Triage
"Bring me two bags of Type A blood, STAT!"
On a normal day, a shout like that would bring immediate results. The bags of blood would be in the medic's hand before anyone could sneeze twice. But this day was anything but normal and Sakura's med-team was quickly falling apart at the seams.
It wasn't often that the Konoha Triage Team worked outside of the pristine walls of their hospital. For the most part, they did their work indoors and far away from the chaos of battle. Sakura knew that it was a mistake to allow the med nins to be so complacent and had pushed to dedicate more time and training to battlefield situations. But the Council denied her requests again and again.
What good was a Triage Team if they couldn't accurately perform triage? Sakura raged inwardly as one of her nurses stumbled to the back of the hastily raised tent to the refrigeration unit where the blood bags were stored.
"H-here are the blood bags, Haruno-sensei," the nurse stammered. "B-but they are—"
"Moegi-san," Sakura interrupted. She frowned as she held the lukewarm bag in one hand while her other glowed with green chakra as she assessed her newest patient's injuries. "This bag is warm. Why is it warm?"
"I was trying to tell you, sensei," the girl replied, pointing to the refrigerator. "It's not working."
"Not WORKING?" one of the other nurses cried. "But that means that the medications and the blood…"
"Are worthless," Sakura finished, throwing the warm, contaminated blood to the ground. Searching her mind for a solution, Sakura continued to run her hands down the patient's body, healing what she could and taking note of what she couldn't. The items in the faulty refrigeration unit weren't all useless…yet. She had to find a way to keep what was still viable safe for use. Kami knew that they'd probably need all they could save for later.
"Moegi-san, is Udon-san stable now?"
"Yes, Haruno-sensei."
"Start a low level Mizu jutsu surrounding the 'fridge unit. I know that you have water as your elemental chakra and that he has wind," Sakura continued, pausing as she ran her hands over the broken woman's leg. "Get Udon-san here as soon as you can and have him help you keep the unit cold. We can still save the meds, if not the blood. Once you think enough ice has formed, set up a blood kit and have Udon-san donate as much as is safe. He's Type O, so we'll need it. Have anyone else outside that's stable enough—but not fit for battle—donate blood as well. And keep track of who donates and what blood type they are!"
"Hai, Haruno-sensei!" The young woman placed the water technique around the refrigerator as soon as Sakura finished the first sentence and was running out of the tent as soon as the last words left the medic's lips.
"Rika-san," the pink haired woman spat out orders like bullets. "The patient's left leg is a lost cause. Tie a tourniquet to prevent further blood loss and help me re-inflate the right lung. One of the broken ribs punctured through the lower lobe and we're gonna need her to breathe on her own."
The black-haired Rika paused in shock. "But a tourniquet will mean that we'll have to…"
"Amputate the limb," Sakura finished the grisly prognosis. "We can wait to do that later. Right now I need you to tie the leg off and help me with her lungs!"
"But, Haruno-sensei, if she loses her leg then she can't use…she'll have to quit being a shinobi…"
Sakura's neck cracked as she whipped her head around to glare at the pale-eyed nurse. She raised herself to her full height and scowled.
"Hyuuga Rika-san," she began coldly. "I understand your concern for the patient's ability to continue her career. But I'm more concerned with keeping her alive." Emerald eyes narrowed as she glanced pointedly at Rika's bare forehead. "Or do you want to be sent to the Branch Family when Hiashi-sama finds out you let his oldest daughter die?"
Rika's hands became a blur of movement as the nurse efficiently tied the tourniquet around their patient's leg. As the two medics began the complicated procedure of re-inflating a punctured lung, the young Hyuuga could only whisper one thing over and over.
"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama…"
Sakura and Rika had just managed to re-inflate Hinata's lung and begin a IV line for the first bag of Udon's donated blood when a blood covered Inuzuka Kiba barreled through the flap of the medical tent with an equally blood covered Naruto leaning on him for support.
The Triage team took an immediate assessment of the newcomers and, as one, lifted the unconscious Hinata onto the spare cot near the back of the tent. Udon watched from the sidelines as Moegi checked on his own IV bag and clucked her tongue twice.
"This is your last bag, Udon-kun," she stated.
