Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything that has to do with the franchise. The only thing I do however own, is this plot.

Yes, I know I should be working on my other pieces. Sometimes the writing bug bites you in the wrong places and ideas tend to come to mind and it's a horrible thing. This has been nagging at me for a couple of days now to be written.

So I present to you this three-shot. Trust me when I say everything will be well in the end.

Dedicated to a certain someone, with all of my love.

"They say pain is an illusion/This is just a bruise/And you are just confused/But I am only human" – "Human" by Krewella

Sakura POV

I have never felt as though I've belonged.

I've always been "too weird" or "too loud" or a "know it all". Nothing I seemed to do ever seemed good enough for anyone. Not my parents, my friends, my teachers.

Not anyone.

Growing up, I was always told that I was too smart for my age, and that my heart was way too big for someone of my age as well. My parents would always say that I cared too much – that I wore my heart on my sleeve and always tried to see the good in everyone, no matter what horrible things they had done to themselves, someone else, or even myself. So, I guess that even as a small child there had always been a raging battle between my head and my heart.

There I was, that awkward little girl with bright green eyes and obnoxious pink hair that stood out from afar, always having her nose buried in some type of book. Half the time it was a random book I had picked up, and the other half I have been told that I was studying for things that I would be learning years down the line. I had decided at a young age that what I lacked in looks, I would make up in intelligence, because I would rather be good for something than good for nothing. If I could be good at making a strategy, evasion, or even be that wild card that no one expected that watch from the shadows, I wanted to be useful instead of just someone who got in the way. As I grew older this of course changed once I realized there was that thing called 'boys'. Aka, that boy named Sasuke Uchiha. My pre-teen years were spent trying to impress him in whichever ways possible, and I became a vain individual – something in which I am not proud of.

Where had that motivated girl gone? The girl who didn't need a man? The girl who loved to learn and loved being independent?

Oh yeah, she was with every other girl who did this to herself.

She got pushed to the side and locked in a room with the others, because that side of her grew insecure that she would never amount to anything with anyone because she was afraid of being labeled a nerd.

Becoming part of a group of people helped me grow as a person. Working together in an actual team helped me realize my true strengths and weaknesses, and help me begin to improve myself. Once I realized that not everything was about myself or about one other person in particular, I began to realize that everything that I was doing was for the greater good of those around me. I realized that I wanted to help others. I wanted to be the person that someone wouldn't expect to make their day better.

I had always had a knack for chakra control. I don't know why, it was just something that I had always been good at. After Sasuke betrayed the village and Naruto went off to train, I begged Lady Tsunade to take me as her disciple. I wanted to become stronger. I wanted to do something with myself. I wanted to distract myself from the pain of losing the one person who would make my heart beat so much faster, and bring a blush to my cheeks.

I didn't need him anymore.

I didn't need to seek his approval anymore.

I realized I only needed myself.

I no longer wanted him, or Naruto to feel as though they had to protect me. To carry me in battle. No, I decided that I wanted to fight alongside them. I wanted to be treated as an equal, and not be their extra baggage.

Which brings me to where I am today.

Another day, another life or so saved.

Time becomes irrelevant once you are in that operating room I've learned. The stress of keeping that person alive destroys your concept of time. I never know how long I am in there until I finally look up at a clock once I get out. Another seven hour surgery, and yet it only feels as though I was in there for a matter of minutes. Even though the war has been long over, some have suffer long term effects, and the next thing I know I find them on my table with their heart barely beating.

"Haruno-sama," I heard one of my assistants say. I think her name is Ayame. "Why don't you head home and get some sleep? I think the hospital will be alright without you for a few hours."

I scoffed. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Why don't you come back tomorrow evening, Haruno-sama?" Ayame asked, her gaze trailing down towards the floor. "Forgive me for my rashness. But you have been here for three days straight, senpai. Myself and the others have grown concerned about your health. We don't want the stress of the hospital to make you sick, or completely tear you apart. I know firsthand that it gets to be a lot to constantly be here with everything that goes on. I also know that as head of this hospital you already have the weight of the world on your shoulders with everyone who comes in and out of these doors. I know that you feel responsible for everyone. But I also know that you have brought in those who you consider to be the best. Trust us, senpai."

I raised an eyebrow. "You are correct that I have only brought in the best. I also admire your bluntness, Ayame-chan."

