Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

When Uchiha Sasuke returned to Konoha, he half-expected things to be the same. He half-expected that Naruto would always be the jolly friend whom he'd have senseless bickering with every-so-often. He half-expected Kakashi to sill be reading that same old, same old stupid orange book he always read and he half-expected Sakura to look at him with the same tenderness in her jade eyes - like he'd always be the one she'll ever love; like she'd always, always be there for him.

But, of course, a part of Sasuke still knew he was leading himself into a delusion. And that part - the rational part of him - reminded him every minute of every day that all this was his fault anyway. While Naruto was still the same idiot he was then, he was as strong as, if not stronger, than Sasuke was. While Kakashi read through his volume, he watched at him with one wary eye. And while Sakura looked at him whenever she told him something - or when she just wanted to look at him - he knew that the sad gaze she gave him was a far cry from how she looked at him then.

Oh, but Uchiha Sasuke liked lying to himself.

He told himself that he didn't care and that it was okay. He told himself that he wasn't going to be the least affected of the things he'd noticed. After all, he was used to feeling alone.

. . catachresis - repentance

When he and Naruto got back from a mission, the first thing they did was head to the hospital to see Sakura about their injuries. Or, at least, that was what Naruto did; Sasuke couldn't really do anything because Naruto already dragged him to it.

As they entered the hospital lobby, Sasuke immediately noticed the number of injured people - ninjas and civilians - crammed up in the lobby. It seemed that the reason there were so many civilians injured was that a construction site by the market didn't do enough precaution from accidents. The ninjas... well, it looked like they, too, had just come by from a mission and were waiting to be treated by the medics.

Sasuke expected that he and Naruto would sit with the people waiting, so he was surprised when Naruto just by-passed them and waved to the first medic he saw.

"Sakura-chan here?" the blond asked.

The medic looked at him and Naruto warily. "She is...but I don't think it's okay to be seeing her right now." She glanced at the glaring people by the lobby, this time.

Naruto waved her off and started walking towards Sakura's office again. "It's okay, she knows we're coming."

Sasuke was about to scold his friend for his brash behavior, but he'd already opened the door to Sakura's office and Sasuke instantaneously felt his brain go mush.

Sakura was across the room, looking at the both of them with one pink eyebrow raised, dressed in her medical attire, her pastel pink hair tied up in a messy bun.

Sasuke swallowed.

"Can I help you?" she inquired, her tone betraying nothing, but Sasuke could see the glint of amusement in her eyes as she spoke.

"Aw, Sakura-chan! We just got back from a mission and that's all you say?" Naruto pouted, walking nonetheless towards the pink-haired medic. Sasuke reluctantly followed.

Sakura crossed her arms at her chest and stood up, glaring pointedly at the blonde. "You know, for once, you should try waiting in line before you get medical care. You take having me as a medic for granted all the time."

Naruto grinned, raising both his arms and resting his palms at the back of his head. "What are friends for, right?" he quipped.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but beckoned Naruto to sit down anyways, beginning her healing procedure.

For a moment, Sasuke felt like he didn't exist. It was her and Naruto talking all the time, it was like he wasn't there -

"All done!"

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!"

- until Sakura's jade eyes met his.

"You're next, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke-kun.

Why did she even call him that when it was so obvious that the suffix didn't hold any form of endearment she had for him then?

In a gruff voice, Sasuke answered. "I'm fine. I don't need medical attention."

Sakura blinked a couple of times before raising her eyebrow again. "Really." Her assurance didn't sound at all like a question.

Sasuke noticed the way her eyes deadpanned that she didn't believe him. He noticed the small frown on her pink lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss her, hold her, caress her flawless skin, to make her squirm underneath him -

"Yes," Sasuke answered stiffly before looking away. He had enough interaction with Sakura for today.

Sakura studied him for a moment, before walking right in front of him, but never once breaking her inquisitive gaze.

"You're really fine?" she asked.

"Aa."

- to see the blush on her cheeks as screams his name over and over and over and over -

Something poked his side.

Sasuke flinched.

"So... having two broken ribs is fine, huh?"

Sasuke glared at her in time to see the sardonic grin plastered on her face and he wondered if she'd ever use that expression on him if they were still their twelve-year-old selves.

"Teme, stop being an ass and just let her heal you so that you can get this over with," Naruto said, an amused expression on his face.

Sasuke ignored his best friend's comment and scowled at the woman before him. "I don't need your help, Sakura," he said. "I don't want you healing me."

And because he was looking directly at her eyes, he immediately saw the hardening of her expression. Sasuke immediately realized his mistake.

"I've trained on becoming a medic for years, Sasuke. I've trained under the Godaime herself. I don't need you labeling me as weak," she snapped, shoving Sasuke's one arm behind him and healing his injury.

Sasuke said nothing, and continued to watch his ex-team mate's green chakra soothe his pain away. When she was done, she looked up at him again, with the same impassive expression. Surprisingly, Naruto said nothing, too.

"I thought by now you've already realized that I'm not the same useless little girl I was back then," she continued, before going back behind her desk and going through her files

That wasn't what I meant, he wanted to say, but didn't. Not when Naruto reluctantly thanked her and bid her goodbye. Not when Naruto half-dragged him out of her office. Not when Naruto scolded him for having a "stick up his ass so far that it had already damaged his brain". Not then, not ever.

Nobody, but Uchiha Sasuke himself, knew that when he said he was fine, he meant his injuries were nothing compared to the injuries of the people waiting on the lobby. Nobody knew that when he said he didn't need her help, he meant that others needed her more and that she should attend to them and not waste chakra to somebody who has hurt her so much, so, so much, but she cared about nonetheless. Nobody knew that when he said he didn't want her healing, he meant that he didn't want it because he didn't deserve it because she was so good that being in her mere presence was already privilege.

Nobody knew.

And so in the eyes of everybody else, he would always be the cold-hearted bastard who left Sakura - the girl who loved him with all her heart and would do anything for him - alone that night on a cold, stone bench.

A/N. Thoughts on Naruto 605: WAAAAHOOOOOOWOOOOAWWWWWHHHOW WWW