"What's the situation?" Sakura asked Ino blankly.

Ino swallowed and struggled to maintain professionalism. "P—patient is half-drained of chakra, almost lost the One-tails. Wounds include head trauma and lacerations along the arm and torso. I have healed the lighter ones on his leg already."

"Take care of the lacerations, I trust you're experienced enough for that," Sakura ordered without a hitch in her voice. Ino gulped and turned Gaara over, her hands shaking as she took care of the injuries. Once she finished, Sakura instructed,

"I need to borrow your chakra; mine is depleted. Place your hands on top of mine." Sakura put her hands on Gaara's temples, and, trembling, Ino touched her hands just barely. She felt her chakra being steadily drained from her fingertips. She worked to find enough courage to ask what she was wondering.

"C—could you explain what you are doing?" She asked, proud of how assertive her voice sounded. Sakura glanced at her sharply, then sighed.

"I am using the chakra to travel through his head and blood, examining what sort of damage the Akatsuki did. When one gains enough control over their chakra, their chakra begins to sense for them and send information back; thus, I can feel where the Akatsuki drew out the chakra and close up the wounds they made so that the patient can store chakra again. I can't replace the tailed beast; his only chance is that it is self-regenerating. In all likelihood, it will be less powerful. Hopefully it won't leak out through some hole I can't find."

"So…there are holes in his brain?" Ino asked, trying to understand.

For a moment, Sakura forgot herself. She smiled and said chidingly, "No, Pig. They're holes in the chakra vein that flows around and through his brain." Then she realized the familiarity with which she had spoken and promptly shut up.

Ino looked away to stop her smile from being seen.

Sakura was still there.

Forehead still lived.

It was almost too easy to take care of the puppets, what with Kankuro knowing what sort of weapons they could have and their weak points. He received a shock when he saw the brand on the puppets' shoulder—Sasori of the Red Sand—but decided it would be better not to mention it. Shikamaru restrained the puppets in time for somebody else to take care of them. Kakashi took out five at once by making the earth around them shatter and turn into a chasm. Temari's fan sliced through the joints—she knew where they were, because she sparred with Kankuro sometimes and knew how puppets were fundamentally built. Kiba's pure strength and Matsuri's skill with weapons was a great asset as well.

Sasuke couldn't move, so he could do nothing but glare, sulk, and watch as Sakura healed Gaara. He focused on moving each of his fingers, and found that his left middle finger wouldn't move at the second knuckle. There were several other areas like this around his body that just wouldn't move. Obviously Sakura had reconstructed some of his nerves but sloppily.

Soon all the puppets were gone, and an almost unscathed team walked over to watch Gaara's healing.

Sasuke observed the way Sakura's lips tightened. She clearly didn't enjoy having an audience.

After a few seconds, Sakura stood up. "I've fixed most of the problem. He lost about a third of his Tailed Beast, and I don't have enough experience to know what that means. However, I've reconstructed his chakra system so that he can store chakra again. I gave him a boost. He should come to in about an hour."

"Right…" Ino looked uneasy. "So this is…goodbye?"

"I require one more thing, actually," Sakura said. "There are some wounds on my back which I can't reach, nor do I yet have the chakra to heal them. Would you do it?"

"Of course," Ino agreed. Her teammates scowled, giving her loaded looks that said Be on your guard. She walked over as Sakura turned her back to them and lifted up Sakura's shirt to find an undershirt soaked with blood. Ino bit her lip. She could deal with blood, but if the cuts were infected and pus was flowing out…that would be annoying for her to heal. Unfortunately, after she'd pushed up the undershirt she saw that the cuts were indeed infected. Not only that, but they'd appeared on top of other scars, long lacerated strokes. She didn't want to know how they'd originally gotten there—they looked like whip marks. The newer cuts had sand fragments inside. "The cuts are infected, Sakura. I brought some herbs in my pack that can draw it out. Do you mind if I use them?"

"Go ahead," Sakura said.

