I do not own Naruto and any of it's characters.
In this story there was no Uchiha Massacre, and it is Post Shippuden. Most events in Shippuden are not past events in this story.
These are Sakura's thoughts. (Bold and Italics). Read, Review and Enjoy. Not necessarily in that order. :]
Flash of pink hair dashed down the narrow and crowded hallway. She ran to the emergency room. Her jade eyes alert but the bags under her eyes betrayed her sleepiness. In her scrubs she washed her hands and quickly looked at the wound. The injured ninja had a gash on his torso. She called for nurses to get herbs. They dashed about to find them.
With what little chakra Sakura had left she healed the worse part of the injury. Sweat rolled down her face as she poured everything into it. Her fatigue seemed to extend to her entire body. When the nurses returned Sakura mashed the ingredients together. He seemed exhausted. The poison in his system tired him. She applied the medicinal rub onto his wound. It would clean his blood of any poison.
The pinkette then stitched his wound. The nurses took him to a room to recover in. the pinkette walked to lounge. She poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Sakura," a voice came from the shadows in the room. There in a chair was a blonde woman with her hair pulled back in two ponytails. Her brown eyes took in Sakura's image.
"Tsunade-sama," Sakura bowed her head a little in respect for her teacher. She got her coffee cup going and then turned to face her. "What brings you near coffee?"
"Ha ha Sakura," Tsunade mocked. "Come to my office with me please."
Sakura kept up as well as she could. At this hour it was a miracle she wasn't stopped for advice on treatment or asked to help with an emergency. Sakura pressed on and moved for other doctors and nurses. They seemed to part for Tsunade and close before Sakura could catch up.
Finally Sakura stood opposite of Tsunade at her desk. She sipped her coffee and waited for Tsunade to address the meeting. Her eyes felt heavy and she fought to keep them open.
"Sakura," Tsunade spoke to her apprentice. "You are an excellent medical ninja, but..."
But? Sakura thought. But what? "Hmm?" She decided was safe.
"But you need to keep up on your own health too," said spoke firmly to Sakura. "I can see you haven't slept for awhile and you've used all your chakra. It's amazing your still standing. Sakura you can't do this all the time."
"I'm sorry?" Sakura meant to apologize but it came out as a question. She felt the need to defend herself. It wasn't the best choice for someone who was as tired as her. "Even when my shift ends there are people who need help. I can't just leave them unattended."
"Sakura there are other budding medical ninja here too," Tsunade countered. "They don't get the chance to grow and learn if you do all of the work for them."
Sakura opened her mouth to say something and she stopped herself. She sighed in defeat.
"Go home Sakura," Tsunade ordered. "Go home and rest. Don't come in the rest of the week."
"Tsunade-sama it's only Saturday," Sakura felt compelled to point out. "That only gives me one day."
"No Sakura," Tsunade pointed to a clock on her desk. It was a digital clock and it had the date on it. "It's Sunday. The beginning of a new week. You probably haven't been keeping up with your other training. Go on a mission or two. Do something else for the week. These are my orders."
"Yes Tsunade-sama," Sakura's bow was deep.
Sakura flopped down onto the couch when she entered her apartment. She clicked on the TV and took off her jacket. She didn't change the channel but she laid down and she fell asleep so quickly. Her dream were pointless. It made no sense.
"It's so amazing! And that's not all it can do! Now it's on sale for $49.99! Call in the next seven minutes and get another free!" an enthusiastic voice was the first thing Sakura heard. She instinctively reached out blindly for the remote. Her fingers found it quickly and without opening her eyes she clicked the TV off. She rubbed her eyes and headed for the bathroom. She looked tons better. She had more color to her face. And the bags were gone.
Sakura showered and pulled on her casual clothes. The tan skirt, the black leggings underneath. Her clan shirt, and a white tee shirt beneath it. Her black boots felt worn out. Her hair had grown out some. She left it down for once. Everyday for convenience she put it up to keep it out of the way.
Sakura looked into her fridge to find almost everything was really old. She threw them out and the growling of her stomach made her decide to eat out for breakfast. Sakura picked up her keys and put her wallet in her pocket. She decided to walk into town.
She passed the park, went over the bridge and passed Naruto's favorite ramen shop. His orange and black jumpsuit stood out. His stack of ramen bowls grew until it towered over him. She passed the weapons shop where Tenten was taking in a weapon for repair. Her buns seemed bigger, like her hair had grown longer since they had last talked. The training grounds were visible to her and there she could see Rock Lee doing push up. His arms gave way and then he started to run laps. Maybe she would train with some old friends sometime.
Sakura came to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Sakura walked in and quickly hid herself from the cashier's view. She pulled out a few flowers and brought them to the counter. Her hungry stomach caught the attention of the flower arranging blonde haired cashier.
