Kakashi wasn't kidding when he said they would be pushing it hard during their journey to Suna. It was a three days travel to the neighboring village; the towering figure of the stone walls came into view about 4 hours shy of that three day mark.
The group slowed their pace for a moment as they closed in on the massive gates. They didn't stop to rest, but instead pulled nourishing dried foods from their packs and ate as they walked. Sakura had the medics under her command also take a chakra replenishing pill when they finished their food – there was no telling what they would be walking into.
Two lone figures guarded the gates to the village from perches atop the high structures; that alone seemed odd considering the state the village was reported to be in. Sakura's eyes swept the area as they entered the town. Immediately, she felt something to be very wrong. Her eyes connected with Shikamaru's and knew he felt the same way. Gaara walked just ahead of them, slowly scanning the area under his care for any signs of danger. Though nothing menacing in nature caught their eyes, the odd silence of the town was unnerving.
The vendors carts were empty of customers and staff, no one walked the barren streets, no children played in the afternoon sun...it was as if the villagers had disappeared.
Naruto came to stand beside his friend. He didn't offer any words of support but Sakura could feel the strength flowing from him towards his red haired friend.
"Gaara-sama!"
A haggard looking shinobi came running towards them round the corner of the street ahead. The group increased its pace to meet him halfway.
"Where is everyone?" Gaara asked, his voice hard yet lined in concern.
Sakura noticed the bags hanging under the older medic's eyes. He was hunched over, trying to catch his breath before replying to the Kazakage. "Th...they're at the hospital."
Stunned looks crossed everyone's faces though only Naruto was the one to ask the obvious question. "Everyone?"
"Come on," Sakura called to her team and ran the familiar distance to Suna's hospital. She reached into her pocket, pulling free her hairband and whipped the hitai-ate from her head. Gripping it between her teeth, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she covered the sandy roads.
As soon as she burst through the doors, the frantic noise of the busy medical center flooded her ears. It was, unfortunately, a scene she was becoming too familiar with. Patients lined every area she could see. Though she was standing in the reception area, groaning, ill patients lay on cots or blankets lining the halls. The smell of days old vomit and excrement reached her nose bringing forth a grimace from the experienced medic.
Nurses ran from patient to patient, doing their best to keep fluids flowing into IV lines and medicating the people for what they could. The few medics she could see were in various states of exhaustion. Konoha received news of the poisoning three days ago and they immediately left on their journey to the struggling village. Even if the poison took as little as two days to truly begin effecting all these people, that meant the medics had been fighting this enormous battle by themselves for five days. No matter if they tried to change out shifts and sleep, they would be nearing collapse at this point.
She saw a few shinobi among the medics and nurses. The fighters looked slightly unsure of what they were doing, yet they continued to walk among the ill, passing out various pills and water to those able to take it.
The horrified gasps behind her alerted her to the fact that Kakashi and the others had finally arrived. There was little time to formulate a decent schedule or plan at the moment so she went with delegating the most imperative tasks they needed to handle – placing her trust in the team behind her.
"You're a medic, right?" she asked the tired looking man in front of her.
"Yes ma'am. I'm Akihiko, a jonin medic."
"Alright Akihiko-san. I'm Haruno Sakura, a medic from Konoha and the three behind me are medics as well. We've been sent to help you by the Hokage."
He found his first smile in days. "I know who you are Sakura-san."
She returned the smile, though considering the task before her, it was difficult to do so. "I'm afraid after seeing the state of the hospital we don't have the luxury of doing things normally. For now, I would like to know if you have separated the patients in any way?"
"The hospital is four floors in total, the first floor being the reception area and emergency treatment area. For now, this has the most stable patients in it." Sakura could see Naruto and Kakashi glance over the area with disbelieving eyes. "The second floor is only slightly better than what you see here. We've placed the most violent among the patients on the third floor. That's also where you'll find the majority of our shinobi. Unfortunately, the sedatives we've been giving everyone don't last very long and as many of the patients are shinobi themselves, it is difficult to keep them restrained effectively." She nodded in understanding and tacked the information onto the mental list she was compiling. "The fourth floor is where we've placed the most critical patients. The majority of them are our elderly and the children of the village."