Ino tended to the wounds, Sakura not even wincing when it should have hurt like hell. The only explanation was that she'd built up a pain tolerance. Ino bandaged up the cuts. "It's done, Sakura. Now you owe me," Ino told her. Sakura's fist clenched.

"What do I owe you, then?"

"An explanation. I want one reason you left Konoha."

"That's easy. To gain power."

"You can do that in the Leaf as well!"

"I learned more in one month under Orochimaru than I learned in all my years under Iruka, Kakashi, and Tsunade. Is that all? I have places to be."

"Yeah. That's it."

Then Sasuke spoke sharply, "Where's Kakashi?" Sakura narrowed her eyes and looked around. Sasuke struggled to activate his sharingan, but was unsuccessful. In a flash, Shikamaru was using his shadow bind and restraining both of them, and Sasuke felt the earth behind them erupt and a figure jump out. He tried to get out of the bind, but his chakra was depleted and he couldn't even move that well.

Kakashi, who had stepped out from the ground, seized the nukenin's wrists and tied them together with a chakra handcuff. "So much for Konoha honor," Sasuke growled.

"Neither Konoha nor Suna makes deals with petty criminals," Temari said. "I believe our work here is done. We'll head back to the Sand and get Gaara somewhere where he'll be safe. Thank you for your help."

"It's not a problem," Shikamaru nodded. "See you."

When the Sand were gone, Ino said, "We're taking you back to Konoha whether you like it or not. You're under arrest."

"Oh?" Sakura said lightly. "Tell me, exactly what crimes have I committed against the village? I haven't taken anything or killed any of your ninja. I haven't told your secrets to anyone."

"You took yourself," Kakashi answered. "When you signed the contract to become a ninja, you became the property of Konoha—ours to watch over, ours to protect and keep. In return, you go on a mission every so often unless you are given medical leave."

"I thought of that," Sakura countered. "Have you checked the records? I've been wiped from them. Having access to the Hokage's office and scrolls did have its perks. Unless I attack the village or wish to return to live in it, you legally have absolutely no cause to arrest me." Shikamaru grinned. Somebody intelligent to argue with. However, he could think of the perfect counterargument…

"We'll see about that when we get to the village," Shikamaru told her. "You could be lying about being wiped from the records and we have no way to check. If you have been wiped, meaning you were never a citizen of Konoha judging by the records, then we'll compensate you with 8650 yen for keeping you unjustly in captivity and let you go."

The ghost of a smile passed Sakura's lips. "That's true. Legally, I guess you've got me. However, Shikamaru…" Now the smile turned into a smirk. "You made a mistake in keeping up the connection with your shadow bind while we spoke. I've been draining your chakra all along through the connection—bet nobody has thought to do that, have they?—and it should die right…about…now." Sure enough, the shadow receded.

In a flash, Sakura was running.

"Hey, Sakura!" Kakashi called.

Sakura threw a look over her shoulder—and stopped dead.

Kakashi had Sasuke in a chokehold with a kunai at his neck.. Sasuke, who could barely move thanks to the senbon and was almost out of chakra, looked sullen.

"Don't bluff," Sakura scoffed. "You won't kill Sasuke."

"Won't I?" Kakashi's eyes were hard. "He murdered Lee. He almost killed Naruto. He tortured Neji and TenTen. Him, I have cause to kill."

"Sakura, go," Sasuke hissed. "Do not listen to him."

Kakashi's kunai cut just barely into Sasuke's throat. Sasuke coughed, a dark raspy sound. The blade dug slightly deeper, and blood started flowing from the wound. Sasuke winced, but he still stared at Sakura telling her to go.

"Go, Sakura, I don't need your—" Kakashi moved his kunai hand to cover his mouth.

"I have killed before, Sakura," Kakashi said quietly. "Can you say the same? If you go, his death will be your fault."

Sakura looked behind Kakashi to Ino, Kiba, and Shikamaru. Ino was biting her lip, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. Kiba was looking in awe at Kakashi. Shikamaru was looking at her, studying her reactions.

