Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Rise

Chapter 9

It's five in the morning and Sasuke curses himself for not grabbing a coat before heading out into the village. Fog hangs in the air, chilling him to the core, but he is too stubborn to turn back. He'll warm up quickly when he starts training anyway, and so he hops onto the nearest roof, determined to make the trip as short as possible instead of strolling casually through the streets as he usually does.

Sasuke is halfway to the training grounds when he spots a minuscule splash of pink to his left, bright against the grey fog. Immediately he stops, his body reacting instinctively to the color as it's come to these days. His head whips to the left and there, on a bench some few hundred feet away in the fog yet clearly visible to his Rinnegan eye, sits Sakura.

She's near the entrance to the village—on the same bench he left her upon all those years ago, at the beginning of his downfall, when he realized the extent of her feelings for him. She's hunched over, elbows resting on her thighs and forehead pressed into her palms, covering her face.

Concern for her settles heavily in his chest. He's moving before fully making the decision to, and the moment he's beside her he notices the quiet sobs shaking her small form.

Shock reels through him, followed by an unexpected and sudden sense of anguish at seeing her cry that has him quickly dropping to sit next to her.

"Sakura." He meant for his voice to be firm, steady—instead it is nothing more than a quiet plea.

She stiffens and slowly raises her head. Her lack of reaction to his initial presence worries him. She should have sensed him a long time ago, and the fact that she is only just realizing he's there has him frowning at her, his concern for her growing.

Green eyes—bright and glassy with tears—meet his, and she lets out a weak, "Sasuke-kun?"

It's strange. One moment he is beside her, taking in the tears streaking her face and the agony in her normally cheerful eyes, and in the next a hoarse, broken cry escapes her lips, and she is in his arms.

It's strange. Her small frame presses against his and she buries her face in his shoulder, hands pulling at the sleeves of his shirt as she cries. She is completely, utterly invading the personal space that he so cautiously guards.

And it's strange—because he doesn't push her away. Instead, not knowing exactly what the best course of action is but wanting to comfort her—since when did he comfort others?—regardless, his hand settles on the small of her back and he turns his face so that his chin rests atop her head.

Sasuke holds her like that, unmoving, for what easily could have been mere seconds or an hour. The early-morning chill is a distant memory compared to the warmth of her body against his. He closes his eyes and remains silent—simply because he doesn't know what to say to her—but it seems to be enough. Slowly her body stops shaking and her sobs quiet. And when she eventually pulls away, putting distance between them, he has the strangest urge to draw her back.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura says, voice raspy. She gives him a smile, small yet infinitely better than her tears. "I didn't realize I needed that right now, but I guess...I guess I really did."

His eyes flicker, searching hers as if he can find the source of her pain if he looks hard enough. She meets his eyes and the smile falls from her lips. Her brows draw together and she turns her gaze downward.

"A patient died on me today," she whispers, answering his unspoken question. "He was only six years old. Had an extremely rare heart disease I've never seen before. Ever since his parents—" Her breath hitches and she turns her face away from him, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth as she tries not to cry further. A few quiet, melancholy seconds pass, and Sasuke has just raised his hand to touch her—where exactly and for what purpose, he doesn't know; he just wants her to stop crying because seeing her like this makes him incredibly distressed—when she turns back to him. He quickly drops his hand, the moment lost.

"Sorry," she says softly, and winces. "I'm the biggest crybaby I know. I thought—I thought that the pain of losing a patient would get easier eventually, but every time is just as horrible as the last." She clears her throat and continues, "His name was Tadashi—the little boy I lost today. He had a big brother, Daisuke, who died in the War. His parents were devastated to lose their eldest son, so when they brought Tadashi to the hospital last week to have him checked up and I—I told them his survival rate was less than one percent, they looked…" She trails off and gazes at the stone path before them without really seeing.

And in that moment she seems old beyond her years—not physically, but in the sense that her eyes speak of a whole lifetime's worth of love and loss, of joy and tragedy. She is only nineteen years old, barely starting her life, and yet she walks with her feet sunken in two very different worlds. What must it be like, Sasuke wonders, to be a medical ninja, to work endless hours in the hospital giving her all to save people, while simultaneously taking lives on the battlefield, killing to protect what she holds dear? Such a contrast, such a burden to carry.

And yet Sakura carries it everyday of her life, and even now, when she's bursting with emotion, tears staining her cheeks as she mourns, Sasuke can see the energy in her eyes, the determination. She's going to cry for quite some time and she may even appear weak in the eyes of others, but he knows better now. He knows that she cries because she opens her heart to others in a way that is as ridiculously asinine as it is incredibly brave. She cares about those around her with her whole being, regardless of how they may hurt her, and she is infinitely stronger because of it.

Because Sasuke knows she will go back to the hospital, eyes bloodshot, spirit broken, and despite this—despite being torn down time and time again—she will learn from her mistakes and hit the ground running again, never giving up on believing that if she tries hard enough, she can save anyone.

Sasuke understands her a little bit better in that moment; another piece in the puzzle that is Haruno Sakura clicks into place in his mind. And he wants more, he realizes with sudden clarity—much more.

"...they looked like they had just lost their whole world." Sakura's voice draws him away from his thoughts. He sees heartbreak reflected in her eyes, raw and bleeding. "I tried, Sasuke-kun, I tried to save him."

He does not doubt she did; knows she put her entire soul into it.

She swallows. "But there are just some things even I can't fix, and Tadashi's heart was one of them. He died three hours ago—h-had to go into emergency surgery, and it was all I could do to keep myself from breaking down when I came out of that operating room and told his parents I'd lost him. B-because if I had only known the kid for a week and I felt like his death was the end of me, I can't even imagine what they must have been going through."

And then, just like that, Sakura blinks. Her jaw sets stubbornly, brows drawing together. She turns to him and meets his gaze with such fire and conviction heating her eyes that he feels he might be burned with the intensity of it all.

"But I'm going to keep researching, keep working as hard as I can so that I never have to tell a mom and dad that they've just lost a child ever again," she says, sheer dedication strengthening her words even as her voice breaks and tears threaten to fall from her eyes. "I know I can't save everyone, but no one can tell me I can't try. I won't stop until I've cured every goddamn disease on this planet."

Sasuke feels his lips tug upward into a ghost of a smile, so much more than his usual stoic expression. His hand moves to rest gently on her head and he ruffles her hair a bit.

"You did well," he tells her, and means it.

Looking up at him from under her lashes, she appears shocked by his casual touch. She searches his eyes, green flicking back and forth as she studies him.

Then she smiles.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she says. "I appreciate that—and you being here for me—more than you can ever imagine."

Something stirs in his chest at her words. Something light and barely there, weightless and foreign to him, but very real nonetheless. It brings warmth through his body despite the morning's chill and he senses that something shifts between them. Or perhaps it's that he is only just noticing what has been shifting for some time now. What it is exactly he doesn't know, and he finds himself wary and slightly stunned as a result, but he accepts it all the same.

"It's the least I can do, Sakura," he finds himself saying, "with all that you have done for me."

And it is nothing but the truth.

A/N: I give you all full permission to berate me for not updating in over a year, and for updating with such a short chapter at that. :') Don't worry, though. I shall have the next chapter up by the end of the month (I promise!).

Please leave a review if you have the time! I appreciate them with all my heart! :)

With love,

Shannon