Chapter 6

Breathe Into Me

"Why are you here?" He asked simply. He always said things as if he had no emotions at all, and that was part of why she liked talking to him so much. If she could get past the monotone, get him to show any emotion at all, a smile, a frown, a tear, then she would be the only one who had done it. She would be the only one he let in that far.

She stared at him with cold eyes, like a frozen ocean, her mind filled with anger but her thoughts surprisingly calm.

"You know why I'm here." She said, mocking his own simple tone. Her fists were clenched quite tightly, but at the same time she held her arms steady at her side, making sure to give no sign of the emotions her heart was screaming.

He sighed, "You know, I'm getting fed up with little game of yours. Both of you keep saying the same dumb things. Every time I see you, I never hear a 'Hello, how are you doing? Long time no see.' No, every time, it's the same thing. And I'm getting quite bored of it, Sakura." Sasuke sneered at her. She remembered now. That's the one time he ever showed emotion anymore. When he was causing pain and he knew it.

"It's not a game, Sasuke. You think we're playing?!" For a moment, she let a bit of her anger slip from her tongue, and she cursed herself for it. This time she was going to be strong. This time she wasn't going to let her emotions get in the way. She had to stay calm. It was a fact she had known since before she was even a genin and a large part of how she passed all the tests. A calm mind is a clear one. This wasn't a battle of emotion. Sasuke didn't care about her emotions, he made that painfully clear. She had to provide undeniable proof and reason to turn him. It was the last option.

"To be honest? You've always been playing." Sasuke retorted, his words slicing her. She gritted her teeth underneath closed lips. "All this time, you've just been playing. You've never been serious. All you care about is me. If you weren't playing ninja, if it was for real, you wouldn't be here right now." Sakura couldn't help but wince, his words stung that badly. He knew that his sharp tongue had cut her, and he had done it on purpose. After she said nothing for a while, he spoke again.

"Just go home, Sakura. Go play ninja with Naruto." He stated, turning from her. That slight motion, the fact that he had turned his back on her yet again, finally tore open her mouth. It was no use. With Sasuke, she couldn't hold it in.

"But I don't love him! Not the way I love you! Sasuke...I ilove/i you! Doesn't that mean anything? Even after all this time...my feelings for you have only grown! I want you to come back..." She paused, her eyes starting to water, "Because...I miss you..." Sasuke didn't move. "I miss you s-so much..." She couldn't help it. Her feelings overcame her and she fell to her knees in the dirt, her head down, clenching both arms tightly.

"Since you've been gone...I've been...so...so lonely, Sasuke..." She mumbled. He glanced back at her.

"You've had Naruto..." He started. She shook her head immediately.

"No...I haven't. He left too, shortly after you did...." For the first time in a long time, Sasuke actually looked...surprised.

"Is that so? And why'd he leave? To search for me?" He asked bluntly. Again, Sakura shook her head. Sasuke blinked, having expected a 'yes'.

"N-no...he left..to train..." Sasuke looked to the side, contemplating this. Sakura could tell the conversation was starting to turn to Naruto, and the sheer realization of this made her heart burn. "But that's not the point! Even if he didn't leave, it still wouldn't have been the same! Without you...everything...has lost meaning to me..." Her lip trembled and her arms fell limp onto the ground. "Nothing matters to me anymore. Not Naruto. Not Kakashi-sensei. Not even Konoha. Y-you were right." She looked up at him, her eyes stained with tears. "All I care about is you. That's all I've ever cared about. I don't even...care about being a ninja..." She paused, her own words sinking in like the tears falling from her face into the ground. "If you're not there...there's no point in being a shinobi..."

The two of them were silent for a moment, and a chilling wind rushed through the canyon. Sakura remained on her knees, looking down, and Sasuke moved his face forward, away from her. Both of them considered the words that had left Sakura's lips, and both of them thought the same thing. It was Sasuke that spoke first.

