Title: Sleeves
Author: AppleL0V3R
Beta-reader: SymphoniaFreak
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Hyuuga Neji and Haruno Sakura
Other Characters: Unnamed OCs, mentions of Team Seven, Ino, and Tsunade.
Theme: Trade
Summary: There is a reason why when she talks, people listen. It's because she's the best at what she does. Although, even she isn't at the top of her game all the time.
Word Count: 5,785
Rating: T
Type: One-shot Collection – Complete
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Canon, Romance
Warning: Mentions of severe injures (nothing graphic or even vague)
Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.
Started: January 10, 2014
Completed: February 18, 2014
Last Edited On: March 20, 2014
"Haruno Sakura, to the ER! Haruno Sakura, to the ER!"
Sakura jerked, the combined sound of the urgent voice on the loudspeaker and her beeping pager, snapping her out of the autopilot mode she'd let herself to operate on. The loudspeaker wasn't used for such things, pagers were, which meant it must be something serious. Using the alertness that came with a splash of cold water to the face, she quickly put all the test tubes she had back in their places as mindfully as she could and shoved all the paperwork back in their proper cubby holes. Then, with the loudspeaker and her pager still sounding, she hurried out of the downstairs lab and rushed through the protocols to shut the room up safely, part of her abhorring the tedious process while her logical side reminded her that it was a good thing to be so thorough. As soon as she was able, she broke into a near run as she sprinted up all the flights of stairs to get to the ground level and automatically directed herself to the ER.
As the sliding doors opened to allow her into the room, she bounced on the soles of her feet, fighting to force her adrenaline down so as to assess the situation more critically. Her first thought that it was indeed an emergency. The second thing was that the place was a chaotic mess. Clearing her throat, she stepped forward while adjusting her gloves.
"Stop." Like her mentor, she didn't need to yell over the noise of the room to get everyone's attention, nor did she need to speak twice for all of them to follow her order. "I should not need to remind any of you how to behave in the ER. Those rules don't change in the case of an emergency." She was never fond of dressing down her doctors and nurses while they were working, but she knew it was the quickest way to get them back in order and she could apologize for her use of authority later.
Paying no mind to any of the contrite or chided or even agitated faces, she continued forward. She addressed every nurse and doctor in the room individually, telling them what she wanted them to do with the complete faith they knew how to do their tasks. Once they were all moving like a smooth, efficient operating system she turned her full attention to the patients currently being treated. The pink-haired medic forced herself not to react when she recognized ANBU Team 9, all four members lying in critical, near death conditions; her hand needed to be steady, and her mind unclouded by emotions if she wanted to pull the entire team through.
Setting her shoulders in the same way she expected all of the other hospital staff in the room to do, she started with the one closest to death, the ANBU operative on the far right of the emergency room. Already there were three nurses—out of the dozen or so moving about the room—moving around that table, and she knew that by the time she got to the table to assess the damage up close, they would be ready and waiting for her command, the patient prepped for her decision. She glanced around the circle of faces, adjusted the sleeves of her white lab coat and dug into the current human being on her table.
When Hyuuga Neji woke up a full week after his operation, it was to the far-off sounds of beeping and almost obscure voices that seemed kilometers away. His first instinct was to groan, but his knee jerk reaction—borne from almost two decades of control—silenced it in favor of focusing on clearing the fog from his mind and the grogginess from his senses. It didn't take long before his senses were clear, and that was only because of years of conditioning, leaving him to focus on his surroundings. He remembered forestry and pain and the clash of metal, but here all he could observe were white walls, distant voices and the beeping of the monitor that he realized he was hooked up to. Pale eyes appraised the machine for a moment, just long enough to note that his vitals were still low, but obviously not too low for him to properly function without much hindrance.
He was in a hospital, Konoha's to be specific. No other country had such an organized and clean operating system as Konoha's. Suna was quickly approaching on that, but the tempered climate in the room told him that he wasn't in the muggy desert that sand-nin called their home. For a brief moment he wondered what happened in-between the battle he remembered and ending up here, injured and aching, but alive. However, the thought only stuck around long enough for him to rationalize that if his chart was in the room, he could find out for himself. And if it wasn't, then those voices belonged to nurses, and it would be an even simpler matter to get the answers he wanted from them.
