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To Duel With Fate	By : Mihkail Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Itachi/Sakura Views: 4864 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not profit from this fanfic.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
The steps down the hallway sounded louder than usual, and the lights seemed brighter. She was a tiny bit grumpy, a tiny bit nervous, and tired enough that every other thought passing through her head consisted of her face-planting into her own bed. Or a hospital bed. Or hell, the grass even. She just wanted to sleep, but she couldn't. Her day was only half over. Yet, with each step down that all-too-familiar hall, she was becoming more and more alert. Why? Sasuke. She had no idea if he would still be in the hospital, but it was very probable that he would be, and guess who had left their bag in Itachi's room in their hurry to escape... Yep. She did.
The rest of her sleepless morning had been spent with her thinking herself in circles, drowning in worry. Mostly because she really wasn't sure how she should approach the dreaded conversation with Sasuke that she knew was coming. She would run into him again, and soon. It was inevitable. And as much time as she's spent with him over the years, she couldn't begin to guess what he would say or a do in this situation. It was just too...bizarre in general. There were too many factors, too many unknowns...and as a result, the headache she had awoken with so early in the morning had never faded away. It was now worse.
Her hands fiddled absent-minded with the hem of the shorts she was wearing, gaze lost in the endless, reflective floor as she rounded a corner and crept closer and closer to the door she wanted nothing more than to avoid at the moment. Luckily, she had arrived early for her shift, and had brought a spare uniform with her in a separate, smaller bag she rarely used, but she still needed to retrieve the other one. There was a sharp twinkle in her flitting eyes, despite the puffy bags beneath them stress and sleep deprivation had granted her. Stopping just short of the door, she stared at it as if she expected a monster to be hiding on the other side, just waiting for her to inch within its range so it could ambush her and drag her to her doom. The door itself was ajar, with a dark crack masking everything inside. The lights were off still... She couldn't hear anything... Perhaps everyone had left. Well, they were a fairly busy family, weren't they? They couldn't be there all the time. If only she could be lucky enough to avoid him a for a little longer. She really wasn't ready to face him yet.
Sakura stood there another minute, trying to catch a rustle, a whisper, a snore—anything. Nothing could be heard. Taking a step closer, she put her hand on the door to slide it open, only to feel it suddenly slip away from her with a life of its own, the smooth surface replaced with a flak jacket about an inch away from her nose as it was flung to the side.
"GAH!" She yelled, jumping backwards and smacking a hand over her chest in fright. The stern, yet slightly surprised face of Fugaku stared down at her, blinking curiously.
"Oh! Mr. Uchiha!" Bowing politely, her eyes flickered from him to the darkness behind, wondering if Sasuke might in fact be in there after all. Good grief, he hadn't made a sound. How had he done that? She'd almost had a heart attack! He was wearing the same thing he'd had on earlier that morning too, and she had to wonder if he'd ever gone home.
"Uhm... Is Sasuke still here too?" The question was posed apprehensively as she clasped her hands in front of her. For a second—and only a second—the man left her hanging with a stoic expression, and Sakura paused. A memory hit her in a flash. Standing on a clean wooden porch with the pattering of rain darkening the path behind her, gazing up in confused wonder at a tired-looking man in a robe as he blinked down at her from the doorway. It had caught her off guard, almost as suddenly as he had whipped the door open in front of her, but she wasn't left to daydream for long.
"Sasuke left this morning to meet with Kakashi. He'll be back later." He answered her, ripping her from her unexpected reverie.
"Oh..." Her voice fell quietly, and it only took her a couple seconds to realize the mistake she had made. Just before she had run out of the room earlier, she'd conjured up some hasty, and painfully unbelievable lie about having to train with Kakashi in a few hours. Of course, as her luck would have it, that would be the exact thing Sasuke ended up doing that day. Kami, did she absolutely suck at lying, or what? Now she was really going to be in hot water.
"Are you working today, Sakura?"
"Yeah, my shift starts soon. I just needed to get my bag real quick. Is Itachi awake yet?"
