30 Kisses: Sasuke x Sakura

Title: Because I Care

Author: Sicilian Maiden

Pairing: Sasuke Uchiha/Sakura Haruno

Fandom: Naruto

Theme: #11—gardenia

Rating: PG-13 (minor language and mild violence)

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto; I alleged no possession of said characters. I only request to take them to over-rowdy soccer games and force them to play at gunpoint.

Summary: Sometimes... he just didn't know why she did the things she did.

-o-

Uchiha Sasuke couldn't remember what had happened but he did know one thing—his head felt like it was going to split in half at any given moment.

'Damn, why do I feel like crap? I remember fighting those shinobi with the dobe, but then... nothing. So where am I?' The Uchiha sat up abruptly only to recoil and fall back onto the bed he had been laying on. A hiss slipped passed his tightly clenched teeth as he felt his eyes begin to sting at the searing and (quite literally) gut-wrenching pain shooting through his abdomen.

Sasuke furrowed his brow; his mind working at a million miles per hour. His eyes slowly opened to reveal a cream-colored room with off-white curtains. Said curtains were propped wide open allowing the sun's rays to penetrate every corner of the room. The sky was a deep crystal clear blue that echoed the absolutely opposite emotions that the young Uchiha was feeling.

His captivity, as he so aptly put it, smelt of antiseptics and iodine. It was a horribly sterile scent that made the young man shuddered. It just smelt so... so clean.

The next sense that came into play was his sense of hearing. It sounded a crying—a young girl to be exact. Who would be crying for him? Why was he in this distasteful place anyway? He turned his head (later regretting it) to see a young woman hiding her face in her hands. Her pink hair was mused and stuck to her face in some places.

Two sniffles and a hiccup later, the girl lifted her head to look at the young man that lay in the bed. Her red-rimmed eyes shot open as she realized that he was awake.

"Sasuke-kun? Y-you're okay." Sasuke heard her sigh before placing a hand on his forehead. Her usually vibrant and youthful jade eyes looked dead and glazed over. The light blush that was normally evident on her features was gone making her pale complexion appear even more ghost-like.

"S-Sakura?" at the mention of her name, the pink haired kunoichi grasped his hand squeezing it before rushing into her long prepared explanation.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry. I really am. I-I thought that I could h-handle the situation by itself but t-then... then I-I just don't know..." her words died off in a fit of hiccups. The hand that had been resting on Sasuke's forehead began to stroke his bangs in a soothing manner. In her attempts to make up for all the trouble she had caused, the young Uchiha's hand shot up to meet hers. He brought her hand down to his chest intertwining his fingers with hers in the rather painful process. Sakura gasped at the completely abnormal action made by her teammate.

'Doesn't he get the fact that it's all my fault that he's in the hospital? I'm so useless. I mean, I couldn't even heal him properly.'

'Of course not silly. That's why he's acting so nice. Tell him it's your fault and poof—he's back to mean, self-centered, egotistical, deadpan Sasuke. But if you don't, he'll find out one way or another that you caused this little incident and then he'll be more furious at you. If he hears it from you, maybe he won't be so mad. You know that he might even be proud that you're taking the responsibility for something.' Sakura's inner self had never truly lied to her before so why shouldn't she— hey!

'Wait a minute! You have steered me wrong on more than one occasion. Why should I trust you now?'

'Because dearie,' Inner Sakura replied in an all-too motherly voice, 'if you don't, than you might lose Sasuke forever. You want that? Huh?'

'No... I-I guess not. Fine. You win.'

'Good. 'Bout time.'

After having her rather... awkward conversation with her always optimistic inner self, Sakura turned her attention to the young, dark-haired Uchiha. She sighed deeply preparing herself for the cursing, name calling, and just plain yelling that was sure to follow in the next few impending minutes.

"Sasuke-kun, I really am sorry for what happened. If I hadn't distracted you, you might not be in the hospital right now. I'm terribly-"

"Hospital?" Sasuke cut her off with a rather demanding question.

"Yes. The hospital. You were really injured. You're head and your arm-"

"My... head?" Sasuke knitted his brows together in confusion as small pieces of memories came flooding back to him.

"Come on teme! We can't let them win!" a young blonde screamed—his hands working quickly to form a series of hand signs, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Suddenly, the wooded area filled with fifty blonde-haired, blue-eyed shinobi ready to kick some butt.

"All right already dobe!" the young Uchiha yelled back before activating his Sharingan and scanning his surroundings for enemies. Finding one disoriented man hiding behind the large trunk of a tree, Sasuke charged through the underbrush building chakra in his right hand. 'A small dose of chidori should be enough.' His right hand ripped through the man—a somewhat triumphant smirk plastered on the dark-haired teen's face.

The memories seemed to fade there but came back full force minutes before he lost consciousness.

Sasuke caught the kunai thrown at him with skill before hurling it back at the attacker. His Sharingan was working overtime as he searched for any more signs of the enemy shinobi. 'Nothing.' He continued to look for others when a shout echoed through the forest.

