IDNON!

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Chapter 19: Saving Sakura!

It was late. The sky was a dark blue hue, just above the horizon. Million pieces of white snow were falling harder than ever from above.

About two hours ago, Kakashi, Shizune and Gai-sensei made all the students go back to the hotel, for they were informed that a snow storm will arrive. Everyone was gathered inside the living room. That is, everyone but Sakura.

At first the girls had assumed that she was in her room after the discussion she had with Ino. They all knew that Sakura was the type of person that preferred on being alone after those kinds of things. But after Hinata had decided to go check on her, she had returned with a terrified look on her face, for the fact that she couldn't find Sakura…and that was about an hour ago.

"It's my fault!" Ino said as her tears cascaded down her face. "If I didn't yell at her, if I didn't push her away from me when she just wanted to cheer me up, she would be here right now" Ino whispered while hiding her teary face in her hands. She hasn't stopped crying ever since she found out Sakura wasn't there.

Her cries were driving me nuts, she was making Hinata-chan cry even more, and I was really worried for Sakura-chan as well as everyone else too, but we couldn't do anything.

"S-she must b-be cold" Hinata whispered between sobs. "W-what if s-she is hurt?"

"She is a tough girl. She'll be fine." I tried to reassure her. "Don't worry Hina-chan someone is going to bring her back soon." she squeezed my hand and gave a nod to let me know she trusted me, calming down a bit.

"HA! Probably she is faking all of this, maybe she is hiding somewhere in this stupid hotel to make you all worry."

We turned our heads glaring at the voice across the room, she was sitting lazily in the farthest couch in the room with an irked expression.

"She is just calling for attention." Karin went on. "no one would make a huge fuss over a stupid handkerchief" she said the last part more to herself than to us.

"Shut up Karin, she is not like that" Ino stood up while the rest of us just sent the red head a murderous glare as the smirk in Karin's face expanded in her features.

"Maybe she is jealous because you took all the attention today." Ino's glare deepened, the room was silent watching the confrontation. Thankfully by now, we were the only people in the room.

"After all you never know what people could be able to do, right Ino?" Karin turned her head to steal a glance at Shikamaru's direction who was standing behind her, a few feet away with a glare of his own.

"It's really hard to trust people, don't you think?" Karin gave an evil chuckle before starting to walk away.

Ino's face froze for a second with hurt, but then it changed to a face full of anger.

The room was silent for what felt like hours, but hardly two minutes passed.

My eyes scanned the room until they stopped on Sasuke's figure standing from of the window, looking outside. By the reflection of the glass, I could see his brows knitted together and his eyes staring intently. As if waiting for something to happen, if I didn't know him better after all these years of friendship, I wouldn't be able to tell that he was worried.

But wait… wasn't he like mad at Sakura? Wasn't he acting like a total jerk to her? Why he is suddenly worried for her?

"I'm going to look for her."

My eyes immediately turned to the source of the voice, Gaara, who was standing up from his seat, putting on his cap and glasses. All eyes were on him but I couldn't let him get all the glory to himself, right?

"I'll go with you" I said walking to the door where he had stopped.

"B-but N-naruto-kun Kakashi-sensei said we can't go! The staff members are searching for her. It's dangerous for you to." Hinata said worriedly grabbing my hand and stopping me from going further.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan. We will be careful." I gave her a reassuring smile but that didn't seem to calm her down.

"Let's go then." Neji said giving me my stuff as we headed outside.

"Neji, you too?!" Tenten yelled, worried.

"Hn. The more people, the more faster we'll be able to find her."

"You better come back in one piece with my friend, okay?"

"I'll help too!" Ino stood up abruptly cleaning her glassy eyes with the back of her hand and ready to leave with us.

"No." The usual lazy tone that held the voice of Shikamaru was long gone, and now it held a strong demanding tone.

"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm going too." Ino's eyes narrowed when they turned to him.

"No, you'll stay here."

"And why would I do what you tell me to?" She said folding her arms in front of her chest defiantly.

"Do you think I could handle if something bad happens to you?" her teary eyes went wide, but no word came out from her mouth.

"We'll bring her back. Just wait a little more."

Before we dashed out of the room my eyes searched for Sasuke, I wanted to know what he would do now, but unfortunately he wasn't there anymore.

Sasuke's P.O.V

Where is she?

What happened to her?

Is she okay?

All those questions were running through my head. I've never felt this worried before in my life… for anyone. I was mad because if someone would be looking for her, then she would be here already. I was desperate because it had almost been two hours ago, and still no sign of her. I couldn't do nothing more than to wait in front of the window for a glimpse of pink to appear…and I was scared, scared that something bad might have happened to her… Scared that she might not come back.

