A/N: So I try to follow the canon story as much as possible, but my timing here is a little different. I hope it makes sense anyway lol. Please don't hesitate to give me feedback! I love hearing what you guys have to say about it. After all, this is all for you! It keeps me going (:

2. You'll walk really slowly when you're with them

The slow ticking of the clock made Sasuke a little uneasy. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was sitting in the hospital room he never thought he would set foot in again. He watched as Ino scribbled away on a clipboard.

"So, you're not going to confine me here?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. Ino looked at him funny.

"No, silly, why would we do that?"

"Hn," he shrugged. "Hospital procedures?"

"Nope. We need you to relax as much as possible." She was focused on the clipboard again. Sasuke found this slightly ironic. "In fact, your prescription is to take daily walks."

"Take…walks?" The idea seemed a little obscure to Sasuke. He never really tried finding comfort in taking walks. It just seemed like a waste of time to someone who was always so busy.

"Yup, every day." She repeated, this time not taking her eyes off of what she was writing.

"Ah," he looked down and flexed his new arm. "I see…"

Ino saw right through him. "Do I need to put you on a leash and walk you myself?" she set the papers down and poked at him, earning a grunt.

"I don't see how it relates to my arm."

"It's supposed to help you psychologically and relax your body enough for this to work," She lifted his arm and moved it around. "If you're stressed, your body will reject the new arm and you can get fatally sick. Your whole body can shut down."

"I can relax in other ways."

"Oh yeah?" Ino challenged him. She had become an expert at dealing with stubborn patients ever since she started working with Sakura in the hospital. "Name one."

"Training with Naruto." Sasuke said easily.

"Which you can't do yet," she finished for him. "Not for a few months, and maybe even longer if you're going to be stubborn about it. Naruto had to wait too. He hated it, but he waited."

Sasuke grunted. "Missions. Low-ranked missions."

"Which you also can't do yet, seeing as your probation still has a couple months to go. You may have been pardoned because of Kakashi-sensei and Naruto, but you're still being watched."

His frown increased tenfold, "Fine. I'll take walks."

Ino reached into the cabinet behind her and handed him a bottle of pain killers. "Here, take these when the pain becomes unbearable. I'm talking about physical pain though, not this whining you're doing right now." Sasuke scoffed.

"What if something happens to me while I'm alone?"

"Like what?"

"You said it yourself," he answered. "My body could reject it and it could shut down."

"You live four minutes from the hospital." Ino chuckled "The effects wouldn't be immediate. Besides, is the great Uchiha Sasuke really afraid of a prosthetic arm?" Sasuke was quiet after that.

"Can I request company?" He asked a few minutes later. Ino looked up at him; this was the first time he caught her by surprise and she didn't have anything to say to.

"Huh?"

"Company. It will help me relax."

The last thing Ino expected to hear was a request for company. Call her crazy, but she thought Sasuke, of all people, found the most comfort in being alone. "Yeah, sure, sure." Then again, she mused, he has been alone his whole life; perhaps he needs company nowadays.

"We don't have any psychologists available this week," she flipped a page on the clipboard and her eyebrows met. "Will a nurse suffice?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, when the door opened very slightly. A blob of pink poked through the small opening. "Ino, I need you out at the front desk whenever you're available."

"Yes ma'am," she saluted.

"Thanks, lovely," Sakura smiled and waved to him before leaving, "Hi Sasuke-kun."

When Ino turned her attention back to her patient, he seemed more awake than he was five minutes ago. He wasn't scowling so much anymore. His eyes remained where her head was in the door. When it all clicked in her head, Ino wondered how oblivious Sakura had to be to miss this. It was right in front of her face!

A few seconds after Sakura left, the corners of Ino's lips turned up in the biggest, creepiest grin he had ever seen on her. "Sakura?" Ino asked, trying her hardest to suppress a giggle. Sasuke was being very adorable today. "You want Sakura." It was more of a confirmation than a question.

"It would…help." He admitted. There was no use in denying it at this point.

"I said nurses were available, not the head doctor." She laughed and watched as his expression changed again. "I'll see what I can do."

"So, Sasuke-kun thinks you're the solution to all his problems." Ino stated on her way back to the front desk. Sakura looked at her funny.

"What?" She wasn't sure what else to say since the only thing echoing in her head at the moment was 'My sins have nothing to do with you.' How could she be the solutions to the problems unrelated to her?

"I told him he needs to take walks and he said it simply cannot be done without you." Ino explained, feigning a dramatic sigh.

