And They Call Me Weird…

Rating: T (Mild violence)

Warnings: Mildly OOC Naruto at parts, Karin bashing. Recent manga spoilers, I guess.

Well, it looks like I finally managed to do it- I finally managed to find Sasuke!

Okay, okay. So Hinata was the one to actually find him, but hey, we can't all have long-distance sight. And, well, I'll admit it did help that he was unconscious; which was largely Itachi's doing. But someone had to beat off his circus-freak team, right? Okay, so maybe four-eyes was the only one who really had a problem with it but...

Oh, I give up. The point is, Sasuke is here, right? Look, he's even in one piece.

That, I will also admit, is entirely Sakura's doing.

When we found him, he was barely alive and passed out on the ground next to his brother. Sakura totally started freaking out. Oh all right, it was me who started freaking out, but I have to tell you, that place looked like Hell. I had no idea what exactly had gone on in this place, but judging from the state of things, I don't think I wanted to know. That's when I vaguely remember Sakura yelling something at me, snapping me out of my split-second freakout moment.

"Naruto, you idiot! You're going to have to carry him!"

Oh yeah, that's what she said. I remember now. You see, when Sakura uses that tone, I just do what I'm told. You try not doing what she says when she's that angry. I dare you. I remember four-eyes screaming something at me to the effect of "take your hands off my Sasuke-kun." I hated to break it to her, but even if I hadn't wanted to carry back my best friend myself, Sakura was scarier than she was. Period.

The big guy made the point that Sakura was the nearest medic ninja available, and they would have to work quickly if they wanted to save him. It amazed me how the guy with the pointy teeth could still make jokes with four-eyes when his team leader was passed out on the floor in a room torn down into shambles and coated with only God knows whose blood. Looking back, It seemed a little bit like the wrong time, but I wasn't about to say anything.

And so I carried off my best friend victoriously into the sunset just as I had always imagined.

Well, I guess it wasn't exactly how I pictured it. I pictured a little more kicking and screaming...and maybe a little less dead weight. God, he was heavy.

And Sakura's been by his side ever since. He still hasn't woken up yet, and I'm pretty convinced she doesn't intend to leave him alone until he does. There are times when I've thought about giving her a light knock to the head just so she'll get some sleep, or at least stop long enough to recover some of the chakra she's pouring out on him like mad. Then I see her giving him that look, and I think better of it. You know, that look? The look that I came to terms with a long time ago that wasn't meant for me? That look on her face that she would only get when she looked at him. That's usually when I wanted to punch him instead, but as he was barely alive a little less than twenty-four hours ago, it didn't exactly seem like the smart thing to do. I'll just settle for sitting here, silently calling you a bastard for ignoring Sakura-chan's feelings. I'll kick the crap out of you when we get home, bastard.

"Oh, I can't wait until Sasuke-kun wakes up so we can get the hell out of here." Her though- her I probably will punch before this is all over. I'm would be surprised that Sakura hasn't done it for me yet if she wasn't still hovered over Sasuke, sweat pouring down over her face, chakra flowing from her hands, and that look in her eyes. She seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that her hair is all tangled and hastily tossed up and her face is covered in sweat. Really, she looks like a mess.

But of course, I'm not going to tell her this. They may call me stupid, but I'm not that stupid.

"Oi, Sakura-chan? How is it going?"

"Naruto, let her concentrate." It was captain Yamato. He's right, of course, but it's just not like me to sit here and stare. I briefly wonder if Sasuke would wake up faster if there weren't so many damn people crowding the room before a leg hits me on its way past. Then I wonder how I managed to accidentaly touch Hinata without her turning red and ending up on the floor. I'm not entirely sure why, but that seems to be what always happens every time I violate her personal space bubble. I make a memo to myself to make sure she is balancing a few cups of water, like the one that she is setting beside Sakura, before I try to talk to her again, as that seems to be a great way to keep it from happening. When she heads back to the edge of the room again, she holds out a cup of water to me as well.

"H-here, Naruto-kun..."

Her face is beet red. So much for that idea. Although she's still not on the floor, so perhaps we're making some progress. Or maybe we're not making any progress at all, depending on how you look at it.

Oh I just know Sakura would have slapped me for that. Or worse. Probably worse.

All of the sudden, Sakura sits back and stops with the glowy healing jutsu. That could only mean one thing.

Oh, I had to be there for this. I was on the other side of Sasuke before you could say "ramen".

Not that I couldn't totally go for some ramen right now, but that's a little off the point.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he did was look at me and groan. Well, nice to see you too, bastard. "You finally did it, teme." I said instead. Hey, it was a little nicer.

