A/N: I do not own Naruto. Or Pecha berries. (brownie points if you know where they're from!)
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When Sasuke awakened the next morning, he was surprised to find hints of sunlight peeking through the cheap, grey drapes of the hotel room. Usually he'd awaken when the land was still dark and most life still slumbered peacefully. The early hours dawn were his most precious moments of the day, granting him time to gather his thoughts undisturbed. Groggily, he laid his sole arm across his eyes and sighed deeply.
Debating whether to get out of bed or to lay a few more minutes and enjoy the stillness of the morning, he failed to take in the other presence in the room until he heard a slight snore. Immediately sitting up, he turned his attention to the direction of the voice.
His heart almost stopped completely when he saw the Uchiha crest on the back of a slumbering body.
That is, until his eyes traced the upwards and absorbed the cotton candy hair sprayed on the couch, the events of last night making their way back to his mind.
Anger flared within him as he grounded his teeth.
'It's still just me. I'm the only Uchiha left. I'm still alone.'
An old, familiar dread coursed through him like the blood in his veins, soaking every cell in the same agony he experienced the first few weeks after the Uchiha Massacre, when he'd step out into empty streets of the once bustling Uchiha compound before realizing that everyone in his family was gone, never to return.
But this time, there would be no one to blame, no thirst for vengeance granting him purpose. Every muscle in his body coiled as he felt himself slipping back into the darkness he'd been running from, until a voice shook him out of his reverie.
"Sasuke-kun? You okay?"
He opened his tightly shut eyes and raised his head to look at Sakura slowly awakening, her fight against sleep evident by the frown on her forehead and the yawn breaking past her mouth.
He took in a deep breath before answering, "Aa. I'm fine."
He could tell by the look on her face that she hadn't bought it, and he felt his fists clench into the sheets as he watched her shrug off the covers and pad across the floor towards him. He felt a dip in the space beside him on the bed and dreaded the questions that would follow, but his eyes widened when instead of hearing her voice, he felt her chakra stream into his system.
He turned his head to look at her eyes closed in concentration, and followed the length of her arm to where her hand had clasped the top of his, an ethereal blue aura surrounding it. She seemed to have heard all his questions before he found the strength to voice them.
"It's an old meditation trick. It sends some chakra to your lungs to even out your breathing, and the rest of it flows through the nervous system and calms it down." She said, eyes still closed. "We are taught how to use it on ourselves when we begin medical training, so we don't have a panic attack when we witness a particularly gruesome injury, but with a little bit of chakra control and modulation, you can use it on someone else just like medical nin-jutsu."
Sasuke listened to her explanation wordlessly. Normally he would never allow someone else to infect his system with their chakra until there was no other way out, but the soft warmth of Sakura's chakra as it traveled through his system like a wave of serenity wasn't entirely an unwelcome sensation and he made no move to stop her. Letting his eyes slip shut, he focused on the way that everything her chakra touched within him became rid of the darkness that was threatening to consume him.
Acting on instinct, he turned his wrist and let his fingers intertwine with hers. He felt her eyes land on him, probably in surprise he reasoned, but the flow of her chakra remained ceaseless.
Sitting there, basking in the warmth of the sun rising outside the window, he let her chakra replace his anger with something that felt an awful lot like hope.
'I am the last Uchiha, but maybe I'm not that alone.'
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Twenty minutes later, as Sasuke stepped out from the bathroom, Sakura was sitting on the bed with the clothes she borrowed last night sitting folded beside her.
"Thanks for letting me spend the night, Sasuke. I should go now, there's a lot of work to be done at the hospital."
Nodding slightly, he wiped his face with a washcloth to wipe off the water from his shave.
She gestured to the Tshirt beside her "I'll take this with me and return it to you when I wash it."
"There's no need for that. I'll throw it in the wash here."
Biting her lip, she answered. "If you say so." Climbing on the sill of the window she used to enter last night, she spoke again. "Well, I'll be off then. Ja ne, Sasuke-kun."
Without waiting for a response she jumped down into the street, not that there was one coming.
Walking over to the bed, Sasuke picked up the folded t-shirt and moved to throw it into the washing machine, but stopped when he caught a whiff of her scent in the garment. Toying with it for a while, he inhaled her subtle, fruity scent that reminded him far too much of his childhood days as a genin.
Tossing it into the washer, he turned around and inspected the room. The sheets folded on the couch and the bed, two plates instead of one on the table, the lingering presence of a second person in the room. Smirking a bit, he decided that some company now and then wasn't so bad.
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A little over an hour later, Sasuke walked down the well worn paths that lead out of the village. Instead of continuing on the main road when he reached the outskirts, he abandoned the path and moved into the forest surrounding the village.
Activating his sharingan, he looked around for any evidence that might suggest ninja activity in the vicinity.
He walked for a few miles without detecting anything until he encountered a young shrub laden with berries near the south entrance of the village. Plucking the fruit, he raised it up to his eye level and examined it closely. He recognized it as a pecha berry in an instant, he'd often snack on those when he would travel, but something about this berry didn't seem quite right. A faint, almost undetectable trace of chakra clung to its coat. If it weren't for his Sharingan, Sasuke was certain he'd never notice it.
Gently, he placed it into his gear pouch. If it was in any way connected to the epidemic in Tohuko, examining it further would be Sakura's job. Turning around, he walked back the way he came.
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When Sasuke arrived at the makeshift hospital in Tohuko, there was a flurry of activity going on inside. Sensing Sakura's chakra signature upstairs, he connected that another one of the patients must be convulsing.
Climbing two steps at a time, Sasuke made it up in a few seconds. He was greeted by the sight of Sakura and four other medic nin pouring their chakra into a child no older than ten who was thrashing wildly under their finger tips.
The medics frowned in concentration as they worked and growled in frustration as nothing seemed to work. An ear shattering scream erupted from the small boy and his wild movements began to slow down until he went limp. Sasuke watched as confusion washed over the medics and they tried to plot their next move, until Sakura spoke in a low voice through gritted teeth.
"Get back."
The medics stood stunned for a moment until she spoke again, louder this time. "I said GET BACK!"
Quickly everyone surrounding the young boy scrambled to move away. Sasuke's mouth parted in amazement as he watched the purple diamond in the middle of her forehead began to glow and streaks of black emanating from it coiled around her body. The green glow from her hands turned into bright, white light, forming a cocoon around the boy.
A collective gasp arose from the room as the lifeless boy's eyes shot open.
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A/N: I'm a horrible person that doesn't deserve your faith. I'm so sorry! I know I said I'd update weekly, but I've got uni exams going on and I am so, so overworked. But I'm very thankful for your support and I promise you i have some great things planned for this story! This chapter is a little short, my apologies, but I thought I should at least update with something. Longer, more action packed chapters coming soon!
Also, shoutout to BlueRose238! Your review made my get off my ass and write this thing. Thank you! To everyone else who reviewed, I'm sorry if I haven't replied yet, but I will as soon as I get the time. I'm truly very grateful for your feedback!
ALSOOOO, did you check out my latest story? It's called count the flaws in perfection, go read!