Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

Chapter 3

Sakura paced back and forth in the greenhouse, glancing impatiently out the window, muttering viciously. She swore under her breath before perching on the small wooden chair near the stainless steel table in the middle of the room. She managed to stay seated for at least thirty seconds, trying unsuccessfully to still her bouncing limbs, before she shot back up and began to pace the room again, much to the chagrin of the other scientists making use of the facility.

As she glared out the window, a dark frown marring her features, one brave soul decided it was time to throw caution to the wind and say something to the girl.

"Uh, please, Sakura-senpai," the shinobi began, nervously fiddling with the zipper on his standard-issue vest. "Please come over and sit down. You're welcome to experiment with some of the herbs while you wait for Kankuro-sama to arrive."

The glare she narrowed in his direction made the young man gulp visibly, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"I don't need to experiment with Sand herbs," she spat. "You don't have anything here we don't have in Konoha, where grass actually deigns to grow without persuasion."

"W-well then," he stammered on, his friends marveling at his bravery, "could you perhaps show us somenew antidotes? You're so much more skilled at it than we are, and—"

"Of course I'm more skilled at it than you," she ground out, unimpressed with the appeal to her intelligence. "But you'll never get better at it if I'm always showing you how to do it."

Sakura huffed and turned her head away in indignation, continuing to pace the stone floor with a vengeance.

"S-s-sakura-senpai!" the poor man practically shouted, and she snapped her head back to him, eyes shooting daggers.

"What?" she snapped, fully prepared to comply with his obvious death wish and put him out of his misery. He trudged on anyway, and she was almost tempted to applaud his attempt at bravery.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Sakura-senpai," he practically wailed, shooting a look to his friends for back-up. They ignored him, studiously looking any direction but his. He gulped, steeling himself to speak his piece anyway.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-senpai," he began again with slightly more conviction. "But if you can't sit still and you're not going to work, I have to ask you to leave. Your pacing is distracting our work, and unless you're prepared to wait patiently for Kankuro-sama, you simply can't... stay..." his voice trailed off into almost a whisper at the expression on her face. The other medics finally looked up, not wanting to miss the show.

The air practically crackled with tension as she rounded on the young shinobi. He shrunk back, suddenly regretting very much his urge to reprimand the senior medic.

"What's your name?" she asked him in a deadly whisper. Fear and sweat were radiating off him in waves, and she wanted to smack him for his inability to keep it together.

"N-n-n-n-n," he stuttered, and Sakura leveled her eyes. He swallowed hard and began again. "Nobu, Sakura-senpai."

"Well, Nobu-san," she said, voice low, "I've been waiting for Kankuro-sama for the past four hours." She said his name like it was a nasty disease she had been unable to find a cure for. Nobu trembled a bit and wrung his hands nervously.

"Four. Hours. Nobu-san. And I can safely say that I was patient for at least two of those four hours. Do you know why I'm here waiting for Kankuro-sama in the first place, Nobu-san?"

Nobu frantically shook his head no, quaking on the spot, waiting for her famous temper to explode and shower him in sparks of anger and vitriol. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. The poor kid was going to drop into a dead faint if she didn't get it together. After all, it wasn't his fault Kankuro was a moron. She sighed loudly.

"I'm here to help him make an antidote," she conceded. "He was going to show me the components of a new poison he's developed and I can't get started without him. He's the one who practically begged me to be here right away so we could get started first thing, but now it's almost lunch and I've barely had anything to eat and I'm starving," she scowled, making the other medics jump. She made a pounding motion with her fist and they all took several steps back, Nobu scrambling to hide behind his friends.

"And when I finally find that no-good, hung over piece of shit, he's going to know exactly how thrilled I am with all this," she growled menacingly, her anger practically igniting the air around her.

The other shinobi sucked in a quick breath, hoping for Kankuro's sake that he both had a ready excuse and knew how to take a punch.