"No one understands the patients like you do, Haruno-sama!" she smiled, even though I could tell she was lost in the vortex of her own thoughts again.

"What are you not telling me?" I asked a little too curtly, already guessing what my staff had been up to.

The girl shifted her feet. "Forgive me, but we have already spoken to Lady Tsunade, who has asked us to not only give this to you, but to ask you to please keep from destroying the village because Lord Sixth already has enough on his plate."

Opening the piece of paper, my jaw dropped. "TWO WEEKS FORCED TIME OFF!?"

Ayame took off running. "Forgive me! It was all Jin's idea!"

Rest in peace Jin, because once I'm back you're most likely going to find yourself fired.

I made my way over to my office, and took off my lab coat, hanging it up on the rack. Wait, have I really not been home in three days? I looked down at what I was wearing, noticing I was still wearing my blue shirt with my black dress pants. I guess not.

Like I said, ones concept of time is completely destroyed once you enter an operating room.

Walking out of the hospital, my mind began to wander to a case I had earlier on, of a teenage girl and her scruffy looking boyfriend. She had a baby on the way and had been thrown out of her home by her parents, and moved in with the boy and his family. Now, I knew the boys parents from previous experiences with them coming in and out to get routine exams done, and I knew that sometimes things would get a bit rough for them. Because of my prior history, I would occasionally give them some medication on the house out of the goodness of my heart, which I knew if Lady Tsunade found out she'd have my head for.

But as I've told you before, I do what I do for the greater good of those around me.

How could I let this girl suffer? That family could barely afford to give themselves three square meals a day, and now with an extra going to be two mouths to feed, I couldn't let that happen. I held the girl back in the examination room as the boy walked out to fill out some paperwork and file her next appointment, and I slipped her some vitamins and medication that I knew she was going to be needing. How they were going to raise this child, I didn't know. But if I could help her and her child's health, so be it.

I looked up at the night sky as I rounded the corner, taking notice of the stars in what felt to be ages. Why hadn't I noticed the vastness of them before? Why hadn't I taken the time to enjoy the simplistic things that nature has given me?

And then the wind blew past me, and it was almost as though it had whispered those words into my ear that I had wished I had forgotten.

"I just wish you could understand, I don't wish to share my pains with a broken heart. I love you for your flaws, your imperfections, the things that make you uniquely you. Unlike other people, you're human. You have the ability to truly be able to love."

Dammit Sasuke.

How I hate that all these years later you still have the ability to make me cry like a child.

"Hey! Hey Forehead! Girl, what's going on? What are you doing standing around aimlessly at this time of night?" I heard the shrill of my best friend calling while wrapping her arms around my waist, pulling me out of my zoned out state.

"Huh? Oh, Ino."

"Sakura, what's going on?"

I closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from continuing to fall and shook my head. "It's nothing. It's really nothing. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"Sakura, you think I don't know you as well as you think I do. You have been drowning yourself in work because you don't want to deal with whatever is going on. So, why don't you talk to me?"

" 'I just wish you could understand, I don't wish to share my pains with a broken heart. I love you for your flaws, your imperfections, the things that make you uniquely you. Unlike other people, you're human. You have the ability to truly be able to love.' I just don't know what to do, Ino. Those words are just haunting me."

Ino slipped her hand into mine, and the next thing I knew I saw myself standing outside of her families flower shop, her having led me there.

"Are you going to come in Forehead, or not?"

"Are you going to give me much of a choice? Hey! Get off of me!" I yelped as Ino attempted to fling me over her shoulder and drag me into her house.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answers to!" she answered as she tackled me onto her kitchen floor and put her hand over my mouth. Kicking her door closed she turned stared at me with her baby blue eyes. "Now, you are going to tell me what that bastard did, before I go and kill him myself."

I raised an eyebrow and motioned with my eyes towards her hand, which she then proceeded to take away from my mouth. "Are you going to release me now?"

"Are you going to talk to me?"

"Fine."

Ino climbed off of me and did a fist pump of victory before we both sat down at her kitchen table.

"You sure don't allow me to keep much of a low profile, do you Ino? Every time I want some peace and quiet to myself or just want to wander about you always tend to show up and drag me off. What the fuck! Why is that!"

"There we go. There's the spit-fire Sakura that you are." Ino said in a sing-song voice. "I knew getting you riled up enough would get you to talk."

I sighed and smashed my head down on the table.

