It's the last chapter. Dun dun dun duuuun! Thanks so much for everyone that has reviewed! You're awesome! So, this chapter's shorter than the other ones but I didn't want to stretch it out for too long. I really hope you like it…and yeah, that's all I have to say.

Disclaimer: I do own Naruto…NOT.

Linked: Chapter Fourteen

….

Sasuke didn't bother knocking on the motel room door. He shouldered his way in to find Kakashi, Akira and Daiki bent over Sakura's body.

"What happened?" he asked

"Twenty minutes ago, she started convulsing and thrashing around. We tried to hold her down so she wouldn't injure herself. A couple of minutes ago, she just stopped. I don't think she's even breathing," Kakashi was clearly panicking a little.

Sasuke put a hand to Sakura's throat.

Come on, come on, come on!

There! He finally sensed her pulse. It was weak, sluggish, barely holding on but it was still there. She was alive. He quickly grabbed a glass from the bed side table, went to the bathroom and filled it. He tore the plant and soaked it in the water. Not wanting to waste time on tuning on the stove and heating it, he simply preformed a Fire Release technique right there in the motel bathroom, singing the towels and the bath curtains. He didn't really care; the staff can mail him the bill for the damages later.

He filtered out the plan remains, got out of the bathroom and went and perched on the side of Sakura's bed.

"What are you doing?" Akira asked.

"Hopefully, saving her life."

He cradled her head up in his arms and tilted it back. Sasuke gently fed Sakura the "tea" of the dead-man plant while being careful not to spill the precious liquid or pour it down the wrong pipe. After making sure she had swallowed every single drop, Sasuke eased her back down to her pillows. Now, all he needed to do was wait and hope he wasn't too late to save her.

Kami, please don't let it be too late.

"Sakura," the firm, sensual voice was trying to wake her up again. Why won't it leave her alone? She was tired down to her bones.

"Sakura," Honestly couldn't a girl have some sleep around here? Deciding to ignore the voice, Sakura burrowed further into the bed. The mattress felt so good underneath her, toasty warm, firm, ticking and it smelled delicious.

Wait, why was the mattress ticking? Visions of pirates and deadly crocodiles assaulted her.

Groggily, Sakura opened her eyes and lifted her head. It immediately fell back down and her eyes snapped shut. She moaned. Did she have a hangover? Is that why it felt like a bunch of mini-ninjas were trying to crack open her skull with hammers?

She didn't remember drinking. What the heck did she remember?

It all came back to her in a rush, the coma, the fight against Hiraku, pleading with Sasuke to finish it, watching him do it knowing that it shattered a part of his soul. Oh, lord, she was dead wasn't she? But, why did it hurt so much? Maybe she was in hell. But, hell wouldn't really have a comfortable bed. It would have more of a torture rack or a bed of hot coal.

She was digressing.

Trying to get a handle on her muddied thoughts, Sakura slowly reopened her eyes. Moving her head was still too much of a risk at this point. She stretched her hands up the bed, took a deep breath and froze because her hands had just come into contact with the face of a human being. Not just any human being though because she recognized that smell. She had been cuddling up to that scent for the past week.

"Sasuke?" It came out as nothing more than a whisper.

"It's about time you woke up," he replied in typical Uchiha fashion.

But the hand that lifted to smooth down her -probably horrifying- bed hair belied his dry tone.

"What happened?" she eased her hands down when she realized she was still mauling his face.

He moved her higher on his chest so her face was tucked into the crook of his neck. His arms came around her and held her tightly against him.

"We have got to talk about your insistence on dying for us. Resuscitating you is getting kind of boring."

If she had the energy to do it, she would have hit him. As it was, she lifted her head just long enough to glare at him and catch his answering smirk.

"How long was I out?"

"It's been less than three weeks since you've gone into a coma and a little over two weeks since we killed Hiraku."

Three weeks in bed? No wonder her muscles felt like jelly. But, did this mean that Sasuke had stayed here with her for the last two weeks? And, were exactly was "here"? Sakura lifted her head -very carefully- and looked around the room. She recognized it instantly.

"Konoha Hospital."

"Yes," he confirmed. "As soon as your vitals stabilized, we brought you home."

He was silent for a minute simply breathing her scent into his lungs.

"You nearly died," he finally whispered into her hair.

"But I didn't," she reminded him, trying and failing to hide a smile. He cared!

"Don't do it again."