Sasuke moved his hand and choked out, "Go," before coughing up blood and wheezing. Kakashi was going to choke him to death.

Sakura trusted she was far enough so that nobody would see her tears as she turned her back on the scene and started walking.

"Sakura! Are you going to be responsible for the death of another person you could have saved?"

Whirling, Sakura threw a kunai with deadly precision. It struck Kakashi straight in the forehead, and the gray-haired man fell away. Didn't poof. It hadn't been a shadow clone. Sasuke fell to his knees, coughing, then tried to stand up and stumbled toward Sakura. Sakura sprinted back, allowing Sasuke to lean on her shoulder. She looked back. Ino was already healing Kakashi, having pulled the bloody kunai out.

"Don't try it," She told Shikamaru and Kiba who looked about ready to attack. "Leave this fight for another time. I have a feeling this isn't the last time we'll clash."

With that, supporting Sasuke they limped away in the general direction they figured the Akatsuki had gone.

They had to stop after about five minutes because Sasuke literally collapsed.

"What the hell…hit me…during that fight?" he coughed as Sakura healed the wounds on his throat. She looked at him pityingly. "Don't look at me…like that…just tell me."

"You were hit with a hundred senbon at the least."

"How come I didn't…see them coming?"

"You did." Sakura swallowed. "You…were preoccupied."

"Bullshit," Sasuke rasped. "I have studied the perfect ways to avoid senbon. There's no way…it could have…hit me by accident."

"It didn't. They were aimed at me."

And then Sasuke went into a wild coughing fit, blood splattering Sakura's front as she leaned over him trying to restrain him. "Sasuke! Sasuke, are you—speak to me!" But all she got from him was a desperate glare as he wheezed, unable to breathe. Sakura had no choice but to send what chakra she did have through Sasuke's body, looking for the problem. And she found it almost immediately. His heart…it had been punctured, and he was bleeding internally. And the heart was just about ready to stop. Then she realized: one senbon…it was still inside. It had moved, probably when he was being shaken around, and was now puncturing his lung and his heart.

It was fatal.

Sasuke couldn't breath, and all he could do was wheeze as his lungs deflated and his heart slowed. His eyes screamed betrayal, Why didn't you heal me? Why are you letting me die? Then his eyes snapped shut as pain wracked his body.

"Sasuke, no, Sasuke…" Sakura felt utterly helpless. She feeble tried to move the senbon with her chakra, but she only succeeded in making the hole larger.

Her only choice was to cut him open.

The conditions were less than sanitary. Willing herself not to tremble, she unrolled a long sheet of plastic from her pack and laid it out, moving Sasuke to be on top of it, ignoring the jerks his body was making. She poured water onto her hands and onto Sasuke's torso where she would have to make the incision. She bit her lip. Probability of infection if she did this was 70 percent. Probability of death if she didn't… 100. Ripping open Sasuke's shirt, she took a breath and held it in order to make a steady incision with a chakra scalpel.

"Drain," she said to nobody in particular and coaxed the spare blood out by forming her chakra into a tubular shape and using suction. Once the blood was cleared, Sakura saw the senbon clearly. It was just as she'd thought—lodged in both the heart and lung, having flown right through the ribcage. "Forceps," she called to the nonexistent nurses around her and formed her chakra into the shape necessary to pluck out the object. She also willed some chakra to flow around the puncture areas so they would heal the moment she pulled it out. The heart chose that moment to stop beating, and Sakura felt like her own heart stopped as well. She counted to three and pulled out the senbon, blood flowing out even as the wounds healed. The lung had totally deflated. Sakura knew exactly one "lightning style" jutsu: the one all medics learned to restart hearts. She sent the smallest jolt of electricity to the heart. Nothing happened. She tried again, even as with the other hand she pulled special thread from her bag to sow up the incision. The internal damage was mostly healed—except for the fact that Sasuke was clinically dead.

