...i'm sorry, but i had to get this out of my system.

Title: Bandages

Type: Oneshot Tobi x Sakura

Genre: Angst, Romance

Words: 1883

She was covered in cuts and bruises, her chakra drained away through her strenuous efforts to revive others throughout the fight. As she sat helplessly on the forest floor, the twigs and pebbles bit into her raw, scraped knees painfully. The ground was soaked with her comrade's blood while her medic's kit was strewn about her. She stared at a lump of dirty bandages under her pursuer's foot, refusing to look up at him and his annoyingly bright orange mask.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the limp arm of a fallen comrade. She knew full well that the rest of her platoon had already received the same fate, and now, it was finally her turn. It didn't matter that she had done her hardest to fight and keep them all alive. In the end, all of her years of training and effort came down to this. A dishonorable death. She could see herself dead, her body lying in a pool of her own blood as it leaked from the simple slit on her throat because she was too weak to put up a fight.

This was the end. This was literally the final battle of all shinobi. The last ones standing would win and their leader be the ruler supreme. This was the 5th and final Great Ninja War in which all nations and private ninja parties had put the last of their resources and the last of their hopes into. Now, she was the last of Konoha ninja.

Everybody she had ever cared for, and everything she had ever cherished…it was now gone. All of a sudden she felt the urge to cry as her entire life's journey came to an abrupt halt. She could vaguely remember happier memories from before the Wars began. Things from her childhood. Like a certain blonde who loved ramen. The local heartthrob from back in the day. A perverted teacher with two different colored eyes.

Her throat hurt as she tried to suppress her first sob of despair. She squeezed her arms around her and grit her teeth. The tears were prickling behind her eyes so she shut them as well to keep the tears from flowing.

Suddenly, she felt something on top of her head, lightly patting her, as she heard the most unexpected voice come from behind the mask.

"Tobi is very sorry, miss. Toby is sorry! He had to kill all of your friends…"

Friends…dead…sorry…

That did it. Sakura's will finally broke and the first sob she let out racked her entire body. Tobi could feel her shake under his hand. Tobi reeled his hand back in shock and knelt down on his knees in front of her to see what happened. Sakura still hadn't looked up as she trembled and sobbed.

It was the saddest noise Tobi had ever heard in his life. He tapped her shoulder cautiously.

"What's wrong miss? Please tell Tobi! Tobi loves to help!"

Her sobs began coming quicker and lasting shorter. She still didn't lift her head, so Tobi lifted it gently for her, and too his shock, he saw two streams of steadily flowing tears cutting their way down her dirty, pale cheeks. Tobi let go and fell back in surprise.

"Pl-Please miss, don't cry! Tobi doesn't like it when people cry! Crying is bad!" Tobi lifted her face up again, this time in both hands and tapped her cheek. Sakura watched him through watery eyes but didn't stop. She didn't care anymore. Tobi pushed the hair sticking to her wet cheeks away and pleaded again.

"Please don't cry! Tobi is sorry! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi will help! Please don't cry!" Tobi let go of her and began patting his cloak, looking for something to wipe her tears away. Finally, not finding anything, he gave up and used the corner of his sleeve.

Sakura opened her eyes again when this time, she felt the coarse fabric being patted at her face. She brought her hand up and pushed his hand away.

"S-Stop. Just let me b-be. Let me cry. I w-want to die here with my friends. Just stop!" She cried as Tobi persistently fussed over her. She finally used her arm to cover her face from his ministrations and continued to sob. When Tobi saw her arm gasped and stopped immediately. There was a long, bloody gash running the length of her arm.

"Miss! You're hurt! Tobi will fix it for you! Don't cry anymore! Tobi will fix it! Tobi will help!" Tobi got up and looked around for something to stop the bleeding. He saw her bag of supplies lying a few yards away, but upon looking inside, he only found a bottle of antiseptic. Grabbing it, he tossed the bag away and looked around some more. After a couple minutes of searching he came back to where he began. Standing in front of her empty handed, he looked at his feet glumly.

"Tobi is very sorry miss….Tobi couldn't find the things to fix it for you…" He took a step towards her, but this time, his foot landed on the pile of mussed bandages. Stepping back, he reached down and picked them up curiously. Although they were dirty, Tobi could tell that they were still bandages. Immediately his heart lightened and he smiled at Sakura from beneath his mask.

