Sakura stepped out of the shower, grabbing on to the shower curtain when her wet feet began to slide in opposite directions on the wet linoleum floor. But the slick material slid from her finger tips, and she fell , slamming her hips and back off the the shower and the cabinet under the sink.

At least , that was was what she Tsunade-shishou. Tsunade was livid when she saw the bruises, and Sakura's jarring limp.

"Sakura, you need to get rid of that piece of shit, I am telling you! " said Tsunade frowning deeply. " This is the second time this month!"

Only because I was able to hide the the other ones with concealer before I got to work. Goddamit... Why did I have to be running late this morning? " I know!" whispered Sakura meekly. " But he said- he promised he'd never do it again! And I love him, at least when he isn't drunk. But," she paused to dry her eyes with the back of her fingers, " he's been drinking more and more lately. "

Tsunade sighed heavily, and then dismissed Sakura. Sakura dried her tears and put on her " just fine" smile. The smile that she had manufactured and perfected as a mere child. The red puffiness was gone from her eyes, and cheeks seemed to pull up into a natural smile. To the untrained eye she looked fine, Just fine.

" Okay, you're all set !" said Sakura smiling brightly. Helping patients was what made even remotely happy. Her job was her escape.

" Thank you! " said the twitching old lady. She had fallen down the steps when she slipped on a file that Sakura had dropped when another doctor bumped into her in the stairwell. Sakura had given her some pain medication for her head, and then healed all the cuts and contusions.

" Miss Haruno, " quipped an elderly woman who found herself to be better than those who worked on the top floor. " Tsunade- sama has paperwork for you to fill out. "

"What!? Forms again?" exclaimed Sakura, her tone aggravated.

"Yes, again. " Said the little old lady before thrusting the forms at her. Sakura grabbed the forms before she could drop anymore, and made the hard journey to the lounge. She was carrying nearly twenty pounds of paper work, and they threatened to spill at any second .

She worked on the top floor, where the "newbies" were almost always assigned. If they were short on a floor, and the "newbie" had just finished medical school with an exemplary record, and grade sheet, they might be appointed to the fourth floor. Sakura worked on the first floor with the less ill patients who had the minorities of the medical illnesses or defects that just qualified people for admission to Konoha's Medical Institution for the Mentally Unsound.

You worked you're way down from the fifth floor. Ninety eight percent of all doctors who worked at the Institute had to work a minimum of ten years to get down there to the underground floor. There were only eighteen known people in the history of Konoha to have gone to the one of the two U-Levels in under five years, and only one to make it in under a year. And her name was Tsunade.

Sakura stood up and cracked her back and knuckles. She had worked late , and almost all of the other doctor's had left. She had worked all day , almost missing lunch. She had ended up being the last one in line for lunch. The food wasn't that good in the first place, and not to mention the fact that she had to eat the previous day's leftover "Meatloaf Surprise".

She separated the finished and unfinished paper work into two separate piles, hoping to take as much time as possible.

She walked down the stairs slowly, one at a time- her hips still ached something terrible. Sakura stopped when she got to the lobby. He was there waiting for her. Sasuke smiled when he saw her, that hellish smile she had once found quirky and unique and somehow charming. She was now terrified of him the moment it crossed his features. It was a sign that he had been out drinking with his work buddies. And not just wine, hard liquor.

"Hello, honey!" he said smiling a sloppy fiendish smile. " Could I have a word with you?"

Sakura gulped, and before she could protest, and say no, that yes she did in fact mind, his large hand circled around her upper arm much like a vice and pulled her along. He had half dragged, half-lead her to the other room where he aimed to talk at her, but when he heard the conversation that the receptionist was having with her boyfriend on the phone he moved forward again. He pulled her further down the hall, and yanked open the stairwell door. Sasuke clattered down the stairs, tugging her along after him.

"Sasuke!" she whispered nervously. "We can't be down here! " her voice was laced with the fear she usually kept tightly coiled in the pit of her stomach.

"Sakura, there is nothing I can't do. " snarled Sasuke kissing her almost angrily on the cheek. He stared into her eyes for a moment- and her insides felt as though they were wilting. She could still see the love they shared shining in his eyes, but they seemed to be fogged over and hazy with something else. It wasn't lust- that was for damn sure. He seemed to be... sad. Or at least a combination of sad and furious.

" I got a new job honey!" laughed Sasuke.

" What?" asked Sakura. " You have a job! At the hospital! What's - did you get fired ?--"

" I did not get FIRED!" yelled Sasuke , interrupting before throwing her against the wall. " And besides, I was missing you. I never get to see you anymore! You work all the time! So I got a new job. Here, so we'll always be together!" Sakura looked horrified, but she tried to manage a small smile. It look more like a grimace, but she was hoping Sasuke wouldn't notice in his drunken person inside the little cell shouted and began to pound loudly on the wall.

But, he did notice, to her dismay. His eyes were riddled with hurt and shock, and then his anger at her causing him such pain flooded in, drowning out any thoughts of stopping from his mind.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I give you wonderful news and you practically spit in my face!" roared Sasuke, taking a probably drunken swing at her head. He deliberately missed her head, and slammed his fist into the wall, earning a loud howl from the inhabitant of said cell.A sob rung itself from his long neck, and he took a shuddering breath. "Don't you love me!? Tell me you love me!" He swung again, this time like he meant it.

