Title: Healing

Summary: His heart only opens when hers wants to close.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wouldn't mind owning Sasuke-kun though.

Theme: Post-canon

Medium: Fanfiction

Rating: T

Warning(s): Emotional, Violence

Comments: Short drabbles for now. This is part 5 of _?

At the sound of loud laughter approached, Sasuke pulled up his blanket, turning his back from the door. From the chakra, he deduced it was Naruto. He tried to feign sleep again but of course, Naruto knew nothing about politeness and simply barged in and started talking.

"Haha! I heard Sakura-chan beat you up!"

Naruto's obnoxious voice was loud enough for the whole hospital to hear. Great. He just gave the people even more things to talk about. Truthfully, he cared not for the rumor of Sakura "beating him up." It was false, by the way. It was never truly a fight; he was letting Sakura mete out deserved punches. Such things did not affect his pride (his mother had raised him as a gentleman and he avoided hitting women), but he preferred that the incident would remain between them.

Looking back on the incident, Sasuke realized that he had probably worsened their already strained relationship. He had offended Sakura by not fighting back, not treating her as an equal. This treatment of females impressed upon him by his upbringing had brought out Sakura's repressed insecurities about her perceived weakness. But even if he could go back in time and repeat the event, he would not have hit Sakura.

At the very least, his luck had not completely run out. Naruto did not seem to know about the kunai incident. He still could not remember what he was thinking during those moments. There was a strange sort of detachment when he replayed his memories. It felt more like he was just an observer, not able to control his own body, not fully controlling his own mind. What drove him to stab himself with the poisoned kunai, he was still unsure of. Perhaps, some part of him knew that it would not be enough to kill him. Blood loss could, if the time span was long enough. But he had been in the vicinity of the hospital and Sakura was there, as always. Or maybe, some depraved part of him assumed Sakura would have bloodlust and he wanted to please her. As his mind escaped from his darker thoughts to return to a more calm, neutral state, he noticed that Naruto still had not give up chanting his name and protesting about his "fake sleep."

"Idiot! I can hear you voice all the way to my office. This is a hospital. People are trying to sleep. If you don't tone down, I will throw you out the window and ensure that no one heals you," Sakura threatened making sure Naruto did not doubt her seriousness. She stepped into the room carrying a covered tray of food and a bottle of medicine. Sai was on her heels, pushing a cart of medical equipment.

"Geez, Sakura-chan! You're becoming crankier than Granny Tsunade!" Naruto protested.

"According to this book on etiquette, one should respect a friend's privacy. So, I assume this means you should stop asking Ugly about the incident regarding the Uchiha, " Sai recited, as if he was giving a lecture to class full of students.

Sakura gave a loud sigh. She motioned for Sai to leave the cart by Sasuke's bedside. Then, with a loud stomp of her right food, left hand on her hip, she pointed to the open door with her right hand, and hissed, leaving no room for argument "Leave. Now."

Naruto looked like he was about to protest but gave up when he saw the daggers in Sakura's eyes. Sai left with a friendly wave and closed the door behind them.

"Sasuke. I know you're awake. Sit up for your check-up." This tone of voice was so different. It was the strictly professional, no-nonsense type. Sasuke guessed that Sakura would use this voice with difficult patients. And he knew why. Sakura was exasperated at his reluctance to let other nurses check on him.

Sitting up, he obligingly cooperated, not wanting to give Sakura any more trouble. Strands of hair were escaping her loose bun, and the bags under her eyes were clearly visible.

Sakura sat by his bedside, her back to him but she twisted her body to face him more easily and asked, "Alright. I've given you enough time. Why did you stab yourself?"

Sasuke wanted to avert his eyes from her probing eyes, looking deep into his as if she could find the answers in the black abyss of his eyes. Yet Sasuke was never one to run away from battle, never one to back out. He returned the favor, looking straight into her eyes.

Sasuke replied simply, "You would not have done it, foolish girl."

And it ends with a cliffhanger insult! Hahaha. No worries. Next update won't take long. Probably Friday or earlier with the right motivation.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! Glad you're all liking it so far. Hope you continue to read and review.

Thanks also for adding this to your alerts and faves. Would appreciate it if you reviewed along with that. It seems like you were interested enough to fave/alert, I would appreciate it if you told me your thoughts on the story.

So this, chapter isn't very long compared to some of the super long thousands of words chapters I've seen on this site. However, if you compare it to the previous chapters, it's longer. It is about 1k words.

I will continue to work on adding depth to scenes.

Again, keep reading :D

To be continued….