Chapter Fourteen
Sasuke takes his chances and goes to the hospital. At first he thinks he got lucky and missed Sakura, but then she walks into his room and says, "Akiko tells me you have two fractured ribs and contusions all over your abdomen." She washes and dries her hands, approaches him. "Let me guess: you and Naruto were sparring."
"No, we had a fight. A real one."
Sakura examines his chest, her hands gentle but clinical. There is no warmth to her touch, no tenderness as she begins to heal his ribs. "What was it about?" she asks.
Sasuke hesitates, then says, "You."
She makes a sound between a laugh and a cough. "Me?"
"I told him about us."
The flow of Sakura's chakra breaks for just a moment, but she recovers quickly and asks, "Well, this is a little funny, don't you think?"
Sasuke scowls. "I don't quite see how my broken ribs are funny."
"You were the one who was so dead-set on not telling anyone about our—" She pauses, bites her lip, and says, "Our relationship. Then after it's over you tell Naruto. See, funny."
When he doesn't answer, she just goes on, tone flippant. "Though I suppose now I can fill in Ino and TenTen and Hinata, so I guess I should thank you. Really, I bet Temari would want to know too, she's said before that she's curious about what you'd be like in bed. Next time I'm in Suna I could tell her all about how you—"
"Sakura," Sasuke says. "I know what you're doing."
"What do you mean?" she asks innocently.
"Stop trying to make me angry."
"Why, is it working?" She gives him a bright smile, false but beautiful, and moves on to mending the bruises across his chest and stomach.
"No," he says. "It isn't."
Sakura stands so close to him that he can smell her soap. It's unfamiliar, a citrus scent instead of herbal, lemon maybe, and Sasuke wonders what else has changed in the months since she stopped sharing his bed.
"Are you seeing someone?" he asks.
She looks up from her work, briefly, to frown at him. "You know I don't have a boyfriend."
"Are you sleeping with anybody?" Sasuke clarifies.
A pink flush spreads across Sakura's fair cheeks. "That really isn't any of your business," she says.
"Maybe not, but I'm asking anyway."
She steps away from him and crosses her arms around her middle, even though his skin is still marked by a smattering of blue bruises. "What is it you want to hear? That there hasn't been anyone since you? That I'm not even tempted, because other men can't possibly compare to the great Uchiha Sasuke? Are you that arrogant?"
He knows he should sit still, shut up, and let her finish healing him so he can get out of here. Whatever Naruto had in mind when he told Sasuke to fix things, this certainly wasn't it. But he hasn't seen this much emotion from Sakura since their last mission together, and instead of being quiet, he goads her. "Well, it's true, isn't it? You haven't been with anyone, and you aren't tempted."
Sasuke can't know this for certain, but he suspects he's right—he suspects, because he feels the same way. The last woman he slept with was Sakura, and he hasn't once in the intervening months had the desire to have sex with anyone else.
He thinks for a moment that she might give in to her temper and smack him across the face, like he deserves, but she doesn't.
Sakura opens the door and summons the brown-haired medic nin who admitted him. "I'm done for the day," she says evenly. "Sasuke is your patient now, Akiko."
After she leaves, Sasuke swears so violently that Akiko puts her hand over her mouth. He doesn't much care though; all his regret is reserved for his dealings with Sakura. He can't seem to do anything right where she's concerned.
Sakura finds that it's easier not to miss Sasuke when she's angry at him. Really, she's almost glad that he showed his antagonistic side at the hospital, because it diminishes the ache of his absence.
This is why I left, she reminds herself. I did the right thing.
She waits for Naruto at Ichiraku for five, ten, fifteen minutes. They have met here on the last Sunday of the month, just the two of them, every year since the war ended, and in all this time she has never known him to be late for ramen.
At half-past noon, he takes the seat next to her and orders. Quiet and frowning, Naruto doesn't look at her, doesn't say anything. They eat in silence until Sakura can't stand it anymore. "Sasuke said he told you about—about us."
Naruto sighs. "He did."
"You broke two of his ribs, you know," Sakura says.
"Good. He deserved it." Naruto turns up his bowl and drinks the remaining broth.
"Can't argue with that."
He wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket, and Sakura laughs. "You're so dignified, Hokage-sama," she says.
