"You're working again today?" Sakura peaked under her arm to see Itachi lounging on the bed, scarcely covered by the cotton sheets, watching her as she got ready. He did not disguise the appreciation reflecting in his dark eyes as she bent over to shove her feet her sandals, and she did not stop her eyes from perusing the bare hip left exposed to her gaze.
"Yeah," the fire country kunoichi said, pulling her head through the appropriate hole in her scrub shirt. Itachi watched her as she took her hands to the under side of her hair and pulled it free from the collar. "I'm splitting a shift, though." She glanced at him from beneath her lashes, letting her hips sway as she sauntered over to him. She sat on the edge of the bed and kissed Itachi sweetly, then pecked him on the forehead. "I'll be home pretty soon."
"Home," he echoed. Her faced flushed prettily, realizing the implication she had made: home was with him. Well, with him and a group of lunatics. Sakura moved to get up from the bed, but Itachi's hand shot out and firmly grasped her wrist, pulling her to him. Sakura's face matched her rosy hair as Itachi's lips brushed against her ear while he instructed, "Hurry home." Itachi's voice was dark, matching his obsidian eyes and Sakura felt a shiver face up her spine as his eyes flicked to her lips.
With false nonchalance—scared but excited of the reaction he caused in her—Sakura found herself free from his arms and agreeing to his command in a breathy voice.
Sakura was pleased with the biting cold that greeted her when she opened the front door. She needed to cool down before she got to work.
Suigetsu rolled his eyes at Karin's rear. Her position as she attempted to eavesdrop through the door to the adjoining room from whence her Sasuke had banished her had her bent at the waist and her glutes waving in his visual field.
"You're wasting your time," the sharp-toothed man pointed out while he tended to his sword. Karin's red hair swirled around her shoulders as she immediately rounded aggressively on her teammate. "Like I care what you think," she hissed, holding hostile eye contact. Her hackles were raised, but Suigestu sneered at her, letting a huff of a laugh climb up his throat.
Jugo watched as Karin's pupils became almost nonexistent. Normally he wouldn't want to get in the middle of the two of them, but the fact was there were a few factors that wouldn't bode well for conflict right now: 1. they were in an extremely small, albeit comfortable, motel. Truthfully, he was grateful to have an actual bed to sleep in. 2. Sasuke had been serious about zero interruptions while he held conference with the nine-tailed Jinchuuriki. Jugo knew enough about their history and would rather act as a mediator between Suigetsu and Karin than their team leader and a legendary demon vessel. Mind made up, he spoke up from the opposite bed where he had his been lounging, allowing his eyes to rest, but unable to sleep. "It may be wise to find something that would be more worth your time and beneficial to you in the long run. Cleaning your weapons for example, like Suigetsu." Jugo watched as Karin's eyes shifted to his own, disbelief coloring them as her glasses flashed. He let out a long breath through his nostrils, trying not to let himself caught up in the challenge she presented with her posture. "It seems that you take Sasuke's wishes seriously more often than not. Why now do you press?"
Karin flipped her hair before turning back to the door, eyeing it with some consternation. "Well," she said, looking like she was really considering the rhetorical question Jugo had presented to her. "This isn't just anyone. This is Naruto Uzumaki. I know what that means."
Suigestu made a dismissive noise through his teeth, "So do we, but you don't see us showing such distrust." The last part he made sure to talk forward through is pursed lips, taunting Karin in the process. Karin closed her eyes to show she was ignoring him, but opened one eye to Jugo, analyzing his posture and activity level. "Well, what are you doing that is so beneficial? Laying there?" Jugo felt his expression wooden, as he pointed out, "I'm resting. Something all of us could find useful if this...conversation goes in an undesirable direction."
Karin pounced on an opening, "So shouldn't I be up and alert for when something like that happens?" Jugo finally felt his patience tear, but kept himself in check, closing his eyes to ignore the bespectacled girl. "Do as you please." Stubborn.
On the other side of the door, ignoring the muffled argument that passed among Team Hebi, Naruto and Sasuke held eye contact as they had been for hours. Sasuke could see Naruto was angry, beyond pissed, but waited for the blonde to make the first move and set the pace for their conversation.
Naruto on the opposite end of the spectrum scrutinized Sasuke's body language and it made him madder by the minute. The young, raven-haired man oozed calm and collected, which riled Naruto up.