"No, not yet. But I'd like you to come with me, if you can spare a minute."
Sakura's eyes lit up when he stepped out of the doorway and closed it softly behind him. The way he spoke made it sound like more of a statement than a request, which gave her pause. But then she remembered who he was, and what he did for a living. He was a man used to giving orders, wasn't he? He never left room for debate...and even if he did, he likely wasn't challenged by anyone under his command anyway. Well, she wasn't going to be the first to do it, that was for certain...
"Sure, of course... Where are we going?" She asked softly, following him as he lead the way down the hall.
"The nurse just informed me that Shisui is awake. He will want to meet you."
"Shi-...Shisui?" Trailing off in confusion, as the name didn't ring a bell for her, Sakura's brows knit together as she stared off into space at the white and red fan on the jacket bobbing along in front of her.
"Uchiha Shisui. He brought Itachi to the hospital last night. They were assigned the same mission. You didn't treat him?"
"...Oh! No, I had no idea..." Her eyes widened slightly, recalling that she had never stopped to consider exactly how Itachi had gotten to the hospital in the first place. Clearly he hadn't been in the condition to just walk into the lobby on his own.
They stopped at another door not too far away, and Sakura crept inside the equally dark room after the elder. In a bed before them, she could make out the figure of a pale man about Itachi's age with short dark hair. The head of the bed was propped up so he could sit upright without exerting himself, and he was shirtless with an array of bandages wrapped around his limbs, chest and waist, and an IV in his arm. The dark eyes staring into the room made her feel instantly guilty, though there was no logical reason for her to be. She merely regretted feeling so crappy, for the state this stranger was in before her—though he was still better off than Itachi—was far worse than hers. It took only a glimpse to determine their team had been through one hell of a trip last night.
The young man glanced in their direction immediately, and when Sakura flicked on the light, his eyes widened at the sight of Fugaku as he stepped toward the bed. But he stopped halfway, and they both watched in awe as Shisui pulled himself forward, wincing visibly as he left the comfort of the sloping bed, hands gripping into the blankets draped over him.
"Fugaku...Sir..." He breathed weakly, beginning to address him formally as he continued to shift, and slide his legs around to hang off the side of the bed. Sakura's hand drifted close to her mouth, half inclined to rush forward and stop him from moving. Even if he was capable, it wasn't something he should be doing yet, and she didn't need to be a medic to understand that. It looked painful and difficult, and the uncomfortable creases on his face said enough. She let him go though, as he seemed like he would be too determined to listen to her warning to take it easy.
Fugaku watched the sight as closely as she did, waiting patiently while Shisui managed to stand up and take a single step away from his bed, and pulled the IV from his arm. He was dressed in loose-fitting hospital pants with a drawstring, and nothing else. Blotches of purple and blue peaked from under the edges of the bandages circling his waist. An angry, red welt spread out from under a solid cast on his left arm. A mark she immediately recognized as a burn, which looked to have been healed moderately well already. With the amount of cotton and tape patched all over him, he could have made himself a new shirt.
Sakura glanced questioningly to Fugaku when he failed to speak or move. Why wasn't he doing anything? Was she missing something? But a soft thud brought her attention back to Shisui as he dropped to the cold floor on his knees, and forced his battered muscles into a low bow, with his forehead nearly touching the floor in front of the other man.
"Please, forgive me... There were too many of them. They split us apart. By the time I found him... I wasn't fast enough...I wasn't strong enough..." The words that filled the empty void in the room were spoken from a reservoir of courage and discipline, unwavering in strength, though the eyes that faced the floor were locked tightly shut. His teeth clenched. He looked rigid and exhausted, though Sakura couldn't tell if it was a result from physical pain, or something far deeper...
"Shisui, you don't need my forgiveness." Fugaku interrupted him calmly, but the younger man pressed on.
"No, I do. I failed him. I failed you. I failed your family. I couldn't save him... I tried... Please, believe me. I tried...with everything I had... I wasn't—"
"—Shisui, Itachi is alive." Fugaku cut him off.