Naruto smiles, but the brightness in his expression fades after a moment. "I know Sasuke asked you not to, but I wish you'd told me."
"I wanted to," she says. "You're my best friend."
Naruto nods. He opens his mouth, hesitates, then asks, "Did he hurt you, Sakura-chan?"
She thinks of that night in Kiri, when he was so cold, when he told her there was nothing between them but sex. "Yes," she says. "He did."
Naruto's fists clench on the counter, and Sakura reaches over, lays her hand on his. "But that's between me and Sasuke, Naruto. I don't want you beating him up anymore, okay?"
"It's not like he didn't fight back! Bastard broke my nose," Naruto says. "Hinata healed me up good though."
"Will you promise not to fight with him? At least not over this?" Sakura asks.
"Fine," Naruto grumbles. "I promise."
"Now, tell me about Kushina. Is she walking yet?"
He grins, wide and proudly, and says, "No, but she's sure trying. And she's crawling everywhere. You'll never guess where Hinata found her yesterday…"
They speak of family and friends for the rest of the hour, and when they part ways Sakura feels better than she has in weeks; Naruto has that effect sometimes.
The next few months pass quickly. Sakura keeps herself busy with missions and hospital work and preparing her genin for the next chunin exams. She sees Sasuke when Team 7 gets together, but she rarely talks to him, and when she does her words are terse and to the point, uncolored by her feelings. Kushina takes her first step just two days before she turns a year old, and Naruto tells anyone in the village who will listen.
When she brings her birthday gift for Kushina to the Uzumakis' house, she finds that Hinata is there alone with the baby, and she invites Sakura in for a cup of tea.
"Naruto-kun's been so busy these last few days, I've barely seen him," Hinata says softly. "And I need company that can speak full sentences."
Sakura laughs and steps inside. Kushina's toys are scattered across the floor, and the baby herself runs around the living room on chubby legs. "Saka!" she says, and holds up her arms to be picked up.
Sakura lifts Kushina, settles her on her hip, and says, "Happy late birthday, little girl." She kisses the baby's round cheek and carries her into the kitchen.
Hinata makes a cinnamon-ginger tea, for which Sakura is thankful. She'll never drink jasmine again, no matter how much her mother and Ino may like it.
Kushina wriggles and whines after a minute of being held, so Sakura sets her down and watches her run off into the living room. "I can't believe how big she's getting."
"I know," Hinata says. "She's growing up so fast."
They sit and talk of Konoha and drink hot tea together, and Sakura feels content. At peace on this warm summer day with her friend.
"Are you going back to work soon?" she asks. "Naruto told me that you wanted to start taking missions again after Kushina turned one."
Hinata smiles. "I'm starting back next week, with Kiba and Shino. It'll be good, having the old team back together."
Something must show on Sakura's face—a hint of sadness, maybe—because Hinata tilts her head to the side and asks, "Is something wrong?"
Sakura turns her warm teacup in her hands and looks down, looks anywhere but at Hinata's Byakugan. Eyes that see everything are unsettling when you have something to hide. "No," she says. "It's just, well, things have been difficult for my team lately. I miss the way we used to be."
Hinata nods, takes a breath, and says nothing at all.
"What?" Sakura asks. "What is it?"
"I-I don't know what's going on, between you and Sasuke-kun," she says. "Naruto hasn't told me anything, and I haven't asked him. But Sasuke's been coming to me for months now, every time he's injured, because he's afraid of seeing you at the hospital."
"He has?" Sakura wraps her arms around herself and says, "The last time I treated him we—well, we sort of had a fight."
"I see." Hinata fidgets, then says, "He always asks after you. I think he misses you, Sakura."
She shakes her head. "I doubt it. The only person he really cares about is Naruto."
"I don't think you're right about that," Hinata says gently. "You didn't see the look on his face when he said your name."
Sakura tries not to read too much into this, but it's hard. It's very hard.
As a child, when he ran from Itachi, ran to save his miserable life, he knew he was a coward at heart. It's something Sasuke has worked to overcome, an ugly truth about himself that he's masked with skill and endless training and arrogance. But sometimes, when faced with a task that seems insurmountable, he remembers: he isn't brave, not when it matters.
