Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Rise

Chapter 12

Sakura finds him upon her return from a mission a few weeks later. Sasuke's running through intense long-distance target practice at one of the largest training grounds and senses her presence several yards behind him before he actually sees her. Gripping three kunai, Sasuke whirls around and fires them in her direction.

Sakura catches all three of them easily between her fingers, grinning at him. "Trying to scare me off, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn." He lowers his arm and shoves both his hands into the pockets of his black pants. "Did you just return from your mission?"

"Yup," she replies happily, twirling one of the kunai around her index finger. She steps closer to him and smiles. "It was challenging, but I loved every second of it."

Sasuke notes the streaks of dirt on her cheek and the small specks of blood on her vest. She must've come straight from her mission debrief to see him. "You're not going to rest?" he asks, but already he's shifting into an offensive stance. He recognizes the look in her eyes. She's thirsty for battle still, itching to drive her fist into anything that gets in her way, dying for a challenge.

Her green eyes gleam with energy and without the Sharingan activated he barely dodges in time to avoid the kunai she aims at his head. It whizzes past him at a frightening speed, driven by her chakra-infused strength, and he watches wide-eyed as it explodes directly through a tree behind him. A hit like that would've taken off the head of a lesser, slower nin.

But Sasuke is neither of these, and he activates his Sharingan as he turns back to face her, a shallow smirk pulling at his lips, hand curling around the handle of his chokutō.

A fierce, hungry smile grows on Sakura's face when she takes in the sight of his Sharingan, and it fills him with adrenaline. She wants a real battle from him and he's more than willing to give her one.

Sasuke attacks and he does not hold back. Sakura is fast, however, and excels at dodging everything he throws at her. His chokutō swipes at her legs in a metallic arc, but she flips into the air and sends a barrage of senbon flying at him. He rolls to avoid them and, crouching to the ground, performs the necessary hand signs for a destructive Katon jutsu. Fire erupts from his mouth, chasing her, and she retaliates with a Suiton jutsu the size of which he's never seen before. A giant tsunami wave comes crashing down upon him and he narrowly escapes being crushed to death by it, launching himself into the nearby trees.

His Rinnegan takes everything in, analyzing the way her chakra works to manipulate the wave, and he realizes that she's using a jutsu he's unable to copy. The Sharingan grants him a great advantage in battle, allowing him to recreate almost any jutsu, but he notices that the chakra control required for this particular jutsu is out of his ability. Not even the strongest Sharingan can copy the precise chakra control he lacks and that Sakura so easily utilizes.

She's incredibly gifted in this sense, and he knows she's purposefully using jutsu he won't be able to copy. Sakura is a genius in battle, able to strategize and formulate plans even he can't think of, but their training sessions together so far have never been terribly intense.

However, even this early on in their fight, Sasuke can already sense that this one is going to be different from the rest. He thinks he'll have quite a challenge against her, and looks forward to it with a hunger that isn't entirely battle related.

The wave effectively turns his Katon jutsu into a cloud of steam. The remainder of it crashes into the ground he previously occupied and the pure, calculated strength behind it coupled with her perfectly regulated chakra carves a crater in the ground. Sakura lands on the edge of the crater gracefully, knees bending to absorb the impact.

She rises to her feet and finds his hiding spot with ease, narrowing her eyes at him vehemently. Pink hair swirls about her head and her lips are pulled into a feral line. She's not scared of him in the slightest, and she drops into an offensive stance before her hands run through another set of signs he's unfamiliar with.

He takes her in, analyzing every bit of her with his mismatched eyes. Sakura appears to him as some sort of bloodthirsty warrior goddess, terrifyingly beautiful, and indeed he can't say that his hunger is entirely directed toward their battle.

The strength behind her repertoire of jutsu, he comes to learn as they continue sieging upon each other, lies not in numbers but in the precise manner through which she executes them. Sasuke can sense the sheer number of hours she's spent polishing them, tweaking and molding them until they become something entirely unique to her. She is extremely comfortable with each jutsu she performs, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each and every one—a feat only a few shinobi can accomplish.

It makes her a daunting and ridiculously talented opponent, and Sasuke can only imagine the fear of those she's sent out to pursue on missions once they encounter her.

And yet, while this is a battle far more intense than any other they've had before, Sasuke still can't bring himself to use his chidori against her. Seeing the horror flash in her eyes the first time they trained together all those months ago brought forth a fresh wave of self-hatred within him, the effects of which still haunt him on a daily basis. Memories of his attempt on her life were forced to the forefront of his mind in a way he was utterly unprepared for, and her terrified expression from that day on the bridge follows him into his nightmares more often than he likes to admit.