His face carried the sadness he felt for those waiting on the fourth floor. By his look and tone of voice, the situation up there was very grave. "Have you made any head way on identifying the poison?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, no. There has simply not been enough time to spare to identify the chemical. We've been able to discover some traits of it but we've yet to find an anti-dote."
Sakura nodded in understanding. "Thank you for sharing your information with me Akihiko-san. Naruto."
"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"
"Would you please summon your messenger frog for me now? I need to get the information Tsunade-sama has prepared for me." She turned to face her medics as he began going through the familiar hand signs. "I'm going to separate us among the various floors. If you've noticed the medics working here right now, you have to see how exhausted they all are. There are a lot of ill people in this hospital right now and we have to do our best to help them all out." The immediate 'hai' they all replied in sent a rush of satisfaction through her. Her shishou picked an excellent team to accompany her on this mission.
"Aoi-san," she addressed the older, brunette woman, "I would like for you to begin here on the first floor."
"Hai, Taicho."
Oh hell yeah.
Sakura tried to ignore the jubilant shouting and subsequent fist pumping her Inner was doing in her mind over the Taicho response.
"Seiichi-san, please report to the second floor."
"Hai, Taicho," replied the older, but attractive man.
"Yukihito, I'm going to give you a choice. Would you prefer to work on the third or fourth floor?"
The brown haired man pondered her question seriously for a moment. Though the medic was only in his mid-twenties, she'd been fortunate to work with him several times over the past four years. He was an intelligent and capable medic. His chakra control was very good, and he had a wonderful bed-side manner with his patients. Yukihito was also a nice and funny man. She appreciated his ability to bring a smile out of his co-workers even when things were stressful.
"I appreciate you giving me the choice Taicho," he began, "but since you are allowing me to decide I believe I will take the third floor. Even though your amazing strength might be a better candidate for working with the more violent of our patients, I think your healing abilities will be better served among the more critical patients. I trust your work with children much more than I trust my own," he added the last part with a sheepish grin.
"Don't underestimate yourself so much Yukihito." Sakura said with an easy smile. "I'll respect your choice though. You take the third floor and I'll be up on the fourth. I want everyone to do their best, but I understand the massive task before us."
"Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted behind her. She turned to face the jinchuriki who held a large knapsack and a sealed scroll. "This is what the toad brought with him."
"Thanks Naruto." She took the offered items, quickly unsealing the scroll and reading its contents. A relieved smile graced her porcelain features and she passed the bag to Yukihito, allowing her to remove a small notebook from her side pouch. "Ahikihio-san, will you check your greenhouse for any of these ingredients please?"
He read over the list quickly before bowing and running out of the hospital.
"Alright, everyone report to their areas. I will hopefully have the first few rounds of this anti-dote made up in a few hours and will be passing it amongst you. Do your best to slow down the progression of these symptoms in the mean time."
"Hai," they all responded in unison and dispersed from the area.
"Sakura, what can we do to help?" Kakashi asked.
A part of her had 20 different tasks she could have given him in an instant, but she also realized they were sent in two different cells for a reason. "I'm sure Tsunade-sama gave you a mission to complete as well," she reluctantly admitted.
"True, we have something we need to do, but it seems as if the entire village is confined in these walls in one way or another. That's not something I can overlook." Kakashi said, his visible eye crinkling in his familiar smile. "So for the time being, we're all yours Sakura."
Her breath came out in a rush of relief and laughter. Truth be known, she needed more hands than even his group of four – five counting Sasuke – could provide, but she would take what she could get. "Alright sensei, but I hope you all are ready to work."
Naruto pumped his fist and flashed her his million watt smile. "Just tell us what to do Sakura-chan!"
"Don't get too hasty Naruto. This isn't going to be as quick as the time I healed Kankuro from that similar poison. The people here have been exposed to a much more potent form of heavy metal poisoning. Not to mention there's no way we have the man power to surgically remove the traces of toxins from their organs like I did with him. We wouldn't be able to get through even a dozen patients before we ran out of supplies and chakra. We're looking at a long week of slow healing here."
His enthusiasm died down as he took in her serious words. "Gomen Sakura-chan. I understand."
She offered him a smile in apology herself and turned to walk along the crowded halls. "Naruto, I'd like you here on the first floor. Though these people aren't as sick as the rest, it seems this is where the majority of the ill are located. Since you have more energy than the rest of us combined, I think you'll work the best here." Since she did kind of reprimand him in front of everyone, it didn't hurt to boost his ego just a touch in apology.
