A/N
HO-LEE-SHITE you guys~ ! So many favourites and follows and some really nice reviews! (Even Silver Queen, I am so fangirling right now). My inbox was hot-hot-hot with emails, I'm floored!
This is just after chapter 41 (42 according to FF site). I might do another POV someday about the Tsukuyomi part. That part for the story was really raw, sad, and painful.

I've been brainstorming a lot for other POV's. So expect more! This took some time, wasn't happy with it first.

I'm of the opinion that Naruto and Jiraiya went back to Konoha with Shikako and Sasuke, before departing again to look for Tsunade. Naruto wouldn't leave her behind like that, I think. Jiraiya is off somewhere, probably discussing the issue with other Jounin. Hope you likey.

Don't hesitate to review. I'd like to know what you guys think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, that's Kishi's stuff. I don't own the DOS universe, that's Silver Queen's stuff. Also the dot thingy.

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"Health is not valued 'till sickness comes."

- Thomas Fuller

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Stitch, pull, repeat.
Stitch, pull, repeat.
Stitch, stitch, pull, knot, snap.

Once you've got it down, and get over the fact that it's human flesh, stitching a wound is easy. A mind numbing routine. The blood is even easy to ignore, after a while. She only had a little trouble during her training exercises, where they use fake human flesh (harvested from animal skin) and fake blood to practice stitching and work on abating the nausea that some people struggle with. Sakura isn't squeamish by any means.

Not anymore, at least.

Sakura imagines it is cloth. And if there's a rip in the cloth, you fix it. Simple, to the point and, after a while, kind of boring. There are more difficult aspects to her studies than this. She's far more interested in the plethora of books opened and spread around her room or many of the other more … mentally and physically challenging procedures in the hospital.

Even if this hadn't been her first choice of career, it's a choice she has made ultimately and wants to prevail -and flourish- in.

After her embarrassing display of Ninja skills, Sakura decided that she will be a support to the people she loves instead. She won't be in the background. Once she is ready, she will stand next to them. As an equal.

Nevertheless, these little jobs that are often dumped on her are quite tedious.

But these are important training hours. She has to make herself known here to move forward as quickly as possible. She's determined to fill the empty circle on her back with something meaningful. She does not know what it'll be yet, but she'll make sure that people will recognize it. There will not only be Uchiha, Hyuga, Aburame, Inuzuka, Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka. But also Haruno, said in one breath.

(And she's reminded of the test she failed, when her back had felt like a void. She does not ever want to feel like that again.)

People will see her back and will know where she belongs.

So, if that requires her being a gopher and doing the odd, boring stitching job here and there so be it. At least the people here already know her name and face. She's not going to be left behind.

It's in the middle of a mundane stitching job that Sakura notices medics rushing in the hallways, chattering frantically to one another in passing. She sees their mouths flapping rapidly through the gap of the half closed door.

An odd lump settles in her throat. She coughs, but it sticks there, and stays firmly lodged.

The commotion is an odd occurrence, since 'Medics should never run, they can haste, but they should always maintain a decorum of calm. And their volume should never raise higher than a mere conversational tone, lest the patients be unnecessarily troubled or distressed'. She can quote it word for word. A line that has been repeated, over and over, shoved frantically in their heads because they asked it on every single test.

Kind of like a nindo, for medic-nin.

For Sakura this line has been an afterthought. She knows she must employ it during her work hours and such, but Sakura knows who she is. When the need arose, she could be quite loud. Afterwards, after all the stomping and screaming and -occasionally- punching, she would be a bit embarrassed at her crass behaviour. But it was in her nature, so she didn't mind it anymore.

In the hospital, she reigned in her more… rambunctious self. Partly because of the saying that has been embedded in her brain (so it is impossible to not practise it), partly because the saying worked. Calm patients not only made the job easier, but works beneficially for the patients' health. Everything for the benefit and the well-being of the patient. Also a saying among medic-nin.

All that aside, Sakura still is worried about the chaos going on in the hallways. Since Sakura is a dignified and serious medic-nin (-in training), she first finishes her work on her patient, pulls of her gloves, washes her hands and dries them on a towel before going out the door to check.

(Sakura would not admit she may have done this all with haste, since a crawling unease in her belly came and did not go away.)

A curious –and very useful- aspect of the Konoha hospital is one that is overlooked or unknown to most. It is not the steadfast and brilliant medics, the fact that Tsunade-hime revolutionized medic-nin and medical applications to the point of near legend, or any of the other popular medical wonders that Konoha has established.