"I can give more—"
"No you can't," came the stiff reply. "Not if you want to help me keep the med unit cold." Anything Udon might have said to that statement was drowned out as another voice filled the tent.
"NO!" Uzumaki Naruto tried to fight the hands that urged him onto the makeshift operating table. The pupils of his eyes were elongated and his nails were sharp claws, but the irises remained the steadfast ocean blue that so many people loved.
"Hinata-chan!" he gasped as Sakura grabbed his injured shoulder and tried to heal the damage. "I'll be fine! The damn fox will heal me. Save Hinata-chan!"
Kiba's head snapped up from where he stood as Rika healed the worst of his wounds. "Hinata-chan…" he whispered, suddenly aware of her presence.
"Naruto," Sakura hissed out as she cut his damaged shirt off of his mangled torso. "Stay still. I've done everything I can for her."
"The fox will heal me!" Naruto repeated. The blond blinked twice as his vision abruptly blurred. "S-save Hinata-chan…"
Emerald eyes widened as realization came over her. "Fuck! Poison…" she yelled. "Rika-san, Moegi-san, general anti-venom, 6 milligrams, STAT!"
"That's three times the usual," Rika said as she rushed to the med unit the ice jutsu was keeping cold.
"It's Uzumaki Naruto," Sakura snarled. "His metabolism can handle it."
"Hi-Hinata-chan," Naruto stuttered as he stared at the still form on the other cot. "Sakura-chan, tell me she's alright."
Sakura remained silent as she worked over the various wounds on the blond man's body. Her jaw tightened when she discovered a large tear in his abdomen and her eyes narrowed at the amount of blood her former teammate was losing.
"Moegi! I'm gonna need B blood, NOW!"
"Tell me she's alright," Naruto pleaded again, blood trickling out of his mouth and down his chin.
"Sakura-san," Kiba growled. "Tell the man what he wants to hear for Kami's sake!"
Pale hands flew and lit up bright green as the Triage team worked in tandem, silently and purposefully ignoring the two males.
"Sakura-sensei," Rika said, sympathy rushing through her at the look in Naruto's eyes—sympathy that was pushed ruthlessly back as she focused on her task. "I've injected the anti-venom, but his blood pressure has dropped drastically. The medicine won't work if we can't keep his BP up."
"I know that dammit!" the pink-haired woman answered. "I sent Moegi to get some B blood. We don't have the plasma fillers anymore because the damn 'fridge went bust. Quick! Help me with the liver! Don't use chakra right now, we're gonna need it later. Conserve your strength."
Kiba gaped as both women plunged their hands into the gaping wound on Naruto's abdomen and tried not to vomit at the overpowering scents of blood and medicine in the tent. "Sakura…" he growled again as Naruto moaned in pain.
"Shut up, Kiba," she answered. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as her fingers felt along the organ. "There! Along the distal portion of the liver…feels like a 3 inch laceration. FUCK! He's hemorrhaging…where's Moegi with that blood?!"
Rika pulled her hands out of the wound and held glowing hands over Naruto's skull. "Should I put him under, Haruno-sensei?" she asked.
The pink-haired woman nodded and began gathering chakra to heal the bloody organ.
"NO!" Naruto bucked violently and Sakura had to move with the blonde's erratic movements or run the risk of eviscerating him herself. "Sakura, promise me she's okay!"
"Naruto…" Sakura warned. "I can't promise you that! I've done all I can!!"
"Then do more!" Naruto yelled. His hands grabbed onto Sakura's wrists, uncaring that the hands they were attached to were currently deep in his body.
"You've got to save her, Sakura-chan…"
"Naru—"
"PLEASE," Naruto begged. "Please save my wife…!"
A/N:
Okay…I'm back from my really long absence and writing something completely different. I've got major block on my other fics and this has been nagging me for a good while.
I'm sorry the first chapter is a bit short, but I'm still getting my writing legs back under me (so to speak) and I'm finding it harder than I remember.
For those who've followed my work before, thanks for the support.
For these who want to flame me for my absence, my stories, or whatever…you can't insult me any worse than my ex-husband did, so a big *pppffffbbbbttt!!!!* to you all.
Edit 07-17-09: I actually redid this chapter by combining the old Ch. 1 and 2 into this one. I really didn't like how short the old chapters were and I was still getting used to writing again. I hope it flows better now.