Hello everyone! Okay, this is the first story I've ever posted on but I have read many of the other inspiring stories on here. Therefore, I have decided to try my own hand at writing. I hope you enjoy my first story and thanks for reading!
The automatic doors of the hospital entrance quietly slid open and closed in a matter of seconds. Sayo peered at the round clock ticking away on the far left wall. The little hour hand was nearly positioned on the five, and the big minute hand was just past the eleven.
Sayo groaned at the inconvenience one more patient would cause her. It was almost five o'clock, time for her shift to end. She focused her attention back on the medical papers she had been working on and pretended to be oblivious to the figures slowly heading her way.
The casual sound of two masculine voices laughing forced her to glance back up. Her eyes widened in shock to see two familiar Jounin making their way towards her desk.
The latter ninja didn't concern her; it was just the taijutsu specialist Gai. His thick eyebrow were creased from the big sparkling smile he aimed at her as he flipped the bangs of his bowl-shaped haircut away from his rugged face.
The man she concerned herself with was the one in front; he noticed the attention of her fixed sapphire orbs as he strode up to the desk. Gai remained a few feet behind with the grin still plastered in his face. He knew what was coming.
Sayo folded her thin arms across her chest and glared up at the man called Genma as he stood before her smirking. She felt the heat of anger rise to her cheeks as she recalled their last meeting in the hospital. He had brought her a patient fresh from the battlefield wrapped up in blankets. Genma had stood across the operating table as Sayo began to unwrap the bloodied blankets, all the while glancing quizzically up at the ninja, his lengthy senbon flicking back and forth between his pearly whites.
Everything would have been just fine except for one little problem: the supposed "patient," to Sayo's dismay, was not only partially dismembered but entirely dead. Sayo had flown back from the already rotting corpse and towards the closest garbage can. Afterwards, she had cursed Genma out with the full-fledged mouth of a sailor and sent him running from the hospital to the sounds of flying metal bedpans aimed at his head.
She shivered slightly and shook her head to gain control of herself. Genma gave a slight bow and smirked again.
"Why, Sayo," he said, his voice emanating the charm he was famous for, "it's been so long since I've laid eyes on you. Have you missed me?"
Sayo watched Gai out of the corner of her eye. His cheeks were puffed out and his chest was heaving as he tried to contain his overwhelming laughter. Sayo gripped the edges of the desk until her knuckles were a starch white color.
"Yeah," she gritted through her clenched teeth, trying to fight the urged to fling a nearby lamp at his cocky face. "The way I miss a good slap in the face."
Her hands continued to grip the edges of the desk as she stood up abruptly, downing her chair in the movement. She peered over the edge and down the front; Genma held the beginnings of a white bundle of sheets stretching nearly six feet in length while Gai held up the end. Sayo's heart stopped momentarily at the sight; it was just like that time before.
"Well," Genma said, "I figured you missed my company, so I came to see you." He glanced down at his parcel. "I even brought you a gift; a new patient." He winked at her as the color continued to drain from her already pale face.
Sayo took a step back and let her caught breath quickly escape. Her hand edged ever so slightly towards the ever promising form of the lamp.
"What's the matter," Genma asked in mock surprise, "I thought you loved caring for patients." He eyed the ebony-haired kunoichi as he waited for a reaction. He counted down the seconds. Three, two, one.
"Yes, when they are actually alive," she yelled as her voice gained momentum and volume, "Not when they are mutilated corpses wrapped up in yesterday's linen! This is a hospital…" She paused a moment to take a deep breath before bellowing her conclusion, "NOT A MORGUE!"
At the sudden outburst, Gai let go of his end of the bundled form and it, along with the ninja, dropped to the floor. He rolled back and forth as he gasped for breath from his hyperventilated laughing. Sayo's eyes glared like laser beams at the two Jounin; Genma realized he had gone a little too far. He tried to hide his smile with the back of his hand.
Sayo's chest rose and fell more evenly now, even though anger still coursed through her veins. She tried her best to compose herself. She forcefully tucked back a strand of hair that had fallen across her face.
Genma cleared his throat as he tried to explain the situation for his presence. Gai still sat on the floor, wiping his eyes on his bright green jumpsuit.
"Don't worry," Genma started, "this time I promise the guy is –"
"STOP!" Sayo roared, this time in desperation instead of rage. "Just stop," her voice pleaded warily. She righted the overturned chair and fell back into it with her eyes closed. She wasn't even going to deal with it. "They don't pay me enough," she muttered to herself.
Genma stretched his head forward as he strained to hear the comment. "Beg your pardon?" He asked innocently. Mayo shook her head in defeat. She picked up the phone on her desk and dialed in an extension.
"I can't do this," she said, "my shift is over in forty-three seconds and I have a date tonight. I'll let the hospital manager deal with you." She tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently as the phone continued to ring.
Finally she heard a voice come across the line. She sat up straight and eyed Genma and Gai, who were once again up and holding the bundle between them.
"There are two Jounin here at the front with a patient." She paused for a moment. "Yes, I know, and I apologize. However, I feel that you are the best person to deal with it, considering the situation." Another pause. "Which room do you want them in?"
Sayo made some notes on a piece of paper, nodding her understanding to the invisible speaker. "Yes ma'am. Alright, I'll send them up." She placed the phone back in its cradled and scribbled a few more notes.
