I Do Not Own Naruto

Exhausting

Sasuke watched as she worked through the night, snarling, growling and snapping at anyone who dared to come into what she had dubbed to be 'her lab' and tried to tell her to go rest. Sasuke was not simply not stupid or suicidal enough to go poke at her so instead he made certain she had enough caffeine and was left alone in relative peace. There was just nothing more he could do for her other than sit as a look out and deflect the coming and going staff members of the Suna hospital before Sakura could threaten them with bodily harm for disrupting her.

It was funny, he did not remember her being this temperamental when they had been genin; sure she had been temperamental but not to this degree. He sent word to Kakashi on how the mission was going, he was waiting for a response which was likely to come in the next day or two. Until then though he was sitting guard over the woman and making certain she didn't attack one of the poor unsuspecting assistants with her frustration. At least he could take the punches, they probably couldn't. Thinking of the punches he poked his head into the lab to see her sound asleep at the desk

Walking in he gently touched her shoulder and roused her from her slumber.

"Huh?" she looked around, half her short pink hair was sticking up at odd angles and her eyes were bleary.

"Sakura, come on," he murmured.

"What!? No! I have to work, I've almost got the cure just give me a bit of time!" she said as she immediately resumed her work and he sighed internally as he let her do as she pleased because there was no way he'd be able to sway her to do differently.

"I got it!" she shouted and then she grabbed a paper and ran out of the lab. He followed her to make certain she was safe; not that any fool in this hospital was likely to attack her but one could never be too cautious. He watched her from afar as she started showing the Suna doctors her results and what she had found; he couldn't hear what was said all he saw was how happy they were about the results in Sakura's hand. She then ran off with four other staff members and he followed.

"We're going to make the antidote in stages but it should only take a few hours, I'll message my village to send the herbs we need tomorrow. For now this is the first stage of antidote," Sakura stated as he followed them into the gardens.

"First stage?"

"Yes, this will take three stages of antidote but if we work together and quickly we'll be able to beat the poison before it kills again," Sakura supplied. "Sasuke, messaged Kakashi, I have a list of things I need from our village," Sakura said as she handed him a letter.

"Aa," he nodded as he took it and went to the roof.

"Kakashi, are you certain it was a wise move to send Sakura and Sasuke on that mission together?" Ino asked when she walked into his office that morning. Kakashi frowned because he was tired of being questioned about his decision for this mission. He had sent them off together because they had stuff to straighten out together and short of locking the two of them up in a room together he didn't know what to do for them. Besides, Sasuke had returned home because he was concerned about Sakura; which in Kakashi's mind was a huge step forward.

"Yes, Ino," he snapped in frustration. Honestly, they were adults acting like children; this needed to stop! They needed to figure out how to work together or at least figure out how to be civil to one another again. Though he supposed he couldn't blame Sakura for being hurt or the Uchiha for being frustrated. It was annoying though to have two of his best shinobi at odds with one another and hell bent on hurt each other unintentionally. Well, all of this was coming to an end now; and they could either patch things up or vow to never work together again. He didn't care which but they would have this all sorted out before the end of that mission or so help him he'd have another bells test for them to work on and they'd both hate that!

Sakura stood there collecting the herbs and blending the antidote when she felt her world waver and her legs tremble beneath her.

No! She had to keep working, she had to solve this problem! She was not a weak girl! She was going to prove that to Sasuke, no matter what it cost her today because she wanted him to see she had changed. If he wouldn't see her then by Kami he was going to see she had grown up and changed! She was going to let him continue thinking of her as weak.

Shaking her head a bit she focused intently on everything she was working on and shoved her exhaustion to the side. She had worked worse hours at the hospital, and she'd lived off of less sleep, she was not going to let exhaustion get the best of her. No! Sakura was going to get this antidote prepped and ready to go and then she'd go to sleep, she'd rest for a few hours and get to work on the second antidote.

That was the plan, that was what she was going to do because she was not going to be so weak as to let something as simple as exhaustion get her down.

No, it was not going to get her.

Sakura's body though wasn't cooperating as she felt herself sway again.

"Sakure?" a voice called her and she didn't get a chance to reply that she was fine before her world went black and she collapsed on the ground.

"Quick! Someone get help and alert Sasuke!" a voice called out, and that was the last thing she heard before exhaustion claimed her.

That's the final chapter today! I'll be back with three more tomorrow!

That's all for now folks!

Enjoy Only Tears! =)