A/N: I got this idea while writing the 6th chapter of my SasuNaru fic "Cause I Want You To". So if you have read that story of mine this one might give you a bit of Déjà vu, know its not just you. Hahaha, but overall I kept the plots pretty separate, only real connection is the pairings and characters. [/ AN Drabble]

I encourage you all to leave me CCC's! (Constructive Comments & Criticism's)

Disclaimer: I'll own Naruto when I own Japan. But that doesn't look like it is going to be happening in the future…at all.

Sakura strode through the corridors of the Hospital, ignoring the looks she was receiving from her fellow medic-nin. The grapevine had made short work of Sasuke's return and the leaches as she called them were busy filling the building with rumors and idle chitchat on the subject. But Sakura didn't give it another thought. She knew her that if anyone were to be able to get the avenger back it would be Naruto.

He was a good ninja, damn good; his skills were almost second to none. She knew the other kunoichi were jealous of the blonde. That was why they had latched onto their gaffes so quickly, gnawing at it like Akamaru with a fresh bone.

Ino shook her head, her hair staying gravity defiant in a tight bun. "She's not going to like this," She said in a resigned voice.

"She doesn't have a choice, does she?" Shikamaru replied, looking around at the nearest door, window, or vent. "Do you reckon this is still non-smoking?" He gestured at the new offices.

"Shika-kun, this is a hospital." Ino deadpanned, to stunned that he even said that to be angry.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru whispered and looked away, ignoring the blonde. "Maybe we should have told her," He asked to no one inparticular as he watched as Hinata come in, checking the new place out curiously.

"Hey Hina-chan!" Ino interrupted the silence, stun forgotten. "What do you think about the new offices?"

"Yep, we definitely should have told her," Shikamaru interrupted, lighting up despite the glare from Ino and surprised expression of Hinata.

"Please Shikamaru-kun," Hinata silently begged. The male sighed, putting out the cigarette on the new desk he was leaning against. He ignored the growl thrown at him from Ino's direction. "I wonder where she is anyways." He carried on.

"Look, she's probably just held up in traffic." Ino replied irritatedly, pushing the male as far away from her now scarred desk as she could. "Just," She ran her fingers across her face before looking up at her teammate with a scowl, "Don't touch anything, you got that?"

"Or with her boyfriend," Shikamaru muttered quietly, ignoring the blondes warnings once again. Ino sighed. "I give up,"

Hinata giggled at the two, walking out of the room to help the other nurses who were slowly filing in find the way.

Sakura walked into her nursing staff's office and stopped. "What the hell…?" she said out loud, surprise falling across her features as she stared into the empty room. "Oh, isn't this just fantastic." Closing her eyes, she concentrated, tapping into the mid-link she had created with her platinum haired best friend.

'Where the hell are you?'

'New offices,' she replied with an emotion that Sakura didn't feel like deciphering. 'Didn't Tsunade tell you?'

'No,' Sakura thought icily. "No one did," She sent a mental growl through their connection, 'Where the hell are you?' She not so nicely repeated her inquiry, picturing again in her mind the empty room, 'and where the hell is everything?'.

"First floor, end the ICU corridor. If you get lost, ask a Jounin."

Sakura ended the connection by opening her eyes, glaring into the empty room. "Some days you just shouldn't get out of bed," she muttered angrily to herself, striding back out of the old office.

"Does that kettle work?" Ino asked, motioning to the pot above the burner in the corner.

Shikamaru looked at her. "I guess. Why?"

"We've been here almost an hour and no one's made the coffee yet." She said it as if it had some meaning.

"You're as close to it as I am." Shikamaru responded. No way was he going move more then he had too.

Ino was about to open her mouth to give him an angry retort when Hinata scurried into the room stopping between the two and said. "Well, one of you had better make it," She touched her fingers together, looking quite flustered.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because Sakura's on her way."

Shikamaru and Ino looked at each other and leapt from their positions, almost colliding in their uncharacteristic rush to the kettle. Almost as if on cue Sakura walked in, looking less then pleased.

"Good morning Sakura-chan," Hinata said, giving the girl a small bow before shuffling over to her desk.

"Is it?" Sandra asked dryly, eyeing the other two now arguing teammates.

Ino smacked Shikamaru over the head, winning the battle with a proud smile. She turned towards Sakura and held up a cup. "Coffee?"

"Please." Sakura answered in an almost desperate manor as she took in the box filled room that was her new office.

"I'll go and scrounge up some food," Shikamaru offered, not waiting for either of the girl's replies before making his quick exit from the office, but not before sneaking out a parting jibe. "How's Squirrel Nutkins?"

Sakura glared at him. She always loathed the name that her long-time love interest Rock Lee had obtained, to this day she couldn't grasp just why everyone had started calling him that. She felt a small amount of satisfaction as he turned and skulked off without another word, turning her attentions to the two girls. "So, does someone want to tell me what we're doing here?"

"We thought you might know," Hinata replied, not looking up from her desk. "We just saw the note on the door this morning..."

