Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
--
Sometimes Gaara wondered why he had become the Kazekage at all. Really, once you got around the thrill of protecting the village from looming doom, it was all just paperwork. Paperwork and Kankuro wasting ample amounts of his time trying to hook him up with random females.
Not that he had anything to do with his extra time, anyways. But still.
So when a messenger brought him a scroll from Konoha's Hokage, requesting his presence, he practically jumped at the opportunity.
--
Sakura turned away from the bloody mess that was her teammate. The stench of blood was suffocating, it was everywhere. She leaned a hand on a wall for support and succumbed to the nausea that had threatened her ever since she started searching. She couldn't stop dry heaving after there was nothing left to throw up. A strangled moan escaped her, and she stopped for a moment, surprised. Did that sound really come from her?
Sasuke, you idiot! Sasuke!
She knelt next to him and checked his pulse with a shaking hand. The back of her throat burned with horrible familiarity when she found it. She wasn't sure what made her want to cry, that there was still a pulse, or that it was barely there.
Forcing the tears back, she rolled him over as gently as she could and straightened him out. So many wounds...he had lost so much blood. She shook her head a little. He was most prominently bleeding from his stomach. She peeled his shirt off as gently as she could. The blood had slightly congealed over where it looked like he'd been impaled. Sakura closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She had to calm down. She couldn't afford to screw this up.
God, it's a wonder he's alive.
She placed her hands over his stomach, trying to ignore the way he flinched away. After a brief moment of concentration she poured her chakra into him, flawlessly stitching together the damaged flesh.
Cells...tissue...muscle...
She pulled away. A fresh layer of newly grown skin replaced what had been a gaping hole minutes ago, still slightly pink. She turned to the rest of the wounds, all of which were less serious. As she worked she talked.
"It's okay, Sasuke-kun. I'll heal you up and take you to the hospital. You'll be fine. Naruto's coming too, no doubt he heard me screaming my head off. And when you get out of the hospital, we can all go out for ramen. Kakashi-sensei too. Then again, ramen's not that healthy, is it? Maybe we should take you out to...a veggie grill, or something."
It was amazing how the boy could turn her into a blubbering mess, even in unconsciousness.
With a sigh she picked him up, carefully channeling chakra to give her the needed strength.
--
"Yeah...I'll be staying here the night. Me? I'm fine. I swear. Uh-huh. I'll be home tomorrow, okay? I love you. Bye."
Sakura hung up the hospital phone and walked back to Sasuke's room, stumbling every once in a while. She felt dizzy and a little disoriented from her sudden loss of blood. Blood that was now in Sasuke, thanks to her donation.
Naruto was lying on the empty cot in Sasuke's room, eyes closed and breathing deeply. They hadn't been able to contact Kakashi yet. Sakura glanced at Sasuke. He was pale, even more so than usual, but other than that he looked like he was going to be all right. Her eyes rested on the IV drip attached to his arm.
"Move your ass over," she mumbled, poking Naruto in the side. He obeyed, and she crawled onto the cot next to him. "He's fine, Naruto," she added softly. "Go to sleep." He smiled weakly , eyes remaining closed, and drifted off after about ten minutes. She followed soon after.
--
A pair of onyx eyes snapped open. Sasuke gasped slightly as he awoke, blurred images of the night before clouding his mind.
GET UP!
But he wasn't there. His attacker was no longer there. And Sasuke wasn't bleeding, like he'd remembered. How –
He turned and his eyes rested on his two sleeping teammates, a mass of tangled limbs and mingled snores.
Ah.
Naruto was drooling on Sakura's arm. She was going to be pissed when she woke up.
From his surroundings and the smell, he was in the hospital. Judging by the bright sunshine that came in through the small hospital window, it was morning. He closed his eyes again, trying to recollect what had happened. He was ambushed by...who? Why couldn't he picture his face?
He was wearing a mask, Sasuke recalled. I never saw his face.
