Hatred steamed through Sakura as she was rudely awakened by thumping upstairs. She was too tired to realize she was in Naruto's home, and she was too tired to notice that maybe someone was breaking in. However, she really wanted to punch a wall out. Even better, the person who was causing all the trouble.

Instead, she let out an inward groan and slowly opened one eye halfway to see someone practically run down the stairs and scribble down a note. She recognized the flash of blonde hair almost instantly, and she shut her eyes and pretended to sleep soundly, despite her rapidly beating heart. She hoped it wouldn't show too much. She felt her hair stretch over the couch arm uncomfortably, but she couldn't afford to fix it. Not when he stood there.

She heard the walking halt, and Sakura's breath caught. She knew he was standing over her. She tried to sleep a little more naturally, but her rapidly beating heart may as well had been a traitor.

She forced her breathing to even out, and she applauded on herself until she felt something rest on her head. She tried very hard to remain still as Naruto's hand stretched over her head. Finally there were footsteps again, and a slamming of a door as the figure, hopefully, left.

Sakura cracked open an eyelid to make sure the coast was clear, and when she was sure of the matter she sat up. She rubbed her eyes and tried to tame the tangled mess on her head with her fingers. She felt a lot better: the ache in her heart was slowly dulling. She was a ninja. She had to be adaptable to these sort of things.

But Tsunade still had her on break. There was that obstacle she had to acknowledge think about.

The pink haired girl let out a loud groan as she realized the truth. She would be left to her melancholy once more, with no distractions. She dug in her pocket for ponytail holders, and threw up her messy hair in a ponytail. She seriously doubted Naruto would possess a hairbrush, so that would have to wait.

Her eyes darted around the room, taking in detail, until they finally rested on a mahogany table. The note that Naruto had hastily scribbled lay there, unfolded. Sakura immediately felt somber. She slowly got up, and picked up the note.

Sakura-chan,

I went to Tsunade for a little bit. Nothing important, but I just thought you should know. Don't go after me, but if I come back before you wake up, no big deal, right? Okay, bye.

Naruto

Sakura must have read the note over twice, maybe three times. No references to the night before, and none to their argument. Hell, it was the same light, cheerful Naruto. But she knew she was just fooling herself if she thought it was a dream.

"I wonder what he's thinking," she thought, placing the note back on the table. "It's so difficult. If I could read him it wouldn't be half as bad."

She was so caught up in her thoughts that when the echoing noise of knocking filled the room, she jumped a mile.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she said to herself repeatedly, her green eyes glinting with self-hatred. It was stupid. It was stupid that she couldn't concentrate anymore. It was stupid that she couldn't even think about anything unless it was about Sasuke, or now Naruto. Her heart was threatening to break her again.

There was another knock on the door.

"I'm coming!" Sakura roared with an anger that was not so much pointed towards whoever was knocking, and she twisted the doorknob with a vengeance. She whipped it open.

"Naruto said I would find you here," Ino said briskly, forcing herself inside. It was obvious that Ino was going to ignore Sakura's tantrum outburst. "Tsunade wants you. As soon as possible."

"What? Why?" Sakura forced her inner turmoil to one side. It was eating at her alive, but it would have to wait. "She forced me on break…"

"Hinata's group came back today." Ino's voice was grim, but Sakura could see that her eyes were flashing with worry and panic. "Hinata and Chouji are injured. Badly."

----

"Tsunade, when was the team sent out?" Sakura was currently drilling her sensei for information as she snapped her gloves in place.

"Two months ago. It was an A rank mission, but they were due back three weeks ago. Something went wrong, obviously."

"Who exactly was in the group?" Sakura was more than grateful for a distraction from all of her worries, but panic was slowly building up. What on earth happened to them?

"Hinata was captain. Kiba, Chouji, Tenten, Lee, and Shino were on that team." However, Tsunade's voice was cracked, and Sakura looked into her sensei's eyes as they walked down the hallways of the hospital.

"Tsunade…" Sakura stretched out her voice.

Her sensei sighed. "Tenten, Lee, and Kiba are going to be okay. The three of them have concussions, bruises, and their fair share of gashes, and Tenten has a broken arm, but other than that they're fine. Akamaru is okay too." She put her head to her palm.

"The other three?"

"Hinata and Chouji are badly hurt. Chouji is in a coma right now. He has multiple broken ribs, and a few of them pierced his lung." Sakura gasped at this information, clutching her clipboard to her chest. "So naturally that lung collapsed. He also had multiple deep gashes on his face, I don't think he'll ever look the same. Shino…" she trailed off.