I was looking outside the window. The view in front of me was the same place where we were last night when I pushed her away for the thousandth time.

The thoughts of last night conversation played in my mind over and over again. The mean words I told her…

'What happened to you?'

… The sadness…

'When did you start to despise me this much?'

… The hurt…

'You are an idiot'

… The anger …

All those emotions displayed in her glassy eyes.

The girls' cries were driving crazy, and I hated that I couldn't do nothing more than just stand in front of the window waiting for someone to bring her back safe.

Is anyone looking for her at least?

Then an awfully annoying voice brought me back from my thoughts.

"HA! Probably she is faking all of this, maybe she is hiding somewhere in this stupid hotel to make you all worry."

I could see everyone glaring at Karin by the glass reflection.

"She is just calling for attention. No one would make a huge fuss over a stupid handkerchief."

Handkerchief? Could it be the one I gave her?

But more importantly Karin must know where she is, or at least where she could be.

"I'll go look for her." my eyes narrowed at the sound of his voice. My hands were tightly clenched into fists inside my pockets and I was sure my knuckles were white.

I glared at his reflection in the mirror before walking out of the room.

I was looking for the only person that would be help right now. Even if I didn't like the idea…

…because I knew that I would have to pay a high cost.

I stopped in front of the door with the number 101 written in gold and knocked.

"Ss-sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?" She asked in a voice, which sounded between shocked and excitement when she opened the door and found me standing there.

"I need your help"

"M-my help?" she said pointing herself with her finger.

"Where was the last time you saw Sakura?" She made a pout when she heard Sakura's name.

"Why do you want to know? I thought you hated her." as if I'd tell her.

"Just answer"

"Okay, I'll tell you but what will I gain from that?" I hated myself for what I said next.

"… One date with me." the corners of her mouth formed a wide smirk.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun but just one is not enough" my eyes narrowed annoyed, I knew something like this was going to happen.

"What do you want then?"

"I will tell you where Sakura is, if you make me your girlfriend for a month"

I was about to say no, but then she wouldn't tell me where she is, I couldn't lose time or Sakura could die.

"Fine." her smirk expanded even more.

"She was far from the hotel grounds this morning, if you keep walking straight from the rookie section until you get to the red fence you will find the place."

"Hn." I nodded and began walking away but stopped without looking back at her. "What color was the handkerchief she was holding?"

"It was navy blue, why?"

"… It's nothing" I said before stomping away.

I went to the lobby wardrobe and grabbed a yellow cap and glasses to protect my eyes from the snow before I left the warm hotel behind, fighting the heavy snow storm.

The snow was falling harder and in bigger amounts. I couldn't see where I was going, everything I saw was blurry due to the snow, but I needed to try, I needed to find her.

I followed the direction Karin had told me, I was a bit far from the rookie section when I heard a loud voice called my name.

"SASUKE-TEME!"

Naruto was running to where I was, his eyes widened and Gaara was tailing behind him, my eyes narrowed instantly at his sight.

"Dobe." I said once he came to a stop in front of me.

"What are you doing here Sasuke!?" I began my walk following the direction Karin had told me with Naruto screaming behind me.

"I thought you didn't care about Sakura-chan anymore. Why are you here?" he was yelling madly but I didn't respond.

"People who really care about her are looking for her, so you can go back to your room."

"Shut up, Naruto seriously" I said even angrier than his voice. "This is not the right time."

"He is right Naruto, we should look for Sakura. You can talk about this later"

"Hmph, fine."

I regained my pace, dobe and weird red haired boy were following me until I finally caught sight of the red fence but Sakura wasn't here.

"Why are we here? We are too far away from the hotel" I heard Naruto say, but I kept walking, following the path of the red fence until a pair of pink skis caught my attention.

Sakura's skis.

"Look." Gaara said pointing across the fence, there a few meters down in the steep hill laid a body covered in snow but the pink color of the hair could be easily distinguished.

"Oh no! SAKURA-CHAN!!"

My heart began beating erratically, remember when I said I never felt so scared before, a moments ago? Well now it's worse. .

"Where are Shikamaru and Neji?" I asked hurriedly to the boys at my side.

"We split to cover more ground." Gaara answered, I gritted my teeth and my hands gripped the bars of the fence.

"I'll go." I said about to jump to the other side but Naruto stopped me.

"No you won't." His face was still angry and his voice was dripping with determination. "You think you have the right to save her after hurting her all this time? I'm going to help her because I care about her, she is my friend and I don't care if you are my friend or not I won't let you hurt her again."

