"Mmm…" Eri sat upright in bed, stretching high until she felt a satisfying crack through her shoulders and back. She felt somewhat stiff, but the culprit was easy to deduce. She was sitting in her bed surrounded by large books and unraveled scrolls on all sides and she couldn't remember having fallen asleep. There was no doubt that she had poured herself into reading through text and accounts of Genjutsu to look for anything useful and simply fell asleep awkwardly across them.

"Uah!" She gasped quickly, fetching the candle from her side table and blowing away its flame. "Did I leave that burning all night..?" Quite dangerous, really. If her mother had checked in on her, she probably would have lectured her ear off for that.

Regardless, she set the now extinguished light to the side again and set about wiping her tired eyes and pulling herself from bed.

As if instinctually, she took a momentary glance to her room's window. It was shut, as it had been for some time.

It had been weeks since her visit from Sasuke, when they wound up talking through the night. Naturally, she knew the reason; he was out of commission. She had caught wind of the news from Ino, the local village gossip, who seemed to be putting her knowledge of data and intel to good use. Details were hazy, and trying to find more information was an impossible task. The only thing that she knew at the moment was that he was incapacitated, in the hospital with an uncertain affliction, one that many people were claiming to seem like a Genjutsu.

Eri approached the window, keeping her book in her arm. Although she figured he wouldn't be coming to visit through her window anytime soon, she still would feel the urge to check for him. She often had thoughts that perhaps he would come waking her from her study-induced coma and alleviate her worries - that he would come through her window as he always had, healthy and well.

"Ah…" The thought forced a tired sigh from her lips. It was wishful thinking, she knew, but it was moments like this that she felt dreadfully powerless. If only he had been afflicted with something more up her alley! Something like a common sickness, or chronic stubbornness!

Something that she could fix…

Genjutsu was probably the thing that she was the absolute worst at, in fact, but it didn't stop her from gathering countless books to try tracking down any answers that she could maybe share with the experts. In truth, something in the back of her mind kept her realistic. She didn't imagine that she would suddenly find the answer to all of the problems that even the seasoned pros couldn't find. It was just the slight chance and the feeling of helping that kept a burning speck of hope alive.

"Either way…" She thought aloud, sitting down on the edge of her bed, "you'll be just fine. I'll guarantee it… somehow."

"Eri! The food's ready!"

"Already..?" Eri spoke to herself in hush, though she cracked her bedroom door to quickly call out in response to her mother. "I'm coming! I'm just running a little late!"

She hurried to ready herself and bolted down the stairs in a rush, coming in while still haphazardly adjusting her clothing. "I fell asleep a bit suddenly last night so-"

"Did you remember to put out the light?"

"..." Her pace slowed considerably as she most nonchalantly scooped the two lunch boxes into her bag. "I… really think I may have found something interesting."

The graceful woman lifted her brow skeptically at the very deliberate evasion. "Eri."

"I just. You know, mother, I really, truly appreciate all of this that you're doing to help. I don't know what I would do without your delicious cooking - and you know, one of these days Sasuke will wake up and be so touched that you made an extra meal for him."

Now came the motherly arm-folding. Evasion and sucking up? That reckless little girl had certainly forgotten to put out her candle last night. "Yes, I'm sure he will. So. The candle?"

"...I really have to go. I put it out this morning! Nothing burned! Bye, mom, thank you again!"

"Eri!"

That was a close one. Nothing was worse than getting a lecture from her mother first thing in the morning. The woman could really get going, and she was awfully scathing before having her peace with a cup of early-morning tea.

Having narrowly escaped with her life intact, Eri made it onto the street and began her daily trek to the hospital. Every day of the last few weeks was relatively routine. The Jonin around the village were heavily busy, and training had been roughly tasked to genin to handle of their own accord. It was basically a choice more or less, especially since the pressure of being short-staffed was finally beginning to visibly catch up with the village.

Eri spent her time in the hospital. Usually she was studying or working on similar research as what she fell asleep to at home. Through the evening, she trained the rest of the daylight away, and upon reaching home she studied through the night until she eventually crashed mid-read.

"Good morning, Eri."

