Summary: A request from Sakura for Sasuke to teach her the chidori opens up a whole bigger bag of worms than she was expecting.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be (*more) Uchiha babies by now.

Prompt: Headcanon where Sakura learns chidori from Sasuke in order to use it on the field as a defibrillator (by sakurackerman)

Words: 2,060

Rating: T

Warning(s): Mentions of war, death, and some foul language

Crimson rivulets ran from her fingers into the clear water in which she bathed them. The once-pristine liquid turned pink and then a darker maroon as she continued to wash. Tainted. Just like everything else. While the thought crossed her mind, it didn't paralyze her like it used to, and she wondered if she should worry-if she was finally too far gone.

The loose blood removed, she scrubbed angrily at the stubborn, half-congealed chunks located beneath her nails, between her fingers, and wedged in the crease of her elbow. They clung stubbornly, and it took several passes with the rag temporarily replacing her loofa to completely remove them from her skin.

Finally freed, Sakura felt no satisfaction as she watched the remnants of her patient spiral down the shower drain. One more patient lost. One more casualty of the war.

Growling angrily, Sakura massaged her new Byakugo no In seal. This was getting ridiculous. She was losing patients to heart attacks right and left, and she had no idea what to do. With a sigh, Sakura rested her head on the cool tile of the shower while the scalding water pounded over her fatigued body. She needed to think.

It's not that she didn't know how to treat heart attack patients, it was that they didn't have enough medics or chakra to keep using their current methods. Generally, medics would stimulate a patient's heart with gentle waves of chakra into a more regular rhythm. After being exposed to so many different types of chakra during the war, however, responses to foreign chakra deep within their system were violent-so violent that often the severity of the attack was increased.

Then there was the problem that the medics simply didn't have the energy or focus to keep up such labor intensive methods. It took dedication and focus to mold the waves into the right type of shape and gently work a patient down from an attack.

Most medics at this point were walking zombies; her stubbornness was the only thing keeping her from recognizing the deep purple bags under her own eyes, and the patients succumbing to heart failure was breaking records. She'd been running from building to building, performing the same demanding procedure all her medics had been too tired to achieve.

And even she only had a 75% success rate at this point.

When the water's temperature spiked a little too low for her comfort, Sakura jerked back from the wall and hurriedly ran her hands through her hair. If her half-hearted methods failed to remove all the blood, sweat, and grime, Sakura couldn't bring herself to care; it'd be the same in a matter of hours.

-x-

Sakura wasn't sure who was more surprised when she knocked on Sasuke's makeshift door as the sun rose the next morning. In all her excitement with her idea the night before, she almost charged over immediately. Remembering Sasuke's fondness for being woken up (read: not at all), however, she decided her-and her patients'-success rate would be infinitely higher if she tried in the morning.

The door swung open to reveal a shirtless Sasuke. With her mind focused on the favor she was about to ask, she was able to block out the sight of his toned abdomen. Desensitization may have and a hand in it as well, she supposed, because lord knows that last shirt he wore did nothing to cover his chest.

Deciding not to tempt fate, Sakura opted to stare beyond Sasuke instead of at him. Behind him, she could see that his bed was made, so chances were he'd been up for a while. Naruto, on the other hand, still occupied the bed next to Sasuke's, but he was beginning to move slowly. As Naruto rolled over in his bed, he blinked slowly at the light and figure now invading the dark space.

"Sakura? Whatcha do-o-o-o-ing here?" Naruto asked in between large yawns, matching the sentiment behind Sasuke's raised eyebrows with his words, "It's-s-s so ear-r-rly."

"I need your help."

Naruto paused and blinked once before grinning widely, "Sure thing, Sakura-chan, what can I-"

"No, Naruto, I need Sasuke's help," she clarified, daring to look at the man who had shattered her hopes so many times before.

Sasuke, whose gaze had been wandering until he heard his name, looked at Sakura blankly. It fell quite a bit short of encouraging, but, by Sasuke standards, it definitely wasn't a no, so Sakura decided to to forge ahead with the remnants of her courage.

"I need you to teach me the chidori," Sakura said, hands fisted tightly by her sides.

The air thickened exponentially in the silence that fell after the statement. Green eyes met obsidian as she waited for a response.

"No."

The slammed door only added emphasis to her rejection.

Shock and disappointment descended upon Sakura as she contemplated the shut door in front of her. It had been a long shot, placing her hopes in the man who had shown no hesitation in discarding her before, but she had still hoped that maybe something had changed. Maybe he still regarded her at least as an old teammate-acquaintance even.

Just as the hurt began to overwhelm her, a new emotion took hold, and it wasn't one she was used to feeling towards the Uchiha: anger.

Fine. He didn't care about her anymore, and that hurt; she would deal with that later. But this wasn't about her, it was about the soldiers she and her team were fighting tooth and nail to protect. How dare he disregard the lives she stood for; the torn bodies that had stood between him and the lesser enemies as he took on and Madara and later Kaguya. These were people with families and lives and damn him for thinking he could just brush that all aside.

The door splintered under contact with her fist before Sakura's brain had even processed what she had done. Ignoring the blood that trickled from her knuckles because she wasn't wearing her gloves, she brushed past the shattered wood chunks and stood defiantly in the center of the room. Briefly, she registered Naruto's open mouth and realized that Naruto had probably been standing up for her-again-before she launched into a tirade.

"Fuck you for not letting me finish, Uchiha," she spat, arms crossed tightly across her chest, "I need you to teach me the chidori for medical purposes. People are dying."

"I thought that's what medical jutsu was for," he turned from Naruto to face her, a sneer firmly in place, "or couldn't you master Tsunade's techniques before she went comatose?"

