Title: Eyes Wide Open

Summary: Sometimes, a well placed paint bucket is all it takes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Prompt: The Smell of Fresh Paint

Warnings: None

Comments: Ehh... I'll edit this later. For now, I know I'm really late. :/

Uchiha Sasuke had always lived in a world of blacks and whites: the Uchiha are an elite and powerful class of shinobi. Uchiha Itachi is the bestest brother in the world. Konoha is a good place.

The massacre had only stained his world blacker: The Uchiha had been an elite and powerful class of shinobi and the only family he would ever know. Uchiha Itachi is the demon spawn and exists solely to torture his little brother. Konoha is full of weak shinobi.

It was only after Itachi's reincarnation that grey was introduced into Sasuke's world: The Uchiha were powerful, but misguided. Itachi tortured him because he loved him. Konoha often initiated plans with noble intentions that resulted horrific consequences.


"The hospital needs more money. We can't handle the influx of injured shinobi at the moment, and I know for a fact that hospitals in all five nations are overflowing. We lack the personel, the equipment, even the beds to be able to treat this many patients. There's also a deplorable lack of communication between villages. Injuries caused by kekkei genkei or poison are tricky to treat, and we don't have sufficient information to operate confidently," Sakura reported stiffly.

"While we understand the problem," Shikamaru said tiredly, "unfortunately every sector is demanding more money, and they're all giving justified reasons for needing the money too. I'm sorry Sakura, but the truth is that you're going to have to make do with what you have. Konoha just doesn't have the money to grant everyone all of the resources they need at the moment."

Immediately, Sakura wilted. "Understood. Thank you Shikamaru," she said dejectedly.

Walking back to the hospital, Sakura was so deep in thought trying to work out a system to accommodate the injured, she didn't hear her name being called until Naruto was practically in her face.

"SAKURA!" Startled, she took a step back and away from Naruto's stinky ramen-breath.

"Naruto, geez! No need to get in my face like that."

"But I've been calling you for the last five minutes! Sasuke and me are at Ichiraku. Come join us!"

"Sorry Naruto," she apologized, "I need to get back to the hospital. There was a new batch of pat––"

"Aw, c'mon Sakura. Take a break! The war is won, Kaguya is defeated, all five great nations are at peace, and the best part is," Naruto enthused, all the while steering her towards Ichiraku, "Sasuke is back!" And before Sakura quite knew what had happened, she was pushed into a stool before Ichiraku's brand new counter.

"Naruto—"

"Ah, Sakura-chan, how are you tonight? I haven't seen you around in awhile!" Teuchi-san greeted her amiably.

"I've been fine, thanks—actually really busy lately. I should probably g—"

"Well, what do you think about the new improvements to the store? We figured we would take advantage of starting over again and expand to serve our hungry guests, especially now that Naruto has been named the next Hokage. I expect we'll be receiving many more guests in the near future," Teuchi-san continued with a smile.

And indeed, now that Sakura looked around, paint cans and stacks of wood littered the floor around the ramen stand. Glancing through the back door, Sakura could see the beams of wood outlining the structure of the new space.

"It looks wonderful, Teuchi-san," Sakura beamed.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan. Would you like your usual?"

"I wish I could, but I actually need to leave. The hospital is beyond full to capacity at the moment, and we need all the medics we can get. Even Tsunade-sama is there now to help."

"Wha—seriously?" Naruto demanded. "But-but-but the war is over!"

"Baka," she said, flicking his forehead. "Just because the war is over doesn't mean everyone's injuries gets healed immediately. That last battle especially did a lot of damage. A lot of shinobi are suffering from second and third degree burns because of that lava. And burns are worse than a normal wounds because they take more energy to heal. We need to go down to the cellular level to repair the damage done, and even then, some people will never be fully healed."

"That's—that's terrible," Naruto said, looking upset. "What can we do to help?"

"Nothing, I'm afraid," Sakura said dejectedly. "I just got out of a meeting with Shikamaru, and Konoha's resources are so stretched out right now… All we can do is work harder, be more efficient with our time and chakra."

"But surely… There has to be something!" Eyes blazing, Naruto stood tall and proud, every inch the Hokage he was destined to be.

"Tch, they're wasting their time," came a voice beside them. Both teammates whirled around to stare at Sasuke, who'd gone unnoticed in their conversation. "They shouldn't be trying to heal everyone. Most of those shinobi are useless anyway. The ones with significant kekkei genkei or high rank should have priority."

"Wha—How could you say that?" Naruto demanded, horrified. Behind him, Sakura's hands clenched into fists.

"It's true. This village is severely lacking in good shinobi. It needs as much skill as it can get right now to defend itself from potential invaders." Fists shaking with rage, Sakura reached for the nearest thing. "The rest of them will just get in the way anyways."

"Sasuke."

Both men turned towards Sakura just as she threw an entire pail of bright yellow paint over Sasuke. Cool rivulets of yellow trickled down his face, highlighting his widened eyes. The ramen bar was deadly silent. All eyes were trained on a trembling Sakura.

Dipping her hands into a red and green paint bucket, she stomped over to Sasuke and shoved him. "Grow up," she snarled. "The world isn't just black and white, and those weaklings deserve our care as much as anyone else. We can't all be overpowered assholes, or who knows what society would be like."

And with that, she spun around and stalked off.

Maybe it was the smell of fresh paint—the fumes clouding his judgment—or maybe it was the yellow filter suddenly impeding his view, but that was the first time Sasuke really saw pink.


Author's Note:

Hi! Soo I'm trying my hand at the Sasusaku month prompts on Tumblr! This is really rushed, and I haven't had time to read it over, but I'll edit it later. Hope you like it, and please review!

Also, I have a tumblr now. I'll post the link to my profile. Uhh... Follow me? ^_^

~dydshark