Chapter Thirty-One

   TW: Sui*ide

   "Princess?" Naruto said to his girlfriend, as she stood in front of him. "Yes?" She asked him with a smile on her lips, while wrapping her arms around his shoulders, as he looked down at his phone.

"Have you talked to Sakura?" He asked randomly, making her give him a questioning look. "Is she okay?" When he shrugged his shoulders, he saw how serious her face got. "Before he left, Sasuke wanted me to keep tabs on her. He's been worried since the whole thing that happened with Sasori."

"What does that mean, Naruto?" Hinata asked her boyfriend, getting off of him. His face formed a confused expression, "The other night with Sasori, the bruises?" Noticing her surprised facial expression, he could've kicked himself for being so dumb.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. I-I thought she would've told you guys what happened." He said, making her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What happened?" She asked him, scared of what followed. "I'm not completely sure, but she told Sasuke everything, and he said that she was assaulted."

"W-what? No, she would've told me."He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, Princess. That's just what he told m-"She cut him off, "Give me your phone." While giving it to her he asked, "Why?"

"I'm calling her, and my phone is in your car." They both heard it ring for a moment, and when she didn't answer, Hinata's heart began to beat erratically. "Where's Sasuke?" "He's like two hours out."

  Immediately Hinata pulled away from him. "We have to go over there." He reached for her arm as she started toward her closet, "Princess, she's probably fi-" The tears that came to her eyes, made him stop mid-sentence. "You don't know that." Nodding, he reached for his keys that sat on her wooden nightstand.

"Okay, let's go." Considering they lived in the same neighborhood, they made it to her home in less than five minutes, and as Hinata nervously tapped her fingertips against the back of his hand, while it sat against her thigh in a comforting way, he got nervous himself.

"Sakura!" Hinata called out as she opened the front door with the spare key, that sat under the doormat. Jogging up the stairs, and into her friends room, she immediately let out a gasp. Her friend laid on her back, lightly snoring as she had vomit spilling from her mouth.

Naruto was a few feet behind her, and rounding the corner into her room when he heard Hinata scream, "Oh my God!" Initially he assumed that she was overreacting, before he saw what she was gasping about. His blue eyes widened, and Hinata was in a state of shock. Taking charge, Naruto said, "Hinata, call the police."

Grabbing Sakura's limp body, he noticed that her skin was clammy. Turning her onto her side, he felt her pulse to feel that her heart was barely beating. He cursed under his breath as he began to try everything he knew to do. "Sakura, can you hear us at all?"

When she didn't respond, he continued to try shaking her, and he noticed that Hinata still hadn't moved. Gently grabbing her arm, he pulled her toward him and said, "Hinata, snap out of it. She will die if you don't call for help." When he said that, she nodded frantically, before doing as he said.

While she called for help, he went to her bathroom, and began searching through her cabinets. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He mumbled to himself, hoping that she had the bottle that could fix everything.

Minutes passed before he found it, and he rushed back into the bedroom to see Hinata doing as the dispatcher told her to do. "I'm gonna try this stuff, it's usually works." Hinata nodded, before moving out of his way, and stopped doing chest compressions.

"She's not responding, a-and her finger tips are turning blue. He found the naloxone, a-and he's gonna use it, but her breathing isn't getting any better." Hinata said to the dispatcher, with her hands shaking as she watched her boyfriend attempt to save her best friends life.

"Is he using the nasal kind? And is he sure on how to use it?" Just as she parted her lips to ask him, he inserted the device into her nose, and she watched him closely as he stayed calm. Hinata was moments away from losing her mind, seeing her friends limp body as she seemed to stop breathing.

"It looks like he does. She's still not breathing, should we try more CPR?" She asked the dispatcher in a panic, while rolling up her sleeves. "My God, Sakura." Hinata spoke softly, while seeing her lifeless face. "Yes, once he's done, try more chest compressions, if you don't see any change in the next five minutes, then try another dosage."

Hinata nodded as if the person on the phone could see her. "Okay, we're trying that. When should the paramedics arrive?" Just as she asked that, they heard the sound of the blasting sirens that always accompanied emergency vehicles.

"Was that Sakura?" Ino asked Hinata, as she walked over to her house, noticing the flashing lights of the truck, from her bedroom window. Her question brought tears to Hinata's eyes, "Y-yes. She overdosed." Ino's eyes widened, "No, please tell me that she's okay."

Her question was answered when she saw Sakura's body been carried out on a gurney, as they performed chest compressions, and she had a tube sticking out from her mouth. She appeared just shy of completely lifeless."Is she even breathing?" Ino asked, "She wasn't when we got here."

