Title: thinking outside the box
Summary: Sakura finds a way to make a very grumpy Sasuke pass the time on his bed rest.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Prompt: recovery
Warning(s): Semi-explicit smut at the end.
Comments: Third day of SS smut month hell yEAH. I did actually want to include like full on smut. My idea originally was so silly and funny and it was gonna be like the full scene, but legit, when I was getting to that point, I just felt like it would suffice to end it on a smut of that note. So there's still smut, but eh, it's not really that explicit and it's short, but w/e! I still have a whole set of other days to make more explicit smut like the first day hehe.

It was partly their fault, Sasuke could admit. In the academy, they had been taught to always be prepared, to never wander in unfamiliar territory with their chakra level hanging past a certain level. It was unsafe, and most unwise, giving way to unpredictability. They had been taught to rest, to report unexpected change in status should the duration of their mission lengthen, to anticipate and assess what threats they could handle in lessened conditions.

But they had omitted to consider their situation, even when Sakura's chakra had fallen particularly low after their stay in Konmatsu, where most of the village had been hit by an epidemic, spurring her medic instincts into actions. She'd spend most of their time healing the sick and decreasing the severity of population affected by the disease, spending her healing breaks producing medicinal cures. Sasuke, unable to be of much help to her, had spent most of his time training, spending his chakra with freedom. He had only sought to occupy his mind, the thought of his recklessness never rooting in place.

They had left the village a few days later, without a doubt in mind, ready to continue their travels and discover parts of the world they had never seen, unsuspecting of the trouble that lied ahead of them.

They were rogue nins, he remembered, estimated to be of jounin rank, and with an affinity to traps. They had unknowingly walked right into their campsite, attracting attention to themselves when they had set off a land mine. Sasuke, out of reflex, had quickly summoned Susanoo to shield them from the blast, all too aware that Sakura's healing abilities could not be used at will at the moment. Company came fast, and the flurry of attacks became quickly overwhelming, smoke bombs and razor sharp wires thrown in all directions.

He remembered thinking how foolish they had been, as he hovered around Sakura and helped her gain strategic momentum to throw their enemies of balance with her crater-punching fists, how much they should have taken time to recover, to assess the level of enemies they could handle. With her low chakra and his being half-depleted, their fight was quickly proving to be a struggle. Their enemies had been so well-coordinated that Sasuke had to resort to using the Rinnengan twice and summon Susanoo three more times before the battle was finally over.

He fell to his knees once the last of the rogues had been dealt with, black spots blotching his vision and breaths coming in ragged. He had overdone it, had pushed himself too hard, chakra hanging dangerously low. He'd barely even felt Sakura lifting him up, had barely heard her yelling his name as she put his arm around her shoulders, before he lost consciousness.

.

.

Sakura had taken them to an inn, he learned, when he finally became aware of himself again. With unfamiliar walls, and an unfamiliar bed, Sasuke could tell that she had not taken them back to Kanmotsu. They had likely been in the proximity of another village, then.

Trembling, hazy, he pushed himself to sit upright, pushing a hand to his aching eye, his throat uncomfortably dry. When he noticed Sakura's feet padding towards him, he glanced towards her, gaze heavy with exhaustion.

"How long have I been out?" he asked, when she sat on the edge of his bed.

"About a day," she said, offering a cup of water. Swallowing, Sasuke accepted the drink. "Your chakra levels were almost out. I would have given you some of mine since we're the same type but…"

"Don't bother," he said, shaking his head. He immediately regretted the gesture when it sent his head spinning, vision blurring."You don't need to. I'm fine."

She nodded, and tucked a hair behind her ear. "I had to give some of it to keep you safe, you know. That last summon drained your chakra to dangerously low levels. I—I was so worried. I almost thought you'd died."

His gaze softened, as if apologetic.

"I wouldn't of had to use it if he didn't blow himself up," Sasuke murmured, after a short silence. Fatigue overtaking him, he fell back into the soft mattress, sighing. "It was stupid of us to leave like that…" His tongue felt so heavy, so thick. He could feel his eyes starting to drop. "We should have waited…"

"Yeah, you're right," she whispered to him. He could feel her tucking the blankets to his chin. His eyes fell shut, mind buzzing soothingly with the call of slumber. "We should have known better. But… it's over now, and we're alright. We're alive." He felt the brush of her lips to his forehead, felt her nimble fingers cupping his cheek. "You need to get some rest. Give your body time to recover its chakra."

