Orange sunlight filtered through the windows as Sakura and Sasuke signed their release forms from the hospital. Sometime after noon a nurse had come in with a doctor and they'd informed them they were healthy enough to be released, with strict instructions to get plenty of rest. Naruto though had to stay for observation. His arm was still broken and he was only suffering from minor chakra exhaustion. Something that wouldn't really bother him, but considering what he went through, it made sense the hospital wanted to keep an eye on him.

It had been late afternoon when team 7 realized their sensei wasn't coming back any time soon. They didn't hold it against him though. They'd just dumped a lot on the poor unsuspecting man. But still, knowing what he was thinking or doing would have been nice. They just hoped he didn't go straight to the Hokage. Although, if he had, they were pretty sure they'd be hanging out with T&I right about now.

But no such thing happened, and eventually night fell and Naruto was left alone in the hospital room, Anbu guards just outside the door.

"Sorry, Naruto," Sakura had sighed as she'd put her ruined shirt on. The hospital had kept all their salvageable clothes when they'd been brought in. This included Sakura's battered shirt, skirt, and pants, as well as Sasuke's ensemble. Only Naruto's coat and pants had been salvaged, but he knew that going in.

"I'd visit you tomorrow but," she continued helplessly.

"But your parents," Naruto finished for her. "I get it." He tried to offer her a smile. Somehow he didn't think it convinced her. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I heal fast, remember?"

She smiled softly at that, memories of all the times he'd gotten injured probably playing through her head.

"Yeah, I know."

"Oi, Sakura, you coming or not?" Sasuke had suddenly called from the door. An Anbu guard was holding it open for him, waiting for Sakura to join them so he could escort them out.

"Yeah, yeah," she'd waved back. Turning back to Naruto, she smiled again. "See you soon, dummy."

Naruto smiled at the memory.

The sound of the door sliding open dragged him from his thoughts.

When he looked over, he was surprised to see Karin standing in the doorway with one of the ANBU guards behind her. He watched as she nodded timidly to the guard before walking into the room.

"They told me you were awake," she started. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you."

Shifting into a sitting up position, Naruto just smiled. "Nah, you're good," he said. "Sakura said you needed some rest."

The red head attempted a smile, sitting down on the bed next to him. Across the room, the Anbu who'd brought her in left the room, closing the door behind him. The other Anbu who'd been stationed in the room stayed put. Porcelain mask devoid of emotion as always.

Doing his best to ignore the Anbu, cuz, weird, Naruto turned back to his cousin.

"I know what you did for me," he started softly.

Karin's eyes widened for a brief moment before replying. "What do you uh, what do you mean?"

Trying to be as careful as possible, Naruto grasped her wrist and held her arm out. Pushing her sleeve up, he exposed the freshly wrapped bite mark, spots of blood speckling the gauze.

Karin's shoulders slumped. "Oh," she said. Then, with a defeated sigh, she asked, "How did you know?"

"Sakura figured it out," he answered honestly, not offering any further explanation. This seemed to be enough for Karin, eyes falling towards her lap in guilt. She stayed like that for a long moment.

"I didn't want to lose my family again," she finally whispered.

Naruto felt something grip his heart upon hearing her words. He watched as her welling tears finally slid down her cheeks. She made no move to get rid of them.

"I'm sorry," he said hoarsley. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

"It's fine," she sniffed. "No one ever does."

Naruto grimaced at that. She'd been through a lot. And if he didn't change things she would go through a lot more. The image of her bleeding out on a broken bridge invaded his mind. Blood had been pouring from her mouth. Only Sakura's knowledge and medical skills managing to save her. He didn't want that for this Karin. Never.

"Hey," he started, reaching out to hold her hand. Blinking, she looked up at him in confusion. "I'm okay now y'know. But, if you're gonna stay with me, there's only one thing I want you to promise me."

Karin gulped nervously. "Uh, sure. What it is?"

Naruto smiled. "Don't hurt yourself to make others feel better."

A smile smile formed on Karin's face, just reaching her eyes. A quick swipe of her sleeves cleared her eyes of tears. "I think I can do that," she said.

After Pain's attack on Konoha, Sakura thought she'd seen how clingy her parents could be. She was sorely wrong. As soon as she'd entered the hospital lobby after being escorted out by an Anbu, she'd been tackled in a hug that she was sure would have broken something. Immediately her parents started fussing over her, checking every inch to make sure she was really and truly alright.

She was aware of Sasuke watching the whole thing go down off to the side. He looked uncomfortable. Right, she realized guiltily. He didn't have parents to fuss over him.

"Mom, Dad, I'm fine," she said, trying to pry herself away from their smothering. It didn't help her case that she was wearing the same clothes she had been in the forest of death. Or that she still had a few bandages on.

"Honey, you were attacked by a Sannin!" Her mom gushed. "It's a miracle you're alive!"

Casting an apologetic glance over to Sasuke, Sakura tried again with her parents.

"Mom, I'm okay. See?" She held out her arms for affect. Then, putting her hands on her hips, added, "C'mon, I'm stronger than you think."

They didn't look at all convinced, but they gave her sympathetic smiles anyway. The kind parents gave when they said they believed you but really didn't. Whatever. Sakura didn't need reassurance or sympathy or whatever. She was a seasoned shinobi. But she would like to get out of the hospital where her parents were starting to make a scene.

"So um…" she tried again. "Can we go home now? I'm really tired."

"Oh, of course!" Her dad cried. "I'll make you whatever you want for dinner. You must be exhausted."

Before she could agree, her parents started ushering her out of the hospital. Halfway to the door, she looked over her shoulder to where Sasuke was still standing. He looked so alone, standing in the middle of the bustling lobby with no one to pick him up. He was probably going to head back to his apartment and make dinner by himself, and probably burn it cuz they were both still a bit out of it. It wasn't fair.