"I'll call Mebuki, and have her meet us at the hospital." Ino said while pulling out her phone, and walking in the direction of the police officer, who could give her more information. Hinata just nodded, trying not to let anymore of her tears fall in the cold December air.

Her mind was blank as she seen her friend be driven away in the ambulance, and she couldn't stop her anxiety from setting in. "Hinata." Naruto said, getting her attention as she stared off into the distance. "H-hi." She said with her voice cracking. Wrapping his muscular arms around her, he held her closely, "We did all that we could."

"No, you did all that you could, Naruto. I was the idiot who just stood there. That's literally all I ever do, I.....I always just stand there." She mumbled, feeling guilty as she came to the conclusion that her friends struggle with addiction was her fault.

"What do you mean?" He asked her, and she shook her head while sighing deeply, "It's nothing. Let's get to the hospital. I don't want her to wake up alone." Though he wanted to ask her what she meant, he nodded while taking his keys from his pocket. "Okay, go start the car." He said, noticing the police officer who walked toward them.

"I'm sergeant Iruka with Konoha police department, and I was wondering if I could have a word with you about what happened tonight." Naruto just nodded, "Sure, but can we do that at the hospital? She's my fiancée's best friend."

The young police officer nodded, "I understand, I'll see you there. What's your name, young man?" He asked, "Naruto Uzumaki." When he said that, though the detective remained nonchalant, he recognized that he was the young man who was affiliated with the famous crime leaders of the city.

When Naruto walked back to his car, he reached to pull out his phone, to inform Sasuke on what was happening. "Princess, do you have my ph-" He stopped as he looked over, and saw her with tears streaming down her face. "Princess." His hand reached for her's, and he kissed it delicately.

"You know, now I know how she must've felt when I attempted, and I wish I could apologize to her." The way she spoke sounded as if she had given up hope, and Naruto frowned. "Don't talk like that, Sakura is strong, and she'll be up in no time."

"Did you see what she took? She mixed Xanax and Fentanyl, and we don't even know how long she was there. Then on top of that, she mixed them with alcohol, she'll be lucky if she walks away from this with no brain damage." Her tone came out harsher than she intended, but frankly she was angry; angry with herself. "For months I sat back and did nothing, while she slowly killed herself with her addiction, and tonight I just sat there and watched as you tried to save her life. I'm such a shitty friend."

As she said that, Naruto pulled into the hospital parking lot. When he parked, he unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned to look in her tearful eyes. "Did you put a pill bottle in her hand?" She shook her head, while bringing her hands to her face. "I didn't stop her when she had one." He nodded in understanding, hating that she felt the need to blame herself for everything bad that happened around them. "And why not?"

That question made her want to cry even more, and he watched as she tried not to let her tears fall. "I-I didn't know how." She answered, feeling her heart continue to break. "It's not your fault, Hinata. You supported her the best you could, and although that may seem like it wasn't enough now, the fact that she made it this far, is proof that it was."

He said while placing his hand to her face, "The only more you can possibly do is be here for her right now, because when she wakes up, she'll be in pain, and she'll need you." His words oddly made her feel better, "Okay. You're right."

When they got out of his car, he held her hand, and they walked through the doors of the hospital, with Ino and Sai just a few feet behind them. "Princess, do you have my phone? I should call Sasuke." She nodded while pulling it from her back pocket, "Can you actually grab mine from the car?"

Naruto nodded, before walking back towards the parking lot, while he called Sasuke's number. He was currently speeding on a toll road, trying to get home to his girlfriend as quickly as possible. His eyes were red from tears, and he still had his brother's blood on his shirt from where he laid dying in his arms, but his mind was completely blank.

Answering his ringing phone, he was met with Naruto's voice, "Hey, Dude, Hinata and I went over to check on Sakura." He nodded, "And? Can you put her on the phone? I-I really need to hear her voice."

When he heard him sigh deeply, his heart dropped. "She mixed some medication with alcohol and overdosed. We did all that we could, but we don't know how long she was lying there." Sasuke was at a loss of words for a moment, as his foot sat pressed against the gas pedal. "Sasuke?" His friend asked, snapping him out of it just as he passed the road sign that said, 'Welcome to the city of Konoha.' "Okay, where is she now?"

"At the hospital, her mom just got here, so I'm sure we'll know more soon. How far out are you?" He asked while walking back into the hospital, with his girlfriend cell phone, and seeing the rest of their friends who were a few feet in front of him. "I just made it back to Konoha. I-I'll be there soon."

