Sakura ran her fingers through her hair as she did not know what she should do next.
She was sure now that Sasuke's life was definitively in danger. Without antibiotics and proper wound care not only was he at the risk of infection but at the risk of dying.
She went back into the room as she finally knew what she was looking for.
Sasuke was asleep. He did not seem to be at peace, he was breathing with great effort and looked as if he was in pain. Juugo and Suigetsu were talking on the sofa next to Sasuke's bed. They seem to acknowledge her but kept on going with their conversation.
"Hey," said Sakura gently shaking Sasuke's shoulder.
"Hey" responded Sasuke with great effort as if he was struggling to stay awake.
"How are you feeling?" she asked softly.
"Good just tired" he responded "is it okay if we talk later, I am…. really…tired" he said and soon his eyes were closed, and he was asleep.
"Hey, I know you are tired, but I want to check something. I will be quick I swear" finished Sakura.
Sasuke opened his eyes again and just nodded while struggling to stay awake.
Sakura placed her hand on his forehead, and he just rested his head on her hand as was again asleep.
"I think you have a fever" she said while helping him get back to his pillow.
"Alright" said Sasuke without realizing what she was saying.
"Okay, I am going to need some blood from you, alright?" said Sakura.
"Go for it" he said while not even opening his eyes.
She drew his blood, and he did not even seem to notice. He was asleep the whole time.
"Last thing, do you mind if I take a look at your wound?" she asked as he nodded.
"Can you sit up for me?" she asked
"Sure" said Sasuke while sitting up with Sakura's assistance.
Sasuke's breath became even more labored now, and he shut his eyes closed and just held Sakura's hand strongly.
"What is wrong?" asked Sakura worriedly.
"Nausea" Sasuke managed to say in between breaths.
"Hey" Juugo intervened "are you okay?"
"I am going to be sick" said Sakura rapidly.
Juugo grabbed a basin and placed it in front of him.
Sasuke was just breathing rapidly but not getting sick.
"Okay let's get you to lay down"
They slowly lowered him even though he was holding the basin very hard.
"Better?" asked Sakura.
"yeah" he said without much relief "I going to be sick" he said again.
"You are okay" said Sakura while he kept on repeating that he was going to be sick. Eventually, he calmed down and Sakura was able to unwrap his wound. The wound did not look good at all.
"Yikes" said Suigetsu looking at the wound "I don't know much about medicine, but I am sure that isn't good" he finished.
"I am going to rub this on it really quickly, alright" Sakura told Sasuke pulling a swab.
She began rubbing the swab and Sasuke started moving his arm away as he was met with great pain.
"It hurts" he said.
"I am almost done" Sakura said struggling as Sasuke kept moving "I am going to need your help" Sakura said looking at Juugo.
Juugo held Sasuke down as Sakura rubbed the swab on his wound. Sasuke screaming in pain.
"Almost done" she reassured him.
"Just stop" said Sasuke.
"He is in pain, stop" said Juugo as he was distressed by Sasuke's cries.
"Alright, done" she said while holding Sasuke's hand "it's over".
"Sakura…..thank you" said Sasuke as he once again fell asleep.
"Please take good care of him" said Juugo turning to Sakura to which she bowed to him.
Sakura ran to the lab with Sasuke's blood and swab. They told her the results would be ready later in the day and she took her stuff and left to go to the Hokage's tower.
She entered Tsunade's office once again.
"He is dying, probably septic" Sakura said without much time for formalities.
"Hello Sakura, it's good to see you too" said Tsunade sarcastically
"He was never put on antibiotics again" Sakura kept on going ignoring Tsunade's words.
"I told you to stay off it" said Tsunade.
"And he would be dead now" said Sakura.
"He is being treated by a specialized team" argued Tsunade.
"A specialized team that did not put him on antibiotics" responded Sakura.
"People make mistakes" was all Tsunade could come up with.
"Mistakes that cost other people's lives" shouted Sakura.
"I am not going to tolerate you questioning the capacity of my doctors" said Tsunade standing up.
"I am not questioning anyone; I am just saying that if a single soul truly cared about Sasuke they would be paying attention to his case" responded Sakura with frustration.
"We provide medical care to the best of our abilities" defended Tsunade.
"I am sure that if it had been Naruto things would be much different" said Sakura.
"That is just not true" said Tsunade who was beginning to change her tone.
"I would be ashamed if I was the Hokage and I did not care about all people in my village" said Sakura on the verge of tears.
"That's it. I may appreciate you a lot but I am simply not going to tolerate this behavior, not even from you. From this moment on you will not be allowed in Sasuke's room. For your own good and his own good, I will not allow a child to tell me how to handle the hospital let alone the village" shouted Tsunade.
