Mannn sometimes technology gets on my nerves, feh! How annoying it is to have this chapter all typed up and ready and you can't even post it because some website won't let you.

I feel better now

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto...weeps

After dropping off the books, having to place most on the floor due to the large amount of paperwork already on Tsunde's desk, that and gambling paper scraps, luckily there weren't any sake bottles still full or everything would be sticky, wet, and smell disgustingly sweet.

Besides dropping off the materials Sakura had to read over and organize them into well formed stable stacks that wouldn't topple into disarray the moment Shishou slammed a fist on her desk in her infamous anger, the legs of the furniture wouldn't last much longer Sakura noticed. Observing the cracks and off-coloring where chunks of wood with its rich brown finish had come off, littering the floor.

There was the stack branded important and than there was less important, the biggest was less important, she'd already cursed and snorted disdainfully at most, some would waste anyone's time she reasoned (really did you need to get the Hokage's permission to get a chicken?) She only shook her head at the idiocy of it, wondering if Naruto could take the paperwork when he got the job.

She managed to get some training in, which she was always enthusiastic about, gone were the days when she would have been content to just watch from the sidelines, now she wanted a part in all the action. Her training with Tsunde, her Shishou had made her a skillful kunoichi that could hold her own for awhile against the byakugan-wielding Hyuugas, in no way was she as powerful as say Neji but than he was a one-of-a-kind prodigy. Her medical prowess though could only be described as genius, Shishou had said it with full confidence, Sakura didn't dispute the fact.

After Sasuke-kun had gone with Orochimaru to gain power and Naruto-kun had left soon after to train with Jiraiya, she had realized in startling clarity that she was behind, woefully far behind. The depressing, self-criticizing mood she had fallen into had resulted in a large accumulative assessment of her short shinobi career. What she found while soul-searching wasn't pretty, unfocused on training and strengthening herself so she could be an asset to the team was utterly nonexistent, causing her to regret her naivety.

It was the promise she made to Naruto that drove her to seek training with the Hokage, Sakura knew how lucky she was that Tsunde-sama had accepted her as a student, she worked hard earning her Shishou's praise and grew steadily stronger.

It was the confidence that struck Sakura's soul so completely and moved her forward without frequent glances and pauses to look back, her Shishou's confidence that she'd make her proud, the patients in the hospital viewing her with unwavering confidence that she'd make them better, heal them of their hurts.

Sometimes…it was frightening, so very frightening that she wanted to rail and curse at the world and everyone in it looking at her with that complete trust and confidence, the hidden words and feelings of

"I don't deserve your trust, what if I fail"

"Don't expect so much from me, I'm just Sakura not a god"

Right next to losing her friends and family she was agonizingly frightened she'd be lost in a life of ignomy, forgotten and labeled as ordinary. Before she knew it she'd been left behind, staring at the backs of her two teammates, when she could say the words

"This time, watch MY back"

She'd felt….strong and she liked that feeling.

She has a promise to fulfill; Naruto keeps his promises, so shall she.

Shaking her head from her thoughts, her short pre-ripe cherry-colored hair tickled her shoulders and face with the movement, she was glad to keep it short, another sign of her commitment to grow up

…maybe?

Waving hello to the secretary at the front lobby's desk, she proceeded to start her rounds at the hospital, Sakura worked part time here mostly nights, days were devoted to training, missions, and with working with Shishou's papers. She only looked forward to two of those things. It helped gain her experience, what better way to try out her medical jutsu's than at a hospital, all kinds of injuries showed up here and every time she healed someone she felt a warm, nerve-tingling sense that made her blood sing, that flushed her body with spine-curving heat; she liked the feeling she got from helping people, she liked helping people period.

Sakura already predicted it'd be a quite night, since no really large-scale intense missions were due back. Those were usually the ones that came with the most and worst injuries. There were some freak accidents, but those happened infrequently and far between. So no large missions back for a few more days at the least.

Checking other patients, making the rounds, chatting to fellow workers and patients that were lucid and coherent, many were drugged staying until they healed completely. Seemed like every nin had an affinity to leave the hospital as soon as possible even if it wasn't good for their health, it was all rather dull. Flashing a quick look at the clock centered high up on the white-washed walls her shift would end in five minutes and she could head home at 10:00.

Saying goodbye to a chûnin that had a badly fractured arm and leg, having been slammed through the treetops on his way home in his mission, and using the time to gather her stuff and put away various materials left out from a bandaging.

Waving goodbye to the desk nurse and pushing open the large right door to step out into the inky blackness of the night. Warm and perfumed by scents of human habitation. Before even turning down the road to head to her apartment, four nin, two supporting a third landed in front of her with a great deal of wheezing and scuffling. Falling into the familiar efficiency of her knowledge she swept her eyes diagnosing and categorizing there wounds mentally, holding the door open as they stumbled in.

Taking a quick glance at where they just stood a round puddle of darkened liquid glowed catching the light provided from the stars and crescent moon. A brief shiver crawled down her back, raising the fine hairs on her arms to standstill before settling again, she wasn't afraid or disgusted by blood but something in that small puddle made the night feel ominous.

Following the team through the door, various medical personal in white with various kanji and symbols in black rushed to them, the front door lobbyist that she had just waved goodbye to was calling for all available doctors and nurses to come to the front door. Sakura heard nothing of this even though she was right below a megaphone speaker in the wall.

A gurney rattled its course down the tiled hallway pushed along by two nurses, skidding to a halt in front of the wounded nin supported by his two comrades, he was pushed down to lay on the white padding aided by his human crutches and rushed to surgery, but not before Sakura saw his pale sweat-soaked face stretched into an avid grimace of pain and uncomfortableness.

