Words: 4100
Trigger Warning: Medical nonsense (I'm not a doctor but I try to be well researched? All mistakes are mine), injury description
Author's Note: Finally, here's a glimpse of Tenzo. For those of you not liking Kazuko, I really hope he grows on you. I made him as a placeholder when writing this story but I kind of fell in love with him a bit by the end. Tenzo will be in and out for a few chapters because like I said, this is a ridiculously slow burn lol Enjoy!

Wispy clouds drifted across the sky, promising a clear afternoon. Kazuko sighed and glanced down at his empty lunch container. As much as he wanted to stay outside and enjoy the autumn air, he needed to get back to work. The doors parted to welcome him home and a weight settled on his shoulders. He needed to check on Sakura.

The pink-haired medic had kept herself busy after Kazuko's gentle reprimand at the start of shift. She had worked circles around the other doctors and nurses, bouncing from patient to patient like she had something to prove. Kazuko didn't know Sakura well enough to decide if it was an attempt to avoid him or if she normally worked so tirelessly. But, in the end, it accomplished the same thing.

Kauzuko's memories of Sakura differed considerably from the woman whose name dotted the bottom line of the large stack of discharge papers he examined. She had been fourteen or fifteen at the time of her apprenticeship, quiet and unsure of herself. The civilian doctors hadn't known what to make of the girl, and the shinobi gave her a cursory glance at best. Everyone expected Sakura to fail, but she turned that doubt into a flourishing career.

That girl had blossomed into a woman who not only took criticism, but learned from it as well. This Sakura wasn't frightened by failure, at least, if she was, it didn't show. Kazuko had tested her temper several times already, but she managed to keep it under disciplined control. Sakura no longer seemed liable to punch holes in the wall or burst into tears at the slightest setback. She'd matured and lost the quiet demeanor that buried raw talent.

Even Sakura's reliance on ninjutsu had changed. Despite her annoyance, the woman had taken Kazuko's rebuke from yesterday to heart. She had treated dozens of civilians this morning, never once suggesting anything except traditional methods. All of her patients left their rooms with fresh bandages or bottles of medicine, smiling and at ease. Obviously, her bedside manner had improved as well.

Kazuko leafed through one of Sakura's files, fully anticipating the need to lecture her about proper charting methods, but they were immaculate. Her legible, concise remarks would make it easier for the nurses inputting information and the physicians who took over ongoing cases alike. Sakura had been an ideal employee apart from one morning of tardiness.

The woman in question swept out of an exam room and placed another chart in the box on the desk. Without speaking, Sakura picked up the next patient's information and skimmed the intake notes. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she chewed on her lower lip.

Kazuko crossed the distance between them in two strides and tugged the chart from Sakura's hands. Green eyes flashed with annoyance, but the woman suppressed it almost immediately. Her voice retained the cold fury when she bit off each word, however. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I'll take this one," Kazuko answered, skimming the notes. It looked like a bout of stomach flu, lovely. Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but Kazuko tapped his watch. "You're going to miss the inauguration if you don't leave soon."

The emotions that flashed across Sakura's face were easy enough to read: surprise, confusion, happiness, followed quickly by suspicion. She raised one eyebrow, tone shifting from choppy accusation to hesitant admission. "I assumed I wouldn't be able to go. Someone needs to stay behind and watch the hospital after all."

"Yeah, me," Kazuko answered with an attempt at levity. "Now, get lost before I change my mind." Without waiting for Sakura's response, he turned toward the exam room that she had been preparing to enter.

Technically, Kazuko didn't have the authority to tell Sakura what to do, but she accepted the role of subordinate easily enough. It would take the woman a few days to realize that she could boss him around instead of taking orders. Or, Shizune would come and give him hell for being difficult during the transition. Either way, Kazuko planned to make the most of his fleeting leadership.

Kazuko wondered if he was pushing Sakura too hard, then shook his head. The job that she'd accepted was difficult; it required tough skin and an unswerving sense of purpose. Running the hospital wasn't a temporary fix to make Sakura feel important, only to be passed on when she got bored with it. It would test her commitment to the village, though he suspected that she would pass with flying colors given her past.

