When Sakura walked into the main lobby of the hospital, she could feel the atmosphere in the room hit her like a tidal wave. As she had requested, her entire medical class was sitting out in the reception area, taking up chairs and lounging on the floor. The students—no, nurses and doctors, she corrected—were uncharacteristically quiet. Sakura slowly made her way across the space, keeping her eyes forward as she passed all of the people she had been training for the past month, working alongside for three months. After a minute she reached the large staircase that led to the second floor and climbed up high enough to be seen by the entire room. The woman took a few slow breaths before slowly turning around and leaning against the railing.

Scanning the room, Sakura could feel the pain and exhaustion emitting off of the people before her. Their faces, usually bright and eager to learn, now seemed aged and weary. Many looked as though they hadn't slept, others as if they had just reluctantly woken up and forced themselves to rejoin the world.

Sakura could empathize with all of them.

"I know that you are all tired," she said slowly, her own voice sounding just as exhausted as everyone looked. "In the past week and a half, you have suffered a great loss." Her eyes gradually made their way to each face. "You have lost friends, neighbors, family members . . ." Sakura paused long enough to lower herself into a sitting positing, arms resting on her knees. "Shops and houses have been destroyed; you witnessed your village—your home—become the target of a brutal attack." Sakura took a deep breath before raising her chin up once more. "All I want to say . . . is that I am so incredibly proud of you all."

Several people in the room shifted in their seats, slightly surprised by her words. A few even sat a little taller. Sakura continued. "Each and every one of you acted with the upmost professionalism that is expected of seasoned veterans. You utilized all of the skills you have learned, used your knowledge to assess each individual case to figure out how to save those who came in. You dealt with a variety of battle injuries, burn victims, people suffering from pulmonary infections due to the smoke from explosions, and so much more. Those who helped control the trauma center," she looked over to a small group sitting to her left, "thank you." She glanced over to the group sitting near the couches. "Nurses: not only did you assist those in the trauma center, but you also kept an eye on patients who were here before the attack, and I want to thank you for not forgetting about them." Her eyes then traveled to the small group on her right, Ken sitting in the center. "To the surgeons who worked with Ken on the worst cases: you were put in a position where you were faced with injuries that you previously did not know how to fix. But you stayed calm and followed instructions, learning on the spot to save lives. Thank you." Next, her eyes went to the group at the foot on the stairs. "To the men and women who went out into the battle to heal your fellow shinobi: you showed incredible bravery and courage and ultimately helped in the actual battle. On behalf of the shinobi whose lives you saved, thank you." Sakura raised her gaze to the entire lobby once more; the faces below her were now more attentive than before.

"We couldn't save everyone," she said somberly, "but because of each and every one of you, as well as the rest of the hospital staff, you saved more lives than you lost. That is an incredible victory in the midst of the pain and loss you are feeling. I want you all to keep that in mind as we continue identifying those who died: that you saved more than you lost, that you are valued, that because of you, there are so many people still alive right now."

The atmosphere throughout the room shifted, a new energy spreading amongst the students, doctors, nurses, and general staff. People started turning to each other, sharing their own personal gratitude for each other. Sakura could only watch with a smile as the hospital staff grew closer despite the tragedy they suffered. She could only hope that they would remain strong and focused once this all passed. There was pride in her heart, a sense of hope for what this team could one day accomplish.

Sakura stood back up, brushing off her pants and rolling her shoulders. "We have a lot of patients still in the hospital. Continue your best work and care. Take care of each other. You are dismissed."

In the very back of the room stood a man in uniform, silently observing, listening, committing the scene to memory. As the nurses and doctors began to shuffle out of the space, he stealthily made his way towards the main doors, gone before anyone could notice.

When Sasuke had first entered the village after the attack, he had been shocked and angry. The sight of the village—his village—suddenly in shambles with smoke rising in different areas had made his stomach churn and his vision bleed red.

Now, as he stared down at the official investigation report, he was absolutely livid.

"You found nothing?" he spat in pure disbelief.

The woman standing before him shook her head, a grim look on her face. "Their homes were empty. There were no signs of any struggle to indicate a kidnapping and no leads as to where they would have gone if they left willingly," she informed. "All we know is that no one has seen or heard from any of them since a week prior to your leaving, aside from the one who ran the office in your absence."

Sasuke put the investigation report back in the folder and set it inside one of the desk drawers. "Have your team continue their search. If there is any new information, I want to be informed immediately," he demanded. The woman gave a curt nod before leaving the office.