"Where is she?" he growled.
"Who?"
Naruto exploded, "Sakura, you teme!" Sasuke fixed the blonde with a level gaze.
"Dead." The lack of emotion in one syllable that hit Naruto with such force that he felt like the air had been forced from his lungs. He was stunned silent while the illuminated red numbers on the bedside clock changed. When the future hokage finally found his voice, it was thick with emotion, wavering as he quelled his rage and sorrow.
"How? She was so strong," he said quietly, almost as if he was speaking to himself, but then his eyes raised to look at his former teammate and added, "But you were there. Why didn't you stop it? Why didn't you protect her?"
Sasuke was silent, irritated at having to explain himself to someone who understood him and his life so little, who was so naive to think that Sakura could have survived once she put herself out there on her own. "She wouldn't have made it even if I did."
Naruto's eyebrows drew together as if he was confused, and he hoped his was mistaken in his understanding. "'Even if I did'? What does that mean?"
Sasuke glared impatiently at Naruto who was making him speak so plainly. "I killed her." He swore he saw red leak into Naruto's blue irises as his expression contorted into rage.
"You what?" he growled, his voice rough and dangerous.
"She would have died anyway, but she would have fallen into the hands of the S-class criminals, my brother among them, who are not only hunting you, but would painfully extract any secrets of the village from her. Is that what you really wanted for her?"
Across from the raven-haired man, Naruto seethed. "How can you have so little faith in your teammate? As if Sakura would ever betray us."
"How can you be so naive? She already betrayed the village when she defected to find me. She didn't even put up a fight," Sasuke droned apathetically. He didn't want to go through and rehash all of this. It was unpleasant as it was, knowing that he took the life of a former teammate, but it did it for the right reasons. He was justified. Naruto just didn't see that.
"Because she trusted you!" Naruto yelled, eyes glassy with furious tears. He quieted again, and Sasuke watched at his eyes lost focus and moved side to side, comprehending information. When Naruto spoke again, his voice was lighter, colored with hope.
"There were signs that she was carried away. Maybe she is still alive somewhere. Do you have any idea of who could have happened upon her?"
'Deluded hope,' Sasuke thought to himself. "Scavengers, most likely."
Naruto was a flash of color as he crossed the small space between them, latching onto Sasuke's collar with white-knuckled grip. "You think you killed her, and you didn't even have the decency to make her a grave?" His voice had risen a few octaves now, but Sasuke only narrowed his eyes at him instead of taking the bait to become loud as well.
"I was heavily injured myself. Besides, why would she care? She was dead."
Naruto felt his jaw clench and if possible his grip on the cloth of Sasuke's shirt tightened. "She deserved a proper grave. She mattered more than common carrion picked at by vultures!" The blond felt Sasuke's grip wind its way around his wrist and was met with words that made him see red.
"No, she didn't," Sasuke started, undeterred by the shaking that took hold of Naruto's body. He pressed on, "She was weak...and annoying."
A violent tremor shook the hospital, jostling the occupants and throwing them off balance including the surgery staff who inhabited the operating room. Sakura paused with cauterizer in hand, thankful for her ninja reflexes that allowed her to correct her hand motion as to not do more damage than good. Her muddy eyes watched Azumi, who righted herself after losing her balance.
All in the room were quiet, and the only noise sounding in the room was the rhythmic beeps of the cardiac monitor. The neon green line lazily made it's way across the screen, displaying visually the electricity of the heart Sakura and her team had worked so hard to heal.
"Doctor?" she heard from her anesthesiologist. He was watching her with some urgency, but Sakura refused to answer. A few more beats of silence and not even an aftershock. In the back of her mind, Sakura wondered how often this region was prone to earthquakes, but continued to focus on heating the incision site to prevent bleeding.
She had just pulled away the heating element and was passing it off to Azumi when a more violent quake shocked the OR, this time forcing some shelving open as well as moving the gernie on which her patient lay. The light above them pulsed almost off then back on to it's original brightness.
"Okay, people. We have to close quickly," she said, swiftly removing the retractor. With the help of dark-haired Azumi, they closed in record time, and they sent the patient to recovery. Without any structural damage or other system issues, they wouldn't have to evacuate just yet. After checking in with Ichibachi about the hospital's emergency action plan in this situation, she was assured that they would be able to keep the patients in their beds.