"Come on, Sasuke," Sakura said desperately, her bloodied hands pumping Sasuke's chest after finishing the stitches. "Oh, come on, Sasuke, fuck, don't make me kiss you, please don't make me…" Sakura stopped, pinched Sasuke's nose and pressed her mouth over Sasuke's, breathing into it to send air into Sasuke to inflate his lung. Sakura alternated between the two maneuvers for a very long time.

And finally, finally, the heart started. Weakly, faintly, but working. Slowly, Sasuke's chest started moving up and down.

Sakura sat back and cried, cried out the burning tears that she hadn't let flow since he'd left. She'd done it. She'd saved someone…someone she cared for. She couldn't deny it any longer—watching Sasuke die had proved to her that she still loved him. Perhaps not in the same way, not puppy love, but she had a feeling that it was something deeper.

But, she told herself, that wouldn't deter her from her goal.

Sakura realized how tired she was and slumped. Ugh, no, she had to stay awake to monitor Sasuke…she had to…but her eyelids drooped and her last thought was input from Inner Sakura: WE KISSED SASUKE! HELL YEAH!

Sakura was woken up by Sasuke groaning. Judging by the position of the sun, it had been several hours. She looked over at the boy. His face was knotted up in pain, but his chest was still moving. Slowly, his eyes opened just barely, and he turned his head to see Sakura. Parched lips croaked, "Water."

As Sakura held up his neck and slowly poured the last of her water down Sasuke's throat, she could tell how weak he was. Once he had his fill, he flopped down, directing his gaze at the hot desert sky.

"How do you feel?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"Like crap," Sasuke answered. "What happened? Explain." He tried to sit up to lean against a rock but Sakura firmly pushed him back down.

"Sasuke. You just died twice in a matter of hours. Don't move."

"I…died?"

"One of the senbon—"

"—no. Start from when the senbon first hit me…what happened?"

Sakura swallowed. "The senbon were aimed impeccably. I was basically out of chakra from the fight, but I ran with you—got a kunai in the arm—and tried to heal you. The senbon were all hitting vital points. It should have been fatal. I…I had no choice, Sasuke. I went Second Form and forced the medical chakra out. It flushed the poison from your system while I plucked out the senbon. I thought I got all of them, and well, I was exhausted, not that that's any excuse. I tried to halfway reconstruct your nerves, but they must still be very weak. I sent the spare chakra which was tainted with poison into a rock which made it explode which is why I had the injuries."

"When Kakashi got me, I thought I felt something inside me shift," Sasuke offered weakly.

"Yeah. It was a senbon that I hadn't seen. It punctured your lungs and heart, I mean, the pain alone would have killed an ordinary person. I had some chakra that I stole from Shikamaru, so I opened you up—hence the scar on your chest—and removed it. It wasn't easy, though. I mean, you were already weak and…your heart stopped and your lungs deflated. There was blood everywhere. I used the one Raiton jutsu medics learn to jump-start your heart, and, err, inflated your lungs. And…yeah. Now you're alive."

There was a silence for a while as Sasuke was obviously in discomfort, his breaths not quite coming easily. Sakura was surprised when he got out, "You are… a skilled medical ninja."

Sakura choked silently, turning away so Sasuke wouldn't see. "You—you should be able to move with a bit of rest."

"…Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"Why am I shirtless?"

Sakura laughed nervously. "Eheh. It got saturated with blood and it was in the way. As you can see, it was all I could do to soak up the mess with my skirt and you're lying on my shirt." She motioned to her torso, clad only in the thin, tight pants and camisole of her sound uniform. She realized that below the camisole it was quite easy to see the bandages that subdued her breasts and her figure was blaringly portrayed, but swallowed and tried to act like she wasn't self-conscious.

"We're…going to burn like this," Sasuke pointed out.

