Sakura sat in the waiting room with her head in her hands. Sasuke was back...but for how long? He had been so badly injured the surgeons didn't think he would make it.

Sakura had managed to shake off her shock for a moment upon seeing him outside to help her friends get him into the hospital. He briefly came around before the other doctors had wheeled him into surgery.

Sasuke looked so innocent lying there on the gurney, almost childlike. Sakura refused to let go of his hand until she absolutely had to. She still couldn't believe he was really back.

As Sakura stood next to him, the crisp sheets already stained with his blood, she saw his eyes begin to roll behind the lids.

"Sa...kura..." he choked out, his eyes fluttering open.

"Oh, Sasuke, you're okay!" Sakura was crying with happiness. She felt the tears well up as she blinked, causing a few to escape down her face. Sasuke's trembling hand reached up slowly, brushing weakly against the tear tracks on her cheek.

"Angels...shouldn't cry..." he murmured before passing out once more.

The doctors had taken him away before she could respond. Angels shouldn't cry... He thought she was an angel? It had been eight years since they'd kissed, but Sakura felt herself reach up and touch her lips lightly, remembering that night as she blushed like a school girl.

"Hey, Sakura." Sakura looked up to see a tired looking Akamichi Choji.

"Hi, Choji. How've you been?" She asked as he sat down next to her.

"Honestly, I've been better. I've been up half the night trying to get Ino to calm down and rest. She's worrying herself sick over Shikamaru and that's not good for her or the baby."

"Is he still in the ICU?" Choji nodded his head.

"They all came out of surgery about ten minutes ago. Tsunade requested they all have private rooms. Ino is in Shikamaru's room right now, sleeping on the bed next to him. Hinata is with Naruto obviously, and Tenten keeps swapping between Neji and Lee. I swear, if that girl doesn't make a decision soon, she's going to burst." Sakura chuckled humourlessly. Tenten had been caught between her former team mates for almost three years now. The problem was that even though she and Neji obviously wanted to be with each other, she was too fond of Lee, who unfortunately had gotten more and more like his beloved Gai Sensei as the years went on, to let him go.

"Dr. Haruno?" Sakura turned her head at the voice, jumping out of her seat when she saw who it was. It was Dr. Kamiya Sango, the head surgeon who had been looking after Sasuke.

"Dr. Kamiya! Is Sasuke alright? What happened to him?" She demanded. Choji had to hold her back from running up and shaking him by his scrubs collar.

"Yes, Uchiha Sasuke is fine. He suffered extensive chakra burns on his hands and arms, as well as bruises and lacerations to eighty percent of his body. He lost a lot of blood, so we gave him a few transfusions, and he's under sedation in the ICU for now. His vitals are stable, but by regular standards, he shouldn't even be alive."

"Can I see him?"

"Well, he's unconscious at the moment, but I don't really see why not."

"Do you want to come, Choji?" Sakura asked, turning back to look at him. Choji shook his head.

"Nah, I'd better go and check on Ino and Shikamaru. Plus, I have a feeling that this might be something you have to do alone. I'll see you later." He said, walking off the way he had come. Sakura turned back to Dr. Kamiya, her face serious.

"Take me to Sasuke." She demanded. Dr. Kamiya simply nodded and motioned for her to follow.

They rode the elevator to the third floor, passing many rooms, both empty and occupied. Sakura was shaking. The fault in her chest rippled sharply with every step. Soon they came to a private room in the ICU. Dr. Kamiya opened the door for Sakura, feeling it wasn't his place to go with her. She thanked him with a small smile and entered the dimly lit room.

There on the bed, twisted up with tubes and wires, nearly all his visible skin covered in gauze and bruises, was Sasuke. Sakura gasped softly. She felt like a child again, small and helpless. Slowly she made her way over to his bedside, silent tears streaming down her face. She sat down on the hard chair next to the bed and, somewhat hesitantly, grasped his large, bandaged hand in hers.

"Oh, Sasuke..." she whispered, sweeping his bangs back from his face, his hair in exactly the same style as it had always been, her fingers lingering on his pale cheek, "What happened to you?"