Naruto stumbled into the mess hall with a massive case of bedhead, his eyes still blurry with sleep and his head throbbing with every step he took. He had really tied one on last night, and he knew he was going to be paying for it all day. Gaara hadn't been easy to put off meeting the night before, the excuse of travel and catching up after a long absence falling on deaf ears. Trying to get out of meeting today because of a hangover was practically suicide.

He supposed he should take a leaf out of Gaara's book and shoulder some responsibility, but paperwork was so boring and that's what assistants were invented for.

Reasoning that food or at least caffeine would ease the pounding in his skull, he filled a mug with the blackest coffee he could find, and plunked down in the nearest chair, willing some empathetic soul to wander by and offer to grab the poor sick Hokage some lunch. He stared dolefully into his cup, wondering if it would be easier and less painful to just put a kunai through his brain.

The sound of an earnest voice followed by tinkling laughter made him push his head into his hands, groaning at the unwelcome noise. Some people had no respect for their ailing leader. Minutes later, he felt several bodies sit down next to him and Naruto turned to look into the stoic gray eyes of Huuyga Neji.

"Hokage-sama," Neji greeted formally. Naruto groaned.

"Ahhh, Naruto-kun! I see you're still recovering from last night!" Lee's enthusiasm was neither helpful nor appreciated. He buried his head back into his arms.

"Ah, leave him alone, Lee," Sakura intoned. "He'll perk up on his own in a bit, and if not, it serves him right for acting like an idiot last night. I warned you not to be so reckless, Naruto."

She sounded pretty smug, Naruto thought, for someone known far and wide to be one of the loudest, most annoying drunks in Konoha and the worst crank when nursing a hangover. He turned to grimace at her, but it turned into another moan as his twisting facial muscles sent a pang through his head.

Sakura gave him a look that plainly said "I told you so" and began chatting quietly with the boys as they ate their lunch. After several minutes of resting his head on the table, Naruto sat up at the smell of something delicious. He was just turning to find the source of the perfume before Gaara sat next to him, sliding a steaming bowl of fresh ramen under his nose.

Gaara looked at him but said nothing, breaking his cheap wooden chopsticks and turning to his own meal of grilled fish and steamed rice. Naruto grinned widely before breaking his own chopsticks and taking a long, loud slurp of the noodles.

"You know me so well," he smirked, taking another big bite. The others, who had already finished their meals, watched in rapt fascination as Naruto polished off the entire bowl in three minutes flat. Sakura looked a bit green as he patted his stomach contentedly and sat back, his eyes bright again.

"Uzumaki Naruto's number one hangover cure! Ramen," he told them piously, indicating the empty bowl. Lee smiled widely.

"That's so wise, Naruto-kun! I will keep that in mind for when I develop a hangover. I have been told by Gai-sensei not to drink, but in the event that I do have even a little, its effects produce the most unpleasant headaches. This cure will surely be useful knowledge to retain!"

Neji and Sakura rolled their eyes.

"I wouldn't put too much stock into it, Lee," Sakura told him. "Naruto thinks ramen is the number one cure for everything."

Gaara sat back contentedly as his Konoha compatriots chatted after a leisurely lunch. He felt absolutely no compunction to join the conversation, but he enjoyed listening to them talk all the same. It was nice to spend time with people who knew him well enough to expect nothing from him other than what he could give. Usually, that meant quiet companionship.

"Naruto-kun," Lee was saying, "remind me again which genin teams are coming for the exams?"

Naruto pursed his lips in thought. "Let's see... There's Sasuke's team, of course, with Nami, Yuhei, and Shin; Shika's team, Hina-chan's team, and uh... I swear there's one more..." he trailed off.

"Really, Naruto," Sakura scolded. "You're the damn Hokage. You're supposed to know which teams are trying to get chunin rank."

"I do freakin' know, I just forgot for a minute! I can't think with this damn headache is all!"

"And whose fault is that, huh? Whose?"

Naruto scowled at her, but refrained from commenting further. Gaara thought that maybe he should stick up for his friend, but he was too busy staring at the way Sakura's lips looked when she pouted like that to give it more than a cursory thought.