"Yes, I'm terrible sorry that your pale perfect skin will be marred," Sakura said sarcastically but realized he had a point. It was unhealthy to be in this desert like this, and the sun was setting. That meant it would be freezing cold in a few hours. They had to get out of that, but Sasuke couldn't really move…

"Sasuke, we have to get out of here. How are you feeling?"

Sasuke tried to raise his arm, and sort of succeeded until it flopped back down. "This is disgusting," he snapped, coming out of the daze he'd been in since he woke up. "I'm so weak. I can move!" He moved to get up, and Sakura watched with an eyebrow raised. Leaning on the rock, Sasuke managed to shakily stand, panting. "When the hell will this wear off?" He asked darkly.

"It can take up to six weeks after heart failure for you to be able to resume normal activities," Sakura admitted.

"Yeah, well, I don't have that kind of time," Sasuke snapped. "I'm a ninja. We could be attacked at any time. Isn't there any way to speed up the process?"

"No. Not that we can afford."

Sasuke growled and tried to take a step and tripped. Sakura reached out to steady him, but Sasuke was heavier than she'd thought and they both fell, him on top of her. Sasuke threw out his arms to stop his fall, but they buckled and he ended up splat on top of Sakura. Shirtless. With her in a camisole.

"Oh, this isn't awkward at all," Sakura's muffled voice said from somewhere below his chest.

X

Hinata burst into the intensive care ward. "Tsunade-sama," she gasped.

"Hinata?" The Hokage looked up sharply. "This is a sterile room, what are you—"

"I know something that will help him recover," Hinata said.

Tsunade became alert. "What are you suggesting?"

"Ino said that the curse seal could be contributing to keeping him restrained and causing him pain… I'm here to remove it."

"Are you authorized to do that?"

"No, but—"

"I can't have trouble with the Hyuuga, Hinata, I can't permit you to—"

Had Tsunade seen it coming, she probably could have blocked Hinata's punch to the head. But nobody would have expected the shy girl to take an initiative, and thus the Hokage was knocked out.

Shizune, who was standing by, was a bit more on guard, but didn't have time to draw a weapon as Hinata knocked her out.

Hinata took a second to realize exactly what she'd done. I attacked the Hokage! Oh god, I'm in SO much trouble… Then she realized they could wake up at any time and she went to Neji's side and started drawing the signs on him. It would be best to have an onlooker to help hold him down, but she had to deal with what she had. She closed her eyes and tried to remember everything the scroll had said. She finished drawing the markings (with her blood, which would suffice since she was Main Branch) and placed her hand directly on top of the cursed mark. She murmured, "Unseal," and opened her eyes, removing her hand. Had it worked?

She didn't have a chance to find out because an arm wrapped around her neck. A very strong one. "You just messed with the Hokage, Hyuuga. You're in big trouble."

"I'm not a Hyuuga," Hinata croaked.

"I don't care who you are, you are not allowed to interfere with my work! What did you do to him anyw—"

"Hokage-sama?"

Slowly, Tsunade released her and looked toward the bed. Neji was sitting up, mouth curved downwards. "Neji…?"

"Hokage-sama, why can't I see?"

AN: Sakura is kind to Ino, stabs Kakashi, and brings Sasuke back from the dead in a matter of hours. Whee.

How will Neji react? Will Hinata get punished? Can Sakura make up her mind already? What would Sasuke be like on crack? Is inner-Sakura on crack? Is Kishimoto on crack? Is the author of this story on crack? Do ninja even have crack? Find the answer to most of these questions and more in the next chapter!

Reviews make me happy. Reviews make me update fast. So review plz :D

I promise more romantic drama to come. But you know me and my boring descriptions, I have to describe eeevery single thing.

P.S. No, I am not a doctor and if my description of Sakura's healing Sasuke was totally innaccurate... well, deal with it.

P.P.S. No, this chapter has not been proofread. I'll update it if I find something wrong with it.

P.P.P.S. Disclaimer: The author does not condone the use of crack cocaine, tobacco, playing chicken on the railroad tracks, or whatever else you feel like killing your body with. Unless it's chocolate.