Sakura might have been able to open up to him about her trauma from that day, but when it comes to his own?

It's something Sasuke is not and fears will never be ready to face.

They continue on for the next thirty minutes, and Sasuke gradually becomes more and more exhausted. Sakura, however, just returned from a mission, and she tires much faster than him.

Despite this, at one point—thinking her to be slowing down—he underestimates her endurance. The mistake leaves him with two cracked ribs and a nearly dislocated jaw that he's sure is turning a nasty purple. He doubles over and hisses at the pain, cursing himself for forgetting her newfound speed, even in her current fatigued state.

He thinks that the Sakura of his past would be running over and crying, apologizing to him over and over again through her tears as she asks if he's okay. The Sakura of his present, on the other hand, merely wipes away blood from the corner of her mouth and chuckles.

"Getting a little slow there, Sasuke-kun," she says, and lifts a taunting brow at him.

He huffs out a breath—his equivalent of a laugh. "I haven't gotten any slower, Sakura," he replies, wincing. "You've just gotten faster."

He catches a glimpse of the shock widening her eyes at his compliment before he flash-steps behind her and his kunai slashes through her vest. She moves just in time to avoid any real damage as he nicks the surface of her skin, drawing a thin line of blood. Leaping away, she fires a barrage of kunai at him, and then they're at it again.

Finally, ten minutes later—she with bruises all over her body and a nasty puncture wound in her thigh that she couldn't find the time or energy to heal, covered from head to toe in dirt and grime and dripping with sweat—he gets the upper hand despite his wounds—the pain of his jaw and ribs fading with the adrenaline still pulsing through his veins—and he takes her down with a carefully placed blow to her stomach.

Sakura's knocked to the ground with the force of it, her reaction time lagging due to her exhaustion. Sasuke takes advantage of this and leaps on her instantly, one hand gripping her shoulder and the other bringing his chokutō up to her neck. She falls on her back with his weight and her head slams to the ground with a resounding crack. She lets out a cry, and for a moment Sasuke is filled with concern—did she fracture her skull?—but then she begins to struggle against him, and he pins her down with his bent knees resting on either side of her hips.

He breathes heavily through his mouth, locking eyes with her as she struggles a little more before finally stilling beneath him. She glares for a moment, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and then a small smile curves her lips.

"You win, Sasuke-kun," she sighs. "I surrender."

"Hn." Sasuke lowers his chokutō from her neck and can't help but smirk down at her.

Seconds pass by and the adrenaline starts to drain from his body, but for some reason he doesn't move. Pain from his various injuries begins to settle in, along with the acute awareness of how intimate their position is. He feels the heat radiating from Sakura's much smaller body as she pants beneath him, staring up at him. Her eyes—previously glinting with humor and exhaustion—slowly haze over with confusion, because he should have jumped off of her immediately after being sure of his victory. Her gaze flickers from his lips and back to his eyes so fast anyone else might've missed it, but he notices the movement with every fiber of his being. Her green eyes spark with something raw and full of heat that has his jaw clenching, his hand tightening around her shoulder as he fights the urge to see if the sweat-sheened curve of her neck tastes as good as it looks.

"Sasuke-kun?" she whispers, and her hand reaches up, tapping his from where it remains clutching at her shoulder. "I surrender. I won't try to attack you. You can trust me."

And he sighs inwardly to himself, because of course that's why she would think he was still holding her, still pinning her down. The thought that he might be struggling with his attraction to her would never cross her mind. Especially not when he can barely even admit it to himself.

He lets out a light breath and slowly rises from his hunched position, slipping his chokutō back into its holster and watching as she follows suit, grimacing.

"Damn, I hurt all over," she groans, sticking out her tongue at him. "I haven't had a fight like that in a long time."

Sasuke merely shrugs and gives her an examining look. "You asked for it."

"Very true," she admits. "I honestly don't know what got into me. After my mission, I was still too full of adrenaline—it's like my body was itching for another fight. You're the first person that came to mind, and I figured you'd be somewhere training, so I went looking for you right after my mission briefing."

He nods, already having understood her need from the moment he met her eyes before their battle—she's very expressive by nature and her face is like an open book, but he also likes to think that he's come to know this older, more mature Sakura at least decently well over the last few months, and so it wasn't hard at all to tell what she wanted.

She walks forward to stand before him, hand glowing green, and he frowns down at her. "Heal yourself first, Sakura," he says firmly. "I'm fine."

She rolls her eyes at him and gestures with her hand for him to sit down. He narrows his eyes at this and doesn't move.