The gentle but familiar greeting reeled the cat girl from her thoughts. She looked to the woman at the hospital desk, who she had taken to greeting each morning, "Good morning! You beat me to it this time."

"I figured I would be able to catch you at least once." The woman smiled warmly while viewing her clipboard.

"Has anyone come by yet? Ino, maybe?"

"Ino was here a bit earlier. She said she was just stopping by to deliver some flowers."

Eri slightly covered her mouth to hide the amusement lifting the corners of her lips. "I sure hope someone was with her. I'm not sure I trust her alone with him."

"I'm sure she would be in quite a state hearing you say that." The woman chuckled along, herself, and gave a gentle motion of continuing. "You're okay to go. Though he does have a couple of other visitors. His teammates, if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh… I see." Eri thoughtfully tugged a bit of her lip into her teeth. 'Should I give them privacy? Maybe it's something serious…' Sakura was there more often than not, but usually their times ran in conflict with each other. Or at least… Eri often tried to make their times run in conflict with each other. That way the atmosphere of the room wouldn't be so tense. She had read somewhere that residual tension or conflict can sometimes be picked up by a patient… even if deemed unconscious.

Regardless, she walked the halls towards his room, trying to keep her pace slow on the chance that they really were discussing something. She would hate to interrupt, especially if it was a team affair. Her painfully sluggish stride must have done its job, as the moment she cleared the stairs she noticed Naruto making his way through.

"Naruto?" Eri spoke up.

They didn't speak very often. In truth, they just rarely had the opportunity. It wasn't as if they were complete strangers, but compared to some of the others she became more familiar with, it was also true that they weren't exactly the closest ever in the academy. She would sometimes think to blame that on the friends of hers that seemed to actively keep the two from meeting. On the other hand, she would probably blame Naruto's tendency to arrive late and sneak out early.

"I was sure you would stop by at some point." She continued, attempting to make some form of friendly conversation. "I just thought maybe you usually popped in later in the day."

"Huh?" The Uzumaki perked up from his distracted state, hardly even realizing that there was a conversation being initiated. His bewildered stare crept on for a delay of seconds before he added just as quickly - "Oh! I pop in sometimes but no time lately."

Eri felt her head tilt at his response. Perhaps it was just as odd for her to suddenly grow silent for moments of distraction, just as he had a few seconds ago… but she couldn't help but realize a difference in the way he answered her.

The poor class clown had developed quite the reputation back at the academy for his bad behavior and tendency to 'goof off'. It wasn't as if she had a poor opinion of him - she could easily argue that Kiba regularly did the same thing. It was more so that his reply to her in the moment kept an unusual air of seeping maturity; something about him was different.

She pushed that thought aside for the moment. It could have easily been that maybe this very grim situation kept him more subdued. It must have been stressful for him.

With that in mind, she offered him a well-intentioned smile. "Yeah, I bet it's been busy. Everyone's been on missions lately too. Have you been holding up, okay?"

His blue eyes stared blankly - calculating -, like trying to understand what was happening. Surely, the two had interacted before, but he couldn't quite fathom why she would take it upon herself to converse with him. Asking if he was holding up alright, and smiling like that? There weren't too many people that did that until recently. Maybe he was still getting used to it. "Sure thing! I can handle way more than this. Plus… if Sasuke's stuck in bed for a month, I'll leave him in the dust! By the time he wakes up, he won't know what hit him."

"Maybe keep your progress hidden just for a little while?" Eri made a pinching gesture with her finger. "He won't be able to resist a race. Besides… his heart may not be able to take it."

"Wha? I'm already running out of time! He's gonna be up and at 'em in no time. I've gotta get as much done as I can, y'know?"

"Hah..? Is… Wait - are you saying he's awake..?"

