Telanadas

7

Sasuke is frozen for a moment, staring uncomprehendingly at the ugly wound.

Uncomprehending because Sakura never gets injured.

Being a dwarf, she has a thick-skin. As naturally skilled as she is in evasion, it should be impossible for anyone, let alone a blood-mage controlled villager, to land a blow on her. Especially in such a precarious place: a mere inch higher and it would have speared her kidney.

A jolt of pain lances his chest like a dagger of ice.

She could have died.

"Sasuke-kun?" she prompts, and he shakes himself out of the unexpected shock. There is no time to dwell, and he forces himself to act.

Sasuke strides forward to examine the wound and the bone-weapon protruding from it.

"Are you stupid?" he asks harshly. "I hope you had good reason to send the mage away when you knew about this."

"Maybe you didn't notice, but healing magic takes more energy out of Kakashi-sensei than the other kind," she replies, unrepentant. "He's not like Rin, who comes by it naturally." The other mage in their party had remained behind in Uzushiogakure to keep the Arl's condition stable. "And if we're possibly about to face an entire village of cultists, he needs to be at his best."

"And what about you?" he challenges, lightly prodding fingertips along the inflamed skin. "You are no use if you can't swing an axe without bleeding all over it."

"Now you're worried about blood?" she teases and then winces when he traces the edge of the bone impaling her; luckily, the surface is smooth and not serrated. If removed properly, it will not tear anything vital. "It's just a flesh wound. Nothing a little elfroot and deep mushroom can't fix if applied properly." She offers him a confident smile, but there is a tinge of pain in her eyes that he does not like. "That's where you come in. You've got steady hands and you don't let your feelings impede your work."

Do not be so sure about that, Sasuke thinks. Out loud, though, he grunts, "You still should not have sent Kakashi away."

"What would you have done?" she shoots back. "You hate people fussing over you, too."

"That is...different."

"Why, because you're a stoic elf above the mundane needs of us lesser beings?" she deadpans, earning an annoyed look. She smirks in reply, but that quickly turns to a frown of suspicion. "Or is it because I'm a woman?"

Sasuke blinks. "That...why would that even be a factor?"

"Haven't you been travelling through Konoha with us the past few weeks?" she chuckles and then swears when that jolts her wound. "Take my kit from my belt, my herbs and poultices are in there." Sasuke reaches for this, and she continues as if there was no interruption. "Women around here aren't exactly considered equal. It's the same in Iwa. Even among the warrior caste of the dwarves, if you don't have a penis, you get treated like you shouldn't even be allowed to hold a sword." Sasuke fumbles with the catch on her belt at this, but he does not think she notices. "I take it it's not like that for elves?"

"Every elf—man or woman or other-spirit—is born with a pair of hands to fight or work," Sasuke confirms as he searches through her medicinal bag. "We do not see the logic in the arbitrary constructs created by foreigners."

"Huh." Sakura considers this and grins. "Well, that's the most sensible thing I've ever heard about elves. Now, take off my armour and tunic."

Sasuke's brain stalls again. "What?"

"You have to see what you're doing," she reminds him, nodding down at the roots and balms in his hand.

"I do not have to see that much of you," he grumbles, avoiding her gaze as he carefully removes her breast-plate and gauntlets.