#it was originally gonna be titled hotblooded and there would be more fighting but i got sleepy

[frostmarris]

Sutures

pairing: Gaara/Sakura with some Neji/Sakura

summary: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ But just about everything is a possible enemy in a zombie apocalypse. Sakura crosses paths with a particular thief once more and has an unexpectedly pleasant night, trapped in a condemned building’s basement. 

notes: i’m like 3 hours late for @vesperlionheart and @thefreckledone fluff friday, enemy prompt, but eeeeyyyy better late than never. some fluff in a pretty grim setting hello did you know i have a zombie apocalypse au (i have a couple other drabbles set in this universe that i wanna write one day)

Konoha had been more of a tourist destination – a vacation retreat – than an actual town. With the large fortress and temple, the meticulously cared for gardens, hot spring, multitude of places to eat, and the tall, sturdy, stone wall that encircled the village, tucked away in the middle of the forest, it all seemed like something out of a folk tale.

In the end, it was the wall that saved them.

When people first started to get sick, the townsfolk didn’t think much of it and simply cared for their ill as best as they could, slowly becoming more worried as they listened to the news that an epidemic had spread across Japan.

Had spread across the world.

When communications to the outside went down and those who had fallen ill began to... react, there was mass panic throughout the country.

It was that tall wall - strong and stone and unrelenting - that kept the walking corpses out and the people of Konoha safe.

The months passed and the townsfolk began to adjust to their new, dangerous, lives, reinforcing the wall with steel plates and chain-link fences and wooden spikes around the outer perimeter, posting guards up on the wall to watch the outside and keep the things out. They paid closer attention to their rations and supplies, learned how to defend themselves, and made sure none of the dead got in.

They sent out groups for supply runs, scavenging through nearby, abandoned towns – villages that hadn’t been quite so lucky, that had fallen victim to the virus – and bringing back what they found.

Within the wall, they were safe. There had only been a handful of outbreaks, but they were all handled quickly and efficiently, removing the corpses head’s and burning the bodies. They treated those who were injured as they began to learn more about the mysterious virus.

Those who hadn’t fallen sick were still susceptible to the bite of the zombies but, if you were fast enough and the bite was somewhere... removeable, those bitten didn’t always turn.

Sakura remembered when her childhood friend, that blond goof, Naruto, had been rushed into the clinic, his right hand bleeding and already beginning to turn that odd shade of ashen grey, streaked with purple and green and black veins, and the blood running from the bite darkening and oozing as the scent of death filled her senses.

She’d only started her apprenticeship under the clinic’s head doctor earlier that month – had only witnessed one other amputation before that day.

Tsunade, her mentor, had worked quickly, barking out orders to her assistant, Shizune, and Sakura, who worked together to hold Naruto down – no time to administer any sort of anesthetic, no time to do much more than nod grimly at his gasped consent to the procedure, the pain wracking his body and the dark veins creeping further up his arm.

The head doctor amputated just above his elbow, where the infection hadn’t yet managed to reach.

It was a grisly, gut-wrenching experience, for all parties – Naruto more-so, of course – but he was saved. He lived.

And Sakura decided she would do whatever she could to keep her home alive. She studied, she trained, she learned all she could from Tsunade and Shizune, having already been well on her way to pursuing a medical career before the world went to shit.

And the months passed, the town settled and the villagers kept mostly to themselves. They rarely saw other survivors, but, when refugees did happen to pass through the forest and stumble upon the village, they were taken in – cautiously, carefully, the appointed guards keeping an eye on the newcomers – if they asked for shelter. Some stayed, others simply accepted the respite before moving on, too distrusting of the village, of strangers in this apocalyptic world, to stick around.

And life was relatively peaceful.

::

It was early in the morning when they crossed paths.

Sakura was in the greenhouse, checking on a few of the plants she used for the home remedies, when she heard the door open behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, surprised to see the red-haired young man that they’d taken in a few days ago.

He and his two older siblings had arrived seeking temporary shelter and medical aid for the middle sibling – the elder of the two boys – and had been permitted into the village after some discussion from the town leaders. They’d kept an eye on them, lest the siblings turned out to be dangerous, but the three hadn’t caused any trouble, more concerned with the gunshot wound in the middle brother’s forearm – they’d run into a group of aggressive survivors earlier that week, they explained, and had luckily managed to escape mostly unharmed.

The redhead – Gaara, if she remembered correctly – looked just as shocked to see her and continued to stare, frozen in his spot by the entrance to the greenhouse, before she flashed him a smile, grabbing one of the misters for the plants.

“Mornin’, how’s your brother doing? His wound was healing up nicely when I checked him yesterday.”

“Doctor.” He greeted carefully, almost unsurely, as he took a quick glance around, expression blank with just an edge of uncomfortable.

“He’s... fine.”