And, well, he had drunk way too much.

"I'm pretty sure it's Udon-san's team," Neji supplied, and Naruto snapped his fingers and pointed at Neji in recognition.

"That's it! Udon."

Gaara looked a bit startled. "You really know someone named Udon?" he asked.

When Sakura giggled adorably and hid her smile behind her hand, Gaara had to stop himself from forcibly removing it so he could keep staring at her mouth. He resolved to try saying more amusing things (though he really had no idea what was so funny) to get her to laugh again.

"Kazekage-sama, how many sand teams are taking the exam?" Neji asked him.

"Three. One team of younger genin and two older teams. I expect at least the older shinobi to pass, but it really depends on the competition from other villages. Speaking of which..." he turned to Naruto, who suddenly looked wary, as if he knew what was coming.

"Naruto, you and I have to meet this afternoon concerning the teams from the other villages and some logistics for the test."

Naruto's frown turned into a full out grimace.

" But Gaaaaa-rraaaa," he whined, "I have a haaannggooovveeerr—"

"I thought the ramen cured it," Gaara deadpanned.

"But I—"

"Naruto!" Sakura growled at him. "I have not had a great morning thus far, and your bitching is not making it better! Suck it up and do your duty! You wanted to be Hokage, here you go. I've told you more times than I can count what having the title really means. Paperwork and boring meetings with dignitaries—no offense Gaara."

"None taken," he assured her.

"All right, all right already, I know," Naruto whined. "Let's just go get it over with."

Gaara stood, fully prepared to drag Naruto back to his office by force if necessary, when Sakura stopped him with a light touch on his arm. He paused, awkwardly caught halfway between sitting and standing, unsure of which direction to go. He glanced uncomfortably at the rest of the table, and Sakura still didn't move her hand. He felt a traitorous flush rise on his cheeks and he quickly sat back down and pulled his hand away before anyone noticed.

"I'm sorry Gaara-kun. Before you go, I wanted to ask you about earlier."

Gaara felt that telltale blush begin to rise again and fought it down, maintaining his usual perfectly stoic disposition. Naruto and Lee looked curiously between them.

"Earlier?" Naruto asked.

When it became clear that Gaara was not going to explain, Sakura said, "This morning Gaara caught the tail end of my yoga routine. We were talking about it afterward, but I had to go before he could tell me what he thought of it."

Inwardly panicking a bit, because Gaara really didn't want anyone else to know what he thought about her yoga routine, Gaara asked, "Oh, yes, you had a meeting this morning. How did that go?"

Sakura's brow turned into a frown at his question and she glowered at him. Taken aback, Naruto and Gaara leaned further away from her end of the table.

"I don't want to talk about it," she growled.

Before Gaara could apologize for so obviously upsetting her, she mumbled, "That damned Kankuro. Just wait until he gets a piece of my mind. Four hours... four fucking hours... NARUTO," she snapped suddenly. He gulped.

"If you ever make me wait four hours for you because you can't manage to get your lazy ass out of bed because of a damned hangover, I'll kill you," Sakura threatened.

Naruto nodded quickly in agreement, while Gaara considered her complaint. Clearly she had been intending to meet with his brother this morning and had been stood up. He made a mental note to both ask Kankuro his intentions with her (surreptitiously, so it didn't seem as though he had intentions) and to never stand Sakura up, under pain of death.

"Anyway," Sakura continued, "you seemed interested in my routine, so I was thinking I could show you some stuff."

"Stuff?" He asked faintly.

"Sure! That way, if you want, you can adapt the routine for Suna, show your instructors and jonins, and they can pass the information along."

He was silent for a long moment and Sakura began to look unsure of herself.

"Of course, you don't have to. It was just a suggestion and I—"

"No!" he said quickly, and perhaps a bit too loudly. When she looked startled he said, "No, it's ok. I'd… I'd like that."

She brightened considerably and Gaara felt himself lightening as well at her smile.