"Understood Taicho!" He saluted her with a goofy grin and ran off to find the medic she'd assigned to the floor for orders. Sakura rolled her eyes at his antics but it still produced the laugh he'd been going for. She climbed the stairs with the group to the second floor.
While there weren't patients lining the hallways on the second floor, the rooms were all completely filled with four people in each one. The medics were in the same condition here as well. "Sai, would you please assist the medics on this floor? Just help them in whatever way you can. Whether that's passing out pills or helping them hold someone down. Anything you can do is a big help to the staff right now."
The former ROOT member nodded his understanding and headed for the nurses station.
"Where did Gaara-san go?" she asked Kakashi as they continued to climb the staircase. To her surprise, Sasuke was still following her along with the group. Though he had agreed to come to Suna at Gaara's request, she wasn't really expecting him to join in with the others in helping out in the hospital. However, if he was willing to do so, there was no way she was turning down the extra hands. She couldn't really see him passing out medications or following the direction of the medics though. If the third floor was in the state she was imagining it to be, that would probably be the best place for him. With Kakashi's team, that would enable her to place two shinobi to help combat the violent episodes the patients were having.
"He went to meet with the few of his council that weren't affected by the mass poisoning. He said he would be back later to check up on the progress."
"I hope he doesn't expect too much too soon. Like I told Naruto earlier, this is going to take a while."
"I'm sure he understands that Sakura."
She cut a disbelieving eye to Kakashi; people not knowledgeable of medicine tended to not understand why their friends or families didn't heal as quickly as they thought they should. Too many times she'd ran into that same problem with civilians and the like. Though, she wasn't looking forward to having the same conversation she'd shared with them with the Kazekage of the village.
As they walked through the doorway leading to the third floor, Sakura had to quickly duck to avoid a rather large chair being thrown her way. Across the room, she saw two shinobi struggling to restrain a middle aged man and get him back into the bed he'd leapt from. The look in his eyes was wild as the poison clouded his judgment and sent him on a path of unjustifiable rage. Before she could step in and help, another medic appeared behind the man and stuck him in the arm with a syringe loaded with what she supposed was a sedative of some sort. Shortly thereafter, the man stopped fighting and eventually fell unconscious – allowing the shinobi to place him back in the bed.
"Kaka-sensei, Sasuke, I'd like both of you up here."
"I can see why." Kakashi mumbled; Sasuke nodded his head in agreement. The patient load here was much smaller than the other two floors; however, there wasn't a single bed that didn't have restraints tied to the steel bed frame. Shouts of rage and incoherent ramblings came from all over the room. It was difficult for the medics to get close to the patients as some of them tried to bite the hands that got to close.
"Please remember you two that though they are going to fight you, these people are very sick and don't understand what they're doing. Don't hurt them but don't get hurt yourself. Try to keep them tied down and in the bed. If they do happen to get out of their restraints before you can get to them, try and hold them down while the medic sedates them once more."
"Got it Sakura."
"Thanks. I'll be just upstairs if you need me for anything."
The pair of sharingan users nodded slightly and stepped forward into the ward.
"So, how did I get so lucky as to go to the floor with everyone on the verge of death?" Shikamaru asked as he walked beside her up to the top floor, a grim look settling on his face.
"I need a sharp mind with me Shikamaru. The most important thing to do right now is make up batches of the anti-dote Tsunade-sama completed. Without that, we can't even begin to treat these people."
He turned his dark eyes onto her. "And how does Kakashi-sensei not fit that role?"
"You know very well he does but one of sensei's talents is being able to spot his opponents movements before they're even made. When people suffer from delirium, their actions become much more wild and unpredictable. I think he'd be more help to the staff on the third floor; especially since I have your brain now at my disposal."
"Huh," he huffed under his breath as they reached the door for the highest floor. "That wasn't very much time you were given to set up a plan and assign each individual their roles that played to their abilities. That was pretty good Sakura."
The compliment caught her off guard and had her smiling and fighting back a blush. "I am pretty awesome ya know," she said with an arrogant tilt to her head. She could only hold the look a moment before giggling at her own boldness. Unfortunately, the laughter died down almost instantly.
The situation in this ward was worse than she'd originally thought.
A hard look entered her intelligent green eyes as she took in the plight of the people around her. "Let's get to work."