She nodded, checking the Aloe Vera buddings before shooting him another glance over her shoulder. He as looking a little nervous, a little unnerved... Shrugging to herself, Sakura moved over to the lone apple tree in the greenhouse – it was supposed to have been moved to the nursery weeks ago, but one of the gardeners decided it might be nice to keep it in the greenhouse – picking an apple that looked ripe before tossing it to Gaara.

He fumbled with it for a moment, sending her a confused look. She smiled again, stuffing her hands into her lab coat after waving him off.

“’Apple a day keeps the doctor away’ and all. You look pretty hungry and communal breakfast isn’t until 8 AM.”

Gaara gave a slow nod, holding the apple hesitantly and looking anxious about something. She noticed, of course, and was about to ask him if he was okay when the intercom system in the greenhouse buzzed to life.

It emitted three short honks – like that of an airhorn – and Sakura spun around, rushing to the southern window of the greenhouse.

Konoha’s emergency warning system was fairly simple. Alarm bell rings for a breech in the outer wall, airhorn honks for other, less dire, emergencies. The number signaled which portion of the village the emergency was – which direction to head. One for North, two for East, three for South, and four for West. The intercom system was wired through the main buildings – the town hall, the clinic, the fortress, the temple, the greenhouse, the cafeteria, etc. – and there were speakers out in the streets, all loud enough for basically the entirety of the village to hear. The alarms only sounded once – a precautionary measure so as to not draw the attention of any wandering corpses nearby – but once was all Sakura needed to rush to action.

Through the window she could see smoke in the distance and, cursing under her breath, she rushed out of the greenhouse, forgetting all about Gaara and leaving him behind, much to his relief.

::

When the situation was handled and the fire was put out – a freak accident, no one could figure out what had exactly started it but, luckily, it hadn’t been too big of a problem – the villagers of Konoha quickly realized that something else was wrong.

The storerooms had been broken into – several of the shelves of canned food missing large, noticeable chunks of rations, an obvious amount of water bottles gone, extra clothing removed from the winter storage, etc. – and the door to the clinic was busted open. Sakura found a few of her cabinets still open, bottles of pain-killers and pain relievers, general cold and flu medicine, and a couple of the First Aid kits missing.

They’d been robbed.

And the three sibling refugees were nowhere to be found, one of the few automobiles that were supposed to be locked up in the communal garage gone as well.

Sakura was furious.

::

“Absolutely not.”

A week had passed and, when Sakura heard that a new scouting party would set out that Friday for a supply run and to finish scouring one of the larger towns fairly close by, she’d approached Neji, the lead of this particular expedition, with the intention of being added to the list of scouting volunteers.

“Why the hell not? I thought you guys didn’t turn down volunteers for supply runs unless they were kids or injured or something.”

Neji scoffed, replacing the batteries on one of the walkie-talkies before testing it out.

“Our admission process is a lot more thorough than that. Have you ever even killed a corpse before?”

Shooting him a glare, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips for a moment before replying.

“You know I have, Neji. I used to go out with you guys on runs all the time.”

“That was before.”

“Before what?”

Neji passed the radio to one of the other volunteers before heading over to a table to grab a clipboard, inspecting the list of Priority Needs and frowning to himself when Sakura stubbornly followed after him.

“Well?” She persisted.

“Before you became a doctor.”

“So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“You’re much more valuable now.” He sent her a serious look here, expression firm as his eyes met hers. “You’re not expendable.”

Sakura might have been flattered – okay, she had to kind of suppress a smile at his comment, resisting the urge to flutter her lashes at him – if Neji hadn’t just implied that he and the other volunteers were expendable.

Planting her hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes at him, frown deepening.

“And you guys are?”

He ignored her, brushing past to give a few orders to some of the other villagers hanging around �� most of whom were trying to hide their smiles as they watched, amused at the doctor and the team leader’s exchange. Groaning, Sakura moved back into Neji’s line of sight, shooting him a slightly pleading look.

“C’mon, Neji. Please? Just one supply run? I can go as a field medic and stay out of combat, if that’s what you want.”

Eventually, after a few more minutes of her pestering and pleading, Neji finally seemed to break, sighing as his shoulders slumped and he sent her a long-suffering look.

“Why, Sakura?”

She hid her smile – victory! – but did bat her eyelashes at him, this time.

“I’m tired of being cooped up. I just want some fresh air and to make sure I’m not getting rusty with a blade.”

“Scalpels are blades.”

Sakura sent him an unimpressed look, unable to tell if he was being serious or if this was ever-stoic Hyuuga Neji’s attempt at making a joke.

“I need to restock the clinic too.”

“You can make a list; I’ll take care of it personally.”

“Neji.”

“Hn.”

She was just about ready to start arguing with him – demand that he allowed her to go. She wanted a little break from the clinic, that’s all! It’s not like she even had much to do besides reorganize the storeroom and administer band-aids to kids with skinned knees – when their attention was caught by two of the other volunteers in the scouting base.

