(A/N: Hi! This is my second story… if you haven't read the first one then read it… NOW. Heh heh. I think I've gotten a little bit bolder too. It's like I graduated or something. I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my new extended story: Tough Love!)

Disclaimer:Why do I have to do this? Everyone knows I can't own anything for life.

Title: Tough Love

Chapter 1: Cold Shoulder

Coffee… how should it be described? Hmmm… Nectar of the Gods? No, it tastes too chalky for that type of recognition. The Fountain of Youth? Yech, too Gai-ish. A spirit raiser? … No, whenever she drank it, she felt her mood darken along with the after taste, even if it was an energy booster. That's what it was! An energy booster … yippee. Green eyes glowered at the murky brown substance, being splotched out of the machine, filling out the mug she held. At first when she had tried it, inexperienced and full of curiosity, she spewed it right back out of her mouth earning an uproar of a laugh from the great woman that was, and still is, her teacher. The mug itself had a good yet bad sense too it as well. The good sense was that it had her name infringed on it with her favorite color and the bad sense… the rest of the mug held the color she hated with a passion. Pink. Yes, it was a bit contradicting since her own natural hair color was indeed pink. Henceforth her name, "in red letters" which she'd like to think crimson, Sakura.

Why did her parents give her such a common name after such a common tree? There were a million Sakura's and more than a billion trees carrying the name as well. You'd think that they'd have enough of the damn thing all over the world but no. She figured it was indeed because her otherworldly traits deemed her so. In fact she was told that they thought of Kaoru. A nice tomboyish ring to it, that wasn't given to, too many females. She had lots of other names people chose to call her instead also. Names that were hurtful and she seemed to be always the target for. Thinking back on them she realized they never stopped. Within each new chapter of her life there was always a new one like forehead, billboard brow, annoying … ugly. She snorted. That was the new one. Ugly. Most of the other names seemed to depict that word in a semi "nicer" kind of way but it was the first time she was shocked that someone had come out and said it. She was ugly no matter what anyone said. Not even that idiotic best friend on her team.

She sighed a long, depressed, breath out from her mouth and then blew over the ridge of the cup dismissing the steam the liquid gave off cooling it in preparation for her awaiting tongue and its taste buds. She never sipped the stuff after learning to cope with its taste. She always gulped it 3 times or her time energized would never go right. It's foolish to think it this way and she knows it, but she can't get out of her habit. Just like the coffee… her constant mental task setting is an addiction and is hard to get rid of. The sort of job she had could always do this to you because these were the boring hours, where nothing bad or unexpected would happen, and fill you with nothing but paperwork that could be done the next day. That was it. Gazing at the clock, she thought she might as well get rid of the paperwork that littered her desk so she wouldn't have to deal with it when she came back the next day. Or rather after her 10 hours were up, because technically as it was midnight, it was the next day.

One foot after the other she trudged up the steps avoiding the elevators. There was always someone seeking her presence in those boxes they called elevators. Sakura hated the stuffiness and the people always trying to speak to you when you're trying to grasp fresh air only to know that it doesn't exist in that space because kami-sama hated you and loved torturing you. Her breaths came out ragged as she neared the highest and final floor of the whole entire building where her office resided. Yes the ugly, pink haired, wide foreheaded, down-in-the-dumps, girl had an office. Although she was ugly it never prevented her from landing the position of head doctor and medical ninja, second only to her teacher. Suddenly "the boxes" didn't seem so bad. She shook her head in protest and preceded to the last door down the hall.

The clock on her desk read 12:15 in electronic numbers right next to the stack of papers that would never compare to the amount the Hokage had to deal with and Sakura felt that she shouldn't complain. Staring at the white mound with disinterest as she brought the mug to her lips again taking her 2nd gulp of the coffee, she pulled out her drawer containing stamps, pens, and white-out. Lots of weird smelling, ink covering white-out. She set a stamp that was nearly out of ink just like the rest of its kind on the table right before a copy of a picture she kept at home. It was her old Team 7 picture containing Hatake Kakashi, the well known prodigy of the 2nd Secret World War who earned the title: Copy Ninja Kakashi and was always called a genius since the age of 9, herself…, Uzumaki Naruto: the jinchuuriki of the kyuubi and apprentice to another sannin like her self known as the famous Toad Sage Jiraiya, and him… Uchiha Sasuke, sole survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre and avenger of that clan that betrayed the village to fulfill his self proclaimed destiny.

