Shaking.
1.1 When Sasuke first arrived, torn and bloodied, on the surgery bed she didn't recognized him. His distinctive hair was caked in drying blood, his eyes closed in pain. He had been brought over by the medic-nins that linked the hospital to the battlefield along with two other bloodied men.
So she treated him like every other patient that passed before her, barking out orders.
"Put him under, we want to make this as painless as possible. Someone get the blood off of him. Start with the more damaged areas, I'm going to need to be able to see what I'm doing." Sakura said as he inserted an IV needle in his arm. Beside her a nurse placed an oxygen mask over his face.
She didn't bother identifying the person. She'd given that up after her tenth patient of the day. Took too much time.
For the next dozen or so minutes, all her attention was focused on the gaping wound facing her. She had to mend the damaged organs, clean up all the bacteria floating around his chest cavity from a ruptured intestine, and try to do it all before any autoimmune effects kicked in.
A machine beeped erratically. "We're loosing him!" screamed a technician in the back. Sakura barely heard it.
Thinking quickly, she vaulted onto the gurney, legs on each side of the patient. Nurses gasped and stepped back at the unorthodox move. Everyone stared at her expectantly.
With both hands over the man's heart, Sakura took a deep breath and flooded the area with a spike of chakra. The man's body tensed under her, his chest rising towards her. It stayed in that position for a moment before a steady beat was emitted from one of the machines.
"We got him back!" the same technician shouted as breaths were released across the room. Sakura sagged, exhausted and climbed off the gurney.
"Clean him up and send him to a room, the rest he can recover on his own" she said as she did a final check of his abdomen. Shizune walked into the room.
"I'm here to take over. You've got 9 hours break." she said to Sakura. Sakura nodded and watched as the man was cleaned off.
When the oxygen mask popped off, her eyes followed the sound. When here eyes met his face, she froze.
She would recognize him anywhere.
2.2 She stood before the council, not quite sure if she really wanted to do this. His mere presence brought up horrible memories from her preteen years. And here she was, about to appeal for his continued stay.
"The council calls Sakura to the stand." a voice boomed and she rose to the center of the room.
"What is your relationship to the Uchiha?" asked one of the council members. They obviously knew the answers. She hated these formalities.
"I am his current doctor and once was his teammate." Sakura responded dryly.
"Can you present an unbiased opinion considering your past experiences?"
"Yes." Sakura responded tersely.
"Present your argument."
Sakura took a deep breath before beginning. "Right now he is recovering as intended. While I know nothing of the political implications of keeping him within our village, he is the last of a very powerful clan. This could very dearly impact Konoha's shinobi forces as many before me have pointed out. I am here to pose a solution to the problem of his current power and it's threat to our society." All eyes were glued on her. She hadn't told any one about his situation yet, and this was going to make headlines for weeks.
"Sasuke Uchiha is currently addicted to a cocktail of anabolic steroids and methamphetamine." gasps were heard throughout the room, the loudest of which came from Naruto. "Once he is done recovering from his injuries, Konoha could fore him to undergo detox. This will leave him forever under his current, enhanced, level. It may very well forbid him from ever becoming more than an average shinobi, depending on the exact array and dosage he is currently taking."
"This poses new questions, but is worth considering." said one of the graying council members, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. "You are dismissed for now."
Sakura released a breath she didn't know she had been holding and walked back to her seat.
1.2 She stumbled into the hallway dazed and exhausted. She made it about four steps before she leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. Nurses rushed by with gauze, antiseptic, pain killers. They were going to run out soon.
She covered her face with her hands, ignoring the blood on them. His blood.
A gurney with a moaning patient rattled past her, rushing towards it's operation room.
Ino stalked through the hallway, a box of pills in her arms. She stopped when she saw the pink-haired girl curled against the wall.
"Hey Sak? You got break now?" Ino said softly to the girl. She didn't respond.
"Come on, let's get you some rest." Ino said, grabbing one of her arms and getting back up. Sakura followed docilely, her hands leaving her face.
2.1 He's been shaking like that since we called you. We have no idea what's going on." the nurse said as Sakura hurried into the room. Immediately she rushed to her patient who was curled in a ball on his bed, muttering to himself as tremors wracked his body.
