Date: 6/14/13
Rating: T
Genre:
Angst, Drama, Romance
Prompt:
The war is won and everyone is celebrating and calling Sasuke a hero. He feels awkward and tries to get away from the crowds and goes to Sakura instead.


It was too much. The music. The crowds. The praise. The war may have been over, but Sasuke wasn't in the mood to celebrate. In fact, he had never felt more uncomfortable. Another nameless face stopped in front of him and shook his hand, beaming as thanked him and called him a hero. Sasuke stiffened, never knowing what to say, but the man didn't seem to notice as he spot another friend amidst the crowd.

Hero.

There was that word again, something he'd heard a thousand times that day alone, a title thrust onto him as if he deserved it. But they were wrong, and he had enough. Naruto was a hero, the perfect archetype. Not him.

Feeling the hands of the villagers patting him on the back, hearing them fight amongst each other to just catch a glimpse of him, Sasuke slowly squeezed himself through the crowd to the closest place he knew would be empty: the hospital. And as he took one last glance at the crowd before entering the building, Sasuke shook his head and sighed. He just didn't get it. He wasn't a hero. He was cursed.

He only meant to spend a few moments in the waiting room, granting him some time to clear his thoughts while relishing in the peace. However, Sasuke remembered Naruto telling him Sakura was working that day and went up to the receptionist's desk. She was just up the stairs and down the hall, she told him. Sasuke nodded in thanks, but the receptionist ignored him, her eyes gazing longingly out the window as they heard the sounds of celebration. He rolled his eyes—but, at least, she didn't call him a hero.

Once he reached Sakura's room, he noticed that the door was open; however, Sakura didn't seem to notice his presence, too busy scrawling notes on a patient's file. Sasuke smirked, rapping on the doorframe. She looked up. "Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed with a look of surprise as she closed the folder, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out celebrating with the rest of the village?" She laughed. "We did just win a war, you know!"

He sighed. "I couldn't take it anymore."

"Take what?"

"Everything," he said as he entered the room, sitting in the empty seat next to Sakura. His eyes travelled to the window. Though muted, he could still hear the cheering of the crowd. "They keep calling me a hero."

"But you are—" Sakura stopped, noticing the look in Sasuke's eyes. She didn't know what it was, but something was bothering him. She could tell; she always could. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like," she said, trying to sound more cheerful, "though, I can't say that I'll be better company."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, remaining silent as he watched Sakura work. It wasn't very interesting, but for a while, he was content. However, every so often his eyes would go back to the window, unable to ignore the merriment just outside the hospital. At one point, he even thought he heard his name. Hero.

That was it. Sasuke stood up, the grating of the chair's legs against the floor catching Sakura's attention.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked, following him to the window.

He gripped the windowsill, his eyes staring blankly at the crowd. His name was thrown into the crowd again, and this time both of them heard it. Hero. "How easily people seem to forget," he said quietly.

"It's not that they forget, Sasuke-kun," she said gently, understanding a little better, tentatively placing her hand over his, her fingers filling the spaces that seemed to fit perfectly. She smiled. "They forgive."

"But why?"

Sasuke turned his head, and though he tried to be discrete, Sakura knew what he was looking at. She felt his hand tense under hers. He wasn't talking about the crowd anymore. Sakura felt the corners of her mouth drop. "For the same reason I gave you on the battlefield," she said, earnest, but serious now, "Nothing's changed."

However, Sasuke's eyes never left her shoulder, knowing fully well the injury that hid beneath her white coat. "But I hurt you."

"I think we've both had our share of mistakes, Sasuke-kun," she said softly, the image of her kunai pointed at his back flashing through her mind. "But we're not our mistakes." She paused. "You're not your mistakes. And despite everything that's happened, you choose to fight on our side; you protected Konoha. You're still good, Sasuke-kun. And even if you don't believe it, you are a hero."

Sakura finally felt Sasuke relax under her touch. She smiled. And removing her hand from the windowsill, Sakura poked her index finger onto Sasuke's forehead, a twinkle in her eye as she winked.

"I just had to knock some sense into you first."