A deafening silence surrounded them, before slowly, the younger man opened his eyes to stare distantly at the floor an inch from his nose. The hand that had been hovering uncertainly near Sakura's mouth drifted over her lips, her other arm stretching across her waist. He had though he was dead... Well, that shouldn't come as a shock. He'd been unconscious this whole time, apparently. Poor guy... She couldn't begin to imagine what he must have been feeling.
Well, actually...maybe she could, if only a little bit. Early that morning, she had thought Itachi was gone forever, too.
"But... No... He's dead. He died before I reached the hospital..." His head lifted to stare in utter disbelief as he slowly sat upright, wide dark eyes frozen as he scrutinized the memories that haunted him.
"Yes. He was without a pulse for over ten minutes, so they say." Fugaku stepped to the side and glanced to Sakura, who couldn't take her gaze off the shocked look on Shisui's face.
"We owe our gratitude to Haruno Sakura for reviving him."
Shisui looked to her for the first time since they had entered the room, and for a few lengthy seconds, they simply stared at one another, neither having a clue what to say...where to begin...
"...He's...alive...?"
After a pause, Sakura nodded slowly at him, and couldn't help but smile as her hand fell away from her face. "He's not awake yet, but he's just down the hall. Would you like to see him?" She offered gently, and spared a glance at Fugaku, who merely watched her with a mysterious gleam in return.
They waited quietly as he sat there, continuing to stare as if nothing they said could quite reach him. Their words were far too good to be true. He half wondered if he was caught up in some lucid dream that would torment him once he awoke to the harsh reality that awaited. But then, the discomfort returned to contort his face as he pushed himself up off the floor.
Sakura stepped forward instinctively to help him this time, only to be stopped by Fugaku as he held up a hand. As if to say, 'Let him do it.' She looked at him in confusion, but he didn't offer any explanation, and so she was left to bite her tongue and watch the injured man rise on his own two feet uninhibited.
"Show me...please." Accepting her invitation with remarkable reserve, Sakura nodded a second time and lead the way out of his room and down the hall. His steps were slow but steady, and it took them a bit longer than expected to reach the other room. She chose to stay near him just to be safe, though refrained from aiding him per Fugaku's insistence that she leave him be. Perhaps it was simply a matter of pride that he move all on his own...she couldn't know for sure.
Opening Itachi's door for him, she let him walk with deliberate, stiff steps into the room and over to his bed. Shisui stood there for a time at the edge, staring down at his sleeping friend with the same look of disbelief he'd veiled himself with before. His face, sallow and vacant, appeared as it had last night...though he could see the traces of life that gave color to him. They were faint, but they were there, humming under the surface.
He has a pulse...he's breathing...he's alive. Yet, as many times as he repeated those words in his clouded head, with his own two eyes displaying all the evidence he would ever need, he just couldn't believe it.
Sakura waited quietly by the door, giving him his space as he seemed to disappear within himself entirely. If Fugaku hadn't specifically requested her presence, she would have left immediately. It was such a personal moment, she didn't feel right being there at all, but she would linger until instructed otherwise.
Suddenly, he collapsed into the chair behind him, and hunched over with his elbows resting on his legs, hands hanging between his knees. His head lowered, short limp hair masking his eyes, and Fugaku slipped past her and over to him. She watched as he set a hand on the younger man's shoulder, without saying a word. She could hear a shaky exhale drift from Shisui. All of the strength he'd armed himself with began its gradual descent as a light tremor wracked through him, and his hands slowly clenched into loose fists.
"Not every mission will be a success. You're both alive. That's all that matters." A deep voice murmured next to him. Still as calm as ever, though with those quiet words, he let his normally authoritative, stoic demeanor dissolve...if only briefly.
"Even if we had lost him, it would not have been your fault."
