7. You'll do anything for them

Sasuke-kun,

I hope you're doing alright! I'm sorry I haven't written to you in a couple weeks. Work has gotten really busy lately because we just opened the new hospital in Amegakure. It's going great! I've met so many new people here. All the new medical students are a delight! How are you doing? I miss you.

Love,
Sakura

Sakura,

I'm alright, thank you. How are you really doing? I miss you too.

Sasuke

Sakura reread his letter, surprised and flattered at how he read right through her. Even though they had been spending a lot of time together before she left, she honestly didn't expect their relationship to be this close. Despite his short answers in his writing, she really did feel like he cared.

She smiled and pulled out another scroll. He got a response the same day.

Oh, Sasuke-kun,

It's been so stressful. I can't believe the villagers here have the nerve to talk to us like that after all we've had to offer! Hmph! If it weren't for us, they wouldn't have a new hospital with 150 new medics, and the best medical program they could ever ask for! And if it wasn't for Naruto, their village wouldn't even be standing today!

There is so much to do too, it's hard to shoulder it all. Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing. This mission is great. I'm really excited to be lending a hand to the other villages and doing both our homes a favor. And I'm very flattered I'm considered such a vital part of this assignment! But I'm getting so homesick, Sasuke-kun, and this village isn't exactly welcoming.

Oh, and on top of that, I got a letter the other day saying our own hospital is currently understaffed and needs help. Honestly, what was the point of notifying me of such things when I'm days away on another mission?

I'm so stressed, and I really miss your hugs.

With love,
Sakura

Sasuke wasn't sure what it was that compelled him to jump into something head first that he didn't even know how to handle. But as soon as he read over her last letter, he decided he was going to do whatever it took to alleviate this stress that was eating at her.

She was already hundreds of miles away and he couldn't just give her one of his signature hugs that she loved so much. So, Sasuke was annoyed (which, upon hearing, Naruto found hilarious).

And for the second time that week, Sakura was truly surprised by Sasuke.

Now, Sasuke wasn't sure what he expected. He supposed maybe they would have him shadow a doctor at the hospital and hold things for them while they were busy. Or perhaps he thought maybe the hospital would have him at the front desk to be bossed around by the other nurses. The last thing Sasuke thought he would be doing was sitting in a room full of children for six hours a day.

If anyone knew Sasuke, they would know never to put him within thirty feet of a child. But in his current situation, the staff figured he should learn how to deal with them if he wanted a family of his own anyway. That, and this was the only thing he was really capable of and qualified to do around the hospital.

He heard about this part of the hospital at first during one of his late night conversations with Sakura. She told him that she and Ino had opened this section to nurse the children back to mental health after the war. In all honesty, this only made Sasuke more confused as to why he, emotionally damaged all his life, was chosen to aid in the mental rehabilitation of Konoha's next generation.

Really, Sakura was full of surprises.

But despite his clear and evident discomfort in the midst of all the children around him (they weren't even doing anything, just playing with toys quietly), Sasuke tried his best not to complain, for this was how he would be of assistance to her.

"Sasuke-san," a gentle voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned around to meet lavender eyes.

"Hinata," he greeted casually.

"Has anybody debriefed you on what you will be doing here?" When he shook his head, she smiled and began to explain, "We don't expect a lot from you since you don't have much experience working with kids. But your job is to keep these kids occupied and keep them company in between their therapy sessions."

Sasuke frowned. "Just me?"

"Oh, no." Hinata shook her head. "There will be more of you this afternoon. The nurses who worked here for this shift were either moved to another department in the hospital, or are on the mission with Sakura-san. So, this is where you come in."He didn't respond, so she continued. "Just make sure they aren't showing any signs of stress, and if they do start to, let one of us know."

"Hn," Sasuke turned his attention on the group of kids in the room. There were between 20-30 of them just lounging around, talking to each other. They seemed very well behaved, until one of them suddenly stopped in his tracks. The little boy stared at the floor, eyes wide open, looking like he had just remembered something horrible. The boy sat down and began to rock back and forth.