Before he could say another word, Sasuke hung up the phone, and tossed it in his passenger seat. Pulling over to the side of the road, he sat there for a moment, wallowing in his self hatred for a quick second.

With tears in his eyes, he began to forcefully hit the leather steering wheel in front of him out of anger, while screaming curse words repetitively, "Fuck!" His breathing was uneven, and his chest ached with a pain so severe that he thought he'd pass out. Closing his eyes, in an attempt to calm himself down, he only saw his brother's peaceful face, as he laid dead in his arms.

Bringing his hand to his chest, he started to experience an anxiety attack. "Fuck." He mumbled, feeling the urge to reach for his phone, and call his girlfriend, who he knew could calm him down just by the sound of her voice.

A tear fell from his closed eyelids, and once it did, he felt a huge weight lifted from his chest. Leaning back in the leather seat, he just sat there, remembering his brother, and the times they had. A chuckle left his lips as he thought about how, as a child he used to resent him when he'd put off hanging out with him, for the sake of his friends.

Bringing his hand to his forehead, he could almost feel his fingers as they pressed against his perspiring flesh, and it brought a small smile to his face as he continued to cry.

Running his fingers through his hair, he tried to calm down, and get himself to focus on getting home to Sakura. Almost on cue, his phone dinged, and he saw he had a missed call from her, followed by a voicemail. Clicking the notification, he played it on speaker.

"Sasuke, my love." The sound of her angelic voice, made him able to finally take a deep breathe, and realize what he needed to do. With his foot on the brake, he turned his key in the ignition, and moved the gear shift to drive.

Thanks to his speeding, he was able to make it to the hospital in an hour and thirty minutes, and when he did, he couldn't stop himself from feeling anxious. "Dude, are you okay?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he walked into the hospital, with dried blood on his shirt.

"Where is she?" He asked his friend, tears still in his bloodshot eyes. "Sasuke." He started, before he roughly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and slammed him against the wall."I asked you to do one thing, Naruto. One fucking thing, and if she fucking dies, I'm going to fucking k-"

Kiba stepped in, and grabbed Sasuke off of their friend, "He saved her life." Naruto just shook his head, knowing that his friend wasn't okay. "Sasuke, when we got there she had been unconscious for at least ten minutes, a-and she was suffocating. We did all that we could, and she was breathing, we just couldn't get her to wake up." His hand grasped his hair, "Then does anyone know what the fuck is going on? Is she alive?"

They all glanced at each other, waiting for someone to break the news to him. "Sasuke, you should sit do-" Naruto didn't finish his sentence, before Ino let out the sob she was trying to choke back as she cried on her boyfriends shoulder. He watched his friends eyebrows furrow as he prepared for the worst. "She's in a coma." Naruto finished, making Sasuke's eyes widened in clear shock. "W-what?"

"Y-yeah, the doctor's say she's lucky considering the amount of Fentanyl that was in her system." He shook his head, refusing to let his tears fall as his world seemed to be collapsing right in front of him.

"Fentanyl? W-where would she even....no fucking way." Sasuke said with a sigh, knowing she had to have talked to Sasori. "I just don't get what could've happened. We talked early, and she said she was okay. W-why didn't she say she needed me?"

As he started to freak out in front of everyone, Naruto tried to calm him down, only he pushed him away. He wasn't mad at anyone, but himself, and the last thing he needed was someone saying that it was anyone else's fault.

"She survived, Sasuke. It's okay." He shook his head, "It's not fucking okay. I should've made her get help, she told that she was suicidal over two months ago, and I was too wrapped up in my own shit to do anything about it. Even tonight, I was late. I-I'm always fucking late."

They all watched him, surprised by the way he seemed to care so much about her well being. Sasuke had always been nonchalant when it came to her, and though they knew he cared, now he made it obvious.

Even Naruto was surprised, and as he parted his lips to try and give him some reassurance, they heard Mebuki clear her throat to try and get their attention. "Sasuke, Sweetie, this isn't your fault." She said to him, and they all watched his face as he barely held it together enough to stop his tears from falling. "I'm so sorry, Mebuki." He apologized, and she shook her head, while offering him a smile, though her eyes were filled with tears.

"Don't be sorry, I'm just grateful that Hinata and Naruto got there in time, if you both had been just a few minutes later she would've..."They nodded, hearing the pain in her voice. "Can we see her?" TenTen asked, and she gave them all a small smile. "Sure, but I want you guys to be aware that she had to be intubated, and that she is completely unresponsive. " They all nodded, before Mebuki led the way to the intensive care unit.