“Oh, wouldn’t it be great if we had a medic accompany us on this run?” Said Tenten, her voice obviously forced loud enough for them to hear as she stood several feet away with Kiba, very pointedly not looking at Sakura or Neji.

Kiba nodded sagely, rubbing his chin before reaching down to give his hound, Akamaru, a pat. “Definitely. I’d feel so much safer if someone with some medical knowledge were to join us, just in case someone was to, maybe, get injured.”

Tenten nodded in return, feigning a thoughtful look for a moment before throwing her arms up in exasperation. “Oh, darn! But, I don’t think either Dr. Tsunade or Dr. Shizune have ever been on supply runs before! If only there was someone else we could ask to assist us!”

“Someone that knew how to kill zombies!” Kiba added, almost failing to smother his grin. “But just who could that possibly be?”

Neji shot them both a glare, eyes narrowed and arms crossed over his chest. But he was obviously fighting a losing battle and, after a moment, he looked back to Sakura, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed.

“Fine. You can come.”

He missed the pair of conspiring winks Tenten and Kiba sent Sakura from behind him, glancing away as the doctor grinned.

“If we get split into teams or the group gets separated,” Neji continued, glowering down at her, “Stick with me. Dr. Tsunade will have my head if you lose yours.”

“I can take care of myself, you know.” But, Sakura couldn’t keep herself from smiling up at him, excitement bubbling up. “But, got it. Thanks, Neji.”

He stormed off after that, aiming to finish setting up the preparations for the trip, but Sakura didn’t miss that slight quirk to his lips as he walked away.

::

They’d only been searching through the remains of the town for about twenty minutes when the horde passed through.

There had been a brief amount of panic amongst the group – six, including Sakura – but Neji had, of course, taken control, hissing out orders while the large mass of shambling corpses approached. And it all kind of blended together. Stabbing zombies in the head with daggers and larger blades – guns were a rare find in such a rural area but, luckily, Konoha’s stock of swords and knives that had originally been only for show for tourists, weren’t just cheap knock-offs and fake metal – and dodging rotting mouths, making her way back with the group before things went to shit.

She’d seen Tenten slicing a head off one corpse with her katana before she realized that a new horde was rounding one of the street corners, attracted by the sound of combat and snarls.

The group had scattered at Neij’s command to retreat, darting off down the remaining empty streets and away from the converging horde. Sakura had seen Neji to her left, running alongside her down the street as they were separated from the rest of the group and, inwardly, she was relieved.

He sent her a meaningful look before nodding, grabbing her wrist and leading her through the twists of the small city’s downtown – he’d been here before on other runs, he knew the layout of the town better than she did – before they passed by what looked like a run-down school (more-so than the rest of the buildings).

Neji shoved her towards the entrance as they passed a wall of overgrown hedges, tugging her down out of sight and crouching next to her for a moment before hissing out a reply when she sent him a confused look.

“We cleared it out two weeks ago, the front door is the only entrance that isn’t locked.” He nodded up at the short set of steps leading to the double doors of the school. “They’re still closed, so it should still be clear.”

Sakura nodded before sending him a slightly panicked look when he stood, backing away from the school.

“Where are you going?!” She kept her voice down, very much aware of the sound of the horde coming down the street.

“I’ll lead them away and circle back to pick you up after the horde has passed. Just stay inside until I get back.”

“But-”

“Now, Sakura.”

Lips pursed, she gave him a curt nod and rushed up the steps, the hedge-wall luckily keeping her out of the mass of corpses’ lines of sight as she hopped over the strip of police tape and tugged a door open to slip into the building, quickly pulling it closed behind her and catching sight of Neji racing back down the street outside.

Sighing, Sakura turned to face the interior of the old school, her frown deepening.

Those ‘CONDEMNED’ signs did not look very welcoming.

::

The school must have been abandoned long before the apocalypse came about, Sakura realized as she wandered through the building. Many of the walls looked rotted and there were a few holes in the flooring where the wood-work had given out. Just as Neji had said, there were plenty of decapitated corpses laying around, obviously disposed of by the scouting party that had checked out the school last time.

Still, Sakura decided to explore. Maybe she’d find something useful that the last group had missed.

Plus, it was a good distraction from her worry for the rest of her group.

She occasionally dropped her hand to the walkie-talkie strapped to her belt, resisting the urge to try to call one of the others. There was a chance that they were in a place that required them to be quiet and the sudden crackle of the radio coming to life could very well lead to someone’s death.

So, she’d just wait until someone else tried to contact her or for Neji to return.

The school was a lot bigger than she had initially thought and she spent a good fifteen minutes walking down the main halls, popping into random rooms to give them a cursory glance before continuing. She’d found a stick of chalk in one of the first classrooms and had quickly snatched it up, dragging the chalk along the wall as she walked to both guide her back if she happened to get lost and to give Neji a path to follow.