"So...to be with me, you'd even go so far as giving up on being a ninja?" He still didn't look back at her. Sakura slowly nodded her head.

"Y-yes..." She sighed. Sasuke shook his head, an actual smile, though invisible to Sakura from that angle, on his mouth.

"You're so stupid." His words were thrown back at her like a kunai. She looked up, surprised more than hurt. But from her angle, there was no way she could see Sasuke's expression, and therefore had no way to read the meaning behind that. Sasuke opened his mouth to continue, to reveal what he truly thought, but realized it would make no difference, and so started forward, started to leave. Sakura saw this, and she flew to her feet, starting at him.

"You're not going anywhere!!" She yelled, raising a fist, which held more power than it showed, ready to strike him the moment he came in range. But, the moment he came in range, she was in range too, and Sasuke easily sidestepped her punch, and used her own momentum to increase the damage of his elbow ramming into her ribs. A sickening crack was heard and Sakura gasped. But Sasuke didn't stop there. He pushed her off of his elbow and in the same motion, dealt a roundhouse kick that sent her skidding across the ground. Tears burst from Sakura's eyes, but she wasn't crying. It was a forced reaction to the pain. She sat there, in a crumpled heap for a long moment, gasping, coughing, spitting, bleeding, and crying. Even so, she didn't stay down for long. Just as Sasuke's calf muscles coiled to start the first jump out of the canyon, Sakura rose again.

"S-stop..." She gasped, and Sasuke paused. "I...I'm not letting...go.." Sasuke held no particular joy in hurting Sakura. It wasn't like Naruto, whom he could fight willingly and without concern, because they had that kind of relationship. With Sakura it was different. She wasn't strong enough to be a challenge for him, and he didn't particularly enjoy hurting girls anyway. They were always quick to cry, quick to show emotion. When he and Naruto fought, they had almost had fun. They both enjoyed the thrill of the fight, even if the reason was tearing them apart. With girls, especially Sakura, it wasn't like that. She wouldn't enjoy a minute of it, and that was no fun.

Sasuke glanced over at her. "You're...not worth it." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice. In a flash he was leaping up the canyon wall. Despite the pain, Sakura started moving forward, clenching her side to hold her broken rib cage together. Her aim was poor due to the tears, but luckily her target wasn't hard to hit. She raised her free fist, and with a cry of agonizing pain, slammed it into the canyon wall with every bit of strength she could find. The rock wall initially burst where her fist made contact, sending debris everywhere, and then a large series of cracks raced up the wall after Sasuke, and the entire thing began rumbling. Sasuke suddenly found that the wall he was climbing on was disappearing beneath him, and he made adjustments, moving swiftly from one falling chunk to the next, even as he fell down. When he was at the bottom of the canyon again, he stood upon an enormous pile of rubble, seemingly unscathed. Quickly, he glanced around for the one who had caused the rock slide, but there was no sign of her. He began to wonder if she had crushed herself under the debris just as a pebble slid and bounced down the pile from where he stood. In an instant, the rubble exploded beneath him, the fist of a deadly uppercut grazing his chin. Both of them stood on either side of the hole, Sakura nearly falling over from the pain in her chest, and Sasuke's eyes had become blood red as he stared wide-eyed at her. Perhaps...he had underestimated the girl.

"You've gotten stronger, Sakura." He said in a low voice, breathing slightly. He couldn't believe he had to use the Sharingan to fight her. If he hadn't used it just then, that uppercut would have broken his jaw into pieces.

"You-you're not going...any..." Sakura struggled to say, her eyes glaring defiantly at him, "I...I'm not..letting you...even if it's by force...you...you're coming home!" She choked out the last part, forcing a yell. Sasuke smirked.

"Now where have I heard that before?" The pink-haired girl clenched her teeth, and with unbelievable speed, was suddenly inches from his face. His Sharingan could see the chakra building up in her feet to do so, but he was so surprised by her speed, he hesitated, and because of that, a fist buried itself in his stomach. The force of it sent him deep into the partially destroyed canyon wall, and he rolled over in the new hole, his body screaming in pain. He couldn't help but bring his knees under him instinctively as he coughed up blood. He couldn't believe he had let himself get hit like that. Such power...if he got hit by another one of those, he'd be dead.