"What? Survive?" she found that she rather enjoyed being deliberately obtuse with Sasuke.

"No, nearly die." He sounded annoyed. Tough luck. She was having fun.

"Sasuke, I'm a ninja. Nearly dying is kind of in the job description."

He glared down at her. She grinned up at him.

As they looked at each other, Sakura's smile melted away. She saw Sasuke's eyes heat and hers drifted down to his lips. She knew what those lips felt like, she knew their taste. And, she was dying to sample them again. The feeling seemed to be mutual because Sasuke's eyes told her that he wanted to eat her up. He leaned down as she stretched up. They were so close, their breath mingled.

And, that was when the door to the room was pushed open.

Sasuke lifted his head with an annoyed huff. Sakura turned to their intruder. She recognized the woman as a nurse that assisted on several on her surgeries.

"Hey, Cho."

The young woman looked at them and raised an eyebrow.

"I see that you're finally awake, Sakura-san. But, should I come back later?"

Sakura worked hard not to blush. "No, come in."

"I need to take your vitals and do a check up."

They both looked at Sasuke.

He gave the nurse his best Uchiha glare and walked out the room.

"You're going to have your hands full with that one," Cho said.

"I know, and, I can't wait."

"Well, he did stay two weeks in the hospital for you."

"He did?"

"He sure did. Didn't even go home to change. Naruto-san just brought his clothes over. He hovered over you like a clucking mother hen."

The idea of Sasuke as chicken sent Sakura into a fit of giggles.

Sasuke impatiently waited for the nurse to be finished with the check-up. As soon as she opened the door, Sasuke entered.

"Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's fine," Sakura said as sarcastic as ever.

Her dry tone actually reassured Sasuke. If she could mouth at him that meant that she was fine.

"The results look great. Her recovery is nothing short of miraculous. She should be fine and discharged this afternoon. But, just in case of a relapse, I want someone with her, at least for the next two weeks."

"That's fine," Sakura started. "I'm sure Ino won't mind-"

"She'll stay with me." Like he was going to let her go right now. He wasn't going to let her out of his sight at least for the next month…or two.

"I'm sure you miss each other," Cho said.

"Yes, we do." Sasuke delighted in Sakura's blush.

"Well, I'll let you two alone." With that, she left.

Sasuke caught the pillow that was thrown at him.

"Yes, we do," Sakura mimicked scowling at him. "The whole village would know about us in two hours tops."

"They already do. Naruto and Daichi already filled them in soon after we returned."

"I'm going to kill them," she growled

As if they'd summoned him, Naruto came barging into the room. "SHE'S AWAKE?!"

"Naruto, shut up. My head is still throbbing."

Naruto looked at her, looked some more and then started bawling. "I thought that you were never going to wake up."

At the sight of his tears, Sakura melted. She opened her arms and he moved into them. If Sasuke hadn't witnessed firsthand how smitten Naruto was with the Hyuga, he'd have pried his arms off from around Sakura. After some minutes, Sakura finally managed to calm the blond man.

Soon, the rest of their team from the mission joined them. To say the hospital room was crowded was an understatement.

"I'm glad you didn't die, Ugly," Sai said.

Sakura took Sasuke's hand in hers before he jumped to strangle the robot freak.

"Thank you, Sai."

"You owe us ten kunais each," Daichi said. Daiki and Akira nodded.

At the questioning looks of the other men, Daiki explained how Sakura made a bet that if she survived, she'd buy them ten kunais each.

"What if she lost?" Kakashi asked.

"We'd have had to break the news to you guys personally."

"You do realize we would have killed you on the spot, right?" the copy ninja stated.

"Yep."

"So, when are they letting you out?" Naruto asked.

"I can probably leave today."

"Do you feel up to staying at the house alone? We can crash there if you want till you're on your feet again."

"Um…uh…actually…"

Sakura blushed and looked at Sasuke. He, of course, had a full blown smirk going on. "She's staying with me." Cue absolute silence. "And, you might want to postpone your visits till tomorrow. We'll be a little busy tonight"

"SASUKE!"

La Fin.

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And, they lived happily ever after (most of the time)

I can't believe I've actually finished this! You don't understand how much of an accomplishment this is to me. As a professional procrastinator, finishing a story (even if it took a year) is a major deal. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

Also, I have a story called "When To Hold, When To Fold" with the awesome Sakira-hime. There's a link to the story in my profile. Also, check out her other stories because they're so good!

So, review? Please?

Peace-out