Sakura mumbled something in her sleep. Naruto, after emitting an earth shaking snore, rolled right off the edge of the mattress, pulling Sakura half of the way with him. He was left on the floor, blinking at the ceiling, with Sakura's torso hanging off the edge of the cot.
"Why're you s' loud, Naruto?" She slurred sleepily, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes. Then she noticed Sasuke. "Oh!" And then, "Eww, Naruto, you drooled on me!"
"Wazzat?" He mumbled, crawling under the cot. He curled up on the floor, intent on going back to sleep.
"Dobe, get up," Sasuke said in monotone. Naruto's head snapped up and slammed against the bottom of the cot. Sakura could actually feel it through the mattress.
"Owww...oh shit, ow."
Sakura reached under the mattress with a sigh and pulled Naruto out by the collar of his shirt.
"Moron," she told him endearingly, already healing the impressive swelling on his head. Sasuke watched, blandly wondering what Naruto would do if Sakura hadn't become a medic. Probably die.
"So who did it?" The blonde asked expectantly as soon as Sakura released him.
"I don't know," Sasuke replied, facing the ceiling and using his hands as a pillow. "He cheated," he added, scowling.
Naruto snickered and Sasuke glared, daring him to say something. Sakura coughed awkwardly. "So, uh, how'd he cheat?"
"Popped out of nowhere and used a chakra sucking jutsu on me before I could even turn around," Sasuke looked greatly displeased. "Kept going 'Die Uchiha, die!' like a goddamn maniac."
"What did he look like?"
"He was wearing a mask. He was bald," he stated, knowing before the words left his lips how useless they were.
"Well, that's better than nothing. I think we should notify Tsunade-sama."
"As we speak," Naruto grinned, and summoned a small frog. Sakura jerked away, completely revolted. The summon was sent quickly on it's way to feed this tidbit of information to the Hokage.
"So," Naruto continued, sucking on his bleeding thumb. "What happened after that?"
"I got the shit beat out of me."
"Well we figured as much," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "You were pretty bad off when Sakura-chan found you."
Sasuke cast a questioning look at Sakura, who flushed.
"I just healed you a little and took you to the hospital. It wasn't a big deal, really." Oh yeah, no big deal. I just found you in a gory heap and screamed bloody murder. Then I barfed up everything I'd eaten in the past week. Spent the entire experience terrified that you would die. Yup, no big deal.
Naruto snorted, as if reading her thoughts. "You had a huge gaping hole in your gut."
"Thanks," Sasuke said to her awkwardly.
Naruto flared up. "Hello, she saved your life! Thanks?"
"Thank you profoundly," Sasuke smirked. "Nee-san."
Naruto laughed, but Sakura just stared at him, appalled. How could he joke about that? She stood up angrily and left the room without saying anything.
--
Honestly. Who did Sasuke think he was? That had been entirely uncalled for.
Doesn't he care at all?
Sakura sighed and walked slowly around the hospital, passively observing the quiet forest that bordered on side of the medical center. She would return in a few minutes. Or an hour. She just needed to calm down. For a second she had come dangerously close to smashing Sasuke's face in. And that would have been...bad.
I suppose he wouldn't care, would he? She mused to herself. He never really paid attention to me before...
Snap.
She forced down a scream and reacted immediately.She threw herself flat to the ground, shuddering at the breeze the weapon passing over her generated. She crouched and leapt away, studying her attacker.
He was drenched in blood, dark blood that stood out starkly on his sky blue shirt. It was old and dried, but it was blood. Sakura was around it enough to recognize the stuff. She couldn't see his face. It was covered by a white mask with red markings, similar to the ones the hunter-nins wore. He didn't have any hair.
That's...Sasuke's blood all over him, She realized. This is the guy who tried to kill Sasuke.
Before she had any more time to contemplate her next action, a hand fisted in the back of her shirt and she was jerked off her feet, into the forest. An arm gripped her under her breasts, and the next thing she knew, her mouth was being covered to prevent her from screaming and her captor was leaping into the air. He lighted on a tree branch, much higher than she would have liked to be.
