It didn't take long for Sasuke to find a river.
"Gather some water, Naruto."
Naruto nodded and pulled out their bottles. Sasuke looked through what packs they had but there were no bandages left. Sasuke looked at Sakura's ripped and torn dress. Naruto returned with their bottles and took his place on the other side of Sakura.
"So what do we do?" Naruto asked.
"We have to remove her clothes to clean her wounds."
Naruto blushed and looked away. "I don't think we should."
Sasuke glared at Naruto. "So we should just leave her wounds to get infected because you can't see a girl semi naked?"
"It's not just any girl, teme," Naruto growled.
Sasuke looked back down at the unconscious girl.
"We have to do it. She might even bleed to death if the wounds aren't bandaged."
"Where are the bandages?"
"There are none."
"So now what?"
"Let's just see her wounds, first."
Sakura raised his kunai, knowing her dress was most likely stuck to her wounds considering the amount of blood he got on his arms from just carrying her. Slowly, he cut away her dress. Sakura stirred from the pain that irritated her wounds but didn't wake.
Once the dress was removed, the extent of her wounds was revealed. Multiple stab wounds, scratches and mass bruising around the upper torso from broken ribs.
"What...happened?" Naruto murmured softly.
"We were asleep for too long," Sasuke replied.
He reached into his back to retrieved the cloths that were on their foreheads when he woke up. Naruto poured water onto the cloths and gently, the two began cleaning away the blood and dabbing at her wounds carefully. Sakura twitched and squirmed uncomfortably every so often and when she did, the boys would pause and wait for her to settle down before continuing.
Once the wounds were clean, Naruto asked again.
"How are we supposed to wrap her wounds?"
Sasuke looked over at the discarded strips of her dress.
"We'll wash her dress pieces to use as bandages."
"What is she going to wear?"
"Your jacket."
Naruto nodded and took the ripped fabric to the river to wash it before returning. Using a small Katon jutsu, Sasuke lit a fire where the dress pieces were placed to dry and where Sakura could stay warm.
"Go catch some fish."
Instead of getting angry about being ordered around, he listened and went back to the river. Sasuke looked back to Sakura whose face was all bruised and swollen.
"My, what have we here?"
Sasuke spun around, kunais drawn, only to see the shinobi from before the exams began.
"Kabuto, right?"
"That's right."
"What are you doing here?"
"It really isn't a smart idea to light a fire. The smoke gives away your position."
Shit. He hadn't thought of that.
"Oh, your teammate looks quite bad."
Sasuke shifted so he was standing in between the two, blocking Kabuto's view of the pinkette.
"I could help her. I know medical ninjutsu."
Sasuke hesitated but didn't drop his guard.
"Why should I trust you?"
"You don't have to. But from the looks of it, she has a serious concussion. She might not wake up."
Sasuke looked down at Sakura.
He looked back at Kabuto, only to see Naruto a few metres behind him, a couple of fish tucked under one arm and a kunai ready in his free hand.
"Okay, but don't try anything."
Kabuto walked towards the unconscious female and bent down. His hands lit up green as he inspected her.
"Yes, definitely a concussion. Two, in fact. Thankfully, they're not too bad."
Sasuke allowed some of the weight on his shoulders to ease away.
"Unfortunately, her ribs are another story."
"You have to set them," Sasuke spoke.
Kabuto nodded. "Thankfully, they haven't began to heal to I just have to gently move them into place but one of them has pierced her lung. She has quite a bit of blood in her lungs. I'm surprised you hadn't heard her rasping."
He had, but he didn't know what it meant.
"You're going to need to hold her down. This will be very uncomfortable for her."
Sasuke nodded and moved to Sakura, holding onto her shoulders. As Kabuto poked and pushed at her ribs, Sakura struggled to get away while still out. She let out gasps and whimpers and whines until Kabuto fixed the last rib.
"There. All done."
"Thank you," Naruto said, finally speaking up.
"Anything for a fellow Leaf-nin. Now, I'm assuming you don't have a pair of scrolls yet."
The two looked at each other.
"We were planning on just waiting this out," Sasuke spoke. "Sakura was too badly injured."
"Now she's fine. She should wake in a few hours. There's nothing I can do for her swelling, so her ribs and face will remain a tender area for a couple of days. You might be able to make it to the tower and get another scroll in time."
Sasuke and Naruto shared another look.
"What do you think, Naruto?"
"I don't know. As much as I want to pass, I think we should worry more about Sakura-chan."
He looked at Kabuto.
"Thanks for healing her but I think I'd feel better knowing she saw an actual medical ninja."
Sasuke nodded and looked back.
"No," came a soft murmur.
They looked over to Sakura whose eyes were slightly open. She coughed a little, trying to clear the liquid she could feel in her lungs. Naruto quickly moved to her but it was Sasuke who turned her onto her side carefully so she could cough up the blood.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto called, concern colouring his voice.
"We should...keep going," she winced.
"But you should-"
Sakura slowly shook her head.
"I don't want to give up just yet. I want to continue."
"But why?" Sasuke asked. "Why push yourself so hard? You've done enough just by keeping Naruto and I alive."
Sakura's eyes fluttered shut again.
"I don't want...to be left behind..."
Unsure of what she meant, Sasuke looked to Naruto.
"Please," she whispered.
Naruto nodded. "O-Okay, Sakura-chan. But just let us know when you want to leave. We can try again next year."
Sakura smiled.
"We had to cut your dress off, Sakura," Sasuke told her. "So you are going to have to wear Naruto's jacket."
She just nodded and looked over to them with tired eyes. Sasuke helped Sakura to sit up.
"We need to wrap my chest," she said.
Sasuke pulled back in surprise before looking away quickly.
"I have actual bandages. I could do it," Kabuto offered.
Sakura opened her eyes to look at him with calculating eyes.
"No, we'll do it," Sasuke interjected. "Naruto, you hold Sakura in your lap while I wrap her chest."
"W-Wait, teme, I don't think-"
"Just do it, dobe."
Naruto sat down and held Sakura between his outstretched legs. She leant back against him weakly. Kabuto handed Sasuke the roll of bandages, watching in a amusement. Sakura cut her bra off, instead of going through the pain of raising her arms to remove it. Sasuke tried to focus on her collar but he needed to see what he was doing. Naruto stared up at the fluffy white clouds, trying to think of anything else but the topless pinkette in his lap.
Sandaime. Kakashi. Iruka. That creepy snake guy-
'Oh god, her skin looks really soft.'
"Naruto?"
"Y-Yes, Sakura-chan?"
"That better be a scroll."
"R-Right."
Hearing them, Sasuke smirked and relaxed a little as he finished bandaging her chest. Once done, Sasuke walked over to Naruto's pile of clothes he had removed to go fishing and walked back with his orange jacket.
"I hate orange."
"Hey, don't knock it till you try it."
Sasuke slipped the orange jacket around her shoulder, helping her slip her arms into it before zipping it up.
"Thank you, Sasuke, Naruto."
"N-No problem."
Sasuke nodded. He crouched in front of her.
"Here, jump on."
Sakura watched him for a moment before leaning forward. Naruto helped her onto Sasuke's back and she wrapped her arms around his neck in a gentle hold. Once Naruto grabbed their packs, they were gone.
The fish forgotten by the dying fire.