Beaten Black and Pink
An AU Sasuke and Sakura Fanfiction
By Krabby Patties

Krabby Patties would like to thank the following people for wicked thoughtful reviews:
x.X.x.294x.X.x.X.x
Tea (anonymous)
Midnight Angel Sakura
shatteredlife shiningspirit
Le Pecore Nere
Theblackroseofkonoha

Special, special thanks to:
mystical spirits

Chapter 11: Your Kiss, Your Calls, Your Crutch, Like the Devil's Got Your Hand
(formerly known as Nurse Uchiha)

Out in the hallway, he shoved our books in his nearby locker. He was pretty good at doing things with one hand as I kept his other arm out of commission.

My headache was so distracting, I didn't wonder why he knew where my locker was. But when I looked up, we were there.

"Do you need anything in your locker before we leave," he asked.

It took me a few seconds to understand the question. "Wait," I said, "where are we going?" I tightened my hold on his arm.

His eyebrows lifted a little and I swore I saw a glimpse of the boy in the Chihaya College advertisement. "To the hospital." I suppose he was startled that I didn't realize most people go to the hospital after a bad hit on the head.

"Oh, no, no," I stuttered. "Don't take me to the hospital."

Sasuke's face became emotionless again. "Why not?"

"I'm fine. The only thing wrong with me now is a bad headache."

He looked down at my grip on his arm as if saying, "Yeah, but you can't even hold yourself up, you loser."

"I'm fine," I repeated.

"No, you're not." He pulled me forward toward my locker and took hold of the lock. "Combination?"

"14-36-14. But really, I'm okay."

In a few flicks of his wrist the lock was open and then my locker was too. "What do you want out of here?"

"Just my backpack, I guess," I replied.

He silently took the item out and tucked it underneath his arm like I wasn't up to holding it, but the only things in it were my wallet and house keys.

When my locker was closed and he started to pull me down the hallway, I tugged on his arm, stopping him.

"Please, Sasuke-kun. I don't want to go to the hospital."

"I'm taking you anyway," he said tersely. If he was frustrated or annoyed with me, he hid it well.

"No, listen. I know how to diagnose a head injury."

He raised an eyebrow that said, "So what?"

I continued. "I'll tell you what to look for and you examine me."

He reluctantly nodded and sat me on the floor against some lockers. Then he sat in front of me. I couldn't believe that I had caused the Uchiha god to sit on ungraciously on a lowly, dirty public school floor. I was in awe and disgusted with myself at the same time.

"Okay," I began. "First, you check my vital signs, which are my blood pressure, pulse and respiratory rates, and temperature."

He opened his mouth and then closed it. Then he gave me a simple What-the-Hell look.

"So, I guess…you can't do most of that." I held out my left arm. "You can at least take my pulse rate. Just tell me if it's too slow or too fast."

He gently took hold of my wrist and my heart fluttered. He pressed two fingers to various spots on my wrist until he could finally feel my pulse the best. He looked up and watched my face, his expression unchanging. My breathing quickened and I was sure he could feel the sudden acceleration of my pulse.

He finally looked away when he let go of my hand. "It seemed too fast," he said.

I was sure that my fast pulse had nothing to do with my head injury do I continued. "Okay, now…I would have a concussion if…" I tried to get around my pounding headache to remember what I had learned from reading a medical-surgical college book for nursing. I recalled the paragraph on concussion. "Cerebral concussion is considered a mild brain injury," I quoted. "If there is any loss of consciousness, it is for five minutes or less. Concussion is characterized by headache, dizziness, or nausea and vomiting. The patient may complain of amnesia of events before or after the trauma."

I looked at Sasuke, who was waiting to finish this hospital appointment. "All right. Go for it, Nurse Uchiha." I smiled when he grimaced.

When he didn't start, I prompted, "Did I lose consciousness for five or less minutes?"

"I don't think so."

He stopped speaking again so waved my hand for him to continue.

"Tch. Do you have a headache," he asked softly.

"Yes," I admitted.

"Is it bad?"

"Kinda."

"Are you dizzy?"

"Yes," I admitted again, but he already knew that.

"Do you feel nauseous?"

"No."

"Do you remember everything that happened before and after you fell?"

I thought for a moment and there were no lapses in my memory. "Yes."

There was a moment of silence.

"Well." I started to help myself up, but Sasuke took hold of my arm and kept me balanced. "I'd say we officially evaluated that I don't have a concussion. And if I don't have a concussion I probably don't have anything worse then that either."

He threw me a skeptical look. "I'm taking you home and telling your mother."

"No! I don't want to go home. And don't tell her. She's just going to overreact."

He set his jaw and started down the hallway.

"Fine," I said, holding onto his arm again. "Take me home, but don't tell my mom I fell. And I promise to tell her if I wake up tomorrow with this same headache."

"Hn." I assumed he accepted the terms.

We stopped at the office. Sasuke took me to the desk and got the secretary's attention.

"I'm taking Haruno Sakura home. She is feeling dizzy and has a headache."