The door had barely closed when it opened again, this time an older man walking through. Sasuke recognized him as the head of the academy. "What is it?" Sasuke mentally reprimanded himself for how rude he sounded; he actually liked this gentleman.

However, the man was unperturbed at the attitude. "I came to inform you that we—the staff at the academy—have decided to push back the graduation ceremony," he said. Sasuke's eyebrows rose slightly; he had completely forgotten about the gradation, suddenly recalling that it was scheduled to take place in the next few days. The older gentleman gave a sad smile. "We feel that it is not the right time. There is too much work to be done in the village to worry about this at the present time. Also, several of our students are suddenly doubting their abilities—they want a few more months to learn before being sent off on missions." Sasuke sighed, understanding what wasn't being said: the attack shocked the students, giving them a harsh reminder of what it sometimes meant to be a shinobi. "We were thinking of holding off the graduation until sometime in the spring."

Sasuke frowned at the man. "That's another four or five months. Are you sure you want to wait so long?"

The academy head nodded. "Between the village needing to recover and wanting to avoid the winter months, we feel spring would be best."

It wasn't long afterwards that the two had signed off to officially postpone the ceremony until the end of March, the gentleman soon leaving afterwards. Sasuke was about to sit down to go through temporary housing requests when another person burst into his office, causing him to further ignore his growing stack of paperwork.

This was how the rest of the day progressed. There were people coming in and out of his office almost constantly, the paperwork and reports began to pile up, and he found himself growing more irritated by the hour.

It wasn't until the sun had nearly set when Sasuke sat back into his chair, his office silent for the first time in almost fifteen hours.

"With all due respect, you look terrible, Lord Otokage."

Sasuke ran a hand over his eyes, sending a half-hearted glare towards Isamu. The Jounin was standing in the corner of the room, leaning against one of the shelving units in a relaxed pose, arms crossed over his chest. Isamu quickly took in the appearance of his leader, noting the exhaustion in his face. As the Uchiha removed his hand from his face, Isamu caught a brief glimpse of the purple eye, usually hidden beneath the Uchiha's hair. "You know, if you showed off the eye more, I bet the council would have been scared enough to not disrespect you so much," he commented. Realizing how candid he was being, he muttered a brief apology. Sasuke shook his head slightly in response, his hair falling back over the mismatched eye.

"What do you need?"

Isamu straightened up and approached the desk. "There are a few Genin and Chunin teams helping to clean up the village, another small group is guarding the grounds where the enemy bodies are being kept, and we are almost done clearing away the ruble from the bombed sites." He paused, walking around the desk to the large window. In the streets below, people moved slowly; their eyes darted around as if waiting for another strike. It was odd to think that just a week ago, those same streets were filled with blood and weapons and smoke. Isamu let out a long sigh, pushing the images from his mind. "The shinobi are wondering what to do next, sir. They are growing anxious," he said, casting a sidelong glance at the Uchiha.

Sasuke closed his eyes briefly, collecting his thoughts. "Continue in restoring the village. Stay alert for possible enemies leaking in. We are temporarily weakened; we don't want any other secret enemies taking advantage." After a moment's pause he picked up his pen and returned to finalizing one of the numerous witness reports of the attack.

Aside from the scratching of a pen and occasional shuffling of papers, the room remained silent for some time. Isamu continued to observe the citizens below as the sun slowly set over the horizon; street lamps were lit as the village darkened, casting the streets in a faint glow. Before long there was a soft knock at the door. Noticing that the pen didn't cease its scratching, Isamu took it upon himself to walk the length of the office to greet the visitor. Opening the large door, Isamu recognized the guest as one of the hospital workers—Ken, was it? The dark-haired man nodded in greeting. "Is the Otokage available?"

"He's preoccupied at the moment," Isamu stated, easily slipping into a professional mindset. He watched as the man—Ken, he was sure—bent and dug around inside the bag over his shoulder before pulling out a folder thick with papers. The doctor handed the stack to Isamu; the Jounin eyed him questioningly.

"An updated list of casualties," Ken informed. "It includes the official list of those who died during the attack as well as those who have died this past week. We've had a lot of people come back with unforeseen complications," he added.

Isamu tucked the folder under his arm. "Unforeseen complications?"