With that sentence, Shisui's hand rose to cover his face, his other arm retracting inward toward his stomach as his back arched him lower. He fell silent. Even his breathing paused. Sakura looked down at her feet. She didn't need to see him to know what was happening, as a single tear slipped out from under his hand, down his chin, and dropped onto his cast in the darkness...soon followed by another.
"I know you did your best...and I'm proud of both of you."
He released the breath he had been holding and leaned back into the chair, letting his hand drop as he stared over at the motionless figure on the bed. The corners of his eyes twitched lightly, though he somehow managed a controlled expression, despite the twin, clear rivulets streaking without sound down his cheeks.
Fugaku patted him once on the back, and then turned and walked toward Sakura. She glanced up when he neared, and he outstretched his hand, signaling for her to exit before him to give the younger man some time alone. But as they filed out the door, Shisui called out. "Sakura, wait a minute..."
Poking her head back in, she looked at him curiously, and he waved her over. She stepped back inside, and heard the door close behind her after only a small hesitation, as Fugaku left her alone with him.
For a third time, she saw him begin to struggle to his feet, and now she was at liberty to speak up. "Stop moving so much. You're supposed to be resting." She chided him as she walked over to his chair, though in a voice much gentler than she would normally use, given the circumstances. Though she was beginning to get a bit irritated.
He ignored her, of course, insisting on standing so he could pull her into a hug . She was surprised at first. Not nearly as surprised as when Sasuke clobbered her with his bear hug, but surprised nonetheless, as she felt him press into her.
"I don't know how you did it...but thank you." He whispered into her ear as a wet cheek slid against hers. He'd never met her before this day. He knew of her vaguely, since she was on Sasuke's team, but they had never crossed paths. Never had a reason to. None of that mattered now, though. He didn't care who she was. All he knew was that she had brought his best friend back from the dead, and he owed her everything for that.
Sakura gingerly looped her arms around his waist, searching for the appropriate words as she glanced down at the bed over his shoulder, and tried not to squeeze any of his injuries.
"I couldn't have done it if you hadn't brought him back..." She laughed softly, an attempt to lighten the mood somewhat and hopefully make him feel better. In response, his arms clung to her a little tighter, and she heard him sigh.
After a few seconds, he let her go, and took a step backwards. She was able to see him clearly then. Everything from the mild red tint to his eyes, the worn creases below them, and the damp shine on his composed, ghostly face. His hair was a little messy, but he was handsome enough even with the state he was in. Not quite as handsome as Itachi...though as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she felt an anxious flutter in her gut. Really, she shouldn't be thinking such things in the first place...especially not right now...
"At least we know we don't have to worry about Sasuke." Shisui smirked faintly, complimenting her indirectly as he turned to face the bed again. Not once had he bothered to wipe the tears off his face, as if he wasn't at all ashamed or embarrassed to reveal his emotions...though he did keep an air of dignity all the same. Sakura found herself admiring him for that.
But, Sasuke... She knew what he meant when he said that. Being on his team as a medic was a huge benefit. But she couldn't help to think how ironic that statement was. For her, he was the one thing she couldn't stop worrying about now. She kept those thoughts to herself, though. If Shisui didn't know anything that had gone on between her, Itachi, and Sasuke, she wasn't going to be the one to tell him.
"You should sit back down." She murmured abruptly, feeling she was finally able to speak her mind. He shot her a look from the corner of his mildly puffy eye, studying her.
"...Would it make you feel better?" His question held a tinge of mischief in it, contradicting the worn and emotionally drained look on his face.
Sakura opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it...then opened it again in a huff. "It's going to make you feel better if you just settle down and rest." Arms crossing over her chest, she cocked her hip and leveled a gaze on him that promised she would physically make him sit in a few seconds if he didn't move his own butt himself. The more she observed him, the more and more it bothered her to watch him wander about and get up and down, and now that Fugaku's intimidating presence was gone, her disposition on the matter wasn't going to be ignored.
