A/N: This was an old submission for Sasusaku Month 2014 Day 12. Prompt: Silver Lining.
He was excited to see her. He didn't dare to admit it to anyone, but he was already standing at the gates, waiting for her arrival.
A few minutes later, Naruto ran up to him and joined him.
"Heh you're early!" Naruto gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Hn." He was always early. Especially when it came to seeing Sakura.
Their relationship was, well, indescribable. People could say they were close. But that's just an understatement. There was more to it than meets the eye. Their relationship could be sum up as two people who definitely belonged to each other but never admitted it in public, and even when other suitors come along the way, they never stood a chance. He was slowly, but surely, falling for her.
His actions were ordinary for the simple minded, but for Sakura, it gave her a spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, he would return her feelings.
.
.
They waited for quite some time before they finally saw a group of people approaching the village. He looked at them carefully and saw a flash of pink.
There was fire that soared through him. His legs were ready to run towards her. But he felt a nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach when they were getting closer to him.
That's when he saw her silhouette being carried on someone's back. She was injured, and by the looks of it, she was injured badly.
He didn't hesitate to run towards them. She was unconscious. Her stomach was bleeding from what appeared to be a stab wound. She had scars and bruises all over her body and what seemed to be an injured ankle. Blood was trailing down her right arm, and down her forehead between her eyes until the crease between her nose and her cheek. Kami what had happened back then? How was she in such a bad shape when none of them were nowhere near as injured as her?
He made a rough conclusion that she, being the great team captain she was, had been injured protecting her teammates.
Sasuke's blood was boiling with rage. He was ready to pound whoever bastard did this to her. That poor unlucky soul was not gonna survive.
"Uchiha-sama." One of them greeted him.
"I'll take her from here." The man nodded and Sasuke carried her to the hospital, leaning her head to his shoulder.
.
.
Sasuke was waiting outside her room when Tsunade walked out.
"How is she?"
"She has chakra depletion, her right arm was shattered. She tried to heal it but I assume due to her limited amount of chakra, she didn't get to heal it properly. She also has a broken ankle, a concussion, and several cut wounds that I managed to heal. We'll just have to be patient and let her rest." She's gonna be okay. That was the conclusion he drew from reading the former Hokage's face.
He walked in, only to be met by an unconscious Sakura, lying on the bed with bandages all over.
His stomach dropped straight to the ground and his heart clenched. It was so hard to look at her like that. He reached his arm to cup her cheek and stroked her soft pale skin.
Then his thoughts rambled off into the what ifs and should haves.
I should've been there with her.
I would be able to protect her.
Why did the Hokage even send her to that mission?!
With a bunch of chuunins!
His mind kept wandering to what Sakura once said to him.
"Every cloud has a silver lining."
The more he thought about it, the more his heart ached.
"What silver lining?" He said as he held onto her hand. "When you're lying here? Dammit you can't even hear me." There was only silence that followed him.
.
.
Days passed. He didn't dare leave her side. Visits to the hospital was always on his itinerary; first thing in the morning, then again after some training. Even when visiting hours were over, the nurses would try to tell him to go home, but with no avail. Later on, they stopped doing that when they found him asleep on a chair next to her, blanket spread around his shoulder and his hand holding onto hers.
After what felt like the longest time (it was the seventh day), Sakura's consciousness started coming back to life. She opened her eyes, blinking away the weariness away.
She felt something warm on her hand and when she saw his head resting on the side of her bed, her face grew multiple shades redder. She noticed a small vase on the nightstand, with a beautiful fresh daffodil inside, and her stomach did summersaults.
Sasuke sensed her stir and immediately jolted up, only to be met with a pair of bewildered eyes.
His eyes softened when he saw her awake, his grip tightening around her. Her eyes kept going back and forth between her hand and his face, trying to make sense of his actions.
He was smiling.
"You're right." Sasuke commented.
"What do you mean?" He leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her temple.
Sakura's face had never been so red before and she swore she felt like she was going to explode from that sudden gesture.
She may not realize it but to him, everything was so much clearer now. His feelings had never been stronger. Seeing her lying there had justified his feelings for Sakura, and that was his silver lining.