"Anything medical to note?" Sakura asked as she attempted to uncurl him, carefully not looking at his face.
"His blood pressure suddenly dropped. His chart says he hasn't eaten since he was administered. Other than that, he seemed to be recovering." the nurse said, analyzing the clipboard. Sakura nodded, thinking the new information over.
Finally uncurled, she checked him over. As she ran her hands over his abs he flinched, she dismissed it as soreness from his injury.
Her gaze snapped to his face when she felt his hand grasp her arm. His dark eyes looked broken, desperate. "Pills" she barely hear him say.
"Immediately she turned to the nurse. "How about the medication he's been on?"
"All the standards, nothing that could bring out this sort of reaction." the nurse replied, frowning as he check the charts over.
"My pills. Give me my pills." He rasped before doubling over and dry heaving the air out of his stomach. Sakura was puzzled as she rolled him to his side to make sure he didn't choke.
Then it hit her.
"Sasuke, can you hear me?" she asked, bending down to his level when his gag reflex calmed down. He avoided her eyes, but nodded minutely. "Can you tell me what those pills are?" His eyes rose to meet hers. Hesitation shone for a moment, but the desperation won over.
His mouth opened, but a hoarse cough escaped instead of words. Wordlessly Sakura reached for a pad and pencil and handed them to him. He scribbled the names down with a practiced ease that scared her.
Picking up the pad she addressed the nurse. "Get me and injection of... steroids? Low dosage, wide spectrum." the nurse nodded. "And... methamphetamine? Do we even stock that?" The nurse shrugged and ran out the door.
Sakura's eyes turned to the man curled on the bed, shaking. "What have you gotten yourself into?"
1.3 Ino dropped the pills at the front desk with orders to distribute them to everyone who passed by. She grabbed a handful of packets and gave one to Sakura.
"Soldier pills. Not horribly healthy, but it'll help." Ino explained as Sakura swallowed them dry. She could already feel some of her energy coming back to her, though that was most likely psychological.
Together, the girls walked to the break room, dodging carts and the occasional laundry caddy full of bloody linens. Inside the rooms, couches lines the floor, sleeping personnel laying haphazard on them. A little girl, not much younger than the two, stepped up to them.
"Mai and Yumi get back on duty in half an hour. I can get their couches for you then if you're willing to wait." the girl said. Ino nodded and pulled Sakura toward one of the tables in the far corner.
"You coping ok? I didn't know it was going to be this hectic." Ino asked Sakura as they sat down. She grabbed a cookie from the center of the table. Normally her diet would have stopped her, but this was a special occasion.
Sakura sat in her chair, looking at everything and nothing at the same time. Ino eyed her friend worriedly, she'd always taken patient deaths horribly. And here is was nigh unavoidable. She munched on her cookie thoughtfully.
"I just saved him." Sakura whispered. Immediately Ino's focus came off the cookie.
"Who?" she urged gently. Hearing no response, she started listing names. "Naruto?" nothing. "Kakashi? Lee? Neji? Oh my god, it wasn't Shika! Was it?" Ino said fearfully. Sakura shook her head and Ino let out a large exhale. "Choji? Kiba?" she continued. "I'm running out of names..."
Sakura was now looking at her hands resting on the table. Her air was depressing but at least she was focusing on something, Ino comforted herself.
Those Akatsuki were a ruthless bunch, and now with two Uchihas on their side...
"Oh no... You don't mean it was..." Ino whispered, hand covering her gasp.
Sakura's head sank to rejoin her hands.
3.4 "Sooo... I've been thinking." Naruto announced as he walked into the apartment, hands behind his back.
"Oh god, not that." Sakura said sarcastically as she set the book she had been reading down.
"Actually, we've been thinking... don't take the credit all for yourself dobe." Ino declared as she too walked in. Sakura paused from packing her work bag to raise her eyebrow.
"fine, fine" Naruto muttered. Turning to the barely awake Sasuke he declared, "So Ino told me about the whole 'sleeps better holding something' thing. And I totally found the answer. At first I thought 'Puppy!', but that's totally not your type. Waaayy too energetic, and.. well happy in general, you depressing bastard." Sasuke was as alert as he would get now, staring at Naruto with as much power a sick man could. Which wasn't much, but it's the effort that counts.