Before he could sit up and go about this idea, the door slid open and the lack of a barrier allowed the still far-off-sounding voices to become a little clearer. In the door was a familiar face that he saw every time he was in the hospital, no matter if it was him in the hospital bed or not. She looked up just as she crossed the threshold, the jumble of papers in her arms shifting a bit, yet they seemed to only grow more organized despite how she was absently flicking through the forms. Granting him a bright smile, she nodded her head as if to make sure he knew she was aware that he was awake. "Morning Hyuuga."
He was half tempted to grumble that waking up in the hospital no matter the condition in no way implied a good morning or even a good rest of the day for that matter. The only thing that kept him from verbalizing this was the realization that if the pink-haired doctor was in here with medical forms and greeting him, then that meant she was his doctor for the duration he was stuck here. And patients under Doctor Haruno's watch simply didn't sign out AMA, not even Hatake, Hospital Houdini Extraordinaire; a lesson he, himself, had learned the hard way before he was ANBU. The woman was a force of nature, and like her teacher and co-assistant, she wasn't shy about using that to cow her patients into submission.
In short, the earliest he was getting out of this place and back on missions was when the woman approaching him deemed him good and ready. The consequences of failing to comply while under her care were being taken of the active roster for at least a couple weeks and being dragged back by the woman herself at the very least. And if he were being completely honest with himself, staying whether he wanted to or not would take much less time, and his ego would take much less of a hit. So he settled into the hospital bed with a dissatisfied frown and nodded back at her stiffly. "Haruno."
The completely unwelcoming response didn't even cause her to miss a beat, no doubt because that rowdy team of hers had desensitized her to almost every off-putting kind of behavior imaginable. It was almost laughable really, how the delicate-looking woman before him could handle more pressure, insult, and injury than most of the big macho-men and egotistical shinobi he'd crossed over the years, inside and outside of Konoha's massive gates. And she even did it with a smile. He knew from experience that anyone who hadn't gone toe-to-toe with her themselves was prone to underestimating her, despite her rough-and-tumble team of infamous fighters, and that such a mistake was a quick and sure way to end up with a very bruised ego and a hospital stay or a dead enemy who would not have had the time to comprehend their mistake. A scary, force of nature, of a woman indeed.
Still smiling brightly, as if his dour demeanor had absolutely no effect on her day, she walked right up to his side in graceful strides. "Alrighty. So, normally this would be the part where I ask a few question and fill out something on this sheet of paper that you'll never get to see." Green eyes twinkled at him, as if laughing at some joke that hadn't been said.
He merely arched a brow by way of spurring her to continue. He knew this part forwards and backwards for the number of times he'd both been subjected to and had to watch it occur. Though, he had to admit, her genuinely perky disposition was almost intoxicating to watch. Like her blonde teammate, Sakura could be a very charismatic individual, often sweeping people up on her cheer before they realized what had hit them. And while he wasn't so easily affected, he was honest enough with himself to admit that it was a hell of a thing to watch, even more so to be on the receiving end of.
His day always seemed to get a little brighter when the beautiful doctor was actively participating in it, even in passing.
He settled in, waiting for the verdict. After the fight his team had just been in, he had no doubt she would require at the very least an overnight stay, and he was already working on a way of shortening whatever sentence she passed down.
"But, I'll admit I'm a little behind on paperwork." She gave him a pointed look like it was somehow his fault, and since he refused to humor her by reacting to the implied accusation she continued on looking, even more amused by his nonplused reaction anyway. "So I don't actually have your chart on hand."
He cocked his head, curious as to why she would meander into his room with an armful of papers but not his chart. He took a moment to look the petite doctor over. She looked a little more tired than usual, and her normal vibrancy was also lower than expected. However, she didn't seem tired enough for that sharp mind of hers to be addled, so he concluded the lack of sleep hadn't gotten to her. And he knew from a comment Naruto had made once upon a time that whenever the hospital unexpectedly had a team of near dead ANBU, Sakura was generally the guiding force that stayed a constant for one reason or another each time. Knowing this, he looked again not just for signs of fatigue, but also dehydration or a lack in proper food intake. A careful perusal told him that there was a good chance she hadn't been diligent about the upkeep of her own health.