Ken's eyes shifted around lazily, shoulders sagging a bit. "Infections, internal wounds that weren't caught the first time, lungs still filled with soot . . ." the man trailed off, showing the exhaustion he was obviously feeling. Isamu could relate.

"How's Sakura handling all of this?" he asked idly, leaning against the doorframe. His senses registered the pausing of the pen from the desk behind him, hovering, listening.

Ken let out a sigh, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. "Better than she was a week ago, I think. She only sleeps when she passes out, which has happened three times since the attack. Haru got her out of that room long enough to eat something a few hours ago. She's really determined," he commented lightly. Isamu asked if there had been any progress, to which the medic shrugged his shoulders. "I think she's getting there, but there are a few areas that are proving difficult to figure out." There was a brief pause. Isamu still sensed a lack of movement from inside the office. "I'm worried about her," Ken said, voice low. "She's running herself ragged between saving Naomi, running the hospital, and dealing with the growing death count. She's putting her own health at risk. Haru and I are running out of ways to get her to slow down; someone needs to talk some sense into the woman."

Isamu nodded, his heart heavy. In the days following the Otokage's return, Isamu had made it his personal mission (as well as reassuring the Otokage) to stop by the hospital and check up on the woman. With the Otokage back, Sakura's mind had become even more focused on all of the work for the hospital and saving her friend. The Jounin knew that she was still neglecting sleep and food; he also guessed that the only reason she put on a clean outfit that morning was to look presentable for her speech to the hospital staff.

Bringing himself out of his own thoughts, Isamu straightened and gave a slight bow to the medic. "I'll make sure Lord Otokage receives these lists, thank you," he said respectfully before closing the door. He turned and walked back into the office, setting the folder of papers down on the desk. The Uchiha was back to writing out the witness reports, though Isamu sensed that his mind was elsewhere.

"When you were gone," the Jounin started slowly, "it took days for me to convince her to take a break—and all she did was shower. She didn't sleep, barely ate anything, and didn't even take a moment to put on clothes that weren't soaked in soot and blood." He paused for a moment, trying to read his leader's face for some sign of a response. "Now that she isn't worried about you, it will take a lot more to convince her to take care of herself." The pen slowed until coming to a stop, resting idly in the kage's hand. "I can write out reports," Isamu continued. "I can also create a rough draft of the attack to prepare for an official statement sent out to the other villages." When Sasuke leaned back in his chair, putting down the pen, Isamu pushed again. "I'll organize any messages for you while you're out. You need to get out of this office and Sakura needs to get out of the hospital," he said, voice calm yet firm. "I can handle things for a little while."

After a few moments, Sasuke slowly stood from his chair. Isamu watched as his leader strode across the room, exchanging his kage robe for a thicker black coat before heading towards the door. Before opening it, he paused, casting a blank stare towards the Jounin. "Thank you for watching over her," he muttered, a hint of honest sincerity in his voice.

For a short while during the day, things had been relatively calm.

Sakura had been healing Naomi for well over half the day, periodically going out to check on the rest of the hospital. The top medics were handling things well; Sakura didn't feel the need to assist in every case that came in. The girl who was running the main desk during the attack was back to work, promising Sakura countless times that she was okay and that she was fine to work. Sakura didn't fully believe her, but she didn't argue.

She had just sent Ken to the Otokage Tower with an updated list of casualties when a nurse rushed up to her, yelling about a trauma case. With Ken delivering papers and Haru having gone home a few hours ago, Sakura was the only major medic left on call. Without hesitation she followed the frantic nurse down to the trauma center.

Bursting through the doors, Sakura was met with the gruesome sight of a young Genin boy bleeding off the gurney. Rushing over, she vaguely registered the other two members of his team being healed by some of her students. Now over the gurney, Sakura saw that the boy had a large section just under his ribcage that appeared to have been taken out, burn marks on the edges of the wound. The same type of injury was on his thigh; his right arm was hanging off his shoulder by just the bone and a few thin layers of tissue. The boy's clothes were covered in soot and dirt.

"What happened?" Sakura shouted, eyes never leaving the body.

A medic behind her shouted at one of the other Genin. "Explosive tags," a young girl's voice croaked, fighting against the healer. "We were watching the village border and ran into a trap. Is he going to be okay?" came her voice, shaking, before she collapsed back onto her own gurney.