Without hesitation she brought her elbow slamming backwards. Her captor caught it. She pulled it out of his grasp, already getting ready to repeat the action, only this time with the needed strength to snap his wrist if he tried catching it again.
"Sakura, be completely quiet. It's me." She was released and she turned, bewildered, to the man beside her.
"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?"
He pointed to her attacker, still in the same position she had left him, gripping a heavy sword.
"I've been tracking this guy all day." He glanced at her sideways. "You all right?"
"I'm fine. Thanks." She squinted. "Why's he just standing there? I mean, shouldn't he at least be wondering where I went?"
"He's fucking crazy," Kakashi told her calmly. "He's covered in blood and he's been talking to himself all day. He keeps telling himself to kill the Uchihas. I'm guessing Sasuke's family did him some great personal wrong. He also nearly decapitated you for no reason."
"Uh..." He might not be as insane as you think. She would have to explain to him later. "He's good, though," was what she settled for. "At elite level or above. He – he almost killed Sasuke."
He looked at her sharply. "When?"
"Sometime around last night...I think."
"Is he all right?"
"Yeah. He needed a blood donation, but otherwise he's fine."
His attention turned back towards the masked man. "I was wondering why you were wandering around the hospital. If he bested Sasuke then I'm going to have to take this a lot more seriously."
"Sasuke said he's got a chakra depletion jutsu," Sakura said. Kakashi nodded to indicate he'd heard.
"Look, he's leaving," Kakashi said quietly, eyes trained on his target. He turned towards her. "I'm assuming Naruto's in the hospital with Sasuke?" She nodded. "Good. Go in the hospital and stay there. You and Naruto watch out for Sasuke. Send word to Tsunade. I'll follow him on my own."
"Will you be all right?" She asked, alarmed.
"I have been so far," he shrugged. "Go. I'll watch."
She obeyed, jumping from her perch and landing crouched on the ground. Without looking back she sprinted to the hospital doors. She stopped, halfway through stepping inside, and turned to look at where Kakashi stood. He gave her a lazy wave and disappeared.
--
"Are you all right?"
Naruto reached out to examine her, but Sakura slapped his hands away, already knowing his intentions were less than innocent. He hung around Jiraiya too much.
"I'm fine, Naruto."
Sasuke was sitting up, a look of deep contemplation set onto his handsome features. He closed his eyes and sighed, almost angrily.
"So far he's only targeted us. So we have to ask ourselves what Sakura and I have in common."
Sakura looked at him, an almost painful expression on her face. "It's not like we have to guess."
--
Kakashi returned to the hospital the next morning, completely exhausted. He waved off the two nurses crowding around him and headed straight for Sasuke's room.
Naruto was sprawled across an empty hospital cot, snoring. Sasuke and Sakura were both sitting on the second cot in the small room, talking quietly. Both looked serious.
"Yo." He stepped over the threshold as two of his students' heads turned. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hello, Kakashi-sensei. I was getting worried. Did you get him?"
"Nope," Kakashi said blandly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Lost him."
Sasuke's lips thinned. "You–lost–him?"
"Yup."
Sakura groaned and flopped backwards on the cot. "Perfect. Just perfect."
"Isn't it though?"
Kakashi knew he should be taking a direct threat to his students more seriously. But he suspected that if he did so, it would only scare them more. It was either get them mad or get them scared. Lose-lose.
"I cannot believe you are joking about this. Do you have any idea how serious this is? We could die. I swear to God, you are the worst sensei in the world. And that's not even including your pornos and always being late."
See?
He was saved being berated by a teenage girl any longer by the arrival of the teenage girl's mother. Toyoe walked in without greeting. Her sharp eyes darted over the room, taking in everything. Completely ignoring the three males, she walked over to Sakura and enveloped her in an embrace.
"Are you all right?" She whispered softly. "I was just told you were attacked. They wouldn't tell me anything else. I-I thought maybe you were hurt...or, or..."
"I'm okay, Mom. Kakashi-sensei saved me," Sakura said. Toyoe straightened and turned towards him, eyes briefly flickering to the Icha Icha Paradise novel peeking out of a pocket on his vest.