She set down the papers on an empty space on the bedside table. "So, I'm here more or less just to check up on you." She glanced at a clock, no doubt to report on the chart when she 'checked up' on him. Sakura was very conscientious of protocol and while she didn't always appear to be following it, she rarely ever bent the rules. She'd explained once that it was important because it had on more than one occasion been the difference between life and death for a patient.
"Haruno." He interrupted smoothly. "Would that checkup include telling me how long I'm staying?"
She grinned at him and shrugged nonchalantly. "Possibly." A twinkle sparkled in her eye as she add, "Would you listen if I told you?"
He merely arched an eyebrow in response, certain she already knew the answer to that. Her playful attitude was another welcome aspect to wake up to, he'd discovered. After nearly dying, her bright and lively disposition was always heartening in a way that cold reality never was. He'd wondered on more than one occasion how much effort it took on her part to be so unfailing positive and warm even after long nights and back-to-back shifts. As the senior doctor and the most experienced medic on staff, Sakura could and had, when necessary, done three back-to-back, eight-hour shifts. And at the end of them she'd still managed to look well-rested and perky, as long as no one looked too close and didn't poke at her temper.
She huffed at his minimal reaction, though the smile remained in her vivid eyes. "Remember, I've got nothing against being unfair if it means your recovery is smooth and quick as possible." Spoken with a smile, the implied threat of being browbeaten into submission wasn't at all lost on him. Still he chose to simply nod his understanding so there would be no more warnings on the subject for the rest of the check up. Sakura was usually that easy to please; show her you understood what she was telling you and she didn't nail any points unnecessarily. "Great. You know the drill; I'll start with your breathing, so if you could sit up, please."
He did as asked, willing to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. However, his sharp gaze caught a small detail he wouldn't have had she not gotten close enough to follow through on checking his breathing and heart rate. He studied her for a moment, noting the way her skin lacked its normal vibrancy, the barest hint of bags under her eyes, and the distinctly low level of chakra output. "Have you been awake all night Sakura?"
Startled, she froze and jerked her head so her gaze could lock with his stern one. After a beat she returned to her work, and his eyes narrowed at being ignored. Had he waited another moment he probably would have gotten a sufficient answer, but this one was just as telling as the minute details he'd already observed. "You are showing signs of prolonged chakra use, lack of sleep, and neglect of health. Have you eaten anything recently?"
This time when she stopped, it was to pull back and set her hands on her hips, the fire in her eyes promising retribution for the perceived offense. But he wasn't through and despite having asked two questions already he kept going. "You threaten your patients with maltreatment of themselves frequently enough to know that arguing would be a needless and a waste of time." One dainty pink eyebrow rose over still fuming eyes, and she crossed her arms now, but didn't say anything. His shinobi initiative to take advantage of the rare chance before him took hold, and he saw no reason to deny it. "Now, I'm going to get up and you're going to release me from the hospital and then you're going to clock out—"
"Listen, here Hyuuga, just because my health has marginally suffered does not give you the leverage to make either of those demands." She cut in sharply, and technically, she was right. He was stretching it a bit, but that did nothing to deter him.
"Oh, and you're certain that if Tsunade-sama were to hear about your 'marginally neglected health' that I would still lack leverage?" Though, it was rare when the pretty doctor used the Lady Hokage as a threat anymore, their blonde-haired leader was still very much a threat to even Sakura herself; and by the way she pursed her lips agitatedly now, she knew it too.
"And then, pray tell, what will happen?" Her prickly tone would have warned off a lesser man; Neji was not so easily intimidated.
"I will see you home, which should sufficiently prove I am healthy enough to be out should you attempt to make a case about this later, and make sure you take proper care of yourself." Those livid green eyes of hers told him she thought he was way over yet another line, and if her feathers hadn't been ruffled by then, they definitely were now. "Or I will be certain your teammates will do so for me. Your choice Haruno."
And that was how, less than an hour later, Sakura found herself on her bed with the covers around her and her pillows propping her up so she could feed herself from the breakfast tray the Hyuuga prodigy had found, all under the watchful gaze of said irritating man. Despite her best attempts to get out of it via snarky comments and angered arguments, Neji had been unperturbed and armed with the knowledge of exactly how to outmaneuver her. Not a lot of people knew that her team and mentor could be successfully used against her in such a manner, but years of merrily teasing the brunette whenever he was hospitalized had clearly benefited him unintentionally. Thus why he had won in spite of all her protests every step of the way.