"Shino?" prompted Sakura, a sick dread filling the pit of her stomach.

"He's gone missing. No one knows what happened to him. Tenten, Lee, and Kiba of course don't remember anything. Hinata and Chouji were the ones that were attacked first as well, so they won't be of any help."

"Hinata's injuries?" Sakura asked, eager to change the subject of Shino. She felt sicker and sicker with every passing second. With the exception of Lee, she knew none of them very well, but the news of such ill had increased her urge to throw up. Not even Naruto and Sasuke combined could distract her from this.

"I'm assigning you to treat her. She will be the trickiest to heal, excluding Chouji, and I don't trust anyone else. I'll have my hands full with Chouji and the others. So Sakura, whatever you're thinking about right now, it needs to be forgotten for now. For her sake, if no one else." Tsunade's eyes were bright with tears, and that turned Sakura's resolve to iron.

"Hai," replied Sakura grimly as they pushed through into the lobby. They entered Tsunade's office and sat down in silence. Sakura let the news digest for a while until she finally asked, "What's wrong with Hinata?"

Tsunade sighed. "She's in trouble, Sakura. Her skull has a few fractures; it's amazing she isn't in a coma like Chouji. Her right shin is totally shattered, and her kneecap was forced off track on that leg. She'll need intensive therapy to make it stronger as well as expert healing." Sakura's insides were boiling at this information, but she forced her face to be completely neutral. She needed to listen.

"She's unconscious right now because her blood pressure shot up. We managed to stabilize her, but a small vessel burst in her brain." This time Sakura couldn't stifle her cry in dismay. "The damaged vessel in question, of course, was repaired, but there is a large chance of damage. The next twenty four hours will be critical. She also has slight damage to her stomach, it was probably just a punch, and is now coughing up blood, but we couldn't do much with that because the vessel required our immediate attention." Tsunade stood up. "Dismissed. Sakura…" she hesitated. "Save her." She pushed Sakura aside to leave the office.

Sakura didn't even hesitate. The pink haired girl knew exactly where Tsunade stored her supplies in the tidy small office, and she threw open the cabinet doors with a bang. She tossed on a hospital apron and snapped surgical gloves into place. She didn't even hesitate as the nurses instructed her to Hinata's room. However, one look at the girl killed all her resolve and left her staring.

Sickly pale skin screamed at her and Hinata's dark, contrasting hair was stained with blood, while her closed eyes were a purple shaded scarlet. Whether it was from violence or lack of sleep, Sakura couldn't tell. She stood there, staring, taking in Hinata's mauled leg wrapped hurriedly in a messy bandage and the bandages around her head, already soaked deep with crimson. Her shirt was badly ripped, and a fair amount of her ghostly pale skin was caked with drying blood.

"Sakura?" A nurse urged, and the word was like a gong going off in the back of Sakura's skull. It was enough for her to leap into action.

"You, clean her up. Get a washcloth as gentle as you can get it. You, watch her monitors. I want to know the second anything happens. Does anyone know what medications she may be on?"

"We had to knock her out, Haruno-san," a golden haired nurse immediately replied. Her curls bounced as she shook her head frantically. "Other than that, we didn't touch her. Tsunade managed to stop the bleeding in her brain, but she said we have to wait it out and see if there's any lasting damage…"

"And she's absolutely right. Thank you. Did she do a scan of her stomach?"

"Hai. All scans are normal now, and she's stopped coughing up blood. The trauma to it obviously took place a while ago, and she aggravated it when she was running back here."

"Was she conscious when you found her? And did she regain consciousness before or after her blood pressure shot up?" Sakura was taking mental notes, trying to decide what to do.

"Yes, she was. She passed out shortly before she entered the gate. She managed to drag herself, while Chouji had to be carried. And she regained consciousness for seconds before she fell unconscious again, and that's when her blood pressure shot up. We don't think she's in a coma."

"All right, that's what I needed to know."

Sakura was in the room for the rest of the day, trying her best to save Hinata's life. Halfway through her procedures, she heard a loud, male scream and pounding on the walls. Instead of annoying her to death as it usually did, it buoyed her. She worked harder and harder, and finally, wiping the sweat off her brow, she finished up. Not once did she think about Naruto or about what had happened. All she had to do was concentrate on her work, and everything would be all right again.

"So, so wrong,"the forbidden thought crossed across her mind wickedly, but Sakura quickly pushed it out of the way.

"Her signs are stable," Sakura finally announced to her team. "We need to operate on her leg. Get the operating room ready, I'll meet you there."

Tsunade peeked into the room. "Sakura, a guest is going crazy with worry. I need you to give him a report. Do you have time?"