"Thank you," she told him stiffly. "For protecting Sakura. It's greatly appreciated."
Kakashi shrugged. "It was no trouble. She is my student, after all."
Toyoe had never really liked him. Kakashi knew that his taste in reading contributed to it, but he also felt that she resented him for failing to ever try to bring out potential her daughter. He had mainly focused on Sasuke, and occasionally Naruto. But, now that he thought about it, he had blatantly ignored Sakura's talents.
Well, there was really no need for her negative outlook at him. He already resented himself for practically abandoning two thirds of his team.
He, however, thought Toyoe was a pretty cool woman.
Not that he would ever tell her that.
"Ah, I forgot," Kakashi snapped his fingers, wanting to end the awkward silence. "The Hokage wants Sasuke, Sakura, and me in her office. Haruno-san, you'd better come too."
"But Sasuke – "
He had already yanked out his IV drip.
"I could have done that a lot more gently," Sakura said meekly.
"Hn."
--
"Sure. I'll do it," Kakashi shrugged.
"You do understand what's expected of you," Tsunade pressed.
"I do."
"You're sure."
"Uh-huh."
"All right then," Tsunade handed him a scroll. "You leave tomorrow morning."
"Cool." Kakashi left to inform Sasuke.
--
"No," Toyoe said flatly.
Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"I am not leaving my child in the hands of a fifteen year old boy."
"And who, pray tell, do you think is a better pick?"
She lifted her chin. "Let me do it. She's my daughter."
"While I don't doubt your capabilities, Haruno-san, you're only an ANBU. He is the Kazekage of his village."
"While I don't doubt your intelligence, Hokage-sama, have you forgotten than he tried to kill her?" Toyoe returned.
"Was that disrespect I just heard?"
"Yes. It was."
Tsunade glowered at the woman before her and reached under her desk for her bottle of sake. Shizune promptly yanked it out of her hands. Tsunade sighed deeply at the prospect of handling this without the aid of alcohol.
"Suna is indebted to Konoha. The Kazekage easily agreed when I asked this of him. It would be considered extremely disrespectful to send him back."
"You are gambling the life of Sakura to strengthen bonds between our country?" Toyoe asked disbelievingly.
"I am not gambling her," Tsunade growled. "Contrary to what you think, Sakura is my apprentice and she is important to me. Gaara is the most capable shinobi I know. If he wasn't then I wouldn't think twice about letting you do it."
"He's a teenager."
"And?"
Toyoe glared, whirled around, and left. She spotted her daughter in the waiting room and grabbed her wrist.
"Come on, Sakura."
--
"Sakura, come down here. You've got some...company."
Sakura looked up from painting her nails her traditional sea-green color. Carefully she capped the small bottle and stuck her head out her bedroom door.
"What?" She called.
"Come downstairs."
She obeyed, pausing briefly at the bottom of the steps.
"Where are you?" She yelled.
"In the kitchen," Toyoe yelled back.
Sakura plodded into said area in her pajamas and pink slippers.
And froze again.
There were other people besides her mother there in her kitchen.
Toyoe was leaning against the counter, arms crossed and a muscle in her cheek twitching. Shizune was there too, looking awkward and unsure of what she was supposed to be doing. Kakashi and Sasuke stood in a corner. Kakashi smiled and waved; Sasuke just blinked to acknowledge her presence.
Before she even had time to think, What in God's name are you people doing in my kitchen? a fourth visitor appeared, upside down and clinging to the ceiling, inches away from her face. She shrieked and fell backwards.
"What the fu– " she broke off, glancing to her mother. "Freak," she finished lamely. "Um, Gaara, what are you doing here?"
Shouldn't you be in Suna? WHY AREN'T YOU IN SUNA?
He thrust a scroll at her, not saying anything. She gingerly stood up and took it, still staring at the boy on her ceiling.
"Read it," he said, as if she didn't know what she was supposed to do with it.
She spared him an annoyed glance and opened it, eyes darting quickly over its contents. Her mouth dried out.
Oh, no.
--