"I'm sorry Sakura. You know that I tend to suck at things like this. You've always been the one who can crack the jokes or do something weird and get people to talk. But you haven't been yourself, and I've been worried."

"You know I hate it when you cause a public scene." I mumbled.

"And if I'm not mistaken you are the famous apprentice of Lady Tsunade, part of the team led by the student of the fourth Hokage, Kakashi, who has many achievements and notabilities under his belt, who has also somehow managed to become our sixth Hokage. You are a public scene once you walk outside of our house just for those two things alone. You are one of the main reasons we won the war. You started a hospital. You have somehow managed to keep Sasuke home…"

"Don't mention him."

Ino's baby blue eyes widened and a smirk appeared on her face. "I see we have finally acknowledged the source of this problem."

My breath hitched as I gripped my hands together.

"Ah yes, the one and only Sasuke Uchiha." She continued, knowing she was going to get to me eventually. "Your teammate, yes? I remember him, with those dark eyes of his and his jet black hair. Kami Sakura, he's so gorgeous I'm surprised –"

"Ino! Stop!" I yelled as I started sobbing again.

She rested her hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

"He doesn't 'want to share his pains with a broken heart'. That's what happened. He snapped out of nowhere. One minute I thought everything was okay. Well, as okay as things can get for Sasuke in his life with everything that he does. The next minute I come home to find him sitting at the table looking like his life just came to a drastic end again. Now I know not to pry and I try not to pry when it comes to him because I know how he gets and then out of nowhere he just leaves me. No explanation. No nothing. I get a whole 'it's not you it's me' speech while I'm sobbing hysterically. What the fuck is that even supposed to mean Ino?"

"He knows he's hurt you once before, Sakura."

"That's in the past! I would have thought that we all would have moved on from that by now! The old Sasuke is dead! That Sasuke is dead! That evil, evil, man is gone!"

Ino bowed her head almost in an apologetic manner. "I know that."

"Do you remember? Do you remember when I asked Naruto to bring him back? 'Please bring him home Naruto. Bring him back, please!' Everyone wanted him home. Everyone knew he was hurting. Everyone knew what he had gone through. It wasn't him. That person wasn't Sasuke. He would have never just betrayed everyone like that. We all knew what had happened."

"He left you knocked out on a bench, Sakura."

"At least I tried! I tried to stop him!" I screamed.

"I know that. We all know that," Ino said calmly. "None of that was your fault. It wasn't your fault that he left. He made that decision on his own." I could tell she was starting to regret what she did when she found me.

I could feel my heart start racing and I could have sworn I felt the color drain from my body. I took my head into my hands as I felt everything start to spin into darkness.

"Sakura! Sakura, come back to me. Come back." I heard Ino call.

Shake.

Shake.

Shake.

"What? What happened?"

"You need to stop letting your past dictate who you've become. You are better than that Forehead."

I took a deep breath, trying to compose myself.

"And then you took him back."

"I did."

"Why?"

"Because I love him, Ino. I love a man who has not only hurt me on multiple occasions, but has tried to kill me on multiple occasions as well."

"How can you still love him?"

I paused. "Because I know that's not who he is."

I closed my eyes only to see the flashbacks of the war, of those years right after Naruto returned from his training. The deafening screams of the villagers when they realized what was happening, pleading for their lives. The screams on the battlefield of those whose lives had been taken, and those who had lost the ones they loved. The visions of travelling to the different villages, trying to save the lives that had almost been taken, the people who had been seriously injured because of his actions.

I could still see and hear everything, down to his terrifying laughter of when he would do all of these horrible things.

I could still hear Naruto, screaming in pain, begging Sasuke to stop this madness and to just come home. That he was his friend, and that he never gave up on him.

I could still hear Kakashi, trying to come up with a plan that would help end the madness but keep Sasuke alive and try to get him pardoned for everything that he had done.

I could still see TenTen, crying over Neji's body after I wasn't able to save him.

I could still see myself, shaking in fear as he approached me. I had accepted death as a friend at that point, but I knew he was going to make me suffer, or torture me enough and keep me alive to live with it. Those eyes would haunt me for as long as I live.

"If that's not who he is, then why are you back to how you were when he left you the first time?" Ino asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what, Ino?"