Though the hospital's cogs continued to churn like a while oil watch, the pinkette turned brunette couldn't shake a funny feeling she had. Something wasn't right. She rolled her petite shoulders against the feeling, attempting to shake it off, but still feeling like something was itching in the back of her skull, setting her teeth on edge. Sakura continued to feel it when she checked on her patients, especially when they questioned the earthquakes. She assured them it was normal, they had nothing to be worried about, and that the hospital held their safety as a priority.
As she finally checked on her surgical patient in the cardiac recovery wing, she started to feel a little better as she focused on his vitals and his post operative treatment as she relayed it to the nurse. Then a tremor shook the IV bag and its contents, and it came back. She let out a shaky breath, unable to get squirmy feeling in her shoulders to leave her alone.
'Thankfully, I get to go home soon,' Sakura thought as she looked up at the clock, noting she had a smart five minutes until her shift was over.
Azumi's eyes were on her as she changed. "Are you okay, Mei-sempai?" Sakura gave a nonchalant smile and made a shrugging motion, as if trying to shake the feeling off. "I'm not sure, Azumi-chan. I just have this feeling I can't get rid of."
Azumi gave her a thoughtful look and a kind smile, "Maybe it's following you?" Sakura walked to meet her where she stood by the door so they could exit their workplace together. Sakura let out a sound of disgust. "Well, if it is, hopefully it's sequestered to the hospital only. I don't need to bring that home."
Azumi gave an affirmative hum as the hospital's doors swished open as they approached. Once outside, moving to go in different directions after Azumi had asked Mei if she wanted to walk with her. "That sounds nice, but actually, I think that I need to stop by the market. It's going to close in a bit..." Sakura trailed off, distracted by what had appeared to be a couple making their way toward the entrance. After closer examination, however, Sakura realized it was actually at least one injured person supported by another.
"Actually, looks like I will be grabbing a wheelchair," Sakura said brightly. Azumi looked over her shoulder and offered, "Maybe two?" Sakura looked past her to confirm and was immediately struck by what she saw. She recognized that unkempt, silvery mess anywhere. Slowly coming into view were some worse-for-wear familiar faces from Konoha, but they all appeared somewhat okay. One was actually Akamaru, and laying over his back was a person that was as unmistakable as any of her striking fire nation nin. Yellow locks were visible, and what was normally a gaudy orange shirt had been transformed brownish from dirt and debris, while even more disturbing, freshly bled red patches seeped into the fabric.
Azumi had since turned back to look into Mei's face and had seen the color there drain. Immediately the nurse forgot about going home and rushed back to assemble more medical staff. Sakura snapped out of her shocked state and rushed forward to take the help support the weight of the person Kakashi was all but dragging along.
"Let me help you with that, sir," she offered, trying her best to keep her disguised voice even and not as breathless as she felt when her eyes fell on Ino who was limping behind Kakashi. His slate eye slid to Sakura and she knew he knew, but he was graceful enough to give her an eye crinkling smile and say, "Thank you, miss."
Sakura probably would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't so worried about her teammates and if she hadn't laid eyes on the back of the shirt of the incapacitated man he bore, where a fan was presented as a proud symbol of the Uchiha clan.
'Sasuke,' her mind gasped. 'Alive?'
Sakura sighed in relief when she saw the silhouette of Azumi flanked by nurses and techs, as well as the Dr. Kenji with whom she split her shift, backlit by the fluorescent lights of the hospital. Sakura helped load Sasuke onto the gernie that had been wheeled out, and sent a glance over her shoulder to give a cursory discernment of Naruto's condition. The disguised petal-haired woman felt sick as she rushed her teammates, her friends into the emergency room and used trauma sheers to cut off their clothes, calling out examination findings.
Kenji stepped up to take Naruto, letting Sakura know he would take the more critical patient, commenting that she could head home once he made sure Sasuke was stable.
"John Doe," she began on Sasuke as Naruto was situated on a gernie. "Pupils equal and reactive to light, protecting airway, no visible external injuries." Her fingers followed her eyes to brush over the curse seal at the junction of his neck and shoulder, thinking to herself how long ago that all seemed. How simple one bad guy like Orochimaru looked compared to the intricacies that accompanied growing up. His condition and physical findings gave a preliminary diagnosis of a bad concussion, and she turned to Azumi, who was at her right hand as always.