Sakura stood on top of the rocks, her fist still extended in the air from the punch, as she heaved in breaths. The damage to her ribs and the internal bleeding finally caught up with her and she suddenly bent over, blood spewing from her mouth. They both sat there, on their hands and knees, the pain keeping them from moving but causing their nerves to scream wildly at the same time. Eventually Sasuke forced himself to his feet, wiping his mouth and glaring darkly at Sakura's form. He had to end this quickly, or risk getting hit again. Sakura was so strong...how? He knew she was using concentrated chakra to make her attacks superhuman, but...where did she learn to do that? What kind of training had she gone through to attain this kind of power?

Movement from Sakura caught his attention and withdrew him from his thoughts. But she wasn't attacking. She hadn't even gotten up yet. He looked on as a strange green chakra flowed around her stomach. No...upon closer inspection...it was coming from her hand. She was holding her hand over her heart and...medical ninjutsu?! It was the same type of ability Kabuto had. But how...? He was so taken back by Sakura's improvement that he missed his chance to finish her while she was down. He watched as she rose again, her breathing returning to normal, and looked up at him.

"Sasuke...I'm not going to go easy on you! I don't want to...but I iwill/i do it in order to bring you back! I'll push you to within an inch of death...and then bring you back home just to heal you! If that's what it takes..." She let her voice trail off. Sasuke had gotten over his initial surprise by now, and found himself angry at Sakura's new abilities. That kind of power...where did she get it? He had to know!

Their battle raged on for a long while. Sasuke didn't aim to kill Sakura, but only because he wanted to know the source of her power...how she had obtained it. Sakura fought with all her might, forcing herself to give it her all against the one she loved, even if her heart was tearing in pieces on the inside. But she couldn't land any blows. After that first one, Sasuke concentrated almost entirely on dodging every one of her attacks. He knew the danger of getting hit now, and wasn't going to let it happen again. Sasuke also found it hard to pin the girl down. She wasn't able to dodge all of his attacks, but she made sure not to let herself be put into submission. And somewhere in the battle, Sakura's headband came off, causing her hair to flow loosely around her face. Eventually, Sakura's attacks held less and less power behind them as she ran out of chakra, and finally Sasuke found his chance. In one swift move he sheathed his sword and shoved his hand upward, grabbing Sakura around the neck and slamming her against the canyon wall.

Her hands automatically flew up and grabbed his arm, fighting to force him to release her, but it was no use. Tears welled in her eyes as she struggled for breath, and those same tears eventually rolled down her cheeks, off her chin, and onto Sasuke's hand. For a moment, Sasuke just stared at her as she squirmed. He almost let go at that point...just because of the look on her face. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't...want to cause her pain. This feeling only paused him for a moment though, and he pushed her against the wall harder as he got over it. Sakura fell limp, no longer having the strength to fight him, but her hands remained on his arm, if not by instinct alone.

"Tell me...Sakura..." Sasuke began, "Where did you learn these abilities? How did you obtain this power?" He let he hand ease up just enough to give her room to talk. She gasped, and coughed, her face tightening as she winced.

"What..." She forced out, "Y-you....jeal-jealous?" She retorted. Sasuke's anger flared up, and he squeezed her neck forcefully, pushing her against the wall hard. Her eyes flew open in surprise...and he felt her trachea collapse under his hand. She coughed surprisingly softly and a new stream of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth. His eyes suddenly grew wide at that feeling...the feeling of the bone breaking under his hand, and he immediately released her. Sakura fell to the ground, her hands flying to her throat as she tried to breathe, but found it nearly impossible. From his angle, he could see the teardrops falling on the rock, and he felt his heart sink. He felt horrible...sick to his stomach...for hurting her like that. He backed away slowly, looking at his own hand in astonishment. It wasn't his hand...it couldn't be...

