Hey, everyone! Another SasuSaku oneshot for you. Enjoy!

I don't own Naruto.

GRUMBLE!

The members of Team Seven and Team Taka proceeded to stare at Naruto Uzumaki as he groaned and wrapped his arms around his stomach. Naruto sighed dramatically and shook his head, messing up his spiky blond hair. "I'm so hungry! I want food!" the blond whined.

Sakura Haruno rolled her eyes at her friend's childishness. "Naruto, we didn't order our food that long ago. Besides, there are six of us here. That's a lot of food to prepare. Be patient!"

Naruto stuck his lip out in a pout. He was about to argue before he was cut off by another loud grumble from his stomach.

"Damn, your stomach is as loud as an explosive tag," Suigetsu snickered.

"Shut up, idiot! Do you have to make stupid comments about everything!?" Karin screeched.

Suigetsu turned toward the feisty redhead and stared at her blankly. "You, Karin, are louder than an atomic bomb," he said, his lips curling into a smirk at the look on her face.

"Come on, you two. Please stop fighting. We're all here to have a meal together, not be mean to each other," Juugo said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation.

Sasuke Uchiha rolled his eyes at his friends but was surprisingly not annoyed at all. If he was being honest, this felt nice. Madara had been defeated not too long ago, and the war was won. The members of Team Taka had been allowed to stay in the village due to their part during the war. It felt nice to be sitting in a rice house with his two teams, especially Team Seven, having a meal and catching up. Of course, Sasuke would never admit that out loud.

A few minutes passed before the waitress came back with everyone's food, much to the delight of a certain blond haired knucklehead.

"This looks so good! I'm going to eat it all, and maybe even have seconds! Kakashi-sensei is sure gonna regret not coming with us!" Naruto exclaimed, proceeding to dig into his food, which surprisingly wasn't ramen.

Sasuke quietly began eating his rice, and glanced over at the pinkette sitting at their table. Sakura was smiling and chatting with Juugo between bites. The two had quickly become friends in the days after the war, and never seemed to run out of things to talk about. Juugo was very interested in her medical training and chakra control, and Sakura happily answered any questions he had. Sasuke was glad Juugo had found a friend in the pinkette.

Focusing on Sakura, Sasuke began to think back to the days before he had left the village. No longer was Sakura the weak, unsure girl she once was. She had definitely blossomed over the years, both in strength and in other ways. Sakura was now a strong, confident kunoichi. She could easily crush boulders with her bare hands, yet she also had the skilled healing hands of a medic. He had been incredibly impressed seeing her in action. He had always known she had the potential to become a great kunoichi, but Sakura had surpassed his expectations. He was proud of her.

He watched as the pinkette enthusiastically explained something about poisons to Juugo, who listened intently. He was taken with the way her eyes lit up as she smiled, and the way she flipped her silky hair over her shoulder. In the days since he'd been back and around her more, he couldn't help but notice the curves she'd developed in all of the right places. Yes, she had definitely developed in more ways than one. Realizing he was checking her out and the direction his thoughts were going, he quickly tore his gaze away from the pinkette and went back to eating his rice.

"Yo, Karin. If you stare at Sasuke any more intently, your eyes are gonna bulge out of that thick skull of yours," Suigetsu remarked, his mouth full of noodles.

Karin quickly ripped her gaze away from Sasuke, proceeding to glare daggers at Suigetsu. "I was not staring! He just looked so good while eating his rice! I mean, shut up!"

Sakura couldn't help but giggle at the redhead. Karin reminded her of herself when she was 12, except Karin was much worse. Juugo simply sighed, hoping the situation wouldn't get too out of control.

Naruto made a gagging noise. "You have really bad taste in men, Karin-chan. Sasuke-teme, really? Are you sure we're related?" he asked.

"I agree with blondie. Sasuke's nothing special. Then again, that's probably why you like him so much. You'd go great together!" Suigetsu smirked.

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU DUMBASS!?" Karin shouted, grabbing a fork and preparing to stab him with it.

"Karin, put the fork down," Sasuke snapped, growing annoyed.

Karin reluctantly put the fork down, but that didn't stop her impending tirade. "Nothing special? Sasuke-kun is nothing special? Are you kidding me!? Did you not see how he totally kicked Madara's sorry ass!? He was amazing! It's because of Sasuke-kun that we won the war!" she yelled.

"What am I, chopped liver? I helped too!" Naruto whined.

"Okay guys, that's enough. Everyone just settle down. People are staring at us!" Sakura chimed in, hoping everyone would just shut up.

"She's right, you guys. Look, we all played a part in taking down Madara. Not just us, but even people we could have never expected. It's a good thing that Kabuto managed to break out of Izanami, or else Sasuke-sama would be dead right now," Juugo said calmly.