"Oh," Hinata's face turned into one of deep concern and sympathy for the child. She easily scooped him up into her arms and let him rest his head on her shoulder. The child buried its head into her soft hair as she waited for him to doze off. "This is Katsuo. He lost both of his parents in the war."

She was stroking his head lightly and rocking side to side. Sasuke almost smiled; she would make a great mother for Naruto's kids. He also briefly wondered how much different his life would have been if he, too, was under this kind of care growing up. Sakura really was an amazing person.

Then he thought about how difficult this was going to be. He could barely handle his own emotions nowadays, let alone a bunch of traumatized children's. When Katsuo began to stir in Hinata's arms and cry, she took it as her cue to leave.

"It's time for his session anyway," she made her way to the door. "Thank you so much, Sasuke-san. Sakura really appreciates what you're doing for us."

And that was enough to keep him going. He took a deep breath.

"Hey." Sasuke's attention was suddenly jerked towards a small child tugging at his pant leg. "Who are you?"

"I'm your temporary caretaker."

"I know that," Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the kid's attitude. He was about to throw it right back at him when he remembered it was just a child. This was going to take some getting used to. "I mean what's your name?"

A couple more children had gathered around curiously. Awkwardly, Sasuke sat down in the middle of the crowd. "My name is Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

"What's an Uchiha?"

He almost laughed at the question. And before he could answer, more questions came his way.

"Are you a ninja too?"

"Are you any good?"

"How old are you?"

"Why is your hair long, are you a girl?"

"Are you new?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. Ten minutes into the job and he was already being bombarded by children's questions. A small girl crawled into his lap and looked at him with bright blue eyes. She looked about seven years old. "Are you Sakura-sensei's boyfriend?" Sasuke's breath hitched in his throat.

"No," he tried to pick her up and put her aside, but she insisted on staying in his lap, now occupied with one of her toys.

"All the nurses talk about it." She stated confidently. "I hear about it all the time. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Another little girl began to play with his hair. When he tried to stand, the two girls started crying. Sasuke sat down and sighed.

"Do you want to be?" she continued her interrogation after he realized he was stuck. When Sasuke caught his ears warming up, he tried to tell himself he was just caught by surprise by the question. He shrugged, hoping she would just interpret that however she wished and stopped asking so many damn questions about his private life.

"A lot of boys want to be Sakura-sensei's boyfriend." The other one stated, braiding another strand of his hair.

Sasuke scowled. "I know."

"It's because she's pretty. Right, nii-chan?" Once again, he was caught off guard, this time by the affection this child used on him. He barely knew her and she was already calling him big brother. He hadn't heard that term in a long time either. It seemed to alleviate some of the tension and pressure he felt.

Maybe these kids weren't as bad as he thought.

"Yeah," he said before he could think about it, "she's beautiful." The girls cooed, and more joined in to interview him some more. They seemed to be very fascinated with Sakura and what he had to do with her.

"What else do you like about her?"

This was going to be a long day.

The next few days were pretty hellish as well. Again, Sasuke wasn't sure what he expected. Some of the kids seemed to like him, but most of them weren't too fond of him. He wondered if it was because he was seemingly intimidating. But even if that was the case, what was he going to do about it? It was in his blood to just naturally look menacing.

("Stop staring at us like that!"

"You're gonna make the little ones cry!"

"Oh my god your eyes!"

"Oh good job, you made Asami cry!")

Sasuke really was trying though. Every time he was put in an awkward or stressful situation, he just remembered how happy Sakura would be if she only knew what he was going through for her. She would know eventually, though, and that's all it took to keep him going every day.

When he finally adjusted properly to this new job, it had been three months since he started. Sure, it was three months of mild hell, but as much as Sasuke refused to admit it, he actually grew attached to some of the kids. It really made him consider having kids of his own soon.

His shift was about to end for the day, and he was feeling a little sleepy from the calm environment. He was telling a young shinobi of his travels, about how great and inspiring the entire ninja world is. Of course, Sasuke generally avoided talking about the war, but that didn't mean he couldn't try to inspire them and show them there wasn't anything to be afraid of.