"Thank you," Sakura said warmly, admiration coloring her voice, knowing exactly why Azumi had stayed. Azumi smiled, her hand reaching out to squeeze Sakura's shoulder.
"I'll always be there for you, Mei." Sakura felt moved tears burn at the back of her eyes, but smiled all the same, thankful for having known someone as wonderful as the pale-eyed woman before her.
"I need you to take this one to radiology. He definitely needs a scan, make sure it's just only a concussion." Azumi smiled and nodded. A scan with chakra would be quicker, but she couldn't risk blowing her cover, even for something so serious. She had her orders and was now involved in some of the village's oldest and most coveted secrets. Sakura would only risk the mission and her village in dire need. Her thoughts on this halted when she heard the Kenji examining Naruto call for a fast ultrasound.
"Any findings?" she asked, worried by the bedside diagnostic test.
"Yes," he answered as he squirted jelly onto the probe and placing it on Naruto's chest wall. "Absent breath sounds on the left side. Going to check for fluid."
His nurse team was already readying a chest tube tray, making sure all the elements were there in case it was needed. Sakura had her own stethoscope pressed to Naruto's chest listening for breath sounds when Kenji called for the anesthetic. She resisted the urge to smooth her hand over his fair hair while an incision was being made.
Kenji inserted his finger into the incision, following closely with a clamp to spread the musculature of the ribs, though he was met with resistance.
"Shit," he growled, leaning his body weight into the tube. "I can't get it through. I swear I had placement ready, but it's as if his body is..."
He trailed off, shaking his head and frowning as if whatever he was thinking was too crazy to comprehend. Sakura knew what he was thinking. 'Healing itself,' she finished the thought in her head and watched in anticipation, ready to jump in at any minute.
"Vitals dropping," she heard a nurse inform coupled with the flat alarm that came with a drop in blood oxygen saturation. He was healing himself enough to close scratches, but was apparently too drained to save his own life. Kenji cursed again while he attempted to work the tube, and Sakura watched as Naruto's oxygen plummeted into the eighties.
Her ultimate decision was made in a split second. Sakura would not lose one of her precious people for the sake of a mission, consequences be damned and probably the reason she was still not jounin. In an instant her henge dropped and stunned all people surrounding her. Kenji had not looked up to hear the gasps, still diligently working to save the life of his patient.
Sakura as herself now, petal pink hair and green eyes revealed to not just her coworkers, but also to her teammates, placed a hand on the shoulder of the dark-haired physician and said gently, "Let me take it from here."
Kenji frowned, opened his voice to protest, but Sakura seeped a small dose of chakra into the atmosphere, catching him in an easily laid genjutsu to believe that his patient was well and he was free to move on to the next patient. He strolled out of the room, thanking his staff, and giving follow up instructions to an EKG machine.
Meanwhile, Sakura gathered a minute amount of chakra to her fingertip to form a chakra scalpel, inserting her digit into the already healing incision.
"Forehead!" she heard Ino squawk behind her indignantly. The team had been waiting and watching patiently against the wall in the tiny emergency room, and were witness to the transformation that had so unceremoniously occurred. Sakura pretended to be annoyed, but smiled as she shouted back, "Not now, Pig!" If there was something she was grateful to have now it was support of her best friend behind her even if that was coupled with her outrage.
A voice invaded her mind, demanding 'Fine, but you will be explaining this later, billboard brow.' Sakura dismissively muttered, "Yes, yes" to no one in particular as she maneuvered her chakra scalpel into Naruto's chest cavity. She felt the resistance Kenji had encountered, though she recognized it for what it was. Naruto's chakra swirling with a darker energy, Kurama's she guessed, was creating a type of forcefield around his vital organs, still attempting to heal and protect, though it wasn't strong enough to prevent the initial incision and her probing, but it was fighting back.
It was her turn to curse, but she managed to just make a frustrated noise through her teeth. She was concentrating so hard, she felt sweat begin to bead at her temples, trying to maintain precision while applying enough strength to not allow the buffeting of the dark, stormy chakra to throw her clear.