"Hey Mom?" She asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway. Her parents turned back to her, confused. "Could we let Sasuke come as well? I don't want him to be home alone while he recovers."

The look her mom gave her said she didn't believe her, probably remembering when Sakura was absolutely crazy about the Uchiha. Rolling her eyes, Sakura dismissed the thought.

"It's not like that, Mom," she sighed. "It's just…" She looked back over her shoulder at the teen (preteen?) still covered in bandages and wearing his burned clothes. "He shouldn't have to be alone right now."

Sakura didn't see hr parents reactions, but she was fairly sure they were sympathetic. After a moment of quiet debate between the two, Sakura was ushered off back to her teammate to invite him to dinner. She wasted no time.

"Hey Sasuke," she said as she walked up. Be casual. Be casual. "Why are you still here?"

"I have to fill out some forms to get my sword back," he replied easily. "What are you still doing here?" It wasn't accusatory, but it came across that way.

Huffing out a frustrated sigh, Sakura said, "I'm inviting you to come have dinner with my parents."

"As a date?" He asked in confusion.

"No, dipshit!" She practically cried. "As a medical ninja, I don't want you being on your own after just being released from the hospital. Besides, I doubt you'd actually take it easy like the staff told us to," she ranted. "I can't make sure you're following their orders if I'm cooped up in my house. Now are you coming to dinner or not?"

Sasuke looked baffled for a moment before pulling himself together and shrugging. "Sure. Why not."

Jeez. Was it really that hard to show emotions?

"Alright. You know where my house is?" He nodded. "Alright," she said as she started to turn back to her parents. "And you better show up. I'll have no patient of mine neglecting his health."

"I'm not your patient," she heard him mutter.

She just rolled her eyes, already headed back towards her parents.

It had already gotten dark by the time Sasuke had arrived. Sakura had usured him in immediately and had plopped him down at the table, shoving chopsticks into his hands. Her father had greeted him with an exuberant smile while her mother had served him up a bowl of donburi. Suffice to say, Sasuke was very surprised by all the excitement happening around him. Her father's jokes weren't helping.

After an interesting dinner, and yummy (on her part) dessert of anmitsu, Sakura somehow convinced Sasuke to stay the night. Her father lent him some pajamas, and they dug out an extra blanket for him and set up a makeshift bed on the couch. Before her parents ushered them off to bed (doctors orders). Before they went to their separate rooms though, Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him off to the hall.

"We have to talk about Kakashi-sensei," she hissed, hoping her parents couldn't hear them.

:What about him?" he hissed back.

"Well, what if he rats us out to the Hokage?" She shot back. "And even so, we still have to come up with a fake report of what happened."

Sasuke chewed his lip for a moment, contemplating what she'd just said. After a moment, he bit out, "Fine. After your parents go to bed, though."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off. "Now go to your couch. I'll come back later."

With a huff, he trudged off to the couch, making him look more like a twelve year old rather than the seventeen year old he really was. Sakura smiled to herself at the sight. Uchihas.

Without waiting to hear if he'd made it to the living room, she headed off to bed, head already spinning with plans on how to overcome their predicament.

It was well past midnight when Sakura snuck out of her room. Across the hall she could hear her parents softly snoring, indicating that they were fast asleep.

Making sure to be as silent as possible, she tiptoed out into the hall and shut her door behind her. Out in the living room Sasuke has sitting up on the couch, some book in hand and blanket draped over his lap. The lamp on the end table next to him was on, throwing yellow light over the room.

"Sasuke," she hissed, grabbing his attention. He looked up from his book, shutting it immediately upon seeing her in the doorway.

"Alright," he sighed, sitting up. "Let's get this over with."

Rolling her eyes, Sakura made her way over to the couch, plopping down next to the Uchiha. But instead of getting right to it, Sakura's face fell, eyes drifting away.

"We should have Naruto here," she lamented, staring at an empty spot on the couch; as if expecting their blonde teammate to be sitting there.

"Well he's not," Sasuke replied, earning him a dirty look from Sakura. "But we still have to do this."

"I know," she sighed, somewhat frustrated. "Anyways, what are we going to do?"

"About Kakashi or about our report?"

Sakura shrugged helplessly. "Both?"

"Well," Sasuke started. "we can't really do anything about him right now. We're on house arrest, remember?"

Sakura just rolled her eyes again. "Technically it's bed rest, but sure, whatever helps you sleep at night."

It was the Uchiha's turn to roll his eyes.

They fell into a short silence after that. Neither of them really knew what to say next, just that they had to speak. Sakura was the first to break it.

"Do you think he believes us?" she asked quietly. She couldn't keep the uncertainty out of her voice despite her best attempt.

"Most likely," Sasuke replied. "Why else would he disappear on us like that?"

Sakura shrugged, partly agreeing with him.

"The only question now is what is he going to do?" She said. "If he goes to the hokage we're screwed. Cuz then we'll be dragged to T&I and well," she paused, remembering all the shit they'd been through and done in the last five years. All the village secrets they shouldn't know, and crimes they let Sasuke get away with. "It wouldn't be pretty."

Next to her, Sasuke hummed in agreement. "We can't really do anything about it right now," he mused, looking out the window into the night. "We're basically on house arrest."

Grimacing, Sakura nodded. "So, assuming he doesn't rat us out," she started. "What should our report say? We fought a sannin and came out alive; we have to come up with a feasible story that also counteracts whatever he might say."

"Hn," Sasuke agreed. "Something not too complicated. Otherwise it'd look suspicious."

A slow smile spread across Sakura's face, green eyes shining in the dark. "I think I can work with that."

AN: You can check out this chapters art here!