"Hinata..." his voice croaked. When she didn't respond he tried again. "Hinata, stop." Only then she stopped, her hands no longer glowed green and was curled up into a fist. "You're... wasting your chakra... if you heal me."
"No," she protested, her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. "I-I need to heal you. You'll die if I don't!"
"But you will if you don't stop. I'll be dead anyway," he whispered. "Leave me, Hinata. I'm a lost cause."
The Hyuuga looked at him sharply, the tears spilling from her eyes. "I won't leave you this time! Didn't we promise to look out for each other?!"
"It's a promise, you hear?"
For that moment, his eyes soften and reached out with his newly healed arm to wipe the tears from her face. Her breath faltered as she witness the soft smile on his face. "You shouldn't cry. You look better if you smile," Sasuke stated.
Despite his words, her lavender eyes were filled again but she returned his smile. Hinata didn't know where her confidence came from when she leaned down and captured his lips. Her lips were softer than it looked - and salty from the tears.
But it was short-lived as darkness claimed him as one of their own but the taste of her lips against his lingered in his mind.
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The Akatsuki had done more than destruction; lives were taken away not just shinobi but also to the villagers while the rest are injured - or unharmed. Haruno Sakura would have continued healing the others but felt a tug in her gut to search for survivors. Kiba and Tenten had volunteered to follow her. Kiba and Akamaru would be a great deal of help for the keen sense of smell. Tenten because she wanted to search for Hinata - spending a whole lot time with Neji does take a toll in her; generally she didn't want Neji to worry about Hinata more than she does.
"They're not far from here," Kiba informed them. "But Naruto is not among them. It's just Hinata and that Uchiha."
Sakura nodded as they followed the Inuzuka. Konoha was left in crumbles. A handful of shinobi had died during their encounters with the Akatsuki. It might take years for Konoha to return to its former - that is if there will be no more invasions.
The medical nin snapped out of her reverie when she heard Kiba yelled, "Found them!"
Her medic mode was on when she saw the Hyuuga Heiress hunched over Sasuke's stilled form. Every now and then, Hinata's chakra flickered. Her chakra was already low to begin with.
"What the...?"
Sakura rushed over to them and kneeled on the opposite side of Hinata. She took a good look on the Hyuuga, tears ran down her cheeks. It made Sakura wonder: how far was Hinata's relationship with the last Uchiha? As far as she had seen their interaction, they appear as friends but she, however, had never seen them utter a single word before the Uchiha left the village.
Pushing her thoughts aside, Sakura hovered her hand over Sasuke's wounds and begin to heal them as Hinata retract her hands, leaning against Tenten as she had almost passed out. Little by little his torn muscles and flesh begin to mend but he did not open his eyes.
His eyes were stubbornly closed. She was half way through healing him when she realized that he had no pulse. She pressed her ear to his chest, just to hear that single heartbeat. She straightened her body slowly, her eyes drifted towards Hinata, willing herself not to cry.
No.
No.
No.
Then a thought struck her. Chakra. Even if the heart stops beating, chakra would still flow within the body but it would only last a few minutes before the chakra stops flowing body. With determination coursing through her veins, she went back to work. Her hands glowed green as she moved from one injury to another.
Chapter Nine
Start from the beginning
