Sakura was alone in the hospital room.
The hokage...Tsunade promised that they will start training as soon as she gets out, so now she needed to focus on getting better.
She was thinking of the letter she sent to him, and there was still no response back, not that she actually expected it, but she was upset sad about it.
She was missing him, dearly, and didn't even know if they will ever have a chance to see each other, like how the chunnin exam was. She could look forward to it, plan for it, and now there was nothing.
Tsunade explained to her, that her reaction to this poison is out of the norm, in that, her genjutsu affinity was surprised by it, which made no sense, since that is something she trained a lot, and Kurenai praised her a few times. Sure, it was nothing compared to the Sharingan, but it was good enough for her in the battles, how could that be repressed?
Her mind drifted off to her teammates.
She was feeling bad, not knowing what they are doing or planning recently.
She was so preoccupied with everything, and to her defense, she also hasn't seen them around the village.
Kabuto...
He really poisoned her...
Her mind run around on their interactions, and she still couldn't pinpoint when it could've happened. He also made her feel weird.
It was night, and Sasuke packed his bag, with the most important items, before heading out.
He made a choice yesterday, when the four sound ninjas attacked him, and neither Kakashi, nor Naruto could hold him back.
But it was early, people were still on the streets, so he decided to walk around a bit, not realizing that he wanted to give himself another chance to change his mind.
His feet lead him to the hospital where Sakura was staying, and he came to the conclusion, that by visiting her, it will be full circle, Kakashi tried and failed, Naruto tried (unknowingly) and failed, so Sakura also needed to try and fail, and after that, he can confidentially go.
He jumped on the window frame and knocked on it, facing the startled Sakura, who was reading a book before.
She got up, and opened the window, and he climbed in.
"Sasuke! What are you doing here? It's late." she said, her words seemed like she wanted to speak louder, but didn't want to give away that he was there long after visiting hours.
"Just wanted to talk with you." he said, and hopped down on the chair next to her bed.
She sighted, and went back to her bed to sit down.
"Okay..." she said, folding her arms "What is it?"
"Um..." he actually didn't plan out a conversation like this "How are you?"
"I'm okay" she said " What is the problem?" she asked him directly, which, to be honest, should have been expected, Sakura was not in the small talk, but neither was him.
"Can you explain to me, how is it that you love him, that Gaara?" he asked, looking a bit away, so he failed to note her flushed face
"Sasuke!" she hold up her pillow and almost threw it at him "You are making fun of me" she said, and Sasuke stopped her hand, and held the pillow down
"No, that's not it. Just..." he took a breath "I want to understand" to this, Sakura's hand lost the force in it, and put down the pillow completely.
"Ohh" she said with a small smile, which made him uncomfortable "Well, what do you want to know?"
"So...are you positive he still feels the same?"
"Sorry, where you there at the third part of the exam?" her tone was filled with irony, which annoyed him
"But like, it made little sense!" he said, folding his arms
"Which part?"
"Where he...where he said you two will abandon the villages, how do you know it's not just him wanting you to become a missing nin? So you will depend on him?"
"Our goals where always similar, and never out of malice" she said with a serious face
"Okay, but how do you know he doesn't want to use you?"
"I know him, and I trust him" she said, with reddened cheeks again "And he knows me, and trusts me" she said
"So that's it?"
Sakura only let out a deep breath
"Not just that, but trust is the base of human relationships" she pulled out her hand, to hold his "And with any type of love, it is there to support each other, in this fucked up world" she said, and Sasuke almost trembled at her words.
"Yeah, this world is shit" he said, looking down at the floor
"Sasuke, why did you attacked that Akatsuki member?" she asked, and he almost pulled his hand away from her, but she was rubbing it soothingly, and it reminded him of his mom.
"I attacked Itachi" he said, still not looking at her, just hearing her small gasp, and her tightening hold of his hand.
"I'm sorry" she said, and continued rubbing his whitened knuckles. "Did he make you...?" her voice was filled with uncertainty, to which he only nodded.
"It was about that night" he whispered, and felt both of their hands shake
"Sasuke..." she came closer and hugged him. He normally didn't like physical closeness, but now her presence was so much like his mom, so accepting and helping, that he reciprocated it, holding her shoulders and trying to burry his upcoming tears.
