Final Sacrifice

Chapter 4

Once Kakashi fell to the ground, Sakura turned to Sasuke. He stood, and she could tell he was angry, but his eyes started to flutter as his knees buckled below him.

Sakura ran to him in a flash, grabbing him into her arms before his head hit the ground. This gave her a sense of deja vu from when they were in the forest of death.

"Sakura... you can't..." He started to argue again, he felt the weight of his eyelids start to droop over his eyes. He tried to fight the feeling as hard as he could, to look at her. He wanted to make sure his point was across.

"Sasuke hush." She muttered. "Is healing you even worth it right now?" She asked him suddenly.

Sasuke shook his head. "If anything it will just keep me awake... if you're actually going to do this... you need to conserve your chakra." He muttered, resting his head against her lap. It was nice to actually feel something warm against his body besides the stone cold walls of a jail cell. Sakura fished out one of the bracelets that Kakashi had given her to mask their chakra so no one could sense them. She placed the bracelet on Sasuke's wrist, and he surprisingly complied.

"We need to get going." Sakura stated, handing Sasuke her backpack. "Put this on."

She helped him to a sitting position, Sasuke placed the bag on his back, confused. "Sakura.. You're not trying to suggest...?"

Sakura got in a crouching position, waiting for him to get on her back. They were going to look ridiculous. But this was the only way they could get out and her be able to use her hands if needed. "We need to get going." She said again. Impatiently waiting for him to get over his ego.

She felt his arms weakly wrap around her shoulders as she stood up, lifting his legs. She felt his head slump against the top of her head
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5 Years ago

Sakura rested her head against the grass, staring up at the dark sky. The stars were starting to slowly splatter across, and she smiled. This was her happy place. Just her and the stars.

"There you are..." Sasuke muttered, crossing his arms across his chest. He was just a few feet away from her. "Kakashi was starting to get concerned that no one had seen you since our mission."

Sakura sat up- keeping her eyes glued to the glowing night sky. They were a few miles outside of the village, in a field where they had trained a few weeks ago before a mission. They had just returned to the village a few hours ago- but Sakura wandered off. Her emotions were all over the place. She felt that she ended up being a hindrance in their mission because she fell and felt a snap in her ankle on a rock. Sasuke had to stay behind to protect her.

But right now, she didn't want to face Sasuke. She didn't want to explain how weak she felt compared to the rest of her team. She just wanted to stay out in the field for the rest of the night.

"Sakura... how's your ankle?"

Sakura again didn't answer. She felt her cheeks start to flush, being reminded of how weak she truly was.

She was shocked when she heard Sasuke move, and plop himself right next to her. He didn't say anything, besides curiously looking up at the stars with her. He never really felt like he had noticed the stars before like he did then. He was always distracted- he always had something else more important on his mind.

"That's the big dipper..." Sakura muttered- pointing her fingers towards a group of stars. "And that one... over there... reminds me of a hen..."

Tears started to brim her eyes. Sasuke looked over at her, concerned. He didn't mean to make her cry. He stared up again at the stars. Trying to find one in particular. As soon as he found it, he nudged her softly. She looked over at him, shocked. "That one.... Over there..." he muttered, pointing in a direction. "The one that looks kind of like an arrow... My brother once told me... that it was a hawk."