Chapter 2: Weakness
Sasuke was never that into art, but this image made him feel very restless. In front of him, was a woman, with long, pink hair and empathic green eyes. She was setting up medical equipment on the desk near him, trying her best not to wake him up. In his vision, she looked ethereal, as the morning light was drowning the backdrop behind her. He wanted to look away, yet his eyes kept studying her face. He wanted more. More of her. It was a feeling that never got the chance to turn into thought. But now, since his mind was free of hatred, he was getting close. That faint warmth he felt as a teen, was now exposed, and unyielding. He watched her fidget with the equipment some more. Once done, she was about to leave into another room, when Sasuke decided to grab her wrist. Her hands were cold.
"Huh?! W-what are you doin- You were awake?" stuttered the kunoichi, a little flustered. She tried to avoid his gaze. "What is it?"
"What's the situation?" calmly asked Sasuke, without letting her go. Their eyes met again, both feeling the other's intensity.
"You're at the hospital. We're treating you. You've been out for a couple of days since you lost so much blood," she reported, finally freeing her wrist. She saw him nod, as he looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought.
"Where is he?" asked the patient.
"In another room. He's doing well," answered Sakura, with a sweet smile. She was genuinely glad he worried about Naruto. The guy was up in no time and was allowed to leave in a couple of days, as expected from a jinchuriki. She suddenly saw Sasuke try to get up.
"What are you doing? You can't get up. I haven't administered your treatment yet!" panicked the young woman, trying to keep him from getting up.
"I'm leaving," curtly replied the guy. However, he only got as far as a half-sit up, suddenly convulsing in pain for a split second before falling back down on the bed.
"Figures," replied Sakura sternly. "This was no ordinary fight. Such monstrous ninjutsu is not meant to be used on a human body. It blew off your arm, and it also messed with your chakra network. If you do any unnecessary movement, you might paralyze your whole body."
"Fine," gave in Sasuke, putting in a lot of effort to turn on the side facing away from her. Sakura then promptly left the room. The door was open, so he could her hear talking to medical ninja, and patients, throwing around words and knowledge he was not accustomed to. It was clear as day who was in-charge. She was her own person.
Perhaps due to boredom, or loneliness, he kept searching for her voice in a scurry of meaningless conversations and subtle noises. In less than an hour, she came back. Her hair was tied back, and her face was decorated with a pair of delicate glasses. Since when did she?
"Now, I'll need you to lay still, and keep your left arm extended." began Sakura. He did as she requested. She was very close to his face. It was a completely different person, while still being Sakura. She was now in a very serious mode, just like when she administered emergency aid back at the Valley of the End. It was very awkward, and he felt self-conscious about Sakura seeing his ugly stump. He turned his face again, so she couldn't see his usually pale face turn pinker.
The procedure was taking some time. Sakura first cleaned his arm, and made marks, on all the applicable chakra points up to his neck, and his whole shoulder - both the back and front sides. Then she proceeded to close each point with her chakra. She learned the approximate location of each point as she was studying medical ninjutsu, but almost perfected her knowledge ever since she got closer with Hinata. Most medical ninja would need references, even during important surgeries, due to each person's individual body proportions, but Sakura learned to manipulate her Chakra, to seek each one out, one by one. Each spot that would block Sakura's chakra the strongest, would be given a mark. This process was very gentle. Sasuke was surprised that such cold hands could administer such warm chakra. As soon as a sufficient number of points was blocked, Sasuke could not feel any energy in his left side. She began to envelop her hands in green chakra, and invade his arm. It did not look like there was a lot of movement involved, but in reality, Sakura was conducting very complex, cell restoration ninjutsu. After some time, she began tampering with the points again. Feeling a series of sudden shocks, he realized that the procedure was almost over. His body felt more put together, and definitely less painful. However, he couldn't control his movement quite well yet.
"We're done for today, but I will need to complete several more tests and follow-up treatments. You should be ready to leave in less than a week. Also-" began explaining Sakura, before being interrupted by a medic, asking for assistance in some sort of procedure. She left, leaving Sasuke all alone in a clean hospital room. He couldn't help but drift into sleep, without noticing a lonely vase with fresh flowers on a drawer by his bed.
