Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor will I ever.

Summary: "Haruno Sakura, you have been ordered to guard the prisoner Uzumaki Naruto." After a strict order from the Hokage, Sakura has been forced to conquer her greatest fear—the rumored beast of Konoha. The tragedy is slowly revealed, piece-by-piece.

Pairing: Naruto X Sakura

AN:

Edited as of March 23, 2009

Broken Leaf

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03. Day - Night

The desert sand blew into her eyes and it seemed to matter little that she had held her arms up in an attempt to protect her face. Sakura could think on one simple word to describe the desert: dry. She didn't well enjoy the fact that every time she brought her sandals down, she would feel the scorching heat of the sand against the bottom of her heel. And now, she would have to quicken her pace to catch up to Uzumaki, in case he would escape. She had doubts before the mission about his loyalty with Konoha and this little mistake just proved her to be correct. Even as she ran further in, she could not see very well, with the dust flying about everywhere. Eventually, she could see further in and saw that four guards, all with clothes covering their mouths, stood.

She raised her hands as an attempt to show her benevolence, but that quickly proved to be futile for the girl.

"Naruto!" Sakura could do little against the loud dust storms. He, the supposedly intelligent murderer, was an idiot. The Sand wasn't the sort that would allow just anybody to waltz into their city; they required identification of some sort, and if they didn't see the correct identification, they wouldn't be very happy with the visitor. No doubt, with their leader captured, the Sand would place even more emphasis on security.

To Sakura's disbelief and annoyance, the blond continued at a rapid pace towards the entrance, Sakura's words sliding off like oil on water.

"Uzumaki, we have to show them the pass!" she yelled, waving a white scroll up in her arms. To her disappointment, he was failing to listen to her instructions. She wanted to believe that he would listen; after all, it would make life so much easier for her to simply believe his words that she never thought to question him.

The kunoichi widened her eyes; a kunai had flown from one of the Sand towards the blonde's direction. Some part of her willed herself to be quiet, that if she stayed silent, a nuisance would be gone. Life would go on as it always had gone, and she wouldn't have to worry about murderers breathing down her back every second. But, some other part of her knew that it would be immoral. Tsunade had entrusted her this task, and it would be impudent of her to disobey. Of course, some other part of her (her mind seemed to split three-ways) told her something else to, but she was too busy watching the kunai sail closer to its target.

"Watch out!" She caught her breath, the hot air seeping into her throat. She grabbed her throat and coughed, watching hopelessly as she awaited the collision between metal and flesh.

The kunai was caught in his hand. He placed it in his pouch, continuing onwards as if it had been nothing. Four more shurikens followed. Uzumaki back flipped, landing on his hands then feet. He had narrowly dodged a kunai that had been aiming for his chest.

He shouted a few words to the Sand, but Sakura couldn't hear his exact words, not with the wind blowing against her ears. The Sand attempted a couple of hand seals. Duplicates of the Sand appeared, poised and seemingly ready for attack.

She saw that Naruto had prepared to bunch of hand seals.

"Getting out of hand…" Sakura mused silently. "Tsunade will kill me if I fail this mission."

Whatever Uzumaki wanted to complete was soon interrupted by another attack. As he was about to release his hands, he stopped, turning to Sakura, as if in acknowledgement. It intimated her, but she shook her thoughts once more and concentrated. A huge wave of dust was followed by a gigantic loud crack in the earth. Particles of dust flew freely into the air, gathering into a spinning vortex. It was as if the ground was being pulled towards the sky.

"We mean no harm," said Sakura, standing in the middle of it all. She was covered in mud from head to toe, but she tried her best no to take notice, instead grabbing the scroll located in the back of her belt. She untied its ribbon and unrolled it, waving the seal inside. "I have a pass from the Hokage. We are from Konoha and here to help."

Naruto nodded a placid smile on his face. In normal circumstances, if he was her teammate, she would have raised hell by now, but she didn't. Now was the not the time, nor was he her teammate.

"Baki-sama never said anything about a new group coming from Konoha!" shouted back one of the sand ninja still shrouded in the shadows of the cliff.

Sakura bit her lip in frustration, groaning when she felt the dirt seep through her tongue once more. She definitely hated this place. "Please contact whoever is in charge at this moment. I'm sure we were assigned to be here."

The four Sand nin continued to stare the two, eying them carefully before one finally disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Sakura let out a sign of relief she didn't even know she had been holding. The rest of the time, the other Sand members commanded Sakura and Naruto to stand a distance away, least they try to attack. Sakura had to refrain from snorting at the point. That was the exact opposite of what she was trying to do. Still, that was how Sakura was forced to stand close to Naruto.

Like the nice girl she felt she was, she tried to start a conversation. She had never been practically good at it, but in the midst of all the panic and chaos, maybe it would serve to calm her nerves. "Hey, Uzu-Naruto…" she began, but her voice caught in her throat again, and she was uncertain to how to continue, "So…"

"The Sand are much more timid these days," stated Naruto, as if stating a thoughtful observation, "But still, thanks. I wouldn't have liked it if I had been forced to against those ninjas. And you wouldn't have liked it as well, right?"

"Your welcome," said Sakura, not quite sure what he meant. She cleared her throat, "It's a good thing we arrived early." Feeling that her legs had enough pain, she sat down on the sand, only to feel its hot burn. "And according to Tsunade-sama, it's only a matter of time before the poison done is irreversible. I need to be there soon."

"Then it would be their fault," said Naruto, kneeling down to reach Sakura's level. He wasn't quite there. His face was still a neck above hers. "Don't worry about it too much."

"I never said I was worrying," muttered Sakura. Try as she might, there was just something that irritated her when people claimed her to be worrying.