"You're exaggerating." If this was a joke, Sakura pouted, it was mean.

"Nope. Go ask him yourself." Sakura eyed her best friend skeptically and made her way to Sasuke's room. Little did she know, Ino had only stretched the truth by an inch.

For the next four weeks, Sasuke continued his daily therapy walks with Sakura. If she wasn't available, then he would wait or walk by himself.

"So," sometimes, to Sakura's surprise, Sasuke would start the conversations. Although he generally avoided talking about himself, he was quite curious as to what her life was like when he was gone. Part of him wanted to hear about all the happy stories she had with Sai and Naruto and Kakashi, hoping he could have trusted these men to take care of her while he was gone. But the other part of him wanted to hear about how miserable she was without him, and how much happier she is now that he's back.

In reality, he got a mix of both.

"When did Naruto start noticing the Hyuuga anyway?"

"Hinata?" Sakura's eyes lit up at Sasuke's sudden curiosity regarding their third musketeer's love life. Sasuke grunted in confirmation. She thought back to the stories the three of them had shared. "Well he first noticed her strength when she defended him in his fight with Pein. When the war was over, he wouldn't stop talking about her."

"She doesn't faint around him anymore?"

"Oh you'd be surprised at how much Hinata has grown!" Sakura boasted. "In fact Naruto's the one who gets all nervous and sticks his foot in his mouth all the time."

"Doesn't he do that regardless?" Sakura was enjoying how chatty Sasuke was being today. It wasn't always like this.

"Only when he's talking to me." She bragged. Sasuke scoffed. "It's really cute, actually. He's so in love with her, you can see it from a mile away. I just wish he had noticed earlier."

Sasuke looked down at her wistful expression. "There's a time and place for everything." He told her, and when she looked taken aback, he shifted his gaze elsewhere.

"Yeah…" Was he trying to imply something? Sakura blushed and decided not to read too deep into his words.

"What else has changed since I left?" Sasuke broke the silence.

"Well I can kick ass now." She said smugly.

"I noticed," Sasuke's voice went a little deeper than usual, sending chills down Sakura's spine. He shoved his hands in his pocket, feeling more and more lighthearted and teasing with her. "I remember the first time-"

"We don't talk about that," Sakura blushed. Sasuke chuckled. "I think I'm more proud of you though, Sasuke-kun." She added, her tone becoming more serious once again.

"Why?" Sasuke's brows came together at this.

"You've come a long way. It must have taken a lot to get to where you are now. I admire that."

And just like that, sometimes their entire conversation would end, and they would just keep walking for another half hour until she had to get back to work. Sometimes the things Sakura said just got to him in such a way that would leave him speechless for the rest of the time, deep in thought.

On the days that he didn't feel like talking, Sakura would go on and on and occasionally encourage him to add some input. She mostly told stories about everyone and what they have been doing with their lives since he left nine years ago. Sometimes, for this reason, she felt like he was living in the past: she felt that he was so depressed about missing all of this that he just always wanted to hear about it.

"I really wish you had met Sai when he first joined Team Kakashi." Sakura said one day. They sat on a bench in the empty park.

"If he was anything like me, no thank you."

"Well," she pondered quite humorously. "He was really bad with people too so…"

"Funny," Sasuke closed his eyes.

"It was funny though, and he made a huge effort to understand social situations. He's a good kid." Sakura concluded. "Our friendship had a rough start. He was talking smack about you so I punched him into next week." She explained with hand motions. Sasuke found this annoyingly adorable, just like almost everything else she did.

"He was a good replacement, huh?"

"That's not what he was, Sasuke-kun." Sakura's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Right."

"Well," she shifted her tone to slightly more aggressive. "Maybe he filled in the gap that our team needed…but he never filled the spot you held in my heart. Or in Naruto and Kakashi-sensei's."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "We love you, Sasuke-kun." And just like that, she felt him relax.

With each day they spent taking an hour walk alone, they became more comfortable with each other. Sasuke would be constantly annoyed at how he had to keep himself from smiling and being too obvious when she was doing something he found cute. Perhaps they weren't quite that close, but they were past the point of acquaintances again.

Sakura also discovered that sometimes the tension would be alleviated immensely at her touch, something she did not expect at all. So she used that, knowing she had to do everything it took to make him feel comfortable and relaxed. What she didn't know, was it was also a little frustrating for Sasuke, who was trying to repress his feelings.

"Thank you, Sakura."