"Don't you understand, brother? I did it for you!"

"They were only holding you back! Can't you see? This was the only way for you to get stronger!"

A flash of speed, a kunai to the aorta...

Blood...so much blood...

So tired...can't I just close my eyes...

"I found him, guys, I found him!"

No, don't touch me...

"What's he doing? Hey, it's us! We only want to help!"

Help...that was how I got in this mess in the first place and now...

"He's dead on his feet! How is he still so strong?"

Dead...he's dead...Itachi...

Sasuke awoke, gasping. He flung himself up, disorientated. Where was he? This place seemed familiar. Was it...it was...Konoha Hospital? How did he get here? Naruto and the others must have bought him. Naruto, Shikamaru, Lee, Hyuga, even Gaara...had he really attacked them like that? It was all so fuzzy...although one thing was clear.

Itachi was dead.

Itachi was dead.

Itachi was...dead.

As the realisation sunk in, Sasuke felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Suddenly, and for perhaps the first time in nearly fourteen years, Sasuke began to cry. Tears fell in torrents down his face and sobs racked his body.

"My fault...it's all my fault..." he cried, for his family, for Itachi, for himself.

Sakura awoke, slightly disorientated. She must have fallen asleep on Sasuke's bed. Wait...was someone crying? Sakura raised her head, unconsciously running a hand through her long pink hair, and the first thing that caught her eye was, of course, Sasuke, hunched over, shaking and moaning, with tears on his face. Without saying a word, Sakura climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arms around the Uchiha, holding him as he cried. At first, he stiffened and tried to pull way, but Sakura was unrelenting in her embrace so finally, too tired to resist although he could have been sleeping for days, he allowed her to hug him.

It had been so long since anyone had held him like this and he realised with a start that the only one he had ever allowed to touch him since the massacre was Sakura. The first time had been at Wave, when he had nearly died, then again during the second stage of the Chunin Exam she had stalled his cursed-mark induced bloodlust with her embrace. Finally, after his encounter with Itachi in Tanzaku Town, after Tsunade had healed him, she had been there when he awoke to willingly take him in her arms. And that night, so many years ago, when she had confessed her feelings...

"Sakura..." he whispered, his voice still thick with tears. It was only now that he had stopped his mindless crying that he realised his shoulder was wet and that little tremors were shooting through Sakura's body.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Sasuke. I thought...I thought..." Somehow the roles had switched, and now Sakura was the one in need of comforting. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap, her head resting on his chest as she gripped the flimsy hospital gown he wore, as if she were trying to pull herself closer. Eventually, her sobs quieted, and they stayed in the same position for what seemed like an eternity, each reluctant to move.

Sasuke pulled back, his hands on Sakura's shoulders. He ducked his head to her level and grasped her chin in his hand as she tried to look away. Sakura was mesmerized by his dark, bottomless eyes.

"Angel's shouldn't cry." He repeated the first words he had said to her the night before, caressing her soft cheek with his fingertips. Sakura smiled genuinely for the first time in eight years, and a light red blush stained her cheeks. A glint of silver around her neck caught Sasuke's eye. It was the necklace he had given her. Sakura noticed his eyes flick down and half-smiled.

"I kept it." She said, fingering the charm. "And I waited, just like you asked."

"Sakura..." Sasuke mumbled in amazement. He hadn't expected her to keep it. Sure it would have been wonderful if she did, but he would have understood if she had thrown it out.

"Tell me, Sasuke," She asked, suddenly serious, "Did you kill him?" Sasuke knew what she meant without having to say.

"Yes."

"Did he do this to you?" Sakura ran her hands over his gauze covered skin, giving Sasuke chills when she touched uncovered places. There was a long silence where he refused to answer.

"I'll take that as a yes then." She said wryly, tentatively taking his hands in hers. She looked up at him from under her eyelashes, a hesitant smile on her face.

"Sakura, I killed my only remaining family member." Sasuke mumbled, disgusted with himself, "How does that not make you want to run away from me?" Sakura sighed.

