Chapter 9

Sasuke and the tracking team had stopped for a while to catch their breath. They had been travelling for about two days now and they didn't seem to be getting anyway. Sasuke was now somehow thinking that something was wrong... We've been travelling for two days... why aren't we getting anywhere? But they were following the scent of the fabric. Something's wrong...

*with Sakura

Baki anticipated for the worst. Sakura leaned back in her chair and told him.

"Gaara is getting worse every moment."

"Do you even know what he's got" Sakura's eyes darkened.

"I have a theory."

"What is it? Please tell me!"

"There is a chance that he might have arsenic poisoning." Baki looked confused. Sakura continued explaining. "Arsenic poisoning is a very classic and common way of murder. It is a white powder that is toxic to the body. The symptoms are that the patient loses hair and weight. The poison also damages your kidneys and liver." Baki looked at Sakura with wide eyes.

"That's why you conducted a kidney examination." Baki said, now understanding. Sakura just nodded.

"In the MRI, his kidneys have not failed yet, when his heart was failing, his pillow was covered in loose hair. He has lost a considerable amount of weight. These are all symptoms of arsenic poisoning." Baki stumbled back and then asked

"Is there any hope that he can be cured?"

"The question isn't if he can be cured, it is if he actually has arsenic poisoning because if he does then he only has two days max to live."

"Then what are you waiting for!? Hurry and do something! Do another MRI or something and treat him." Sakura could tell that he was getting pissed.

"I would love to do another MRI but since MRI involves using radiation on the body, I am afraid that it will damage Gaara's body even more. I was going to ask you if you are prepared to take the risk."

"We just want to find out what is wrong with our leader. So yes, I am willing to risk it. Please do another MRI on his kidneys." Sakura nodded and then walked out of the room. She went to the infirmary where she saw that Gaara was sleeping. The medics looked at her as she pushed him into the MRI room, a few followed her. She then commenced an examination on his kidneys again.

*During the examination

Sakura was in the middle of the examination when she found something that frightened her.

"Oh...my...GOD" she whispered loudly. The medics looked at her.

"Sakura sama, Gaara's heart is starting to fail again." Sakura looked at him if he was a blob.

"WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! QUICKLY GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" In an instant the medics came to life and quickly got Gaara out of the MRI and injected him with a dose of atropine. When his heart was stable again, she reeled him back into the infirmary. Baki and the rest of the medics were waiting there. As Sakura pushed Gaara back in, Baki rushed up to her.

"Well, did you find anything?" Sakura held up her hand as to say we will talk later. Baki nodded and went back to his office. Sakura went and asked medics to take her to the injection room where you prepare injections. She came back with an injection which has her healing powers around it. Baki smiled in relief.

"You found the cure!"

"No, this to my final confirmation of my theory" she injected it in Gaara and sat down next to him.

Baki and the medics looked at her as if she was crazy.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! IF YOUR WRONG THEN GAARA COULD DIE" Sakura looked at all of them and sighed.

*With Sasuke

"Oi Uchiha, are you sure you gave us the right clue. We've been travelling for days" asked Kankuro.

"For the last time yes, Baki gave it me himself" replied Sasuke. He was getting angry at Kankuro asking him the same question. The group stopped to rest. They saw a figure jump over the trees. Kankuro called out.

"OI!" the figure didn't seem to hear, so Kankuro tried again in a VERY loud voice. The figure just ran over them. Sasuke looked at Kankuro in confusion, the figure was most likely a ninja and since ninjas have good hearing, they should have 110 percent heard Kankuro's voice. Something in Sasuke's stomach stirred.

"I have a feeling that something is wrong..." said Sasuke.

"Yeh me too" agreed Kankuro, "but our only option is to continue following his trace."

*Back with Sakura

"The injection that I just gave him was a potassium supplement. If he does THAT, then the potassium should keep the heart stable." The medics looked at each other.

"What do you think he has?" Sakura leaned back in the chair.

"It's time you all knew. I think that Gaara may have been a victim to arsenic poisoning." The medics gasped.

