I do not own Naruto

I have a story playing out in my head and despite me working, I am going to attempt to write it. Dont know how long it will be, but we will see.

This is a Kaka/Saku fic. The rating for this story is M for language so far and a scene that might be considered sketchy by some, but the reason behind the rating may change later, all depending on how things go.

With that said, here we go...

CHAPTER ONE

The Medic

Sakura wiped her brow with the sleeve of her white medic jacket. She held green glowing hands over an unconscious patient, lying on a sterilized operating table. She was pulling poison out much like she had done with Kankuro, Gaara and Temari's brother. Only this time, the poison was a cerulean color. She continued to pull the poison out into the chakra infused bubble, dropping it in the pan and returning to withdraw more.

Once the procedure was finished, Sakura jotted down something on the patient's chart and left the room. Her assistant followed as the steeped out into the busy hallway, accompanied with many injured ninja. She proceeded to grab another chart out of the holder on the wall.

"Sakura-Sama, perhaps you should take a break. You have worked on 10 crucial patients since your last break and that was..." The assistant looked at her watch, "13 hours ago"

Sakura sighed with exhaustion. She was so busy that she hadnt had time to take or break or realize how tired she was. Only when her assistant had mentioned how long she had actually been working, did the fatigue hit her. She had been working close to 19 hours, only taking a couple of naps that lasted no longer than around 30 minutes. She couldnt sleep knowing all the work that needed to be done, but Lady Tsunade had insisted she at least try for some sleep.

"Hitori-san, We are short staffed as it is. There are barely enough medics to compensate for half the amount of patients we have."

"Hai, Sakura-Sama, but you need rest yourself. You dont want to pass out while working on a patient."

Sakura sighed in defeat. Hitori was right. The Leaf ninja had aided a nearby village during a massive attack from the Sound. It was brutal. Many were wounded, some killed. Shinobi and Anbu had mostly all been dispatched into teams. Sakura stayed behind, unwillingly, of course. She was the best Medic, second to Tsunade herself. She had amazing chakra control and was able to endure procedures much longer than medic nins who had aced their exams with flying colors. She needed to be at the hospital. Most of the Leaf medic nins had been sent to the field to heal minor injuries, the rest were stationed at hospital to handle more sever cases.

The small village they were aiding didnt have many shinobi, no anbu, had a small pathetic excuse for a medical center, with only a couple of medic nins, (if they could be called that). They had barely enough experience and surely wouldnt pass a medic nin exam given by the leaf, so the wounded, from both villages, had to be brought to the leaf's hospital.

The sound had scaled a massive attack. Five Sound to every one person in the small village, a very unfair fight. Anbu was dispatched because Sound had dispatched their own Anbu and regular leaf Shinobi didnt stand a chance against them. Kakashi had been placed on an Anbu team, as had Yamato, Sai and Naruto. Naruto hadnt yet taken the Anbu exams, but the Hokage believed his power to be acceptable to serve as Anbu, and since this was an emergency, he was given temporary Anbu status. The four of them had been placed on a team together.

Sakura sighed once more, ready to go home and get some rest. She started to place the chart back in the wall box and stopped in her tracks. Her heart skipped a beat and she paled. Uzumaki, Naruto the chart read across the top. They were back. She was thrilled, knowing her team was back, but at the same time terrified. Were they ok? Why was Naruto in here? Who else was? Was anyone seriously injured? Or worse ... She couldnt begin to think about the word that would finish her last sentence.

She raced to the room the chart said the patient was in, leaving Hitori behind, slightly confused. She opened the door and dashed in. Yamato and Sai were standing at the foot of the bed. Naruto looked over wearily at Sakura. "Hey, Sakura-chan" he managed to croak out faintly. "Naruto, what happened? Where are you injured? Sai, Yamato, have ..."

"Relax, were fine, Sakura. A few bruises and scrapes. We have already been taken care of." Yamato interrupted, reassuring her. "Dickless has a broken leg though." Sai chimed. Naruto scowled and was about to go off on Sai when the breath in his lungs was suddenly gone. Sakura was embracing him in a rib crushing hug.

"I'm so glad you aren't seriously injured!" She almost sobbed. Naruto smiled meekly and begin lightly tapping Sakura's shoulder. "C-c-c-ant br-eeeeeeathe" He wheezed out. Sakura gasped and imminently released him. Naruto sharply inhaled, and closed his eyes, relieved.

Sakura began to channel her chakra into Naruto's leg, mending bone and reattaching torn muscle. Her chakra light was now down to a barely visible light green. "Sakura, how long have you been working?" Yamato asked, concerned. Sakura ignored him and pulled away from Naruto. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. She opened it and removed a capsule, popped it in her mouth and swallowed. She began to work on Naruto's leg again.

Yamato was even more concerned. Was she popping pills to stay awake? As noble the reason behind it, it was still unacceptable. "Sakura..." Yamato said a stern voice. She looked up at him. "What was that?" He asked. She sighed and dropped her head. "They are almost like mini soldier pills. Highly concentrated. So much, that you can only take one every 36 hours. If you take more than one in that time, your chakra will rip you apart. They will replenish your chakra enough for another 10 hours or so."