Sakura hadn't shown any signs of flightiness, necessarily, but she was young. At nineteen, Kazuko wouldn't have been ready for the responsibility. He didn't begrudge Sakura the position that she'd been given in the hospital, not really. He knew that being a shinobi wasn't for the faint of heart, and the woman had probably seen more deaths than he could imagine. Sakura understood what sacrifice looked like, but did she fully comprehend how that functioned during peace?

While Kazuko hadn't called Sakura on it, he knew that the woman had downplayed her role in the war. He'd heard the reports from the front lines. Sakura couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen at the time, not long after they'd worked together. The whispers about a pink-haired kunoichi who saved Naruto on the battlefield circulated like wildfire. That description could have only belonged to one person.

Despite being an accomplished medic when the war broke out, Kazuko had been deemed necessary to the village, keeping him away from the front lines. He had been pulled from the small hospital where he was finishing his residency to help with the cleanup in Konoha. The war produced surprisingly few casualties, especially among civilians. With medical ninjutsu being reserved for the more seriously injured shinobi, Kazuko had treated dozens of burns, cuts, broken bones, and lesser injuries. His assistance freed up the medical nin for more complicated cases.

In those first couple of chaotic months after the war, Kazuko had seen Sakura only once. They'd passed in a hallway, but the woman hadn't even looked up from the chart she was reading. He had recognized the exhaustion in the way she carried herself, the physical markers that came from pushing the body well past what it was meant to handle. Sakura had been running on fumes and determination.

Most of the woman's attention had been spent on her teammates during those days, both of whom had been badly injured at the end of the war. Even civilians could recognize Naruto and Sasuke on sight, undoubtedly two of the most powerful shinobi in the world. And Sakura had stood shoulder to shoulder with them. That alone deserved Kazuko's respect.

By the time Kazuko returned to Konoha full time, he'd heard that Sakura had left the village. There hadn't been much time to think during those days. Shizune and Tsunade began to overhaul the hospital and move people around to fit its new needs. The chaos presented the perfect place for Kazuko to stand out. He had worked hard over the past year to attain his current position.

Shizune had seen the potential in Kazuko and pushed him out of his comfort zone. Long shifts, mountains of paperwork, and sacrificing every moment for work had taken a toll, but it had come with a reward as well. Shizune trusted him with more responsibility over time, then freedom once she realized that he could handle it. He'd heard the whispers that Tsunade was planning to leave the village and assumed Shizune would go with her.

Kazuko had expected that the mantle would pass to him, and it probably should have. He had no doubt that if he'd been a shinobi, he would have received the position with accolades for the hard work he'd put in. Instead, it had passed to Sakura. Kazuko had meant it when he said that he wouldn't cause problems for her, but he couldn't help but feel slighted. He wouldn't make her life any harder, but he would be damn sure that she was ready for the role. If she found it too difficult, he'd be there to pick up the pieces.

Sighing, Kazuko shook himself from the thoughts and read the chart in his hand a second time. Stomach flu would take his mind off of his own concerns, at least temporarily. Time to get back to work.

When Sakura slipped back into the hospital just under two hours later, she breathed a sigh of relief. Being able to attend the inauguration had been a pleasant surprise, even if she hadn't found any close friends in the crowd to stand with. The Kakashi displayed above the gathered villagers seemed an entirely different person from the man of Sakura's genin days. For some reason, she had expected him to look out of his depth or nervous. Instead, Kakashi exuded a calm sense of authority as the robes settled on his shoulders. Then, the shadows of the hat obscured his face entirely.

Sakura hadn't stayed for the other festivities that surrounded the inauguration. Many businesses were closed so that everyone could attend, but vendors had popped up like mushrooms after a heavy rain, filling the street with tantalizing scents and unusual sights. Sakura almost paused to buy a doll painted in greys to resemble Kakashi, if only to tease him about it later, but the line was too long for her to give it serious thought.

The streets were crowded with shinobi back from missions for the ceremony and civilians alike. As she hurried, a few people called out to Sakura, inviting her to join them. She waved them off and continued to push through the throng. Even though she'd wanted to, Sakura hadn't stayed to congratulate Kakashi in person. She knew that she'd have a chance to do so later when it didn't involve hours in line.

