Disclaimer: Doesn't matter how much I wish it to be true, sadly, I will never own Naruto.
Her head was pounding and even her freaking hand was cramping. There was just so much damn paperwork. The things she did for this hospital! She hadn't slept in probably forty-eight hours (not counting the few hours of sleep waiting for Sasuke to wake up).
Sakura had been so sure that Sasuke would surrender, but at the last minute, she doubted herself. She had really thought, at those last seconds, that he wasn't going to do it. She was so happy that he did though. At least he still saw reason.
Her headache started to get worse as she thought about her dark haired teammate. He and Naruto had caused her to get backed up on all of her paperwork. She blamed it on them. They were both going to recover and be fine in due time.
She only went to see Sasuke to check his vitals, but she would leave immediately after that. She just couldn't stay in there with him. She felt too vulnerable when she was around him. She needed some time to herself for right now. She just couldn't be around him for the time being.
Someone knocked on her door and she groaned. Who was it now?
"Come in."
A young nurse came in and said, "Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you."
Sakura nodded and the nurse left the room. She stretched as she stood up and exited her office and headed towards the Hokage's tower. She was so tired. Caffeine was the only thing keeping her awake right now.
She knocked on Tsunade's door and waited for her to answer.
"Come in, Sakura."
Sakura wondered how she had known it was her, but just shrugged. She was too tired to really care at this point.
She opened the doors and came inside. Tsunade was sitting behind her large desk, which looked different. There was something different about her desk.
"You've finished your paperwork!" Sakura burst out loud.
Shizune smiled and Tsunade nodded while a grin formed on her lips. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood.
"You wished to speak with me, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade nodded and said, "Do you think the Uchiha is a threat to our village?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at her Hokage. Mainly it was in confusion. After she absorbed the question and thought about it, she finally answered.
"No, he is not."
"And why do you think that, Sakura?"
Sakura looked her mentor straight in the eye and answered, "He surrendered."
Tsunade gave her a questioning look as if to say and? Sakura sighed and continued, "I have never met another person whose pride is greater than Sasuke Uchiha's. So for him to say that he has surrendered clearly means that it was hard for him to say. It's very special and important coming from him."
Tsunade nodded and took in her student's words carefully. She understood what Sakura was saying and it made plenty of sense.
"When will he be well enough for an interrogation?"
Sakura bit her lip because she couldn't stand the thought of Sasuke being interrogated. It made her hurt just to think that he was getting hurt.
"In two or three days," Sakura answered unwillingly.
Tsunade nodded and said, "If he tells us everything that we need to know then we will know for sure that he surrenders. Then there will be no need for a trial. But he will have to be put on probation for three months and Anbu will have to watch him at all times."
Sakura nodded and she calmed. She prayed that Sasuke told them everything that they needed to know. If he didn't, she would make him.
"You're dismissed."
Sakura bowed and quickly left the room. She had to go and tell Naruto the good news, but then she would have to tell Sasuke. And he would have to understand. She would make damn sure that he did.
She burst through Naruto's door with a smile on her face and Naruto looked up. She had scared him. She laughed at him and ran over to his side.
"Naruto!"
"That's my name," he said while looking at her skeptically.
She wrapped her arms around him, but stayed careful of his broken arm, and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back after a few minutes of shock. He was wondering what in the hell had gotten into her.
"Sakura-chan?" he asked.
She let go of him and said, "If Sasuke answers all of their questions in interrogation, then there will be no need for a trial and he will be put on probation-."
"AWESOME!" Naruto screamed as he pulled her into another bear hug.
"N-Naruto yo-ou're s-squishing m-me…!" she gasped.
He quickly let her go and gave her a sheepish grin.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
She laughed at him and said, "It's okay, but I have to go and tell Sasuke. When Kakashi-sensei comes by to visit, you tell him. Okay?"
He nodded furiously and answered, "Okay, Sakura-chan!"
She gave him a bright smile and exited the room. She made her way down the hall towards Sasuke's room. She walked through the door and was about to announce the good news, but stopped herself. He was fast asleep. Her heart melted at the scene before her. She moved closer to get a better look at his sleeping form. The usual scowl or glare wasn't on his face, but instead, he looked peaceful. She saw some of the young boy that she fell in love with right in front of her.
