelief; he couldn't accept that his friend was dead. He looked at her lifeless cold body and began to perform CPR on her. During his fanatical state he started thrashing his fists at her chest. He was screaming hysterically at the same time.

"No! You can't leave me!"

"I only just found you, I didn't even get a chance to say hello. How can you, how can you do this to me?" He cried.

"Wake up, Sakura. Wake up!" He demanded.

...

Sakura's Dream

Sakura entered a cold hollow environment surrounded by darkness. Suddenly she could hear a loud strumming of an acoustic guitar. A spotlight appeared and she could see a man with blonde hair. It was her brother and he looked very happy. Another spotlight appeared along with the sound of a sweet melody from a piano, it was Aoi. She also looked very happy.

She was very tempted to walk towards them; she wanted to know how they were doing. It was so dark where she was standing, she really wanted to walk closer to the spotlights and have a closer look. She wanted to be able to see their faces clearly; as she got closer she noticed something was wrong. Their eyes were hollow; in fact their faces looked as if it was melting.

She watched her brother's mouth move to produce the words, "Go back."

Sakura got scared and stepped backwards; she didn't want to go towards them. The music became very loud and deadly; she blocked her ears and ran the opposite direction. While she was running she could hear someone shouting her name, it sounded like it was telling her to wake up. She closed her eyes and chanted, 'Wake up, wake up, wake up.'

...

After Sakura opened her eyes she managed to get used to her bright surrounding. She wondered where she was and stared curiously at the red haired boy in front of her. He looked like he was crying and his tears slid down his long scar. Sakura ran her hand down the scar and wiped away his tears. Her warm shiny green eyes emitted life back to his dead grey eyes.

"Why are you crying Gaara?"

He was shocked that she actually remembered him.

"How could I have forgotten the friend who left me at that place by myself?" She asked icily.

He didn't know how to respond to her words.

Sakura looked around the room and recognised that she was lying on a hospital bed. She remembered collapsing at the cemetery but she didn't recall seeing Gaara. She wondered what he was doing here; she had not seen him for such a long time. If it weren't for his red hair and scar on his face, she wouldn't have been able to tell who he was.

"Looks like you've summoned me back from my grave." She taunted.

'Who was she, a devil?' thought Gaara, 'Why is she talking like this? Does she hate me?'

"How could I have ever hated you? I should thank you instead. If you had not left I would probably still be there. After you left, I realised I had to wake up from my insanity and move on with my life."

It was as if she could read his mind. He felt a chill run down his spine. He had not seen his friend for almost three years. He did not know what sort of life she went through in those few years; he could predict it was not pleasant for her. Gaara was lucky to have a supportive mother and friends to help him cope but he wondered what sort of support Sakura had.

"How are you?" he managed to mutter.

"I'm alive as you can see."

Gaara felt really nervous, he thought there was something really wrong about Sakura. Her face was expressionless and her eyes wondered off to space. Her cold words pierced his heart; he didn't expect their reunion to be like this. He wondered what had happened to her; he wondered whether she had spoken like this for the past three years.

Her heart felt cold and the icy coating that she used to protect herself with was slowly recovering. She had thought she could open up to Naruto, she had thought she could have opened her heart to him. How wrong was she to even think that? She remembered the ring on his necklace and she recalled how concerned he looked when he mentioned the name 'Hinata.'

She snickered, "There is no such thing as love!"

She sat up and threw the pillow behind her to a wall and repeated, "There is no such thing as love!"

She bent her legs and curved herself into a protective ball and placed her head on top of her knees. Gaara caught the stream of tears rolling quickly down her porcelain face before she retrenched her head. He grabbed both her wrists and separated them from being crossed over her body. He pushed her back forcefully to the bed.

"Don't you have me now? Am I nothing to you?" He asked in an angry but sincere voice.

"Tell me which bastard has hurt you? And I will hurt him a thousand times more than he did you." He said in a serious tone.

He grabbed her long hair roughly and placed her face on his broad shoulder, he wrapped his blanket over her trembling body. He could feel his thin hospital gown getting wet as Sakura wiped her tears on him. His embrace was really warm but her heart felt hollow, she could not feel anything. She didn't believe she could love again; she was unable to return Gaara's warmth.

He held her shaking cold body for the longest possible time and he didn't want to let her go. He made a promise quickly to himself that he would do whatever it takes to heal Sakura's heart. If he required an eternity then he would vow to stay by her side forever. He would do anything to make her smile again, anything to make her love again.