"Miss, don't worry! Tobi found bandages! Tobi will fix your arm! Don't cry anymore!" And Tobi set to work on Sakura's arm as she looked on helplessly, too weak to pull her arm away. She was no longer sobbing. Sobbing was for those that didn't want to accept the bad things that happened to them. Sobbing was for those that still wanted to fight against fate. She was no longer fit to sob since she had finally accepted her fate. She glanced at the fallen bodies nearby.

Yes. She had accepted it. There was nothing left for her to do except stop thinking about it. Forget about all the memories that made her want to fight against fate.

To get rid of the memories. That's why she was crying. Getting rid of them; forcing herself to stop thinking about her past…it was so painful. The tears continued to flow freely. Physically her heart was still pumping, but with this Akatsuki around, she was sure that it would cease to pump blood through her body for much longer. She was crying to prepare for the end.

"There! All done! Tobi fixed your arm…wait. Why are you still crying?! Tobi made you feel better, right? Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi still had a hold of her bandaged arm but still attempted to rub her face again. She avoided it by turning her face away.

"No…" Her voice came out raw.

"What?! Tobi will make you feel better! Don't worry! Don't cry! What should Tobi do? What can Tobi do?..." Tobi jumped up and ran his hands through his hair. He began to pace so Sakura just shut her eyes again, letting her mind go numb. Tobi kept talking to himself, he only stopped pacing and talking when she sniffed. When she didn't say anything, he continued pacing around in circles in front of her.

It was another ten minutes before she felt him tapping her shoulder. She opened her eyes and he shoved a tiny, yellow flower in front of her face. It was so small that it looked ridiculously fragile in his large, gloved hands even though it was hardy wildflower, and by no means was it fragile.

Sakura paused and squinted her eyes to get better look at it. She took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes to get rid of the tears blurring her vision.

"Tobi found this for you! Tobi is a good boy!"

"I-is it real?" she reached a finger towards it cautiously to touch one of it's vivid petals.

"Yes! It's for you! Tobi wants you to have it so you can stop crying!" Sakura slowly looked up at the masked face.

"Where did you find it?" From her medical training years ago, she recognized it as a flower which could be crushed up and used to make healing balms. She hadn't seen a flower like this in years. They very rarely grew anymore because too much blood had been soaked into the earth wherever she had traveled.

"Uhh…well, Tobi found in under the bandages." Tobi rubbed his head sheepishly, not knowing how she would react to this new information.

"The…bandages?" Sakura looked up at him slightly confused. Then he pointed at her wrapped arm. She fingered the frayed edges of the dirty bindings.

"Tobi thinks you should put it in your hair and not be sad anymore. Tobi is so happy that you are not crying anymore!" Tobi pushed the flower into Sakura's hands. She looked down at it, then touched her cheeks and realized that they were dry, except for a stray tear by her ear and another on her chin. He was right. She wasn't crying anymore.

"T-Thank you." She whispered.

"You're welcome!...but…umm…miss?" Tobi fiddled with his fingers and looked down shyly.

"…what?"

"Tobi wants you to come with him. Tobi won't let you cry! Tobi doesn't like to see people cry…" Tobi stood in front of her on his knees as he pleaded. Sakura looked at the little yellow flower in her hands.

"…but I'm too weak to go anywhere…this is the end for me…"

"No! Tobi will carry you! Tobi won't let you cry anymore!" and before she could offer what little resistance she could, he had already scooped her up. One arm supported her back, while the other went under her knees. She didn't protest, instead, she let her body nestle more comfortably in this Akatsuki's arms and stared at the yellow flower in her hands. It was about fifteen minutes later when Tobi interrupted the empty silence.

"Tobi's name is Tobi, miss. What should Tobi call you?" Sakura lifted her head off his shoulder slightly to look at his masked face.

"…my name is Sakura."

"Ahhh, that is a pretty name. But isn't it…a flower, too? Just like this one?" Sakura stared at him a little longer, trying to figure out how this man's brain was wired. It was very ironic that today, at the end of war, on the edge of death, drowned in sorrow, and in the arms of a stranger, her mouth quirked up in one corner in the smallest shadow of a smile.

"Sakura blossoms are pink, Tobi, and they…they smell very nice. This one is yellow."

"Then what is this one called? Does it do anything special? Tobi doesn't smell anything." Sakura looked at her flower again.

"I don't know what this one is called and it doesn't have a scent, but it does do something very special…" She said softly.

"What does it do?"

"It heals."

...was it bad? I'm afraid this was sort of cliche... This is the first time I've written anything dark, and with Tobi and Sakura, none the less.

Can I has a review, plz? PLEASE? Tell me anything! Even if this sucks.