"How depressed you were. How you wouldn't leave your room for days. You shut everyone out. You wouldn't eat. You wouldn't talk. I came over every day to try to get you to smile. I never left your side, Sakura. When you finally came to, you spent every last second in that hospital trying to learn how to be a medic. You became engrossed in your work. I took it as you were distracting yourself at first, and then as you moving on. But I have come to realize that it was something you did to numb the pain. And you're doing it again."

"What do you mean, I am doing it again. Doing what again?"

"You are diving into the hospital again. Over the past few years, I have noticed that it has become almost of a safe haven for you. When something goes wrong, you hole yourself up there. Even your staff have noticed your patterns when it comes to that. Your grandmother died, you were in that hospital working your ass off. All of your shitty relationships, you were right back in that hospital. Sasuke hurts you? Well, I commend you for going out on that one date. You even let the guy hold your hand and kiss you. And then you came home and told me how you felt horrible about even letting that happen because of your feelings towards Sasuke. You turned down getting laid because of your conflicting feelings towards Sasuke."

I looked up at Ino, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that she was right.

"Forehead, I'm not saying this to be mean, but do you honestly believe that Sasuke even loves you at this point, and he's just not doing what he's doing for his own sick thrill of jerking you around and messing with your head?"

I bit my lip. "Sai had mentioned to me that maybe I'm just too broken and fucked up for Sasuke to love. That I've had too much damage done to me by Hojo and that it's just something Sasuke can't handle. He can't handle being with someone that's not the ideal woman. Someone who's been through what I have. He told me that Sasuke has his own things going on, and that he doesn't need someone like me. He doesn't need someone who jumps at the slightest creek around the corner. Someone who is afraid to go out sometimes because she's afraid of who she is going to run into. Someone who pushes people away because of her own fears and insecurities. Maybe Sai is right. Maybe Sasuke can't love someone like me. I'm not good enough for him. "

"Fuck Hojo!" Ino yelled. "That bastard probably hurt you more emotionally than Sasuke ever has, and that says a lot right there. They are two separate people, and if Sasuke had a brain in that head of his he would know not to judge you based off of what that bastard did. If Sasuke can't handle it, then he should have never asked you about it. He should have stopped you from opening up to him."

"I told him because I felt he deserved to know. He deserved to know why I freak out over certain things. Why I act the way I do sometimes. Why I tried pushing him away. I was scared to allow myself to fall in love with someone again."

"And like Sasuke told you. You're human. You have the ability to love. You have the ability to show love, Sakura. Not many people can do that. Not many people can open their heart up like you do. Face it, Sasuke was a complete stranger to you after all was said and done. Ugh, if only I could have confronted him when I had the chance. Then maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe...no…no…I've had plenty of opportunity to do it Sakura. Plenty. Want to know why I never did? Why I never said anything to him? Because you are my best friend, and as your best friend even if I don't agree with your decisions, I respect you enough to not butt in. I respect you enough to allow you to make your own decisions. I will in fact voice my disapproval to you if I disagree, which I have done so in the past. You think no one likes you, but the reality is that everyone loves you."

"Then why is it that even after all of those years training with Lady Tsunade, I still feel like that stupid, pathetic, crybaby weakling that I was when I was first placed on team seven with the boys?"

"Because you allow yourself to feel that way. No one thinks that of you, but you."

"Why is it that I feel that everyone hates me?"

"Because you're human, and you have insecurities just like everyone else." Ino said with a smile. "You worry too much about others, and not about yourself. You need to start worrying about yourself, Sakura."

I finally looked up at Ino, who had rested her hand on top of mine.

"Finally, I get to see those green eyes of yours actually looking at me. For a moment I thought..." she trailed off, sounding worried. "I'm sorry, Sakura. It's just…I…I've been concerned. We all have. It takes all of the will power and composure that I have not to march into that hospital, rip you out, and force you to talk to me and just unload everything that's weighing on your mind on me. Since I can't get into that head of yours anyway," she laughed. "How bad did he hurt you this time?"

I ran my hands through my hair, noticing that I needed to take a long overdue shower. "Well I guess I haven't been home in three days and I don't remember life outside of the operating room. So…" I shrugged.

"When was the last time you ate something?"

I shrugged again.

"Are you hungry? Never mind, I shouldn't even be asking you that. What do you want to eat or am I just going to have to force it down your throat?"

I smiled. Ino has always been the better cook out of the two of us, and every time I would come to her house she was always trying to feed me something. "I'm really not all that hungry, but thank you anyway."