Grudgingly, she picked up her mug of piping hot tea with one hand and the proper medicinal pills he'd found in her cabinet in the other. Tossing her head back, she swallowed all of them in one go, and though she was already moving to use the tea to wash them down, she still caught the slightly relieved look on the proud, patriarchal man's face. Caught by surprise, it wasn't until after she swallowed a gulp of the tea that she realized she should have sipped just enough instead. As a result, she choked on the overabundance of hot liquid in her mouth, the pain receptors in her throat simultaneously refusing to allow the tea any further, and so it had to come back out. All over Neji.
Despite the small vindictive part of her that laughed gleefully, Sakura was immediately horrified to realize what she'd done even before she got an eyeful of the man's dumbfounded expression. "Oh, damn. Oh…damn." With eyes wide, she reflexively reached towards the Hyuuga, but stopped short of touching him, logic kicking in to tell her that her bare hand wasn't going to sponge up the half-swallowed liquid. It even tacked on a 'stupid' for good measure. "I'm so sorry, Neji." Except that wasn't helpful either, was it?
Lavender eyes blinked almost absently at her once, and then twice, before he finally seemed to realize she'd just spat out the tea he'd made for her all over him. The only reason she was even sure he had realized it was because his eyes had sharpened the way a strategist's eyes often did when faced with a new, and strange, situation. Obviously no one had ever sprayed him with tea via their mouth. It made her wish she could hide under her impressively large number of blankets like a child and peek to see if there was a monster coming to get her.
"Neji…" she started again, but trailed off due to lack of anything to say but 'I'm sorry' and that wasn't going to help right now. What would help would be a towel or napkins. She nearly slapped herself on the forehead as she remembered that Neji, ever the aristocrat, had put those on the tray with her food as well. Instead, she frantically snatched them and reached out for him again, this time with the intent of padding at his clothes and skin to remove all physical evidence of her embarrassing actions. She didn't get farther than a few pats before he grabbed her wrist, and she promptly froze like a deer caught in the headlights, complete with saucer-sized eyes and an 'oh-crap' expression.
"Haruno…" He paused and then shook his head as if discarding a thought. "I suppose, Sakura would be little more appropriate now, wouldn't it?"
Her cheeks warmed further at the dry comment, but some of the tension the panic had created diminished as she realized that the proud man before her wasn't furious. She knew what Neji looked like, how he acted when he was pissed as all hell, and this wasn't even close to that. It was more like he was…bemused. Which added confusion to her cocktail of emotions and pushed her straight into a state of no brain-to-mouth filter.
"You're not mad?" And she immediately clamped her mouth shut at the idiotic—but still arguably fair—question, just barely refraining from slapping her hand over her mouth to prevent any more outbursts. And the resisted urge served to remind her she still had the barely dampened napkins in hand, as well as the fact that the brunette still held her wrist lightly.
As if he too, had remembered this, Neji brought up his other hand to pluck the fabric from her fingers before releasing his hold on her hand. He then proceeded to pat at his clothes, but not, she noticed with a surge of relief, at his skin. After a moment, when the napkins could absorb no more liquid, and the rest seemed to have seeped too deeply to be pulled out anyway, he meet her slightly harried gaze. Slowly he shook his head, emphasizing just how little anger he felt. "No, though, I do now need another shirt, and this one will need to be washed."
Sakura was beginning to get the feeling that confusion would be her new best friend for the duration of this bizarre situation. Another niggling feeling was clamoring for her mind's attention, but it gave off too much tip-of-my-tongue, can't-place-it feeling so she decided she really didn't need to add anything more to her plate at the moment. Instead she latched onto the lifeline he had so graciously tossed her and offered, "I'm sure I have a shirt that'll fit you. And you can, of course, use my washer and dryer for your shirt."