A hand grabbed Naruto's shoulder, the blonde boy looked back to glare at Gaara who had a serious face.

"Stop… I think you should let Sasuke go." Naruto's glare intensified. He grunted but didn't discuss anymore on the subject, instead he took off his backpack and handed me a thick rope.

"Tangle this around you, teme. This way we can help you climb the step, avoiding an accident." I did as I was told before he added. "Bring her back and be careful Sasuke."

His voice no longer held the harsh tone.

"Hn" I gave a nod before stepping in the other side from the fence.

I carefully went down the steep hill, the floor was slippery so I tried supporting myself with some trees and rocks. I needed to get to her quickly, just by watching the steep hill I could tell she was severely injured.

"Sakura!!"

I finally got to the place where she was lying unconscious on the cold floor, I knelt beside her and I could clearly see her covered with snow, her body trembling and her skin was pale and cold.

'I need to get her out of here'

It would be hard to climb the ladder if I carried her bridal style, I needed at least one hand to hold onto a tree or something, so I choose to grab her in piggy-back style.

I wounded her arms around my neck, her face was resting in my back and with one hand I supported her weight. Then I began to climb.

"COME ON! JUST A LITTLE MORE!!" I could hear Naruto screaming in the distance.

"Na…naru…to?" I froze in my steps and a bliss of relief washed over me as I turned back at the sound of her voice, I noticed she was still unconscious.

"I… thought… you were …Sasuke…kun" her words came out barely audible and it seemed that she was making a great effort to speak. Her voice came out raspy, but when she mentioned my name, I felt my heart skip a beat.

"H-he used to save me before…always… but not anymore… h-he… hates me now… and I don't even know…why." I could hear the hurt in her voice and I felt a pang of guilt in my heart as I kept climbing until I finally reached the red fence.

"It hurts… being… away from him… it hurts so much… after all…I can't stop…lov…"

I felt her body went backwards falling from my arms but in a quick movement I twirled out bodies so now she was resting in my arms bridal style with her face resting on my chest.

I notice the fresh tears in the corner of her eyes but what caught my attention was the navy blue handkerchief she was clutching in her right hand… my handkerchief, and the guilt in my heart grew three times more.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said kneeling beside us. "Is she okay?" his face met with mine and his eyes widened with worry.

"I don't know, let's hurry up. She has been in the cold for a long time." he and Gaara nodded.

"You two go ahead I will go get Neji and Shikamaru"

"Thanks, Gaara."

We stood up and began running to the hotel.

"Sakura-chan hold on a little more!"

We run as fast as we could and in no time we reached the warm hotel.

I strode to Sakura's room, which was empty probably because the girls were still waiting in the living room, while Naruto went to get Shizune.

I lay her down on the bed and covered her body with blankets to keep her warm. I was just standing there with my heart giving weird twists and watching her peaceful sleeping form.

While looking at her I could finally realized how selfish I was. All this time, I was thinking only for myself, in my feelings, I never thought about her feelings or the pain I will cause her for breaking our friendship bond… and now she was suffering because of me.

'Was this really worth it?'

The door opened with a slam and Shizune and Naruto entered the room.

"How is she, Shizune-sensei?!" Naruto asked while our teacher was examining her temperature.

"I still don't know. She might have hypothermia for spending too much time in the snow. It's good that you covered her, Sasuke-kun, but I need to check if she has any broken bones or injures, and also I need to put her in warm clothes… please I need you to wait outside." We nodded and exited the room.

I started to walk away to my room. I wanted to change my clothes for something dry.

"Sasuke, wait!" Naruto stopped me as I gave him a side glance to let him know I was listening. "Thanks, we would have taken longer to find her if it hadn't been for you, then who knows what could have happened to her."

"Hn" I nodded before walking, just to be stopped again with another of his questions.

"Why do you like to hurt yourself so much?"

"What are you talk-"

"You know very well what I am talking about. You care for Sakura-chan. If you didn't then you wouldn't have gone searching for her in the middle of a snow storm." he said, supporting his back against the wall and crossing his arms in front of him.

"It was the right thing to do."

"Yes, but you could have left that work to someone else, don't you think?" is this the same dumb blond idiot? When did he become this good at reading people?

"Does it matter? She is fine now."

"Who are you trying to fool, Sasuke? I heard you whisper Sakura's name while you were sleeping in the bus, the day we arrived here!"

My eyes narrowed. I guess I unconsciously whispered Sakura's name while I was sleeping in the bus. After all, the dream was about her and the time when I'll finally have to leave for Sound.