'Stop,' she pleaded with her mind, willing the chakra to accept her as a friend instead of a foe. Changing gears, Sakura withdrew her digit and allowed her cooling chakra to glow calmly over Naruto. A gentle brush here and there, pressing slowly into his skin, and she could feel the dark energy slowly receding, as if it recognized her chakra signature from the many times she had brought Naruto back from the brink. Before the last of it faded, she felt it brush against her senses one last time, and she couldn't stop the shudder that wracked her body.
Seizing the opportunity, Sakura reinserted her finger into the incision on Naruto's chest wall. Her chakra travelled without impediment, breaking through the last of the muscle into the chest cavity. Sakura simultaneously scanned his lung, healing while squeezing out the blood and clots that had pooled there and caused his lung to collapse. It spilled onto the floor with wet smacks, splattering Sakura's scrubs and shoes, but she took little notice because she was watching Naruto take healthy breaths, his color changing from pale to pink, and the oxygen saturation rising to hover at 99%.
Sakura let her head drop and pressed her forehead to his, relieved tears finding their way unbidden to fall down her cheeks.
"Ino, would you mind giving me a hand?" Sakura requested, looking over her shoulder to her blonde friend, not even bothering to wipe her eyes. Ino had a somewhat stunned expression on her face as she blinked owlishly and said, "Yeah, yeah sure."
The combined healing from Ino—though she had little left to spare—and Sakura's chakra had Naruto physically recovered within a few minutes, especially since a lot of the minor injuries had been already taken care of by his own unique chakra. Azumi had returned as they wrapped up after taking Sasuke to his admitted room and stopped dead in her tracks at the new comer that was commanding the nurses of the trauma room. Even more shocking was that they were listening to her. Where was Dr. Kenji and Mei?
"Azumi," Sakura smiled, relieved. At Azumi's backward step and wide eyes, Sakura put a hand toward her, as if she was going to touch her arm in a calming manner though she was across the room. "It's me, Mei. I'm sorry, I'll explain everything, I promise. It's a long story."
Azumi eyed her warily, but quietly relented, telling her that the raven-haired man was in room 216, was still unconscious, but stable. The radiologist had read his CT's and everything was clear. He was lucky. Sakura hated the submissive and scared look in her eye, knowing that behind her eyes, Azumi's brain was replaying the violence that had leveled her village and killed her loved-ones. Nothing like a bunch of heavily injured and armed nin to make someone's traumatic past to come back and haunt them. The distrust that colored her eyes a scared and pale, milky white hurt Sakura, but she knew she deserved no better. This was a mission, and she had gone and gotten attached. And not just to Azumi.
Moments later Sakura was wheeling Naruto down the hallways to the same room occupied by Sasuke. The wheels whirled in a way that sounded like sticky shoes and it had Sakura on edge. She couldn't wait to get her teammates into the quiet room and be able to watch over everyone. Really though, she and her entourage consisting of Kakashi, Ino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Sai following behind her could keep an eye on both of them. However, the Konoha recovery team had their own injuries though, and Sakura ordered all of them to sit still so she could treat them.
Kakashi's leveled his dark eye on her, and Sakura tried not to squirm under his intense gaze. He spoke low enough for her ears, though he couldn't be sure that Kiba with his excellent hearing wouldn't pick up their conversation.
"What's going on here, Sakura?" he asked and she felt like a little kid being scolded again. Ino was at her side in an instant, and when Kakashi leveled her with a "do-you-mind" look, she crossed her arms defiantly and gave him a taste of his own medicine with her sharp, crystal blue eyes.
Kakashi let out a heavy sigh as if it was incredibly troublesome to have one of his subordinates privy to mission details, but let it slide.
"Let's not talk about it here," she said, looking pointedly at Sasuke and Naruto, both so drained of chakra that they still appeared comatose as they recovered.
Sakura at the behest of Kakashi and the official scroll he carried from Tsunade, relayed everything that had happened so far, including the nearly successful infiltration of the Akatsuki by herself, and the absolute success by Itachi.
Kakashi gave her a skeptical look, "Sakura, you understand what you're saying right?" Sakura felt her temper rise at the disbelief that colored his tone, and Inner Sakura stamped her foot in frustration.
"I'm telling the truth," she insisted with a hiss, still trying to keep her voice down. Kiba was leaning against the wall and narrowed his eyes skeptically.
He spoke up in an assertive tone that had always grated on Sakura's nerves. "From what I know of the sharingan, it can show you really everything. How can you believe a thing this guy claims?"