Gaara held Sakura protectively in his arms until she fell asleep; he gently placed her head under the second pillow. He walked across the room to pick up the other pillow and placed it on the chair that he was sitting. He stared at her innocent sleeping face and couldn't hold himself back from placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

...

Far away in a different hospital, Naruto was really relieved that Hinata had woken from her coma. She had been sleeping for almost a year after the accident and he feared that she would remain in her slumber forever. If she never woke up then Naruto would feel guilty for the rest of his life, as he was the reason why she got into that accident.

If Hinata had not risked her life to save his, he would probably not have survived.

Naruto could never understand why his father would leave him and his mother. He had thought his close knit family was near perfect. He was wrong. His father was suffering from depression. Jiraiya was not happy with his life. He used to be a popular rock singer but his popularity dropped when fans found out he was married with a child.

That's what simpleminded fans were like, easily bored and easily swayed away to find another idol. That was the reality of the entertainment industry, there was no guarantee on everlasting fame and idols were easily replaced. Jiraiya found himself sinking into a pit of misery and he couldn't remember from when he had begun to despise his wife and son.

Perhaps it was the moment his mind became blank and he found himself unable to write any meaningful lyrics. His fame sank along with his talent and it wasn't long before Jiraiya began producing crappy songs that nobody would want to listen to. He became easily agitated at anything that displeased him and he blamed it all on his family.

He stopped caring about his family, he stopped talking to Naruto and eventually he stopped coming home. He left with just a simple sentence written on a piece of paper when Naruto was 8 years old. Naruto was the first to find that paper; at first he thought it was a joke but days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Eventually any news or traces of his father had disappeared into thin air; it was as if he had never existed.

I'm sorry but I can no longer stay here. Jiraiya

...

Naruto's Flashback

The sea side roads were dimly lighted on this cloudy night. Naruto and Hinata were walking slowly towards the grocery stall to purchase some ingredients for their group of friends. Hinata volunteered to get the shopping and Naruto being her best friend came with her. She was secretly hoping that he would come because she wanted some alone time with him.

She wanted to confess to him.

Hinata was a very shy girl and she had known Naruto since the first day of middle school. Her passive appearance had made herself a target for bullies, but Naruto helped her stand up for herself. Over the years, she fell in love with Naruto more and more. Graduation was coming soon and before they separated to different high schools she wanted to tell him of her feelings.

She kept staring at the outline of his figure; his devilish good looks had always made Hinata feel inferior. She never took his kindness for granted and waited patiently for the day he would look at her the same way she looked at him. Except that day never came, he always regarded her as his 'best friend.' He treated her with the same respect as a little sister.

She didn't just want to stay as his best friend.

Tonight she saved up all her courage and grabbed Naruto's hand and yelled with her eyes closed, "I have always liked you! Can you be my boyfriend?"

Naruto yanked his arm away slowly and turned to face Hinata. Her heart sank; she could tell from his expression, the answer was a 'no.' 'Why?' She asked herself, 'Have I not tried hard enough, had I not been patient enough? Why can't you return my love?' She couldn't hold back the tears sliding down her face; words could not describe the emotional state she was in.

She was rejected.

Naruto wiped away her tears and said gently, "I'm sorry, please don't cry. It's just that the thought of us being together never crossed my mind. I can only picture you as my sister. If I had said yes then I would be lying to you, and it wouldn't be fair for you to have a boyfriend who loves you half-heartedly."

"I love you Hinata, but only as a friend, I'm sorry."

His words kept repeating on her mind.

Coming out from the corner shop was someone that resembled Naruto's father. The moment he first saw him, Naruto rushed out of the road without thinking but stopped. His father turned to hold the hand of a little boy who was also holding the hand of his mother. Naruto froze, he could not interpret nor contemplate at what he had just seen.

Naruto did not look out for cars when he stepped foot on the road. The incoming car driver was breaking as hard as he could but the distance was too close to stop in time. Like a motion film, when Hinata saw the beaming lights of the incoming car, she rushed out and pushed Naruto aside so that the car would hit her instead.

She gave up her life to save his.

Naruto quickly woke from his daze and frantically got up to rush to Hinata's side. The impact of the collision threw Hinata's body two meters away from the car. She landed very hard on her right arm. Naruto stared at the dishevelled and incapacitated body of Hinata and prayed to God that she would make it to the hospital on time.

The car driver frantically called the emergency unit.

Hinata was still barely conscious and with her good left arm, she took off her necklace and passed it to Naruto.

"Keep this for me, it's my father's." She said softly before she fainted.

"Hinata!" He cried.

TBC

Revised version of Ch 6.

Ch 7: Her First Knight