A/N: Revised and combined with the original chapter three. Thanks to beta fallen.angel.black.heart
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would have awesome drawing skills. Which I don't. I don't have a lawyer either so don't sue me.
"You must have some kind of miracle jutsu for him to still be alive," Sakura stated recovering from her origional shock at the patient's condition.
Kabuto smiled at the commendation.
So he takes well to compliments. Maybe if I suck up to him enough he can help me… She dismissed that thought as soon as it came. She still hadn't forgotten that gleam of red in his eyes during the Chunin Exam: no one else had noticed it but her. At that time, she had assumed that it was from a cursed seal given to him by the snake. Which reminded her…
"Where's Orochimaru?"
"He left to attend to other matters in another country after he instructed me on what to do with you."
So he's not here. She felt a strong surge of joy and relief at the thought that the androgynous pedophile was off bothering some other country and not Konoha.
"… What about Uchiha Sasuke?" The million dollar question. Sakura was hesitant to show this weakness in front of Kabuto but she just had to know if her former heart throb had been possessed. The apprehension was and had been killing her for years.
Back in Konoha, everyone other then the remaining Team 7 had forgotten about the Uchiha. He was a bad egg, the traitor who bought doom on the entire village and the reason for the Leaf's sudden drop in military power. He alone instigated an entire raid by one of the legendary Sannin. Because of him, Uchiha became the forbidden and shamed clan of Konoha.
Sakura and Naruto weren't obsessed with returning him to Konoha anymore because of the animosity towards him although they still hoped he would come back and repent for his sins. They hoped he still considered Naruto his best friend and Sakura his… what was she to him? Whatever measly relationship they had to each other was at best teammates. She pondered these new thoughts darkly.
Kabuto resisted the urge to smirk as he watched the various emotions flicker across the pink- haired medic's face. He vaguely recalled her being infatuated with the Uchiha during the time he was undercover in the Chunin exam. He watched as her expression finally settled on dread, probably of his answer as she waited for him to confirm the dark-haired boy's fate.
"Sasuke-sama is currently on a mission in Hidden Lightning." Kabuto watched Sakura who looked like Christmas had come early. He's alive! He's alive! Her inner persona did a little war dance while the outer Sakura just felt extremely relieved.
"Examine the other patient please." Kabuto sighed impatiently. He didn't have all day for her thinking about her love- he had scrolls to study and people to dissect.
She turned back towards the problem at hand- the second Sound nin.
She repeated the procedure of using chakra to "see" and found that his condition was slightly healthier then the previous. She ran down his body and noted what she found. Fractured left ribs, broken humerus bones, fractured shin, bruises here and there, stab wounds, and semi-lethal poison. Pretty serious damage, but no infections.
"Kabuto, who would you prefer that I heal first?"
Said medicnin looked at the two bodies as one may regard a particularly unappealing piece of cheese. "The jutsu is starting to wear off and I used it on them separately. You should heal the one that died first. I also want to mention that when they are healed, we expect them to be in top physical condition and ready to fight. I will be at your service during the healing and training."
Amazing. Through all their trauma they were still expected to be soldiers.
"Judging from the Rigor Mortis and cell condition, he died first," Sakura pointed at the second nin she examined "I'll start with this one."
"Sakon? Do you require any background information on them for the healing?"
"Yes, thank you. That will allow me to know what to expect from their bodies," Sakura was surprised he had offered to help. Then again, he was probably forced.
Kabuto nodded and handed her a backpack, a clipboard, and a towel from the table behind him. She sifted through the pack and found that all her weapons- in the pouch and hidden- had been removed. Darn, not even a senbon.
"We will begin the healing tomorrow. Please go to your room and lock the door. Meals will be brought to you at 7:30 am, 12:00 pm, and 6:00 pm. Do not wander past this hallway; I cannot guarantee your safety elsewhere," he paused in his mini- speech.
"I would not suggest trying to escape, Sakura-san- the consequences are quite brutal." And with that said, he walked out of the doorway. His statement hung ominously in the air.
Sakura sighed and, taking one last look at the bodies, followed him out and went into her room.
What a long day.
As Sakura reflected upon all that's happened in the last few hours, the panic started to set in. Drawing on previous training, she mentally prepared herself for the days to come. There was no doubt that her near future would be filled with exhaustion, gore, and Sound nins.