"What note?" Sakura demanded, trying to pry the information out of the quiet girl.

"The note on the old office doors saying we'd been moved," Ino said, finishing for the poor girl. "Didn't you see it?"

"Seeing as I hacked into our link to find out where you were? Obviously not," Sakura replied, her voice dripping with suffocating amounts of sarcasm. She took another look around the room. "Why are there only two desks?"

Hinata, no longer staring at her desk pointed to the left. "Yours is through there, Sakura-chan."

Sakura sighed. "What I was trying to imply was there isn't enough room for Shitika-san." She pegged both girls with a look, "Where's he going to work?" Hinata looked to Ino, who shrugged, blue eyes closed in indifference.

"And where the hell is he anyway?" Sakura asked. She could already feel a headache coming on.

"We thought you might know," Ino replied, and as if she could feel Sakura's inner thoughts handed her her coffee before retreating to the relative safety of the side of her desk that Sakura wasn't leaning against.

"No, I don't," Sakura said, a slouch in her shoulders as she stared blankly into her coffee

Hinata frowned, sensing the change in her friend. "Is everything alright, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura sighed, suppressing the urge to just walk out and go home, her features softened at the genuine worry in the gentle raven. "Yeah. Just…didn't sleep well, that's all."

Hinata nodded before turning to some un-finished paperwork, knowing there was more but figuring it was best to not pursue it.

Sleeping wasn't the problem at all, and Sakura knew neither of the kunoichi in the room would buy that line for a moment, but she wasn't about to tell them the truth. Lee had called her, wanting to meet. She had gone, thinking he missed her. Instead, he told her that his ex, Gaara, wanted to take a go at a relationship for the sake of their daughter. Feeling he owed it to Gaara, and his daughter, Lee had agreed. He had asked Sakura if they could stay friends; Her reply was a cool 'No'. While her relationship with Lee hadn't exactly been serious, it had been a light in an otherwise lonely life, and Sakura was going to miss it. But there was no going back, only moving forward. She idly wondered how the red-haired man had gulled his demon into allowing the pregnancy.

"Chocolate digestives," Shikamaru announced as he came back into the room. Sakura had to put a genuine effort into not laughing as the lazy man gave her a quite amusing answer to her internal ponderings. Her struggle went unnoticed as the pineapple haired Jounin continued, "So, any ideas of why were here?" He looked to all three girls, "I know why your all here, but why am I and my Jounins?"

"Hell if I know," Ino responded irritatedly before continuing with a worried look. "I just want to know why were in a new office," lowing her voice, "I wonder if it has to do with Sasuke…"

All three went silent.

"Maybe it's filled with asbestos?" Hinata suggested helpfully. She didn't like to see her friends in pain.

Ino snorted in disbelief, jumping thankfully to answer the girl's statement that broke the silence. "Like we wouldn't have noticed that before," Ino answered arrogantly.

"Maybe its part of Naruto's plan to kill us slowly." Added the dark haired girl, keeping her face as straight as she could.

"You know, from anyone else, that might constitute as a joke," Sakura said, a smile tugging at her lips.

Shikamaru grunted, then looked around the room. "Still no Shitika?"

"Nope," Ino chipped in.

A messenger bird chirped loudly, causing everyone looked at each other. "Yours," Shikamaru told Sakura, nodding towards her office.

Grabbing a cupcake, or "Chocolate Digestive" as the male called them, Sakura made her way across the room. She lifted the bird gently from her windowsill, being tender as she unwrapped the message from its foot. Releasing the bird after retrieving the scroll she opened it, her face scrunching unpleasantly as she read it contents.

"Who is it from?" Shikamaru asked, even though he was almost 100% he knew who it was from.

"God, you're nosy," Sakura replied curtly.

Shikamaru sighed and looked like he'd rather be anywhere be here as Sakura made her way out of the office.

"Be safe," Hinata added to her swiftly departing figure.

Sakura took a deep breath before knocking on Tsunade's door. The last time she had been in her office, it had been while the two were healing a not so stable condition Uchiha and blonde male. She wasn't sure she could deal with another one of those so soon…

"Come in," the Hokage replied. "Ah, Miss Haruno. Just the person I wanted to see."

She had been afraid of that. Putting on her best smile she replied with a bow, "Good morning, ma'am,"

"Please," The busty blonde female said, motioning towards the chair across from her, "Sit."

Alarm bells were ringing in Sakura's head at the woman's bright tone. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." She sat down at the offered chair and waited.

And waited.

After an inordinately and uncomfortably long amount of time, Tsunade spoke. "I think it's time we had a chat about the repercussions of your teams little stunt the other week, don't you?"