Her conscious was beginning to sound like Hyuuga Neji, also another prodigy like Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei as she realized this and rolled her eyes. She smiled at the honorifics that stuck to their names even throughout apparent closeness or distance in reality. The stack wasn't getting any smaller as she looked at the photo with mixed emotions. So many of them swirled inside of her at a rapid pace that she had to look away and slam it face down on the surface of her desk. A cracking sound escaped the shaped and she sighed picking up a piece of paper from the mountain and started reading. If Naruto were here she would have been asked what's wrong and she wouldn't comply after breaking his nose. Right now, him and Kakashi were both jounin as she, and were on a mission that they rushed to start before she came back from her own one manned mission. To top it off the mission was top secret. The day she came back she was fuming. How dare they not take her? Oh well. If they came back bruised and battered she wasn't going to heal them, as punishment for their haste.

Take a paper, stamp, skim, and sign. That's what paperwork entitled. She'd actually read what she signed tomorrow. This fast paced but boring process finished itself in 10 minutes and she huffed again. There were no rounds to go about as she, over little than a month, had successfully hired and trained more nurses and doctors to do so. They didn't have to be ninja they just had to be educated with the know how of the human body and want a job. As a 15 yr old she found that the staff was limited and even suggested that it was a requirement to have more on night staff but she was ignored by the head doctor back then who saw a means to not treat her according to her status as apprentice to leader of the village. Sakura figured the guy was just jealous or something because not once did she feel she was full of her self and spoiled. Quite the opposites actually, 'Now look whose boss,' she slyly thought, smirking.

The Hokage had complimented her and chastised her just the same during her 2 year long managing of the hospital. It was hard at first and lots of people were against it but she made it through with the entire support of the self proclaimed "next Hokage" and Icha Icha Paradise reader that happened to be her family. She did have family concerning blood once or still does but they had disowned her and kicked her out of the house when she'd became chuunin. The teenager frowned at the thought. Her family was a bit old fashioned and believed she should be in the kitchen for the rest of her life, she snorted, thinking back to burning everything she attempted to call a meal. The kitchen couldn't stand her and she smiled at this thought. Then frowned once realizing what she was staring at. It wasn't a good thing when her basic survival skills didn't kick in at all during her life. Seriously, the last time she sowed it was with her great grandmother who died before she was in her second year of the ninja academy. Every time she picked up that needle and put it down she always ended up poking herself with the point. She shook her head and thought that if anyone would know what she really was like they'd make fun of her. What woman doesn't even know how to cook for herself? Even picky, Ino-pig does that.

She reached for her mug to take one last swig of the earthy substance and paused sensing someone's presence coming fast towards her direction. Her hand slipped into the top drawer of her desk where she had a stash of kunai and other types of knives she had custom made for her. If you ask her why, she'll just give you a weird smile, and laugh maniacally while walking away. The chakra this presence held was enormous and she sighed once it halted to a stop. How could she not know who that was? Finally the "presence" she felt poofed into her room with giving a hint of a knock. As the smoke from the teleportation faded she saw blonde hair sticking out of the black mist accompanied by the bobbing of the hair due to heavy breathing. Then the smoke completely cleared away as it revealed none other than Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage, walking towards her desk.

"Oi, Sakura-chan! We need your help come quick!" is the first thing he uttered before dodging several weird looking knives aimed at his vital points. He huffed and puffed even more after dodging her arsenal. "How many times do I have to tell you to knock?!" she boomed. He winced closing one of his eyes in response to the harshness of her voice. He dared to look up at very angry Haruno Sakura who was waiting for an answer. "It's an emergency!" he uttered, while sweating bullets. She calmed down and with her anger gone her murder intent went too, much to the relief of the latter shinobi. "Well what's the emergency?" she reached for her mug again to take that last swig so she'd be in shape for whatever met her.