Getting to go to the inauguration had been an unexpected kindness, and Sakura didn't want to spend too long away from the hospital. The last thing that she needed was to give Kazuko another reason to be annoyed at her. Honestly, the man sent more mixed signals than Sasuke with his back and forth attitude. One minute, Sakura believed that Kazuko respected her, maybe even saw her as an equal, and the next it was nothing but condescending critiques. She was determined to get to the bottom of it, soon.

Before Sakura left the hospital, she'd asked a few discreet questions of the nursing staff and learned that Kazuko had a sweet tooth. She stopped at one of the street vendors on her way back to work and picked up two sticks of dango. Sakura ate one as she walked, and left the other wrapped in paper. The sticky treat would cause a sugar high that would undoubtedly leave her crashing in the afternoon, but it was worth every tasty morsel. Apparently, she and Kazuko had something in common.

Slipping into the building, Sakura made her way to Kazuko's office. That location was another bit of information she'd gleaned from the nurses. Surprisingly, the cramped space was even smaller than her own. Sakura had made certain that Kazuko was tied up with a patient before entering. She left the stick of dango on his desk without a note or explanation. It wasn't a payment for the morning's coffee, exactly, but Sakura would be damned if she was going to owe Kazuko anything.

Conscience appeased, Sakura returned to her office. She pulled her lab coat on before heading toward the nurse's station to see where she was needed. The first couple of patients were routine, a high fever in a toddler that could have been any of a dozen viruses, but wasn't dangerous enough to need intervention. Then, a broken finger that Sakura had to force herself not to heal with medical ninjutsu. The third was an elderly woman with unexplained weakness in her hands.

Sakura had just begun to take a family history when a soft knock halted her words. She frowned as a nurse slipped into the room after the sound. The young woman bowed, first to Sakura, then the woman on the exam table. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, Haruno-sensei, but you're needed for another patient."

"I'm sorry," Sakura murmured, repeating the nurse's sentiment. Then, she patted the woman's shoulder. "We'll be back with you in just a moment."

Curious, Sakura followed the nurse from the room, her mind spinning a mile a minute. She couldn't figure out who would specifically need her attention. For a brief moment, Sasuke's image flitted through her mind. Could he have been injured and brought back to the village somehow? Had he requested her? Sakura viciously quashed the thought.

Kazuko waited in the hallway, hands tucked into the pockets of his khaki pants. He nodded a short greeting. "They just brought in an injured shinobi."

"Where," Sakura asked, shifting to a more professional demeanor. Kazuko led her away from the main exam rooms toward the shinobi wing. It was separate from the civilian area, both as a precaution, and to keep their secrets from slipping out. Nervousness gnawed at the pit of Sakura's stomach. "Do you have any information?"

Kazuko snorted under his breath. "Do you really think they would give a civilian the details? All I know is the location."

Sakura ignored the barb in the man's words. She didn't have time to deal with Kazuko's issues, not when an injured shinobi of unknown condition waited. Kazuko paused and raised his hand to indicate a door that looked like a dozen others they'd passed along the way. With a nod, Sakura pushed it open and moved into the sterile, antiseptic scented room.

The curtain had been drawn over the windows, dimming the interior to cool grey. Sakura frowned and flipped the light switch. A familiar form hunched on the hospital bed, arms curled protectively around his middle. Blood dappled the crisp, white sheet and the grey vest covering the man's chest. Sakura did a double-take. His armor was definitely grey, not green. She recognized the discrepancy, then discarded it. "Yamato-taicho?"

Sweat dampened hair clung to Yamato's forehead when he looked up. The man winced at finding Sakura standing by the foot of the bed. It took the pinkette a tremendous amount of self-control to keep from mimicking the expression. Yamato's left eye was swollen shut, and an angry, red gash curved along his cheekbone. It had come dangerously close to blinding him. Blood leaked from his split lip, oozing over his chin to disappear into the black fabric that sheathed his neck.

Yamato's chest plate had been shattered on the left side, crushed hard enough to tear the skin beneath. A flood of new blood trickled across the dried streaks that ran down Yamato's hip to stain the sheet. Numerous cuts and bruises marred the exposed skin, but his side was the worst injury. Yamato's hands curved over his middle in obvious pain. "Hey, Sakura," he managed, voice tight with effort.

