The Red String of Fate: New Generation

Sasuke's Return - Mizuka

Mizuka ran down the main street, rushing toward the hospital. She had just received an urgent message from a medical ninja on duty tonight: a man was just brought in by a woman; he had severe bleeding and the healers on duty couldn't close the wound. She was met at the front door and escorted to the room by an apprentice healer.

She opened the door to a chaotic scene: Ino was hovering over the bed, working on a dark haired man who was hemorrhaging profusely. She was being assisted by Sakura, who was crying. They were both covered in blood. Mizuka walked to the bed as she dug through herr bag, picking out a bottle of green powder. She gently bumped Sakura aside with her hip, unscrewing the lid and dumping the bottle onto the man's torso. The bleeding instantly stopped. He was pale, but he was alive. Ino looked up at her sensei in disbelief.

"But, how..."

Mizuka still secretly loved when she could baffle her student with some obscure bit of healing knowledge.

"Alfalfa powder. I haven't had to use this in years. There's a very small subset of poisons that need a boost to close, something that Nara deer antler won't seal alone. Some added powdered alfalfa does the trick much of the time. It's a natural coagulant.

She looked down at the man's bloody chest, now coated in green powder.

"You don't need to use this much, though. This might have been too much."

Mizuka couldn't help but smile in relief.

"Is he going to need blood?"

She put on her stethoscope from around her neck. His heart still sounded fairly strong.

"Right now, nah. He'll be fine. If anything changes, we can get his blood type from his sample and set it up. He will need to eat and drink plenty and get a few days rest."

Mizuka turned and opened a cabinet, ruffling through boxes of plastic covered, sterile tubes and syringes. She plucked one with a cotton swab in it. A specimen tube. She turned back, snapping gloves on, ripping it open and extracting the swab from the tube. She ran it along the man's wound before putting it back into the tube. Ino smirked.

"Gonna figure out what stumped me?"

"Yes ma'am. I don't like when shit stumps my student. I'll give you the report in a couple of days and we'll discuss."

She turned back to Sakura, who had pulled a chair to the head of the bed and was sitting in it, stroking the man's hair. The color was already very slowly returning to his face.

"I'm guessing this is Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura nodded slowly. She looked as if she'd been through hell and back. She could only mouth a small 'hello.'

"Ino, you're done for the night. Go home, Love. Do you want someone to walk you home?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"Wake Sai up when you get back. Have him help you, Mama."

Ino hugged Sakura tightly.

"Don't leave. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sakura nodded and Ino left the room, leaving bloody footprints as she walked. Mizuka rustled through a drawer now, finding an armful of supplies. She spread them across the bed, tying a tourniquet around his arm, cleaning, and inserting an IV, deftly hooking it to the new saline bag hanging on the pole next to his bed. Sakura stood up, pulling her chair closer to her big sister. Mizuka was a little annoyed that they hadn't heard from her in almost a year.

"You're pregnant."

Sakura put her hands on her round belly. She nodded. She seemed to be in shock still.

"He'll be okay, Sakura. We stopped the bleeding in time."

She broke down, sobbing, letting out a primal cry of anguish. Mizuka pulled her up and held her tightly.

"It's okay. Let it out."

She held Sakura until she felt Sakura until she thought Sakura might collapse. She escorted her to the empty bed next to Sasuke's, having her lay down. She hovered over the bed, concerned.

"You probably shouldn't be travelling this far along in your pregnancy. Seven months?"

She nodded.

"What happened?"

Mizuka patiently waited for her answer as she began to clean a large laceration on Sakura's left forearm. Sakura took a calm breath and let it out slowly.

"W-We were ambushed by rogue shinobi not far from the village.. They came at us with kunai. One of them attempted to cut the baby from my belly...."

Her voice cracked and her words became garbled again.

"B-but Sasuke jumped in the way. He took the h-hit across the abdomen. He... saved us...."

Mizuka frowned. The rogue shinobi around the village were beginning to be a serious problem. She would need to mention it to Kakashi, before the clans began to settle around Konoha. She pulled the stethoscope once again from her neck and placed it again Sakura's shaky chest.Her heart was racing, but she was fine. She then raised Sakura's shirt, revealing her round belly. She placed her stethoscope against her belly, moving it around slowly. And there it was. Small and fast. Her niece or nephew. She took the stethoscope off, wrapping it around the back of her neck.

"You're safe. Baby Uchiha is safe. Sasuke will be fine. I will make sure that the rogue shinobi are neutralized in this area."

Sakura was still shaking badly. Mizuka pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Everything will be fine. I'll stay tonight to make sure that it stays that way."

She tenderly touched Sakura's belly through the covers. Sakura's teeth were chattering.

"Have you had any prenatal care?"

She nodded.

"We've been travelling with Karin. She's been very helpful."

Mizuka grinned. Karin was more trouble than she wanted to deal with, but she was a hell of a medic.

"Where is she now?"

"She stopped in Tenchi. We were supposed to catch up with her on the way back."

Mizuka shrugged.

"Figures."

Sakura reached a hand out from under the covers, touching Mizuka's belly.

"A-are you pregnant again?"

"I am. Kakashi and I decided to add one more to our House. I'm 14 weeks. We couldn't be more excited."

She couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Sakura gently kissed her own hand and pressed it against Mizuka's belly once again. Mizuka placed her hand over her sister's. After a moment, she took the brake off of Sakura's bed and rolled it over to Sasuke's, locking it again.

"There. Now you both have some room to sleep. I'm going to make some notes out at the nurses' station. Please call me if you need me."

She kissed Sakura's forehead protectively before heading to the door. She looked back one more time before leaving, watching her little sister curl up next to Sasuke.