Sakura had no shortage of patients between the battles during the war. The brooding Uchiha was brought into her medical tent with little fuss, the fatigue and small injuries had drained him of all of his energy. There was a strain and what seemed like hours of silence, until Sasuke's voice cut the silence like a knife.
"I was never in love with you."
Sakura stopped in her tracks as she prepared a medicinal rub for her newly-returned teammate. It was a simple statement, seven words, and they came from Sasuke plainly. He stared at the medic as her brow furrowed and her mouth pressed into a firm line.
She shook her head and continued grinding herbs with her mortar and pestle, choosing to ignore Sasuke's strange outburst. "You're tired, Sasuke-kun."
The Uchiha's stony gaze bore into her. "I don't think you loved me either."
There was a loud clink of ceramic crashing into ceramic and Sakura's hand slipped and her mortar and pestle crashed against each other. "I don't know what you're talking about." She placed the materials on a metal table and crossed her arms.
"We were kids."
Sakura's mouth parted in surprise. "Sasuke-kun-"
"No." Sasuke stood up, flinching because of his unhealed wounds. "I took everything for granted."
The kunoichi stared at Sasuke, her eyes wide with shock. She felt her pulse hammering.
Sasuke's sharp gaze was unyielding. "You tried and I rejected you. If what I felt for you then was love… That would mean love is selfish. And how could you possibly have loved someone who refused to hear you out?" His eyebrows drew together in frustration and his voice was raised.
Sakura had no answer, for she could not put any of her thoughts into coherent sentences. Sasuke had never been so forward before.
"Sakura, you loved an aimless child, one with irrational thoughts in his head, someone with a skewed life purpose. Tch. I was an idiot."
Having never heard Sasuke put himself down so plainly, with such frustration, made Sakura's heart ache. "Sasuke-kun. Please don't say that!"
Sasuke snapped out of his angry daze and looked at his teammate whose eyes pierced his with such intensity that he did not expect, that it caught him off guard.
"Sasuke-kun, you were put in a terrible situation. You felt alone. You made mistakes, but it's something everyone does. How could you have known what was going to happen? We can't see the future." The medic stepped forward with her hands balled into fists. "And you're wrong, I did love you. I still love you."
The Uchiha's eyes grew wide and he stood motionless.
"I...I don't know how I couldn't love you. And you did hear me out. You heard my confession before you left. That was more than enough for me. I just wanted you to know that you were loved. You still are, even now." Sakura blushed and turned her back to him, going back to her herbal concoction and attempting to get back to work. "Now, please. Sit down. I don't want you to open up your wounds."
A faint pink colored Sasuke's cheeks and he felt his skin burn and his heart thud with a feeling unfamiliar to him. He sat back on his cot, and decided that if he didn't love Sakura before, he certainly did now.