"Hn. Yeah." Heh, classic Sasuke. Whatever happened to 'gee, guys, thanks for saving my life back there'? Oh, and here's a novel idea, why don't you thank Sakura for sitting by your ass for almost a full day so you can actually sit up like your doing. Yeah, those wounds your looking for- totally not there anymore. You can stop looking for them anytime now. Seriously, Sasuke, why do you look so confused that you're healed?

Do I seriously have to spell it out for you? So much for genius ninja. And they say I'm the idiot.

"Sakura healed you, idiot. You would probably be dead if she hadn't come along. Pretty lucky, huh?"

"Sa...ku...ra?" No, dumbass, four-eyes. Because she's clearly useful for something besides stalking people. Of course it was Sakura. You act like you haven't seen her kicking ass and taking names for the past three years.

Oh, wait... whoops. I guess you haven't.

That's about when we both turn to look at our pink-haired compadre. I'm half expecting her to be bawling her eyes out or something. I mean hey, the dramatic reunion is upon us, right? So why am I not seeing her fling her arms around the idiot's neck and bawl her eyes out? She's just sitting there with a quiet contented smile on her face. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a little confused.

"You...healed me?" He asked. Perfect, he doesn't believe me. Having a hard time believing she's actually useful for something now, Sasuke? Surprise!

There is the oddest expression- well as close to facial expressions as you get with Sasuke- across his face. Something tells me he was anticipating the pouncing and the crying too, and he's absolutely baffled that it hasn't come. He's utterly confused that she continues to sit there and smile at him and probably even more confused that Haruno Sakura could have healed all of his injuries in such a short time. I love it. It's great.

"Sakura...thank you"

SLAM!

Okay...now I'm REALLY confused.

Now, don't get me wrong. I've seen Sakura-chan's mood shift a lot over the years, and she can instantly change moods like nothing else I've ever seen before. But this time? There wasn't even two whole seconds between "thank you" and Sasuke hitting the wall. Where I come from, you don't send someone flying across the room- and consequentially into the wall- for saying 'thank you'. And boy did Sasuke fly! Apparently Sakura had a little more chakra left over than I thought. Did I miss something?

"You're welcome, Idiot." She dusted off her hands and flashed him that sweet smile again before turning around and walking towards the door.

I give up. Memo to self: do not, under any circumstances, say 'thank you' to Sakura-chan.

I decided it would be best if I were the one to help Sasuke out of the wall- well, at least what was left of the wall after he hit it. Honestly, looking at the chunks of wall he was brushing off his skin and out of his hair, I was surprised he was still conscious, let alone able to stand. Honestly, It didn't even seem like he needed help to stand, but as Sai was already heading there, I decided it would probably be for the best that I head him off. The last thing we needed at the moment was a penis joke. I mean really- this was just not the time.

"You okay, bastard?! She didn't go all out, but she railed you pretty hard."

"Hn. I deserved that." He stated flatly.

See, at that moment, I don't know what freaked me out more. I could look around the room and see everyone either smiling or, like Kakashi-sensei, busting up laughing, at the sight of Sakura super-punching the Uchiha prodigy.

Or I could look at the bastard's face and see a really strange look in his eyes. I mean a really weird look. Like, it probably ranks up there with the weird looks that Neji shoots at Tenten when she's got her back turn- wait a second...

Oh Hell no. You can't be serious.

So let me get this straight. Sakura-chan spends half her life devoted to Sasuke-teme who never gives her the time of the day and even has the nerve to call her annoying. Three years later, when she finally does find him, she knocks the shit out of him...and he thinks it's...

...sexy?!

Well apparently there's no way to get the bastard's attention like putting him through a wall!

"WHAAAAAAAT?!" I just stared at him, and I'm pretty sure if my jaw could have hit the floor, it would have already been there. "You!" I flailed and pointed an accusing finger at him, "and you!" I made an overly-dramatic gesture somewhere in the general direction where Sakura had strolled off to.

"I don't EVER want to hear that I'm the weird one on this team again!"

Quite honestly, I hate it. This is just one of my ideas that was great in my head, but didn't quite translate well into text. I just needed to finish it so I could concentrate on other things. However, that's my opinion for you. If you happened to like it, then I'm glad.

Please don't flame me and tell me how much of a jerk you think I am for Karin bashing. 1) I don't care. 2) You were clearly warned before you started reading. 3) I don't hate Karin because she is an obstacle to Sasusaku. I hate Karin because she's just annoying and other than her ability to sense chakra, contributes nothing. If it makes you feel any better, I disliked Sakura for most of the pre-Shippuden anime/manga for the same reasons.

Don't fame me just to tell me how much you hate Sasusaku either. That's just immature. If you like Narusaku better, more power to you. Just let me have my fun, yes?

If you have something to say about my writing though- please let me know. Same thing goes for if you actually enjoyed this. I'd love to hear both! :D