She’d yet to find the nurse’s office – her main goal – but did happen to come across what she guessed was originally the cafeteria. Picking her way over the discarded zombie bodies, Sakura headed towards the back of the large room, pushing through the doors into the back. The storeroom had been thoroughly raided but, nonetheless, she continued to search, only to jump in surprise when she heard a muffled thud somewhere in the distance.

She froze, ears straining to identify what the sound was and its possible source.

It’d sounded kind of like a door slamming shut, but she wasn’t about to just race back the way she’d come and hope it was Neji.

Instead, she exited the cafeteria, making her way back into the hallway and continuing down the way she was originally headed, listening carefully for any other suspicious sounds.

At some point, she swore she heard the sound of glass shattering.

::

Almost another ten minutes passed and Sakura had seen no sign of life – or of the undead – but she’s still on edge, glancing over her shoulder every few moments and rounding corners with a held breath. She’d yet to find anything useful and her radio was still silent at her side, the anxiety eating away at her nerves.

The main building of the school apparently connected with both an East and West wing and Sakura had come to the realization that this was probably more of a small University than a regular school, what with the crisscrossing hallways and large lecture halls.

She found the library before the nurse’s office and she popped her head inside for a quick look, itching to explore but well aware that there were too many opportunities for something to sneak up on her between the aisles of books. Sakura took a moment to frown to herself, however, when she realized that a great number of the shelves that she could see were empty, before she remembered that the building had been condemned before it was abandoned.

So, she pressed on, still leaving her chalk trail on the walls until eventually – finally – she found the infirmary. Grinning, Sakura slipped inside, bee-lining for the storage cabinets and hoping to find something useful that the original search party had overlooked.

::

Expression smug, Sakura left the nurse’s office with a few new rolls of forgotten gauze, a couple unopened packets of cotton balls, unused tongue compressors, some adhesive bandages, and three bottles of in-date rubbing alcohol. Sterile supplies were hard to come by, but she could understand why the original group might have passed over such unassuming items (the bottles of rubbing alcohol had actually been in one of the desk-drawers, so they might have just missed them entirely).

All in all, Sakura was fairly pleased with herself, patting her filled bag.

That is, until she realized she wasn’t alone.

Movement to her right caught her eye as she exited the infirmary and Sakura immediately froze, head snapping over to catch sight of a figure moving down the hall, away from her and towards the area she hadn’t yet explored.

They obviously weren’t a corpse – they walked carefully, gracefully – but she didn’t recognize their clothes, so they weren’t from her group. The hood of their jacket – black and worn with use, duct tape wrapped around the sleeves for added protection – was pulled up, blocking any details of their face, but Sakura kept her eye on the stranger, stepping backwards carefully. They hadn’t seemed to hear her yet and she had to keep her breathing quiet, uncertain whether they were friend or foe.

She’d only made it about seven steps back when she heard a snarl over her shoulder.

Sakura spun around, hand instantly dropping to the knife holstered on her hip, and slipping it out of its strap in one smooth move as she found a zombie shambling towards her, almost close enough to touch. Moving on instinct, she dodged its reach for her and jammed her blade into its forehead.

The corpse went limp almost instantly and she breathed a sigh of relief, retrieving her knife with a sharp tug as the body fell. Her relief was short-lived, however, as she heard movement behind her once more.

The noise of her brief scuffle had definitely caught the attention of the stranger, as they have spun around in surprise and are now facing her, the hood of their jacket fallen back to expose their face.

Sakura eyed the red hair and familiar face with a quickly deepening frown, dropping into a defensive stance as she recognized them – him.

“You!”

“Doctor.” Gaara greeted, looking uncomfortable and vaguely shocked.

Definitely foe.

She nearly growled under her breath, just about ready to start shouting at him for robbing her home after they offered him and his siblings shelter and help – she’d been taking care of his brother! – but, glancing down at the fully-dead zombie next to her, decided that making noise would be a bad idea.

He had a knife in his hand as well, watching her warily as his body tensed defensively. Blade at the ready, raised threateningly, Sakura glanced back over her shoulder once more before beginning to back away.

If one corpse had made it in somehow, there were bound to be others. And, though it had come from somewhere behind her, going forward – towards Gaara – was not an option.

It was time to leave the school.

They’re both silent, watching each other carefully, and, the moment Sakura made it past the edge of the corner of the hall and saw it continue to her left, she ran.

Paying close attention to the empty hallway in front of her, lest another corpse appear, and listening carefully for the sound of footsteps racing after her – she heard none, but her heart was still pounding with worry – Sakura continued back the way she’d originally come, skidding to a halt when she passed the double doors of the library.

Biting her lip, she quickly pushed past the doors, deciding that, if Gaara decided to chase her down, she could probably give him the slip amongst the rows of shelves.

She headed for the back of the library, past a few front-facing rows of bookshelves and into a lounging area and-

-And immediately regretted her decision.

There was a large bay window here at the back, facing out into a communal outside-area, with several lounge chairs and couches set up, a few tables and more simple chairs for studying nearby. The chairs and couches look to be in fairly good condition, though covered in dust.