She started to rock him in her arms, and his nerves calmed a bit
"It's okay" she whispered "I'm here, Naruto is also here, Kakashi is also here, we are all here for you" she said, and his heart clenched at that, a small tear escaped his eye, and traveled down, hitting the back of her shirt.
After a few minutes, they broke the hug, but she still held his hand.
"You know that you can count on us, right?" she asked, and he just shrugged "Wait, you think, just because of Gaara, I will abandon you?" she asked, and he wasn't happy she figured him out that well "Oh, that's so stupid" she giggled "I swear, I will not go anywhere, until Team 7 kills Itachi, okay?" she asked, with a smile, and he almost forgot to breath
"Really? Team 7 will kill Itachi?" he asked
"For sure!" she grinned "Every goal in this team, is also a team project" she said, and he almost started to shake again
"What about Naruto? Will you stay until he is Hokage?" he asked, with a humorous tone, and she started to laugh a bit
"I think after a while, it will be obvious, if he will truly be made Hokage" she said with a smile.
"What about your goal? How can the team help?" he asked
"I'll think about it" she squeezed his hand, and he did it back
His heart felt full, maybe he will never be as happy as when he was a child, but this...these people...
"Can I ask a favor from you?" she asked, and he just nodded
"Can this hug and hand holding stay just between us?" she asked, with a slight giggle, to which he raised and eyebrow "Ino would think I'm competition again" she said, rubbing her right temple, and Sasuke almost let out a laugh
"Yeah, I don't want to deal with a jealous Jinchuriki who has a sand shield either" he said, and let go of her hand
"Glad we are on the same page" she said, while laughing, and he just smirked "I also don't want another person to get the wrong idea, it would be a bad look for you" she said, and looked at him knowingly, while he just wanted to smash his head at the wall, feeling regret of ever telling her that.
After that, he said bye to her, and went home, emptying out his bag, and taking a bath contently, while a new idea came to his mind.
The next day, he requested ANBU protection against sound nins, and a strengthening of surveillance in the village for unwanted intruders.
Team 7 was in Sakura's hospital room.
Naruto bringed ramen for everyone, and they were laughing, listening to his crazy frog stories with the sannin when Kakashi arrived.
"Hello team" he said, and the only visible eye on his face smiled "Great news to everyone, there will not be war with Suna" he said, and Sakura dropped her chopsticks in her bowl of noodles, slouching soup on her desk.
"Really?" she got up, with more energy than Naruto, and almost hugged her sensei.
"And there is a small letter for you." he said, pulling out a piece of paper from his porch. "The specialty already looked over" he said, and put it in between her fingers.
She almost forgot to breath, while held onto it
With shaky hands, she slowly opened it, and read the few words on it
The sand is working in the hourglass
She read it again, and again, and again, until they almost weren't sounding like words anymore.
He was working, for a time they can meet
She felt her body tremble and was in between excitement and cry.
Not knowing what to do, she turned back, and hugged the confused Naruto and Sasuke, while slowly her tears surfaced.
They awkwardly hugged her back, while she brought Kakashi into the hug as well.
When they finally broke it, Sasuke cleared his throat.
"I would like to propose something" he said with an unsure tone, to which Sakura smiled "Would you...would you all want to move to the Uchiha compound?" he asked, and the room went silent, until an agitated Naruto screamed
"What?"
"Sasuke, where does this coming from?" asked Kakashi, while rubbing his head
Sakura just went closer, and put her hand on his shoulder, facing him with a knowing grin
"You want us to live together, hm?" she asked, and found great amusement in his fixated glare of the wall "You like us" she said, teasingly, and he almost replied back something, but stopped "I will move in, with one condition" she said, removing her hand, and walking closer to Kakashi and Naruto, while they all stared at her "We will not live in the Uchiha compound, we will live in the same house as you" she said while turning back with an evil smile
"Same house? To close." he said, with a small blush
"This is my deal" she said, and he almost canceled the offer all together.
"Fine, but we'll stay in a different house" he said, and Sakura understood that he wanted to leave his parent's stuff untacked, so she nodded to this, and turned her face back to the other members of the team.
"So we will all be living together?" asked Naruto with a big grin, looking at Sasuke
"All of us are alone now, it makes logical sense" he murmured, not looking back at him, which amused Naruto and Sakura even more.
"Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura
"Okay, okay, I'm in too" he said "But I want a place to have some silence." he said, and than everyone started to list the things they want in the house, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at some of the ideas they made.
Her team was truly something.