Chasing your shadow

(Sasuke/Sakura Fanfic Lemon)

Prologue

"Quick, stop the bleeding!"

"Get Tsunade-sama here, now! This is critical, and she is the only one with the skill to save her! Now go!"

The voices rang dully in Sakura's ears as she lay there, immovable, her ragged breaths being caught in her throat every few seconds, part of the reason being that she was hacking up insurmountable amounts of blood, the other being that she was falling in and out of consciousness, making control over her body and it's natural instincts almost virtually impossible. The only thing keeping her awake, the only real purpose for her even being alive right now, was him. The man whose shadow she had been chasing for the past four years, the man whom she had sworn she would protect from danger, the man whom she had undoubtedly and irrevocably confessed to, the man that she had loved for so long, was her only reason for her being here, the only point in her even existing in this world was him, and him alone.

A sharp and unwelcome pain ripped through the core of Sakura's very being, breaking her out of her reverie and causing her to hack up more blood, coughing and wheezing, gasping for the air that would not come. There was no light; it was dim, at least from Sakura's purview, and there was no sound; only the humming of strangulated voices screaming at the top of their lungs, for reasons Sakura could not place. But it did not matter to her. Her life, at this very moment, was draining away, her soul in tatters and her heart well and truly broken, although the extent of this damage was far beyond that of the wounds Sakura had obtained during battle, the physical, clearly visible inflictions; they were the ones on the emotional scale, the wounds that no amount of time could possibly heal, no matter what methods were used to do so. The pain would only grow worse, becoming steadily more agonising as time goes by, like the sands in a glass timer pouring away to the very last second. That second being the time left for Sakura in this world, and it was rapidly flowing away, the sand slipping through everyone's fingers like water and oil. No matter how hard you try to mix them together, they will always stay separate, remaining the same element that they naturally were, and the frustration of not being able to change that was astonishing.

Similar to the situation Sakura was in; she was the oil, slipping away from the waters grasp, always keeping herself separate from those who tried with inscrutable futility to save her, knowing that if they didn't do something, didn't act, she would well and truly die. And they refused to let that happen, to acknowledge that if they screwed up in any way or form, she would lose her life, and after all she had done for the villagers, for the people she loved the most, that fate was unacceptable. The medic-nin that were tending to her thrust all of their chakra reserves into preventing the bleeding, stalling it as they waited in angst and trepidation for Hokage-sama to make her grand appearance, and tend to the very near-dying Sakura, who was at this moment coughing up another lot of blood, making all around her gasp and flinch.

The tension and apprehension in the air was thick as a booming and thunderous voice filled with murderous rage invaded the open clearing, her expression that of someone who was very likely going to smash a cliff into nothingness, just rocks and debris left in its' wake. Which they all assumed would ensue as soon as she had finished tending to the critically injured Sakura. "What the hell happened here?! Who the hell is responsible for this?! Answer me!" All fell silent, the foreboding and consternation thick as Tsunade looked around wildly, her eyes narrowed, piercing and deadly, as she stomped angrily toward her current student, to which made her gasp in pure and utter shock at the sight of her. Her expression softened, tears welling in her eyes as she took it all in. She had lacerations to the majority of her body, deep enough to see bone and muscle tendons, a crushed windpipe (explaining the trouble that Sakura had when she struggled to breathe properly), eight broken ribs; six of which were protruding mercilessly from her chest, a broken collar bone, severed keirakukei

(a/n: chakra points; the vessels that carry chakra throughout the body), and worst of all, and the wound that Tsunade settled on lastly, was a fist sized hole through her lower abdomen, on her right side. The blonde knelt down and touched Sakura's deathly cold cheek gingerly, before setting to work.

"The damage is severe, yes, but it could have been a lot worse. The hole in her right side indicates that it missed the vital organs, but not by much. Whatever caused this was extremely powerful, and Sakura is lucky that it didn't kill her on the spot. The attack just nicked her liver though, so there is the likely chance of some small internal bleeding. But there may be more, seeing as these wounds are so….." Tsunade struggled for a word, so she left it at that, starting off with another topic.

