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.

Sasuke allows himself only the shortest pause before untucking the edges of her tunic. He rolls up the hem where he can and cuts the rest of it so as not to jar the bone shard. Thankfully, there is no need to remove her clothing completely, but his cheeks still grow warm. He does his best to hide it, leaning forward and allowing his hair to fall in a curtain around his face. "What is next?"

"I need to drink a coagulation tonic, it'll temporarily thicken my blood to prevent the wound from bleeding too much. After that, you need to apply the elfroot balm around the wound to stave off infection and numb the area. After that, pull out the bone and add a healing poultice to speed up the regeneration—easy!"

Sasuke rolls his eyes, rather sure she is oversimplifying it. He is always surprised that a dwarf knows so much of healing.

"Well, we'd have to, wouldn't we?" she replies, and he realises he voiced his thoughts. "Dwarves don't have magic like you and the humans do. Normally, we can't even dream. So we have to learn practical ways of doing things to compensate."

"Hm. I suppose."

"That's not so surprising, is it? I mean, you hate magic—are you telling me you went to a mage whenever you had an arrow in the knee or your guts half hanging out?"

He inclines his head, point taken.

Sorting through the vials in her pack, Sasuke finds the tonic Sakura spoke of, and something he recognises as an anaesthetic from his own past injuries. He holds out both to her, and after she takes several sips of each, she lies back with her eyes closed. While she waits for them to take effect, Sasuke unscrews the top of the numbing balm and applies it generously to the area around the wound.

She shudders. Not from pain, he realises when gooseflesh rises against his fingertips and she mumbles, "Cold."

Sasuke watches her, observing the slight frown in her forehead that suggests she remains as alert as ever. Something occurs to him.

"You said dwarves do not dream," he says. He recalls her recent nightmare in their ice-cave shelter. "I have seen for myself that this is not true."

Sakura's expression darkens, and when she opens her eyes, something hollow and otherworldly flickers across her irises. He has seen that same glimmer in Naruto's eyes. Then, with a shiver, it fades and her usual brightness returns.

"Dwarves don't. I do. It's part of being a Warden," she explains. "I can't tell you why or how, but apparently that transcends anything so trite as biology."

"Is that why there are so few dwarven Wardens?"

"Well, I don't know if there aren't a lot of dwarven Wardens or if I haven't met them yet. Could be there are tons...but I sort of doubt it. We keep to our own, and if a duster really wants to fight darkspawn, take a step outside Iwa's borders and there they are," Sakura dismisses. "Okay, the numbing tonic will have gone into effect now and I can't feel anything down there anymore. Enlarge the wound and check if the bone's stuck anywhere, or if any pieces have broken off."

"Enlarge?" Sasuke echoes, making a face.

"With a knife. There's a sterilisation agent in the kit. Delicate cut, and when it's big enough, you can use your finger to follow the shaft of the bone all the way down. If it isn't lodged anywhere, just pull it out."

"And if it is lodged somewhere?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she answers calmly, and Sasuke feels his stomach rebel a little. "Anyway, as I was saying before, my kind don't need to join the Wardens. The Order only ever comes down to Iwa when they're ready to die, so it's pretty rare. And dusters are more likely to join the Carta or a merchant guild because you have a better chance of getting rich. Money is the second most important quality to a dwarf, next to being a warrior. And I had neither."

"If your family was so ensconced with the Carta, how did you end up recruited to the Grey Wardens then?" Sasuke asks, finding that hearing her talk helps him focus. At least if she is talking, she's not in pain or possibly about to bleed out because he has done something wrong.

"There was this local boss with the Carta—Sasori. Pulled all the strings of everything in Dust Town," she explains. "He ordered me to fix a match for him in the Proving Grounds."

"The Proving Grounds?"

"Yeah—blood sport entertainment for the masses at its best," she laughs. He shoots her a glare for jostling his workspace, and she bites her lips. "Oops. Sorry."

"You are a horrible patient," he informs her, before turning to his work. He is trying to be as delicate as possible as he enlarges the wound, not wanting to cut into anything vital.

"All healers are! Even more so if they're dwarves."