Yamato sighed, relieved. Sakura worked another 30 minutes on Naruto's leg and once satisfied, she got up to leave. The soldier pill would replenish chakra, but not energy. She was going to take a short hour long nap, then a shower and return to the hospital. "I'll have Hitori get someone to bandage your leg Naruto. I have healed the break, but your muscles need time to re-stretch. Get up on it right now and you will surely injure yourself again, on top of the beating you will receive from me for not listening to me."

She turned the doorknob as she heard an audible gulp come from Naruto at her threat. Then she stopped in her tracks. "Where's Kakashi?" Between the relief of seeing them back, healing Naruto and almost draining her chakra, accompanied by her being almost delirious from lack of sleep, it hadnt even registered that he was not there. That sick feeling in her gut arose again, just like when she had seen Naruto's name on that chart.

"He went home. He was bleeding, but he said it was nothing major. You know how he hates hospitals." Sakura let out an aggravated sigh and put her hand to her head, as if trying to fend off a migraine. She walked out of the room, carefully shutting the door behind her. She told Hitori about Narutos leg and that she was going home for some rest. Hitori nodded and went off to get someone to do the bandaging.

Sakura passed a room that Tsunade was healing someone in. "Sakura, are you leaving?" "Hai, Shishou" "Good, go get a good nights rest. I dont want to see you back at this hospital for the next 6 hours, minimum!" Sakura inwardly groaned, but nodded as she headed towards the exit. Might as well anyways. She figured she was going to be a little busy.

An angry sounding knocking turned banging sounded though the small, but livable apartment. Kakashi drug himself off of his bed. He reached the door and opened it, barely avoiding a strong fist, about to hit his head, expecting the door. There stood a fuming Sakura. She had expected a happy eye crease and a scratching of his neck, but to her hidden surprise, only darkened, tired eyes stared back at her. "What?" He asked, unamused and anything but Kakashi. She knew he was tired, but there was more to it. He still maintained his friendly attitude when he was tired. She raised her hand and pointed her finger. "Couch, NOW!"

Kakashi groaned as he moved to the couch. Sakura was pissed. Pissed and worried. And beyond the point of tired. She didnt have the patience to mess around.

"Where are you injured?"

"I'm not. Nothing major"

"Bullshit."

His eyes quirked at her language. He focused intently on her face now. She look awful. Darkened eyes, dull with no brilliant color, cheeks seemed to be sunken in a little and she was very pale. He was concerned, but too exhausted to show it.

"Dammit, Kakashi, WHERE?"

"My arm"

He extended his right arm to her and she grabbed hold of it gently. She began to work on the slashed skin and torn muscles. She worked on him for the next three hours. Having to ask him each time she finished, what was next, since he wouldnt tell her, without her asking. Once finished, Kakashi got up and headed for the shower. She waled back to his room and removed his bloodied sheets. She walked down the hall to the linen closet to grab another set of fresh sheets.

She opened the closet and not linens, but an extensive collection of icha icha and other romance themed novels stared back at her. She shook her head. Only Kakashi. She knocked on his bathroom door, intent on asking him where the sheets were. No reply. She knocked again. Nothing.

She cracked the door.

"Kakashi?"

"Yes? You can join if you like, but Im afraid I dont have the energy to make it memorable." He said in a teasingly amused tone.

She smiled. At least he was starting to sound like his old self. "Not that, Baka. Where are your clean sheets?"

"In here."

"Not funny. Seriously..."

"Seriously! Theres a linen closet behind the bathroom door. Thats where they are."

She started to walk in and without realizing, just happened to glance up at the shower. Much to her surprise, she saw the silhouette of her naked ex-sensei. He had a clear plastic shower curtain! Her eyes stayed on him a little longer than she cared to admit. He didnt notice. She suddenly snapped out of it and quickly made her way into the bathroom and opened the closet door, scanning its contents for fresh sheets. She found them and quickly exited. But not before taking one last glance at him as he was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair.

She placed the sheets on the bed and had just finished up as he walked in, wearing only a towel.

"Erhm, Im all done so I'll head back to the hospital. If you have any problems, come and get me. If you dont want to come to the hospital, have someone send for me."

He nodded. She began to leave. He caught her arm and she slowly turned back around. "Sakura. Thanks." He wrapped her in a hug. Ohhh shit. She was being pressed up against her ex sensei's naked dripping torso, with nothing covering him except a towel. She hesitantly hugged him back. "Your welcome. But dont you make me do this again. If you need me, come and get me."

"Got it"

She left his room, turning out his light as she went, and closed his apartment door behind her. She started her walk back to the hospital.

