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 7 of _?
-S-
"Kakashi, you're an idiot. You get three students. Just three. And they all end up like you. Luckily for Sakura, she's got Shizune and I," Tsunade declared in between sips of sake.
Why am I always getting the blame? Kakashi sweatdropped, but chose not to voice his thoughts aloud. The Fifth had a nasty temper and a voice even louder than Naruto's when she got fired up. He'd rather not go deaf.
"Uchiha! What happened to his 'genius' brain? Half the village already thinks he's insane and he pulls a stunt a like this," Tsunade continued to rant.
Sasuke glanced up at her from his half-sitting, half-laying down position on the hospital bed. Hokage was drunkenly scolding Kakashi like a squawking mother hen, talking about him like he wasn't fully awake.
"And Naruto's out there yelling that Sakura beat up the brat. The staff that heard that have somehow spun it into a story about a lovers' spat. Kakashi, I know you're laughing behind that book! This is not funny!"
Tsunade ended her tirade and threw the emptied bottle at Kakashi's head, which he easily dodged with a single step to the side.
Shizune escorted her out the room after the smashing display, and her parting comments about making sure "stupid Kakashi gets removed from his position as future sixth Hokage" were heard as their steps faded away.
A lovers' spat? No wonder Sakura had an irritated look again.
"No one besides us knows what truly happened. Yamanaka and the other nurses have come up with amusing stories. Team Seven continues to be the favorite topic, specifically you and Sakura. It's very entertaining, " Kakashi quipped once they were alone. He watched Sasuke's face carefully, looking at the subtle change in his eyes. There was that faraway look again as he contemplated the new piece of information.
"Naruto's making a ruckus about you hogging all the attention again."
At this, Sasuke spoke up, making his own annoyance known, "It's his loud mouth that got us into this mess." Sakura should blame them for the gossip, not me.
"True, but that doesn't change the fact that you and Sakura did cause a commotion. Be thankful that the gossip has turned in this direction, or the clan heads will be petitioning Tsunade again about your 'mental instability.'"
Sasuke looked away again. His face remained blank, but Kakashi's keen eyes did not miss the slight downturn of Sasuke's mouth. Knowing that Sasuke was definitely not going to speak again after the stab at his pride, Kakashi ended the conversation with the warning that Sakura was arriving. He headed out the door and kept it open for Sakura and the tray of food and medicine that always came at exactly noon for the past 7 days. Today was his eleventh day at the hospital and he would be released on the evening of his twelfth day. He had wanted to be released earlier, but Hokage threatened him with the prospect of more genin missions for the rest of the year.
Sakura was already at his bedside before he could delve deeper into Kakashi's comments. Just like at breakfast five hours ago, Sakura did not greet him with customary pleasantries. She did not even bother to put up the façade of professionalism. Sakura quietly and quickly checked his vital signs. The door closed behind her, leaving only the tray of food and medicine as an indication that she had come.
He was not accustomed to this silence from Sakura. Most of his memories of Sakura were filled with her tireless chatter. Even when he directly told her to be quiet, Sakura could not resist not talking to him. Truthfully, he didn't mind it that much. He already had enough deafening silence whenever he came home to his empty apartment. And those were the better days. There were far too many days with taunting voices. Sometimes, he was thankful for Sakura's babble, for her always-cheerful voice used to drown out the whispering that seemed to always be on the verge of overwhelming him.
But his times with Sakura weren't always filled with noise. There were moments where Sakura didn't feel the need to fill the empty void of silence with conversation. It was a comfortable silence.
This was not.
Why did it bother him so much when silence was familiar, was preferable?
-S-
A/N: So here's the actual chapter 7. I uploaded the wrong thing yesterday. This version's been edited too.
-May 28, 2012-