"Barely," muttered Sakura under her breath. Smiling a wide, fake smile, she turned to her team. "Get the room ready, but for the love of Kami don't move her until I come here! She's stabilized, but only for now."

"Hai!"

Satisfied, Sakura walked out of the room. However, she was taken aback when Tsunade led her in the opposite direction of the lobby. "Tsunade, I thought you said-"

"I lied." Tsunade's voice was eerily calm. "Kiba is awake, and he's going out of his mind. And your nurses may have gotten a little distracted by a patient in distress."

Sakura nodded slowly. "What should I tell him?"

"The truth. Lies are just going to rattle him even more. The more straightforward you are, the more he'll calm down and let the nurses help him. You understand the situation, I'm sure."

Sakura did understand it, all too well. "Hai, Tsunade. You can count on me."

"I know I can," Tsunade replied softly, and Sakura was slightly shocked about her mentor's unsharpened words. "Just help him. Help both of them. And for Kami's sake, don't tell Naruto about this."

A hand might as well have seized Sakura's heart, because she felt it constrict painfully and her stomach dropped. Just the mention of his name was enough for the ache to resurface again from her cool façade and calm reserves. She managed to recover enough to ask, "Why not?"

"He's…" Tsunade trailed off, and it was obvious she wasn't going to speak unless Sakura took the initiative.

"He's what?" Sakura's pain was violently pushed back by her irritation. "Did he visit you this morning? I found a note…"

"Sakura, last week you wouldn't talk to me about what happened between you two, and now, it's my turn to tell you I can't talk to you about this. Yes, Naruto did talk to me this morning, and no, he didn't say anything about what happened." Tsunade was much more agitated than usual, and Sakura was rapidly getting alarmed.

"Tsunade…?" Sakura asked quietly. "You're not being yourself."

"Sakura, he made me promise not to tell you or anyone else," Tsunade said with so much exhaustion in her voice that it sharply reminded Sakura of Naruto that day in the freezing hail. "But just believe me when I say that letting him know about Hinata's condition is the last thing he needs right now."

The pink haired girl knew her mentor by now. When Tsunade was in this mood, she meant it. She cared too much about Naruto to leave him hiding in the dark for too long, but she also knew what was best for him. Sakura nodded briskly before thrusting herself in front of Tsunade to open the door. She looked over her shoulder.

"I've got this." The kunoichi couldn't even recognize her own voice anymore. It had become bitter and brittle with every passing second. Her heart was trapped in reality's cage, and there was no breaking free now. She never would taste the freedom she had when she was twelve again, and the harsh truth was beginning to fall upon her.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Tsunade said quietly before closing the door behind her. Sakura blinked at the door, before shaking her head violently to clear it. She tugged at her pink strands childishly for a fleeting moment. She walked forward, her eyes piercing into the brown haired boy in front of her.

He was hysterical. He was fighting off the nurse at every angle, and the massive white dog lying in a small bed on the floor was howling in distress, evidently from his master's unreachable fury.

"I need to see her!" Kiba was yelling frantically, shoving at all angles to get the nurses out of the way.

"Enough!"

Sakura's authority in her voice along with anger made the entire room quiet for a minute. She took advantage of the silence while it lasted. "Kiba, I'm treating Hinata right now, no one can see her..."

"It was my fault!" Kiba screamed at her, and Akamaru continued to howl with melancholy. "Mine! I have to see her!"

"Kiba, would you shut up?!" Sakura finally had had enough of his screeching. "Hinata had a brain vessel burst, but she'll suffer no lasting damage from that. She's going into surgery to repair her leg. As you know, it's bad. And she has several broken ribs and a few fractures in the skull. She is in no condition to be seen right now, and you are not helping her by throwing a fit like a twelve year old!"

Kiba stared at her, openmouthed. Fuming, Sakura glared back at him, clutching her clipboard to her side. Finally, Kiba rested onto his pillows, and let the nurse administer the shot that she had been trying to get into him. The shot, obviously a sedative, only took a few minutes before taking its toll. Kiba's eyes fluttered, and even though he fought it for a while, he was soundly sleeping.

"Thank you," the nurse mouthed to her silently. Sakura gave her a brisk nod before leaving the room. She had a surgery to get to.

Everything else would just have to wait.

----

There we go.

Sorry it took me forever to update, I wanted to finish my other fic and put all my energy into that one. Now that I've finished it, this one gets some attention. ;D

You know the drill. Advice, criticism, praise, all is welcome. (The first two are preferred, but praise is nice too. ;D)