"So we decided that this was the best alternative." Naruto finished as he brought his hands out from behind his back. Resting in his cupped palms was the most adorable little kitten Sakura had ever seen. It's shiny black fur rustled as it peered over Naruto's fingers.
"He's so cute." Sakura cooed as she stepped forward to admire him. "What's his name."
"Steri!" Naruto claimed proudly. At the confused gazed he explained. "For Steroids! Each time Sasuke has a craving he can still get some, only this version is adorable!" Sasuke groaned on the couch, turning to face away from the crowd.
"I had no part in the naming!" Ino rushed to say, "I just picked him. And bought the food." she lifted a deep green back with the word kitten slapped across the front.
Sakura took the bag of food and brought it to the kitchen counter. When she walked back into the living room, Naruto was sitting on the floor next to the couch shoving the kitten in Sasuke's face and Ino pet the creature. Tired of being jostled around, the kitten climbed off Naruto's hands and settles himself on Sasuke's thick mass of hair and fell asleep.
"That settles it. The cat is staying here forever!" Naruto declared over Ino's coos of "How adorable!"
2.4 He looked so calm, sleeping there.
She knew it wouldn't last long. Sasuke was anything but a calm person back when she knew him, and he can't have gotten better with time.
His hand in her lap twitched, and she smiled despite herself as she finished wrapping the new bandage around his bicep. She couldn't hate him when he looked this... harmless.
A knock sounded at the door and she place his arm back on the bed before opening it. Kakashi was behind it, not even attempting to hide his glances towards the bed.
"Came to say that the council approved. Your plan is go." he said, letting the pride show in his face. His team seven what whole again. "How is he?"
"Fine for the moment. Can't say it'll get better though." Sakura responded as she went back to her patient. Kakashi followed.
She peeled the square or gauze taped to Sasuke's chest. Behind her she knew that Kakashi frowned at the jagged cuts. She placed her hands on the new pink skin, ignoring the fact that his body instinctively surged to meet her hands. Slowly she dragged them across the healing tissue, infusing it with her chakra.
"Can you cut a square of the same size?" She asked Kakashi as she finished healing. Within seconds, the gauze entered he peripheral vision and she placed it over the new skin, tearing pieces of medical tape with her teeth to keep it anchored in place.
Finished with him, she checked the IV bag before heading out the door. Kakashi followed out, but disappeared down another hallway. Sakura made her way to her next patient, but not before stopping the first nurse she came across.
"Please go down to the lab and check if Uchiha's tox-screen is done. If it is, please get the bottles of everything on there and put them in room 246... Put them in the cupboard, out of sight."
3.3 She awoke to a knock on her door. Slowly her head lifted from it's place against the couch and she felt the soreness from sleeping sitting on the floor. Cracking her neck, she opened here eyes and froze. Not a foot away from her was Sasuke's gaunt face. His dry breath flowed across her cheek.
The knock sounded again. She got up, only to have arms lock around her own. She looked back at this face again, then his hands gripping her arm like a lifeline.
"Come in!" she said, careful not to shout lest she wake him. The front door opened and Ino stepped into the room.
"How adorable." she said as she saw Sakura try to pry her way out of Sasuke's death grip.
"He sleeps better if he holds on to something." Sakura said softly as she finally released herself. One of Sasuke's bony arms shot out to grab it back, but she moved away.
"This isn't right." Ino said as she reached Sakura. "It's only been a week and he's already like this. Everything that he was is gone. He's just a shell... it's not supposed to be this way."
3.1 He was finally out of that tiny room. The week he had spent there had felt like ages, and he had sighed in relief when Sakura finally deemed him fit for release. He knew it wasn't going to be any more fun outside, but at least he wouldn't be trapped.
He'd done much tougher things than kick some drugs out of his system. Orochimaru's training had been nothing but pain, and traveling across the countries with team Hebi hadn't been relaxing either.
He could do this. He'd show the Council just how strong the Uchiha clan is.
Uchihas can do anything.
2.3 "He'd get really angry sometimes. Then he'd disappear for a day or two and come back totally relaxed." Suigetsu explained from across the interrogation table. "I don't know what he did. Maybe he got laid or something."