He stands outside of Sakura's apartment building for the third evening in a row, willing himself to go to her door and knock. Sasuke lingers there for five minutes, ten, before finally giving up. Unlike last night and the night before, however, he doesn't return home. Instead, he goes to a bar, orders the most expensive shochu, and drinks.
Sasuke doesn't share Naruto's confidence in the immutability of Team 7—if he did, he never would have left Konoha in the first place—and so he has no reason to believe that anything he says could fix things between him and Sakura.
"Bad night?" the bartender asks.
"Bad life," Sasuke answers, before he can think better of it. The alcohol has made him loose-lipped, and he immediately regrets saying something so pathetic.
He's been doing that a lot lately, saying things he shouldn't. All the more reason to leave Sakura in peace tonight.
The bartender only laughs. "Is it a woman or work?"
"Not a woman," Sasuke says. "The woman."
"Ah." The bartender pours him another. "In that case, this one's on me."
"Thank you." He drinks it and asks for two more.
An hour later, Sasuke is drunker than he's ever been in his life. He has learned that the bartender's name is Ban, and that he inherited this fine establishment from his father, Gendo. Ban is smart enough not to ask about the Uchiha or the Akatsuki, but he does say, "If a woman like that wanted me, I'd be married with a houseful of ninja brats by now."
Sasuke narrows his eyes. "How do you know what kind of woman she is? I didn't tell you anything about her."
Ban smiles. "Please, half the village—even the civilian half—knows that Haruno Sakura is in love with you. Who else could you be talking about?"
Sasuke decides that it's time to go. He pulls out a wad of ryo from his pocket, counts out the necessary bills (a task that takes much longer than it normally might), and lays them on the bar.
He leaves, heads back to his apartment, but halfway there Sasuke changes his mind and turns around. There's nothing at home for him, nothing that matters.
Sakura spends the morning on a short mission with her genin, the afternoon working at the hospital, and the night studying a medical text on poisons. One of Chiyo's students is the author, and she hopes to glean something of the old woman's wisdom by reading it.
She's on the third chapter when she hears her front door open. She would think an enemy shinobi was breaking into her house, except that any ninja worth his salt would never have made so much noise. Still, Sakura arms herself with the kunai from her bedside table and sneaks into the hallway, keeping her back close to the wall.
Then she sees him.
"Sasuke?"
"Sakura, there you are," he says, but there's something wrong with his speech. He sounds hoarse, and his words come too slowly. When he walks toward her he stumbles and almost falls. Sakura rushes forward, pockets her kunai, and catches him by his broad shoulders.
She's close enough to him now that she can smell the alcohol on his breath. "Are you drunk?"
"No," he says, then, "Maybe."
Sakura has seen Sasuke drink several times over the years, but she has never seen him like this. Unfocused, unguarded.
She lets go of him and takes a step back. "What are you doing here?"
He reaches for her, cups her cheek, and she feels herself blush under his palm. "I miss you," Sasuke says.
Sakura shakes her head weakly. "You can't do this to me. You can't come here and say this and expect me to—"
He kisses her, and her mouth opens to his. She tastes him, tastes the liquor on his tongue. His hands are in her hair, around her waist, pulling her closer, and Sakura can't help it, for a moment she lets him. But when he grabs at the front of her pajamas, clumsy as he unbuttons her shirt, she remembers all the reasons why she can't allow this to happen.
"No," Sakura breathes, and he stills, stops trying to undress her.
"I—I need you to get out," she says, and Sakura doesn't care that her voice breaks, that he can see how shaken she is.
"Please," he whispers, his voice rough.
"Leave." Sakura grasps his shirt, holding on to him even as she tells him to go. "Just leave me alone, Sasuke."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because," he says. "I love you."
Author's Note: Well, here it is: the penultimate chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed, even though I certainly left you on quite the cliffhanger this time. Chapter 15 is already done and off to my betas, though, so you shouldn't have to wait too long to find out what happens next. It's my hope to be able to update with the last installment next Saturday. Thank you to my betas, tall-girl-in-a-small-world and uchihasass, for all their help, as well as to everyone who has been favoriting, following, and commenting. Every little message encourages me, and I appreciate them all. Also, if I haven't responded to your review from the last chapter yet, I deeply apologize. I was in the middle of moving when I updated last time and that process ate my week. But I promise to answer everyone's comments on Chapter 13 by no later than tomorrow night. :)