Sakura raised a bottle of sake to her lips.

Rina was admitted... five days ago? Shutting her eyes, Sakura tried to remember. All the days were blurry. She hadn't left the hospital very much, so she couldn't remember how many times it had been day.

A chakra signature appeared in her room. Transportation. She opened her eyes, ignoring the bright stars in her vision, and stared straight into Sasuke's hard, black eyes. His breath almost fanned across her face. Blinking, she tried to register what she was seeing.

"Sasuke-kun. What are you doing here?" Sakura whispered, too tired to voice her enthusiasm.

Leaning on her desk, Sasuke had both his palms flat on top of her notes. He moved backward before he sat on the edge of her desk. "I'm back from my mission," he stated.

Her forehead puckered. "I thought you were going to get back on Thursday."

Sasuke murmured, amused, "Sakura. It's Thursday."

"Oh," she said, nonplussed. It was Thursday already? So Rina had been here six days. Six days and still no real progress.

"Sakura," Sasuke began, lingering over her. "What's with you?"

She waved a hand at her notes and yawned. "A patient." Sakura would have been content to leave it at that and just look at him (why did it seem like it had been so long?) but Sasuke was too nosy for that.

"You haven't said anything about a patient," Sasuke muttered disapprovingly.

"You didn't ask," Sakura said with a smile, thinking of when Sasuke had said the same thing to her.

He glanced at her, decidedly unamused.

Sakura watched him slide her papers around, trying to make sense of it. A string of words here, numbers and figures, and facts. He picked up the records next to his legs and fingered through the pages. Why didn't he look upset, like the last time she saw him? Sakura mused.

"She doesn't seem very well off," Sasuke remarked, after some time.

Sakura laid her head on the desk.

"Lapses in memory? Pains in her neck and back? ...She's been in a coma before?" Sasuke continued, incredulous. Reports from her previous doctors were in the file. He looked at the first, catching the word cancer on the page.

Muffled by her arms, Sakura's voice reached his ears. "Most of them thought it was some kind of unknown cancer. I don't really think so."

"What do you think it is?" he asked, flipping another page. Enzyme count high, white cell count up, pH level off—

Sakura's white fingers wrapped around the page, pulling it out of his hands. Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke watched her rifle through the pages until she stopped at one. "I don't know," she admitted, staring forlornly at Rina's papers. "I thought it was a poison, but..." She rubbed the back of her neck, then frowned at the documents.

"You're staying here tonight?" Sasuke asked, suddenly changing topics.

She looked up, motioning toward her desk, and nodded. His black hair fell in his face as he shook his head. She itched to fix it.

"You won't be persuaded to go home?"

"I'm afraid not."

Sasuke smirked; it was a fleeting expression of amusement and vexation. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura."

"Wait!" she called, as he was about to leave. "You just got here." Had he felt ignored before he left on that mission? In some way she was trying to make up for it. Perhaps her eagerness about Team Seven's return had come off as a little insensitive.

Sasuke looked inquisitively over his shoulder.

"So don't leave just yet," Sakura persisted. "Sit. Talk to me."

"About what?" Sasuke asked, turning around. He didn't move to sit.

"About you. Or me. Or anything. The subject isn't the point, Sasuke-kun."

"Then what is?"

Sasuke had an irking habit of making her fully explain herself. And it couldn't be because he found her confusing; Sakura was sure of that. "Our talking is the point," she replied. "Tell me, how are you? Are you hurt?"

His look was softening. But still he said, "I have to go to the Hokage's."

"Now?"

"Ah."

"You don't have ten minutes, Sasuke-kun?"

With a smirk he said, "You know Tsunade, Sakura. She'll have my head if I'm late."

"And I have a dying patient, Sasuke-kun, but I have ten minutes for you." Sakura gazed at him clinically. "Tell me, are you hurt?"

Sasuke smiled at her.

The picture struck her so dumb that Sakura didn't protest when he slipped out her office door. The room was left in silence. Sakura wondered if something as worthless as her attention had really just made Sasuke Uchiha smile.

With downcast eyes she returned to her work. Sakura pursed her lips, glared at her notes. Something was wrong with Rina's blood... But what?

