Warning: I do not own Naruto or any other affiliated characters.

CHAPTER 2

For a split second after the gate guards had told her that a half-dead Naruto and Sasuke had appeared at those very same gates a mere quarter of a day before, Sakura couldn't feel anything at all. She didn't have a thought in her head. Then something kicked in – Naruto was dying. Sasuke was here, and also dying. This was no time to be standing around dazedly. She took off for the hospital immediately, and made it there in record time. Shizune and Tsunade had been operating on both boys nonstop, but they were far from saved – and the two women were getting tired. They needed Sakura to fill in. Sakura didn't even know who was operating on who – she was ushered into Shizune's operating room first, because their shishou had more chakra than either of them combined, and wouldn't need to rest before Shizune did.

It turned out that Shizune was operating on Sasuke. It made sense – after all, Naruto would surely be the Hokage after Tsunade. Sakura believed this with all her heart now, and she knew that her shishou felt it, too. Tsunade would, of course, would have chosen to save Naruto before Sasuke. It wasn't that Shizune wasn't capable of saving Naruto, or that Sasuke's life would be in danger in Shizune's hand – it just made sense that the Hokage would personally want to see to it that the future of the village would be safe by operating on Naruto herself.

Sakura stepped in for the exhausted Shizune at once. The pink kunoichi herself was pretty tired, but she knew that this was where she was supposed to be – healing her team. The team that fell apart seven years ago. The team that she couldn't save.

The team that left her behind.

Sasuke looked like death. Sakura never thought to see the boy so… still. The medical team had cleaned most of his blood off so that the body could be operated on better, but it didn't change the fact that Sasuke was a medical horror – punctured, ripped, and burned everywhere. Broken bones. Punctured organs.

Briefly, Sakura wondered with panic if this is what Naruto looked like, too. She felt her heart drop to her stomach as she looked at Sasuke for the first time in years. He was on the brink of death. Then Sakura snapped herself out of it – the boy you lost is here in front of you, you idiot, she told herself. DO NOT LET HIM DIE.

Sakura had complete faith in Tsunade. Whatever state Naruto was in, her shishou would save him. So she put everything out of her mind – the images from the night Sasuke left, the time he tried to kill her when they were reunited years and years afterwards, and the final, imagined picture of him and Naruto battling themselves to death not a day ago. She put all those things out of her mind, and concentrated like she had never done into saving the boy that had slipped away so many years ago.

When the last nurse had gone with the rest of the medic team that wheeled Sasuke away had left the operating room, Sakura collapsed on the floor like a rag doll. She was exhausted. She couldn't possibly support herself with her legs anymore.

She was sure that she had pushed the limit of her chakra use to the point where the limit had pretty much thinned away into nothing. Somewhere during the operation, her concentration had broken down when she realized that Sasuke was close.. so close to death. She knew it was either she pushed herself until she broke, or he would be lost. Again.

So she pushed.

She had maintained her poise until the last nurse had gone out of the room – and then broke down. Sakura put her face in the palm of her hands, and panted. She felt like she couldn't breathe – and she was so dizzy that she really didn't believe that the floor was stationery, even though she knew in the back of her mind that the floor couldn't possibly be rotating. Then came the coughing.

Sakura coughed and coughed until blood came out of her mouth. Now she really couldn't breathe. She fell completely to the floor and her whole body pulsed to her coughs. Blood splattered on the already-blood strewn floor. Why couldn't she stop coughing, dammit. And why was everything spinning. And for the love of the First Kage, could she get the hell up off this floor.

Suddenly, she felt a cool hand raise her upright. Sakura, in the midst of all her writhing, hadn't even felt anyone come back into the room. Shit, she thought. She didn't want to be seen like this. She hated to worry people. Though, admittedly, she was in a worrisome state. She hated to admit it, but it was true. She looked up.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she breathed out his name. His one eye met her two green ones, and in a swift motion, she was cradled in his arms. He laid his cool hand on her forehead, and she closed her eyes.

Her head was resting on his chest. His body was so cool – she hadn't felt how hot she was before. She inwardly cursed at herself as she realized that she must be running a fever. However, Kakashi's coolness had alleviated some of her dizziness, though she was still coughing. Out of nowhere, Kakashi produced a small towelette, and put it up to her bloody, coughing mouth. She took the towelette from him, only to find that her hands were trembling. Or was it her whole body that was shaking? She couldn't really be sure anymore.

"I'm going to ask this once, Sakura." Kakashi's gaze was still firmly planted on her eyes. "Tell me the truth, no bullshit. Do you need to be admitted to the hospital?"

He didn't often curse. Even when he did, it was especially not often directed at – or in front of – her. She knew that when his gaze and words turned harsh like this, there was no evading him. Yes, Kakashi was a lazy, mellow man who had questionable taste in his reading material. Most of the time, she felt like she was the one who was his sensei, not the other way around, from how much she had to berate him for being late.

But he was also Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Nin. The leader of Team 7. Her sensei, comrade, and friend who cared fiercely for those around him, though he didn't often show it. She knew that he was really worried about her right now, and that she shouldn't lie to him. She also knew that he asked her if she needed help because he knew and respected that she didn't like others to see her as being weak. He knew her insecurities from childhood – her insecurities of being left behind and being weak, and knew that she would do anything to keep people from seeing her affected by anything.

Sakura knew he knew this, and she was grateful for his understanding. She was grateful that he understood and respected her enough to ask her if she really needed medical attention, and because he understood, because he respected her, she had to return the favor and tell him the truth.

"Don't tell Tsunade or Shizune. They must be tired from operating, too. Please take me to Hiro-san on the third floor – he'll be in the first room on the left from the staircase. He'll know what to do with me. It's nothing really… I just used too much chakra." Sakura said quietly into his chest.

Kakashi nodded and got up, still cradling Sakura in his arms. She was still too disoriented to see where they were going, but she had no doubts that Kakashi would deliver her where she needed to be. Her coughing had finally lessened, and she closed her eyes – and then tired darkness engulfed her into a deep, deep sleep.