"She diffidently doesn't need this from you of all people Sasori." Gaara stated as he grabbed Sakura's hand and headed towards the front door of the hotel room.
That's when two men appeared and slammed the door shut.
The sound of some kind of clicking metal echoed in the now silent room, followed by a sinister deep chuckle.
Both turned around, only to be met with the barrel of a gun.
"I'll ask you one more time Sakura, who's it gonna be? Gaara, or me." Sasori now pointed the gun towards Gaara.
"Sasori, what the hell are you doing!" Sakura screamed in disbelief as she saw her fiancé point the gun at Gaara. She quickly ran in front of Gaara, as a way to get Sasori to snap back into reality and realize what he was actually doing.
Another dark chuckle escaped the armed read-head.
"Sakura, baby. Always trying to save the day. Just how naïve could you be?"
"What….What do you mean? What do you think you're doing! Put the gun down Sasori!" Sakura screamed even more frantically. "I choose you Sasori! Okay, I choose you! Now put down the gun!"
"You see my dear, much to your dismay, it was never about you."
"What the hell is going on!" Temari demanded.
A wicked grin now creeped onto Sasori's face. "You see my friends, I'm really actually surprised I have been able to keep up this act for this long."
"Act? Do you mean that.. You don't love me anymore?" Sakura's words shook as she all but breathed them out.
This made Sasori scoff. "Love! You diffidently are one stupid girl my dear. Like I said, it was never about you, but rather about lover boy behind you. Ever since Obito got locked up, his second in command has had me searching for his ass."
Naruto interrupted this time. Sasori quickly pointed the gun towards him "Obito. As in the drug dealer? Wait… then Sasori you're.."
"Yes, you idiot. You can call me Yukaruma."
Sasori now returned the gun back towards Sakura who now had tears streaming down her face.
"So all this time, even when you proposed, it was all fake!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yes darling, all apart of trying to get closer to you so we could get closer to finding Gaara. I must really thank you though, for falling for my traps so easily. You sure have made my job a hell of a lot easier… just wish it would have been a shorter experience. But like you always say my dear, 'even when times are tough, just gotta push through'." His grin growing even wider.
Gaara tried to push Sakura away from his front, but Sasori kept his gun on her. "You're bluffing." Gaara scoffed this time. "You aren't going to shoot Sa…" before he could finish the ear-piercing sound of gunfire erupted in the small room followed by the swishing sound of a bullet entering skin.
Everyone froze.
Sakura brought her hand up to her torso, only to find some strange crimson liquid leaking onto her hands. But she felt no pain.
That's when she saw it. Saw him.
There laying on the floor in front of her bleeding on the carpet.
His blond hair now stained the color of his blood and a gaping hole in his abdomen.
"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed as she fell to the floor cradling him in her arms, trying to get him to respond.
He coughed, and then weakly took Sakura's hand.
"Sakura, I.."
"Always getting in the way!" Sasori yelled as he began to pace. "That's just it then. Not just those two, but I'm gonna have to kill all of you now."
Sasori went to pull the trigger once again, but before he could, Gaara was already behind him.
He hit Sasori over the head with one of the wooden chairs from the room's desk. Of course this wouldn't knock him out, but it would sure get his attention.
Sasori whipped around, only to have Garra's fist slammed into his face, making him loose his grip on the gun as Gaara delivered another blow to his wrist making Sasori drop the gun.
Kankuro quickly jumped on this opportunity to sweep in and grab the gun. Before he could point the gun back at Sasori, Sasori was already back up and swinging. He swung at Gaara, just barely connecting his fist with Gaara's left cheek. Throwing him of, Sasori landed a hard blow to Gaara's midsection, knocking him down.
Kankuro now took this opportunity to re-point the gun at Sasori.
That's when they heard sirens.
Sasori grabbed the other chair in the room and in one swift motion broke the room's window and leaped out of it.
Gaara ran over to the window trying to capture the red-head, but was too late.
The others rushed over to Naruto who was still barely conscious, but loosing too much blood. "Somebody call a damn ambulance!" Sakura demanded angrily followed by the quick shuffle of Temari doing just that.
"Hang in there sweetie, okay?" Sakura tried to comfort Naruto.
"Sakura, I…. I'm sorry I couldn't see this earlier. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better." Tears now began to trickle down Naruto's face.
"Shhh. Shh. Don't say that, you always did all you could to protect me and the others. And stop talking like that. You're gonna be fine, I promise. You're gonna be fine." Sakura's voice started to cut out as she cried even harder. She hoped her words were true, she just lost her supposed lover and now she is going to lose her best friend. No, her brother.
Naruto's breathing started to slow as he slowly closed his eyes. "Sakura," he whispered "tell me a story.. about the old days. The… d.. days when everything was perfe..ct.
Sakura gave a small laugh through her tears and smiled down at Naruto who was still in her arms.
"Okay, okay." She began. Remember the one time you, Gaara, Neji and I went and got ice cream? That time before Neji had Tenten and was trying to hit on the girl who worked at the stand but ended up tripping over the small garbage can and face planting into his ice cream?"