The window, however, has been shattered, broken glass scattered inwards, away from the outside. Sakura might have taken this for a fortunate, quick exit, had there not been a pair of zombies shambling over windowsill.

The shards still in the frame of the window were slicing at their rotting skin, sending that vile, dead blood dripping out in near-coagulated globs as they groaned and snarled, their movement more invigorated at the sight of her.

Sakura made a quick move backwards, nearly shrieking as she heard another series of grunts behind her, and almost ran into another reanimated corpse. She swung her knife, missed, and quickly dodged out of its reach, running for the rows of bookshelves to hopefully lose the zombies.

She took a zig-zagging path through the rows, listening for the sounds of the corpses and quickly altering her path as new ones appeared as she ran. The library was bigger than she had anticipated but the worry of getting lost was overpowered by her burning goal of losing the undead that were undoubtedly following her.

They’re not fast, but they were relentless.

Sakura stumbled to a halt when she came across a fallen bookshelf, eyeing the broken wood under it – the floor had given out from the weight, it seemed – before simply leaping over it. The bookshelf itself covered the hole in the floor, the few books having long-since fallen into the darkness below, but she didn’t want to take the risk of it all collapsing under her added weight.

Three more sharp turns – only moments had passed since she’d started running, but it felt like forever – and Sakura stopped once more, breath caught in her throat as she found her path blocked by zombies. She cut left, doubling back and only vaguely aware of the sound of the corpses thudding against the shelving as they followed after her, walking into the bookshelves.

She heard the groan of the wood, mingling with the moans of the undead, before she saw the bookshelves begin to domino.

Sakura made another snap-decision to move left once more as another pair of zombies appeared in front of her, reaching out for her, and, a moment too late, she realized she’d made a mistake.

The bookshelf to her left was mid-fall, dropping towards her and she hesitated when she saw another wall of shelving in front of her, perpendicular to the shelves that were caught in a domino effect.

Moments, seconds, she spun around and saw corpses rounding the corner behind her for the briefest moment before a flash of red rushed towards her, someone tackling her to the ground – away from the zombies and out of the path of the falling bookshelf.

They both let out pained grunts as they hit the perpendicular shelving, which swayed dangerously from the impact, before they were aware of the sound of crumbling wood and the ground seemed to give out from under them.

Sakura was distinctly aware of the feeling of weightlessness and someone pulling her close before everything went dark.

::

She hadn’t passed out or anything, of course, but the fall had certainly left Sakura stunned for a few moments, coughing through the dust and rotten wood when she managed to sit up, collapsed on a pile of broken, old wood. Tugging the collar of her shirt up and over her mouth, Sakura tried to wave away the dust, groaning and coughing to herself as she tried to move.

She quickly realized that it was pitch-black down here – wherever here was – and her hand dropped to her bag, blindly searching around for the flashlight she had packed. After finding it, Sakura clicked it on and panned the light up, squinting up through the clouds of dust to make sense of her situation.

The would-be gaping hole above her – she wasn’t a very good judge of height, but that had to be at least eight feet – was covered by what she guessed was that perpendicular shelving, having apparently fallen towards the rest of the chaos when the floor had opened up, blocking both what could have been an exit but an entrance for corpses as well.

She sighed, unsure whether she should feel relieved or not, and moved to stand.

Only to scramble away, tumbling down the pile of broken wood, as her hand made contact with something soft and squishy.

Sakura fumbled with her flashlight, suddenly aware that her knife was missing, and pointed the beam at her previous spot.

She saw the red-hair first and came to the realization that, yes, someone had indeed tackled her out of the way.

Gaara was lying in a heap on the pile of rotten lumber, eyes closed and a small trail of blood dripping down from somewhere beyond his hairline. Sakura jumped to her feet, quickly regretting her decision as pain shot up her left leg, and backed away.

She watched the redhead’s still form for a few moments, conflicted as to whether she should keep an eye on him and wait for movement or check herself over for injuries. When Gaara made no move besides the subtle rise and fall of his chest as he laid on his back, she let out a shaky sigh, scanning the light over her limbs to check for blood.

Besides a few scrapes and splinters, she looked okay, though her left knee was sore – she must have landed on her leg oddly. Rubbing her forehead, she moved the beam back to the obviously unconscious man. Sakura watched him for a few moments more, biting her lip in worry, before she realized that the fabric of his jacket was darkening slightly near his right shoulder.

She hesitated only the briefest moment before cursing under her breath and rushing towards him, checking him over with a worried expression.

And that was when she found her knife.

It wasn’t embedded in his arm or anything, luckily, but it was under him, near his shoulder and obviously the source of the nasty gash on his upper arm.

The guilt hit her almost instantly.

Sakura quickly returned her knife to its holster on her hip and grabbed her bag before beginning to remove his jacket.

Enemy or not, she was a doctor.