Sakura's fists clenched and she longed for nothing more than to pound this proud boy into the ground, "Of course I have! You aren't the only one who surpassed his mentor, Sasuke. But it isn't enough! We've never faced so many patients who were liable to have, and are having, heart attacks! The techniques are wearing all my medics ragged, and they won't last much longer. At home we would have defibrillators on hand, but most the supplies were destroyed and it'll take too long to send for them."

"So you want me to take time to teach you a Uchiha technique so you can go play doctor?" Sasuke's voice was unforgiving, mocking, without having the decency to laugh, "Who says you'll even be able to do anything?"

Sakura took a step back, feeling like she'd been slapped. There it was again, the insinuation that she was useless. Even Naruto, who was usually so quick to defend her, just looked admonishingly at Sasuke. They might never hesitate to protect her, but they had both always thought she was incompetent, hadn't they? The little girl they had to step in front of?

Fury coursed through her once again, and in three short strides she was chest to chest with Sasuke. His height advantage forced her to look up to him as she glared, but she glared for all she was worth.

"I'll be able to do something because I'm the best fucking medic there is," she snarled through clenched teeth as she stood up on her tiptoes, and jabbed an accusing finger into his chest. She took a second to enjoy the feeling of his rib fracturing under her touch before continuing on, "And don't give me this 'Uchiha technique' shit. Kakashi taught it to you."

It would be a lie if Sakura said she wasn't slightly vindicated by Sasuke's suddenly more defensive stance. He obviously had not anticipated her poking him, and was not prepared for the force she carried behind one finger. His nostrils flared, but whether it was from anger from their conversation or her attack, Sakura couldn't tell. His eyes flashed red briefly, but Sakura did not back down.

Finally Sasuke spoke. It was so low, she wasn't sure if Naruto could even hear it, but the venom behind each word was palpable, "If it's not a Uchiha technique, why are you wasting my time? Go ask Kakashi."

A frustrated growl erupted from Sakura's throat, "Because he wouldn't push me as hard as you would, Sasuke, and I don't have time to waste, unlike you! Boohoo. I have to rest up in the nicest 'tent' with Naruto, woe is me."

Sasuke's eyes flashed once more, but Sakura ignored it.

"I have had enough of your self-pitying crap, Sasuke. I get it, you were lied to and manipulated, and betrayed, and your whole family is dead," she said, "but you know what? You betrayed us too, and we have only tried to help you. It's not like it was easy, because you've successfully pissed just about every nation off, but this isn't about Naruto, Konoha, or even me. This is about the people who are dying from this war, and it's about time you step up and shoulder some fucking responsibility."

Sasuke all but snarled and took a menacing step forward, "I've shouldered the responsibility of my family's murd-!"

"This isn't about your little quest for revenge, Sasuke!" Sakura screamed, throwing a chakra infused punch his way. Readied for violence by her earlier attack, Sasuke easily caught her fist and threw her past him. Vaguely, Sakura was aware of Naruto chirping protests ("Woah, guys, no fighting" and "Sasuke, Sakura, what the fuck."), but her mind was mostly consumed with beating her old teammate into a pile of mush. Instead of being thrown off balance, Sakura had used the momentum of his throw to spin around and channel into her next punch.

Once again, her punch was caught, but this time it was Naruto holding her back. He had stepped in between them, one hand warningly on Sasuke's chest and one hand clasped tightly about her wrist. The role reversal would have struck her as funny had Sakura not been so enraged.

"Woah! Guys! Chill!" Naruto squawked, looking between Sakura and Sasuke, alarm shining in his overly-expressive cerulean eyes.

Deadly intent spiked through both Sasuke and Sakura's chakra signatures, and ill-intent flooded the tent, making it slightly harder to , Sasuke's chakra was more impressive, but Sakura's held all the rage of a protective mother bear-she had more at stake in this battle.

"Guys," Naruto's voice had a firm edge to it, and he shook each of them respectively to shake them out of their face-off.

Shooting one last incensed stare his way, Sakura jerked her fist back from Naruto and spun away from her teammates-no, from the boy she thought was her teammate. From the the boy she had counted on. From the boy she loved.

"Fine, I'll figure it out on my own. I'm used to it by now anyway," Sakura shot over her shoulder, pausing in the destroyed doorway. Her stance was tense, rigid and braced, as if expecting an attack, but her eyes swam with unshed emotion, "It's not like I was really expecting any help from my old team."

With that, she stalked out the door. Naruto sighed and shot an exasperated look at his best friend before disappearing after Sakura, calling after her in her furiously betrayed wake.

"Sakura-chan, hey Sakura-chan! Oh come on, you know Teme's a dick, he'll come around…"

Meanwhile, neither got to see the quick flicker of uncertainty that flashed upon the last Uchiha's face.

*dodges flying objects*

I know, I know I should be posting the next chapter of Poison (edit: it's finished now, go check it out). Honestly, I've been kinda stuck on the latest chapter and just trying to enjoy my last summer before life starts. BUT, if you follow me on tumblr, you know that this story isn't completely new. It IS, however, closer to being finished, and I have about 6 chapters of it written. (edit: this was a total lie. I had 4 chapters, and I wanted to trick myself into writing the rest of the next two chapters before the month was up. As you all know now, 2 years later, that didn't happen. Sorry again)

SO! I thought I would give you all 6 weeks of GUARANTEED chapters. Every Friday by 7 MST I will post a chapter (you got it one day early this time). Hopefully this will give me enough time to kick my plot bunnies back into action, and you'll have an actually finished story from me soon!

Sound good? Yes?

No?

Well, tell me anyway. Sorry for both this and the long author's note, but I figured you all deserved an explanation.

...

*edited: 2018/01/21