"Hmm? What for?"

"I know you're busy."

She chuckled lightly, "Well, it is my job." He raised an eyebrow at her and she reached up to poke his nose. "And you're one of my best friends; of course I would make time for you."

He didn't say anything after that, and Sakura grew concerned. "What's wrong?"

"It feels…selfish."

Sakura took a deep breath. "It's okay to be a little selfish sometimes."

"How should you know? You're one of the most selfless people I know." He let those words slip before he could think about it. He looked down at her and she had turned a bright shade of red.

"You don't know that, Sasuke-kun."

He didn't feel like saying anything after that, though he contemplated aggressively telling her how selfless she had been for him his whole life. But he figured he already embarrassed himself and revealed too much for today.

On days when Sasuke would walk alone, he found himself walking way faster than usual. He would circle the entire village in less than two hours, when he would barely make half a lap with Sakura's company. He felt like he was going back to his fast paced life where he never relaxed, and it scared him. But at the same time, he didn't want to admit that he needed her this much.

So these lonely walks only became stressful.

He was frowning the next time she accompanied him. "Is something bothering you?"

"These walks are stressful. I don't see how they help." Although Sakura figured he might have just been stressed lately, she still couldn't afford him to regress at all. That, and it pained her to see him hurting like this, especially since she didn't know the cause this time.

"I thought they have been helpful." She wondered. "You seem to enjoy my company sometimes."

His face suddenly softened and he realized how ungrateful he just sounded. "I'm sorry." He said easily.

At first, apologizing was a very difficult task for Sasuke. But he had gotten used to it, especially for Sakura. He would even apologize for little things like bumping into her or accidentally stepping on her foot. At some point he felt like he needed to always apologize to her, not just for the little things, but for everything. "You're right, I've just been stressed."

"Nah, don't worry." She slipped an arm through his and he seemed to forget everything that previously angered him. "I'm here."

Sakura smiled to herself in victory. She was getting much better at handling Sasuke.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, why are you walking so slowly?" she asked him one day.

Sasuke suddenly became flustered and annoyed. His attitude shifted into defensive mode, "maybe you're walking too fast…"

Embarrassed, Sakura returned her gaze in front of her and slowed her pace to match his. Beside her, Sasuke had turned a bright shade of red and was now frowning. Not only was it embarrassing to have to answer a question about himself he didn't even know the answer to, but now she looked hurt.

In a desperate attempt to ease the awkward atmosphere, Sakura gestured to the small park in front of them, empty because most of the kids were in class. "Follow me!" she led him to the swings, forced him to sit, and slowly began pushing him.

"Relaxing, right?"

"You're going to make me nauseous."

"No, it's relaxing," she insisted.

"Tch," Sasuke scoffed, hiding a small laugh at how childish she just sounded. "Annoying."

"So…I've been talking a lot about myself and Konoha. What about you?" Sakura asked boldly. She knew he didn't talk much about himself, but it was worth a shot.

"What about me?" he suddenly sounded distant.

"You know, how you've been since we last really talked…" her voice grew quiet toward the end of her sentence. She knew he would shoot her down, and she thought back to when Naruto had shared his entire past with Hinata.

"I…I don't really want to talk about it, Sakura."

She also knew she shouldn't have pushed it, but she really did want to help him. And there was no way she could help if he wouldn't talk. He had done such a great job of being pretty sociable for the last few weeks. Maybe these walks kept him distracted but it seemed like that's all it did for him.

"Why not?"

He seemed annoyed, rephrasing his explanation. "I don't like to talk about it."

She stopped pushing him for a minute and walked in front of him. She took a deep breath. She had been successful in getting into his head a lot lately, she figured. He must be taking what she said to heart. This shouldn't be any different.

Nervously, she reached for his face and gently cupped his cheeks. She felt him relax. "Your past doesn't define you, Sasuke-kun."

For a moment, Sasuke couldn't breathe. She was so close, so gentle, so loving. She reminded him so much of his mother and the love she always provided for him as a child. Much to Sakura's surprise, he pulled her in for a hug, for the very first time in her life.

"Thank you, Sakura."

When he let go, she pulled away and grinned largely. "Let's talk about your future instead."

"My future?"

"Yeah, yeah," she sat down on the swing next to him. "Like, how many kids do you want? You're supposed to repopulate your clan, right?" She was half joking, but she heard him cough, caught off guard. When he regained his composure, he still hesitated.

"I don't know, five?"

It was Sakura's turn to choke on her own spit.