"I know he's telling me the truth," Sakura fumed vehemently at the inu, her eyes glaring daggers at him. He brought up him hands in a show of surrender, showing his canines as he smiled.
"Easy there, tiger. Just sayin' what everyone's think'." Sakura's eyebrows drew together as she looked at Kakashi, who looked away toward Ino who locked eyes with Sakura.
'Are you sure about this, Forehead?' Ino's voice sounded in Sakura's head, and Sakura kept eye contact, earnestly showing her whole heart and head to her teammate.
'I'm sure, Ino. I need you to trust me.' This happened in the blink of an eye and almost at once, Ino was coming to Sakura's defense, "Not everyone. I believe her." The blonde was sure she heard Kiba scoff, "you would", but chose to ignore him in favor of walking over to her friend and placing her hand on her shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze.
"We're behind you, Sakura," Ino said, looking pointedly over her shoulder at Kiba. "All of us." Akamaru, who was too intimidating for the staff to try to expel from the hospital, walked to Sakura's side to where he sat down and let his tongue loll out of the side of his mouth in what appeared to be a huge doggy smile as he tilted his head back to look at Sakura. Sakura in turn smiled back and bent to give him a squish to the face and scratches behind the ears. She heard Kiba chagrinned chuckle at his partner's traitorous non-verbal statement, but walked up to stand next to Ino, smiling ruefully.
"Yeah," he agreed, "All of us."
"Thanks guys," Sakura sighed in relief, and let her arms encompass her teammates that she could reach. "Now, you need to rest."
The team made their way to the room that held Sasuke's and Naruto's beds, where Sakura had arranged to have extra beds placed for rest.
Arriving at the door however, they found the room occupied by only one. Naruto, still unconscious, occupied the furthest bed, while the rest were empty, including the one that had previously held Sasuke's form, mussed and left askew.
"Oh no," Sakura breathed, while the team behind her were already formulating a plan in the back of their minds. However, Sakura quickly asserted herself even above Kakashi, directing his team minus to quickly search the hospital campus and village, while she would run towards the Akatsuki house, and hopefully cut the youngest Uchiha off before he made it there and before he made a huge mistake.
Kakashi, Sai, Kiba, with Akimaru and the inu-nin leading the search swept the hospital, while Ino and Sakura double checked Naruto, ensuring he was still stable. In the midst of checking his vitals, stethoscope in her ears, Sakura felt a tap on her shoulder from Ino who was across from her. She raised her emerald eyes, and followed Ino's pointed index finger that lead her over her shoulder to the doorway. There, Azumi stood, looking out of place as she waited for explanation that had been promised to her not but an hour ago.
"Azumi, we have a patient missing," Sakura said as she approached her. "The one you took to radiology. Can you help us find him?" The pale nurse gave her a soft smile.
"Of course, Sakura-chan," she said, turning and began walking away.
Sakura was silent for a moment, still just until she let a kunai slip into her hand, gripping it loosely with her fingers.
"Mei," she said quietly. Azumi looked over her shoulder, a smile still plastered on her face and raced her eyebrows imploringly.
"Hm?" she hummed. "I didn't hear you, Sakura-chan."
"My name is Mei. I never told you my name was Sakura. We haven't ever been formally introduced, because you're not Azumi."
The woman across from her smiled changed to one that was stretched and sinister, and her voice changed as she condescendingly addressed Sakura. "Oh, very nice. You found me out just like that."
Sakura gave her a scornful look, nearly spitting venom with her reply. "Don't insult me. No self-respecting nin would let a detail slip like that."
The woman kept giving her a derisive look and threw back her own acidic remark. "A self-respecting nin, huh? Like one who sluts around, sleeping with criminals while chasing after men she doesn't deserve." Her disguise dropped, and her spectacles flashed as she regarded Sakura from across the hall, "like my Sasuke-kun."
"What have you done with Azumi and Sasuke?" Sakura demanded, ignoring the jab from the red-haired woman. But Karin barreled on undeterred, fiercely indignant.
"His location is only known to those he trusts, and he trusted me with that knowledge. You're nothing to him. Don't you remember?" Karin taunted, putting on a calculating facade as she regarded Sakura, "He tried to kill you. He wanted you dead, and you dare act like you're something more to him?"