She lied on the bed staring at the ceiling of her small "bedroom". It was modestly furnished with a cot in one corner, a bedside table, a chair and a desk. There was a door that led what she had found out to be a small and (thankfully) clean bathroom. She hung the towel there next to a suspicious looking stain on the stone wall.
Another door next to the bathroom door led to what she assumed was the closet until she tried it and found it locked. There was probably a reason it was locked and she didn't feel like prying.
Sakura sighed and pondered her situation. She wondered how Naruto and the others were doing.
They probably have noticed her absence from her mission and were looking for her. Unfortunately, it was highly unlikely that they would suspect Orochimaru for the kidnapping due to his lack of activity in the past few years. Even if they guessed Sound nins abducted her, they would only have a vague idea of her location and it could take months before she was tracked down.
And the worst part is: It'll probably take months to heal and train those two. What am I going to do with three months? I'll probably die from chakra exhaustion or boredom. What a great way to go- death by having nothing to do… The future isn't looking bright, Haruno.
Sakura moaned and flipped on to her stomach pressing her face into the pillow. Unfortunately, she had to get up again in a few minutes due to lack of oxygen.
She decided to go over the information Kabuto gave her in preparation for tomorrow's healing.
Birds flew indignantly out of their nests on trees as a black-cloaked man flew past them.
The blur stopped for a second when it reached a particular tree then turned ninety degrees and dove into the undergrowth.
Uchiha Sasuke looked around and quickly spotted a cement staircase looking quite out of place on the leafy forest floor. He stalked towards it with pent up excitement, his eyes clashing fiercely with his cloak and hair.
The assassination mission assigned to him was extremely undemanding and one of the bodyguards had used a particular jutsu that he hadn't seen before. The missing-nin was eager to try out his new technique acquired with his Sharingan.
Sakura stretched as sunlight filtering out of a small window landed on her face. What time is it? She sleepily looked at the clock on her bedside table- one of the few accessories in the room- and fell out of bed.
6:49! I have to get ready. Kabuto will be here in 10 minutes and I have a feeling he won't be pleased when I'm still sleeping.
Sakura rushed through her morning routine checking to make sure her hair wasn't sticking up and changed into her medic uniform. She stepped out of the bathroom right as a knock sounded on her door.
The door opened and Kabuto walked in balancing a tray of bland-looking food. He handed it to her eager hands. Tasteless as the food may be, she hadn't eaten since yesterday noon.
"Good morning, Sakura-san. Ready to get to work on the nins?" Kabuto clearly knew that it was not a good morning and she was not ready to work on the ninjas but once again proved his fondness of rhetorical questions by asking anyway.
Sakura mumbled something incoherent through a mouthful of bread. She quickly washed it down with water and nodded at Kabuto. They stood up and Sakura grabbed the clipboard with some notes she took last night and the background information. She walked in the direction of the door Kabuto came in, fully expecting him to follow. To her surprise, he walked towards the locked door that she was had tried to open yesterday.
"This door connects to the recuperation room. This will allow you easy access to the two patients without having to walk through the hallways." Kabuto took out a key and unlocked the door.
Sakura assessed this new door. It would allow the patients full access of her room but would give her another escape path should her room's door fail. It would also be convenient during the healing process because it lessened the distance she would have to walk between her room and theirs while chakra-deprived. She decided that the door was useful.
She grabbed a chair and dragged it over to Sakon's bed. Kabuto followed.
She looked at the notes on her clipboard and decided to start the day with healing the skeletal injuries.
"Kabuto, can you brew an antidote for the poison in his blood? I'll start with his forearms and ribs."
Kabuto nodded and walked over to the wrapped and bleeding corpse for a blood sample. Sakura noticed Sakon got slightly bloodier overnight. He pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and held it under a bandage. When he pulled it out, it was filled and stained with crimson liquid.
Normally, one would have to use a needle to withdraw the blood but in this case I guess an extra cut isn't necessary.
Kabuto nodded to her and teleported to what Sakura assumed was his laboratory.
She turned to the unconscious Otokagure nin lying in front of her and got to work. She started by setting the forearm bones and then healing them. Her green chakra wove between and around the breaks urging the marrow to reform together. When she was done with the right bone, she turned to the left.