"I saw it once, he stepped into an alley. I wanted to follow him, you know, to make sure everything was safe. He walked back out a couple minutes later. I saw him pop some pills, but I don't know what they were. They seemed to make him feel better so I didn't question it." said Karin an hour later. "Has he said anything about me? I'm going to be the mother of his children, you know. We're going to have super beautiful red-haired little Uchiha babies."
"That's great Karin." muttered Sakura as she waved for the guards to bring the next one in.
"He loves me!" She screamed as the guards picked her up. "Let me see him!"
"Hi, I'm Sakura." Sakura said as the next man was lead in.
"Juugo." he said with a kind smile.
"I'm going to cut to the chase here, so pardon the rudeness." she responded, suddenly inclined to talk to this man like a reasonable human being. She couldn't fathom why Sasuke would want a guy like this on his team. For the size maybe?
"I'd like any information you could give me on the drugs Sasuke has been taking."
"He was under them too?" Juugo asked.
"Too?"
"Orochimaru used to make me eat lots of pills. He told me it was to make me stronger. Make me feel better. Sometimes I felt better, but it never lasted. He said my metabolism burnt through them too fast." the burly man explained.
"Do you know how they were dosed, what they were?"
"The number changed all the time. Sometimes there's be a pile of them, sometimes just a couple. And none of them had names. Just pills." He said with a shrug.
"Thank you. You were very helpful." Sakura said as she wrote the words 'Unrestrained Dosage' on her pad.
Detox for this massive an addiction will destroy him.
Just as much as his departure has destroyed her.
3.2 It had been a day, and he felt fine. He had this down.
The terms of his rehabilitation said that he was never meant to be left alone, so someone had been assigned to 'guard' him. A rushing woman had run up to them a few minutes beforehand and begged the 'guard' to take one some duty or another. So he followed.
They went to two different room, the woman changing bandages and refilling cups of water and generally boring things. He wished he could be following Sakura for a moment, but he didn't know why, so he ignored that feeling.
In the third room, the nurse found an empty pill bottle. Promising to come back quickly, she bade him to follow as she hurried down the hall and into the basement. They passed through a thick door guarded by two burly shinobi that nodded to the woman as the crossed the threshold. Inside the woman hurried off to one of the many shelves lines with vials and dispensers.
He immediately knew where he was, and he was not going to pass up an opportunity like this. Quickly he made his way down the alphabetically organized shelves and found a familiar label.
He turned the nob on the dispenser and half a dozen pills landed in his hand. Two went into his mouth immediately, while the rest made it to his pockets.
This wasn't cheating. The opportunity was there, and he just took advantage of it.
He rounded the corner back to the main hallway only to bump in to an elderly woman.
"What are you doing here?" she asked gruffly, looking him over. Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow.
"Show me your clearance badge." He held out her hand. Sasuke side-stepped her.
He had managed two steps before she screamed. The guards pounced on him instantly. His world went black for a moment.
When he came to, he was laying across a couch somewhere. Across from him Naruto was half asleep on a chair. He became alert when Sasuke sat up.
"Hello Bastard." he said, followed by a door opening. Sakura and her blonde friend he didn't particularly recall walked into the room.
"Because of your spectacular show of self restraint, you will now live here. You are not allowed to leave. You will be watched at all times by one of us. Have fun" Naruto said in a startlingly serious voice. Sasuke frowned, not liking his new punishment.
"There is no way to get out of this. You have to live here until you're clean." Sakura said, also serious. "Since my apartment is only one bedroom, you get to sleep on that couch. Hope you like it."
Sasuke huffed in frustration.
3.5 Sakura walked back into her apartment that evening to Naruto's angry shouts of "EAT!" and Sasuke's grunts of opposition. She sighed before dropping her bag in the hallways and entering her tiny kitchen.
"Sakura! Talk some sense into him! He won't eat anything!" Naruto pleaded as he got up from his seat facing Sasuke, bowl of rice in hand.
Sakura placed a palm on Sasuke's forehead. He didn't resit, either because he was used to the random check-ups or weakness. Maybe both. Sensing no abnormal temperature, she asked. "Are you nauseous?"
A grunt is all she got in return. By now she assumed that meant he felt decent enough.