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Painful moaning could be heard from various beds surrounding her on the fourth floor. While that normally was a sound that wasn't welcome, for Sakura's ears it was like soothing music. For over 16 hours she had listened to nothing but the beeping of the cardiac monitors and the raspy breathing of her comatose patients. To hear them responding – even if it was their groans of pain – was a welcome relief.
Sakura took a moment to sit down and collect her thoughts. The nurses and medics running from room to room were bright eyed and refreshed after a much deserved 8 hours of sleep and a hot meal. Once Sakura had the first batch of the anti-dote prepared, she'd insisted the existing staff get some rest. They happily complied with her order in two different shifts. The poor souls who had stayed up with her to continue fighting this illness had left only a few hours ago for bed.
Unfortunately, she could not head there herself.
The situation on this particular floor had been so overwhelming she'd been unable to even check on her team of medics. The only information she had was what messages others were able to pass back and forth for her. The last time Sakura had any indirect communication with them was when Shikamaru rounded for her before she let him go nearly 7 hours ago. She made a mental note to thank him properly when they got back to the village.
Shikamaru had been invaluable to her for the first few hours she'd stepped foot into the ward. The nurses and medics were exhausted – both mentally and physically – and in no condition to prepare the anti-dote to the specifications Tsunade-sama had written out. Unfortunately, she couldn't immediately set to the task herself.
Not two minutes after they'd arrived, a child's vital signs began to drop drastically. It took her a long while to stabilize the child enough that she could even remember to search for her fellow Konoha shinobi. She found him hunched over a table in the back, his brows drawn in deep concentration as he measured out the exact amount of chlorella extract the scroll called for.
Her first reaction was to be upset that he'd used some of the precious few ingredients they had to make large quantities of the anti-dote without waiting for her instructions. However, after observing him for a few minutes more, she realized he was following the recipe to the letter. Sakura helped him finish the mixture and began using it on the vast number of critically ill in their ward. Since there was no way she had the materials or chakra to extract the poison from the patients, there was no immediate response to the medication. She'd already anticipated this and continued to support them as best she could until the anti-dote could begin working.
It took a few more hours for the first signs of improvement to show themselves, but the moment the patients began responding, the exhausted medics found their first smiles in a long while. Heart rates began elevating, the dangerously low blood pressure of the adults began to rise, and the labored breathing of the children began to smooth out into their usual gentle rhythm.
Her emerald eyes fixed on the locked door at the back of the room in remorse.
The anti-dote was working but they had not been fast enough in arriving. She and her staff worked furiously to save the citizens of Suna but some were beyond helping. The morgue was filled with the bodies of those past the healing abilities of the laboring medical staff; some of them children.
Tears stung the back of her eyes once more and she desperately tried to shut out the image of her own hands pushing on the chest of a young boy no more than six years old. They'd worked on the child for so long – but to no avail. Sakura personally cleaned the poor boy before moving him to the cold room. Her hot tears cooled as they traveled down her cheeks standing over the small, covered body laying in the barren room. His parents were on the second floor and in no condition to even be notified of his death.
There was no time to question herself if she could have done more or to lament over the loss of life; there were still many more people to be healed.
She and the other medical staff worked tirelessly, moving from patient to patient - stimulating their systems with short burst of chakra, hanging more IV fluids to help flush their system, checking their vital signs - until they were all nearly ready to drop from exhaustion.
It was worth it.
The first day was nearing an end, the sun having already set past the dusky horizon, and there was a noticeable improvement in so many of the patients.
"Sakura-sama?"
She turned tired eyes onto the rested medic behind her.
"We have things in hand here, Sakura-sama. All of these patients have received doses of the anti-dote and are beginning to improve. Please go and get some rest yourself."
Green eyes swept the expanse of the crowded room. "You're right. You guys can handle things up here." Sakura stood and stretched her weary form. "I'll go check on the other floors."
"B-But Sakura-sama, you should rest yourself!"
"I will...soon. I'm just gonna see how things are progressing everywhere else. I've not spoken to any of the medics from Konoha since we split up amongst the hospital. If you run into any problems, give me a call." She stepped into the stairwell with a wave over her shoulder, pointedly ignoring the still protesting medic behind her.
