Title - Unexpected Turn of Life

A/N – Thank you for the review, fav and follow!

Happy reading! ^^

Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto…

'….' – Thoughts

"…..." – Speaking

Chapter 17

No one's POV

"SAKURA?!"

Before Naruto, Hinata, Ino and Tenten approach, Sasuke picked Sakura up in his arms. He just turned around and found that Sakura was on the floor, unconscious and instantly picked her up, before anyone could reach.

"Naruto! Bring the car, hurry!" said Sasuke.

Naruto exited without question while Sasuke followed. Ino, Hinata and Tenten panicked as they followed Sasuke through the exit. Naruto was in front of Sasuke in no time and rushed to open the door. It all happened in a flash.

"Hinata go with them. We'll handle here" said Tenten as they all exchanged glances. Hinata nodded as she rushed and opened the car door.

"I'm coming!" she said as she sat on the passenger seat beside Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "Alright, we'll report you later, guys!" he exclaimed as he started the car.

"I'll count on that! Take care of her!" replied Ino. Sasuke was already inside on the back seat with Sakura.

A few minutes later…..

Sasuke watched Sakura as she lay on the bed with closed eyes, her face flushed. They had rushed to the hospital in so much hurry that no one spoke in few minutes ride, only to find that Sakura has a fever.

'She must have ignored it, hence she fainted' he thought. He shook his head at her stupidity. He had felt her increased temperature when he held her in the car but was too engrossed in reaching the hospital that he failed to notice it.

Sasuke didn't know what came over him as he saw her on the floor. He had reacted instinctively and reached for her. He had panicked back there just like he would have, if his mother or father or even Itachi was in her place. Not that he'll admit it…

Sasuke sighed. Hinata left ten minutes ago as she had said… more like stuttered… that they had an urgent meeting in office so Naruto had offered to drop her off to her work place. Now that he recall…

'That girl Hinata had similar eyes like Hyuuga… or was it?' he thought but shrugged off. He shifted his eyes towards Sakura as she moved.

Sakura opened her eyes and blinked. "…Where… what…" she muttered and suddenly sat on the bed but instantly closed her eyes as her head pounded.

"Here" she heard a voice and saw a glass of water in front of her with half lidded eyes. She took it without looking anywhere and drank it.

"Thank you…" she said and handed back the empty glass.

She exhaled as she looked up and saw his expressionless face. She blinked then glanced around to find herself in hospital room. Her jacket was lying on the spare chair beside her bed. Just then she recalled that they all were in that café…

'Oh I must have fainted…' she thought.

"Are you alright?" asked Sasuke, sighing at her changing expressions.

She glanced up at him and shook her head 'no'. She put her hand on the side of her head and asked, "You brought me here…?"

Instead of answering her, Sasuke leaned forward and put his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature. Sakura's face, which was already flushed, turned more pink at his unexpected gesture while Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. She felt dizzy as he stood close to her.

"You need rest. How reckless can you get, Haruno…" he muttered as he stood back straight. Hearing his words, Sakura frowned.

"I am not!" she exclaimed and stood from the bed and grabbed her jacket and put it on. She wore her shoes while Sasuke watched her.

"I'm going home!" she said, without glancing at him and went towards the door, wobbling along the way.

Sasuke sweat dropped. He reached her as she fumbled and finally opened the door. Naruto had already sent a car for Sasuke which was waiting outside.

"Are you able to walk? Or should I carry you again?" asked Sasuke, looking at her.

"No thank you. Wait… that means YOU carried me before?!" exclaimed Sakura, holding on the door. She sighed.

"I will walk" she said, plainly.

Sasuke shrugged and walked a step ahead while she followed and two steps after, she stumbled and started falling. She did the only thing she could do and grabbed his hand for support, halting him.

Sasuke turned to look at her as she held onto him, one hand on his forearm while other clutching his wrist. Her eyebrow twitched as Sasuke smirked down at her. She stood straight and let go of his arm, looking aside. Sasuke's smirk widened but soon he shifted beside her and held her hand, taking her by surprise.

"Hn. Let's go. You'll only slow me down. I'll take you to your home" said Sasuke as he walked looking ahead while Sakura only followed, too tired to argue. She stared at the back of his head as he led her.

Sakura woke up when the car halted in front of her apartment. She found a black coat covering her, keeping her warm. She glanced at Sasuke, who opened the door and went outside the car.

'It's his coat… He can be nice I guess…' she thought when…

"I'm already late, Haruno. Let's get inside" stated Sasuke, without glancing at her. 'I guess not…' she thought and sighed as she went out. That's when she remembered as they stood before her door.