Sandra gulped. "Yes Hokage-sama"

The female dropped the act; look turning from happy to haggard, "You guys screwed up big time. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura's gut instinct was to answer back, 'Naruto went through so much to get Sasuke-kun back, after all these years he never once gave up on his promise to me. How could I not help him?' but even she knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Your safe," Sakura liked the sound of that, but couldn't help but feel that there was something more. Her suspicions were confirmed when the woman continued, "A lot of people have been calling for your teammates heads on a platter," Tsunade continued, "But I managed to negotiate a deal for the males of Team Seven."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Deal?" she repeated suspiciously. She knew the woman would never hurt Naruto, but Sasuke…

"Yes, Miss Harono," She said as if begging Sakura to argue with her, "A deal, and you'd do well not to throw a gift away," Tsunade replied loudly.

'So much for pleasantries,' she thought dryly as she watched the other womans face redden with frustration or anger, she couldn't tell. Sakura idly noted through her peripherals the pile of empty sake bottles throw carelessly in the corner, "Of course Hokage-sama,"

"Now, as far as Team Seven is concerned, there will be no repercussions."

Sakura's eyes opened in genuine shock, "Hokage-sama?"

"But your medical team will take a hit," Sakura flinched. She was happy that her boys would be out of harms way, but her team? She was beginning to regret taking supplies from the office lockers.

The blonde sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Nobara Shitika has been reassigned, that is your only loss." Sakura nodded. She could accept that.

She didn't know what to say, "Than-"

Tsunade held up her hand, cutting her off. "Don't you dare thank me, Harono. I don't want to hear it."

She nodded. "Yes, ma'am." There was another long pause. "If I might ask, why is no further action being taken against my team?"

"Because I managed to stop the book before it got to you."

Sakura frowned. "But that means…"

"I was thinking of retiring soon anyway," Tsunade replied with a shrug. "The council was happy to let me take the blame for Team Sevens actions and retire with my dignity intact. That means that your career isn't damaged," She cut off to chuckle and say with a humorous tone to her voice, "And you get my job as head of the hospital out of this too," The humor ended there however, as her eyes took on a serious gleam, "You and your team can continue making Konohagakure look good." She gave Sakura a tired but pleading look, "Just don't screw it up, kid."

Sandra was shocked. "Ma'am, I don't…I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Just get the hell out of my office." Tsunade started on some paperwork. "You owe me, Sakura." She said without looking at her, the first time she had used her name throughout the whole visit. "Don't forget that."

"I don't think I could even if I tried." She said honestly before standing and making her way out of the Hokages office. As she made her way back to Hospital, Sakura thought over what had just happened. She could feel the headache that she had been trying to avoid strike back with a sickening vengeance. She decided that some days it really wasn't worth getting out of bed.

"You look like you just crawled your way out of hell," Ino stated when Sakura walked back into the office.

Sakura gave her friend an un-amused sneer "Oh, aren't we just hilarious,"

"That bad was it?" Hinata interrupted the soon to turn vicious interlude.

Sandra dropped her glare and sighed. "Worse," she told them, "Shitika-san's been reassigned and Tsunade's resigning." Both girls mouth went agape with surprise, "But, that is the only action that will be brought against us."

Shikamaru nodded, and said, breaking his self imposed silence. "I can't see anything wrong with that, to be honest."

But Hinata was frowning. "Tsunade-sama took the fall for us?"

Sakura scoffed, "You say that as if you guys actually did something wrong," She sighed and ran a hand through her bubblegum hair "But yeah, that's the gist of it," She finished.

"Damn," Ino said. "That's lucky,"

Shikamaru just sighed, "Its troublesome is what it is," Ino gave him a hard glare.

Sakura sighed and sank into the nearest chair. "I hate Mondays." She looked at the others. "Do you ever get the feeling that some days…?"

"You shouldn't get up?" Hinata finished helpfully, Sakura nodded; Hinata gave back a nod of agreement.

"All the time," Shikamaru added verbally.

Ino rolled her eyes at the male "If it were up to you, you'd never get up,"

"Yep," He answered simply, staring at the twirling cigarette between his fingers longingly before sighing and putting it away, turning his gaze to the clouds outside the window.

Ino looked at her three colleagues, an idea striking her. "You doing anything tonight?" she asked anxious in her new excitement.

"Who?" Hinata replied, curious.

"All of you."

"Why?" Sakura asked, interested in what the girl was cooking up inside that blonde head of hers.

"I'm making dinner tonight," She said casually, "And I always end up cooking too much," Ino left the rest up to them to guess. They didn't disappoint.

Sandra looked at her in surprise. "Are you inviting all of us for dinner, pig-face?"

She shrugged, not rising to the unconscious taunt. "Why not?"

Hinata smiled and nodded. "I would love to, Ino-chan."

"I suppose there's no getting out of it, hu?" Shikamaru said.

"Nope," Ino chirped cheerily at her teammate, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Not unless you wanna miss out on desert," She winked and batted a few eyelashes at the now blushing boy before turning her gaze to Sakura. "How about you, pinky?"

Sakura grinned. "I'll bring a bottle."

Ino rubbed her perfectly manicured hands together. "Excellent. Now, let's get to work, shall we?"

Sakura nodded. Some days were definitely better than others, and some days it was worth getting out of bed; even when she didn't feel like it.

~~~fin~~~

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