About two hour later, she noticed a difference in the healing. She had been repairing his knee when she felt a strange resistance to her chakra. Then she realized the brain activity had increased tenfold. Shit, he's starting to wake up.
That wasn't good. Healing an unconscious body was always easier then a conscious body since the patient's chakra had a natural resistance to foreign chakra. It would be a lot harder to heal him starting from now and she debated putting him under anesthesia to knock him out again. She decided against it since she was halfway through the shinbone and if she withdrew her chakra to inject the anesthesia, the half-mended bone would collapse under the new strain.
She continued her healing ignoring the prodding from the other chakra that was slowly increasing by the minute. She finally sat back when she finished the skeletal system, exhausted .
"I've already injected the antidote," Kabuto drawled. "How much have you healed?"
Sakura jumped. She didn't feel Kabuto's presence at all during her healing. She made a mental note to keep better note of her surroundings while healing. She noticed Kabuto's look and answered his question.
"I finished the major injuries. If you have already injected the antidote then the only things left to heal are the cuts and bruises."
Kabuto nodded. "I need to be somewhere during the duration of next week. I trust you can handle training Sakon when he regains consciousness? I will renew the suspension jutsu on Ukon-" he gestured towards the other body "- and you can heal him later." Kabuto didn't wait for a reply this time and teleported away.
Oh joy. One and a half weeks of training a Sound nin with no other company. I better savor the moment now because he will awaken soon.
Sakura pulled all her medical equipment into the duffle bag Kabuto gave her and was about to leave when a masculine voice called out "Who the fuck are you?"
Sakura's left eye twitched. So much for savoring the moment: the potty mouth who owned the world has just awakened. She turned towards the patient on the bed who now opened his dark emerald eyes and was miraculously propped up on an elbow.
"I'm your new doctor, physical therapist, and neighbor. It's nice to meet you too." That last comment was sarcasm. She was tired, cranky, and really not in the mood for cocky bastards.
Sakon observed his surroundings. After the cantankerous nurse left, he was left to the silence of the recuperation room and the beeping of the heart monitors attached to his brother.
Niisan, we both survived. Sakon mused.
He didn't remember anything after being stabbed in the arms and fusing with his brother's body. He remembered a boy and his dog, using the level two cursed seal, another boy with a fondness for face paint, and then it was all Ukon's memories.
The two brothers' Kekkei Genkai allowed them not only to share each other's bodies, but also their memories and feelings once activated. He remembered (or Ukon remembered) being trapped in a dark, stuffy barrel-like containment and then extreme pain and passing out. The last thing he saw before passing out completely was a large ritual drawing on the floor and Kabuto's chanting.
He almost wanted to die- to end his pitiful existence. There was really no reason to continue living. Before the Uchiha retrieval mission, he lived for his master. Now, he wasn't so sure. It was like a fog was sucked out of his head and he felt that everything he's ever done was completely useless to anyone but Orochimaru. This realization hit him right after he regained consciousness and saw what he assumed was the medic…
When, he was woke up to a pink-haired girl bending over a bag on her lap, he was sure he was nuts.
First of all, he hated pink. It wasn't natural, it wasn't right, and it disturbed him to know that some people had to live with the color pasted on their heads all their life.
Secondly, it reminded him of Tayuya, one of his teammates who had a fondness of calling him 'gay' or 'dipshit' or 'gay dipshit'. He wondered if Tayuya and his other teammates were alive too. He didn't really give a crap though.
Sakon went back to examining the medic girl and he realized her chakra signature matched the chakra that was currently flowing through him, continuing to0 heal his body even though it's user already stopped pumping it into him. This led him to his third reason why he was sure he gone insane- Sakon didn't recognize this medic.
He knew all the medics in Otokagure due to many training wounds and accidents with Orochimaru but this one didn't ring a bell. So she probably joined during the time I was unconscious… Wait, that wasn't right. She was wearing a leaf headband and he knew Orochimaru didn't allow new comers to wear the symbols of their old villages.
So she was kidnapped… Sakon decided he needed to find out more about this medic but for now, he was thirsty.
"Oye, nurse! Get me some goddamn water!" His reply was a string of colorful curses. It was muffled by the door but he could still catch the words 'catatonic moron', 'not your servant', and 'fuck you'.
Sakon settled in a comfortable position on his bed and listened carefully, hoping to pick up a few new curse words.