"B-but that's not possible. It would have shown up on the MRI scan..."

"Have you forgotten? Arsenic poisoning only shows that the patient has an inflamed stomach on the MRI scan." The medics muttered to themselves. One medic who didn't like the idea of being outsmarted by a girl said

"If he really does have arsenic poisoning, then that would contradict your kidney examination."

"Yes it would contradict my FIRST examination"

"What do you mean first?"

"We just did another one and look at the results." Sakura held up the scan and the medic's eyes widened, Gaara's kidneys were indeed failing. Sakura smirked

"I believe I've made my point, and to prove it, look at Gaara's heart monitor." The medic looked at it, so did everyone else and found that Gaara's heart was in stable condition.

"The potassium worked..." muttered Baki. Sakura got up and went to the injection room again. She came back with yet another injection.

"I know can say for sure that Gaara is a victim of arsenic poisoning and now I am going to give him the required treatment, a dose of Dimercaprol." The medics started clapping. Some cried tears of relief that they had finally discovered what was wrong with their leader.

"We only have to wait until tomorrow to see the effects." The medics and the defeated medic nodded and walked out leaving Baki and Sakura.

"Sakura Sama, I don't know how to thank you" said Baki. Sakura stood up and showed a rare smile.

"Gaara is one my close comrades. As Hatake-san once said in the world of ninja, those who don't follow the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum." Baki smiled and said

"Yes" Then Sakura froze. Baki frowned "What's wrong?" Sakura slowly turned to face him.

"If Gaara was poisoned then it had nothing to do with his fight..."

"The attacking could have shot poison darts at him."

"But arsenic poison is only delivered through your mouth and in contaminated water." Baki's eyes widened. Sakura rushed out of the infirmary. She went into Sasuke's room and started sniffing his belongings.

"What are you doing?" Baki asked

"If the attacker had nothing to do with it then Sasuke and the rest are on a wild goose hunt." Baki's widened.

"I'm going to go after them" said Sakura and left.

*With Sasuke

"U...chi...ha, we are out of f...food, everyone is s...starving" gasped Kankuro. They had run out of supplies a day ago and they were scavenging for anything edible but the forest seemed to be bare.

"I know" replied Sasuke. He was also very thirsty and hungry but he had to think of a way to get out the forest. The group had decided to leave the forest but they couldn't seem to find the way out. Sasuke was also losing a lot of energy. Please let us find a way out.

Sakura followed Sasuke's scent with Baki right behind her. She followed and followed until his scent was suddenly cut off. Sakura stopped and looked at the sight in front of her. Baki followed her eyes and frowned.

"Sakura sama, what are you looking at?" Sakura looked at him and looked back. It was true; there was nothing but barren land in front of them. A few trees but that was it. Sakura wasn't making a sound and Baki didn't dare disturb the silence but she was actually having a conversation with her Inner.

Oi I need your help.

SAKU-CAHN! IT'S BEEN AGES! Why do you need my help?

Yeh whatever, Uchiha's scent is cut off.

You know I can't tell you the answer from the future

Just give me a hint please

I'm doing this because I love you and because it's SASU-CHAN!

JUST TELL ME!

OK geez. A blanket... well I'm off till next time.

Inner disappeared and Sakura returned to reality.

"Sakura sama, what are you going to do? You've been standing there for quite some time." Sakura paid no attention to Baki but instead thought about the clue. A blanket...a blanket...HOW IS THAT SUPPOSE TO EB A CLUE?! Sakura realised that it was getting dark and sighed out of annoyance. Sakura looked at plane once more before turning her back and started to walk away.