'My bag… my key…' she thought.

"Here" said Sasuke as he handed her the key. "Your friend gave me the key. She said it's her spare key to your house. Your bag is with that blonde girl I think" he continued while she took the key and opened the door, nodding.

"Take rest. Take this meds after dinner. Your friends will be here as soon as they finish their work. Now go to sleep. I don't want to take you like this to the party" said Sasuke as he kept the jar filled with water on the table beside her bed.

He gave her tablets few minutes ago and she was already feeling too sleepy, as she lay on the bed. She could only frown at his 'order' filled statements. Sasuke pulled the comforter over till her shoulders and checked her temperature again, brushing her hair away; her frown loosened.

He stood straight and was going to leave when a hand stopped him by grabbing his wrist, loosely. He looked down at her who had her eyes closed.

"…Thank you… Sasuke…" she mumbled while asleep. He adjusted her hand and comforter.

'Troublesome woman…' he thought and shook his head as he just sounded like Shikamaru and left, grabbing his jacket and locking the door.

Five hours later….

Sakura's eyebrows twitched and opened her eyes. "Ugh… Pig… shut up…". She glanced at the clock; it read six thirty-five.

"Sakura-chan, how are you feeling?" asked Hinata, worriedly.

"Good…" replied Sakura, hoarsely, as she sat up. Tenten handed her a glass of water and she took it gratefully and drank. Hinata went to bring her a bowl of soup.

"Seriously Sakura… You got us so worried you know!" said Ino, concerned. "You should have said that you are not well…" she continued, as she checked Sakura's temperature. "Your fever hasn't totally receded yet…" she continued. Hinata came back with the soup and handed Sakura earning a thanks.

"But still, it was really nice of Sasuke-san and Naruto-san! I didn't know they were such a nice people…" said Tenten.

"Yeah, Sasuke-san looked really worried you know…" said Hinata, sitting on the corner of the bed.

"That was so sweet of him when he carried you hurriedly! Hinata told us that he never left your side!" exclaimed Ino, dreamily.

"Yeah, actually I thought he was arrogant at first but when I saw him like that I was surprised" said tenten, chuckling.

"You sure are lucky Sakura!" exclaimed Ino while the other two agreed with her.

'Hmph… they don't know how much of a jerk he is when we are alone!' Sakura thought.

Sakura heard her friends' conversation but didn't comment. She focused on the soup. She thought back that he said he don't want to take her like this to the party… But then she recalled how he had helped her… even if it was his 'jerk-y' way… She sighed. Her thoughts were really jumbled now. Sakura blinked when she heard her friend's voices.

"…Sakura?! What are you thinking?" asked Tenten.

"Oh, Ten-chan. She must be thinking about her boyfriend, ne, Forehead?" asked Ino, teasingly, wiggling her eyebrows. Sakura groaned and threw a pillow on Ino's face.

"No I'm not!" she exclaimed.

"So what were you saying Ten-chan?" asked Sakura.

Tenten glanced at her friends. She was still thinking about the guy she punched. She was thinking that he was her middle school friend Neji Hyuuga and Hinata's brother. That's why she had asked Hinata if she had brother the next day when she bumped into that guy, which she meant as 'any other brother'.

Tenten sighed at the thought that she had lost the contact with him years ago. 'At least I'm lucky I met Hinata in high school' she thought. She recalled that her friends started teasing her because she always enquired about him. Hinata had told her that her cousin had went to study in US and he's well, so she had stopped asking about him but her friends didn't stopped teasing. 'There is no way the guy I punched was Neji…' she thought.

"Well, Naruto-san took Hinata-chan's number…" said Tenten, smirking while Hinata blushed.

"I-It's just that he doesn't have Sakura-chan's number and didn't want to disturb her… so…" Hinata explained but Sakura interrupted.

"I know Hinata-chan. Stop teasing her guys…" said Sakura and sneezed.

"Sakura-chan, you should rest now. We'll make some dinner" said Hinata as she stood up.

Ino and Tenten followed her and muttered, "Okay…" half-heartedly. Sakura chuckled as she lay down and closed her eyes.

Uchiha Corp.

Naruto walked alongside Sasuke, who had the same plain look which he had in the meeting half hour ago. He sweat dropped. Now that he thinks back, he recalled Sasuke's behavior when Sakura fainted. He was also worried but the way Sasuke had acted really surprised him. He smiled. He was happy that his best friend had started showing more emotions even though they were barely noticeable.

"Have you called Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto, as they walked. Sasuke glanced at him.

"No. She needs rest" answered Sasuke.