"I know you have feelings for her it's so obvious. What I don't get, is why you are trying to push her away from you."

His eyebrows were furrowed, forming a serious face, and I knew that he wasn't going to let me go if I didn't give him an answer.

"Sorry, dobe but I can't tell you right now." I said diverting my sight away from him.

"Hmph, okay but you'll have to tell me soon, teme or I'll get it out off you by force." He moved away from the wall placing his arms in the back of his head.

"I should go find the guys to tell them about Sakura-chan. The girls must be worried" he turned around to walk to the opposite direction than me.

"I'm still your friend, Sasuke, no matter how many fights we get into. I'm still here if you want to talk, and as a friend I'm here to give you advice. So really should stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about people around you and how your actions affect them." his back was facing me and after seconds of staring at his back, my eyes moved to the floor.

"I know that now, it's too bad it took me a lot of time to figure it out." I ran a hand trough my hair and a sigh escaped my lips.

"It doesn't matter the time it took, what matters is that you do something about it." my eyes moved again to his face. He had his typical annoying grin, and I couldn't help but smirk at how stupid he looked.

"Hn. Dobe"

"Hey! You stupid ungrateful bastard! I'm just trying to cheer you up and this is how you repay me? With insults?! You are an ungrateful friend!" he stomped away, sending curses at me.

"Wait" he stopped and turned back with an annoyed look.

"What do you want now, teme?" by now my smirk had disappeared.

"Promise me you won't tell Sakura I was the one who saved her." he raised a brow confused.

"Why not? I think it's better if she knows."

"No, too much has happened, everything will turn more confusing for her, just don't tell her."

"You are doing it again Sasuke"

"…I know…" I responded in a low voice "if anyone asks, you will tell them that you were the one who saved her."

"I'm not sure if this is the right thing…" he said unsure. "But you probably know what you are doing, so I'll do it your way." he turned to walk away to the living room "I just hope you are right about this."

"Thanks, Naruto" I whispered, but he was out of sight.

…

Sakura's PoV

One week had passed since the accident. I don't remember much that happened after I fell, but when I woke up I was at home resting on my comfy bed inside my pink room with mom hugging me and crying when she saw me awake.

She explained to me that Kakashi-sensei called her once I was found, to tell her what had happened, she chose to pick me up so she could take care of me.

I wanted to talk to my friends, I'm sure that they're still worried about me. After all, mom told me that Shizune-sensei didn't let them see me because of my condition, and next morning mom took me so early that they were probably sleeping after all that had happened yesterday.

Thankfully my injuries weren't that bad. My thick clothes helped a lot. At first, I had problems sitting, because my ribs would start hurting. Luckily, I didn't break anything. I had a twisted wrist, some bruises and scratches along my body and an infuriating cold, but after three days, I felt a whole lot better.

Why didn't I go back to school if I was fine? Well to be honest I'm a scaredy cat. I was sure I had to make a lot of explanations of how I fell and also… I didn't want to see Sasuke, the words he said to me last time were still recorded in my mind and my heart, and all I just wanted to do was curl up in my bed and cry.

And that's exactly what I did, because I was at home, no one could see me crying and I could let all the tears I wanted to get rid of, escape down my eyes.

The worst part? I felt sad when mom told me Naruto was the one who save me and not Sasuke. Stupid right? After what Sasuke told me, why would he risk his life just to look for me in the middle of a snow storm? I should be happy because my best friend cares enough to help me in the worst situation.

But still… couldn't help but feel disappointed.

I guess I was used to having Sasuke by my side whenever I was in trouble… but now it's hard to talk to him the way we used to.

What kind of reminds me, I think I whispered something to Naruto, I'm not sure if I was dreaming or if I truly whispered it… but it was about Sasuke and my true feelings for him… my love for him.

I blushed at the thought of my words, but quickly shook my head to keep the blurred memory away. I'll just ask Naruto when I see him.

"Sakura we're finally here, honey." Mom said, once she stopped the car in the school's parking lot. I was nervous yeah, but I felt happy to be back again, I missed my friends a lot.

I said goodbye to mom after lots of advices coming from her about not forgetting to drink my painkillers, not pushing myself too hard and call her if I ever felt dizzy or sick again.

I walked into my empty room to leave my stuff and I thought it was empty, but then I felt a bone crushing hug, and at the same time all I could hear were my best friend's sobs filling the air.

"Stupid, don't you dare ever scare me like that again!" Ino whispered on my shoulder as I returned the hug.

"I'm sorry to make you worry, Ino" a small smile tugged the corners of my lips. "And I'm sorry that I yelled at you when you just wanted to be alone."

