CHAPTER 1: RESCUE PLANE
The darkness has enveloped the sky and the rain fell hardly on the road. Many women are awaiting the last rescue plane to arrive and they hope that it will bring relief to the country while they break the good news that they have won. Most of all, they hope it will bring peace to them – the wives who were left behind.
However, Sakura was not given the time to hang on to that hope. She needs to move as planes endlessly reach its touchdown. She gives prescriptions to every soldier that landed from the rescue plane. It was good in a way; it urged her to keep the worry at the back of her mind.
Stretchers and wheelchairs roam to find soldiers needing help. Sakura bent down and flashed the light to the soldier's eye.
"His left eye is not responding to the light but the other eye seems ok. Patch the wounded eye for now." She commanded the nurse.
"Next!", she shouted. It seems like forever but she's not complaining. She loves medicine as much as she loves the reason why she chose it.
She looked at her ring.
Please be safe. Please be safe. Call it a mantra, a prayer, whatever that will work. She filled her lungs with air before focusing her head back to the situation. It was those little moments that she gives herself the luxury of prayer.
Another wheelchair came to her. She swallowed hard at the sight. The man's right arm was hanging loosely almost disentangled.
Sakura looked at the assisting nurse. She didn't need to tell anything. They both know that it has to be amputated but there are no words to ease the terrible truth. War should never be a choice. It was a useless sacrifice where winning is never a triumphant fete at all, she thought.
She snapped back to reality and nods at the nurse. The nurse quietly pushed the wheelchair to the camp for the operation schedule. She wiped her eyes and was about to attend to the next soldier when the sound of the last plane came.
Her mind, like an automated clockwork, briefed everyone to take their posts. Everybody knew the drill, at least for this last plane.
Before signing up for the position that has been offered for years she made an arrangement to the Military Head, Nara Shikamura. It was hard to propose an arrangement to the man. He was brilliant and the best strategist but her resolve cannot be outdone.
4 years ago:
"If I'm going to take this position, you have to promise me one thing and I promise you that your men will have a higher probability of survival and recuperation."
"Go on", The leader said lazily.
"Every time my fiancé leaves, I will personally check him up. Every time he arrives, unwounded, I will check him up. In the event that he comes back wounded, which I hope I will never see, he will have my undivided attention."
She was observing him like a hawk, for any movement that might say that he is not going to approve and she'll leave.
Shika stared back. "How do you suppose to prove that other nurses are capable and no soldiers will be neglected and harmed while you are mending your beloved?"
She smiled, expecting that he will ask her that, and said, " I will train them for three years straight and assess each one. I will personally certify those who can administer operations and delicate surgeries. Every doctor and nurse will be up-skilled and updated in the field and no mediocre can be granted access to any hospital in the city – not without my certification."
"But your fiancé leaves for a mission today and he may be back the next week. None will be ready by then therefore undivided attention to one man is a luxury you cannot afford."
She slammed her palm to the officer's desk and put the other hand to her hip and smugly said, "Then, he isn't going anywhere until I finish."
– And her wish is their command.
"Wave 1 take.." Sakura looks at the list she has prepared, "Shino Aburame and Choji Akimichi". The nurses hurriedly went to fetch the assigned soldiers.
"Wave 2, Neji Hyuuga and Kakashi Hitake"
She pointed the last 2 nurses and directed to the patients, "Wave 3, Rock Lee and Kiba Inuzuka ; Wave 4"
She stopped mid-sentence when Uchiha Sasuke walked down. She was robbed off of speech. She stood their gaping at the sight before her. Sasuke was tattered, bloody and bruised. He was looking as if he was going to faint but holding it together for the almost lifeless man he was carrying.
This was what she has prepared for everyday and the choking feeling was just another thing she practiced to control. She was precise with her direction, every nurse and every doctor. It doesn't matter that she was crying like crazy. It doesn't matter that she was sobbing like she was going to be out of breath any minute. What matters is that she disseminates the work so she can focus to what is really important.
"Shizune, please take the wheelchair and see to his needs." She nodded at him in understanding.
Her efficiency peaked as she hurries for the time to attend to the only man she wants to heal at that very moment.
She then bent down and cradled him as she whispers, "Cling to life, please. Cling to me. Na-ru-to!"