Sakura was left with no words. She was brokenhearted. She did not understand how her mentor could ignore the obvious signs of negligence. Sakura stayed silent and simply left.
Besides her master's words, she went back to the hospital to check Sasuke's results. Just like she thought, Sasuke's wound was infected. Not only that, but the infection had also spread into his blood and his life was truly at risk. She knew that if she didn't do something soon Sasuke would die.
She once tried to go into Sasuke's room but there were two ninjas outside monitoring everyone who went into his room. At this point, they had truly limited the access to just his assigned nurse and doctor. Not even Juugo was allowed in the room. Sakura was immediately turned back and told to not return. She knew that attacking them was out of the question but that she needed to go inside. That's when Sakura had a great idea.
"I need your help" Sakura told Karin.
"What do you want?" Karin said.
"I need to go into Sasuke's room" responded Sakura.
"Then go" responded Karin.
"I can't, you see….I am no longer allowed in the room. In fact, almost no one is." Whispered Sakura.
"Then what makes you think I would help you? I can't be getting in trouble now, especially after everything" denied Karin.
"Okay, listen. You care about Sasuke, right?" Sakura asked.
"Not really" lied Karin.
"Well, he is dying and if I don't do something soon, he will be dead before the end of the week" said Sakura ignoring Karin's response.
Karin meditated for a while and eventually spoke up "what do I need to do?"
"I have a plan" responded Sakura.
"Ma'am you can't be here" said what of the ninjas guarding Sasuke's door.
"I am here to bring the clean clothes" said Karin who was wheeling a large basket.
"Only his doctor and his nurse are allowed in" responded the ninja.
Sakura was not expecting Karin to not be allowed in, so nervousness began to crawl into her head.
"Well, I was told to come here to bring some clean clothes and change the patient" responded Karin in a calm voice.
"Well ma'am, you can't do that" insisted the man.
"Well, I don't know which one of you is going to clean the patient cuz they told me to come to clean his crap" shouted Karin.
The guards simply looked at each other.
"You see, that patient has not moved in a while and that includes going to the bathroom so unless you want that patient to be swimming in crap, you better let me in" Karin complained "or are you gonna clean him up?" finished Karin.
The guards looked nervous and they just kept looking at each other.
"So…which one of you wants this" said Karin giving them the supplies.
"Alright, do what you have to do but you have 5 minutes" a guard finally gave in.
"Thank you, gentlemen" said Karin making her way in without looking back.
She proceeded to close the door which the guards forbid her to do but after she gave them a talk about whether they wanted to see the patient's rear end they accepted to close the door.
"Quickly, go" whispered Karin cueing Sakura to get out of the basket.
Sakura made her way out of the basket silently and they both began to pull some sheets and used clothes into the basket, so it looked like Karin had actually done something.
"Please take care of him" said Karin as she made her way to the door.
"I will" said Sakura "please remember what I told you" finished Sakura to which Karin reassured her with a hand motion as she exited the room closing the door behind her.
"Sakura?" whispered Sasuke waking up.
"Hey, how are you?" asked Sakura softly.
"I am good, I guess. Where are we?" asked Sasuke confused.
"We are at the hospital, remember?" responded Sakura.
"Oh, right" said Sasuke falling back into unconsciousness.
"Sasuke, I am going to clean your wound. It's going to hurt but it will be for your own good" whispered Sakura.
Sasuke just nodded.
Sakura began to unwrap Sasuke's wound that in fact, looked worse than before. The only difference is that as Sakura cleaned and even drained Sasuke's wound, he was barely conscious. He would shift between whimpering and simply being unconscious. Eventually, Sakura wrapped the wound again and just hoped for Karin to do the other part of the plan.
The door opened and there was Karin with a man. To Sakura's relief, it was the surgeon. She had given Kairn a letter to take to the surgeon and to bring him as soon as possible.
"I saw his results" said the surgeon rushing to Sasuke's side. He unwrapped Sasuke's arm and began to examine it.
"Does this hurt?" he began asking Sasuke as he touched his stump.
Sasuke did not respond as he was still unconscious.
"How long has he been like that?" the doctor asked Sakura.
"He keeps going back and forth. He has been like that since I got here" responded Sakura.
"Where am I?" asked Sasuke weakly as he was waking up.
"It's okay Sasuke, you are at the hospital" said Sakura softly.
"We will take good care of you" said the doctor.
The doctor signaled some nurses outside the room to help him wheel Sasuke's bed out of the room. After they took him out Sakura was very relieved. She was about to leave the room when the door was shut on her and Tsunade made her way inside the room.
"Didn't I tell you to stay off of it?" said Tsunade "there will be consequences for disobeying an order from the Hokage" she finished.
Sakura looked petrified. Her thoughts were racing.
The peace was disturbed.