"Well?" Genma eyed the paper as Sayo promptly folded it in half and placed a seal on it. She shoved the note into his vest pocket.
"Go to room 205 on the second floor. If she's not there yet, she will be shortly."
The light crept across the window sill and spilled over onto the floor in its conquest to reach the occupied hospital bed. The staunch curtains fluttered in the morning sunlight as a cool breeze settled itself into the room.
A young woman of sixteen sat beside the bed, her mass of long bubblegum pink tresses cascading onto the light blue hospital blanket. Her head rested on her arms as she slept bent over onto the bed for support.
The young man who occupied the bed could not have been much older than the girl. His own head rested on the mountain of pillows someone had built up for him. Strands of midnight black hair adorned the pillow and partially covered his smooth, handsome face.
The blankets covered only up to his mid torso area, leaving exposed the wrappings of fresh white medical bandages around his chest and left arm. His hand twitched slightly as a shiver raced through his body, brought on by the cool breeze. Slowly, the man let one eye squint open, and then the other.
The vision of the room swirled its way into place, and he rubbed and blinked the sleep away from his eyes. He tried to remember where he was and why, but the thoughts eluded him momentarily as he realized something was in contact with his bandaged hand. He peered down at his side and saw his hand was covered by someone else's; a feminine hand, small and petite in its own way. The arm of the woman disappeared beneath the pink hair splayed on the bed as recognition came to the man's face.
"Sakura."
The name slipped out from his opened mouth involuntarily, as if it was the only word he ever knew. The young woman stirred at the sound of her name; although she had been up for over twenty four hours and found the solace of sleep in the last one, she had slept lightly all the same.
Gradually, the pink haired head lifted up from its resting place, urged on to find the source of the sound. She recognized the voice. Even though it had been so long she still remembered the quiet yet deep timbre of his voice. He had called her name.
Sakura's emerald eyes slowly traced their way up from the pair of entwined hands; along the bandaged arm; past the exposed shoulder blade. There she stopped, afraid to look up into the eyes of the man in the bed, afraid of the excess of emotions or the lack thereof that might be displayed in those onyx eyes.
Another hand lifted Sakura's trembling chin until the faces were even. She still kept her line of sight down, fear keeping her from looking straight at him now.
"Sakura," the voice whispered calmly, "Look at me."
Bit by bit the bright green eyes found their way to his face. The smooth line of his lips, the comforting curve of his nose, and finally, the deep expanse of his shining black eyes.
"Sasuke-kun." Sakura tried the word out on her quivering voice. The name sounded so foreign now when it was spoken by her voice. She had thought the name over and over in her mind for the last three years, but out of fear of losing self control she had never uttered it once. She repeated the name again, but dropped the childish suffix of affection she had always attached to it.
"Sasuke."
Her emerald eyes pooled with the onslaught of tears that had long awaited the chance to flow freely. Try as she might, Sakura battled to hold them back and was failing miserably.
She blinked her eyes to relieve her blurred vision as she gazed at Sasuke. His nonchalant demeanor would have been perfect save the emotions that betrayed him in his own watery eyes. He brushed his own tears away with the back of his hand before repeating the motion on Sakura's dampened cheeks. He wiped his hand across the blanket, and then pulled himself to sit up. Sakura stood up from her chair; she wondered if he was really going to try to get up and leave.
"Sasuke you're not supposed to–" Sakura stopped as Sasuke grabbed her hand and gently pulled her to sit beside him on the bed. He paused a moment as he weighed the consequences of his actions. Sakura stared intensely at his wounds and then his face again.
"Look if you need something–" Sakura tried again. This time, the rest of her words fell silently to the ground. Everything happened so fast. First he looked away; then he gazed at her fiercely with his mind made up. He pulled her closer and closer until Sakura could feel the heat of Sasuke's body through her own blouse. He wrapped his good arm around her as he brought her into a tight embrace.
Slowly, as her body absorbed the shock of being held by the only boy she had ever loved, Sakura allowed her own arms to bring him closer to her. She took in a deep breath and buried her face into his neck. The scent of his body overwhelmed her as the tears welled up once again.
She held on tightly to the long lost boy who had finally come home to her.
The blaring sound of the telephone ringing brought Sakura out of her extended reverie. She glared accusingly at the device for its intrusion and then sighed in frustration. The memories always occurred at the most inconvenient times: when she found herself lonely in her bed at night or in the brief moments of peace and quiet she experienced in the seclusion of her office. No matter when or where, the memories would come flying out of nowhere to haunt the spaces of her mind and challenge her will.
After taking a second her calm her disheveled mind she picked up the mouth piece and spoke into it.
"Hello, this is Haruno Sakura." She paused for a response. "Oh, Sayo," she said, slightly worried by the distress of the voice on the other end. "I'm actually a little busy at the moment." After a moment she said, "Umm… fine. I'll be down in a few minutes." She checked through her clipboard charts before replying, "Put them in room 205 and tell them to wait for me."
Sakura hung up the phone and made a quick note by the number on her sheet. She glanced at her watch and swore under her breath. No wonder Sayo wanted to dump the patient off on her; the time was already nearing five o'clock. Sakura pulled her white lab coat off its hook and grabbed the clipboard before turning the lights off and heading out the door.
Okay, so if you're still reading, then you must have read this chapter. Any questions, comments, and helpful hints are always welcomed. Expect more updates throughout the week.
Temari