There's always that one moment when she walks into an emergency room. That one moment where all she can hear is her own breathing, and her heart feels like stopping.

Sakura stood in the doorway for a second, feeling sick to her stomach, as she stared at the circle of nurses.

"Damn it," Sakura cursed as she pushed her way to the ANBU on the hospital bed. Her eyes settled on Sai's pasty complexion. The room smelt heavy with blood. "Get Tsunade," she snapped, not bothering to watch which nurse scurried out of the room.

Sakura laughed as she sat opposite of Sai. Hooked up to nearly every machine the hospital had, he didn't look so good, but he was stable. Tsunade was still in the room, double-checking all the machinery.

"Looks like he'll make it," Tsunade murmured, her voice all honey. She turned to her apprentice with a smile. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

Closing her eyes, Sakura leaned her head against the wall and smiled. Sai's heart monitor kept its steady beat, and at that moment, it was the best sound she'd ever heard in her life. He had lost so much blood. Remembering the overwhelming smell, Sakura cringed. Her stomach turned.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura peered at her mentor, tired. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Tsunade folded her arms over her chest, thoroughly disbelieving.

"Okay, so I feel like shit," she confessed, a ridiculous smile on her face. She leaned on the window again, closing her eyes from the white-washed walls of the hospital. The glass was cold. The pat of rain against the window lulled her to sleep.

Sakura wasn't sure how much time had passed since she closed her eyes. It seemed later. She didn't hear anything. No doors opening, closing; no sounds from the lobby; no nurses checking on any patients.

Groggy, Sakura sat up in her chair and rubbed at her eyes. It felt very late. Maybe four in the morning? It was the time of night when everyone was asleep, when no one had any business to be up, when everything was still. As she stood up, Sakura felt her legs wobble underneath her. Her fingers were cold, and she felt unsteady. She hadn't eaten much since Rina came. Hadn't slept much, either.

She hoped to see Tsunade in the halls, but she didn't. With a despondent look around the lobby, Sakura decided she would just have to thank Tsunade for her help later. It would have been much more taxing to heal Sai by herself.

She waved at the night receptionist and shakily made her way down the hospital steps. Konoha was black. Night was a thick blanket in the streets. For a moment, Sakura couldn't see anything, could only feel. It was cold and wet. Rain seeped into her hair, and she shivered. Hugging her arms to her chest, Sakura trudged towards her apartment.

It was colder than she remembered. The rain was light and sluggish, but enough that she wished she had a jacket. Had fall suddenly made its way to Konoha while she was in the hospital? She rubbed her arms and, staring at the desolate streets, realized exactly where she was. Sasuke's apartment watched over her, loomed above.

But he was in, Sakura reminded herself, disappointed. It would be rude to barge in. But her apartment was still a little while away...

The wind picked up. Frowning, she ran a hand through her wet hair and made her decision. As the wind howled again, Sakura ran under the eave of the apartment building.

It was dark inside. The building creaked and groaned with the wind. Sakura wandered up the stairs and stood in front of Sasuke's door, hesitating before she jammed her key into the lock and leaned on the door to open it.

Sasuke rolled on his side when he heard his door open. With eyes half-shut, he waited in his bed, knowing instinctively who it was. His body didn't want to wake up: her chakra didn't alert him, or put him on edge.

"Sakura," he called, voice heavy with sleep.

As soon as she heard him say her name, a small part of her regretted coming. Sakura slipped into his doorway, trying to think of what to say.

Sasuke's eyebrows scrunched together when she didn't immediately respond. Half-asleep, Sasuke asked, "Sakura, what are you doing here?" She only used his apartment when he was gone.

"Ah," she began, leaning on the door frame. "There's a storm coming, and I..." She hugged her arms to her chest. "You don't mind if I sleep on your couch, do you?"

Sasuke opened his eyes, wearily looking at Sakura. Her soaked pink hair was pushed out of her face, still dripping water onto her shoulders. Groaning, Sasuke laid a hand over his eyes. "No, I don't mind," he answered without much feeling, already falling back asleep. "Oh, wait," he said to himself. He lifted his head. "Don't you want the bed?"

With a laugh, Sakura shook her head. "No, I won't be here long. The couch is fine, thanks."