As Sakura coughed and choked and gasped horribly, Sasuke felt a shiver run through his spine. Wh-why? Why had he done that? Why did he feel like this about it? He...didn't care! No! He couldn't care! Caring was the opposite of hate! He lived only for revenge! He had lived his life thinking that! ... Then how...how come he felt so bad...? How come...he cared...? He had broken that bond! His hand flew to his chest, his heart suddenly aching. If he had broken it...why the hell did it hurt so much?!! Why did he...?

Wide-eyed, Sasuke continued to backed away, his eyes unable to tear themselves from Sakura's bent form. Even then, he felt tears starting to well up in his own eyes. He was so shocked at this...this feeling...! He retreated backwards, and suddenly turned and ran. He couldn't take it...

But something grabbed his arm.

"I....w-whon't...l-let..." Sakura stood there, grasping his arm, her head hanging limp, shrouding her face in pink, and her voice was horribly hoarse. Sasuke was too panicked, too on edge, though, because of what he was feeling...and by sheer instinct, reacted the way he had been trained to. In one swift movement he drove his sword through Sakura's abdomen.

She gasped in surprise from beneath her hair. But somehow...she stood firm. Tears splashed on the metal of the sword, and to Sasuke's horror, Sakura began moving closer to him, pushing the blade further through her. Sasuke was frozen, astonished at what he had done, and what Sakura was doing now. She finally lifted her face up to him, as it was only inches away from his own face now, and placed her arms around his neck. He couldn't believe it...Sakura was actually...smiling! Even through the tears, she smiled at him lovingly, as if nothing was wrong.

And then...she leaned in and kissed him.

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Sakura jerked awake from this dream, her hair plastered to her face even as she flew up to a sitting position. Her sheets were soaked with sweat, and the heart monitor was going nuts when she awoke. Slowly though, the beeping slowed down, as Sakura drew in deep breath after breath. She felt her eyes begin to water as she thought of the dream she just had. She had just relived what had happened to her only days earlier. A shiver ran through her spine from the memories and from the cold air of the room interacting with her hot body. She didn't have much time to think about what had just happened when the door to her room slammed open, light flooding the area.

"Sakura! Are you okay?!" Tsunade stood sillhouetted in the doorway, looking pretty out of breath, "The alarm went off because of the heart monitor," she continued as she made her way to the girl's bedside. Sakura smiled weakly up at her.

"I-I'm okay..." She paused, "Just...had a bad dream..." Tsunade's face relaxed with relief, and she smiled gently.

"Okay...good..." was all she said in response. Her hand moved gently to Sakura's face and she pulled the strands of hair across the girl's wet skin and out of the way. Sakura smiled, and let her do it. Finally, Tsunade went back to the door, looking back once with a smile before shutting out the light again with the closed passage. Sakura took another breath, and looked out her window at the moon. Her thoughts were full of Sasuke, and what he had said to her in that last confrontation. She smiled softly. iYou're...not worth it./i She understood those words now. He had meant she wasn't worth the pain he'd go through to fight her. He cared about her.

Sakura's thoughts then turned to Naruto, and all the people that had left with him. She wondered where they were at right now, what they were doing. Sleeping probably. Her mind also drifted to Hinata. It was such a beautiful night...she wondered if the shy girl had gotten her chance...she almost laughed at this point. iNaruto's a lucky guy.../i she thought.

As her mind flowed back to the dream she had just had, she felt her heart burn with guilt. She wanted more than anything to go after Sasuke too. She had gotten to him last time. She knew it. If she was there again, maybe...he'd finally change his mind. But more than that...she already missed him again. Especially now, that she saw a chance at bringing him back. A chance that he...loved her back...

The curtains in the room blew freely in the night breeze because of the open window, and the soft moonlight fell on the hospital room...and its empty bed.