'Explosive tags?' Sakura thought to herself. That would explain the chunk missing from his torso. She called over another medic. "Make sure his trachea is clear," she ordered. "Clean out any soot you find." The medic stood over the boy's head, getting to work on Sakura's order. "I want someone to start patching up his shoulder; do what you can to save the mobility in his arm," she ordered. Another medic jumped in and began cleaning the wound to prepare to reattach the muscle and tissue.

Sakura positioned herself on the genin's left side directly over the torso. Now that she was getting a better look at the injury, she noticed that not only had the explosive tag burnt through the fine layers of skin below his ribs, but his left lung was exposed and covered in soot. 'This is bad . . .' Without hesitation the woman began to close up surrounding areas to prevent further blood loss while simultaneously pulling unwanted dirt and toxins off of the lung and surrounding muscles. It was a delicate and advanced procedure; she had to be acutely aware of two major tasks at once while having the perfect balance of medical chakra to utilize different techniques at once. In the one hand, she was sealing major bleeding areas and reconnecting the tissue; the other hand was using medical chakra to pull the soot out of the boy's lung. She was also periodically receiving updates from the other medics about the child's condition. His arm was completely reattached, but they would not be sure of his mobility and muscle function for another week. The injury on his thigh was completely healed, though he would need to take antibiotics to avoid infection.

The medic who had healed his thigh had eventually moved to assist Sakura in closing up the wound surrounding the lung, which gave her the luxury of focusing completely on restoring the lung. Once the toxins were extracted she began to carefully regenerate enough cells to help close the gap at the tip of his lung. She was forced to put a bit of her own special regenerative chakra into the procedure; it was unheard of in most cases, but Sakura was Tsunade's disciple and had therefore received her medical ingenuity and determination to succeed. Once the lung was sealed, she continued pumping chakra into in to encourage blood flow and help restore its function; she did not want this boy being put on a transplant list. However, after a few minutes, she still could not get the lung to function on its own. Searching around the rest of the chest cavity, she noticed that some of the soot had burned parts of the upper lung, as well. Sakura spread her fingers a bit to cover the left half of his torso, weaving chakra throughout his cardiovascular system to jump-start the healing process. It took more time than she anticipated, but after a while she could feel his lungs—both of them—working on their own, albeit a little slower than what was considered healthy, but she knew that was something that will improve in time once the inflammation went down.

Sakura stepped back, taking in the Genin team as a whole, happy to see that not only was this boy finally stabilized, but his two teammates were doing just as well, if not better. "Take them all up to the recovery floor; they should be okay, but I want this one here to stay for at least a week so we can monitor his progress." She was met with a series of nods from the fellow medics before watching the kids rolled towards the elevators.

Taking a moment to herself, Sakura closed her eyes and took a slow breath before releasing it in an exhausted sigh. Turning on her heel, she started to make her way back to the stairs, determined to go back to healing Naomi. She wanted to get in at least a few more hours and debated on grabbing a coffee from the hospital cafeteria. However, before she could consider if she wanted cream and sugar or just take it black, a thick feeling enveloped her head, causing her to stumble slightly. As her vision began to twist and blur, Sakura's hand reached out for something—anything—to grab on to as her knees suddenly gave out from under her and the floor came rushing up.

'Fucking hell.'

When Sakura woke up, the first thing she noticed was that it was much darker than it should have been. Her eyes weren't blinded by the hospital's fluorescents and white walls. As her eyes adjusted, she recognized the the large industrial desk, the floor-to-ceiling shelves lining the walls, the window overlooking the central square of the village.

She was in her office; someone had laid her on the couch.

Taking a deep breath, the pinkette slowly sat up, keeping a hand on the side of her head. There was a dull ache behind her eyes, increasing slightly as she shifted positions. "Damn," she mumbled. She must have hit her head when she passed out.

"You're awake."

Sakura jumped slightly, causing the owner of the voice to chuckle softly. At the other end of the couch sat Sasuke, a book in his hand. His eyes were observing her carefully as she straightened. Sakura could feel warmth rushing to her cheeks. Seemingly satisfied — with what, Sakura couldn't tell — Sasuke turned his attention back to what he had been reading. "What are you doing here?" Sakura asked.

"You passed out."

Sakura almost rolled her eyes at this. "That's why I'm here, in my office, waking up on a couch." She shifted so that her body was facing him. Sakura gave him a quizzical look. "Why are you here?"

