Sakura (How to Obtain a Reverse Harem in Naruto)

Repeat

Sakura's knees buckled, and she abruptly collapsed onto the floor. Hinata had already grabbed her by the time Naruto set down the meringue and dove to her.

"Sakura?" yelped Naruto, grabbing her shoulder. Hinata placed a hand over her forehead, her eyes narrowing in concern as a frown tugged down on her face.

"She's freezing," Hinata whispered, looking up at Naruto. "Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan?"

Their friend remained unresponsive, staring blankly ahead. She was limp in Hinata's arms, her skin becoming paler by the second. Naruto touched her arm, and to his surprise there were no goosebumps.

'Cold, but no goosebumps?' Naruto thought. 'That's not normal, right?'

An unsettling feeling knotted in the pit of his stomach. "We—We should get her to Tsunade."

Hinata nodded firmly in agreement, adjusting her grip on Sakura to pick her up. She winced. "Sh—She's colder than ice."

Sakura jerked, gasping at air, and starting to cough. Color rushed back into her face, and she leaned over from the force of her coughing fit. Naruto and Hinata rubbed at her back, uncertain how to proceed.

Shudders ran through Sakura, goosebumps covering every inch of her skin. She shivered, and Naruto immediately pulled her into his arms to help warm her up. Hinata rubbed at her hands. "Sakura-chan?"

"I-I'm sorry," Sakura gasped out, tears spilling over her eyes. "I'm—I'm so—s-so—I'm so—I'm so so—sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was—I was just—so tired—"

A choked sob escaped her, and she buried her face in her hands as she began to cry. "I'm s-sorry! I'm s-sor-ry."

She curled into Naruto, weeping over things neither of her friends could understand. Hinata moved closer, rubbing her hand up and down Sakura's back while Naruto continued to hold her in a vain attempt to show comfort.

She must have cried for an hour before her sobs and hiccups died down, and only small whimpers and sniffling remained. Her friends stayed beside her, offering support and solidarity. Hinata temporarily left to grab boxes of tissues to wipe at the running snot, and dab at Sakura's puffy red eyes.

With the last of the tissues, Sakura blew her nose and offered her friends a wobbly, weak smile. "Hi."

"Hello," Hinata said gently, brushing back some of Sakura's hair. "Why don't you lay down for a bit?"

"I don't want to dream again," she whispered, her voice cracking. "J-Just get me some ibuprofen and water, p-please."

Naruto and Hinata exchanged worried looks, but Hinata eventually obliged and fetched what was requested. Sakura swallowed several pills in hopes of preventing the oncoming headache that always accompanied such a heavy cry session. Once finished, she perked up and said, "Gosh what a trip! But we've got some work to do, so let's finish up this cake and then head on out."

"Uh, no. You don't get to—get to—" Naruto gestured to Sakura. "You don't get to do that and move on. Na-uh."

Sakura scratched the back of her head. "Um. Well. The only way I can really describe to you both is that, uh, the Goggle Gods gave me some information that kind of upset me."

"What did you see?" Hinata asked.

Sakura stilled for a moment, her brow furrowing as a dark look crossed over her face. "I think... maybe... Genocide run? But it's okay, I'm on the Pacifist route now. I don't know, I kind of... I don't remember a whole lot now. It comes in waves, you know? I know the broad strokes but the more time passes the harder it is to see even that much."