"The attacker obviously knows the human anatomy quite well, or is well versed in medical-style ninjutsu. Or the practise of it anyway. It seems that these particular inflictions," Tsunade gestured to the lacerations whilst she contended with the uncontrollable bleeding, completely stopping it, healing the worst of the injuries first, before proceeding with the minor, less life-threatening ones, "were inflicted over a prolonged period of time, like there was a struggle, or the person in question was just toying with Sakura, before finally injuring her to this extent." The others listened in profound silence, nodding their heads solemnly, showing that they understood. But there was also an underlying knowing amongst the others', something that they had yet to tell Tsunade, and it was really starting to irk her, but she pushed that hindrance aside, focusing all of her concentration onto Sakura, whom was contracting in sudden spasms of uncontrollable pain, her screams inaudible due to her crushed throat. A flash of panic contorted Tsunade's remarkably young and beautiful features

(a/n: believe it or not, she's actually fifty-four), before the set of determination plastered solidly to her features once again, as she hollered an order to the medics sitting alongside her. "Arrange for immediate transportation to the hospital. Take out 'Ward 1 Critical Condition' and prepare for theatre. Get Shizune here on the double. Dismissed!"

"Hai!" was the reply that came from the medic-nin, whom disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving no trail of ever being there in the first place. Tsunade then turned to the few jonin that had gathered in the clearing, her newfound determination an inspiration to all whom bore witness to it. "Get the ANBU out here on the double, and have them find Kakashi and bring him here. There's something we need to discuss. Dismissed!" The jonin nodded their heads curtly, before making a handsign and disappearing in a cloud of white smoke, just as the medic-nin had, but Tsunade had no time to ponder upon such trivial matters. She turned to look at Sakura, whom had stopped spasming, but was no longer conscious. Fuck! Tsunade thought in distress as she gently lifted Sakura into her steady arms, carrying her to the edge of a nearby cliff. There she was met by the medics whom were deployed, and here to escort Sakura to the hospital as carefully and quickly as they could.

They took her cautiously, before scurrying off to the hospital ward they had been ordered to bring her to. Before Tsunade left, she had to ask; no, more like demand to know who had done this to Sakura just so that she could track him down and kill him. Sensing the Hokage's anger, the onlookers became rapidly uneasy, as they knew what she was going to ask, and this time an answer had to be produced, or otherwise there would be heads rolling, quite literally, and if they played there cards right, they could avoid that scenario. But that meant that they had to tell Tsunade the truth of what had transpired only a good, solid hour ago, and the answer was definitely not one she would like, nor want to hear, and certainly wouldn't believe if her life depended on it. But never the less, it was the undeniable truth, and it had to be spoken, even if it fell on deaf ears.

"Now tell me this; who is responsible for putting Sakura in that state?" Tsunade asked in calmly, enunciating in a deliberately slow voice, to let the words sink in fully. She really didn't want to have to yell, but when she received no reply, just some extremely uncomfortable glances and the aversion of eyes, she lost the plot, and began to scream at the top of her lungs, making all there flinch in fear. "Did you people see what that person has done to Sakura, what he has destroyed?! She could die, and her killer would get away with it, and in cold blood no less! Don't tell me that it's one of you?! That's a load of bullshit, and I'll be damned to listen to your cockyfuck stories that you've made up on the spot! Now tell me, who did this?!"

It was Neji Hyuga who stepped forward, the cold and calculating look in his eyes never fading as he spoke up on behalf of the terrified group, whom although were mostly comprised of jonin and chunin, were still scared stiff off their Hokage. The words that Neji uttered lost all translation in Tsunade's mind, and when he spoke them, there was no flicker of emotion in his voice, it was devoid of all life, like it had been literally sucked out of him as he said the words that even he, the Hyuga clan's genius, could not comprehend.

"The one who put Sakura in such a critical state was Naruto Uzumaki."