Despite his rigid stance, he's no match for her chakra-infused strength as she grasps his shoulders and pushes him down, gentle yet forceful at the same time. With a grunt—half out of annoyance that she thinks it's okay to bully him around like this and half out of annoyance at himself that he lets her—he lands on his ass in the dirt and can do nothing but glare at her as she kneels beside him, smiling victoriously.

"I'm the medic here, Sasuke-kun," she scolds. "I know you don't like being bossed around, but I'd like to think I know what I'm doing with these things. Now do I have to push you again or will you be nice and lay down for me so I can fix up those ribs?"

He debates arguing for a moment, but his ribs really are starting to hurt, and so he does as she asks (albeit with a scowl and a mutter of "Annoying" that has her smacking his arm in return).

He watches as she hovers her palms over his ribcage, and the relief is almost immediate. The warmth of her chakra soothes him, and he fights the urge to close his eyes as she slowly mends his broken bones, wanting to continue observing her instead.

It occurs to him as he watches her that even though she said she started healing him first because it was obviously the choice a medic would make, he doubts that she would ever put herself before her friends, even if she were critically injured and should probably worry about herself more.

Almost as if reading his thoughts, Sakura says quietly, "I can't stand seeing those I care about in pain when there's something I can do about it. Just ask Naruto—he gives me a hard time every time I insist on taking care of his injuries before my own."

She's silent for a few moments and the sound of her chakra continuously pumping into him is all that fills his ears. Then calmly she continues, "One of the first things I learned as a medical ninja in training was a set of rules. Tsunade-shishou made sure I memorized them before any real training. The first one states that no medic nin shall stop treatment until their patient dies and they're forced to stop, and the second states that no medic nin shall ever stand on the front lines. The third one...it basically says that the medic nin should always be the last to die in a platoon, because they are key to a team's survival and should be protected."

Sakura pauses, brows furrowing as she focuses on what he can only assume is an especially intricate part of his injury.

Sasuke gives her a minute, and then he states, "You were on the front lines with us during the War." His unspoken question hangs in the air between them.

She smiles as she works. "Tsunade-shishou says the only way a medic nin can disregard those first three rules is if they master the Strength of a Hundred Technique." His eyes flicker to her forehead where the small purple diamond resides. "I happened to do just that during the War, so I technically wasn't breaking any of the rules when I joined you two." Another pause. Sakura sighs, then continues softly, "For any of my friends, I would put you all first every time, no matter what."

Finished with his ribs—he notes that it was an incredibly fast procedure, especially for her low chakra reserves, and can't help but be impressed with her talent—she shifts closer to his head and brings her hand up to hover over his jaw. Again the pain fades away easily, and he meets her eyes as she murmurs, "I guess you could call it my ninja way, dumb and reckless as it may be."

Sasuke hates the implications behind her words. "Sakura." He says her name with a certain sharpness in his tone that relays his concern, and she gives him a questioning look. "If it ever comes to my life or yours, save yourself."

Finished with his jaw, she leans back and sits with her legs crossed, gazing at him. He sits up and mimics her position, staring at her intensely, eyes narrowed.

"Although I hope it never comes to that," Sakura says, giving him a curious look, "I will always do whatever's needed to protect those I love. Even when we were genin I thought that way. So I can't say that I'll listen to you, Sasuke-kun." She tilts her head to the side and smiles.

Sasuke is quiet for a long time. A picture of twelve-year-old Sakura's back flashes in his mind, clothed in her red dress with the white Haruno circle resting between her shoulder blades. Stance wide, knees bent, short pink hair swirling in the air as she moves in front of him. It's what he saw when she protected him from Gaara all those years ago—when she threw her life on the line for him and when he realized she cared for him beyond just a simple crush.

Sasuke breaks her steady gaze and stares down at his hands that rest in his lap. He's silent still, and thinks that his life could never come close to being worth hers, but he also recognizes that this is Sakura and once she's made up her mind it's nearly impossible to dissuade her.

The sound of her medical chakra reaches his ears and he lifts his head to watch as she begins to finally heal her own wounds. He blinks slowly, entranced by her work, and realizes then that he's no better than a hypocrite.

Because he knows that if their positions were reversed in this hypothetical situation he proposed, he would risk his life for hers in an instant, without question.

"C'mon, Sasuke-kun," Sakura says, pulling him from his thoughts. She's standing now, finished with her work, hand reaching out to him. "Let's go get some food; I'm starving."

He looks up at her from his place on the ground. The sun is low in the sky, and her position in front of it lights her pink hair in a blindingly bright halo, green eyes playful as she waits patiently for him.

Yes, he thinks, he is a hypocrite indeed.

Sasuke places his hand in hers, and she hauls him to his feet, smiling.