He nodded, and she could still see that bright mind of his mind turning over ideas inside. Her instincts insisted that was cause for alarm, shrilly attempting to convince her she wasn't out of the woods yet, and she was inclined to heed them for the simple reason that they'd never led her astray before. Neji, she knew, was not a devious person by nature, but that didn't make him incapable of inflicting the same outcomes as someone with a mischievous intent might. Not to mention that he was an accomplished strategist and could probably be quite sly. So, for her own sake, she erred on the side of common sense when he finally seemed to settle on whatever he'd been contemplating.
Instinct had her attempting to rise so she could go get that shirt she'd promised and also scamper away from Neji before he acted on his thoughts. But she was barely a couple inches off the bed and didn't even have a foot on the ground before he'd gently pushed her back into her original position with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Relax Sakura. I'm sure I can find a shirt and wash this one just fine on my own." He narrowed his eyes at her when her mouth immediately opened before she was even conscious of doing so, and just as quickly it snapped shut. "I will also get another cup of tea. Perhaps, this one will stay down."
She stared at him bewildered for a moment. Since when was Neji a caretaker? Forget that, since when did the Hyuuga have a sense of humor? Sure it was a bit dry, but that wasn't at all normal for this man. Well, okay, that wasn't true; he'd shown rare smiles and chuckles and made dry and sardonic comments in the past that usually made her laugh. But this, this was more…playful than normal.
"Neji...?" She tapered off, once again at a loss for what to say to this extremely odd situation. "Are you…are you trying to take care of me?" When he arched an eyebrow, as if to inform her she was being a little dense and what else would he be doing, she started to frown. Add disgruntled to confused and wary and horrified. "I only skipped a few meals and barely even have any flu symptoms. A good night's rest and a hearty meal would have cured both just fine."
Those light colored eyes of his remained as unblinking as he did unmoving. Clearly whatever he'd made his mind up about had solidified whatever had caused him to drag her home and make her food and tea. And, oh God, was he trying to prove that he was just as capable a caretaker as she was? Was this repayment, in part, for all the times she'd nursed him back to health? Was that what this was? Starting to feel a little bit huffy, she opened her mouth again to tell the stubborn man that this was all absurd, and that she would go get the shirt for him to borrow so he could go home and she would return his cleaned shirt to him soon. But once again, he headed her off.
"This is not repaying you for your work as my nurse, or any such thing, so get those silly thoughts out of your head." Silly? Once again he gave her that narrow-eyed look so that any indignant outbursts were silenced for a moment. "This is about making sure you take care of yourself, as I said originally." That took most of her fire and wariness right out of her. How had she forgotten that? He'd been very clear about that when he was using unfair means to get out of the hospital earlier. She started to blush with embarrassment once more, realizing that now, not only had she spat hot tea all over him, she'd jumped to erroneous conclusions about his character and his intentions.
But then her mind helpful provided the reason all of this had started in the first place. That relieved expression she'd caught out of the corner of her eye as she took a drink of the tea. And she hadn't missed him calculating something with that sharp mind of his mere minutes ago. She didn't know what either of those had been about. So she nodded at his explanation. "You're right, I am being silly. I must have more of a fever than I originally thought, I'm sorry." This time she gave him a hold-on look before he could respond. "But will you answer something for me? Why were you relieved when I drank the tea?"
Light purple eyes blinked at her, clearly not having expected that. His already serious expression became more so as he looked her straight in the eye. "Your teammates are not the only ones who worry when you are not well. They're simply the only ones who are so vocal about it."
It was her turn to blink now as the words sunk in. When they and their implications did, a fuzzy warmth spread through her chest, and she gave him a sweet smile of gratitude. "Thank you for taking care of me Neji." She may not have been a doctor for the recognition or the power over peoples' lives, but that didn't mean she didn't treasure being appreciated as a competent and giving caretaker. She enjoyed doing her job, but moments like these were what made her love it.
In return, he granted her one of his rare but genuine smiles. "You are welcome, Sakura." He paused for just a moment, as if deciding on something. "You will take better care of yourself in the future?"
She shrugged helplessly, having been asked this question on more than one occasion and had since learned there was only one real answer. "I'll most certainly try." Predictably, he didn't like that any better than anyone else had, so she cut him off. "That's the best I can offer. I do honestly pay attention and take care of myself, but sometimes the hospital has emergencies or I get very busy. I don't neglect myself intentional; I just don't always have time to attend to my health."
