Title: Poison Brings Out the Best in Me

Summary: When Sakura is poisoned far out of the reach of any help, Sasuke is forced to question what he holds dearest to him.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be baby Uchihas running around.

Rating: T

Words: 2,745

Warning(s): Language

Author's Note(s): Prepare for a multitude of Protective!Sasuke. Eventually M (*waggles eyebrows*) but not yet.

Glowing green chakra hovered over Sasuke's arm, focusing on a particularly bad tear in his bicep. It was his only wound that had required healing; all others were superficial enough get cleaned and bound. Not that Sakura couldn't have or didn't want to heal them, but they all agreed it was best to reserve chakra for the long journey ahead of them. Besides, Sasuke was tough, and Naruto healed quickly (with his never-ending supply of Kyubbi chakra), so only serious wounds and ones impeding traveling were tended to.

As the skin reattached itself under Sakura's steady hands, Sasuke felt the tension slowly leak out of his shoulders. While the wound wasn't necessarily life-threatening, the amount of muscle that had been torn through by the jagged sword made it extremely painful.

Which is more than he could say for the rogue nin who had attacked them. Really, expecting four shinobi, jonin or not, to eliminate the three heroes of Konohagakure was laughable. The troubling part of the attack wasn't the numbers in which it was received, but the mere existence of one.

Technically, this was a mission. Sakura, Naruto, and he had been nominated—because they hand pretty much ended the war single-handedly, and as such they were being masqueraded around as war heroes—to accept a diplomatic mission to Kirigakure aimed to establish a political alliance between the two nations. This in itself was a big deal due to the fact that Kirigakure had remained firmly uninvolved in political affairs since anyone could remember. Thankfully, it was mostly a formality, as forced sessions of diplomatic negotiations were far from his idea of even a decent time.

Still, the trio had set out to Konoha with a scroll containing highly classified medical information as a show of good will. During the ceremony, three of Kiri's elders droned on for ages—Sakura had poked Naruto and him several times to keep them awake—about the traditions and prestige the two nations possessed, and what a glorious day—it had been raining—it was to see them united. In exchange for their scroll, Team 7 received—with much bowing and sake drinking and hand-shaking—a scroll detailing a technique the Mizukage believed Tsunade would find helpful.

Point being, for once in their ninja career, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had not stolen a scroll. No one had died. No villages were leveled. No heart swaying speeches were delivered to enemies.

And still they had been attacked.

"Well, there we go!" Sakura clapped her hands together, "I think we're ready to move out."

"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping down from the tree branch he had been resting on, "I almost checked our packs again I was so bored."

Rolling his eyes at the exuberant blonde, Sasuke stood up and rolled his shoulder experimentally. Noting nothing wrong, he continued to flex his muscles—all under a pair of critical viridian eyes. She didn't have to speak for him to recognize the question behind her quirked eyebrow.

"All good," he responded, grabbing his pack from Naruto, "Thanks."

As always, the responding smile was immediate and warm. "No problem, Sasuke," she waved him off with one hand and grabbed her pack with the other, "It's my job."

Despite the nonchalant words, Sakura's cheeks were dusted with a light pink that caught Sasuke off guard. It had been a long time since she had shown anything more than comradeship towards him, and polite responses generally didn't get this reaction from her. Perturbed, Sasuke chose to look at a particularly shiny rock instead of his teammate. He had a mission to focus on.

"Hn."

He refused to acknowledge the heat that was rising in his cheeks.

"I'll keep the scroll in my pack," Sakura offered, "Standard formation, no breaks until dusk?"

Since her tone of voice betrayed nothing but professionalism, he decided it was safe enough to look back. Sure enough, while her cheeks were still pink, her eyes were focused. He met her eyes and nodded once before springing into the trees as point. Two clunks of heels against trees and an enthusiastic whoop from Naruto assured him they were close behind.

It had taken a year, but they were a team again, and for once, Sasuke wasn't ashamed to admit he was content.

_x_

The contentedness Sasuke had felt earlier had all but vanished. Determined silence had lasted about two hours before Naruto had gotten bored, and had taken to sharing whatever was on his mind. This mostly consisted of him babbling on about Hinata and where the dobe should take her on their next date.

"So why can't I just take Hinata to Ichiraku's again?"

"Because, dobe, not everyone lives, breathes, and eats ramen," Sasuke snapped back despite his determination to remain uninvolved.

"Yeah!" Sakura puffed, "Ramen's not"—huff— "romantic, and you should"—huff— "do something special for her."

This was the second cause of his irritation. Despite resisting breaks, they were making poor time back to the village with an invaluable document under their care—which some unknown ninja had the gall to try and steal only six months after the end of the Great Shinobi War. Part of Sasuke—okay, most of him—chaffed to stop and see exactly who dared challenge them, but direct mission orders and an increased sense of protectiveness about the mysterious technique sealed inside the scroll urged him onwards at full-speed.