His response consisted of that same strange look peaking from the corner of his eye, and a smile slowly spreading on his lips. Another memory hit her, suddenly. One filled with colors of bright green, pink, blue and red. The vivid bouquet of an immaculately kept garden, dripping with raindrops into a glass pond alive with koi. She stood there just before the porch, in virtually the same position she was in now, battling through a barrage of anger and damaged pride.
The scene captured her briefly, just long enough to miss Shisui turn and drop himself carefully into the chair. He was still smiling lightly as he leaned back, eyes closing. "Medics..." He poked fun at her as he obliged in her request.
Sakura blinked, returning to reality and looking down at him curiously, before her brow furrowed. "Hey, medics are the only reason you're walking at all right now, buddy."
"I know... Believe me, Sakura. I don't undervalue your profession at all. I'm just teasing you." His eyes reopened a sliver, aimed at the bed across from him. Her's wandered from his face, down to the floor, and then over to the bed as well.
"Yeah... I'm sorry. I'm just...kinda tired." The tone of her voice melted into something less challenging as her arms slipped down to her sides. She crept closer to the bed, a tangle of funny emotions she couldn't quite pick apart buzzing through her mind as she watched the peaceful, sleeping face lying below. Her hands propped on the blanket next to Itachi as she contemplated, trying to figure out why these memories were finding her now...and why the littlest things were triggering them. So much time she had spent trying to wipe them into oblivion, for her own sake, and here they came rushing back in bits and pieces.
"How many times has something like this happened?"
"To him? Never."
Sakura said nothing at first, finding his answer difficult to believe as she glanced over the halo of black around his face, and the still, dark lashes of his closed lids. Faint puffs of steam pulsed against the oxygen max secured to his mouth as he breathed steadily. To her knowledge, Itachi had never been in the hospital before. She'd never seen him herself, and she'd never heard Sasuke mention anything. But still...
"Really? After the things he said to me, I kinda thought he would've had a near-death experience before." Attention fading, Sakura failed to notice the eyes settling on her back as she leaned forward and brushed away a strand of hair that was caught in his lashes. The eyes that considered her now with greater interest, though they were locked in a lazily narrowed gaze that would have deceived her of his new focus.
"What did he say?" Shisui noted the gradual change in her voice and the almost affectionate gesture she had given his friend, though he was nonchalant as he questioned her.
"Just that...well...he said something like how he was always living in the moment, and doing things without thinking too much, because life was so short and unpredictable. He never knew what was going to happen next, so he tried to appreciate everything and everyone while he had the chance." She couldn't quote him, as she didn't remember everything he'd said word for word, but she remembered enough. He had impacted her with that small speech, and it was something she always kept in the back of her mind now.
As she was secretly studied from behind, she straightened out the blankets covering Itachi, and sighed to herself. The precise events that caused him to believe what he believed, and do what he did, were unknown to her. Part of her wanted to understand what had brought him behave the way he did...but another part of her warned against it. They couldn't have been pleasant events, by any stretch of the imagination. Even so, she wished she knew more about him. Neither of her teammates thought the way he did. Not even Kakashi, who was a veteran by their standards.
"You guys are friends, huh?"
Sakura glanced over her shoulder at Shisui suddenly, somehow shocked by his question...though she quickly realized she was more shocked at herself for not knowing how to answer him.
"...Uhm... Well... No."
Shisui arched a brow at her.
"Well...yyyyyy—no. Not really. Kinda."
He stared.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" He would have cracked an amused smile if he weren't too busy trying to figure out why she was so confused. It was a simple enough question, wasn't it? How could she not even know if they were friends?
"If he said something like that to you...you're probably friends." Shisui insisted indifferently after a moment, though he was still choosing to mask the extent of his curiosity behind his bloodshot eyes. Something about her nagged at him...like there was something she was hiding from the world, and he wanted to find out what it was, because it was bound to be interesting.
"Really? What makes you think that?"