Sakura immediately froze at this. Sasuke, dead? Surely she must have heard wrong. She couldn't imagine anything happening to him. Sasuke dying is something Sakura never wanted to deal with, or even think about. "What do you mean, Juugo?" She asked.

Juugo was opening his mouth to answer just as Karin cut him off. "You mean you don't know!? Madara stabbed Sasuke-kun right through the chest with his own sword! It was awful!" She exclaimed.

Sasuke looked at Sakura and his chest constricted upon seeing the look of horror on her face. This was bad. He needed to stop this right now. "Karin, that's enough," he said, but Karin was having none of it.

"I couldn't sense Sasuke-kun's chakra anymore so I knew something was very wrong. We all rushed to his location and found him laying there dead in a pool of blood. It was so terrible, but thankfully Kabuto was there and already working on him. Kabuto brought Sasuke-kun back from the dead!" Karin finished.

Sakura sat there in silence, trying to process what she had just been told. Nobody was denying it. She couldn't believe it. Sasuke had very nearly died, and she hadn't been there. She hadn't even known. Sakura felt her throat begin to tighten, feeling overwhelmed by it all. She needed to get out of the situation, and she needed to get out now. "I-I'm sorry, everyone. I need to go and get some air," she said, quickly getting out of her seat and walking out of the restaurant.

"What's wrong with Sakura-chan? She looked really upset," Naruto spoke.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset her at all," Juugo said, feeling very guilty.

'It must be because she's in love with Sasuke-kun,' Karin thought.

Sasuke sighed to himself, incredibly annoyed at his teammates for bringing that up. He knew he probably should have told Sakura himself, but he didn't really know how. He'd just gotten back to the village, and was barely just getting to know Team Seven again. He wished he'd been able to tell her himself. He knew he had to go after her.

Sasuke silently got up and followed after Sakura. He found her sitting on a bench just outside of the rice house. He didn't miss the way Sakura wiped at her eyes as she sensed his presence. She was looking down, and turned her head away from him. He quietly sat down next to her, saying nothing at first.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Sasuke spoke up. "I'm sorry you had to hear that," he said quietly.

Sakura raised her head, but still wouldn't look at him. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"I didn't think you needed to know," he replied.

"How can you say that? I'm your teammate. Don't you think I have a right to know these things?" She snapped, growing irritated.

"It all turned out fine in the end. I'm not dead. It was a close call, but I'm still here. You have enough on your plate without having to worry about me," he retorted.

"I wasn't there for you, Sasuke-kun. I should have been there. I don't regret being there for Naruto, but you needed my help too. What if Kabuto hadn't been there? Then we wouldn't be having this conversation. You wouldn't be here. I'm a medic, and you're my teammate. It's my responsibility to be there and I wasn't!" Sakura exclaimed, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

Sakura knew she was being irrational, but she just couldn't help it. The thought of Sasuke dying and her not even knowing he was in trouble made her sick. The fact that she hadn't even known he'd been in such danger ate away at her. She didn't regret being there for Naruto, of course not. She just wished she could have been there for Sasuke as well. Kabuto being there was pure luck. The tears that had been welling up in her eyes finally spilled over, and Sakura put her head in her hands, overwhelmed.

"Sakura, don't cry. Look at me," Sasuke said softly.

Sakura sniffled and looked up at Sasuke, wiping at her eyes. "I should have been there," she said.

"Sakura, there was no way you could have known. You were with Naruto, as you should have been. He needed you. You did what you had to do. Stop blaming yourself for something you had no control over," he replied.

"I know you're right, Sasuke-kun. But I was weak. I could barely help Naruto at all. I should have done more-"

"Sakura, listen to me," Sasuke cut her off, "You are not weak. You've come such a long way. You're very powerful, and one of the top medics in all of the great nations. You played a huge part in the war. You should be proud of yourself for that," he said, looking her dead in the eyes. She knew he meant what he said.

"Sasuke-kun… Thank you," she said, finally smiling.

"You don't need to thank me," he replied, cracking a small smile of his own.

Sakura continued beaming at him, and Sasuke looked away, a small blush adorning his cheeks. He wasn't one to give out compliments just like that, but he knew Sakura needed to hear those words. He wasn't sure why he cared so much. At least, that's what he told himself. If he was being honest, he knew Sakura had always been one of his precious people. No matter how much he'd tried to deny it in the past, that had never changed. He had a lot to make up for. He wanted to make things right with her.

Sakura suddenly stood up and looked at him from over her shoulder, the smile never leaving her face. "We should probably get back inside, huh?"

"Aa," Sasuke replied, standing up as well.

As the two young shinobi walked back into the restaurant side by side, Sasuke realized that he wanted to see that smile of hers more often. He wanted her to be smiling because of him. It was then that Sasuke decided he would definitely make things right with Sakura, even if it was the last thing he did.

It was then that Sasuke decided that Sakura would never cry because of him again.

I hope you enjoyed! If you did, please leave a review and save this to your favorites! :)