"Great!" she enthused. "Tomorrow morning then. I start at 6:00. It's a date!"

If Gaara's face did not permanently resemble a tomato by the end of her visit, he would be eternally grateful to whatever god happened to be listening.

"Hn." He turned to the Hokage, who had remained mercifully silent throughout the conversation. "Shall we?"

Naruto stifled a sigh and stood up, grabbing his empty ramen bowl and stacking it on Gaara's plate.

"Let's just get this over with," he grumbled.

"Remember Naruto," Sakura scolded as they turned to go. "This is what the Hokage does. No complaining!"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya the first time, mother," he retorted, not bothering to turn around.

Gaara sent her an apologetic smile, which she returned, and he felt himself brighten and blush again. Cursing the completely inopportune timing for his hormones to make themselves present (really… the chunin exams?), he stiffened as Naruto turned to beckon him along.

Exhaling the breath he had been holding when Naruto paid no attention whatsoever to his strange behavior, he decided he would be eternally grateful to whatever god was listening that his best friend also happened to be the densest guy on the planet.

Sakura stalked the halls of the Kazekage Tower like a whirlwind, her rage trailing behind her in a stream of muttered curses and angry sighs. After asking directions from a wary chunin because she was absolutely sure she had passed that same damn potted plant at least four times, she strode purposefully in the direction he pointed her, stopping in front of a large carved oak door.

Bringing back her fist to pound through it, she hesitated and let her arm hang limp. Kankuro might deserve to live without a door for a few days, but the Kazekage didn't deserve to pay for it. If she had broken a door down when she was working for Tsunade, she would have had to fork up the funds for it herself, which she also didn't particularly want to do. She raised her fist again, this time knocking with the force of a small battering ram, but with not enough strength to actually break the door.

"Kankuro," she shouted. "You get your lazy, drunk, good-for-nothing ASS out here NOW!"

She heard grumbling and groaning outside the door and she knocked again, harder this time, and she could see the molding above the frame shake. Undeterred, she screamed again for him to get out of bed and confront her, the dirty, rotten, unpunctual bastard.

Sakura had expected to see Kankuro at lunch, slinking into the cafeteria remorsefully and begging her to forgive him for his thoughtlessness. When he had failed to show, she decided it was time to take matters into her own, much more capable hands.

"KANKURO!"

More groaning, and then shuffling, and then the door opening to a bleary-eyed beast man. With hair out to there, dark circles under his eyes, bare feet, and nothing on but a rather festively-patterned pair of boxer shorts, Kankuro looked every bit like he had spent the night drinking and woken up with a killer hangover. Or possibly like he had done battle with a malcontent rhinoceros. Sakura wondered briefly whether he always looked this bad after he drank, and if so, why he continued to torture himself.

"What," he croaked, looking like he might fall over at the drop of a hat.

Sakura felt her heart melt a little. She tried vainly to push the feeling aside, desperately wanting to retain her anger and give him a piece of her mind, but the medic in her staunchly refused. This man needed her, and regardless that it was his own fault that he looked and probably felt like shit, Sakura felt it was her duty to help him feel better.

Then she could kill him.

"Oh, Kankuro," she sighed, reaching up to loop his arm over her shoulders and help him to the bed. He had vomited into his trash can during the night, obviously unable to make it to the bathroom, so she quickly tied the bag and set it outside the door before moving to his window and cracking it to let out the stale air. She didn't particularly want to let the sand in and make more work for whoever had the pleasure of cleaning his room, but the smell was worse than the wind.

She laid him down and tucked him in, running a cloth from the bathroom under water to press to his sweat-dampened skin. Sakura supposed she should be doing something to prepare for the arrival of her teammates and debrief the other medics of the plan for the exam, but she had already cleared the day for Kankuro's antidote creation and testing, so she supposed she could spend it playing nurse.