Sakura had pulled another 10 hours. She was dragging. She finally felt like she could go home and get a full nights sleep. They had managed to get the patients down to around the number that they had on any given day. Hitori had given her some lunch, before she left to go home. Sakura sat in the medic lounge, eating a piece of chicken. Tsunade walked in, with Kakashi, Yamato and Sai trailing behind. They all sat at the the table she was sitting at.

"I have a mission for you all."

Sakura continued picking at the meal before her, uninterested (or rather just too damn tired to care) in what Tsunade had to say, while the men perked up to listen. Sakura plucked another piece of meat and placed it in her mouth. "You leave in an hour." Sakura's fingers, inches from her face, pulling way, halted. She stopped in mid chew, eyes grew wide and she stared at Tsunade. This did not go unnoticed by the Hokage. "Thats why I told you to go home and get some rest Sakura, and why I said I didnt want to see you at this hospital for at least 6 hours. I wanted you to rest up before being sent out. The shinobi and Anbu are successfully fighting off the sound and no more recruits are needed to be sent as back-up. We can resume regular missions now. However, now that we have aided against the Sound, its possible that they may try to regroup and attack us. I need this team to do surveillance near the sound to watch for any suspicious behavior. Use all means necessary to obtain any scrolls that may be sent out, or handling any suspicious activity."

Yamato and Sai nodded. Tsunade got up and left the room. Kakashi suddenly slumped. Stricken with guilt. He knew Sakura hadnt slept like Tsunade had requested. She spent her down time healing him because he refused to go to the hospital to get care for his injuries. He looked over at her. She was no longer eating, just poking her food while staring at it. She stood up and tossed her plate in the trash. She turned to her team "Alright, we better go home and pack. We will meet at the gate in one hour."

The men got up and proceeded to leave behind her. Once at home, she continued to pack everything she needed. Moving much slower than usual, due to her fatigue. "This is going to be a long day" she muttered to herself. It was still morning. She had left Kakashi a couple of hours before midnight and returned to the hospital to continue working. Her team had all had rest, while she had none. She was going on close to 40 hours with barely an hour of sleep. It would be another 10 hours before they stopped to make camp. Even then, she would need to pull a night watch shift for at least 2 hours. Maybe she could pull first watch, then be able to sleep for 6 hours straight.

She gathered her pack, shut her front door and locked it and continued her path to the village gates. The three men were there waiting for her. Kakashi was there before her? How long had she taken?

"Sakura, are you sure you are ok to travel? You are 30 minutes late, and you are never late."

"I'm fine Sai, just couldnt find some of my things, thats all."

Kakashi knew this to be pure bullshit. Sakura was one of the most organized people he knew. She usually already had a mission bag pre packed. He knew she was tired, and he should have spoke up that Sakura hadnt slept, but then she would be in even more trouble for not bringing Kakashi into the hospital, rather than working off the books. She had already been caught giving him in-home-care before and had been reprimanded for it, yet she continued to do it because he was too much of an ass to go to the hospital. He made a mental note that next time, he would go in. He hated seeing her like this, especially when he was to blame. But she would never point a finger though. Not when it came to healing her team mates.

They set off on their journey, traveling through the trees at break neck speeds. Yamato in front, Sai behind him, then Kakashi and Sakura in the back. After about 4 hours of travel, Kakashi noticed her chakra signal falling behind. He turned to look at her and she was indeed losing speed.

"Lets stop for a little bit, guys"

Yamato and Sai dropped from the trees to follow Kakashi's suggestion. Lunch sounded good anyways. They had another 5-6 hours left until time to make camp for the night. Sakura dropped down, almost losing her balance when she landed. She tried to play it off, and no one noticed, except for Kakashi. Sakura pulled out bento boxes for everyone and passed them around. Kakashi slowly ate as he observed her. She was shaking slightly. Only a skilled eye like Kakashi's could see it though.

Her color was gone, and she looked like she would fall to the ground at any moment. Once they were finished, Yamato stood and stretched accompanied by Sai. "Thanks Sakura, that was good!" "Hai! Thank you ugly!" Sakura didnt even respond to Yamato's thanks, or Sai's unintended insult. Sai's face suddenly went to a confused look, and Yamato's in concern. Kakashi walked over to her. "Come on" he slouched down a bit, indicating for her to get on his back. "No, Im fine Kakashi, I can make it."

"We have another 5 hours of travel to go, you are not going to make it on your own, now get on." Kakashi started out calmly, then turning to stern. Sakura groaned, but complied. She climbed on his back and they began traveling again. She was so close to him, she could smell the soap and shampoo he was using last night. Her mind traveled back to when she saw his nude profile in the shower and she felt her cheeks get hot and felt a strange tingling sensation in her stomach.

She tried to brush off these thoughts, but it was futile. The thoughts plagued her for hours. Not allowing her to try and get some sleep. Finally, she was at the point where she was just to tired to even think of her own name. She wrapped her arms a little tighter around his neck and his grip on her thighs tightened slightly. He knew she was about to fall asleep. She snuggled her head into his back and fell into a deep sleep.

End Chapter One

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:)