What Went Wrong For Us?

Chapter 9

Everything hit Sakura fast.

She was working in her office, writing a report about a patient's rare form of cancer, engrossed in said report when her phone rang. She nearly jumped out of the chair. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the phone. "Yes?"

"Doctor Uchiha, there's an incoming patient demanding to see you," said one of the receptionists.

"I'm busy," she said. "I'm working on a report right now." She looked back at the report. Genetic tests had shown the cancer to be rare, but treatable in itself, but it would take a considerable amount of chakra in order to treat it. She currently could not do it on her own, which she had tried to do, and it was difficult to operate on because of the tumor's location. However, she was eager to continue working on it. Other doctors might be able to assist in treatment options, but aside from the considerable amount of chakra needed to cure it mentioned earlier, she found that medium levels of chakra could turn it into a manageable disease until they found a way to fully treat it. But, as she'd discovered, it still took multiple doctors to keep up that chakra.

She leaned back in her chair, put her hands behind her head, looked up at the ceiling and sighed. She was still not even halfway through her shift, and she already felt fatigued. But she chuckled. She liked this fatigue. Even though it was long, and her legs ached, serving the people felt more rewarding than anything else she'd done. If only she wasn't so useless. And the head of medicine hadn't cut her hours.

He knew she was a war hero, yet he did it anyway. He knew that Naruto Uzumaki would be dead if it wasn't for her. And now she began to question her own uselessness—it had been bored into her not just by herself, but by people around her, both close and not very close, to the point that she started to believe it—when she heard the PA announcement.

"Doctor Uchiha, please report to the emergency, room, Doctor Uchiha to the emergency room"

"Cancel Doctor Uchiha," the chief of medicine's voice interjected.

She wrinkled her nose and scowled. If the chief of medicine didn't want her, then why did they call her? She picked up the phone and dialed a receptionist.

"Tell them I'm working on a report," she said.

"Doctor Uchiha, your daughter just ran in demanding to see you."

Motherly instincts kicked in. "Is she hurt?"

"A little bit, but just a few bruises. No, she's talking about—"

"MOM, GET DOWN HERE, NOW!" Sarada shouted. "The Hokage will be here any minute!"

"The Hokage!?" This sounded serious. "I'll be right down. You stay there!"

"Well, duh!"

"And don't talk back to me!" She hung up the phone, grabbed her doctor's coat and hurried out of her office.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The sudden flurry of activity forced her to speed-walk, not run, downstairs. The Hokage didn't show up that often, and when he did, this kind of commotion was common. She just had to maneuver correctly, and even found herself falling into some old kunoichi habits, like that stupid bent-over run. The logic behind it was that it was supposed to be faster than regular running. Honestly, she never questioned it as a kid, since she was so used to it, now things were different, and she could look at the past with a different lens. That lens would re-appear again later on, but right now, that was not her concern.

Out of habit and curiosity, she started speed-walking with that same ninja run. It actually was fast.

She was still feeling nonchalant when she got to the first floor, but that quickly changed. Down here, the activity was more intense and hurried. She wondered what was going on at first, but quickly got caught up in the hubbub. Now she ran, but caught herself rather quickly, going to a heavy jog instead of a sprint. She also started wondering what the hubbub was all about, but logically reasoned that it had something to do with the Hokage's presence and by extension, Sarada's deperate-sounding pleas.