He was still frowning with that serious expression as he considered her words, and after a long moment he shook his head. "That's not good enough, Sakura. I do believe that you are trying though. Perhaps your health would suffer less if you had someone to look after you."
She chuckled, not at all offended by being told her efforts to upkeep her own health weren't good enough. She knew that; it had certainly gotten her into too much trouble not to know it. She had simply never considered Neji's suggested for a good reason. "You have met my teammates right? And my best friend, Ino? And our Hokage, Tsunade? Believe me, I do have people looking after me."
With infinite patience he shook his head, "That's not what I mean. I mean someone with solely your personal health in mind." His breathtaking eyes stared steadily into her own as if willing her to understand what he was saying.
She blinked, a little confused by what he was trying to get at. "Like…like a boyfriend or something?" Surely that was the only role more dedicated to the health of another than family or a personal caretaker might be.
He nodded, answering with a serious "Exactly" and nothing else.
She tried to get this new turn in their conversation to soak into her brain, but the blank thing kept spitting it back out like there was an error message attached to it. Neji thought she should get a boyfriend so her health wouldn't be neglected. Okay, that was a very simple concept to grasp and she could see where his logic was coming from, but… But she knew from experience the shinobi beside her was a very private person; he didn't even discuss such matters with his team. She knew because Lee had made a comment about how unyouthful Neji could be when anything other than duty was brought up even in a casual setting. Which was probably why her mind was having computing issues; the topic didn't jive with the person persisting on it. "Okay, I get what you're saying, but it's not that easy or that simple."
Still patient, still steady, "Are you saying that if you were offered a boyfriend you would decline?"
She pursed her lips. It might be a fair question, but he was starting to frustrate her. It wasn't like there was a boyfriend isle at the supermarket or something, nor were guys throwing themselves at her with declarations of love and such. "I'm saying that it would depend on the person. I don't want a boyfriend just so my health stops being neglected, Neji. I want someone who will care about me no matter what, somebody I can talk to, somebody who can challenge me, somebody who I can reciprocate all those things for. I refuse to start dating someone for something so small and self-serving." Just as she was gearing up to launch into a well thought out rant—one she'd given thought to ever since she was a little girl and had rehashed after she outgrew her crush on Sasuke—she realized his eyes were alight with approval and something else she couldn't quite decipher.
"Good." Was all he said, effectively leaving her puzzled and speechless. "I'm positive I can offer you that."
She choked on her spit and was absently thankful he hadn't already gotten her another cup of tea because he'd be wearing that as well. Her poor abused brain had even more difficulty processing this than the abstract idea of a boyfriend. "I…Neji…What…?" Apparently her mouth wasn't sure how to proceed on autopilot either, which wasn't a surprise, but still.
A large, warm hand grasped her cheek and brought gaze back to his. "You don't have to answer right now. I can wait for you to think about it first. Just know that I am not offering this on a whim, and should you choose to accept it, I intend to be very serious about the type relationship you have specified that you want."
An inane part of her thought he was being awfully rationally; another part rebutted that he was always rational, and a truly insane part of her wondered what it would be like to have a personality like Neji's at the center of her world. What it would be like to go on dates with Neji, or merely to spend time with him? What might spending the night with each other be like? Her brain suddenly became very busy throwing possible scenarios and imagined pictures at her, that she completely forgot that said man was still waiting for her in the here and now.
He cleared his throat, and she snapped back to the present with a start. But the amusement in his exotic eyes didn't seem inclined to go anywhere any time soon, and it took her another moment still to gain her barings.
"Yeah, uh, yes, time to think about…dating you would be…nice." She cleared her throat and realized that she'd been right about the amusement, for it had grown pronounced. She suddenly felt the pressing need to say something else, anything else before it got awkward or something equally uncomfortable. But once again, Neji seemed to realize the direction of her thoughts and was already straightening his stance and backing up a step. She missed the warmth of his hand the moment cold air swept in to take its place.
"Then in the meantime I will get you another cup of tea. Where do you keep spare clothing?"
She answered automatically and stared at the door for long moments after he'd walked through it. Distantly she heard him rummaging around in her home, presumably setting off to do those three tasks that he'd mentioned not long after she'd instigated this whole thing. With a soft bark of laughter she fell back against her pillows and shook her head.
Clearly her life had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.