"Because I know him. We've had a similar conversation, actually. And he doesn't dive into a topic like that out of the blue, and with someone he isn't familiar with." His sleepy gaze met hers as she stared quietly at him, torn between surprise and nervousness. Somehow, she felt as if she had spoken more than she should have, and now she wasn't sure what to do. Was she just being paranoid? Hm...probably.
Eventually, she turned her head back around, if only to avoid the look he was giving her. There was nothing wrong with that look. All he was doing was half-laying in his chair, giving her his attention. And yet, somehow he had drilled into her with that same uneasy feeling she remembered getting whenever Itachi had looked at her. Like he could see right through her, regardless of what she said or did, down to her very soul. Was it an Uchiha thing? Did their kekkei genkai work in some creepy way even without their sharingan activated? It wasn't the first time this thought crossed her mind...
"Well...I guess we're...friends then." Admitting slowly, her hand lifted and clung to the small bag over her shoulder as she backed away from the bed. It was time to go.
"I'll leave you guys alone now... I have to get ready for my shift anyway." Sakura mumbled as she moved to retrieve the other bag she had left there before, and walked towards the door. A skeptical glance shot his way as her hand fell on the handle, and she found him staring at her still, a smile returning to his face. The creepy, knowing kind of smile. She huffed audibly, eyes narrowing as the door slid open. "Don't stay in here too long. You need your rest, remember..."
"Yes, ma'am." Shisui saluted her mockingly, a glint of teeth flashing her way in a grin, and she darted out of the room hurriedly with a snort. He would let her go, for now...but there was still something pulling at the back of his mind. So many little hints peppered into her actions and explanations, and even in the way she looked at him. Hopefully he would run into her again, and get another chance to pick at her brain discreetly enough that she wouldn't realize what he was doing. For now, he was just going to sit and reflect on the events that had lead him here, and try to get it through his skull that Itachi was actually alive...right in front of him...

"Sakura! You didn't punch in yet did you?" A voice called down the hall as one of the nurses came trotting up behind her. She turned on cue, clinging to the few shreds of patience she had left as she stared at the other girl in confusion. The door to the locker room was not ten paces behind her, and already she was being hounded. This was such a long day already, and she was starting to fear it would never be over.
"No...I was just on my way. Why?" She asked, biting back a sigh. In the very least, she could be grateful that she'd been able to change into her uniform in peace and quiet. Too bad that peace and quiet didn't last more than a few terribly short minutes.
"Good! Tsunade wants to see you." The girl stopped in the middle of the walkway, and almost looked to be a little winded. Had she been scouring the halls for her, or something? Geeze.
"Oh.. Uhhhh...alright. I'll head over" Sakura swallowed, her irritation and confusion replaced with concern at this news. Why in the world would Tsunade need to see her now? It couldn't wait until her shift was over? A hospital short-staffed with medics was never a good thing. A curt and grumpy, sleep-deprived medic was still better than no medic. But, who was she to question their Hokage...
The girl nodded, before turning back the way she came, leaving Sakura to stare down at the floor for a moment. Something about this made her uneasy, and she wasn't sure why. Was she in trouble? Or maybe she was being given a special mission. Those were always fun and challenging. She could only hope it was the latter.
She didn't bother changing out of her uniform before heading to the office, as she had literally just put the darn thing on. She'd be heading straight back to the hospital anyway, so what's the use? Her journey didn't take long, and soon enough she was being ushered into the room by Shizune, who greeted her with a somewhat apologetic smile. That did nothing to calm Sakura's suspicions, though maybe she was reading into it too much.
Sitting behind the grand desk with an array of papers and scrolls, her Hokage glanced up from a rather large book in front of her. An all-too-serious expression met Sakura's mildly timid one, though she was trying her hardest to appear calm. She noted the small white bottle with a tiny cup next to it, a thin waft of steam rising from the top. Sake? At this hour? The sun was still high in the sky!
"Sakura. Come in." Ordering bluntly, Tsunade returned to scan the page of her book as she stepped up to the desk and stood quietly. She couldn't help but to glance repeatedly at the bottle as she waited to be addressed. Was this some sort of foreshadowing for an unpleasant discussion in her near future? Dear Kami, she hoped not.