He grunted and lay back down.

"Goodnight, Sasuke-kun."

Sakura opened her eyes five hours later, sick of sleeping. She had dreams the whole time—dreams of Sai and Rina and blood and poison. It had been one of those restless nights, like the kinds she had when Sasuke first left. Or when she was sick in Sasuke's apartment months ago.

Sasuke.

She lifted her head and stared into the hallway. Reminiscent, she thought of the time she slept on the floor, when Sasuke was on probation, when he first moved. She never did ask what kind of wine she had.

"I'm not in there."

Sakura turned around and slipped her legs off his couch, startled.

She was about to say something, to fill the silence, but Sasuke continued, "And you didn't even bother with sheets." He eyed her, mildly reproving. "I could have taken the couch, instead."

"No, no. I didn't even mean to stay this long."

Besides, Sasuke-kun, Sakura thought to herself; how can I take advantage of your favors when Naruto asked you to take care of me?

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck and sucked in a breath. "You're about to go back to the hospital?" He leaned against the couch she was still on.

"Maybe," Sakura answered. More to herself than to Sasuke, she said, "But Tsunade probably already took care of everything..." That would be just like Tsunade. And she needed to thank Tsunade for helping with Sai. It was nice to have someone to help so much. Someone experienced.

"Everything?" Sasuke prompted.

She realized she hadn't mentioned it to him. "A lot happened." Sakura stopped, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Sai came in from a solo mission, bleeding all over the ER. But he's fine." She needed to visit him today. He'll need another blood transfusion, too.

Her head sort of hurt. She had a lot to think about.

"I still have Rina Sasaki in the hospital..." Who wasn't doing tremendously well in the first place. She needed to go to the hospital and finish looking into the poisons. Maybe if she could find some similarities between Rina's condition and... and anything, she would have something to build on.

"Sakura."

"What?"

"Why do you," he paused to look at her, "take in patients from other villages? They can go to the doctors in their own village."

"Patients, if they pay more, can get quicker help in another country. Sometimes they do that because their own hospital is full or underdeveloped." Sakura shrugged. "In the beginning, I started taking low-risk patients for the practice. I was restless, because you all were gone—"

She swallowed, wishing she hadn't said that, knowing Sasuke hadn't missed it.

"But sometimes patients come looking for a better doctor, when the medics in their village couldn't help. Like Rina," Sakura finished.

He pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "So you're much better than most doctors, then."

She laughed. "I guess that would depend on the doctors I'm compared to." Sasuke snorted, as if the response was unsatisfactory, but Sakura didn't mind. How else does someone answer that?

When she stood up, Sakura felt the weakness in her body. She needed to eat: she was starving. Her hands shook, so she folded her arms across her chest. With one eye on the clock, Sakura tentatively said, "I guess I should go. I've got a lot of things to do."

She didn't want him to let her leave. She wanted someone to command her to go to sleep. Someone... comforting. It was a stupid thing to want, Sakura knew. She didn't need, or require that kind of support. She did well enough by herself. But sometimes she caught herself thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have someone?

She was losing her mind, Sakura decided. What was wrong with her? What did she expect of him, or anyone else? To be a mind readers? And even then, no one was obligated to care about her, not in the slightest. She could take care of herself. She didn't need anyone.

"Ah," Sasuke intoned, watching her with his speculating, thorough gaze. With a half-honest smile, she waved goodbye and stepped out of Sasuke's apartment, and into Konoha's streets.

a/n. a timely update! huzzah! thank you so very much to my lovely readers and reviewers:

cutecookiechick, Dictionary Ink, Crystal Koneko, shkh4ever, 17child-of-the-moon17, LoveTheCrazy, Sakura's Indecision, Lady Rini, Hazel817, MidniteCurse4Eternity, Misery's-Toll, XxCrimsonNovaxX, The Anonymous Reader, boulder's sun, Unknown, Deploringly, jolteonforever, Original Blue, MYinnerNINJA, Lia113, Kaze and Kiba, Sakura Haruno . . . CHA!, and Maj15.

and here's a shout out to the anonymous reviewers. you know, i started out as an anonymous reviewer on fanfiction. :)