'Izumo! Oh God no' she prayed, the face stayed in her mind as she mechanically went to the preparation room next to surgery. Pulling on white gloves and rushing in after him, already his jôunin vest and shirt had been cut away she glimpsed the blood-soaked clothing in the trash as she passed it, a circle of white twisted around him on the medical bed, weaving in and out of each other, a ghost dance of doctors and nurses.

Her mind couldn't get over that she had just seen him joking with Kotetsu, healthy and happy this morning. Poking fun at both his friend and her, what lay before her now was pale in comparison that she had a hard time matching the two as the same person. It was him though, who else had hair obscuring one eye with falling bangs.

"Sakura-san he's ready for you" a muted voice in the background pitched to her ears, giving a small dip of her head she placed her hands on his bare chest, split and criss-crossed over with ragged tears. Sliding her chakra through her hands and into his body, her eyes closed in tight concentration, it looked worse then it actually was, unknown tension that had been cording her muscles flowed out of her, and she gave a deep sigh of relief.

The three broken ribs were set with Izumo's own natural healing to solidify them, Sakura straightened and pieced them back together smoothing over cracks and gluing splinters back into proper order. The flesh wounds over his ribs, gently eased and mutually came forward, like a piece of thread was stretching and pulling the edges to meet and become one, redness already fading into pink gleamed an almost healthy color.

Finished doing all she could, she shifted her hands up off his chest, and took a slight step back a hand at her spine steadied her, and pushed her to the doors. She watched through bleary eyes as another medic took her place.

"Take a rest Sakura-san, he's alright now, we can clean him up" nodding her acceptance, she took a position of leaning against the white walls outside the room for a moment, already Sakura knew what she had to do next. If Izumo was on that mission then Kotetsu was also, she had to check out the rest of the team for a final assessment and also for her own peace of mind.

Her legs felt like overcooked noodles all rubbery and unstable, white spots occasionally danced in front of her eyes, stretching her hands out fingers extended, they were a little sore and red on the palm from the intense concentrated flow of chakra for so long. She couldn't walk real fast but as she kept moving she felt better, the white spots faded and disappeared by the time she arrived at the room holding the three other nin of the team.

The medic in charge of them looked up at her and nodded,

"They're fine" she assured Sakura, filling out a clipboard it was standard procedure to document all injuries of the nin for a carefully kept medical record. Looking around a hospital bed with the railings down was occupied by a light blue-haired woman, she looked about 23 maybe more, pretty enough, a bandage was wrapped around her upper arm, she was chûnin. Kotetsu sat in a chair, head down and covered by his hands, his shoulders were slumped and an air of morose sadness shifted around him like his own personal rain cloud. Their team leader, was someone she didn't know, fly away red hair and narrow black eyes, he was looking out the one window in the room.

Scanning over them there were some scratches and bruises on all three but for the most part they were in one piece, Izumo was the worst wounded it seemed. An air of tension smothered the room Sakura could almost grasp it in one hand. Taking a deep breath, she treaded further in, all three looked over to her.

"He's fine, he needs bed rest but he'll live to see another day"

The tension seemed to just melt away, disappearing into the room, she heard their silent sighs of relief, Kotetsu slumped in the seat.

"Can we see him" Kotetsu asked bringing his head up to look at her with eager eyes,

"Tomorrow, right now he's in observation, he's heavily drugged you wouldn't get a single coherent word out of him."

They nodded their heads, albeit reluctantly. Turning around to check up on Izumo one more time and fill out his clipboard if necessary, she was just out the door way when a quick tap of feet followed her, turning her head to see who it was, Kotetsu caught up to stand in front of her, she looked over him suspiciously did he have an injury that he didn't tell anyone about it wouldn't be surprising or the first time. Shinobi were always coming back a few days later with an infected wound that could have been treated easily if they had volunteered up that they had one in the first place.

"Kotetsu?" she asked suspiciously, he looked a bit apprehensive

"Is there something you want to tell me?" she raised an eyebrow at him in question. Hesitating briefly before

"Can y-" he cut himself off after the first word

"Thank you Sakura-san, we'll report to the Hokage-sama tell Izumo not to worry about it"

"Sure" that wasn't what he originally wanted to say, he stood awkwardly in front of her shifting his weight.

"Well, I'll be go-" he turned back around to get back to his team

"Don't worry Kotetsu-san I'll tell you immediately when he wakes up" his body in profile to her didn't stop Sakura from seeing his muscles loosen he turned his head to her, a wide smile, that seemed to make his face glow with warmth and happiness, the spiky hair fell around his face and the night's misery's fell from his visage in that instant. Sakura's breath caught in her throat, it was incredibly…beautiful.

"Thanks Sakura-san you know me to well"

Sakura gave him a smile in return and watched him turn the corner back into his squad's room, really she had just guessed, lucky she supposed a rueful smile on her face. Shaking her head, she had work to finish, and a good friend to check up on.

I would have had this chapter up sooner and everything but blugh was been uncooperative...highly uncooperative. It's okay though since it's working now, I'm just a little bit behind on updating so my next one will be up sooner, so good for you readers bad for me and my beta reader. Sometimes you just can't win

ahh well see you later, hope you enjoyed the chapter, the pairing will become more obvious soon it'll get a bit more romantic also. Check out my xanga site (link on my profile page) I'll be writing about story plots, ideas, posting links to chapters and any fanfiction or fanart that catchs my attention. Ciao!