"Then eat. I know you don't want to risk throwing up, but it's better to have it in your stomach long enough to get some energy, than it not being there at all." She said as she turned to wash her hands. She heard his head rest against the wall in disapproval. Naruto beamed across from him, lifting chopsticks to Sasuke's face.
"Not Naruto's." he rattled, closing his eyes.
"WHAT! There's nothing wrong with my rice!" Naruto belted in outrage, slamming the chopsticks on the tabletop.
"Calm down Naruto!" Sakura hissed as she filled the rice cooker with water and rice. "You're not exactly a top-notch chef." Naruto folded his arms and glared Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes opened briefly to glimpse a pouting Naruto and a smirk unfurled on his face.
Once his eyes closed again, Naruto grinned. Sasuke was coming back to them, step by step. It had only taken 5 years to bring his body back, and now three weeks into the detox, they were starting to see his mind.
2.5 "You will be monitored." she said as she wrapped his arm for the final time. "A woman has been assigned to stay with you at all times. She works here, so treating you will not be taking here away from her duties."
Sasuke simply nodded, wishing this exchange was over.
"It's not going to be easy. You will feel horribly sick, the lack of methamphetamine will make you sleepy and hungry. The steroids will make you nauseous, weak, and dizzy. It will take weeks and you will loose a lot of your strength." She said as she taped the bandage into place.
Sasuke thought she was still such a drama queen. He was an Uchiha, he would make it out of this thing, no problem.
"She'll be here to pick you up shortly." Sakura said as she walked out the door. She hesitated slightly when halfway through the frame. "Good luck." she said after a pause.
Godd riddance, thought Sasuke.
3.6 "You haven't felt nauseous in a couple days, right?" Sakura asked as she fed Sasuke his morning soup of vitamins and protein. It was disgusting.
He nodded.
"And the cravings aren't as bad?" He nodded again, then swallowing the spoonful of horrid liquid she held out for him. He'd gotten over how humiliating this was two weeks ago, when he realized it was even more humiliating to shake so much he couldn't bring the liquid to his mouth.
"Good. They'll never truly go away, but this is as far as we'll go for intense detox. We're going to start the physical rehab now." She said, bringing the spoon up to his mouth again.
He didn't open his mouth. She looked up and saw the hope burning in his eyes. She dropped the spoon back into the bowl.
"Wanna start now?" She said with a smile. She was immediately at his elbow, helping him out of his chair. The blanket he had essentially lived in for the past two months lay discarded on the chair and he forced his atrophied muscles to follow her slow steps back to his couch.
When they made it there, he was almost panting, his bony fingers clutching her upper arm as if he might collapse. He was sorely disappointed.
He used to run for days without rest, and now a mere ten feet was a workout. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
"It's okay, it'll take time... coming clean after the doses you were taking was never going to be an easy job. But you're past the hard part. Now you just need to train, and from what I know of you when you were young, you're very good at that." she said reassuringly, helping him sit.
He glared at her, depression at his state evident in his face. "It's not okay." his voice cracked. Steri rubbed his furry face against his hip. He ignored him.
Somehow she felt like the worst was over for herself too.
She had torn him apart. Now it was time to put him back together.
4.1 He had spent two and a half months in that apartment, his world limited to a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. Sakura had kept the windows wide open and he could occasionally feel breezes rolling in. All he had heard every day for those two and a half months were the voices of the same three people and the loud purrs of the stupid cat.
But today he was getting out.
He lifted himself from the couch and made his way to the kitchen. Opening the fridge was still a task that took some effort. No one but Sakura knew it, and no one else ever would. He grabbed a tomato from the top shelf and bit into it.
It was just as delicious as he remembered.
He had outright refused to eat them during his entire stay, insisting that they were good going down, but not coming back up.
"You ready?" asked Sakura as she walked up to him and leaned on the fridge. Sasuke froze halfway through his second bite before nodding and chewing pensively on his mouthful.
"Relax, it's not like they haven't had time to get used to your being here. Plus, your being harmless is probably a benefit for you at this point." She said as she lifted her self and walked out into the living room. "Naruto said to meet him at Ichimaru's at noon. We've got ten minutes to make it there."
He trailed after her silently.
He was an Uchiha. Uchihas are never afraid. They can do anything.
Even survive hell.
"BASTARD! You made it!" screamed an excited orange blur in front of him. He grunted.
Of course.