The next time they train together five days later, Sakura is healing a nasty burn on her forearm—his Katon jutsu got the best of her—and he's standing beside her, analyzing her with narrowed eyes as she works, when he asks—more like demands—her to teach him medical ninjutsu.

She's silent at first, but then she laughs at him, telling him that she's not used to him cracking jokes. He frowns at her in response, shoves his hands into his pockets, and flatly replies that he's serious.

This shocks her into silence for another minute, and he waits patiently as the confusion plays out across her features. Finally, staring at him inquisitively, she asks him why, to which he answers that he doesn't need to explain himself to her.

She takes this in stride and repeats her question again, this time with an edge to her tone.

Sasuke simply sighs and turns his gaze to the forest surrounding them. The wind whistles through the trees, and it carries his words to her as he mutters that she's not the only one who has precious people she wants to protect.

Finally he looks at her again. She's staring at him thoughtfully, a smile playing on her lips.

She tells him that she's not sure if he has the chakra control for anything too complex, but that she believes he can pick up on a few simple healing procedures, and so she agrees.

He nods his head at her, satisfied with her response, and asks her when they can start.

Sasuke's horrible at medical ninjutsu and it frustrates him to no end.

Sakura is a talented and patient teacher, but he's not and never has been patient with himself when it comes to learning new techniques. He's always excelled at learning and applying different skills; even the hardest, most complicated jutsu have only taken him maybe a week or two to master.

However, after three separate training sessions over the span of two weeks and plenty of time spent practicing on his own, Sasuke can barely get his chakra under control for long enough to even attempt to examine the wounds of the half-dead fish Sakura brings him. She tells him that his main fault is that he's used to utilizing large amounts of chakra at once for jutsu, as most ninja do. With medical ninjutsu, she says, it's just the opposite—one must use smaller, more precise amounts of chakra over a longer period of time.

"Dammit," he growls under his breath as the chakra in his hands flares out against his will and, in a mini explosion, effectively creates a bloody crater in the current fish's body. If it weren't completely dead before it certainly is now, and Sasuke glowers at it as he wipes blood and fish guts off his hands.

"That was better than last time," Sakura tells him, her voice sounding over his shoulder as she bends down to check his progress. She sounds impressed even though he's barely accomplished anything. "Try it again, but this time don't force your chakra together all at once. It's kind of strange, but if you focus too hard, that oftentimes leads to an excessive buildup of chakra and can actually be damaging. Medical ninjutsu is all about balancing your chakra flow with the severity of the patient's injury. Too much chakra will do more harm than good, and too little won't heal a thing." Sakura places a new fish before him. "Try it again."

Sasuke nods, gritting his teeth, and begins again.

After another hour of practice, five more exploded fish and very little progress, Sasuke swears vehemently under his breath, frustrated, and rises from his cross-legged position in the grass. Sakura is busy going through various kata a few feet away from him in the middle of the training grounds, form lithe and graceful, but she stops when she notices him moving.

"Finished for today?" she asks, adjusting her hitai-ate.

"Aa." If he sees another fish he thinks he might just hurt someone.

"You did well, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke almost snorts at this, acutely aware he didn't accomplish a damn thing and sure she must be mocking him, but she sounds sincere and so he bites his tongue. "For someone who doesn't have a natural knack for chakra control, you're further ahead than I thought you would be by now."

"...Hn."

"Wanna come to my place for dinner?" she asks, reaching down to pick up her weapons pouch and effectively ignoring his brooding. "I accidentally told Naruto earlier that I was planning on cooking tonkatsu tonight and he basically invited himself and Sai over." She smiles at the thought. "I think I bought enough meat for the four of us, so you're more than welcome."

With his sour mood, his natural instinct is to reject her offer and lock himself in his apartment for the rest of the day. But she's looking at him with wide, expectant eyes, and he finds his irritation fading away the longer he gazes at her.

"Fine."

"Great!" She claps her hands together and he has a feeling she knew he would give in to her. "I'll head home first to start cooking, then. Come by in an hour or so! See ya, Sasuke-kun!"

With that, Sakura bounds away, nearly skipping as she goes.

Sasuke watches her retreating form for a few moments before turning to stare at the pile of dead fish at his feet. The last one he worked on isn't as bad as the rest, and most of its body is still intact save for a small gash near its tail and a nasty char blackening its scales from his excessive chakra.

He narrows his eyes at it, and, twisting his head from side to side to make sure no one's watching, kicks it clear across the training grounds. Satisfied, he stuffs his hands in his pockets and heads to his apartment.

A/N: Thank you so so so much for all your kind reviews! I'm honestly inspired to write more because of them. Y'all don't even know how much your support means to me! :)

With love,

Shannon