The question was obviously rhetorical as Karin continued her speech, seemingly more to herself than to Sakura, or maybe as a prayer to a deity, "And now, I'll finish the famous Sakura-chan off, and then Sasuke-kun will see how devoted I am, and we can finally be together." In the midst of what Sakura diagnosed as borderline psychotic fanaticism coupled with obsession, Karin reached into her weapons pouched and launched a volley of shuriken at Sakura. Sakura skillfully knocked them away with a graceful arc of her kunai. The clash of steel had Ino's attention, who came up behind Sakura, ready to lend support.
"We are in a hospital. This isn't a place to fight," Sakura attempted reason, knowing she could subdue this insane red woman with little difficulty if there weren't so many civilian lives to protect. The mention of possible casualties didn't deter Karin like Sakura had hoped, as the gleam red eyes became dangerous. Sakura disappeared in a blur followed closely by Karin, while Ino kept her distance waiting for instant when her teammate would materialize before her, enemy captive under her monstrous strength. It took several more minutes than usual, all the while, Ino made sure she was between the enemy and Naruto, keeping him safe, but eventually after a few moments, Sakura had the girl kneeling in front of Ino, holding her buy the hair and shoulder.
"Ino," Sakura said, slightly out of breath. "If you wouldn't mind."
The blonde woman sat on the floor across from Karin who was baring her teeth like a caged animal while carrying on a futile struggle against the chakra induced strength wielded by Sakura. Before her, Ino joined her thumbs, along with her pointer and middle fingers, aiming her attack. Within a moment, her body slumped against the wall and Karin had stopped struggling.
Sakura waited patiently, relaxing her muscles for a short amount of time. She closed her eyes and let her mind go blank, taking the opportunity to rest. "Let me know when you're ready," she told Ino.
"Almost there," Karin's voice said, and after a few beats, her voice was heard again. "Alright, I'm ready. On your count, I leave and you knock the bitch out."
Sakura couldn't help but smile at her best friend's ferocity as she answered, "Got it. One, two..." and on three, she smacked the crown of the head of her captive. She was out cold, and Ino's eyes were becoming focused.
"He's on his way to the house?" she said, unsure of exactly what that meant. "He heard everything, he wasn't out when he was brought to the room. Azumi was ambushed by this one." She toed Karin's shoulder, and Sakura only half attempted a reprimand.
"First thing's first, where is Azumi? I can't leave her."
"She's tied up in the CT room with the radiology tech." Sakura cursed under her breath and asked Ino to stay briefly with Naruto. She was opening the door to the CT room in a flash, the shaft of light reaching across the room and illuminating the big circular piece of machinery and the two captives roped together. Sakura ran over to Azumi, who's head was bowed, but as soon as she touched her, the nurse's head rose rapidly, and eyes full of fear met Sakura's.
"Azumi, it's okay. I'll keep you safe. I'll protect you no matter what, I promise." Though her eyes had previously been full of fear, as Sakura removed the gag that had so harshly been tied to her mouth, Azumi's pale eyes look relieved and Sakura felt the same. She didn't want to lose the friend she had made, another precious person for such a very different reason.
"Thank you, Mei-sempai!" Azumi gasped, but then had a look on her face that Sakura often saw on Ino: determined and strong. "But I'll be okay. You go get those people."
"Azumi," Sakura breathed, not expecting such an aggressive response. Azumi was wriggling out of the loops of rope Sakura cut with a sharp kunai.
"Mei, I know you. You are a good person; look at the difference you have made, look at all the lives you have saved since you've been here. I trust you." The nurse had taken the lead from Sakura as she laid the unconscious tech on the floor. "I've got this covered here."
Sakura was rooted to her spot in shock, and Azumi looked at her as if to say 'you're still here?' Azumi stopped attending to the tech and took Sakura's hands in hers.
"I will be fine, and we will meet back up when you're done. I've got it covered. Go." Sakura smiled and nodded, saying "I won't let you down" with her eyes and not her voice.
I know, I know! Don't pelt me with rotten vegetables! I have taken FOR-EH-VER to update, but I tried to make it great for you guys! And another should be update soon because this was originally going to be one humongous chapter, but I reached what I felt to be a natural stopping point, so I stopped. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and following, I love and appreciate all of my reviewers and readers! 3