It's the fact that a lot of the operating rooms and hospital rooms are sound proof.

This had been done, long ago, with seals. Those from outside can't hear what's going inside and those from inside can't hear what's going on outside. This has it's uses. One can concentrate fully on the patient this way, no distractions can lead the operators hand from success to failure by, say, rupturing a vital artery. Everything for the benefit and well-being of the patient.

The downside was the obvious 'you can't hear what's going on outside' part. If, by any chance, the village is invaded at that particular moment when you're in surgery, you'll be the last one in the village to know. It's only when you exit the operating room that you'll see and hear the destruction.

And once Sakura steps outside of the hospital room, she can hear it.

A loud wail rings through the hallways. An ear piercing howl of agony that makes her skin break out in sweat and goosebumps all at once, and makes her back go ramrod straight. An unsettling shiver runs along her spine.

Her first thoughts, and she knows this is so rotten and insensitive of her, is to analyze the situation. It's what she has been trained to do.

Status of victim: in severe pain. Physical? Possible: ruptured appendix? Woman in labor? Severed limb? Broken bone? Negative: does not feel quite as painful as the screams indicate. Trauma? Torture wounds? Possible. Mental trauma? Possible: PTSD, Genjutsu, mind invasive jutsu (… Inoichi?).

Victim: stranger, foe,… friend?

This only takes a second, in the next she is rushing –not hasting- with the other medic-nin.

The shrieking continues. Why the victim hasn't gone unconscious yet, or been forced to go unconscious with chakra, is beyond her. She reaches the hospital bed, ready to pull her weight, and –

And.

And.

Sakura can feel her eyes widening, her pupils dilating, the hairs on her arms and neck and back and everywhere stand on end as she can only stare-

Shikako.

She is trashing and screaming and her eyes are glazed over and wide, impossibly wide. Her hair is a mess, long stresses undone and pulled from her signature braid. She's unconscious.

Unconscious. And she's howling.

Sakura has been taught to act immediately, no matter the wound or the patients or the circumstance. 'A medic-nin must move at the first sign of medical emergency'. Another quote straight from the book. It doesn't matter who it is, it doesn't matter if it is your dying lover. You must move and heal.

But Sakura can't move a single foot in that direction. Her mind is blank as she stares at her friend. A wall barricades her mind, and she tries breaking it but she can't-

Shikako that has been a constant force by her side, that has been through so much already, that has so many people to love and to see and oh god what is she going to tell Ino-

A nurse bumps into her and tells her to move it. She rushes towards the bed, then turns and speeds along with it.

It's only then that she notices Naruto and Sasuke-kun. They are frantic, they run along with the bed and ask the nurses questions. Naruto notices her and latches onto her sleeve.

"Sakura-chan, please fix it! She won't stop screaming, please, please make it stop! Sakura-chan!"

Naruto keeps pleading her to do something, to make it stop but she can't. She doesn't know how. All the books, the analyzing, the techniques and the terms she's been studying and practicing for months tumble from her brain and are lost. What has she been doing? Who has she been doing it for?

She doesn't know what to do.

She stutters and stumbles her way through a chopped conversation with Naruto, things like "I don't-" and "I can't-" and "What, how did-" pass her lips. Naruto doesn't give any clear answers. They stop once they reach the hospital room the nurses have been aiming for.

The door slams into their faces and they're left in the hallway.

In the hallway. While Shikako and the other nurses are inside. And the raw, high-pitched keening won't stop. And why didn't they pick a room with a seal?

Sasuke-kun and Naruto bang on the doors like crazed animals, demanding to be let in and be with their teammate. Sakura stares.

A nurse bearing medical supplies starts berating them, telling them to 'wait outside, there is nothing you two can do for her let the medics do their job'. Then the nurse turns to her and glares hotly. Guilt is already pooling in her stomach. Then the rant starts.

The guilt pools further, and deeper.

"And you, have you forgotten everything? You stand there, mouthing like a fish. You blabber like a toddler and stand in the way like a child. Wake up, girl, and pull yourself together."

It stings like a slap to the face. Sakura bites her lip and swallows. The lump is in the way. She tries to form a defense in her mind, but it fails to communicate to her mouth and again she fumbles for words. Like a child.

"But she's-"

"I know. She's your friend. And I don't care. "

…What?

Her gaze snaps from the floor to the nurse's face –when did she start looking down?- and starts to splutter at her. How can she not care?