Which we are not anywhere close to achieving, Sasuke frowned, clenching his teeth in annoyance. The lack-luster pace was due to Sakura, who seemed to be getting progressively slower as time went on. At first he thought she was just daydreaming, but now she was honestly struggling to keep up.

"Woah! Watch out Sakura-chan!"

Whipping around, Sasuke watched Sakura grab onto a branch with two hands and use her falling momentum to carry herself upwards and recover her fall. After landing securely on the next branch, Sakura met his eyes. Apparently, his annoyance was unappreciated, because she immediately went on the defensive.

"Don't glare at me like that, Uchiha. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going," she responded, scowling, "It's not like you're above making a mistake."

Her pointed glance at his newly healed bicep did nothing to calm him. Instead, the annoyance that had been building all afternoon burst.

"Maybe I would be more understanding of mistakes if you weren't slacking off," the cold tone in his voice betrayed the depth of his annoyance.

He heard Naruto suck in a sharp breath. Although she had improved greatly, and proved herself as a powerful kunoichi in her own right, Sakura was always sensitive to comments insinuating she was weak. Derogatory comments coming from him were exceptionally troubling. Sasuke had drawn this conclusion over time from the worried glances she consistently received from any and all comrades who witnessed an exchange.

Green eyes narrowed into slits, "Well, excuse me for not having unlimited chakra, Sir-Child-Progeny. Some of us have to control the chakra we throw around."

Sasuke saw Naruto glancing between them as if it was a tennis match. Obviously uncomfortable with the killing intent emitting from the two of them, he stepped in between them, flapping his hands in a way that was intended to calm them.

"Sasuke, maybe you're just setting too fast of a pace. She can usually keep up with us," Naruto reasoned, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "Why don't you let me take point for a bit?"

"The reason I generally set pace is because you run Sakura into the ground, idiot."

"Oh, well that's sooo Uchiha. Never gonna give up control, huh? Compensating for all the 'uke' jokes?" Sakura smirked. The muscles in his back clenched in time with his jaw muscles, and his nostrils flared in surprise; he had not anticipated this form of attack. Her eyes were mocking as she took in both he and Naruto's shocked expressions.

"I'll take point. Triangle formation." She leapt a couple paces ahead before looking back, "Try to keep up."

Still seething, Sasuke jumped after her without glancing at their third flabbergasted teammate. If she was going to be a brat about it, he was going to be sure she felt him on her heels.

_x_

Sasuke had to give it to her. For all her big talk, Sakura could walk the walk. After their argument, Sakura had set a pace deliberately two notches ahead of his pace, and was holding steady two hours later. For the first hour, he was mostly annoyed with this development.

If she could move this quickly why couldn't she just keep up with his pace?

When Sakura stumbled again a couple minutes into the second hour of their grueling speed, Sasuke was instantly attentive. She recovered quickly, and didn't look back, so Sasuke watched her more carefully, but allowed her to keep setting the pace. After the second and third stumble, worry started to replace his annoyance.

"Are you watching Sakura?" Naruto asked, his voice quiet enough that only Sasuke would hear.

He nodded quickly, eyes not leaving their stubborn teammate. She wasn't just being annoying, something was amiss. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke was able to see the miniscule tremors that were running throughout her body. The long shuddering breaths she was struggling to keep quiet were now visible as well.

Without consciously processing it, Sasuke found himself by Sakura's side

"What's wrong."

Although the words were a question, they came out more as a demand. For a second, Sasuke was sure the kunoichi was about to roll her eyes or press forward once again. Then, the hard set to her eyes faded.

"I don't know, Sasuke," she said, her voice hoarse, "something's wrong with my chakra. It's not responding like it should be."

"Your chakra supply is near full." It was part of the reason he thought she was slacking off, her chakra signal had blazed strong this whole time.

She nodded, "I know, but it's like-"

Sakura's sentence was cut off as her foot slipped on the branch once again. Sasuke's arm shot out and steadied her, ceasing their forward movement as well, and ushered her towards the trunk of the tree. Sakura gratefully wrapped her arms around the trunk, shivers wracking her small frame.

"What's going on? What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, crouching on the branch above them.

"I think-I think I've been poisoned," Sakura rasped, now resting her head against the trunk.

Poisoned?

"What?! How?!"

"When that nin scratched me with his shuriken," Sakura explained, pushing away from the tree and hiking up her shorts to examine the cut on her thigh, "But I've never encountered a poison like this."

"What do you need?" Despite the fact that his heart rate had sped up furiously, Sasuke was determined to keep his head clear. If she was poisoned, he had to face the fact that Sakura might not be conscious much longer, and his understanding of poisons was limited.

