Things did not get better.

The nightmares did not stop.

The dark bags under her eyes only got darker.

Sasuke did not know what to do. If he were to be honest with himself, he was reaching desperation quickly. He knew how Sakura felt. He knew that while he was one of the last people Sakura would ever accept help from, he was the only one able to.

They were alone, in the woods. If you don't count the occasional missing nin out to get their hands on a sharingan and a rinnengan. But none of that mattered to the sole Uchiha survivor. What mattered most was that Sakura would return to her bubbly and playful self.

But war changes people, Sasuke knew that. Being hurt by someone you love hurts more than any physical wound, he knew that as well. He experienced that on his own skin.

He had to do something. To comfort her, to make her trust him again. To make her understand that he overcame his darkness with her help, as well as Naruto and Kakashi's. To make Sakura get the closure she so desperately needed, just like he got his, when he got to speak with his older brother, in the war. When Itachi told him that he loved him.

He needed to help her somehow. He didn't want her to turn to the darkness that once consumed his being. She did not deserve such fate. She did not deserve to have her last bits of innocence ripped away from her in such way.

But…but he did not know what to do. He did not know how to comfort her, he did not know what to say to her. He was at a total loss.

And it scared Sasuke. He had never been in such situation before. And to make matters worse, his logical self did not help him one bit.

Sakura still pushed him away most of the time. She did not want to be held most nights. She did not want to speak about her dreams – ever. She needed space, and he gave it to her whenever she needed it.

Sasuke could only laugh to himself. It was like he was looking in the mirror – and the reflection was an incredibly attractive pink haired, emerald eyed kunoichi that could kill someone with her pinkie finger – and he understood her completely.

He could not blame her. He did the exact same thing when he was younger, and truth be told, he was still doing it. He was still keeping everything locked away deep within himself. Eating away at his heart.

This particular night Sakura was dreaming of losing a patient. Common thing that had to have happened even to the very best medics. But the one she lost was Kankuro. The trip from Konoha to Suna had proven to be a lot longer than expected and they lost half a day due to a sandstorm. It wasn't something she could control, Sakura knew that well, but it meant that she had less than six hours to make an antidote for the older brother of the Kazekage.

She did try her damnedest, but she had never seen that type of poison before. Even Chiyo helped her concoct an antidote, but it was proven that having more people, having more hands to work with did not equate to getting something done faster.

Kankuro lost his life while Sakura and Chiyo were desperately trying to extract the poison and inject him with the latest concoction they came up with. The one that promised to save him. But they had been too late.

Temari collapsed to the floor and started bawling her eyes out. One of her brothers were missing and the other was laying there cold on an operating table. That wasn't how she thought things would turn out. She had heard that Sakura was good. Trained by the best. But she obviously wasn't good enough, since she couldn't save her brother.

Naruto, Kakashi, her and Chiyo departed in search for Gaara, leaving Temari to mourn her brother, but got separated once the two Akatsuki members went in different directions. Kakashi and Naruto followed the blonde one that carried Gaara, while Sakura and Chiyo fought the redhead.

But that went horribly wrong as well. A moment of negligence was all Sasori needed to poison Chiyo, leaving Sakura with a tough choice. She could continue to fight the redhead or ignore him for a split second to give the old woman the antidote they were going to use on Kankuro. She chose the latter, getting poisoned herself, in the end.

The poison was taking over quickly, and Sakura fell to the ground, feeling her whole body stiff and numb, unable to move. Everything was over in a split second, everything went black.

Sakura didn't realise that she had been crying and calling for people until Sasuke's lone hand shook her awake, as it had become the habit. She would have a bad dream, weep and call for help or different people, and Sasuke would wake her up and offer her comfort, if she wanted it.

"It's okay, Sakura…" He whispered gently, repeatedly, trying to wake her up.

She only nodded once she was awake, keeping her back turned to him. She sniffled in an attempt to keep her tears at bay, but it didn't really work.

Sasuke sighed once more, and laid back on his side of the tent, prepared for yet another quiet day.

Only difference was that he finally gathered the strength necessary to open up to Sakura. He figured it would be the first step needed.

"I know what you're going through." He said that morning, while they ate their breakfast.

"I know you do." She muttered in reply.

"I still see Itachi kill my parents, I still see them fall on the floor. I still see the bloodlust in Itachi's eyes, I still hear the things he said to me. I still see myself with my hands around your throat. I still dream of winning my battles with Naruto."

She sat her plate down next to her, hugged her knees to her chest and laid her chin on them, humming in reply to Sasuke, but not meeting his mismatched eyes.

Sasuke sighed again, ready to give up. He didn't know what to do anymore. Everything seemed to fail when all he wanted was to help her.

"Tell me what I can do, because I ran out of ideas…"

Sakura looked up at him then, feeling heartbroken, knowing how much he wanted to help her. It warmed her heart, but she did not know how to react to that anymore. She felt hollow inside even when he was being this heartwarming.

"I don't know." She replied with honesty, emeralds meeting his mismatched ones for a second, before she looked away. She felt like she couldn't look him in the eye, and it felt horrible.

Later that night they were both laying in their tent, trying to get some sleep, when she decided to speak up.

"I sometimes dream of losing a patient, other times I dream of you killing me, or killing Naruto…" She murmured softly, quietly, knowing that he could hear.

He, however, was silent, and let her continue if she so desired.

"It feels real, Sasuke-kun. I feel the kunai slicing me, I feel the electricity from your chidori. It hurts, it hurts so much…" Her voice broke mid-sentence and tears started pooling in her eyes. She hugged herself as she tried to calm herself down.

Sasuke turned his head to look at her, his brows pulled together in worry.

"I know." He sighed.

"I know you're a different man now, I can feel it. I just don't understand why I can't forget these things…"

"I can't tell you that, unfortunately, what I can do, though, is to comfort you however I can, if you'd let me." Sasuke spoke in the gentlest voice possible, his lone arm reaching over to her to wipe her tears away tenderly.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

Hearing Sakura thank him, hearing her open up to him, even the slightest bit, her not pulling away from him, like she had done so many times before, assured Sasuke that she would be okay. It will be difficult, it would take a lot of time, compassion and a lot of his support, but she would be okay one day. She would be able to smile fully one day, she would be able to laugh, he would get to feel the happiness radiating off of her again, he would get to see her eyes twinkle again. And for that, he was excited.


So this chapter is more from Sasuke's perspective. I hope you liked it!

I know I said that this would be a one-shot, but I got this idea that I couldn't get out of my head until I wrote it down, haha. I think I've decided to make this a three-part, though. Or maybe more, who knows?

I really hope you enjoyed it and please let me know if you did! Reviews, favourites and follows are very appreciated! I thank you for taking the time to read this story!

Until next time~