Before she could stop herself, her hand went to brush some of his bangs out of his eyes. Surprisingly, he leaned into her touch. She gasped and took her hand away. She felt as if his chidori had gone straight through her, but not in a painful way. She gulped and looked at his chart to make sure he was doing okay. And he was.
About an hour and a half later, sitting in the waiting chair doing her paperwork, Sasuke finally stirred awake. He slowly opened his eyes and then they landed on her. The peaceful expression was gone and she wished that it wasn't.
Before he could speak, she said, "I have news."
He looked at her expectantly waiting for her to continue.
"Tsunade-shishou said that if you answer all of the questions in interrogation willingly, then there will be no reason for a trial. But you'll have to be on probation for three months with Anbu watching you at all times."
Instead of responding to the news, he asked, "Why do you call the Hokage that?"
She looked at him in confusion. Did he really have nothing to say about any of the other things she had just told him?
"I'm her apprentice," she answered simply.
"Ahh."
Sakura grumbled and set her paperwork aside. She stood up and put her hands on her hips. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at her. She looked at him expectantly, until she just couldn't take it anymore.
"Will you answer willingly?" she asked exasperatedly.
"You already know the answer, so why ask?"
She glared at him and answered, "I need your consent."
He rolled his eyes and said, "Hn. I will."
She smiled softly at him and went back to doing her paperwork. She could feel his eyes on her, but tried to ignore it. She needed to get all of this finished. She didn't like waiting till the last minute to do something because then it would become all piled up. That was one way that she was not like Tsunade.
"You look like crap."
She froze on what she was currently writing and looked up at Sasuke with an icy glare on her face. He did not just say she looked like crap! She got enough of that from Sai!
"What?" she asked icily.
He repeated it to her like she was a little kid, "You. Look. Like. Crap."
Lucky for him, Kakashi decided to come into the room at that exact moment. Kakashi could feel the tense atmosphere. Most of the negative energy was coming from Sakura.
"So how are my favorite students doing?" he asked.
Sakura picked up her paperwork, stood up, turned away from Sasuke, and faced Kakashi.
"Fine," she answered curtly. She then exited the room and slammed the door on her way out.
Kakashi looked from the cracked door to Sasuke. Kakashi caught the slightly terrified look on his old student's face and the sweat travel down his face. Kakashi decided to whistle to try and make the awkwardness go away, but it didn't work. How surprising.
"So…" Kakashi began.
"She has a temper problem," Sasuke stated.
Kakashi chuckled and asked, "What'd you do?"
Sasuke glared at him and asked, "Why do you think I did something?"
"Because women always get mad for a reason. So go on and tell me what made our dear Sakura so angry."
Sasuke sighed heavily and said, "I told her she looked like crap."
Kakashi flat out laughed at that and Sasuke continued to just glare at his old sensei. He was just stating the obvious. He could tell by the bags from underneath her eyes that she had not been sleeping. He was going to tell her to go home and sleep before she had almost killed him. Hell, even the glare alone had even scared him, a little.
Kakashi ruffled his hair and said, "You've got a lot to learn, Sasuke. And I suggest in the future, don't tell her things like that ever again. If you think someone's ugly or unattractive, then just keep it to yourself. It'll make your life a lot easier. Ask Sai."
"I was just trying to say that she needed to sleep before she turned into a damn zombie," Sasuke stated matter-of-factly.
Kakashi chuckled at his remark. He seemed to be doing a lot of that. This whole situation was apparently very funny to him.
"Who's Sai? Isn't he my replacement or something?"
"He isn't your replacement, Sasuke. He's a member of our team now as well, along with Yamato. Well, anyways, if you want to hear about a good pounding from Sakura just ask him. He calls her ugly on almost a daily basis and still hasn't learned his lesson," Kakashi explained.
"No thanks."
Sasuke inwardly winced as he imagined Sai calling Sakura ugly and her beating the hell out of him. Then he started to feel anger in the pit of his stomach. Why would he call Sakura such a thing? She wasn't ugly, but far from it. Was he blind or something? He sighed to himself, because now he was starting to feel guilty. But if she was stupid enough to think that he was calling her unattractive or something like that, then he shouldn't have to apologize.
Both of them were too stubborn for their own good.
"When dreaming with a broken heart, waking up is the hardest part."
