It was exactly 1:30 AM when Sakura finally stumbled into her apartment, exhausted and drained after a particularly long shift at the hospital. She usually didn't work long shifts on weekends but being the best medic in the Land of Fire -possibly the world- had its downsides, one of them being having to be on call 24/7.
All Sakura wanted was to finish her duties and go home and relax. But no, her idiotic teammate and his equally idiotic cousin had to go and make a foolish mistake on their mission. A mistake that landed both in her hospital, injured and poisoned.
"Stupid, arrogant Uchihas," she mumbled under her breath, laying her things on the breakfast table.
Her day had started in a predictable fashion: She arrived at 10:00 AM sharp to find a mountain of paperwork already waiting for her on her desk. She only managed to go halfway through when she was paged to perform an emergency appendectomy on a civilian girl. It was a routine surgery with no complications. Right after, a chunin team arrived with several broken limbs after a wild sparring session. That was fine, nothing she couldn't handle. She reset the bones and used healing chakra to speed up the recovery process. The rest of the day consisted of just checking up on patients and more paperwork. A boring and predictable day, or so she had thought.
Just when she was about to head out the double glass doors to exit the hospital, she was, of course, paged to the emergency room. Sakura sighed with exasperation but did not hesitate to sprint into action. She pushed through the crowd, quickly barking orders to clear the room. There was an ambiance of utter chaos. A trail of scarlet red blood on the floor, medical ninja shouting orders and nurses running frantically carrying medical supplies. The source of the chaos, two male shinobis with what appeared to be extensive injuries, were being treated in a nearby trauma room.
"Page Lady Sakura 911, STAT!" one of the medical ninja yelled at a pale looking nurse.
"I- I did, she must be on her way now" she stuttered, clearly distressed.
Before he could reply though, she barged into the room, ready to get into action. "All right, what's their condition?" she demanded.
Both looked at her with relief. They briefed her while she was getting gowned. It was then that her eyes fell upon her patients. She recognized the pale, bruised faces of Sasuke and his cousin Shisui, both unconscious and mangled looking. Medical ninja were already pumping chakra into their bodies, repairing organs and skin as fast as they could.
For the longest time, she just stood there, too stunned to react. It was not the first time she had been put in this position, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. But there was always that initial shock of seeing her friends on her table, utter panic blinding her sight at the possibilities.
"Lady Sakura?"
She shook her head, coming out her stupor. She did not have time for this. "Out of the way! MOVE!" she shouted, immediately taking charge.
"You assholes" she muttered, placing her hands on Sasuke's chest, quickly assessing and repairing the damage. "I swear, if you die on me, I'll bring you back just to kill you myself!"
She pursed her lips. They were bleeding profusely prior to her arrival, but her medical staff had acted quickly. They repaired some of the internal damage and inserted large bore IVs to administer fluids and blood transfusions.
"Did you take blood samples?" she managed to ask, sweat sliding down her temple. Since they were not awake to answer any of her questions, they needed to take precautions to rule out other possible threats.
"Yes. Poison was detected. We are working in finding out the components" she heard one of the medical ninja say.
She nodded, pleased with his answer. A few minutes later, the doors of the emergency room burst opened, revealing a tired looking Shizune.
"Sorry for the delay. Thankfully, it was a common poison. We had the antidote in storage." She said, revealing two vials of the antidote. She handed them to the nurse, who quickly administered them to the patients. Shizune moved to take over for the medical ninja working on Shisui.
"Any issues?' Shizune asked, already pumping chakra into Shisui's chest.
She shook her head, unable to utter a word.
Both worked arduously for hours, managing successfully to stabilize their patients, but just barely. Whoever they had confronted in the field really did a number on them. She also knew both were propense to reckless behavior when challenged.
She frowned, displeased with the possibility. She would make sure to take them off the roster for a couple of months. She signed their chart and handled it to the nurse.
"Page me if there's any change" she instructed, as she saw them getting taken to recovery.
"Yes, doctor" She took their charts and followed the patients.
She watched at as they disappeared towards the doors that led to the recovery room, arms crossed and still frowning. When the doors finally closed, she finally sighed and retreated to take her things. She was ready to go home.
Thinking about today's events made her head throb in pain. Sakura rested her head in her hands and began to rub her temples, trying to massage away the headache. After a few minutes of futile attempts, she sighed and decided to heat the kettle for some tea before bed. Maybe that would calm her down enough to sleep for a few hours.
Suddenly, as the kettle started to whistle, she heard the faint sound of a window shutting closed. She tensed, ready to act. However, before she could react, a dark figure loomed from the living room. The room was dimly lit, so it took her a few seconds to recognize her boyfriend, clad in his ANBU uniform and mask. Her mouth turned up slightly in a smile, happy at the surprise.
"I was not expecting you this early" she said, taking a couple of steps toward him.
He took the mask off, revealing those dark, impassive eyes. She noticed that the stress lines on his face looked more prominent, but other than, he looked uninjured. A sense of relief washed over her. She opened her mouth to speak, but to both their surprise, what came out was a gut-wrenching sob. She only managed to cover her face with shaking hands before he was there, gathering her into his arms in a secure embrace.
"I-I'm sorry" she managed to say, her face pressed against his chest. It was embarrassing, really. She was a medical ninja, she was no stranger to violence, the metallic smell of blood. But here she was, a crying mess over a procedure she knew how to perform with her eyes closed. No, what bothered her was performing it on her friends. Today's events really took a toll on her emotional wellbeing.
"I heard what happened. Don't apologize" he said softly, caressing her hair.
They stood quietly; the silence only broken by her hiccups. After what felt like hours, she finally broke the embrace. She knew she looked like a mess with her blotchy face and puffy eyes from crying. But he just reached out to press a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Why don't you go draw a bath? I'll join you after I'm done sorting things out here" he said, pointing to the forgotten kettle.
She nodded, grateful for the help. But before she left, he looked directly into her green eyes and smiled. "I love you" he said.
She looked at him, surprised. He was a man of few words, often opting for showing his affections with actions, rather than words. But given the circumstances, maybe he felt she needed the reassurance.
She beamed at him. "I know. I love you too, Itachi."