Title: Wounds
Pairing: One-sided InoSaku, hinted NaruSaku, SasuSaku and NaruSasu.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: For just before the timeskip.
Warnings: Slight shoujo-ai. Angst.
For: LJ comm pigxforehead challenge #3. Prompt -- "some things you can't heal".
Word Count: 1,174
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me.
Author's Notes: Un-beta'ed. It took me some time to come up with this for the challenge. It's not a hard prompt though. I wonder why my muse is so dead suddenly.

Wounds

"Sasuke is not a traitor," Naruto seethes, his eyes already burning into a shade of red.

Sakura's green eyes are brimming with tears, but she refuses to cry. "Naruto..." she says hoarsely. "Please... Don't..."

Naruto ignores her, and screams, "SASUKE IS NOT A TRAITOR! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO HIM!" He makes a lunge for the Hokage. Sakura stops him just in time, holding him back with all her strength, as he kicks and bites and tries to tear her apart.

"Naruto..." Sakura's tears are flowing down her cheeks. She stands there, bravely bearing Naruto's attacks, making no noise at all when she feels the pain resounding through her body and the fresh crimson blood trickling down her skin.

Tsunade watches this, her heart aching for her two favourites. But she knows that what she is doing must be done.

---

Ino is frozen outside the door of the Hokage's office. She hears Naruto's desperate yelling and Sakura's whispered pleas. She knows that there is no saving Sasuke. After all these years, all the effort that Naruto and Sakura and other people around them has put into bringing him back.

She can imagine the tears on Sakura's face. She wants more than anything to barge in and shout at the top of her voice with Naruto. She wants to go and wipe the tears off Sakura's face. She wants Sasuke to get out of this mess, wants everything to return to normal again, just like before he left. She wants to help. But she knows that she cannot do anything. It is Team Seven's business.

She swallows uneasily, and turns away.

---

"It's a... death sentence," Sakura announces, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. Ino notices that the pink-haired girl has obviously been crying a lot over the past few days, and hasn't had much sleep. Her eyes are red, and there are black circles around them. It hurts Ino to see her best friend like this. So tired and weary and full of despair.

"I already know," Ino says quietly. "When?"

"This Saturday," Sakura replies.

Ino is surprised to find that Sasuke isn't her main concern. Sasuke's death will leave a great impact on both of them, because they both love -- loved? -- him. Sasuke's death will leave a great impact on other people too. Naruto, especially. Naruto, Sasuke's best friend, who promised that he would save Sasuke, swore that he would do anything to bring him back.

There are a lot of people who want Sasuke to die. But there are a lot of people who don't either. Ino can list quite a few: Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Chouji, Kiba (because they've all nearly sacrificed their lives for his), Sakura, and herself. And more.

Ino knows that it's Sasuke's soon-to-come death that is keeping Sakura up every night, crying. But Ino realizes it isn't Sasuke that's causing her own eyes to get wet and her vision to blur; it's Sakura, her best friend. Ino gazes at her fellow kunoichi, wishing once again that she could help.

But she knows that she is unable to do anything about it. The sentence has been decided, and cannot be changed.

"Will you be there?" she asks.

"... I don't know," Sakura says helplessly, and with a fright, Ino sees the tears glistening in Sakura's eyes.

"Sorry..." Ino mutters quickly. "I... I gotta go. I forgot I had a meeting with my team." She turns and starts running.

Sakura stares after her, green eyes empty save for the leaking tears.

---

It is Saturday.

The sun is beaming down upon the people of Konoha, bright and hot and fierce, the typical mid-August sun. Almost everyone has gathered in the village square, where the death sentence of Uchiha Sasuke shall be held.

Sasuke stands on a raised platform in the middle of the crowd, all eyes focused on him. His onyx eyes are cold and void of emotion, and there is the barest wisp of a sardonic smile on his face.

Ino looks at the black-haired boy whose life is about to end, and she wonders whether Sasuke feels any fear at all.

She looks around, and spots pink hair amidst all the other less eye-catching hair colours. "Sakura..." she murmurs to herself. "So you've come after all." There is no bright yellow hair, only several shades of duller gold.

It isn't a long wait before the executioner comes out with his huge sword. Ino shivers as the sword catches the glint of the sun and dazzles her. She wants to move, to head over to where her friend is and hold her hand and tell her that everything will be all right, but her feet fail to take a single step.

The execution is carried out quickly and smoothly. Ino hears a heart-wrenching cry the moment the sword swings downwards. She watches the blood spill. She hears a second scream. A pink-haired girl pushes her way out of the crowd and runs.

The blonde's legs still won't co-operate.

---

Naruto is sitting on the swing outside the Ninja Academy. It is more than a week after Sasuke's execution. His face is blank, but he is clearly exhausted. Like Sakura, he doesn't seem to have slept much before and after Sasuke's death. He stares into the distance, perhaps dreaming of another time, somewhere in his past, when life was a lot simpler, and still consisted of Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura, leaning by the gates of the Academy, watches him silently. Her lips are pressed tightly together, creating a thin, white line, and her cheeks are pale and hollow. She knows that Naruto hurts more than she does, but it doesn't change the fact that it hurts.

She is a medic-nin, but no one has ever taught her how to heal these kind of wounds. She may be able to heal broken bones, but broken hearts and minds are an entire different matter. She desperately wants to heal Naruto, wants to clear that misery and gloom from his face. But she doesn't know how to.

Ino stands across the road, observing Sakura from a few paces away.

Ino isn't a medic-nin, but she wants to heal Sakura too. And Ino knows that Sakura wants to heal Naruto. But it's all impossible. Even the greatest medic-nin in the world has been known to be able to heal such agonizing wounds.

Is there anyone to heal me, I wonder? Ino thinks, her lips curling up into a wry smile.

It hasn't taken her long after the execution to realize that she likes Sakura in a way more than friends. But she knows that Sakura doesn't feel the same way about her. Sakura's affections lie in Naruto, and once (perhaps still) in Sasuke.

Ino doesn't care, though. Not for now, at least. She just wants to help. Just wants to heal all these bleeding wounds and put a stop to the pain.

But how?

How? A chuckle slips past her lips.

"It's impossible," she says softly, and walks away.

The End