"Billboard Brow?" she looked up.
"Ino Pig," Sakura nodded her head in acknowledgment to Ino. "Can you go on a break for breakfast?"
"You mean supper," Ino corrected.
"No-" Sakura went to argue.
"Sakura it's four in the afternoon," Ino pointed to the clock on the wall. "I can assure you nobody is serving breakfast at this hour." She cut the ends off the flowers and put them in a plastic wrap. Then Ino tied a purple ribbon around the bouquet.
"Breakfast, lunch, supper, afternoon tea, I don't care which. I just need food," Sakura had an edge of irritation in her voice. "Please go with me to eat. I haven't seen you in like what? Four days now? I need some girl time-"
Ino hit Sakura in the forehead with a flower.
"Ow," Sakura said with a flat tone. "Ino-"
"It has been longer than that Sakura," Ino said in the same flat tone. "It's been more like two weeks since we last spoke."
"That can't be right," Sakura went over her mental calender and came back to reality confused. "Okay maybe but I'm off work for a week."
"A week?" Ino looked at Sakura shocked. "What contagious disease did you bring into my family's flower shop?" Ino looked at her like she was mad.
"What is with that reaction?" Sakura was irritated.
"It's odd for you to be away from the hospital for even a day," Ino explained. "Let alone you be away for an entire week. Your really dedicated to your work. So dedicated you just don't stop working. I'd go insane working that much."
"Well Ino I think we all know that I am not you," Sakura said as politely and friendly as she could. "Besides I need to get back to training tomorrow. I've forgotten how it feels to make my muscles burn and to feel so at peace with training."
"You are missing out," Ino laughed at her friend. She tossed her apron onto a basket and she led her friend outside to her favorite place. Ino had let Sakura keep the few flowers. Ino knew her friend would pay her back, not only that but Sakura needed girl talk to keep her head on properly.
"I've had my eye on Sai here for a couple of weeks now," Ino and Sakura had eaten and joked and chatted about work for a couple of hours. Now they were at the bar. Both girls were old enough now to drink and talk about what's wrong in their lives like they had thought of doing since they were little.
"Really now?" Sakura cocked her head to the side slightly. This was intriguing news. Sakura was sure Ino was still wild about Sasuke. Sasuke. She got the little butterfly feelings in her stomach. Sakura thought of the last time she saw him. The last time he called her annoying, or the last time she'd heard any news of her former team mate.
"Sakura? Are you there?" Ino was waving a hand in her face. "Work must have distracted you from your feelings."
"What do you mean by that?" Sakura's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "What feelings?"
Ino rolled her eyes. She took another drink and then she began to explain in detail what Sakura had missed from her internal distractions. "Sakura, ever since we were little we've been in love with Sasuke. He's never returned the feelings for either of us. As I was saying while you were off in another thought dimension, Sai reminds me a little of Sasuke. I think it's just sad what happened to him."
"To Sai?" Sakura hadn't heard of anything happening to Sai.
"To Sasuke," Ino corrected. "Maybe it's the similarities between them that makes me attracted to Sai but, I don't know. Seems kind of twisted I think..."
Sakura wasn't looking at Ino anymore. She couldn't hear what she was talking about. Her eyes seemed to focus on nothing and everything. She took a big gulp of her drink and tried to focus on Ino's words.
"Maybe I shouldn't even ask Sai out but I feel like I those similarities are... I just don't know how to put it," Ino shook her head. She completely trailed off. She rambled on about Sai.
"Ino," Sakura said softly. Her focus was way off. The alcohol in her system. She steadied herself in the bar stool by holding onto the counter. "Ino." Sakura said louder.
"What?" Ino faced her friend. She was slightly upset about being interrupted. Her face seemed to show concern for Sakura. "What is it Sakura?"
"What happened to Sasuke?" Sakura said almost inaudibly. Her face looked pale. Almost sickly. Her jade eyes were wide. "Is he okay?"
"You didn't hear?" Ino looked shocked. Pity filled her eyes. "I though for sure you just weren't talking about it because it was painful. That you threw yourself into work because you needed a distraction. In your line of work you should have heard about it when it happened."
"What are you talking about Ino?" Sakura raised her voice. Ino's words told her nothing other than it was bad. "What happened to Sasuke?"
Ino gestured to the bartender to get them more to drink. Her eyes told him all he needed to know. He had to make it quick.
"Sakura, take a deep breath and take a drink," Ino instructed. Sakura's breath began to come faster. She did take a drink and try to focus on steady breathing. Her heart was racing. "Sakura." Ino said softly. Full of concern, sorrow and maybe a hint of regret. "Sasuke died."
Thank you for reading. Any reviews are welcome. I hope you enjoyed reading this for there is more to come.