She watches him work for a while, and he can almost feel the smile directed at him as he does. It makes him uneasy.

"You were talking about some sort of contest?" he prompts.

"Oh—yeah, right! So, there are these battles for honour and glory that the nobles put on for a laugh and to make money. Anyway, Sasori wanted me to sneak in and mess with some nug-humping deep lord's armour so that his man could win the contest. Except the fool he hired got blind drunk the night before! The sot wasn't going to be able to pee standing up, let alone win a fight any time soon—rigged or not. And that would have been my hide."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at her, not wanting to betray his interest in the outcome, but admittedly curious. Sakura notices, because she grins at him, her nose scrunching up and her dimples coming out. She continues the story without need of prompt.

"So, I put his helmet and armour on—great thing about dwarven armour is it's as shapeless as it is solid. Can't tell if it's a man or woman under it usually, unless you've got an exceptionally long beard." She winks at Sasuke here, and against his will the corner of his mouth twitches. "I went into the fight in his place. I got all the way to the last round before the stupid idiot woke up and came staggering out into the arena," she finishes proudly.

"Surely they let you continue since you came so far," he says. Among his own people, prowess in battle is usually rewarded.

"Of course not," Sakura snorts. "Let a casteless piece of gutter trash sully their precious Provings? I had to make a run for it before they arrested me. But then Sasori and his people caught up with me before I could reaach the surface and he stuck me in his own little private gaol cell."

There is a pause here, one he would not notice except it happens the same time her expression goes dark, and her eyes glint with something cold.

I take it Sasori did not live to regret his mistake.

"Anyhow, after that I escaped and made another run for it, but the only way out was through the Deep Roads." She notices his confused look and adds, "Old, underground trade routes we lost to the darkspawn centuries ago. That's when I met this cloudhead from the surface wandering through the place. Iruka."

Sasuke recognises the name. Naruto speaks often of the man who recruited him to the Order and who died with his father during the offensive at Kannabi Bridge.

"He said he'd seen me in the Provings and that I had talent. He'd get me out of Iwa alive, as long as I promised to become a Grey Warden. It wasn't like I had much of a choice. It was either get lost in the Deep Roads until I became a giant spider's next meal or face the headman's axe back in Iwa. This way, I figured I could live a little longer. Maybe do some good. At least I'd get to see the world a little."

"Is that the reason you are so loyal to the Wardens?" he asks.

"Well, they gave me a second chance."

"No, they did not. One man did. And the way the half-wit bastard tells it, you have never even met anyone in your Order beyond himself and this Iruka. And in this country, you are hated just for being a part of the Wardens. One would think that with your background, you would not seek out such ill repute again."

"My background?" she repeats. "Oh, you mean because back in Iwa, I was a worthless, casteless thief?"

"I did not say that."

"No, it's fair. And it's true. But I'm also a Warden, and no one can argue it."

She has a point there, but he is still having trouble understanding why she would go through all of this.

"So you will give your life on this thankless quest, all in their name?" Sasuke asks. "What is this meant to prove?"

Sakura pauses for a moment, thinking, and concludes slowly, "It's meant to prove that I'm...that I'm more than anyone ever said I am. That even if I never returned home, in my heart I can know they were all wrong about me."

"It is never wise to put value on what others think of you. You owe no one any such thing," he tells her, unexpectedly vehement about this. "From what I have seen you accomplish, it is clear you are above the need to prove your worth to anyone."

"Except the only person who matters."

"And that is?"

"Me," she says quietly. "I need to prove it to myself. To test myself."

Sasuke's hand stills and a shiver arcs up his spine. He looks up, searching her face for anything to link her to the last person who said such a thing to him. Instead of cold calculation, he sees only earnest desire and genuine conviction. The contrast of reality against memory is jarring.

She cocks her head to one side. "Sasuke-kun? Are you alright? You're pale."

Sakura looks about ready to lean forward and check his temperature, stomach-wound be damned.

"I am pale because it is cold," he snaps, holding his hand out to keep her lying back. He ducks his head down on the pretence of studying her injury. "You should stop talking now. I need to dig the bone out, and that will be easier if you are not moving."

If she sees through his bristling, she is tactful enough not to say so.