At first it was a little rocky, but the kids grew very intrigued, and some vowed to one day travel as well. In time, some of them told him they were no longer afraid of the world.

Another, eleven years old, seemed to be so inspired by his stories of the chuunin exam, and his sister excitedly exclaimed, "When I become a shinobi, I want you to be my sensei!"

Of course, some kids were still very wary of Sasuke and ninja in general. But Sasuke felt accomplished.

Most of the kids were asleep around or on him now, and one little girl used his cloak as a blanket. Another one was wearing his old headband from when he was younger. He held a little boy in one arm, his head resting on his shoulder.

Before he could finish one of his stories, the door opened gently to reveal Hinata, and a few others, ready to take their shift. When Hinata tried to take the boy in his arms, he stirred awake and began to whine, "Mmm…nooo…I wanna stay with Sasuke-nii-san!"

"Oh, okay okay." Hinata handed him back over.

He couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hey!"

On the way back to his apartment, Sasuke ran into Naruto. He was a little irritable because Sakura hadn't written to him in a few weeks. He already wrote to her twice this week and he was considering a third time, but he didn't want to annoy her. Somehow, Naruto understood what his problem was just by looking at him.

"How are hospital duties going?" he asked instead.

"Pretty good."

Naruto chuckled, "How did you even get stuck doing work in the hospital? Your chakra control is shit."

"As if yours is any better." Sasuke scowled. "I just watch kids."

"Watch kids?!" he asked incredulously, enjoying the glare on his best friend's face. "Well your patience is even shittier."

"Fuck off."

Naruto laughed heartedly, "You must really love Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke's attention was suddenly completely on Naruto. He tried to cover his blush with a frown. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the fact that you'll do anything, even go against your very essence and watch kids, at a hospital, just to make her happy."

"That doesn't mean I love her."

Naruto's face fell and he sighed. "Right, and just because you're an Uchiha, doesn't mean you're smart. Really, I can't tell if you're just being dumb or what."

Sasuke just wanted to leave at this point. First, he was being accused of things he couldn't argue against, and now he was being insulted.

"What do you even know about relationships?" He realized how dumb that sounded as soon as it came out of his mouth.

Naruto stroked his chin sarcastically, "Well, for starters, I'm happily married."

"Shut up." He stopped him, and Naruto laughed, clearly enjoying how this conversation was turning out.

"Well I gotta get going," he finally stated. "I have a date with my wife." He watched Sasuke's uncaring expression and decided to poke him even further, "you know, because I like doing whatever it takes to make her happy…because I love her."

"Tch." Sasuke scoffed, and Naruto snickered one last time before parting ways with the angry Uchiha.

Upon arriving home, Sasuke wondered if what Naruto said was really true. It seemed as if everyone knew his own feelings more than he did, and they were all determined to make him aware of them. It wasn't surprising, but actually hearing that he, Uchiha Sasuke, was in love with Haruno Sakura, was such a strange concept.

Anyway, so what if he loved her? So what if he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her?

She deserved way better.

She should find someone who would treat her the way Naruto treats Hinata, and he should just watch from the side for the rest of eternity to pay for all the heartache he brought upon her. Although this seemed like the fair and logical outcome, it didn't feel right.

Annoyed once again, he thought about writing to her once more. Maybe the third time is the charm and she would respond this time.

Hey,

So I know you've been busy, but I just thought you'd like to know how it's going at the hospital. I think it's going pretty well actually. It's getting easier to handle kids, which is such a surprise to everyone. Especially Naruto. He's an asshole.

The kids miss you. They keep asking when you'll be back.

I hope they're treating you better there. If not, just punch them.

Sasuke

He seemed content this time. This was the longest letter he ever wrote to her and there should be enough content this time for her to respond.

When he stepped outside and summoned his hawk, Sasuke caught a glimpse of pink from the corner of his peripherals, and his heart momentarily stopped. He turned to get a better view, just to make sure he wasn't going crazy.

Sure enough, it was Sakura.