::

Barely a minute after Sakura had finished wrapping up Gaara’s shoulder – there went all of that nice, new gauze – and moved him off of the rubble pile, the crackle and static of her radio coming to life pierced the silence, making her nearly jump out of her skin.

“-ello, Sakura? Are you there?”

She fumbled with the walkie-talkie for a moment, unclipping it from her belt as she quickly brought it up.

“Neji? Neji, is that you?”

She heard a sigh of relief come from the other end of the radio and she dropped to sit, shoulders slumping.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you alright? Are you still in the school?”

Sakura paused, glancing around the dark room before hesitantly replying.

“...Yes?”

“Sakura? What’s your status?”

She groaned, rubbing the back of her neck and glancing over at the still-unconscious Gaara.

“There was... an incident-“

“Are you alright?” Came Neji’s reply before she could finish, sounding more concerned than she would have expected. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no I’m fine.” Massaging her forehead, she decided to skip the specifics. “Zombies got in, floor collapsed, I’m under the library.”

A pause.

“...Under the library.”

“Yes. The ground collapsed but – luckily? – there’s shelving that’s blocking the way in.”

“And your way out.”

“Yup...”

She heard Neji sigh again, the muffled sound of movement, and a grunt.

“I’m going to need you to hang tight, Sakura, and wait there.”

“What.”

“It’s dark out already. I won’t be able to make it to you safely – I won’t be able to find you – until morning. Try to find an exit if you can, but stay in the school until I come and get you, got it? That initial horde was bigger than we thought; the streets aren’t safe right now.”

Sakura buried her face in her hands as she let out a groan of frustration, trying to ignore the fear starting to set in.

“Are... are the others okay?”

She could almost hear the near-smile in his voice – whether it was at her not arguing with him or some sort of unforeseen fondness, she didn’t know – when he replied.

“I made contact a little while ago. They found shelter and are camping out until morning.”

“You’re not with them?”

“Hn. I’m holed up in...” He trailed off, probably glancing around his surroundings. “I think it was a daycare. I managed to lose that horde but I’ve got the entrance barricaded and my eye on another escape route.”

“Alright...” Leaning back against the wall, Sakura tried to make herself relax, running her fingers through her short hair. “Stay safe.”

“You too. Get some rest, but keep an eye out. If anything happens, let me know.”

“Got it. See you in the morning?”

“The moment it’s light out, I’ll come get you.”

Sakura didn’t bother to hide her smile, sitting back and dropping the radio to her side as the connection cut off. Letting out a steadying breath, she glanced around the room, her flashlight turned off in an attempt to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. When that didn’t seem to do much, she flicked the light back on, setting it next to her and facing upwards to cast the light throughout the room.

She was in some sort of storeroom, it looked like – a basement for the library. There were more empty shelves down here, though a few had collapsed, and she was sure she’d be able to find a way out if she looked, but, for now, she just wanted to rest.

Her gaze dropped to Gaara, who she’d laid a few feet away, his folded up jacket under his head, and nearly shrieked in surprise.

The redhead was very much awake now, his steady, wary gaze on her as he laid there.

“How long were you listening?” She asked, a little unnerved – and flustered, embarrassed. Gosh, did he hear all of that?

He ignored her question, staring back at her long enough for her to sigh and look away, dropping the conversation.

“Doctor.” He greeted after a moment, in the way that Sakura was steadily beginning to grow used to.

“Gaara.”

He seemed a little surprised at that.

“...You remember my name.”

A statement, more than a question.

She shrugged, crossing her legs and trying to make herself comfortable.

After a few moments of awkward silence, he addressed her again, expression twisted slightly.

“Sa... Sakura?”

“Yup.”

“Ah.”

And the conversation died again until Gaara decided to try and sit up, letting out a slight wheeze as he accidentally put pressure on his injured arm. He managed to move into a sitting position and Sakura had to resist the urge to move to his side, fighting her instincts to check him over again. The redhead seemed to realize that his jacket had been removed and he was just wearing his grey T-shirt, eyeing the bandages wrapped around his shoulder.

“You, uhm...” Sakura paused slightly when he glanced up at her, his expression nearly blank now. Rubbing the back of her neck, she tried not to look too guilty. “You fell on my knife. Like, literally.”

Gaara was silent and she sighed before stiffening as she saw him reach for the strap on his belt that would have housed his own knife. When he found it missing, he looked back up at her, eyes narrowed questioningly. Lips pursed, she held his blade up, her knife strapped back in its place on her hip, before setting it down beside her, obviously not intending to give it back.

Letting out a barely noticeable grunt, Gaara moved to lean against the shelving behind him, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair before wincing, fingers brushing over the cut on his scalp. Sakura had cleaned it up, of course, but it’d been too shallow to really need any sort of wrapping and a bandage wouldn’t have really worked.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Sakrua let out an exasperated sigh, pulling her bag over and reaching around inside, not noticing how Gaara stiffened.