He didn't say anything for awhile but spat it out as she held the mug to her lips. "It's Sasuke! He's back! He finally beat Itachi but he's pretty beat up and the only one who could heal him is you or baa-chan," Sakura froze at her drinking coffee and stared at Naruto with wild eyes and heart beating fast. Sasuke was back. He did what he was set out to do and he's back. That's what went through her mind. Her demeanor went back to normal much to the surprise of Naruto who thought she would jump up and down and cry. Instead she replied, "How did you come across him?"

"Eh?"

"How did you find him?"

"Oh… uh… he was… on his last limbs with this weird look in his eyes on the border just outside of Sound. We were coming back from scouting for rumored Akatsuki movement but found none and then all of sudden we see the guys fighting… but that's not important right now Sakura. He's dying you gotta help him."

"I don't have to do anything. Go ask Tsunade-sama."

"…!"

"You heard me. Get that dumb look off your face it's not becoming of the next Hokage."

"But Sakura, this is Sasuke!"

"Your point?"

"It's Sasuke! He needs your help! Didn't you say that you wish you could pay us back from the times we always saved you? This is one of your chances!"

"Well I'm not giving him a chance. He doesn't deserve one."

"Aw c'mon, Sakura, you're the only one who could do it!"

"I said to go get Tsunade-sama! Stop pestering me and get the hell out of my office."

"… Sakura?"

"What?"

"The Hokage is out of town, due to urgent business with the Raikage," the voice didn't belong to Naruto because he'd never speak about someone with such respect, so she looked up from her mug and leaned back on her reclining chair.

She crossed her legs and held the mug that was now holding lukewarm liquid with both hands and stared at the one she knew as Kakashi-sensei. He was covered in blood that wasn't his. The pink haired kunoichi and the gray haired indifferent shinobi stared at each other long and hard for a full minute. It seemed hours for Naruto who said he was going to go check up on the avenger to make sure the nurses wouldn't try anything funny. Sakura snorted when he poofed away. She stood up and placed the mug in a nearby microwave she held in her room. She set it to a minute and a half and turned towards her ex-teacher who was looking down. "I know you have no reason to… help him out nor save his life but… would it be a reason if I asked you to do it for me and Naruto? The one's who didn't try to hurt you or kill you in the past?" She sighed and ran her hand through her bangs that she decided to put in front of her face again since she was 17. "… Why would you think that would be the reason I didn't want to help him?" she asked with sarcasm dripping off her words.

"Please Sakura?" He begged her but it sounded more like a demand and it pissed her off. Still she kept her composure and walked towards the door exiting out of her office. "Fine, just get out." Kakashi slowly turned around towards her and the door taking one last glance at the girl, now almost a woman, he had known to be the most sensible of his three students/team. She wasn't being sensible now though and it puzzled him to no end. They kept eye contact until he was out the door and she slammed it for emphasis to let everyone know in the whole damn hospital that she was angry and not to be messed with at all. She simply didn't accept people telling her to do her job. Glaring at the poor microwave that had nothing less than 30 more seconds to go, she left the appliance in an angry state and went down the hall muttering, "Taking the stupid elevator." As soon as she heard the beep from down the hall she considered going back due to her "ritual," but thought better of it seeing as her shift tonight would never go right now that he came back disturbing the time of peace. The door to the box she had loathed arrived with its annoying little ding sound and opened up releasing air from whatever floor it was from last time. It smelled of blood. Lots of it… in fact some of it was all over the walls of the box. She hesitated for awhile frozen in her spot with Peridot eyes wide with fear. It could've been from Sasuke but that didn't worry her. What if he woke up when they were taking him to the emergency center, panicked, and started hacking and slashing away? The possibilities were endless since all the Uchiha seemed unstable anyway.

