notes: i've completely rewritten this drabble because i was too embarrassed by the original one and i've fixed the typos. enjoy! (12/28/2018)
rating: K
disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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11. syringe
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"Haven't seen it," mutters Sasuke, busily reading a scroll on the living room couch, ignoring the way Sakura skitters around the space in fret. With a leg crossed over his other leg and composure casual—back softening against the couch, a comfortable feeling he hadn't experienced with the trees he'd sleep against during missions—he soon sighs when she comes over, lifts the bottom of his scroll's contents, and peer anxiously. He hadn't a clue why it meant so much to her.
Her gaze refocuses on him, and he can see just how frazzled she looks with her disheveled hair and circles underneath those eyes. "B-But, I could've sworn it was here last night before I went to bed...!" Trying a little more, her hands pry apart the couch cushions that Sasuke wasn't sitting on; she'd send a critical eye over each nook and cranny and crack she's looking at, and to no avail, so it seems. "It couldn't have rolled down even further... I didn't see it in the bedroom either..." she murmurs, more to herself, in thought.
Sasuke thought she was letting it get to her. "Ask Sarada...?" he ended up suggesting, almost awkward that he couldn't be of much help. She motions him to stand and he gets the implication. He complies and she immediately lifts up the cushion he'd sat on just to see if it was hiding there. It wasn't. Another fail. He sighs for her, because it didn't seem like she was going to for herself. "It was empty, right? It shouldn't be too bad then."
He's a little taken aback by how quickly she whipped her head to him, the faintest of bone cracking evident to his ears, which he wouldn't—couldn't—comment on. "It's a syringe, Sasuke-kun! A syringe I had to bring back to test out a new antibiotic from the labs, which I did, but then it disappeared not even ten hours later." Her hand wearily plows through her bangs. "I made sure to empty it, but I think some of the residue was still in it. I can't imagine if you or Sarada accidentally got poked by it or something if it's lost in this house somewhere, especially Sarada!"
"It'll be fine," he tries—really tried—to reassure, his hand still holding onto his scroll, which left for him to console with words, which he could tell didn't really do a thing for her flaring nerves. "Sarada knows not to mess with stuff she doesn't own, after all." Really, this was blown out of proportion.
She bites her lips, something he takes note of. "Still...! I'd like to find it; I'm sure the people down at the hospital would like it back!"
"Don't you have extras?" He raises an eyebrow at her. He would expect doctors—head doctors—to have extra syringes.
In a shameful manner, Sakura chuckles, meekly. "That syringe was actually my last one, and the new shipment has yet to come..." There had been a rush of new patients this month; some serious, others more life-threatening, and some that were almost trivial. As the head doctor, she sometimes lent her supplies to the assisting nurses and doctors on duty, that included Ino and Shizune. Sometimes, she might've been a kind-hearted fool enough to let them keep them—really, what was she going to do with fifty extra syringes during a spreading epidemic? "I've been requested to bring it back. Not to mention, I'm supposed to head down there today—but oh! I can't because it's missing!" What kind of head doctor was she?
Sarada came into the living room hallway right when Sakura collapses on the couch, tired from her search. Left standing, Sasuke nods at her. "Mama, you look tired."
"Don't I know and feel it," wryly comments Sakura, a humorless smile showing. "You haven't see a syringe lying around, have you, Sarada? I need it before I head to the office today."
With Sakura not looking at anything but a hand she covered her eyes with, Sasuke regards his daughter instead. When he sees the exact syringe in question behind her back, he all but looks confused, almost ready to point it out, until Sarada quickly holds a finger to her lips. He didn't know what to feel about it, but surely, she has reasons for it, and so, he stays quiet. "No, I haven't Mama. Maybe you misplaced it somewhere else?"
"I did check everywhere else! My room, the bathroom, the basement, the gardens—everywhere!" Defeated, she starts, slowly, falling to her side and resting on a pillow, which Sasuke found rather amusing because she forgot to put back the other cushions on the couch and are at her feet on the floor.
"Bummer..." Sarada trails off, feigning disappointment. "I guess this means you can't down to the hospital today, right? You look sleepy; you should take a nap. I'm sure Aunt Ino is handling things alright."
Well, Ino is her right hand assistant... But still, she shakes her head as best as she could with half-lidded eyes. "Head doctors shouldn't skip out on their duties!" It's funny, how she sounds drowsier the more she leans on this pillow. "I... should... go..." Sasuke watches as her eyes hide behind her eyelids, her breathing turning softer and she goes out like a flame.
He doesn't say anything—there really is no point to punishing Sarada, because it seemed like this is why the syringe went missing in the first place—but moves to place his scroll down. Quiet, Sarada tiptoes to the main entrance, slipping on her sandals and giving him a firm nod as she holds the syringe up for silent, visible emphasis. She's going to sneak into Sakura's office to place it back. Normally, this behavior wouldn't be condoned (and maybe, maybe, he's softening up too much for his liking) but she gets pass for it. Sakura hadn't slept for more than a couple hours these past few days.
A blanket Sasuke takes out from the closet, he covers her, and then he strokes her hair, fondly. Maybe he can read his scrolls in their bedroom instead, just for today..