The calm voice that had settled Sakura's nerves so often on missions had changed, evaporating in the face of this new reality. Now, Yamato sounded tired and old. Shaking the unnecessary thoughts away, Sakura moved closer. She rested her hands against his chest to guide him backward. "Lie back so I can examine you."

Yamato hissed between his clenched teeth at the movement, and Sakura felt a wave of pity for the man. She eased chakra into his body to seek out hidden injuries. Despite her effort to be as gentle as possible, Yamato jerked at the invasion. His chakra resisted the gentle lull of hers, sparking wildly in response. Sakura drew a deep breath and closed her eyes, blocking out the distractions to search for the wounds that she couldn't see. Blood pulsed sluggishly from Yamato's side.

There, Sakura thought, focusing on the lacerated spleen and blood seeping into Yamato's abdomen. The ribs above it were broken as well, hairline cracks splintering away from the impact site under her hand. The rest of his organs seemed in working order, so she focused on the main injury. There would be time for a second exam once she had him stabilized.

Exhaling, Sakura wove her chakra around Yamato's ribs to reinforce and shift them into place. The man arched off the bed, hands clenching against the railing until his knuckles turned white. Sakura murmured an apology as she closed the wound on Yamato's spleen. The flutter of chakra against hers weakened, and she pulled back. Yamato collapsed on the pillows, breathing hard.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, catching Yamato's wrist to measure his pulse. The thrum of his heartbeat against her fingers was fast, but not alarmingly so considering the blood loss.

Sakura moved her hands to the unfamiliar fastenings of Yamato's Anbu vest, forcing her curiosity to the back of her mind. The shoulder straps came loose easily, along with the catches on the side. She lifted the plate away. Blood and dirt coated the wound, mixing with scraps of black fabric. Yamato's shirt had been shredded by the sharp edges of his broken armor.

When the man didn't speak, Sakura tried again. "I need to know what happened, to make sure I didn't miss something."

Brown eyes flashed open when Sakura cut the shirt away to access the damage. "I'm fine," Yamato ground out as her fingers probed.

"Oh, I can see that," Sakura growled, tugging harder at the fabric until Yamato shifted so that she could remove it. "Internal bleeding, broken ribs, and Kami knows what else."

The damage to Yamato's abdomen was extensive. Blue, black and purple streaks spanned from the center of his chest to below his navel, then disappeared around his side. Sakura applied gentle pressure to his stomach, visualizing the organs under her hands. Yamato grunted and squeezed his eyes shut.

Shaking her head, Sakura moved to the opposite side of the bed and unlocked the supply cabinet. She pulled down a blood pressure cuff and fit it around Yamato's upper arm, then attached a pulse ox to his finger. A couple of taps on a machine, then an electronic hiss filled the room. Sakura ignored the tension in the man's body, her eyes glued to the monitor as numbers crawled across the screen.

Yamato's blood pressure was low while his heart rate remained elevated. The findings were consistent with blood loss, especially a considerable amount. He wasn't unconscious though, so that was a good sign. Chewing on her lower lip, Sakura pulled the stethoscope over her head. Yamato's muscles tensed at the cold metal, but he didn't pull away. His aspirations were diminished, but not absent, another good thing.

Sakura blew air through her lips in frustration as she replaced the instrument around her neck. She eyed Yamato for a long moment, studying the dark circles beneath his eyes which were focused on the opposite wall. The man had lost weight since she saw him last, muscle standing out in a way that she'd never noticed before.

"Can you please tell me what happend," Sakura asked, moderating her tone further. "Your injuries are significant, and if I missed something because I didn't have enough information..."

"I'm fine," Yamato repeated, his voice completely devoid of the warmth that Sakura remembered. He grimaced and shifted on the bed.

Sakura opened her mouth to ask if Yamato was in pain, then shut it just as quickly. Even if he was, he'd never admit it. She shook her head and cut away the remainder of his shirt so that she could better examine Yamato's side. Congealed blood and dirt made it impossible to determine the extent of the damage.

