A/N: Special shoutout to my first three reviewers, RadicalEdward6, 96bittersweetblackcat, and butterfly9070! Thank you so much. I really appreciate feedback, and I hope you enjoy.

The next days in the hospital were unbearable for Sasuke. Sakura grew more and more distant as he recovered, and he began to fear that as soon as he was fully well, she would attempt to disappear from his life completely. He couldn't blame her, obviously. He had tried to kill her in cold blood—I mean, that's just not the kind of shit you come back from all normal and buddy-buddy. But he couldn't help but feel upset that the girl who was once so eager to follow him to the ends of the earth just to be near him now wanted out, out, out of his life.

Naruto, he figured, would always be there, but most of the time he simply preferred the company of the kind medic-nin to his boisterous best friend. He and Naruto bickered and fought, but around Sakura he could just be comfortable, whether in silence or just listening to her chatter.

Sakura's words that night—that night—came back to him.

"I have friends and family, but if you leave, it'll be the same as being alone!"

Sakura was racked with guilt about her shaky relationship with Sasuke. Naruto accepted him back immediately as expected, every last transgression forgotten. As far as she could tell, so had Kakashi. But Sakura didn't quite have it in her heart to do the same.

She was still stupid about Sasuke, that much she knew. Of course, she could give a laundry list of reasons why she should give up on him in favor of someone else—someone who had always been there to support her, and who had never, you know, tried to murder her. Someone like, well, Naruto. But hadn't she done exactly that in the Land of Iron? Lists were all wrong. Logical thinking was all wrong. When it came to matters of the heart, reasoning was no match for Sakura. Her schoolgirl crush from her genin days had blossomed into something deeper than she could even fathom.

But it was for exactly that reason that she distanced herself from Sasuke. Despite wanting to understand him, she couldn't get the sound of his maniacal laughter out of her head.

"I want to kill you so badly I can taste it, Kakashi."

Sakura knew better than to hope. An avenger was an avenger, through and through. Whatever she had once wanted between them was bound to end in heartbreak, and she had too much self-respect to put herself through that anymore.

"Your ribs are healed up nicely, and you've already been told about how long it may take to adjust to your new arm. Well, lack of arm." One side of Sakura's mouth turned up as she suppressed a chuckle at her own bad joke.

"Aa," Sasuke replied. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed that creaked under his muscular frame, but didn't make any other move.

"So, ah, you're free to go," the pink-haired kunoichi said awkwardly. "Well, I still have to finish up some paperwork, but you can head back—" She stopped herself. "H-home. To where you're staying now, I suppose. I think Tsunade got you an apartment on the same floor as Naruto, but you'd know better than me."

"Aa."

"Remember to take it easy, though. Light training only, and be cautious rather than sorry. Besides, your chakra use is still closed off."

"Hn." As if he needed a reminder about that. Naruto protested heavily, but in the end the council had still decided to put Sasuke on probation a short while, without the use of his chakra, so he could be monitored for any signs of violent breakdown. Not that he couldn't destroy plenty with taijutsu alone.

Sakura stood there for a while longer, wringing her hands, and he realized she was waiting for him to leave so she could tidy up and change the sheets.

"Sakura," he said against his better judgment, but was rewarded when her cheeks flushed pink. "Would you go on a walk with me?" Seeing her surprised look, he admitted, "I don't want to go … back just yet."

"Of course, Sasuke-kun," she replied, her eyebrows knitted together in worry. "If you'd like, I can show you around the hospital, but only for a little bit."

"Aa." I'd like that very much.