"I know that! Wait… I'll call Hinata-chan!" said Naruto as he pulled out his cell phone. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

"You have her number? …You seem interested in her" stated Sasuke as Naruto flipped open his cell phone. Naruto looked at Sasuke surprised.

"EH?!"

"Nevermind. Hurry up and call…" said Sasuke. Naruto looked at him slyly.

"So, you are worried, huh? Say you want to know about Sakura-chan's condition…" he said, grinning at him, teasingly. Sasuke looked at him blankly.

"Aniki's waiting. Hurry up and let's go" said Sasuke and walked past Naruto. Naruto laughed. He could see that his best friend was annoyed, judging from his voice. He shook his head and called 'Hinata-chan'.

Sakura's apartment

Hinata turned off the stove when her cell phone started ringing. She rushed to it while Ino and Tenten raised an eyebrow at their friend, thinking who was calling her as they were all with her. They had also informed Tsunade just when they left Sakura to sleep. Hinata looked surprised and glanced at her friends as she answered the call.

"Hello, N-Naruto-kun…" she said. Her friends watched her stutter and smiled slyly at her causing her face to heat up.

(Phone conversation)

"Hello, Hinata-chan? Oh, sorry to call at this time but how is Sakura-chan now? Well… Sasuke is dying to know but he is busy so he asked me to call" said naruto. He added the last (unnecessary) sentence intentionally and smirked.

"I-It's alright… Sakura-chan is fine. We are staying with her tonight so tell S-Sasuke-san to not to worry…" replied Hinata.

"Glad to hear that! Anyway, need to go! Bye Hinata-chan! I'll call you later!" exclaimed Naruto, smiling.

"Ah, yes, N-Naruto-kun. B-Bye" said Hinata and ended the call. She sighed at her nervousness.

(End of the phone conversation)

"Sasuke-san seems worried… that's what N-Naruto-kun said…" said Hinata looking at her friends.

"So sweet!" exclaimed Ino, her eyes sparkling. Tenten smiled as they went to Sakura's room to see if she was awake so that they can have dinner.

Uchiha Mansion

"Sasuke-chan! When will you bring your girlfriend to meet us?" asked Mikoto, raising her eyebrows. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched and narrowed his eye at Itachi. Itachi smiled innocently.

"Oka-san, Otouto-chan is going to bring his girlfriend to the party…" said Itachi and smiled at his mother. Mikoto looked at Sasuke, her eyes sparkling while Itachi smirked.

"Actually, I have met her. She's a nice lady… She handles Sasuke very …well, I must say" Itachi continued and glanced at Sasuke, whose eyebrow twitched.

"Really? I can't wait to meet her!" exclaimed Mikoto, excitedly when Fugaku entered the room.

"I see… If Itachi is saying this than let's see" stated Fugaku and sat on the chair. It was obvious that he had heard their conversation.

Sasuke sighed and remembered Itachi's fake story they told their parents.

Itachi had told them that his little brother, Uchiha Sasuke, fell in love with Haruno Sakura after the magazine incident. Sasuke had gone to demand an explanation from Sakura, but after meeting her, it was love at first sight…

Sasuke cringed. 'What a ridiculous story' he had said to Itachi. What got him surprised that his parents bought that story merely because Itachi had told them.

Sasuke remembered Itachi even added some unnecessary statements like…

"My dear Otouto couldn't sort out his feelings…so he came to his one and only big brother with his problems. How can I let my Otouto suffer like that so I helped him… That's when he realized he was in 'love' with her…"

Sasuke had face-palmed then and there. But he had praised Itachi for his acting… He had not expected Itachi to tell their parents a fake story and help him but still he did, even though he (Sasuke) was going to tell the truth to their parents.

Sasuke had asked an explanation from Itachi that why he had done that while Itachi merely answered with an "It's my new entertainment, Otouto…" leaving an infuriating Sasuke behind. Atleast, his parents did not bother to ask him as they believed Itachi.

Sasuke sighed and looked at his parents talking with each other. Itachi reached him and asked, "I heard Sakura-chan fainted… How is she?"

"Fine" stated Sasuke and glanced at Itachi.

"Hn. You looked panicked at that time…" said Itachi. Sasuke frowned.

"What made you think that? You were not even there" stated Sasuke, raising his eyebrow.

Itachi shrugged and replied, "I have my sources…".

Sasuke realized what Itachi meant. His fist clenched about thinking who had shared this rumor about him being panicked, '…which I was not…' he thought. Only one person can do this…

"…THAT DOBE!"

To be continued…...

A/N - Yosh! It's long! I hope you guys enjoyed reading… Any reactions…? Review, fav and follow!