Sakura let out an inaudible stream of curses when he connected with her head, and that was when her instincts kicked in. She kneed him in the the groin, and then took off down the hall, her heels clacking on the steel floor.

She was rounding the corner when the heal on her right pump snapped off, and she was sent sprawling to the ground. She yanked off her right heel, and was tugging off the other one when Sasuke came around the corner. She threw it and watched almost shocked as it smacked him square in between the eyes by the sharp heel of the shoe. She ran, only barely noticing the fact the that floors were freezing, the cold metal stinging her feet as they pounded across it.

" Come back here! I jusssst wanna talk with yoou!" slurred Sasuke loudly with that odd calm. She knew she was going to get the beating of her life if she didn't get a miracle sent by Kami himself.

The loud noises were freaking out the patients, who were so accustomed to the silence of the place where everyone talked in whispered soft sounds. They banged their hands and kicked their feet against the walls of the metal cells, shouting and screaming, some even sobbing. Some of them began a crazy, almost satanic sounding chant, and the noise filled Sakura's ears.

This was the second U-Level floor, where the murderous psychos went. The first was the one for those who were of bodily harm to others when they were scared. These were the people who killed because it was fun to them , and because they thought they were out to get them. Killing came natural to these people , it was second nature. As easy as breathing.

Tsunade excused her self from the young man huddling in the corner . She had just stopped by for her daily inspection. The people on this floor had a tendency to find ways to make weapons out of anything. One had even got so far as to remove the flesh from his finger tips to sharpen the bone beneath, making human claws. These sorts of things used to surprise her .But nearly thirty years down the road not much baffled her. She didn't look like she was in her fifties- in fact, she looked as she did when she first got the job. Thin and slender, full chested, and just curvy enough . Not to mention the fact that her firm cheeks,the icy stern eyes, and blonde hair helped a lot.

She shut the door behind, silently. Whoever was making such a racket would be in a lot of trouble when she found them. Tsunade hoped that when she got in close enough proximity she would not find that there were two patients fighting. However, if the situation did arise, she would kick both their asses and then send them back to their cells. It had been known to happen down here.

But it indeed was not what she had expected. Sasuke had a firm hand on the back of Sakura's neck and he was trying to force her to open the door to one of the obviously worst patients cells. But lucky for her, she didn't know the key combination. Or rather unluckily. He appeared to be squeezing harder and harder as she insisted that she didn't know it.

Sakura's hands were clenched around Sasuke's wrists, squeezing. The red headed young man behind the two inch thick steel door, and bullet proof window was consumed by a look of complete and utter blood thirst. His eyes widened in shock and glee when with a crunch the bones in Sasuke's grip were crushed into pieces by the raw strength unknown to Sakura. Sakura glanced up for a second , as if mystified by his face. The young man froze, no one looked him in the face. There was only one person allowed to do that. And this little pink haired woman would surely die at the hands of this big man.

Suddenly the man was gone, sailing through the air headed for the solid steel and it was then that he realized Tsunade had punched the man in the side of the face, and that he was in fact not flying. He couldn't here what she was saying, but he could read lips. Sakura nodded that she indeed was okay, and then she turned back to look at him , but he moved too quickly to allow her to see him again. He'd tear her limb from limb when he got the chance, but not today. Not while Tsunade was watching...

He waited for her to look back to Tsunade who was seriously whaling on the guy, before he let himself see for himself.

A couple minutes and a lot of bloody punches later, Tsunade watched smugly as Sasuke limped toward the steps having injured it when he was so haphazardly thrown against the solid wall.

"That's right coward! Run!" she said her voice ringing with triumph, and tinted with disdain. " Asshole..."

"Oh my God!" breathed Sakura. She leaned against the door, not noticing as its occupant jumped back. She slid to the ground, and cradled her head in her hands. " What am I gunna do? " She whimpered, and started to cry. " He's going to twist this all around! Shit, I have no home! He has all my stuff, and- and- he's going to freikin' work here! " exclaimed Sakura.

"Not if I can help it!" Said Tsunade firmly, helping her up off the ground. " And you , my dear, are going to stay with me, and we are going to get this all sorted out, key?"

"Ok," said Sakura letting out a held breath. "But what about them? " she asked indicating clearly to the rampant U-Level residents. Although, she had to admit the cell behind her was remarkably quiet, she was just wondering if she had even seen the face in there. She leans forward to investigate, and Tsunade takes a sharp intake of breath. Sakura freezes, and then jumps back when that face appears suddenly and without warning.

She smiled and unconvincing smile, and then stood up straightly. She and Tsunade spent the next hour getting the residents in check, and quieting them down. Tsunade was impressde. sure the girl was nervous, but she was relatively calm considering what had happened. And the fact that she was working with patients on the worst U-Level.

Sakura and Tsunade both got in the car, and both neglected to fasten their seat belts. Minutes later, Sakura had fallen asleep, her head lolling off to the right against the window of the passenger's seat. Tsunade looked over at her, at the woman who had somehow managed to fall asleep mid-sentence, hell she had the audacity to fall asleep mid-word. Tsunade rolled her eyes. With the proper training she would be just fine. As long as she was around to watch her back , she would be just fine. And she didn't intend to leave soon.

WOHOO! I hope you liked it. I officially promised a GaaSaku story to my Love In Death viewers, readers. I think i did anyway. But it has been floating around in there for a day or two so I though I would give it a shot. This was aspired by Affliction. If you are interested in reading her version, look in my favorites. I really hope you enjoyed it!