"You shouldn't care either. You should've stopped, gotten over it, and helped. You should've moved the second you saw her. We don't need you to choke up whenever anyone you know gets rolled through those doors. You want to be useful? Practice your materials. Study your books. You're not there yet, girl. " Then the nurse pulls the door open, enters and slams it back shut.

Her back feels hollow. The lump in her throat stirs with another swallow.

The din in the hallway palpable, and is only disturbed by Shikako's wails in the room that are only slightly muffled by the walls.

Sakura suddenly feels like crying, when she realizes she already is.

But the nurse is right.
Sakura tries to stop her tears, hastily rubbing her eyes and cheeks and taking deep breaths. She won't let tears fill the circle, that won't do.

A gasp is pulled from all three of them when Shikako's screams abruptly stops. And they don't know if that is a very good sign, or a very very bad one.

Sakura's not moving. She doesn't know how. Her feet are made of stone and her arms feel disconnected from their sockets, they hang limply by her hips. She is vaguely reminded of a puppet, one the puppeteer has abandoned.

She looks up to see what the boys are doing, because she doesn't know what to do. Should she stand or sit or fall and cry or-

Naruto's back is to her. He's facing the door and barely moving. His shoulders are moving up and down with his labored breathing, his fists are clenching and unclenching constantly. His shoulders hitch up higher every few seconds and suddenly she can hear the sobs. He's whispering Shikako's name over and over, like a mantra. Like it'll make her appear, unscathed and smiling.

She turns to see Sasuke sitting in one of the plastic chairs. Sakura didn't even know when he moved over there. His elbows digging into his knees and his face is cupped in his hands. Compared to Naruto, he's not moving at all, his soundless lament somehow as scary as the silence in the room, and more melancholic than Naruto's sobs.

Making a decision, she moves towards her childhood crush. It's only when she approaches him that she can see the tremors wracking his frame.

She opens her mouth a few times, to try and say something, but no sound comes out.

Fish. Girl. Child.

Sakura doesn't feel like the tree of her namesake. She feels like a weed, in the way and hazardous for other plants. Choking them, while they only want to be and grow. She might as well put that image on her back.

She sinks into the seat next to him and faces the floor, feeling quite useless.

"What happened?" She cuts through the silence that was hanging like a weight. Her voice is raw and scratchy, as if she's the one who has been screaming.

Surprisingly, it's Sasuke-kun that opens his mouth and talks.

(And she's always pulled and goaded him into conversations, but he has never acted upon it. Now he does and she wishes he had stayed silent.)

There's only a name coming from him, and somehow that answers some of her questions but creates dozens more.

Uchiha Itachi.

His brother.

His brother that slaughtered Sasuke-kun's entire family but him.

Sakura grips the fabric at her knees and tries to swallow the lump for the millionth time. The howls still echo in her head. Her back feels heavy.

Sakura doesn't say anything, there's not a word in existence that will help. An "I'm sorry" would be empty and insulting. A "how can I help you?" would be selfish and patronizing. A "what do I do" would seem pathetic. Her gaze drops back to the floor.

She is a child that can only cry, look down and do nothing. Even when her childhood crush drops his hand on her head, she doesn't say a word.

Really. Comforting her when Shikako's the one in the hospital bed, when his heart is the one hurting the most.

(Later, she'll hear things about 'eyes' and 'Mind Genjutsu'. About 'taking his place' and the 'hours ticking by'. And the fact that it was meant for Sasuke-kun, not Shikako.)

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And later, much much later, when Shikako wakes up. Sakura can see that Shikako is not okay. Even though Shikako keeps saying she is, she is most definitely not.

Shikako is awake and she moves, but it is calculated. Rigid.

(It would be a long while yet before she regains what she has lost in that red-tinted horror.)

Shikako's eyes look different –distorted- and it feels like a hole has been ripped open in her. The seams of what makes her Shikako are stretching and tearing. Some of the filling has fallen out.

This is a wound that Sakura can't stitch.

The lump is still there. The circle on her back feels barren.

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A/N
That was kinda dramatic. And sad. Okay, it turned out to be REALLY sad. There'll be lighter ones, soon!
There are only so many synonyms for 'screaming'. I think I used them all...
I know nothing of medical stuff or analyzing stuff or anything. The 'empty circle' comments refers to DOS Sakura not having a clan and clan symbol like the others do, instead she has an empty circle on her shirt she'll fill herself. I thought that was a very cool little tidbit from DOS.