Shikamaru had spoken to her team in her stead a long while ago but by all accounts, they were progressing well. The first few batches of the anti-dote Tsunade-sama developed were used on the more critical patients of the fourth floor. They quickly ran through the herbs she'd sent to them from Konoha but thankfully, Suna had a well stocked greenhouse. The next few batches made up were sent to the other floors. According to what she'd learned from Shikamaru, the first and second floor patients were responding remarkably well. In fact, some of the patients were awake and taking solid food.
The third floor's patients that were suffering from more violent forms of delirium were not taking as quick to the medication as the bottom two floors. Not surprising to her; Sakura already had a hypothesis as to how everyone was poisoned and why they were responding at various levels.
After Shikamaru had checked on each floor for her, Sakura let him go to work on his mission. With some of the people now waking up, he would be able to interview them about the events of the day of the poisoning. There wasn't much more for him to help her with anyway. Sakura told him he could take the rest of his team if they were able to break away as well. Now that the medication was working on everybody, there was little to do in the way of grunt work that the shinobi could assist with.
As soon as they were able, she needed to speak with Kaka-sensei and his team.
She cleared the entrance way into the third floor; this time without having to duck flying projectiles. The beds were filled with sleeping patients - not screaming shinobi fighting their restraints.
"Sakura-sama, how are things progressing upstairs?" One of the Suna medics asked as she approached their nurses station.
"Things are looking much better," she replied with an easy smile as she scanned their area. "Where is Yukihito?"
"Oh, he...umm...Yukihito-san sorta...passed out," the older medic finally replied.
Sakura's wide emerald eyes stared back in shock before she quickly turned around, searching the beds for her comrade. A gentle hand landed on her shoulder. "Sakura-sama, please don't be too concerned. He only passed out from exhaustion and one of our shinobi already took him to the hotel and informed one of your comrades. He'll be fine."
Sakura could see nothing but the truth laid bare on her face and gave a great sigh of relief. She would speak to Yukihito later, after they returned home, about working himself to that level of exhaustion - but she also knew it would be a hypocritical speech. Even now, she felt her muscles beginning to tremble from lack of food and sleep. Right on cue, her stomach growled loudly causing the older woman to give her a teasing look.
"I gather you haven't taken a break have you?"
Sakura blushed with embarrassment. "I'm afraid not."
"Here," the woman moved aside, revealing a stack of bento boxes on the counter behind her. "It's probably gotten cold by now but it should still taste good. Some of the ladies of the village who didn't get sick have been making us meals everyday. Please help yourself."
The pinkette could almost feel herself wanting to drool at the prospect of food – cold or not. She found a chair, took her seat at the cluttered counter space, and grabbed the first box she could get her hands on. The food was a little cool now but it was wonderful none-the-less. The nurses were busy seeing about their patients so she ate in silence, letting her mind wander over the various piles of information clogging her brain.
Hopefully, her other two team mates didn't push themselves as hard as Yukihito. Taking a look out of the window across from her, she realized it was pitch black outside. When they first stepped foot in the hospital, it had been in the early hours of morning. Everyone needed to sleep now and she only hoped they had made it to the hotel alright. As soon as she could tear herself away from the wonderful meal she was enjoying, she would check on them.
Her thoughts flickered over Kaka-sensei and his team. They'd been out searching the village for any clues relating to this incident for a while and she couldn't help but to be curious as to what, if anything, they'd found. The few theories she had were rather solid in her mind – not to mention the clinical evidence she had to back it up. Perhaps she would see them sometime in the morning and could discuss it with them.
The loud beeping of a monitor drew her attention and she leaned up over the marble top of the counter to see what was going on. No nurses or medics were in the immediate area so she jumped from her chair and rushed to the patients bedside. His oxygen alarms were blaring, signaling a decrease in his saturation. Sakura quickly checked his tubing and, finding nothing wrong, whipped a stethoscope off a nearby table to listen to his breathing. After she verified his physical condition was alright, she noticed his hands fiddling with the sheets in his sleep. The monitor had become detached from his hand causing the alarm to go off. She shook her head as she replaced the finger probe and watched – satisfied – as his levels returned to normal.
If only everything was fixed that easily.
A pair of strong, sweaty arms wrapped around her, pinning her arms by her side and crushing her to the large chest behind her.