Naruto's movement stopped, and his stare lit up with a sudden burst of covertly burning determination. "Not yet. But he's gonna be awake real soon. Between you and me, I know just what to do, so you don't have to worry about that, okay?" It was what he had come to tell Sakura. A little tip he had picked up that could get his dreary teammate up and moving again. He supposed he couldn't withhold that information from Eri, right? After all, she and Sasuke had always been hanging around each other and-

His internal wonder on the topic started to dissipate as he noticed the weird sense of wonder and admiration that practically leaked from the cat girl's large brown eyes. That much adoration was almost uncomfortable - like a hero with his fans. "Uh…"

"Sorry!" Eri sputtered, as if immediately recognizing the problem. "I think that's… really good." She wouldn't put more pressure on him. To imagine the lengths he was probably going to already to find a cure, it probably kept him busy. If he wasn't able to visit very often, he must have been out searching day in and day out for a way to help. So instead, she merely honored his word, rather than picking his claim apart. "Thank you. Sasuke's really lucky to have such caring teammates that look out for him like that."

"Hee… Heehee…" Ah yes. It was already getting to his head.

He ran his hand around the back of his neck, chuckling until it broke into a full on laugh, "It's just what I do, y'know! Gotta save him all the time and everything!"

An awkward smile slowly crossed Eri's lips, a bead of sweat likewise crossing down her cheek. "Mmhm! You bet. And for your sake, I won't let that bit get out to him." She stuck her tongue out playfully as his expression melted - as if he had just only realized that Eri was more often in Sasuke's corner as a friend.

"Y-yeah! Thanks. Ah but- yeah! He'll be up in no time. So you just wait it out, okay?"

"You bet. Good luck! I'll be rooting for your master plan!"

After waving him on his way, Eri breathed a pent up sigh of relief. Somehow his confidence seemed to shake off her nerves. Somewhere in her routine of visiting, studying, and training, she had become used to it, and though she worked tirelessly toward it, the feeling of Sasuke being up and about again felt like little more than a hope or a pipe dream. Maybe that burst of assurance was enough to wake her from her daily sleepwalking.

"I'm sure of it now. Today's going to be a great day." She said to herself, slightly shaking her fist with conviction. He would be waking up… and when he did…-

She gently pushed open the door to the hospital, and in that very moment, all sense of positivity drained from her body in favor of caution.

In that short amount of time, she had completely forgotten about Sakura. The pink haired girl was seated at his bedside, looking over his unconscious form with a sense of quiet pain and longing. Even when the hospital door had opened, she had barely turned her head, but the tiny shift she gave put Eri directly in her line of sight. She did a double take, fighting to hide the way her brows began to furrow deeply.

It was easy to realize that Sakura had no desire to see Eri today, and more than that, Eri couldn't rightfully justify creating a tense environment for Sasuke by pridefully insisting to stay. So she built up a false smile that was near-indistinguishable from genuine, and with a more bubbly tone, she spoke. "Ah- Sorry, sorry. I'll come back later."

She readjusted her bag of books and scrolls on her arm, and turned right back around to the door she'd come in.

"No."

Sakura's voice was barely audible, but she raised her volume to be better heard, "stay… please."

Eri's fingers slipped from the door handle in surprise. It was the last thing that she expected to hear, but she couldn't place the tone with which it was delivered. She didn't seem to be in any desperate need of support. It didn't sound like she was calling Eri back to talk or make amends, or to have someone there with her during this difficult time. In fact, it sounded like the opposite. It was careful and uncertain, reluctant and dusted with undertones of guilt. It left Eri feeling like she had to debate if staying was the right decision, but against her better judgment, she stepped away from the door.

"Okay…" The soft agreement was all that she could really muster to the request: nothing more.

She sat in the chair closer to the wall of the room, further from the bed so as not to encroach on what was likely Sakura's time to cope with things, same as it was for her. She slipped the bags off of her shoulder, and she set her hands hesitantly across her lap.

Sakura didn't say anything else at the moment. She'd turned her attention back to Sasuke, and the room grew quiet.

It stayed that way for some time.

Eri tried to force herself to focus on her studying and research. She tried to ignore the looming silence in the room and the way it stretched over like an intrusive, uninvited guest. Instead, she found worry creeping in where it had vanished before, and her studies were regularly disrupted by wayward thoughts that severed her focus. Seconds ticked by like hours, and though the defiant urge to look around the room would arise in waves, she forced them down and forbid herself from glancing up. She figured that maybe she should have said something, but the very thought left her tongue in knots.

The same seemed to be said of Sakura. She kept her focus on the unconscious Sasuke, and every now and then her eyes would dart warily towards Eri. It was as if she expected to find the cat girl looking at her.

