Alright, I haven't written anything in a couple of months and my writing skills seem to have shriveled down to nothingness. So, this is just…yeah, it's not good. But I needed to write and publish something so there it is. I hope that it's not too bad.

Also, the rating of this fanfic may go up to M. I'm having some smexy thoughts about this fanfic :P But, nothing is sure yet!

Disclaimer: I do own Naruto… NOT.

Doctors Make The Best Patients: Chapter One

….

"Sakura-"

"I'm fine."

"You're hurt."

"It's a surface cut, Naruto," Sakura sighed. "I'll heal it."

"Your chakra's depleted."

"Then it'll heal by itself. I'll just dab some disinfectant on it, bandage it again and it'll be fine."

The blond just pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at her injured arm as if he could intimidate the wound into healing.

She'd been healing a fellow ninja who had been injured during a battle. Probably in shock and thinking he was still in battle, he hadn't appreciated her touching her and had lashed out with a kunai. They had to sedate the ninja before taking his vitals and taking him into surgery.

Because she had been in the middle of a shift, she had simply slapped a bandage on it and continued her work.

But all through the rest of her shift, she'd kept thinking about the incident. Sakura had found it weird that they hadn't stripped him of all his weapons as the nation's protocol dictated when it came to admitting all ninjas to a hospital. They couldn't have weapons in the hospital both for the safety of the staff and the patients. She'd decided to talk to someone about it later.

…And, now she found that she forgot to do so. It was going to have to wait till tomorrow. She was tired to her bones. She looked at Naruto. He was still glaring at her arm.

"Really, Naruto. I'm fine. I'll take care of it when I get home. Then, I'll be healthy as a horse."

"You know? You do look a little bit like a horse," Sai helpfully intoned.

Sakura gave him the stink eye. He was lucky her chakra levels were in the shitter, otherwise, she'd already have him six feet under. She suspected that Sai was already over his social obliviousness and continued to make these kinds of remarks solely for his personal enjoyment. She had no evidence to support her theory. But, she had a gut feeling about it and her gut had yet to disappoint her.

She was currently having dinner with the former members of Team Seven, aside from Kakashi who was on assignment somewhere. And by the former members of Team Seven, she did indeed include Sasuke. True to his nature, he hadn't spoken a word to her –or really anyone else- throughout the meal. Instead, he seemed to be content just eating his rice –they weren't eating ramen, yay- with the diligence he put into every task he undertook. Which made her think of him undertaking other activities with diligence… Nope, not going there!

Since he'd been back two and a half years ago, their interactions were limited to the strictest of circumstances: her treating him for an injury, discussing a mission or something of that nature. Other than that, they had been civil to each other but hadn't engaged in a conversation that had more than five sentences.

That was perfectly fine by her. Totally. It wasn't like she still had feelings for him. She sneaked a look at him and barely stopped her cheeks from going red.

Okay, maybe lust, but that was absolutely it.

She let out a big yawn and it wasn't just because she was trying to hide the fact that she was staring at him. She was about to fall asleep in her chair. A thirty six hour shift in the hospital would do that to anyone.

"Listen, I'm heading home to catch up on some Zs."

"And to clean the wound?" Naruto insisted.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And to clean the wound."

She hopped off her stool, gave Sai and Naruto a hug and waved awkwardly at Sasuke.

After disinfecting the wound as she'd promised, Sakura got into her room and flopped down on the bed. As always, against her will, her eyes drifted to the picture on her nightstand of the old Team Seven. Specifically, it drifted to the young scowling raven-haired boy. Her heart squeezed painfully. It'd been years, she should be over this by now. Every night before she went to sleep, she made the decision to put the picture somewhere else, or store it away, on the worst days; she'd decide to burn it. By the time morning came around, she never did.

Heaving a great sigh, she pulled the covers over her head and drifted to sleep.

Later that night…

Like he did every night for the past week after his nightly training sessions with Naruto, Sasuke jumped from a tree branch into the garden making sure he was silent and unseen by passersby. Every day, after practice, he'd come by her place, do a parameter check for precisely two minutes, make sure she was okay then he'd leave.

This started when he first glimpsed Sakura's name on a file in the Hokage's office. Like a moth to a flame, he'd come back at night to the office (broke into the office), read the file and hadn't been able to go home without checking on her ever since.

Creeping around her house without her knowledge is already pretty stalker-ish, an annoying voice piped up in his head. And a just little bit obsessive. Sasuke mentally shrugged. He never pretended to be sane… But she made him feel sane. Besides, he wasn't doing this for entirely selfless reasons. From what he'd discovered earlier this week, just seeing her house seemed to loosen the noose that he constantly felt gripping his head –and his heart. Just for two minutes every day, he didn't feel like drowning under the weight of his guilt, his sorrow. Keeping her safe had become detrimental to his sanity -which was questionable at best.