The elevator with its stupid program thought it had passengers and started to shut itself from the rest of her hall floor. A hand banged against its edge preventing it from closing completely and pushed towards the opposite direction. Her foot stepped inside with the other following it close behind. When she let go of the sliding door, the edge was bent from her now clenching and unclenching hands, 'If that jerk did anything on my watch I'll make sure he dies before reaching the operating table,' she considered.

O.o—O.o O.o—O.o O.o—O.o

Her assumptions were fortunately, or for her case unfortunately, never met as she saw at least 20 of her staff working around the hospital's patient. Anbu were there too, apparently for security reasons, 'No doubt Kakashi-sensei's doing,' she thought while looking at the scene as if nothing was happening. Looking off to the right away from the door she saw Shizune giving the Black Ops and panicking nurses orders, clearly stressed herself. She walked to her sempai patiently and calming with an absolute-zero-smile plastered on her face. While inching closer and closer to the dark haired kunoichi she glanced here and there for Naruto whom she thought wouldn't be so hard to find in such a crowd, what with his blonde hair in the sea of white caps and sticking up over a fox mask, but for some reason he was this time. Keeping an ear out for his loud obnoxious voice, she tapped Shizune on the shoulder that jumped at the contact with a yelp.

Chuckles escaped the pink haired medical nin/ head doctor at her sempai's actions and replied, "How about I take over from here?" The older kunoichi nodded furiously obviously exhausted and stressed. The kunoichi stared at the scene then cocked her head as if in deep thought. Shizune watched the Hokage's apprentice with uncertainty, "Ano sa… Sakura? I thought you were going to handle this," she said holding out her hands to the evident chaos. The Peridot eyes that belonged to her comrade showed a flicker of some foreign emotion but waved it off as nothing serious when Sakura shook her head as if clearing out the clutter building up in it. "Oh yeah…" was her response as she brought her hand up to her face and let out a whistle through the two fingers she put in her mouth. Everyone quieted and stopped what they were doing, paying attention to the young head nurse. "This is not a circus people! I need 3 surgeons and 4 assistants on the double not 20 or 30 on call for some S-class criminal that needs an attitude adjustment. Toriyama, Naota, Yuuki, get washed up. You, you, you, and you set up the room across from us that you just dumped him in. The rest of you get lost and will someone please clean that elevator! It's disgusting how you just feel that blood on the walls is normal I want it to squeaky clean by the time I finish operating." They all just stared at her, most of them had their jaws dropped, her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "GET A MOVE ON PEOPLE!" is what she burst out with making everyone scramble all over the place in panic.

The pink haired kunoichi looked towards the Anbu looking for their leader and finally spotting him. "Oi, I want your guys to spread out a bit… matter of fact, have them posted all over this hallway specifically. Don't allow anyone but staff personnel into this area and make sure they have I.D. Five of you should do in the room. No more than that," The leader nodded and started giving out orders as she turned towards Shizune who also had her jaw dropped in awe. "And Shizune… make sure that news does not get out about him being here. If the staff utter one word outside these walls or even in dock their pay. I said before that this isn't a circus and I meant it. Have our fastest messenger bird get to Tsunade-sama relaying the message that there finally is a last Uchiha and that he should be in her company right away, then go get some sleep," Sakura gave Shizune a sheepish smile to speechless woman that nodded and disappeared within a cloud of smoke.

Sakura took a deep breath and looked once more for her teammates that she knew were lurking somewhere. Since she couldn't spot anyone in the two minutes stalling, she went off to wash her hands. "A reason to work on that sorry excuse for a human is a favor, huh?" she muttered to herself stalking off, unaware she was being watched by a one eye that seemed to move along the mask that blocked the rest of the face the eye belonged to crinkled.

Preview: "There is no way in hell that I'm taking care of that dickhead!" she yelled at the elder woman. Tsunade closed her eyes, frustrated and tired, and reached for the bridge of her nose to be pinched. "Watch your mouth Sakura… besides this is an order not a request get over that mind set." The blonde stared hard and long at Sakura not giving a damn about her apprentice's issues with a certain Uchiha.

(A/N: Well what do you think? Was it good? Please tell me!!! I know I'm bugging out.)