"No! I'm the one who should really be sorry! It's my fault that you went off and got into trouble. If I didn't have acted like a bitch to you, nothing like this would have happened to you. You could have…I thought you…I thought I was going to lose my best friend."

"You are as dramatic as always, pig." I told her, moving away from the embrace. "It wasn't your fault, okay? I just wasn't careful enough."

She cleaned her tears with the back of her hand and she faced me with a grin plastered on her face.

"Welcome back, forehead."

We walked to first period with Kakashi-sensei, and when I entered the room, Hinata's eyes widened and a big smile appeared as she ran to greet me.

"Sa-Sakura-chan! I'm so glad to see that you are fine!" she greeted me with a gentle hug, she was the only one who thought about my bruises, unlike Ino… but I don't really care, they don't hurt anymore. "We were so worried about you! Too bad Tenten is not in our class, she wants to see you too."

"Don't worry. I'll look for her once this class finish"

"Oi Sakura, welcome back." I turned around to find Shikamaru standing behind me. "It's good to see you in one piece."

"Thanks, Shikamaru" I replied giggling, but then the light mood instantly change.

I noticed the disappointed look on Shikamaru's eyes as he stared at Ino and with a side glance, I stole at the blond girl behind me I saw her sad expression.

It looks like they still aren't in good terms.

The room slowly began filling and some of my classmates stopped at my seat to greet me and welcome me back with nice words that cheered me up.

"SAKURA-CHAN, IS THAT YOU?" A yelled filled the room and standing in the classroom door was Naruto. His eyes were wide opened with surprise and of course, his famous grin present on his features. "It's you! It's you! It's you! I can't believe it's really you" Naruto said giving me a tight embrace.

"Naruto you're acting as if I am a ghost." I managed to answer in his hug.

"Well I thought something happened to you! After all you never picked up your phone, or replied to any of the text messages I sent you. I didn't know if you were still alive."

"My cell phone broke" I said ashamed. "that's why I never answered."

"Oh hehe. I thought for a moment you didn't want to talk to me, Sakura-chan" he said laughing aloud and scratching the back of his head, and even though he was being his usual annoying self, I was happy.

Every once in a while I stole glances at the door, waiting for him to enter. I knew I shouldn't but I couldn't help it. I wanted to see what would be his reaction once he sees that I was back.

UGH! What the hell I am thinking?! Probably he wasn't worried, probably he didn't care at all about me…probably he would be happier if I wouldn't have being found.

When he finally entered the classroom I was expecting a glare or at least his eyes to narrow or simply that he kept the blank expression on his face. What I never expected was to see his eyes widened with surprised and… relief?

Ha. Yeah right, Sakura, you must've hit your head really hard, now you are imagining things.

But what I definitely never expected was to see a red haired girl getting hold of his left arm.

"Oh Sakura! You finally decided to show up." An evil smirk was plastered all over her face. At first my eyes were wide opened with shock evident in them, but once she started to talk they narrowed forming a death glare.

"How was your week? Full of pain I'm guessing, poor girl, to skip classes for so long! You sure missed a lot of things while you were away, but don't worry I'll give you the most important news."

"Ha, and what could that be?" I placed my hands on my hips and the sarcasm filled my voice.

"Say hello to Uchiha Sasuke's new girlfriend." She said tightening her hold on his arm and resting her head on his shoulder as he turned his head to the other side.

She was kidding… right?

Sasuke never liked her before, since when did he change his mind?

But when Sasuke moved his gaze away and didn't say anything, I instantly knew she was speaking the truth.

Suddenly the pain after falling down a steep hill felt so much better compared to the aching in my heart .

I'm so sorry to post this chapter so late! I was supposed to upload this chapter last week but my internet conexion was off and then I began having second thoughts about the chapter and I had to rewrite it again! so I really hope you like this chapter!

I know all of you knew Sasuke was going to save Sakura (or at least were waiting for him to save her)and I know too that is so overused, but I needed something to make Sasuke think about what he is doing and if it's really helping him.

THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH to all the people who reviewed the last chapter and the ones who PM me too!!

i love you so much and thank you so much for supporting this story! :)

about the next chapter I'm seriously confused right now on what should I do, because I had written the chapter but now i changed the ending, and now i have to think very well what I'm going to do with the rest of the chapters. And this story is about to end ;___; probably 6 chapters? i don't know yet. but anyways thank you so much to all of you!

that's all for now! Fifteen reviews and I'll hurry up to update!! Don't be lazy! i really really want to know what you thought about this chap!

And thank's a bunch DA!! :D love you!

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Ms. C