“Look, okay, I’m going to-“

“Kill me.”

Sakura’s head snapped up as she balked at him, expression horrified.

“What? No! God, no. I’m- I’m a doctor! I don’t-“

Gaara tilted his head back and closed his eyes, resting his head on the empty shelving as he seemed oddly relaxed, as if he’d accepted the thought that she was going to kill him and had already come to terms with it. And Sakura was at a loss, her hand still wrapped around the water bottle in her bag.

“Why the hell would I murder you, Gaara?”

“Justice is paid with blood, in this world.”

Sakura stared at him, wondering if she’d missed some other headwound of his.

“Why would I be seeking justice?” She spoke slowly, calmly, trying to make sense of what he was saying.

He opened his eyes slightly to look at her, his expression blank.

“We started a fire and robbed your town when you were all distracted.”

He had a point, Sakura realized.

Nonetheless, she reached up to rub her temples, tossing the plastic water bottle towards him.

“I’m trying to put that behind me. I’m not going to kill you – I’m not going to hurt you, Gaara.”

He considered the water for a moment before picking it up, watching her carefully.

“Why?”

Shrugging, Sakura gestured offhandedly, pulling out her other water bottle and quickly twisting off the cap.

“’The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ and all that jazz.”

At his blank look, she shot him a frown, her lips pursed as she squinted at him.

“Why did you save me, then?”

That seemed to draw a reaction from him and Gaara quickly looked away, his lips turned down in a frown as he glanced away from her, absentmindedly opening his water bottle before taking a sip.

Sighing, Sakura drew her legs up to her chest and laid her head back, letting her eyes close as she tried to think through her current situation. It was mere moments later when she heard the crinkle of plastic and something hit her knee. Cracking an eye open, she saw Gaara very pointedly ignoring her and a granola bar resting next to her foot. She smiled to herself and grabbed the bar, noticing the way he seemed to relax slightly at the sound of her opening the treat.

“So, Gaara, tell me about yourself.”

::

“You and your siblings have been on your own this entire time?”

“Ah.”

She let out a low whistle, undoing her wrapping on his shoulder since, apparently, the knife wound had been deeper than she realized and he’d bled through the gauze.

He gave the barest flinch and she muttered a soft apology, moving a little more carefully.

“We...” He paused, eyes on the ground as he let her do her work. “We joined a group for a while, but they were...”

She caught the way his fists clenched – not a reaction to what she was doing.

Shaking his head, Gaara sat back slightly, eyeing the First Aid kit she’d pulled out of her bag before finally glancing up at her.

“How long have you been a doctor, Doctor?”

Lips pursed, Sakura moved away to wash off her hands with the last of her water before splashing rubbing alcohol onto her hands and pulling on the medical gloves in her kit. Swabbed the suture needle with some of the disinfectant, she returned to Gaara’s side and swabbed his wound as well.

“I’m not officially a doctor – hang tight, this is gonna hurt – but I was studying medicine before the world ended.” She started the first of the stitches, biting her lip sympathetically at Gaara’s hisses, before continuing. “I was going to pursue a medical career anyways, so I went to the clinic and asked our head doctor to train me.”

She fell silent for a moment before realizing she hadn’t really answered his question.

“It’s been almost a year, I think. I started my apprenticeship pretty early on.”

Gaara gave a curt nod and they made idle chit-chat while she stitched him up – the conversation tense only because he was tense from the stitches – until she finally finished, swabbing the sutures and surrounding skin carefully to clean him up.

Hopefully the scent of the rubbing alcohol would overpower the smell of blood for any nearby zombies.

“All done.” Sakura said as she tugged off the gloves and stuffed the used cotton balls and gauze inside, tying them off. “Sorry that I don’t have any candy to offer you.”

Gaara surprised her by replying with the softest chuckle.

But then he seemed to realize what he was doing as well and quickly sobered up, grunting in thanks before allowing her to help him get his shirt back on.

Still, that looked kind of like a smile.

::

“It’s all about the trajectory.”

“Like this?”

Sakura sized up her target – a crude circle drawn on the wall with her bit of chalk – and aimed carefully before throwing her knife, frowning when it didn’t stick in the wood and simply bounced off into the dust.

“You’ve almost got it.” Gaara replied, holding his own knife in his hand – the uninjured arm, of course – and aiming at the target as well. “You just have to...”

He threw and it stuck about four inches deep into the wood.

She sent him a frown, eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“You told me you were right-handed. How the hell did you do that with your left?”

His smirk looked almost teasing.

::

“Uuuh, truth.”

Gaara didn’t look very impressed, but sighed.

“Biggest thing you’ve ever stolen and gotten away with.”

Sakura’s lips pursed at his question, finger at her chin.

“Before or after the apocalypse?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his deadpan expression, sending him a grin before she shrugged, hands held up helplessly.

“I’ve never stolen anything in my life.”