"Sasuke... Sakura!" the dark-haired shinobi whipped around to face the direction of the voice. 'Had he just yelled Sakura? Where is she? Why is she here? What is she do-" His questions were brought to an abrupt end when a bloodcurdling scream sliced through the night ending all of the fighting. Every shinobi in that vicinity stopped in their tracks; no one dared to move now that the young Uchiha was anxiously prowling for the owner of the voice.

Then, he saw her—there, pinned by the arm of a brown-haired Mist ninja, was Haruno Sakura. The young kunoichi was shaking violently as the opposing ninja took a kunai and ran it slowly down the base of her neck to her elbow leaving a line of oozing liquid in its path. The brown-haired shinobi twirled the kunai around his forefinger before plunging it into the juncture of the pink-haired kunoichi's shoulder and twisting it in a sickly manner.

Sakura screamed again; the sound of her distressed voice enraged Sasuke and before he knew what was happening, his curse mark had taken over and his was racing to the young girl's aid. The ninjas that had been hiding around the woods charged Sasuke sending wave after wave of attacks. Every kunai that hit Sasuke was barley noticed by the dark-haired shinobi; his mind was set on only one thing, saving Sakura.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Sasuke reached the two at the base of the tree. "Sakura!" Sasuke reached out to the young girl. Sakura pulled her arm from the shinobi and in turn, stretched out her hand trying desperately to grasp his own. It was then that she saw the blood read eyes of the Uchiha and the ebony colored marks that steadily advanced on his once handsome features.

A blue light erupted from Sasuke's right hand—Sakura realized it to be chidori. The chakra in his hand tore through the Mist nins arm and back forcing him to let go of Sakura and writhe in agony at Sasuke's feet. The young Uchiha too fell to the ground after exerting high levels of chakra. The last thing he heard before falling into blackness was the sound of Sakura crying out his name.

"Oh... I remember." silence befell the pair as they were both too far in their own worlds to discuss the matter any further. The young Uchiha gazed at the young girl at his side. She had changed so much since they had first become Team 7; she had matured so much.

Sakura, realizing that Sasuke was not berating her with names, decided that she would be brave and ask him why he was not angry with her.

"Sasuke-kun. Aren't you mad?"

The young man blinked before turning his head to look into Sakura's jade pools, "Of course not."

'WHAT! How are you not mad?!" Sakura's jaw slackened at the thought of Sasuke not being mad for something that was her fault.

Sasuke tired to suppress a chuckle but to no avail, "Sakura, I was not well when it happened. I cannot blame you for something that you had no control over. Yes, you should have stayed away, but after that, I believe that no one knew what was happening—more so, no one wanted to know." Sasuke gripped her hand in his own. As his eyes focused on Sakura's loving face, he saw a tall white flower sitting in a simple glass vase.

"Saskue-kun?"

"... is that a flower?" the dark-haired Uchiha squinted at the single ivory bud. 'A... gardenia?'

"Yes. I remember you saying at sometime or another, that your mother used gardenias and peach colored lilies for her wedding. I'm sorry that I couldn't find any lilies." Sakura lowered her gaze to watch the soft breeze coming from outside ruffle the creamy petals of the flower.

Sasuke gasped, "Why?"

Sakura looked taken aback before she replied, "Why what Sasuke-kun?"

"Why would you go through all this trouble? Your shoulder must be killing you. I am aware that you are a skilled medic-nin but still... why wouldn't you worry about yourself—stay in the hospital until you were well. Why would you come here to my room and wait for me to wake up? I've always been so rude to you and still you wait for me... why?"

Sakura girlishly giggled placing a hand over her mouth in a means to stop the oncoming laughter. Sadly, her attempt was in vain. "Sasuke-kun, you act like I've never stayed by your side before. Don't you remember awhile back when we were young preteens in Team 7? I was so clingy to you then, and you wonder why I wait for you? Wow Sasuke-kun... I thought it was pretty obvious—I do it because I care. And don't worry about my arm. I healed it quite nicely." As if to prove her point, Sakura pulled down on the collar of her red shirt to reveal a pink line. There was the scar that had been left by the Mist ninja.

"Because you care? How could you care for such an unworthy shinobi like myself? All I ever do is yell at you but you still are always by my side. How could you be so sweet to me? What could I have done to deserve your time?" At this statement, Sakura bent forward and placed a tender kiss on Sasuke's forehead while she continued to brush Sasuke's bangs.

"Geez Sasuke-kun, you're so dense. I care because I love you."

"Because you... love me?"

"Yes."

"Oh. I see. Well in that case, I'm glad you love me." A blush bloomed on Sakura's features as a full smile spread across her face. Sasuke too smiled at her declaration of love.

"I'm glad I love you too." Sakura giggled again.

-o-

Well... that's all she wrote. This is the first of my stories in 30 Kisses. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know what you think. Man, this is so much fun. I absolutely love writing these little... blurbs if you will. I am aware that Sasuke is more than a little OOC—I did write this fanfic after all. I realized, when I started writing this little story, that if I used the Sasuke we know and love—not so nice, cold shoulder, egotistical, hardheaded, one-track-mind, bent on revenge, Sasuke—I wouldn't get very far in my SasukexSakura relationship... ergo, I bred and brought up my own sweet, little, kindhearted, caring, not bent on revenge, Sasuke. My apologies if this cuddly Sasuke wasn't what you were looking for.

Ciao Bello!