She sat with him, watching as the sun peaked in the sky and slowly began its downward descent. She kept the cool cloth pressed to his head, wringing it out every so often and wiping his body of all traces of sweat. When he woke up and needed to be sick again, she helped him stumble into the bathroom and soothingly patted his back as he retched into the toilet bowl.

He seemed a bit better after that, so she prepared his toothbrush and a glass of water, located two pain pills for the massive headache he was undoubtedly sporting, and waited in the bedroom for him to make himself presentable. He plodded out in a bathrobe and sat next to her on the edge of the bed. They were silent for several minutes before he spoke.

"I'm really sorry," he ground out, his voice sounding hoarse from sleep and sickness.

"So am I," she replied, not looking into his eyes.

"Sakura," he pleaded. "Please look at me."

She turned her head away in a silent refusal. He leaned closer to her then, one hand fisted in the bedding, the other hovering above her shoulder.

"Please."

Sakura looked up at him and he placed the hand on her arm, turning her into him before pulling her into a breathless hug. She gasped and he put his other arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly. She sat there, her arms pinned between them, unable to reciprocate and unsure if she would even if she could.

"I am so sorry," he said again, his voice almost sounding close to tears.

"You must think I'm just the biggest asshole on the planet, practically begging you yesterday to help me and then standing you up. I can't believe I didn't… I'll do anything to make it up to you," he amended, waiting with baited breath until she sighed sweetly, leaning into his embrace.

"It was pretty awful of you," she told him. "I had marched down here fit to kill, ready to yell and scream and rage until my head exploded. But then you answered that door looking like such hell that I couldn't seem to find it in me anymore."

He pulled back from her warm hug, barely resisting the urge to run his hands along her back and through her hair.

"You can yell at me now," he told her earnestly, looking straight into her eyes. She laughed outright at his eagerness before patting him on the head. He winced.

"I don't think your poor brain could take me ripping into you now. You must have a doozy of a headache."

He grimaced. "Yeah. I got real shit-faced last night. Don't know what I was thinking."

She smiled at him, and he felt his stomach do a little flutter that he was pretty sure didn't have anything to do with the hangover.

"Do you always look this bad after you drink?"

"Not always," he hedged. She shook her head ruefully.

"I would kill myself if I looked that bad every time I woke up with a hangover. And I don't handle them all that well as it is."

"Who does?" he asked, grinning, before suddenly falling sober again.

"How long did you wait?"

"It's not important."

"It is," he insisted. "How long?"

She was quiet for several minutes. "Four hours," she admitted finally.

"Fuck," he said softly, his voice a strangled whisper. "I'm such a screw up." His hand fisted in the blanket again and his breath hitched when she placed her small hand over his own, her warm fingers wrapping around his long ones. He let himself relax in her caress, her thumb rubbing soothing circles over the side of his fist.

"Sakura?"

She turned her big green eyes up at him and he felt the flutter again.

"I really am so, so sorry."

"It's ok," she sighed. "I forgive you."

He leaned down for a hug again, and this time she put her arms around him. He gathered her close, tucking her small frame under his chin and resting his cheek on her soft hair.

"Thanks for taking such good care of me, Nurse Haruno."

"That's Medic Haruno to you," she scolded, but she stayed in the warm circle of his arms all the same.

A/N: Well, I had planned a big ol' shouting match for S&K, but instead we got that sweet little ending scene. Sort of took on a mind of its own there. Sorry 'bout that.

Next episode, the rest of The Crew shows up. Temari, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Hinata make their appearances, as well as a cameo by the lovely Eiji. You get to look forward to SandSib + infant action. Plus, I'm sure Gaara will be thrilled with Sasuke's level of familiarity with our favorite pink ninja.

(And to preempt any possible whining from the Sasuke h8rs, yes, he's a little bitch, but he's a reformed little bitch. Naruto says he can't be Hokage until he saves his best friend, so I'm taking that literally and assuming that at some point Kishi-san will have fox-boy save the rat bastard. And since we all know he's basically Kakashi sans mask, he will be the worst genin teacher known to man. /end spiel)