The Weakened Crutch

Chapter Three

Naruto walked down to the clinic, not entirely sure he wanted to meet whatever was there waiting for him. He felt as though something had been taken from him, like his position was special because he was the only one. Only it wasn’t special, because there was no position because Sabaku-sensei was never around.
“Uzumaki,” a voice called out over the heads of the patients milling around the waiting area for an open exam room. The voice could only belong to old lady Tsunade, and sure enough, there she was; towering over an excited and exuberant looking young woman with strawberry-blond hair and a rather high forehead.
“Uzumaki, where is Sabaku?” Tsunade sounded annoyed, but then she usually was where Naruto’s boss was concerned. The wrinkle in between her eyebrows only further backed Naruto’s mental claim.
“I don’t know, ma’am.” Naruto lied on short order. “I was just looking over a few possible patient files like he asked me to earlier. I haven’t seen him since he came for his coffee. Perhaps you should ask Hyuuga-sensei.”
Naruto forced himself to breathe normally. As long as no one could prove that he had been informed of his boss’s whereabouts and that there were no possible cases being reviewed, he was in the clear.
“Fine, whatever. Tell him when you see him I want him in the clinic. He’s falling behind in his workload. Tell him I can have him fired if he doesn’t start doing his job, ten-year or no.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Naruto as placatingly as possible, considering the woman was two inches from going on the war path.
“So, I take it you’re not the doctor I’ll be working under?” asked the girl when Tsunade had finally stalked off back to her office.
“Sorry to disappoint you, uh…”
“Haruno Sakura,” she said holding out her hand.
“Best to forget your first name here and now. I’m Uzumaki.”

Haruno was lying down on the leather couch in the far corner of Sabaku’s office while Naruto did crosswords and stared at the ceiling.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was little,” she said breaking the silence with a familiar ease. “Working here at Magic Bus is such an honor.”
“It certainly is that,” Naruto agreed, pencil stuck in his teeth.
“So, when do I get to meet our employer?”
Naruto blinked and put his crossword down. Then he began to laugh.
“I’m sorry, Haruno. I don’t mean to laugh at you, but what I said to Tsunade was not entirely untrue. I never see Sabaku except if he’s in here getting his coffee. He’s usually off watching television in the delivery ward or hanging out in oncology.”
The smile on her face faltered somewhat. “Oh, I see.”
Naruto turned back to his crossword and tried to make the best of it.

Doctor Gaara Sabaku, a rather menacing looking man, despite his rather unassuming height. With his pale, unblinking eyes he was, in Sakura’s opinion, nothing less than actually frightening.
Uzumaki, it seemed, had long since gotten used to the fact that his boss was more than a little creepy. Just the same, the blond man jumped up and whipped the crossword behind his back when their boss burst through the door, scowling and menacing and really, just being his usual self.
He marched past both of them, not saying anything, not even making eye contact and poured himself a cup of coffee. He took the cup in hands, as if gathering warmth from it and breathed in deep. Then he opened his eyes, which immediately settled on Uzumaki with frightening accuracy.
Uzumaki, to his credit, did not whimper.
“It wasn’t you that told the old lady I was on the roof, was it?”
“I didn’t know you were on the roof,” Uzumaki replied, his voice a bit weaker than usual in the face of Sabaku’s growling. “I told Tsunade you were working, actually.”
“That was good of you. Go down to the clinic and pretend you’re me, would you?” it was, of course, not a question. “As for you,” he said now turning to Sakura as Uzumaki scurried out of the room, relieved to have escaped with his life. Sakura gulped. “Who are you?”
And nearly fainted with relief.
“Haruno Sakura, sir.” She reported as brightly as possible. “I was told I would be interning for you.”
“Oh. Well, in that case, I suppose you had better start replying to my mail for me, or something useful. Do you make good coffee?”
“I don’t know, sir. I’ve never made coffee.”
“Well, I suggest you learn.”
And that, it seemed, was that. Gaara grabbed his coffee cup and marched back out of the room and in the direction of Dr. Hyuuga’s office.
Sakura found herself wincing out of pity for the man who had apparently sold her mentor out to their boss.

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Lola Note: has anyone noticed that nothing is happening in this story? My god, I’m ashamed of myself. -.-;