Usually, at this late hour, he'd find her lights off as she'd either be in the hospital or asleep already.

Tonight, the lights were on.

It wasn't a big deal but for some reason, it sent warning bells ringing in his head. Deciding to investigate further, despite all reasonable thought, he'd headed to her doorstep.

He rang the door bell and listened. There was no response and no sound coming from the house.

Maybe she was asleep and simply forgot to turn the lights off, he thought. He rang the bell again.

And, again…And, again.

His stomach clenched uncomfortably and suddenly, he was seven years old again and coming home to find his parents slaughtered by his brother. His head swam and his heart beat sounded so loud and fast in his ears. He resisted the urge to cover his ears and squeeze. He hadn't been this close to a panic attack in close to a decade.

Sasuke breathed through the panic and got out a kunai making quick work of the lock. He made a mental note to get Sakura better security measures for her house.

"Sakura," he called.

There was no answer. He let himself in and headed to the living room… and felt the blood drain from his face.

A trail of blood ruined the previously pristine carpet that decorated the living room floor. From the splashing pattern, whoever it was, had headed from the stairs to the living room near a telephone and then ambled over to the bathroom. Before he even gave the command to his body, he found himself stepping into the bathroom and falling to his knees beside Sakura's unconscious body. She was sprawled on the floor on her stomach in a pool of blood. Her skin was ghost-white and her hair was floating in the crimson liquid, some of it was plastered to her skull. Sasuke, who hadn't been in touch with any powers that be in over a decade, started praying fervently.

Don't be dead.

Don't be dead.

Don't be dead.

The thought echoed through his mind as he checked her vitals. Her pulse was weak and dangerously slow but it was still there. Her breathing was faint too but there was no chest murmuring. Her skin was clammy and, from what he can tell, her body temperature has dropped. He checked for any trauma or breaks in her neck or spine. Finding none, he turned her on her back and checked for injuries. The only one that he saw was the large gash in her arm. It was probably the source of all the blood on the floor. He grabbed a small towel from the rack next to him and ripped off the bottom of his shirt. He used the towel to put pressure on the wound and secured it tightly around the arm with the piece of his shirt trying not to cut off the circulation in her arm. He picked her up in his arms as gently and he could and, still praying, he headed for the hospital.

Sasuke had never run as fast as he did that night. Because of the intensive training session he had just before going to check on her, Sasuke's legs cramped. But, he barely noticed their protests. Instead, he pushed through the shards of pain that shot up to his brain and focused solely on getting Sakura to the emergency room.

Halfway there, he felt her stir against him and let out a pained moan.

"Sakura?"

"Hmm."

"What happened?"

"H-Had to get it out. Phone won't…won't work… I had to get it out."

"Had to get what out?"

She closed her eyes and seemed to drift back into unconsciousness but he needed whatever information he could get to give to the doctors at the ER.

"Sakura!"

She made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat but opened her eyes.

"You had to get what out?" he asked again.

"Poison."

Shit!

"What kind?" he asked as he ran harder.

"Beautiful…lady…"

Aaaand she was out for the count. He tried calling her name, shaking her. She wouldn't response. Going into what other people would probably label as total and utter freak-out mode, Sasuke ran even harder than before ignoring his screaming legs.

Less than a minute later, he burst through the ER's door.

"I need a doctor," he yelled.

A doctor came running and halted for a fraction of a second when she recognized him and the woman in his arms. But, her training quickly caught up with her surprise and led him to a gurney. Carefully, he lowered Sakura to the thin mattress.

"Do you know what happened?" the doctor asked as she checked Sakura's vital signs and started to unwound the make-shift bandage around her arm.

"She said she was poisoned and then she said something about a beautiful lady."

"Anything else?"

"No."

Two nurses came, helped the doctor set up an IV line, and started carting the gurney away. Sasuke followed but one of the nurses put a hand on his chest.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here and let us handle it," he said.

Sasuke gave him his infamous death glare. Most men ran for the hills when faced with this look. This one however gulped audibly (and might have shook a little) but otherwise stood his ground.

Sasuke didn't trust anyone with her but he knew that he had to. Resisting the urge to run his fist through the wall, he backed down. He had to call the rest of the team anyway; they'd want to hear about this. And they would help him track down whoever did this to Sakura and strangle them with their own intestines.

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I hope you guys liked that! So, I have already written the second and third chapter. But, they're in desperate need of editing. So, if you're a good beta-reader or if you know a good beta-reader that's willing to work with me on this fanfic, please contact me. Just send a PM or something. I'm desperate.

…REVIEW, please! *puppy dog eyes*

Peace-out