Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
She had just gotten off her shift at the hospital when she nearly ran into him. Her chakra was strikingly depleted, having devoted most of her day to the emergency section of the Konoha hospital. She had had many days like this before where, despite her Shizune's pleas (and years ago too, when Tsunade would put her opinion in as well), she would work herself to the brink of exhaustion. People were dying, she justified, good and honest people. They didn't deserve to die. Not when she had anything to say about it, anyway. As she left the hospital that evening, she had a feeling in her gut that something wasn't quite right. Granted, she was also having trouble focusing and decided it was probably safer to simply walk home normally than try to use and ninjutsu to get her there faster. With these in mind, she brushed off the uneasy feeling and continued on her way.
That is, until she closed her eyes and allowed her feet to carry her the remainder of the familiar path home. It had been only seconds before she sensed a presence before her. She opened her eyes slowly, knowing that no civilian or ninja would dare try to harm her, but curious as to who was blocking her way. She was tired damn it, and she wanted to sleep for at least a few hours before returning to the hospital.
"Sakura," a soft voice mumbled. Cerulean met emerald and she knew that her uneasy feeling had been correct.
"How bad?" She responded with a sigh. She looked him over, but instantly knew that most of his wounds must have been healed by the kyuubi on the journey home from wherever their mission had taken him.
"It certainly could have been worse. The mission, I mean. Sasuke, well," He paused, turning his head to avoid her gaze, ashamed of the news he was bringing. "It's pretty bad. The bastard's stubborn. He's not going to go out like this though. I think he's had worse."
"Naruto, you two have got to be some of the most reckless shinobi the world has ever known!" She began with a huff, grabbing his hand and turning back towards the hospital. "Honestly, it's like you want to die. Going on these S-ranked missions all the time, finding all of these damned hunter-nin-"
"And winning, Sakura! Don't forget that," He dazzled her with a toothy grin to which she simply scoffed at and rolled her eyes.
"It's a miracle Hinata puts up with you the way she does. You two are impossible," As they neared the hospital, Sakura took the lead and made her way through to the emergency wing. She could sense him, at least. She groaned, trying to remember which medics had the shift after her, trying to determine if she was needed. Her chakra was low, much lower than she should have allowed. While he was alive, Sakura wished that she had the strength left to help him.
Naruto followed Sakura through the hallways. They could hear the commotion from what seemed like miles away. Before going further, the blonde placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. She turned with curious eyes, wondering why on earth he would be stopping her when she was obviously needed. The noise alone told her that someone needed to take charge and at least get everything organized. Noticing the furrow in her brow, he smiled at her and tried to lighten the mood. "He's going to be fine. They don't have the best medic helping him right now, but you trained all of the others, right? They'll handle it just fine!"
She gave a short nod and was gone in a flash. Naruto was left waiting in the hall, running a hand through his short hair and wondering where the mission went wrong.
Sakura pushed through the doors, eyes widening at the scene in front of her. Medics were scampering about the room trying to keep Sasuke's writhing body under control as much as they could. She saw one with tears running down her face, clearly shocked by what was happening. Sakura slid her best medic mask on and rushed over to her.
"Status report." She demanded, grabbing the younger girl by the shoulder and pulling her away from Sasuke for a moment. Sakura knew she must have been one of the new trainees with how much she was shaking. They usually stuck a few of them on the graveyard shift with some of the more experienced medics specifically for situations like these. When missions go wrong. When teams come back unannounced. They needed to know what they were getting themselves into.
"He - uh - he won't stop -" She wiped some of the tears from her eyes before taking a calming breath, "He came in about - about 10 minutes ago. He won't stop shaking and twitching. One of the others, Misaki I think, had said it might be a bad reaction to some type of poison that I-I'm not familiar with."
Sakura nodded, "Good. Okay, anything else?" Her eyes darted around the room, taking in the rest of her surroundings.
"We're in the process of patching up the worst of his wounds, but - but he won't stop moving, which is making it rather difficult for Sango and Yori," It was then that Sakura caught the pile of the blood stained linen next to the bed. Though Sango and Yori had taken care of what looked like a good portion of the wounds that covered him, she still worried. Not that bad, my ass, Sakura thought, cursing both Naruto and Sasuke for their recklessness.
"Okay, you and Misaki, with me. Sango and Yori, make sure he doesn't bleed out, please. He's pale enough as it is," Sakura called to the other medics before taking off her coat and moving closer to the bed. With the other medics in agreement, she molded what little chakra she had left around her hands and went to work.
She had dozed off sometime between 3 and 4 a.m., but only after making sure that her teammate would not, in fact, die. She glanced around the room, shifting slightly in the chair that she had occupied for the better part of the last 3 hours. She smiled when she caught sight of a familiar head of blonde hair. Naruto sat slumped against the wall closest to Sasuke, snoring slightly. Her gaze landed on the shinobi in the bed, whose chest was rising and falling with perfect rhythm and she could not be happier.
Both of her boys were home.
She stood then, with a smile on her face and crept towards the door, hoping to find the nearest coffee maker and return to her team before either of them would wake. The door creaked just enough that, in an instant, she knew Sasuke's eyes would flash open, already on high alert despite the lack of a threat.
"Sorry. Go back to sleep," She whispered without turning to face him. She knew she was being ridiculous. She couldn't wake Naruto even if she threw him across the room.
"Stay," He muttered, his voice hoarse from disuse and dehydration.
"I'm just going to get some coffee," She tilted her head to look back at him, "I'll be right back,"
"Hn," He grunted out.
"Sure, Sasuke, I'll bring you back a cup, but only because you asked so nicely," She rolled her eyes and slid through the door, getting out a quick, "Oh, and I'm glad you're okay," before the door creaked shut.
He smirked.
Perhaps that mission hadn't been a complete waste of his time afterall.
A/N: Well, I'm trying something new here, but hopefully it went alright. The next installment should be out in a few days too (if all goes accordingly). Let me know what you think!
.clueless.