"Isn't it a little too early to be drinking?" A small voice peeped hesitantly, as if she half-expected an explosive reaction. Tsunade snapped her book closed immediately, causing Sakura to jump lightly and gaze down at her skeptically. "Sakura, it's never too early for sake. You'll understand why, if you ever become a Hokage." The older woman muttered bitterly, peering at her rigid figure with a sharp eye.
"Heh...ok!" Sakura forced a smile quickly, and tried not to fidget. Tsunade gave her uniform a once-over, and then sighed heavily as she hunched forward and put her elbows on the desk, nearly knocking her own cup over with the generous swell of cleavage she was known for.
"I heard you had quite the eventful night. Care to explain what happened?" She began, cutting straight to the point.
Yep. This was exactly what she had been dreading, and there was absolutely no way to weasel out of this conversation. Sakura's shoulders slumped a little, resigning to her fate. This wasn't going to end well for her, she just knew it.
"Right... Well, uhm... Uchiha Itachi was admitted to the hospital at about midnight. I passed them in the hall when they were wheeling him to the ICU, and uh...when I recognized him, I ran after them to help."
"After you shift ended."
Sakura nodded.
"In the ICU."
Sakura nodded again.
"And what did you do in the ICU?"
She paused for a second, trying to get a feel as to what direction this interrogation was going to go. The stern gaze of her mentor wasn't something she could decipher. All she knew was that she felt a little uncomfortable at the tone of voice she was using.
"He was dead on arrival, so I attempted to revive him. He had extensive internal injuries, and the first thing I did was drain the blood from his lungs."
"You inserted catheters into his lungs."
Sakura nodded.
"Who was the senior medic?"
She was quiet for a moment, wracking her brain as she tried to remember everyone else that was in the room with her. Looking back now, so much of it was a blur.
"I...I don't know."
"But it wasn't you."
She nodded slowly, a touch of guilt hitting her gut.
"Did you bark orders at everyone, and refuse to listen to their instructions?"
For the first time, Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly, and the scrap of guilt she had felt expanded into indignation. A faint flush of red found her cheeks.
"Yes, I refused to listen to their instructions when they told me to give up. They stood there like there was nothing they could do, but there was. They just didn't believe it was possible to bring him back to life, because too much time had passed, so they quit trying." Her words were calmly spoken, yet the intensity of her expression wasn't something she tried to hide as her jaw clenched.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed right back at her, and she fired gruffly. "Sakura, you're not assigned to the ICU. You don't have clearance to insert catheters into a man's lungs without guidance, whether that man is dead or alive. And above all, your job is to take orders from your superiors, not give them. You're not experienced enough, and your lack of training is apparent in your inability to keep your emotions under control when—"
"—He was DEAD!" Sakura nearly yelled. "He was dead and no one wanted to save him! They wanted to pull a sheet over his head and leave him to rot! I saved his life! I brought him back—"
"—your inability to keep your emotions under control—" Tsunade repeated herself with thick emphasis, only to be cut off again.
"—You would have done the same for Dan!" She snapped loudly.
The office fell quiet. Instantly, Sakura's eyes widened, and her heart thundered into a racing rhythm. She should not have said that... The boundary had been crossed the moment she had raised her voice, and she knew that, but she definitely should not have gone so far as to say that. She wanted to throw up. But all she could do in the aftermath of her outburst was stand there quietly, and let the heated color drain from her face.
Slowly, Tsunade straightened in her chair, elbows slipping off the table as she regarded Sakura in new-found awe, some of which was bad, and some of which was good. In the seconds that passed through the stifling silence, she realized that this was the first time her apprentice had ever talked back to her...and there was more than a little passion in her persistence. However, she had indeed stepped over a very fine and volatile line.
"Are you in love with him?" The question drifted curiously over to Sakura, who had been expecting a much different reaction, and was therefore blindsided for a moment. It hit her like a ton of bricks.
