Sasuke wasn't sure what was happening.
The incomprehensible feeling in his chest and stomach was making him ill. The rapid pounding of his heart against his ribcage confused him and the flip-flop of his stomach made him want to throw up. His world was spinning and his head was starting to hurt. He could feel his neck, ears, and cheeks burning profusely, enough to make him cringe. He didn't like these sensations at all.
Two years in the village has done little to help his reputation. He is less of a traitor and more of an eerie reminder of the retched torment he himself created. His face represents the mistakes the village has made, and the regret and hardship that follows a life of corruption and evil. Sasuke has become the epitome of a failure, a lost cause, and a stranger on the road to redemption.
However, sitting on the bridge where Team 7 used to meet was hardly enough to relinquish his sudden bout of nerves. It wasn't the place itself that made his palms shine with sweat or his eyebrow twitch in annoyance, in fact, it was a pink haired medic that decided to join his training session with Naruto and Kakashi. Since his return, Sakura's presence has been far and few between. He can only place one occurrence in the past two months that he has caught a glimpse of her short form bobbing through a crowd of unfamiliar faces. It was the bouncing pink head that sent his eyes darting in that particular direction, hoping to catch just a small glimpse of her face. Unfortunately, just as she appears, she is gone again, leaving Sasuke irritated for getting his hopes up and confused as to why he cared in the first place.
Sasuke would be the last person on earth to admit he liked Sakura Haruno. Sure, she is attractive—more so than the average woman—but Sasuke's sudden obsession with his pink haired teammate is attributed to his inability to see her. He feels no romantic feelings toward the girl and only enjoys her presence. Since he's been starved of her pleasurable company it is only natural that Sasuke is anxious to see her.
It all makes perfect sense.
With his feelings sorted out, he smirks, proud that he is one of the few people on earth with the mental capacity to sort out his feelings with little hesitation. He knows himself well enough to understand why his body reacts the way it does and can easily pinpoint the trigger in any given situation. Sasuke liked to think of it as a small gift from himself and his keen senses.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun, are you coming?"
A large pair of green eyes flashed a look of concern and brought Sasuke from his trance. However, the proximity between himself on the girl caused his breath to hitch and essentially halt his breathing all together. For whatever reason, he wasn't going to show just how shocked he was to see her so close to him. Her pink lips were pursed as the corners lifted in a gentle smile. Her cheeks were tinged pink and he could see a few strands of her hair sweeping across her forehead and settling on her cheekbones. He had an urge to move it, but refrained and simply closed his eyes, maneuvering his body away from Sakura in hopes of allowing his lungs to take in oxygen once again.
It took several long strides before Sasuke was able to ease the tension in his lungs by letting out a long sigh. He rubbed his temples and wanted to smack himself for acting so foolishly. As Naruto and Sakura talked idly to one another, he felt another presence approach from his side and eye him suspiciously.
"Sasuke, is something wrong? You've been acting weird all morning," the masked man spoke, his eyes scanning the orange book in his hand. Sasuke watched from the shade of a tree as Sakura laughed in response to something Naruto said. He growled in annoyance. The idiot wasn't even funny, so what is there to laugh at besides his stupid face?
"Nothing is wrong."
He could feel a pair of eyes rest on him, but he didn't care, he just wanted to know what the hell the moron was saying that Sakura deemed hilarious. Kakashi's eyes drifted to the two teammates and smiled behind the cover of the cloth over his face. Shutting the book, he nudged the raven haired teen with his elbow.
Sasuke tilted his head to look at the man, caught off-guard by the sudden elbow in his rib. Kakashi's visible eye crinkled and Sasuke suddenly regretted giving his old sensei the time of day.
"You know, if you're that concerned, you should just talk to her."
Sasuke's eyes widened and then narrowed into a glare. What did he mean by that? Sasuke was in no way troubled by anything Sakura did and for Kakashi to insinuate that he was concerned for her was a blatant misconception. Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and ignored the man's comment, clearly unamused by his advice. Kakashi shook his head and placed the small book into his pouch.
"Sakura!" Kakashi called, pulling out a kunai quickly and cutting along Sasuke's arm. The boy winced and backed away from the man, noticeably confused and annoyed by the sudden attack on his arm.
"What the fu—"
"Come heal Sasuke. It seems he hurt himself," Kakashi's lone eye crinkled with his hidden smile. "Clumsy kid."
Sasuke blinked, as the man walked away and just as Sakura appeared at his side, a look of worry etched on her face.
"What happened, Sasuke?" The girl's hands moved to the sleeves of his black shirt and caused the man to shy away from her touch. Turning his head, he tried to quell the rapid beating of his heart that suddenly manifested upon her arrival.
"I," he paused. "I don't know. It's not a big deal."
Sakura's head tilted in confusion, his behavior unlike anything she is used to seeing. For the years she has known him, Sasuke Uchiha was never one to be shy so this sudden onset of flustered responses and avoiding eye contact only meant one thing to Sakura: he is most definitely ill.
Using both her hands, Sakura placed her palms on each of his cheeks and turned his head to meet a surprised look. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth as Sasuke blinked, confused and overwhelmed by her drastic actions.
"Sakura, what are you—"
"Sasuke! You have a fever!"
Sasuke paused then grumbled something incoherent under his breath. He looked away and caught sight of a chuckling Kakashi reading his orange book and an idiot clad in the same obnoxious color ranting about his teammate's sudden proximity to one another.
"I'm fine Saku—"
"No way, Sasuke. You can't stand here and tell a doctor that you don't have a fever."
The girl was adamant of her diagnosis as she touched his forehead, causing more discomfort on the Uchiha's end. He wanted to push her away, but knows that doing so would only make her more persistent. However, his sudden instigating of his briskly beating heart was becoming unbearable. Maybe he did have a fever after all; it would explain a lot.
He touched her hands with his own and removed them from his face, Sakura shooting him an apprehensive stare. Sasuke tried to ignore the lights flashing in her impeccably green eyes.
"I'll be fine," he lifted his sleeve and shut his eyes. "Just heal my arm."
Sakura decided not to argue with the man that already seemed so troubled. Lowering her gaze to his arm, she silently healed the man, never lifting her eyes to look at the man. Sasuke watched her from the corner of his dark obsidian hues as she meticulously healed the shallow cut on his arm that his delusional teacher created.
After the wound healed and only his pale, unmarred skin remained, Sakura stood and brushed her skirt off.
"Well, there you go, Sasuke. I'll be going no—"
"Sakura," Sasuke's hand clutched her own and the girl blinked, a light pink brushing across her high cheekbones. Their eyes met, and Sakura saw stars. "Thank you."
It was her smile to his gratitude that made his heart jump and suddenly he realized that these feelings may not be so terrible after all.