Yamato struggled into a sitting position when Sakura touched his shoulder. She pulled off the shreds of his shirt to check his back. A nasty bruise curled around his side, shades of mottled red radiating from a band of darker crimson. If Sakura had to guess, and she did since the man remained stubbornly tight lipped, he had been slammed backward into something like a bar or the edge of a counter hard enough to crack ribs.

"I want to keep you overnight for observation. Then, we'll reevaluate in the morning." Sakura hadn't expected an answer, so the silence didn't surprise her. "I've started healing your ribs, but they're going to hurt like hell for a couple of days."

"I'm familiar with the procedure," Yamato answered, popping his neck. The words made Sakura's hands pause against his back. She couldn't help but wonder how many times he'd lived through this exact situation. The shock of seeing Yamato in an Anbu uniform had begun to wear off, and Sakura didn't know how she felt about her new knowledge.

Nodding as if the answer made perfect sense, Sakura pulled some antiseptic and gauze from the cabinet. Yamato didn't flinch when she wiped the saturated cloth across the cut even though she knew it stung horribly. After cleaning the wound, Sakura eased chakra into the skin and encouraged it to knit back together. The smooth swath of flesh never ceased to amaze her, no matter how many times she healed someone.

Sakura had just started to wrap a bandage around Yamato's chest to stabilize his ribs when she heard the door open behind her. She turned, fully anticipating to lecture whomever stood there, only to have the words die on her lips. Kakashi filled the doorway, face shadowed by the red and white hat he wore. The Hokage's robes fit him well, making the man's normally slender frame more imposing.

Kakashi removed the hat almost immediately, tossing it onto the empty chair. His charcoal eyes slid from the man on the bed, to Sakura without speaking. He knelt and lifted up a pack that Sakura hadn't noticed on the floor and rummaged inside before coming up with a blue garment. Yamato caught the jonin shirt midair with his right hand. Sakura raised one eyebrow in disbelief, looking between the pair in confusion.

"Report," Kakashi demanded, startling Sakura from her silence. He unfastened the robes as Yamato and Sakura rushed to speak over one another in a jumble of incoherent words.

When they both stopped mid-sentence, Kakashi frowned. Yamato recovered quicker. "I'm fine, Hokage-sama."

"You had broken ribs and internal bleeding," Sakura growled, surprised at the anger sparking inside of her. "That's hardly fine."

Kakashi's mask twitched as he tipped his head toward Sakura, and she knew the man was trying to hide a smile. Huffing out a breath, she sighed. "I stabilized his ribs and stopped the bleeding, but without a full description of what happened, I can't promise that I didn't miss something."

The silence lasted for several long seconds, then Kakashi shook his head. "You don't have clearance for mission details."

The words stole Sakura's breath, and she whirled to face Kakashi so quickly that he took a step backward and raised his hands. She looked up at her former sensei with narrowed eyes. "I don't have clearance?" Sakura enunciated each word clearly for maximum effect. "You expect me to treat patients that I don't have full access to?"

Kakashi started to speak, but the sound of the door and a familiar voice cut him off. "Not for long."

Tsunade swept into the room, honey eyes taking in the gathered shinobi far too calmly. The fury in Sakura's chest intensified as she stared at the woman, noticing the hard set of her mentor's mouth. "I'll finish the exam," Tsunade continued.

Sakura seethed, hands tightening into fists. "No, I deserve an-"

Tsunade held up a hand, stopping the flow of words before Sakura could complete the thought. She leveled Sakura with a glance, one that the girl was intimately familiar with. No amount of arguing or pleading would change Tsunade's mind now. "This isn't up for discussion. Your shift ended an hour ago. Go home."

The dismissal in Tsunade's voice stung enough to make Sakura's eyes burn with angry tears. She half expected Kakashi to say something, to come to her defense, but the man stayed silent. Yamato's gaze remained locked on the far wall.

"Fine," Sakura snapped, letting the bandage fall from her fingers. She refused to meet their eyes as she crossed the room. The anger and hurt in her expression would have been unmistakable. It was impossible to slam an exam room door, but Sakura made the effort.

In the eerie silence of the hallway, Sakura drew a deep breath to bring her anger under control. What the hell had just happened? And exactly how long had Yamato been in Anbu?