'Come on… Come up with something… We can't just sit here like this forever…' Eri thought whilst gnawing into her lower lip behind the cover of her open scroll. It was the very definition of two people simply existing in the same space.

Oh! Right!

Sakura was actually pretty good at studying Genjutsu, right? Maybe she could bring up a question, or slide into a topic to ease the awkwardness.

"Oh.. Sakura..!"

Upon looking up, something in Eri's lively expression changed. A feeling in her chest grew dull, and her face began to register the utter confusion that she had felt.

Sakura looked back at her. The pink haired girl had scooted in closer at the exact moment she could see Eri looking her way. Her hand wound around the cheek of her incapacitated teammate. Everything felt performative, defensive even, pushing for a forced intimacy as if trying to define to Eri that Sakura and Sasuke were undoubtedly seeming like a pair. It was as if this act of support and show of doting was arranged to send a message, yet out of her lips that pressed into a false smile, she sang a carefree reply of "Hmm..?"

Was… that it?

Surely, Eri was reading into it too far. That was the only explanation that the cat-like girl felt would make sense -or rather, would make sense in a way that didn't hurt her feelings. Did Sakura invite her to stay only to try proving to Eri that she was interrupting an intimate moment..? That she was a third to a pair that didn't need her around?

"Sakura wouldn't do anything to specifically hurt anyone."

"... Sometimes she gets carried away."

"Sometimes she just doesn't understand that things aren't okay to do or say."

Her own words from such a long time ago came ringing in her head. Her doubts had been amassing lately, her pessimism had been creeping out from where it rarely left, and everything around her lately had been dropping into some preemptive hole. It was as if something in her could feel that the worst was yet to come and assumed that the worst was what she was growing more accustomed to looking for.

That had to be it, right?

She was misinterpreting these things to seem far worse than they were. Ino didn't hate her, as she had thought before. Sakura didn't want to make her feel small or like she didn't belong, right..?

She wouldn't…

"It's just that you keep breaking your back caring for people that wouldn't do the same for you."

Sasuke's previous response to her thoughts pierced through her doubt.

Maybe it was there, and she just couldn't see it. Maybe that had always been the case… and she just often took fit to ignore those possibilities for fear of ruining something that had already been ruined.

Whatever it may have been, she couldn't bring herself to fight for it. Not here - not now.

The moment she felt her smile began to falter, she tucked her scroll into her bag and brought it back up onto her shoulder.

"I just remembered that I have to do something. I'm sure I can trust you to take care of things here."

"Ah- hold on," Sakura interjected at the sudden shift, her hand raising as her green eyes darted to the other bag left on the chair. "Your other bag…"

Eri pushed her smile past its limits, appearing genuinely cheerful for a few moments as she waved off the pink haired girl's concern. "No worries. They're just lunches. You should take one for yourself. One's for if Sasuke wakes up, but… if he doesn't, the lady at the front desk enjoys having it."

'Wait' almost slipped from Sakura's tongue as she watched Eri leave the room so swiftly.

She wasn't clueless.

She certainly didn't feel innocent, either.

The part of her that had always felt challenged by Eri and Sasuke's friendship -the part that felt Eri was secretly harboring feelings-, it made her feel secure to know that she could show her persistent devotion. She felt like she could show her that…

'That what?'

Sakura felt her mind questioning her motives, and after a passing second of thought, the conclusion wasn't far behind.

'That I can do it too. That…' That she was there. He could be with her. She wasn't losing.

Sasuke was just as capable of deciding to choose her.

'So then, why do I feel so guilty..?'

A/N: Helloooo, everyone! One of my many gaps in posting has come! To put it short and sweet, I was busy, and will continue to be busy for the next few months, but I'm trying to make time for posting :')

Believe it or not. This was a very difficult chapter to write. I knew what it was that I wanted, yet putting it into words was very difficult.

The next chapter is kind of a continuation of this, but not directly.

Also, I've started writing a new side story for this pair! It won't be ready to release until a few more chapters of this main story have been posted. It'll have a few chapters, maybe about 4, and I plan to have it completely written before I start to post it. So wooohoo!

Anyway! Hope you guys liked this chapter. The pot is beginning to stir!