"For the same reason I tried to stop you leaving in the first place. I love you, Sasuke. I always have, and I always will. Nothing will ever, ever change that." They locked eyes, and Sasuke felt something he never thought he'd feel again. The same strange, warm yearning in his chest he had felt all those years ago. But this time he knew what it was.

"Why? Why do you love me?" he demanded. He needed to know why such a pure and loving angel would want someone like him.

"When we were Genin, I used to run around telling anyone who would listen that someday we'd be together, without even really knowing anything about you. But being on the same team, working together, it let me see the real you. You trained so hard every day to be better, and when you made a mistake you got back up and tried again. I admired you, and I saw a kindred spirit in you that I couldn't see in anyone else. Even when you pushed me away, when you called me weak and annoying, I knew that it was the only way you could express yourself. The only way you knew how. It drove me to be better than I was. Pretty soon, a childish, school girl crush grew into something else and before I knew it, I had fallen for you."

A long silence ensued. Sasuke stared at her, not for the first time noticing the changes in her features. She had certainly...filled out over the past eight years. She had grown her hair long, the way he liked it. At twenty-one, she wasn't a little girl anymore. But it wasn't her outward appearance that drew him. It was her warm, sweet, honest heart that truly made her attractive. She was his other half, the delicate half, the half that had been missing for thirteen years.

"What are you going to do now?" Sakura asked, staring down at their interlocked hands.

"I don't know." He picked the Uchiha crest pendant up in his fingers, twisting it to watch the sunlight glint off its silver back. He read the words there, wondering if she knew what it meant. "My goal has been achieved. I have no purpose in life." Sakura shook her head fervently, her green eyes wide.

"Don't say things like that, Sasuke!" she scolded gently, "Of course you-"

"What else is there, Sakura? My only goal was to kill my brother, and now that I've achieved that, I don't see anything else."

"What about..." Sakura looked down, biting her lip "...reviving your clan? You're of age, Sasuke." She admitted shyly, "There are people we knew from the Academy who have already started families. Take Shikamaru and Ino for example. They've been married two years and are expecting their first child. And Naruto and Hinata are engaged. You can start over, too; wipe the slate clean just like that."

Of course he knew that, it was all he'd been thinking about since he turned eighteen. He just hadn't planned how to tell her when, or if, he came back. Now that he was, and there to stay, he was certain of what he wanted to do. He grasped her chin in his hand again, lifting her head to stare deeply into her fathomless emerald orbs, holding her gaze.

"Sakura, you know I've never been good with words and feelings and things, but I gave you this necklace for a reason. It was my way of making sure you knew...how I felt." Sakura was speechless. Could he really feel the same, even after so long?

"Sasuke I-I don't know what to say, I mean I've been dreaming about this moment for so long, where and when we would be, what we'd be doing, but I never thought that-" Sasuke pressed his lips to hers, silencing her rambling. He pulled back, staring at her.

"You talk too much." He said, before swooping in for another kiss.

Sakura was frozen with shock, but soon melted under his fiery embrace, kissing him back hungrily, like a starved person tasting food for the first time. The heart rate monitor attached to him went wild as she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding them together, seeming to forget that he was injured, although she came back to Earth pretty quick when he pulled back, and groaned in obvious pain.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Sasuke! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, you're just squeezing a bit too tight." He hissed, panting. Sakura but her lip, fighting back a smile, "What are you smiling at?" Sasuke demanded, confused. The medication was making him groggy.

"I was just wondering...was that your way of..." she trailed off suggestively, and he smirked.

"I think it was. Sakura, I-I love you. I want you to marry me. I've wanted to tell you, ask you, for nearly nine years, and now-" Sakura pressed her lips to his, cutting him off. She pulled back, her smile glowing brilliantly as tears of joy streamed down her angelic face.

"You talk too much." She repeated, Sasuke's first genuine smile since the massacre lighting up his handsome features, before she kissed him again.

Outside, Kakashi was leaning against the wall, reading his dirty little book. He was smirking under his mask.

"It's about time." He muttered.