"I will not tolerate this. The way you always have to be so selfless. Be selfish for once! Tell me to cook you something ridiculous! Tell Sasuke how much you love him and how much it fucking sucks when he takes things out on you. Tell that idiot to talk to you! Tell him what you want from him! Tell him that you are sick of him making you cry all the time! Tell him that you love him so much that you hurt. Be selfish! Be selfish with me! Be selfish with him! Fuck! Think about you for once! Not everyone expects the world from you Sakura. I've already told you. Everyone has already told you. No one is blaming you for anything that has happened to you. It's not your fault. Nothing is your fault."

And there I was, sobbing again like a moron. "I love him Ino. I want him to know how much I love him. I want him to know that I have never felt like this towards anyone before. I have been with other guys, but I can't understand why my heart is drawn to him the way it is. I can't understand why I love him the way I do. I want him to know that when we talk, even if it's just me talking and him pretending to listen, that means more to me than he realizes. I want him to know that I would be more than willing to not have sex with him until he's completely ready if that's something that he wants. I want him to know that I'm afraid that he's going to try to cage me like someone had done to me before, and I want him to allow me to be a free spirit, but reel me in when I've gone too far up into the clouds. I want him to know that I really don't want much from him except someone to talk to and someone to hold when I'm feeling sad or stressed out. I want him to know how sorry I am that Hojo damaged me as much as he has and that's the person that I am, and how I'm still trying to find myself. I want him to know that he's made me happy. I want him to know how hard it was for me to tell him that I loved him back, because I was afraid of feeling those feelings again towards someone, and that when I did say it back, I truly meant it. And I want him to know how hard it is for me to tell him any of that."

It felt as though we were sitting there for hours with me being in Ino's arms and her trying to soothe me. I don't know when I fell asleep, but I assumed that I cried myself to sleep, because when I opened my eyes I was laying in Ino's bed with my body facing towards her window, which I noticed had a beautiful view of the village.

Ino walked into the room and sat up. She opened her mouth to talk but I cut her off.

"Thank you."

Ino smiled. "You're welcome."

"I'm sorry I didn't come find you sooner."

"Don't be. I know you'll talk to me when you're ready. But I also know you'll bottle it up until I force it out of you. And I'm proud of you, you finally allowed yourself to be a little bit selfish."

"Can I have some strawberry banana pancakes?"

"They're already on the stove."

Now it was my turn to smile. "I should have figured as much."

"You are going to speak to Sasuke today."

My mouth dropped as my smile quickly faded. "I can do that later," I quickly said as I began to look for something to wear.

"I put clothes for you on the chair in the corner," she motioned with her head as I noticed a pair of her civilian clothes laid out. "And you can't keep avoiding him."

I slipped into the light blue waist high skinny jeans and looked over at her. "He probably didn't even realize that I was gone. He doesn't want to talk to me anyway."

I could tell right away Ino didn't agree with me. "You loud-mouthed knucklehead of a team mate reached out to me wondering of your whereabouts last evening once he caught word that you had left the hospital. Once I got you into bed I went out with him. Sasuke wants to speak with you."

I opened my mouth to protest but Ino put her hand up. "Forehead, as much as I am not a fan of him and what he's done, I think you need to hear him out. I also think that you need to express to him the feelings that you had told me last night. That is probably something that he needs to hear, weather he wants to hear it or not. Oh no no no. Wear the black tank top with that, not the white one." She mumbled as she threw a black tank top in my direction. "It looks so much better on you than the white does. The black makes your eyes stand out more. Those jeans look good on you. You can keep them if you want. No, you're keeping them, and I'm doing your makeup after you eat."

I sighed.

"No ifs and buts. You will be speaking to him even if I have to drag you there myself."

I know logically that if I delay this awaited any longer it will only add fuel to whatever fire that is currently burning. So I just proceeded to nod in order to shut her up. Ino gave me a contented sigh and she walked out of her bedroom to get the food. I felt my body start shaking. Yeah, I am way too chicken shit to face him right now. Or ever. I'm too scared to even talk to him.

What if Sai is right about everything?

What if Sasuke blames me for everything that has happened since he's come back into my life and into the village?

How exactly do I even approach this topic of conversation with him? I can't just dive right into it head first. I hate doing that. I can't just sit there and not say anything to him either, and wait for him to tear into me and then rage right back at him.

And then I remember I'm not a machine.

I'm only human.

Next chapter will be Sasuke's point of view!

Bunny.