Naruto chuckled a little, followed by wet coughs. "Tell… me one m..more." He managed to get out, even weaker than before.
Sakura tightened her grip on his hand. "Alright. Remember that one time that Kiba was chasing the squirrel and then-" she was cut off by the sounds of screaming outside the building, followed by a round of gunshots back and forth. Until finally they stopped.
Then came a loud pounding on the door followed by 4 medical men rushing in with a stretcher.
They quickly loaded Naruto onto the stretcher making him momentarily release Sakura's hand, but she found his again after, not wanting to leave his side.
As they loaded Naruto into the ambulance followed by Sakura and Temari, Kankuro and Gaara rushed outside to see what the gunshots were from.
Sure enough there laying on the ground was Sasori, in a bloody mess. No doubt the sounds they heard were him going down fighting against the police.
"Well my friend," Kankuro said as he placed a hand on Garra's shoulder, "looks like you are finally a free man after all these years. Well, as far as we know."
"As always thanks for the emotional support" Gaara replied not really in the mood to joke, he knew they had to get to the hospital as soon as possible and took off towards the location, Kankuro tailing behind him.
As they entered the ER, they found Sakura and Temari along with the rest of the group huddled in the waiting room while Naruto was in surgery.
As soon as Gaara spotted Sakura, he was by her side.
She buried her face in his chest and continued to cry. She felt so weak both physically and emotionally. But she didn't care this time. She just didn't want to lose her brother.
Gaara held onto her tighter, trying to control his own emotions and anger about the possibility of also losing his best friend.
X
After hours of waiting in the waiting room the crew still sat there waiting. Some sitting on chairs, some sitting on the floor.
It was then that the double doors opened to reveal the surgeon, making everyone jump to their feet in worried anticipation.
"Well, good news. Your friend is going to be just fine. The gunshot wounds just missed all of his organs miraculously. Your friend is really, very lucky." The doctor informed them.
Sighs and an atmosphere of relief filled the room. He was going to be okay. Naruto was going to be okay.
"I know that you all would like to visit him, but he has to get some rest. You can come by latter after he has rested some." The doctor said with a smile and walked back into the ER to finish some paper work.
Everyone exchange glances, then hugs.
X
Later that night, small groups at a time, everyone got to visit Naruto.
Of course he was back to being his old happy-go-lucky self, only every time he went to laugh, he would flinch from the pain.
The final group to visit was Sakura, Gaara, and Kiba.
Akamaru gently climbed onto Naruto, licking his face while Sakura and Gaara went to stand beside him.
"You know, I don't think you are exactly in top shape for the fight in a few weeks." Sakura teased as she gently shook him shoulder.
"Ya ha ha. Laugh it up while you can. This is what I get for saving your life. Psh." Naruto jokingly scoffed. "Well whatever. I needed to train more anyways." He continued, trying to talk himself up some more.
This earned a giggle from Sakura and Kiba, and even a small smile from Gaara.
"Glad you're doing alright kid." Gaara teased, but still had truth in the joke.
"What about you Gaara? Are you gonna be ready for the match?" Naruto was now curious since they brought the topic up.
"I think I'm gonna be done with boxing, atleast for a little bit. Besides, the only reason I continued in the competitions was to find a certain someone." Gaara smirked and looked out of the corner of his eye at Sakura, which made her blush and smile.
"Alright dork. Well we will let you get some rest then. We'll see you tomorrow." Sakura reassured Naruto as they all said their goodbyes.
After leaving the hospital, Kiba parted ways with the other two to go attend to some "business" as he called it. Probably Hinata business.
Back at Sakura and Sasori's apartment, Sakura really wasn't able to show any more emotion that night and decided that it was prime time to pack up most of what she could for the night and put it at Ino's or somewhere else. Just out of here.
Gaara, who was leaning on the doorway watched Sakura frantically pact things and decided to jump in to try to ease her tension a bit.
Once again he snaked his arms around her stomach from behind, only this time he picked her up earning a shocked squeal out of her and placed her on the counter.
He put his hands on either side of her and leaned in, almost brushing noses.
"Ya know," his breath tickling her lips, "I can help take all the pain away."
She thought he was messing with her. She went to playfully hit him but instead saw the serious look on his face. Her breath hitched.
"Love can be so broken sometimes, right?" His face hardened. "But I promise we can learn to love each other again like we used to. Because that love never left. I will try my best to make you forget all about these things that have happened, and just try to offer you happiness. Maybe even.. Till death do we part?" With this we grinned the biggest grin she has seen from him after all these years.
"Buuuut, maybe we better find a place for both of us to live first. Most likely with those other two for right now." He kind of cringed as he imagined them living with his siblings. He backed away from her with a small laugh with the intentions on helping her finish packing.
Without warning, Sakura grabbed either sides of his face with her small hands and brought him back down into a sweet and loving kiss.
A much awaited sweet and loving kiss.
X
X
Hey guys! It has been so long! I'm so sorry! I have gotten so caught up in life the last 4 years, but I'm finally back for the time being! \(*3*)/ Anyways, hope you enjoyed the last chapter of this fanfic! It was great to write. See ya! :D