The woman examined me with maternal eyes. "You poor thing. Take some Motrin when you get home and go straight to sleep."

I decided to take the advice, minus the Motrin part; I didn't think that would help.

"Can we keep this off her record," Sasuke asked in a caramel voice. "She's a good student and wants to keep her record clean."

The secretary smiled and wrote something down on a pad of Post-It notes. "Of course."

"Thank you, Reika."

"Anything for you, dear."

.ZOMG.

"You're on a first name basis with the school secretary?"

"Hn."

"You're like a teacher's pet!"

"Hn."

"I bet all the teachers send you on errands."

"Hn."

"I bet Reika does too!"

"Hn."

"What's one thing that you can't convince someone in the school administration to do for you?"

Silence.

"Can you get them to change a D to an A on your report card?"

Silence.

"I bet you can. You have, like, the ability to mesmerize, you know that?"

"Hn.

"I think you're some sort of superhero with superhuman powers."

"Sakura, just take the damn ibuprofen."

I took the glass of water and the pills from his hands. After the medicine was in my body, I put the empty glass on my bedside table.

"Now, go to sleep," he commanded.

As he headed out my bedroom door, I asked him if he was going to back to school.

"No," he replied.

"Where are you going, then?"

"Home."

"Okay." I smiled at him. "Bye, Sasuke-kun. Thanks for all your help."

"Hn."

He closed the bedroom door and I settled into a more comfortable position in my bed.


A.N: Hey, everyone! Sorry this is a day late.

Story news: Newer readers may have been UBER confused when reading this story because of random jumps in the story without any breaks. Like, one paragraph Sakura's talking to Sasuke and then next paragraph, she's at home, chillin'. SO SORRY about that. Fanfiction Net removed my horizontal line breaks. When I posted the last chapter I went back to all the other chapters and put in my own breaks. So that problem is solved.

I'm sorry this chapter pwned in suckage. But to make it up to you people, Chapter 12 is absolutely my favoritest thing that I have ever written. It's twice the length of a normal chapter. And it really gets into the main plot...I think. Be excited for it. I am! I want to get it up as soon as possible.

Would it be mean to ask for 10 reviews before I post Chapter 12? Because I think I'm gonna do it. Sorry. No Chapter 12 until I'm at 77 reviews. (AGH! I FEEL HORRIBLE ASKING THAT!)

Connecticon News: So, it was pretty much own! There weren't any lines to get into any of the rooms inside the convention center. At AnimeBoston, there were lines for EVERYTHING. There were so many people there. Did I tell you I waited over 5 hours for a pass at AnimeBoston? I got to Connecticon at like 7 AM on Friday and waited an hour or so in a short line for them to open the doors and then it took about an hour to get my ticket, because even though I was near the front of the line, you have to consider the Pre-Registered Elite People who had to get in there before us and stuff.

There was an AMAZING Zack from FVII:CC cosplay! I stole a picture of him. He was with an Aerith cosplayer who, I have to admit, was REALLY good too. But I hate Aerith, so I didn't take her picture. And I got so many pictures of Avatar characters. :D Oh, and I didn't make the Katara costume after all. I found some pretty good GUY time-skip Sasukes. I stole they're pictures. But there were no Vaans!! :Sob:

I bought a "I heart Fanfiction" button and a SasukexSakura one, too. I'm proud to represent! But...alas, I lost my SasuSaku one on the way to work or something. I was pissed. And I also went to a Fanfiction 101 panel. I learned a TON of good stuff that I'm definetly going to put into consideration in this story. Like the uber disclaimer you'll see down there. I decided to hype it up.

Other News: Anyone read Fullmetal Alchemist? I just bought volume 15. WHAT CRAP! This is the most boring thing I've ever read! UGH!

Fanfiction removed my AMAZING Zoey 101 parody story, Zoey's Secret! I'm wicked pissed. I got so many flames on that story from Zoey 101 fans. That story was my pride and joy! UGH! And they said: Main reason for removal: "Not allowed: interactive, chat/script, real person, mst, and etc." WTF?! There was none of that in my story! I thought I could trust you Fanfiction dot Net! (By the way, what's mst?)

Sorry for such a long Author's Note. I just had a lot to say. :D

Thumbing through the pages of my fantasies,
ЖЯдβБΨ ۹Ǻ†ŧỊ€ی

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and its characters and plot lines. Naruto is copyrighted 1999 by Masashi Kishimoto. I also do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender and its characters, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and its characters, or Final Fantasy XII and its characters. Concussion quotes from Introductory Medical-Surgical Nursing Eighth Edition by Timby and Smith and Understanding Medical Surgical Nursing Second Edition by Williams and Hopper.


Chapter 12 Preview:

What You're Selling I Won't Buy Anymore

"They're not a couple." That was the first time Neji spoke. His flat voice totally ruined the atmosphere.

"What?" Naruto yelled.

Neji looked at us. "It's obvious. They don't act like they're dating at all.'

What? Did Neji know? My heart raced. I wasn't afraid of what others would think so much as how angry Sasuke might get if people figured this out.

Edited 01.29.09