Gaara looked a little disbelieving but, after sizing her up for a moment, decided that she probably was telling the truth.

“Right, fine, sure.”

“Truth or dare, Gaara?” She was still grinning, picking out the crumbs from inside the granola wrapper.

“Truth.”

Her grin dropped.

Right, okay. He was going to play that game.

“Fineee. What was your first date like? Did it end horribly? Most do, you know – well, except Ino’s. She’s got a track record of amazing first dates.”

Gaara simply shrugged.

“Never been on one.”

Lips pursed, Sakura crossed her arms, eyeing him with a frown. “That doesn’t count, I get another question.”

“What, that’s not fa-“

“First time you were ever asked out. You probably rejected them but, I wanna know what kind of person you usually attract. Or! Your first crush. Your pick; I want all of those juicy details.”

Gaara crossed his arms right back, eyeing her with another unamused look.

“No.”

Sakura wouldn’t admit to whining, but she definitely did, nudging his uninjured arm as she scooted closer. “Awww, c’mon. It’s so boring down here, entertain me with a story. First kiss?”

He looked away and pointedly ignored her and it took Sakura a moment to realize that vaguely uncomfortable expression of his was him being embarrassed – he was even pouting.

She gave his shoulder a sympathetic pat and he shrugged her off, shooting her a glower.

“It’s okay, buddy. It’s not that uncommon for people in their twenties to not have had their first kiss yet!”

His eyes narrowed and she had to stifle her smile, inwardly deciding that teasing him would be a little more fun.

“I mean, it is the apocalypse and all. Unless you wanna lock-lips with a corpse, you don’t tend to come across people you wanna smooch all that often.”

His expressions were cute and she teased him for a few moments longer, obviously not going to admit that she’d only been kissed, like, twice in her life. Eventually, she backed off, giggling to herself before sobering up as he turned to face her, eyes narrowed in a rather intimidating glare.

“Truth or dare, Sakura.”

A challenge.

“Dare.”

Why was he smirking now?

“Kiss me.”

Her smile dropped and she regarded him with a surprised look – why hadn’t she considered this possibility?

“Excuse me?’

Gaara was looking smug now and he shrugged, uncrossing and crossing his arms again.

“You heard me.”

They held each other’s gazes for a few moments longer, Sakura trying to calm her suddenly racing heart and Gaara looking smugger than she could have ever imagined. Finally, he broke the moment, sitting back as he stifled his chuckles into his fist, eyeing her with unveiled amusement.

“What. What.”

“Your expression was great, thanks. That’s what you get for trying to tease me.”

He continued to laugh to himself for another minute or so before Sakura sat up, lips pursed and expression challenging. Gaara’s chuckles died off when he realized that she was kneeling in front of him now, her face determined as she reached up to cup his steadily warming cheeks.

He looked more frightened – panicked, even – than amused now.

Gaara’s hands dropped to his side as Sakura drew closer, taller slightly as she kneeled and he sat, and guided his face up towards her, dipping down to brush her lips over his.

It was a soft kiss, barely a moment of contact before she pulled back and smiled down at him, inwardly smug at his shocked expression.

And then his hands rose to rest on her hips and he sat up, their lips meeting once again as he fought to keep down his grin.

::

Sakura wasn’t sure exactly how many kisses they shared, but it was a pleasant experience – something light and enjoyable to forget the fact that the world was dying and decaying around them, if for a few sweet minutes.

And, eventually, they decided to rest, hesitant at first to do anything more than lay next to each other. But it was cold down in the library’s basement and, of course, they resorted to sharing body heat as they slept. While the pair did no more than share a few kisses – and maybe a few more before they settled down to sleep-

(Gaara blushed so cutely when she pecked his forehead, she couldn’t get enough of it, and he retaliated with kissing her hands, smirking smugly when she grew flustered.)

-and cuddling up together more easily than they would admit in the morning – the night passed in comfortable, casual intimacy.

When the morning came, however, Sakura was met with a very obvious lack of her new companion, the space next to her empty. In a panicked flurry that she would later be ashamed to remember, she checked her belongings, but found them just as she’d left them, nothing missing or out of place.

Except that piece of chalk.

Standing and stretching, a little forlorn to find Gaara missing, Sakura glanced around and noticed the chalk trail drawn over a nearby wall. She gave a slight smile and followed the path, fingers brushing over the chalk line as it led her to a door, which was closed securely but unlocked.

Following the chalk, she traveled up a short set of stairs, through another closed door, and out into one of the school’s hallways. There were a few corpses lying around, some of which looked pretty freshly killed, and Sakura ran her fingers through her hair, glancing down when her radio crackled to life.

“I’m at the school’s entrance, are you still okay?” Came Neji’s voice, determined with an edge of concern.

Glancing down at herself, Sakura shrugged before smiling and retrieving the radio. There was no sign of Gaara, and she doubted she’d see him on her way out, but, she had a good feeling that she’d see him again, one day.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”