When they walked into the room, they were met with the light beeping sounds of machines, that recorded Sakura's heart beat, and low oxygen levels. "Sakura." TenTen said softly, while Temari brought her hand to her mouth, in complete shock.

Sasuke just stood there, knowing that if he got too close, and really looked at the person who occupied the bed, he'd break down in the middle of the ICU. Clearing her throat to keep from crying, Mebuki placed her hand against Sakura's lukewarm flesh. "They don't know when she'll wake up, but hopefully it'll be some time soon, because I miss her smiling face already."

"Luckily there was no permanent damage done, that we know of so far at least. Sakura was lucky enough to walk away from this with just a peptic ulcer, and whatever effects she'll experience from the hypoxic brain injury."

Naruto asked what they were all thinking, "Hypoxic brain injury?" Ino's eyes stayed on her childhood best friend as she answered his question, "It's when the brain is prolonged of oxygen for an extended amount of time. She's in a coma because of it, but she could experience amnesia, and even loss strength in her mobility."

"She's gonna be okay though, right?" Hinata asked, her voice cracking in the process, making Neji place his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way. Mebuki nodded, "We'll just have to wait and see." They all nodded in understanding, before there was a knock to the wooden door. "Sorry to interrupt you all at a time like this, but is there any way I could talk to you, Mrs. Haruno?"

When she excused herself from the room, to talk to the young police officer from earlier, the room grew silent, as they all stood there, not sure what to say. The only thing that broke the silence was the occasional sniffle, and it started to eat away at Sasuke.

For a moment, as he ran his fingers through his onyx colored hair, he tried to remind himself that this was only temporary. With a deep sigh leaving his lips, he finally got the courage to approach the young comatose woman. On instinct, his hand reached for her face, but before his hand met her lukewarm flesh, he stopped unintentionally.

Seeing her lying there, appearing to be dead made him relive memories he thought he had suppressed. The relaxed facade on his face soon showed he truly felt, because as he saw his mother, father, and even his now deceased brother's face in place of Sakura's, he lost it.

His friends watched him stumble back, and interlace his fingers behind his head, as he was starting to hyperventilate. The way he started to heave worried them all, and he didn't know what was happening, as his head started pounding. "Sasuke?" Some of them said in unison, before the young man fell to the floor.

"Sasuke, you need to breathe." Hinata said to him, while Naruto was just as confused as the rest of them. "What's wrong with him?" He asked his fiancée, as she kneeled down next to him, while Neji went and got help. Unintentionally ignoring his question, Hinata held Sasuke's head in her hands, while speaking to him to try and keep him from losing consciousness.

His partially closed eyelids brought relief to his headache, though he couldn't seem to catch his breathe. A large part of him refused to believe his reality, because he knew that once he got up and saw Sakura in that hospital bed, he'd lose his last bit of sanity.

So, instead of fighting the sudden feeling of falling that wanted to consume him, he let it do so. When his eyelids closed, Hinata snapped her fingers in front of her face, and spoke his name louder, only she was met with nothing. Looking up at her boyfriend, she felt his best friends pulse, and could've let out a sigh of relief.

"He's breathing, his heart is just beating really fast. I think that this was just too much for him, and he had a panic attack, maybe?" Naruto nodded, and reached for her hand to help her up, as two nurses walked into the room to assist his friend. The group of teens were soon asked to leave, so that they could tend to both of their friends, and while they walked out of the room, they all subconsciously held each other a little tighter.

"I really want to stay here all night. I-I still can't believe any of this. W-we we're all right here, why didn't she tell us? She never told us that she had gotten this bad." Ino vented to her friends, while they stood outside in the winter air, with snow flakes falling upon their boyfriends fleece hoodies.

"It's so surreal. She's always so lively, I-I never would've guessed that she was suicidal." Temari muttered, with tears in her green eyes as she tried to stop crying. She wasn't as close to the group of girls, or Sakura as the rest of them were, and the last thing she wanted was to make it all about her, by crying as they expressed their feelings.

Though she felt that way, TenTen sighed with tears coming down her own face, and gently rested her head against Temari's shoulder. "That's how it always is, this just takes me back to two years ago. I-I genuinely haven't felt this broken since then."

When her friend said that, Hinata unintentionally let out the sob she had been trying to keep in. "I-I'm so sorry, you guys! T-this is the worst feeling ever, a-and I can't imagine how you guys must've felt." They all looked at her with tears in their beautiful eyes.

"Don't apologize, just like you made it through that rough time, I know that Sakura will." They all nodded in agreement, before hugging each other, kind of feeling better, as they held each other so closely.