"You thought you were sneaking up on me, but I'm too smart for that. I won't let you destroy the kingdom." What little strength she had remaining was useless against the delirious rage flowing through him. Her struggles were in vain. Sakura briefly thought about using her chakra to break his hold but she was hesitant about doing so; she could really hurt him should she choose that option and she would rather not cause any harm to her patients. "I will continue to fight no matter how many of my people you take down."
Before she could yell for help, a large hand covered her mouth. She couldn't see any of the staff around her and he was beginning to walk backwards, pulling her along. It seemed she would have no choice but to use her chakra strength to escape from him.
She never even felt his presence before he suddenly appeared before her. Emerald eyes traveled upward, tracking the toned flesh over corded muscles. His lips were pulled tight in a grim line and his long bangs did nothing to hide the displeasure in his onyx eyes. They quickly shifted to the blood red of his sharingan and she had sense of mind enough to close her eyes against the genjutsu she knew he was about to cast. Another moment and she felt the arms around her go slack. Unfortunately, they didn't fall away from her before he began to tip backwards. In her already tired state, her legs gave way against his weight and she began to fall with him.
A strong hand wrapped around her upper arm and pulled her forward. She crashed into his strong chest – her free hand gripping the cotton of his shirt to steady herself. Her head turned to check on the patient that was now slumped unconscious on the floor. She took a deep breath and wet her dry lips before looking back to her rescuer.
"Thank you Sasuke."
Ebony eyes studied her face in silence – the grim set to his mouth had lessened only slightly.
"Come," he didn't wait for her reply but pulled her by the arm he still held and led her towards the stairs.
"Hey, wait a sec." Her protests were in vain as the Uchiha passed the exit for the second floor. His stride never slowed as he walked through the front door of the hospital. "I need to check on the others floors Sasuke. I've still got team mates working here."
He didn't bother turning to her to reply. "No you don't."
Sakura stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate on his answer. Her sleep deprived mind took a few moments to remember just who it was she was speaking to – any elaboration would not be coming.
She gave up her weak struggles and allowed him to lead her down the dark, empty streets of Suna. His grip wasn't painful but there was no slack in his hold. "Okay, now do you mind telling me where my medics are?"
"They're asleep. They have been for a few hours now."
"Oh."
His impassive face turned to hers. Whatever he was looking for in her curious gaze he seemed to find as he released her arm and allowed her to walk beside him on her own.
"Do you know how the other two floors were doing?" she asked.
"According to the female in your team, they're doing well."
She wanted to ask for more details but reasoned he might not be able to tell her much. In the morning, whenever she was able to see her team again, she would find out how they fared yesterday. The cool night winds were making her even more drowsy and her pace unknowingly began to slow.
"Did you all find any clues about the poisoning?"
"Some," he replied, not looking at her but staying near as they walked towards the hotel.
"I suppose you're not going to expand on that statement either are you?" she muttered under her breath. Sakura wasn't facing him and missed the raising of his eyebrow at her curt statement.
The lights of the hotel came into view wringing a sigh of relief from Sakura. She was exhausted and as much as she wanted to do nothing more than strip her clothes and climb into bed, the smell of the hospital clung to her frame reminding her of the need for a hot shower first. The bento had not filled her, but she wasn't so hungry that she couldn't skip a meal for tonight.
"Are Naruto and the others here?"
"They're already asleep."
She nodded in reply and entered the building. A graying, older man smiled at her from behind the counter and stood from his chair when she approached. He entered her name into the register before leading her down the hallway to her room for the night. She wasn't sure when he left, but Sasuke was no where to be found when she took the key from the kind hotel worker. She was to tired to wonder about his disappearing act and simply shut the door behind her.
There would always be time to question him tomorrow.
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A/N:
Well, I guess we are beginning to see some of the ramifications of the SOPA bullpersnickety. So two of the websites that normally put up the Naruto and Bleach mangas are no longer doing that due to the 'pressure' they are getting. Can I just say thanks government! Thanks corporations! We really appreciate all your doing! (insert your favorite curse word or sarcastic statement here)
Any who, I hope you can muddle through this chapter. I'm not feeling so good about it myself but I'm tired of trying to get it just right. My own images of the hospital are filtering in and distorting my perception of what the writer in me sees for Sakura. It's like I got a freaking cage fight going on in my head fighting for the right to be put to paper. Seriously, I give up.
I hope some of you enjoy the chapter at least. Reviews are appreciated.