Sakura let out a small yelp as her two best friends burst through the front door of her home.

"Sakura-chan!"

On a regular day, this would have been normal.

Sasuke and Naruto would either individually walk into her home without knocking or together. Becoming as thick as theives in the last three years would do that to you and it left no room for boundaries. At first, it was both awkward and embarrassing because Sakura loved to walk around with only cute panties and a matching bra. But after a while, it didn't matter if she was fully dressed or completely naked. They obviously didn't come to her house to get a peek, they'd matured into fine shinobi and kept those shenanigans to a minimum.

House calls always consisted of having dinner, fun nights in, or serious conversations about their problems. Other nights consisted of mission planning between Naruto and Sasuke while Sakura put in her two cents. Talk about politics or sports (something that Sakura wasn't too interested in. She preferred music and literature to be a good topic.) and debates on why Sakura didn't join the ANBU black ops medical team.

After skipping ranks and training hard, Naruto and Sasuke had both joined ANBU. They begged her to join them so they could be on the same squad and see each other all of the time. Naruto told her that they were going to be Team Seven 2.0: ANBU Edition, better and stronger. But she had to decline for she had the hospital that she had to run. She was the most skilled medical nin in Konoha, second to her shishou Tsunade. She couldn't waste her time wearing silly animal masks and transitioning through walls when needed.

She had lives to save!

Since they couldn't get her to change her mind, they went with visiting her as much as they were able. How much they came over she would think that they lived here instead of her. She didn't mind it as much as she complained, though. She knew that those two blockheads would always be her number ones in her head, and she theirs.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried out once more.

Sasuke had his left arm drapped over Naruto's shoulder using him as a human crutch. Naruto had his left arm around Sasuke's waist struggling to stand straight. They were both dressed in their regular ANBU apparel. You'd almost think that they'd been training all day and was coming home to relax. This would've been the preferred reason as to why Naruto was carrying an unconscious Sasuke into her home.

Their blood soaked clothes told her that the reason was far worse.

The top half of Sasuke's uniform was ripped away and he had bloody scratches and bruises all over. She didn't think that was enough to make him comatose but then she saw the pool of blood that was forming at his bare feet. Naruto's top half was still intact. But his pant legs were shredded and his bandages were loosely hanging from his calves covered in blood.

Naruto had kunai and shuriken sticking out from his arm and back on his right side. His red striped cat mask was on the side of his head and he held Sasuke's blue and white platypus mask in his hand. Naruto quickly moved to the couch sitting Sasuke on the floor in front of him. Sakura had already gone to get her medical supplies and was back at Naruto's side. That's when she saw the terrible wound on Sasuke's back.

Three claw marks ran down from Sasuke's right shoulder blade down to the middle of his back. The wound was dripping with blood and Sakura felt her stomach churn. In the past, she'd seen wounds just as bad if not worse. It was because this was Sasuke and Naruto that made it painful to see.

She moved closer to put Sasuke's body between her knees and put his head on her thigh. She raised a hand above the bloody wound and a green light glowed from it as she applied her chakra. Beside her, Naruto was gasping as he began pulling the weapons out the side of his body and tossing them on the floor.

"Naruto, what happened?" Sakura asked, slowly and calmly. She knew that she needed to keep her emotions in check for Naruto's sake. He was quite dramatic and she didn't want to scare him by panicking.

"A-ambush. We were delivering a scroll and as we ran across the bridge...Ame nin...they came out of n-nowhere," he responded, his voice cracking. "I couldn't get to him fast enough. I'm s-so sorry Sakura-chan."

"Stop that right now," with her other hand she reached out and put it on his cheek, looking into his teary eyes. "You did your best to protect him. He will be fine when I'm through with him and so will you. Just calm down."

He nodded before leaning over, putting his forehead on her shoulder. She put her hand on the side of Sasuke's head and ran her fingers through his hair. Releasing more chakra from her other hand, she continued to heal the dreadful lesion.

After a few moments, Sasuke stirred and put his arm on Naruto's lap. Naruto gently took Sasuke's hand in his own and gave it a light squeeze.

Today was not going to be a regular day.