Resting, he mused, slipping into the grasps of sleep, didn't seem like such a bad idea for the next few days.

.

.

He lasted all of two days before his patience broke.

"Sasuke-kun!" he heard Sakura call to him, tone full of discontentment. "I just told you this morning: you can't be out of bed!"

Disgruntled, Sasuke freed the door knob from his hold and turned to his side to look at her, scowling. "I've been in bed for over two days, Sakura. I'm fine."

The look in her eyes went more severe. Putting her hands on her hips, she said, "Right, so I didn't see you supporting yourself against the wall, just now."

Jaw tightening, he merely looked away, grunting.

"You're making it harder for your body to recover, Sasuke-kun. You can't be walking around like this, you know that. It puts a strain on you and slows the process of—"

"You try staying in bed for over forty eight hours doing nothing," he snapped, narrowing his eyes at her. "Staring at the ceiling quickly gets boring, I'll tell you that."

"Oh, don't act like I didn't try to help you," Sakura replied, grasping his wrist. "I offered to give you those sleeping pills to pass the time, and you're the one who keeps refusing them."

He slipped out of her grip, and growled. "I'm rested, I don't need sleep, Sakura."

"Your body needs rest, Sasuke-kun—"

"I'm fine—"

"You're not a medic," she said, pushing a finger to his chest and leaning exceptionally close. "And until you are, you don't get to speak for the state of your body." Grasping his wrist again, tightly enough so he would not escape, she tugged him towards the bedroom. "You need rest."

"For fuck's sake—"

She stopped, and turned around sharply, glaring at him. "Don't make me drag you to bed, Sasuke-kun. You know I can."

Lips mulling together, Sasuke scoffed. "Fine," he said. "But you don't get to leave, either."

He swore he saw the corner of her lips tugging in a secretive smile. He wondered what she could be planning.

.

.

"Not as much fun as you thought, huh?" he remarked to her, when she had sighed for the nth time in the past two hours, since she had joined him. She lay sprawled out on the couch, seemingly drawing figures on the wall.

"Time does pass slowly," she admits, shrugging. "But I think you're just not thinking creatively enough."

He raised a brow. "What?"

"You know, like the things you could do. You're too grumpy to think about the fun stuff you really could do."

He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like what?"

"Like… drawing," she said, that secretive smile slipping back to her lips. "And writing. Making stories in your head, making up new animals…" She turned to look at him, the smile growing wider, sensuous. "Or you know… more funthings."

He could hear exactly what she meant, and it had his mouth growing dry, heart skipping a single beat.

Pushing herself to her feet, Sakura slowly made her way towards him. "All alone in your room… I wouldn't be surprised if you had thought about it," she said, biting her lip. He swallowed tightly, fingers clenching in the sheets. "But you've been so wound up…" She knelt against the mattress, and grasped his chin, leaning forward until her breath fanned against his lips. Sultrily, she whispered, "So my guess is you haven't done anything like that, have youSasuke-kun?"

He swallowed once more, only now aware of the way his breathing had gone choppy, knuckles burning white with the severity of his grip. "Sakura…"

She smiled, thumbing his chin with a hum, and let her hand fall to the hem of his pants. "Now let's see if I can help you pass the time, Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke held his breath when she finally freed him, eyes flying shut and head tipping back with a groan as she slowly stroked him to life; but when her head dropped down towards his lap, he forced himself to look down, rough fingers twining softly into her hair as her mouth finally enveloped him, sending him tumbling into a torrent of bliss, where his world becomes defined by nothing but the warm wetness of her mouth, the silkiness of her hair, and the brightest, loveliest set of eyes he's ever seen.

Bed rest, he decided in the end, when she had successfully melted his mind with bliss, arms wrapping around him with a melodious laugh, was not so bad if he had Sakura by his side.

Okay, so I did actually do the two previous days, for those who might be wondering! It was a big debate if I should put it in here or my We Did It anthology, but since it's literally just smut, I didn't think those who don't like smut and who are following this story would appreciate a whole lotta smut consecutively on this story lmao. So they're in my We Did It story if you wanna see them, and likely most updates will be there too (though I might add less smutty ones and more story-driven ones like this in this anthology).

Hope you enjoyed!

DeepPoeticGirl