"S-sakura sama? Where are you going?" But before Sakura could take the first step, something caught her eye. The wind was building and the atmosphere...shifted? Sakura's eyes widened. It seemed like something is covering it...blanket...Sakura gasped as she realized what Inner had meant. She drew out one of her katana's and stabbed it into the ground. She turned to Baki and said

"You're going to need that" Baki just nodded. She closed her eyes and her hands went into a prayer position. Baki looked at her and his mouth widened; Sakura was glowing gold and was being lifted into the air. She suddenly stopped and muttered a jutsu; Dark blossom, whispering wind. She then opened her palms and blew, that created a very strong wind force the same force as a tornado to appear. Baki grabbed onto the katana and held on for dear life. Sakura opened her eyes and saw something that surprised her. Something like a huge invisible blanket lifted and blew away. The wind stopped and sakura descended back to the ground. Baki opened his eyes to find a forest in front of him.

"W-wha...H-ho...EHH!?" he stuttered. Sakura eyes' widened. I only know one person who could create an invisible blanket of this size...

Baki looked at her. "What are we going to do now?" She gave him a packet of what looked like pills.

"I'm going to find Sasuke and the group. Once I come back, help me give them the pills. Understood?"

"H-Hai" She did a couple more hand seals and whispered Dark Blossom, Rising Flame. A flame like cloud appeared and she stepped on it. The cloud then flew over the forest. Sakura looked for a group of people.

Sasuke and the group were on the verge of suiciding. They still couldn't find a way out of the forest. Famished and parched, they collapsed, Sasuke looked up at the darkening sky and was about to close his eyes when he saw a cloud out of flames flying over and with his very good eyesight, he saw the rider had pink hair due to the light from the cloud.

"S-s-Sakura..."

Sakura looked directly below her and saw out a group of people. She flew down and landed, worried.

"Is this everyone?" she looked around and found Sasuke. He was in really bad shape. His face looked like he hadn't slept for a while and he had lost a lot of weight. She rushed to his side. He could barely move. His eyes slowly moved to the beautiful face that was now above him looking at him with worry.

"S-s-sakura..."

"I'm here, Sasuke." She quickly summoned 20 water bottles and everyone grabbed for one. They gulped it down with such speed that some choked. Sasuke seemed to be the worst out of them. Sakura gave one to Sasuke but found that he couldn't move his body, out of extreme fatigue. She tried feeding him the drink but that didn't work either. She scoffed out of annoyance. She stood up and went to the rest of the tracking group. She did a few hand seals and said Dark blossom, rising flame. A flame cloud appeared that could fit everyone on it. She then directed the cloud back to Baki, leaving Sasuke and her alone. Good, now there's no one to see. He can't drink by himself, I have no other choice. She filled her mouth with water and leaned down...

Sasuke was about to lose consciousness. His vision was going blurry. Is this how I'm going to die? I thought Sakura was there... His eyes were closing but then they stopped when his lips touch something warm and soft. Liquid followed into his mouth, when he swallowed the water, his throat was slowly getting better. He felt the same warmth and softness again and again...and again. But now his eye sight was getting better and he saw something which made him blush. In front of him was Sakura...SHE WAS KISSING HIM! When she removed her lips from his, he sat up and his face turned a light pink.

"W-w-what are you d-d-doing?" Sakura looked back at him.

"Yo, you can finally move?" Sasuke looked at her and wondered how she could be so calm considering what just happened.

"You just..." Sakura's face turned a slight pink and turned away.

"T-that wasn't a kiss... you couldn't drink by yourself... I-I had no choice..." she stuttered out. She looked back and their eyes locked. They both turned a darker pink and looked away.

*Grumble...

Sakura looked at Sasuke who looked away. She gasped.

"I still need to give you your medication" She threw him a pill which he caught and swallowed it. His stomach somehow felt...full? Sakura helped him up and teleported back to where everyone else was. They all seemed to be better after the pills and the water. They looked at them.

"What took you guys so long?" Sasuke turned a little pink.

"Uhh" Sakura let of Sasuke who stumbled a bit and then steadied himself with the help of some of the other ninjas.

"Nothing, Sasuke's condition was worse than all of yours, I had to fix him up bit." She said with scorn. Sasuke glared at her, that's not what I thought, happened... Sasuke was about to speak to her when she walked away but as she passed him, he didn't miss the slight pink on her cheeks. She walked away and the rest followed. Sasuke decided to let it go.

I know your still in there Sakura...