"Sorry then." Naruto chuckled softly; it was a sound that Sakura found to be relaxing compared the sounds of the raging sands in Konoha. "You're very easy to read, Haruno-san. And, I'm only calling you until you call my name properly."

Sakura felt her lips curve upward, but somehow, at the same time, she felt an urge to turn away. To focus her thoughts elsewhere, she poked her finger in the sand, like a toddler would do at a sandbox. "Ow!"

"You alright?" asked Naruto. "I think I still have some ointment I got from Tsunade in my backpack…" He leaned closer.

"Y-yeah," replied Sakura, choosing to stare at her wound. "It's nothing. Nothing that I can't take care of."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," said Sakura. She was sure that he was about to speak again, but instead, a sand ninja appeared.

"We have contacted Baki-sama and apologize for our behavior early." The ninja looked similar to the one who had attacked them moments ago. "Please help Kankurou-sama."

Sakura nodded; Naruto remained quiet, as if uninterested. The Sand Nin nodded briefly before the three leaped up in a cloud of dust. The whole way, Sakura couldn't help but continue to stare at the strange blond boy. Were those whiskers?

Temari snapped her fingers angrily, gritting her teeth. Kankurou's temperature was still too high and the poison showed no signs of going away anytime soon. She stood from her chair and stared outside the window again; when was the Konoha medic coming?

"Two people claim to be from Konoha!"

The news echoed throughout the hospital hall. Temari turned away from window, running to the source of the sound.

"Where are they?" She forced her voice to remain calm as she possibly could.

"That is…I told them…to wait for a higher authority to…"

"Tell them to come immediately!" She sighed inwardly. So much for trying to sound calm and collected. The ninja fled from her sight. Temari walked back into the room. "How's his condition still?" she asked one of the medics positioned there. The answer was a mere shake of the head.

"A few more minutes of pure hell until they arrive…" she walked back to the door, her body tense. Her battle fan lay forgotten, leaning against the wall. She closed her eyes, willing her body to relax. Soon, she heard a couple of footsteps echoing across the hall.

"The Konoha medic is here!"

She saw them then, one with soft pink hair and the other with light blond. Both rushed with consider speed. It was impossible to tell who the medic between the two was.

"Out of my way!" the girl shouted, rushing pass Temari instantly. The blond followed suit, though he paused to flash an uneasy smile, as if apologizing for the girl's unexpected behavior.

"I've…brought…them…here."

Temari nodded swiftly at the guard who was leaning against the wall for support, "Go back to your post." She turned a corner and rushed back to the room.

"We're all depending on you, Konoha medic."

Sakura released her heavy backpack first, relieving her shoulders from carry excessive luggage. It slowed down the arm and made it harder to move. It was practical sense to remove it. She moved on to examine the patient closely. His name was Kankurou. He was currently infected with a new type of poison that had been stuck in his system for around seventy-two hours. It was as if her mind had been taken over by some super genius.

Then she paused. "Uzumaki…can you leave first?"

To her surprise and relief, he replied with swiftly and with hestitation. "Okay." With a last nod, he walked out.

"I'm his sister," a kunoichi dressed in a black robe spoke up, placing a hand on her chest, "Can I-"

"Fine, but you have to hold him down," stated Sakura, not bothering to argue any further that needed. Family was trouble. The female nodded, instantly holding down Kankurou's shoulders. The medic tied her hair into a ponytail, wrapping her Konoha band around her neck. Sakura dipped her hands into a pail of lukewarm water. It was going to turn into a long night.

Uzumaki Naruto calmly positioned himself onto the bench. Mind you, the bench was as hard as a rock, though Naruto was pretty sure he would chose the rock over the bench. At least the rock would not smell of throw up or some other vulgar substance he did not need to know about. It was a curse for being able to smell so accurately. As time ticked away, his eyes began to waver. He yawned and positioned himself into another spot on the bench. Then came his light snoring.

"Wake up…" He heard an uncertain voice in the distant. He was almost certain that it was female and someone he knew. Naruto opened his eyes, though he didn't feel the need to do so at this point. He was dead tired and he couldn't quite understand why he would go through all the trouble he had gone through in the day to conceal his little secret.

"Yes?"

"I'm done with the operation so I would like to take this opportunity to heal your eye."

He frowned, "What?"

"You bruised it," she said it simply, as if it was as clear as day. "I saw it when we arrived at the hospital."

"It's okay," he said, "I heal fast."

"Still," she insisted. Even in the darkness with his useless eyes, he could detect the sense of worry in the girl's voice, the same girl that had rescued from the real darkness.

"Thanks, then."

Medic Sakura ripped out the leaves of the plant, taking care to not damage the roots. They didn't need this type of root. "Prepare a set," she stated, walking over to another type of plant, "I'll need something to grind the herbs together and a antidote testing scroll."

"Yes!"

Grabbing a handful of leaves and roots in her hand she dropped them gently onto a wooden table in the middle of the greenhouse.

"Time to experiment…" she uttered, putting on a pair of white gloves. At least she got past the hard part. Making an antidote was fairly simple; it just required a certain amount of intelligence and patience.

Sakura began mashing the leaves and roots together with a stone grinder, making sure that it was smashed enough to produce liquid. She took a bit of the liquid and tested it on the poison. It dissolved immediately at the touch of the antidote.

"Done!" she proclaimed, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She tapped her nails on the counter, remembering something.

"I should make an ointment for Naruto…" A smile flew on her lips. The idiot. Why did he try to hide his injuries? Maybe an ointment was easy. It wouldn't have taken her a few more minutes. With that said, she plunked a plant from the soil, beginning her second task.