"Um...a safe place, blood replenishing pills, hot water, sterile knife, fire," she counted on her fingers. Sasuke was dismayed to note that her eyes were starting to glaze over, "towels, activated charcoal…"

Without warning, Sakura's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed in a dead faint.

"Fuck!" Sasuke swore, swooping Sakura's limp form into his arms. Her head lolled to one side, making her appear disturbingly dead. A stone settled deep in his gut, and all common sense flew out the window as he processed Sakura's still chest. There wasn't a reason that he shook her, he knew that she was unconscious, but for some reason he tried, "Sakura! Dammit, stay with us! Sakura!"

Is she going to die? Sasuke's mind reeled in uncharacteristic panic, Sakura's weight feeling much heavier than natural in his arms. He knew next to nothing about poison, and Naruto was sure to know even less. Moments before he had been full of false bravado, sure he they could manage the situation with a little direction from Sakura.

Now that Sakura was unresponsive, the gravity of the situation began to sink in. How long did she have? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? How were he and Naruto supposed to save her? How could they protect her from an enemy they couldn't see? Could they even—could they honestly expect to save her?

Sense returned to him about the same time Naruto moved to hover over their teammate's sweating form. The light red of her usual kunoichi attire had turned dark in the short span of time since she had stopped running, and even in her unconscious state, Sakura's forehead was wrinkled in pain.

"She doesn't smell right, Sasuke"—the dusty orange highlights around his eyes announced he had entered Sage mode—"There's this stench that starts in her thigh, and it stops at the bottom of her stomach." Naruto looked grim, and inhaled deeply once more before wrinkling his nose in distaste, "And it's spreading."

Sasuke forced his hysteria to the back of his mind; this was no time for him to break down, he had to act like the team leader he was. But what the hell was he supposed to do in this situation? Sakura was the medic, not him!

"Is there any shelter nearby?" Sasuke demanded, finally sorting through his thoughts. The first thing Sakura had listed was a "safe place", so he assumed she knew they would never make it to Konoha in time. This wasn't particularly obscure, since they were about a week's travel from Konoha, but still. It was a place to start.

Without hesitation Naruto leaned away from his teammate, sniffing the air and spinning as if following some aroma. A breeze stirred the forest leaves, and Naruto rose on his tiptoes, catching the scent and turning towards it.

"This way," Naruto declared, turning back to look at Sasuke over his shoulder, "There seems to be an old wood hut, no one's been in it in years, though."

"Lead," Sasuke demanded, positioning Sakura in his arms so that his running wouldn't jar her. He had no idea what would aggravate her or this poison, and probably being jostled was the least or her concerns, but it didn't hurt to be safe.

Old friends set off nearly side-by-side, Sasuke only just allowing Naruto to escort him. Trees flew by them at an accelerated pace, much faster than earlier. It was obvious that both Naruto and Sasuke were pushing themselves to move. Had he known where he was going, he would have used his teleportation to increase things a bit, but that was impossible with Naruto in the lead.

Sakura stirred in her sleep, and Sasuke's attention was immediately drawn back to her. She seemed to be breathing more regularly, but her body was anything but relaxed. In fact, her muscles were wired so intensely he could feel the tautness of her bicep from where it was pressed into his pectoral. Concern drew his eyebrows downward. Was she getting worse?

"Only fifteen more minutes," Naruto interrupted him, his blue eyes intently watching him when Sasuke looked up. At times like these, when it came down to the wire, Sasuke felt slapped in the face with how much Naruto really had matured. He had always been his best friend, his partner, his rival, and so it wasn't his reaction to emergencies that surprised him—they had always been on the same page about that. It was his emotional understanding.

Had they been twelve, Naruto would have been talking-yelling more like—nonstop. If he was feeling gracious, Sasuke could admit that a thirteen year old Naruto would have been slightly more under wraps, but not by much. Sixteen year old Naruto would have delivered heart-felt speeches, and while those were probably still lying under the surface, now he had enough sense to save those for special occasions.

Time had granted Naruto a sense of emotional maturity. No, he was not the best bet for an intellectual conversation, unless it was one on ethics, but he was dependable. Perceptive.

A little too perceptive, a small voice whispered in the back of Sasuke's head.

"Keep your eyes on the path, dobe," he snapped, suddenly not wanting Naruto's knowing eyes on him a second longer.

The sigh that answered him was exasperated, but Sasuke tried not to give it another thought. Just like he wasn't paying attention to all of the thoughts inspired by the unconscious teammate in his arms.

And there we have it! The beginning to my first multi-chapter Naruto fic! I really like this one actually, and I already have chapters 2 and 3 written. There are ways to get at them, but I'm holding them for ransom on this site. Two reviews please?