"So, what'cha gonna do now?" asked a happy voice. Naruto Uzumaki and he were standing outside, behind a well-lit ramen shop, next to his best friend. Sasuke remained quiet. Because.. He didn't know the answer himself. 'You are lucky that you know who you are and what you want, Naruto,' thought the dark haired man. The cool autumn air made it a perfect time for hot ramen, which was partly the cause of his friend's giddiness. But mostly, all of them were visited be a heartwarming feeling of content. They were celebrating Sasuke and Naruto getting out of the hospital. The team was finally all back together. Yamato could not stay long, and Kakashi was severely busy with a mission of some sort, but nevertheless, they were back home. Sakura was still eating her bowl while discussing something with Sai. It was a brand new experience for Sasuke. "Finally able to go home, huh? After all these years.."
"Yeah," he replied.
"Wasn't the Uchiha district destroyed when Pain's attacked?" suddenly mentioned Sai.
"Was it?" asked Naruto, turning to him. "Oh, in that case, you can stay over!"
"Is that such a good idea?" asked Sai, with his very infamous, and very punchable, fake smile. "I mean.. When was the last time you cleaned? Is there even enough space for you?"
"What are you trying to say?!" wondered Naruto, a little offended. But it was true, neither he nor Sasuke had the chance to visit their homes yet.
"I'm fine," answered Sasuke, trying to not worry his friends. It was evident to him that he would have to camp out, as bothering someone was out of the question. He was broke and was not yet allowed to go on missions, due to both him and Naruto still being in recovery. This also left out the hotel option.
"You can stay at my place," calmly offered Sakura, to Sai, and Naruto's incredible disbelief. But Sakura was incredibly tired of being modest. "Oh, I just never use it. It would be fine for a couple of days."
"Why would you get your own place and not use it? I don't get it," commented Naruto sitting back down to the right of Sai, to get more ramen. Sakura noticed the digital clock on the counter. She sighed, and got up.
"I'm sorry everyone, but my break is over, I have to go," announced Sakura. She took out a key and an address, written on the other side of the receipt, and without a warning, handed it to Sasuke. "Here you go. I'll stop by to continue your treatment during my break tomorrow."
"Huh?" wondered Sasuke, noticing a silver key, with a floral keychain attached to it in his hand. Sakura was already gone.
"That was weird," replied Naruto, slurping down his third bowl of ramen. Then he started to giggle, poking Sai with his elbow."Oh I get it. Eh? Eh?"
"Stop," said Sai, catching his elbow. He on the other hand barely finished one bowl. "You're getting the wrong idea, Naruto. Sakura spends her nights at the hospital. It was not prepared for such an immense amount of injured shinobi. Her schedule must be packed for months."
"Oh..," noticed Naruto, toning down his teasing. Both Sasuke and he started reminiscing about the war, and the amount of shinobi they overlooked. It was a time where they couldn't focus on anything but the enemy, and even with all the precautions, there were bound to be deaths and sorrow following the event. Naruto pretended not to notice Sasuke slip away into the night.
"I'm home," replied Sakura. She was standing in the middle of a clean, well-composed livingroom. The young woman noticed Sasuke taking a nap on her couch. 'Not so tough after all, huh' thought Sakura. He was released from the hospital but was under the instructions to get sufficient rest. She knew that if he could overpower such exhaustion, he would; but he couldn't. Sakura noticed that all his belongings were neatly folded and no trace of even a subtle mess could be found. She left some nutritious food on the table, for when he wakes up again. Somehow, she manages to complete the treatment without him even waking up. It was extremely awkward for her, and as much as she wanted to spend some time with Sasuke, she was glad he was asleep. They've Never been so close up in private. This made her restless. Once, finished, she quickly left, as her break was almost over.
Sasuke woke up to the sound of a closing door. His left shoulder felt much lighter. He got up again and noticed some food on the table. A sudden feeling of gloom overcame him. It was about five in the afternoon. He sat at the kitchen table and started eating some rice, trying to process this day. Instead of resting, like he promised to everyone, he spent the day to find Kakashi, and walk around the village, trying to figure everything out. He did not find his former sensei, but he noticed the extreme animosity coming from the villagers. He was met with stares and dirty looks. Some ninja even came up to him, trying to engage in a debate, or straight up to spew hate in his face. A couple of genin even attacked him. He was astonished. Sasuke finally began to understand how his actions, even if indirect, have caused pain to the village. He tried to remember how it was back before he left the village. Everyone was either neutral or even happy to meet him. Now he was a dark crow, bringing only pain and irritating everyone. And then there was his team. Naruto, who made it a goal to bring him back from a dark place, and Sakura, who clung to him no matter what life threw at him; no matter how awful he was to her. How can such people exist? 'Someone like me? Could someone like me deserve to be forgiven?' he thought to himself. 'I should turn myself in.'
"I'll see you soon," said Sasuke, poking Sakura's forehead. "Thank you."