Sasuke kept his eyes on the pages in his lap. "Because you passed out." It didn't take a genius to sense that this answer did not please his ex-teammate. Closing the book with a snap!, Sasuke glanced over in her direction. "They found you on the floor in the middle of a hallway. Your chakra levels were well below what is considered alarming." Sasuke turned his gaze towards the window. "I came by to get you out of the hospital for the night because you have been working too much. You had passed out."

Sakura watched his face closely, looking for a crack in the carefully-held facade. Her mind was working in overdrive to figure out what was going on in his mind. She knew, of course, that she had been overworking herself lately. Her body deciding to shut down was a clear indicator of that fact. She would have expected one of the hospital staff to bring her to the office space to rest up.

She would not have bet on waking up to find Sasuke sitting on the couch with her.

Sakura had felt for a while now that something was shifting between them. He was more open with her than when she arrived in the Sound Village. There was a lack of the initial tension and formalities. The brief moments between them, when they were alone, felt somehow softer. Now, sitting here in the silence of her office, with the light of the evening sun peeking over the building tops into her window, she felt that same softness.

And there was something else. Something Sakura couldn't quite name.

Sakura was about to speak again when Sasuke beat her to it. "I am here," he said slowly, "because I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Whatever Sakura was about to say left her mind in that moment. 'To make sure . . . I was okay?' "You didn't have to do that," she said breathlessly, still processing his words. "You have much more important things to worry about, especially now."

At this Sasuke's head turned sharply. His eyes had narrowed ever so slightly, lips turned into a frown. "You are the head medic of this village," he said firmly. "The entire hospital has relied on you since the day you arrived. Your health and wellbeing can directly affect the entire Sound Village." He paused for a moment. "You are not unimportant, Sakura."

Sakura sat still, silently watching as Sasuke leaned forward to rest his elbow on his knee. He ran a rand through his hair, brows furrowed.

"When I received word that the village was attacked, it was already 48 hours after the first bomb went off. I had to summon the Susano'o to make up for the lost time." He paused, taking a few breaths. He could feel his past anxieties resurfacing as he recalled those moments. "I could only imagine what I would come back to. Of all the scenarios that crossed my mind, only one scared me the most." Sasuke rubbed his hand over his eyes. "I was worried that I would come back and you . . ."

Sakura recalled how he had reacted when she saw him in his office after returning. She remembered how relieved she had felt to see him back, to see him safe. To just see him. At the time, amidst the stress and exhaustion, she had given in to her sudden need to hold him, to make sure he had been real and not some cruel figment of her imagination. Now that she thought back, he had moved toward her, as well. He had held her just as tightly.

He had been, Sakura realized, just as relieved to see her.

Before she could second guess herself, Sakura reached a hand out and placed it over his knee. At the sudden contact, Sasuke sat back and leaned into the couch cushions. A few moments later, he took her hand off of his knee and held it between them. "When I came here to find you, you were on the floor with a nurse shouting for help." Sasuke gripped her hand tighter, thumb idly running over the back of her knuckles. "You are not unimportant."

Sakura stared down at their hands for a few minutes, turning his words over in her head. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the rush of emotion she felt in her chest. But she decided to take another step forward in that moment.

Keeping their hands connected, Sakura slid over so she was sitting directly next to Sasuke. In the same moment, Sasuke turned his body slightly to better face her own. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, hoping he would feel the reassurance she wanted to give. "I'm okay," she said quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."

It was around 10 in the evening when the door to the office opened. Sasuke glanced at the newcomer for a brief moment before turning his gaze back to the window.

Haru stood in the light of the hallway, looking curiously at the sight before him, feeling intrusive. Sakura was asleep on the couch, head resting against Sasuke's shoulder. Her legs were lazily crossed, body curled into the man next her. Sasuke was idly running his fingertips through her hair.

"Good evening, Lord Otokage," Haru greeted. He kept his voice soft; sleep came rarely to his female boss these days. "I have an update for Sakura on a patient."

"Don't wake her if it's bad," came the short reply. Haru's eyes widened slightly before lowering his head. After a moment, he stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Sasuke listened to the man's footsteps grow faint until everything was quiet once more. His fingers paused in stroking her hair as he carefully placed his chin atop her head, sighing softly. He knew that they both had a long list of duties to attend to. He knew that at some point this moment would end and tomorrow would arrive with more troubles and problems to solve.

But tomorrow would have to wait.

Welcome back!

We are at the point where things start to progress in the story. I know many have commented about this being a slow burn - and that is intentional. But hey, sometimes a slow burn brings the best heat lol.

Please review and see you soon :)