"No!" She blurted frantically, scrambling on the defense as her heart found a way to beat even faster. "I just—"
WHAM!
Sakura jumped and stared fearfully at the clenched fist that had slammed down onto the desk. Tsunade had lurched up from her chair faster than she could blink, sending it toppling on its side behind her. The Hokage was oblivious to the long crack that etched through the wood, trailing from her hand as she glared dangerously at the young girl.
That was the reaction she had been expecting.
"Then don't you dare compare him to Dan." She seethed in a low, menacing voice, and Sakura immediately looked down and took a step backwards, shying away from the piercing eyes of her mentor. Never had she seen such an intense expression before, as if she were ready to leap over or smash through the desk like it was a fragile tower of toothpicks and slap her through the very wall.
"I'm sorry... I... Forgive me. I shouldn't have said that. It was wrong." She bowed her head, a surge of guilt returning to swirl uneasily with the anger that still poisoned her judgment. Yet somehow, she managed to feel some of that guilt stemming from the answer she had given her, when she had said 'No!'...and that, made things so much more complex suddenly.
The room was quiet again for a time as Tsunade battled with her own wave of emotions, trying not to unleash them on Sakura, for surely the poor girl wouldn't survive if she did. Her amber eyes closed tightly, a scowl on her face as she breathed heavily.
"If you don't love him, then why did you try to revive him for so long? You've never done that before." She asked with a forced calm, though refusing to sit back down in her chair just yet.
Sakura swallowed, keeping her head down in shame. "I would have done the same for Naruto or Sasuke..." She murmured gently. "I... I just... I guess I care about him, too." It was painful to admit, though she truly didn't know why, and she heard a sigh fall across from her.
Slowly, Tsunade fixed the chair upright and sat down. Her eyes reopened to stare at the head of pink that bowed in front of her. "You should feel proud, Sakura."
Curious green eyes glanced up warily, as though she didn't quite understand what she had said. Proud? Really? If she should feel proud, why was she getting reprimanded like this? Now she was really lost.
"You revived a corpse deprived of oxygen for over ten minutes, and he's no even in a coma. Very few medics have ever pulled that off."
Sakura blinked, but remained speechless as she listened and tried to digest the sudden change in atmosphere.
"...But if you ever step out of line at the hospital like that again, and if you ever speak to me the way you did just now, you will be cleaning bedpans for a year, if I'm feeling generous...do you understand?"
Sakura nodded slowly and straightened herself, though she trained her eyes aimed down at the desk between them.
"Go home."
Startled, she looked up questioningly. "Go...home? But, I have a shift at the hospital until nine!"
"Your shift has been covered. Take the day off and get some rest."
"Oh... Ok." For some reason, she was in utter shock. Turning on her heels, she moved for the door without sound, stopping only when she heard her name called behind her.
"Sakura..."
She glanced over her shoulder.
"You should feel proud." Tsunade was still staring at her intently, sending her overworked brain into a tumble as she tried to figure out how she could be made to feel like crap one minute, and then receive a verbal pat on the back the next. She wasn't going to stir the pot though. She'd done that enough already. With one last nod, Sakura made her exit quietly, hiding a small smile as she turned and slipped out the door.
As she wandered down the hall, lost in thought with that quirky smile lingering, she almost missed the man that passed, heading in the opposite direction. Looking up at the last second, she nearly tripped over her own feet when Fugaku nodded in wordless greeting at her, before slipping by and entering the door to the office she had just left. Sakura turned around and stared in wonder. What in the world was he doing here? Had he been summoned as well, or was something else going on?
The empty hall wasn't about to answer her, though. Eventually, she turned again and began her slow journey home. Once she dropped by the hospital to pick up her bags, she would be able to dive into her bed...and that's really all she was capable of focusing on anymore. Sleep. Just beautiful, revitalizing, desperately needed sleep. Any chaos or drama that lurked in her future would have to wait until she was caught up on zzz's.
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To Duel With Fate