For the very first time in a while, Sasuke rested in peace.
Hours passed and the trio slept calmly.
Sasuke squeezed his eyes and slowly opened them. He looked aside and noticed Naruto snoring and smiled. He turned his head and locked eyes on Sakura's hands. They were lit up and touching his ribs.
"Hey" Sasuke whispered.
"Did I wake you up? I am sorry" Sakura responded.
"No, no, he did" Sasuke pointed to Naruto.
Sakura just chuckled and continued healing his side.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked
"This? Just taking care of your broken ribs" she answered unceremoniously.
"Oh" he said "Can we take this outside?" Sasuke finished pointing to Naruto who was beginning to drool over his shoulder.
"Sure" Sakura laughed and stood up.
Sasuke slowly moved away from Naruto and stood up with some difficulty.
Sakura put her arm under Sasuke's arm for support and helped him to the living room.
They sat both down on the couch.
Sakura was quiet as if she was trying to figure Sasuke out.
"Have you been doing every night?" Sasuke broke silence.
"It's not a big deal" she said putting her hand behind her ear.
"Thanks…for, you know" he said pointing to his side.
"Oh, that? yeah, that's nothing" she chuckled awkwardly.
"and for yesterday" Sasuke said looking down "I am sorry about everything".
"Don't mention it, you were not yourself. I am sorry you had to go through that" Sakura added.
"I was feeling pretty awful" he said.
"I bet; how do you feel now?" she asked.
"I mean, much better than yesterday, I was pretty sure I was dying. I got a bit of pain here and there, but I can live with it" he said.
"Where?" she asked looking over his body.
"I don't know" he said taking a deep breath "my knee? Maybe it's my neck? I don't know, it's kind of just all over but it's not too bad" she finished.
"I got it" she said putting one hand on his neck and the other on his knee. Soon they lit up and he started feeling relief.
"You don't have to" he said as his eyes were getting heavy. Soon his eyes were closed and his head rested on her shoulder.
She helped him lay down on the couch as she continued to heal him. He hadn't been able to get proper sleep in so long. Truth be told, she was exhausted too. She had been using the few times Sasuke would sleep to heal him. She hadn't slept in days, and she had constantly been using chakra to heal him.
She soon fell asleep on his chest.
Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and noticed an asleep Sakura. He stole a soft smile from his lips as he pulled her into a more comfortable position. He put his hand on the back of her head and softly played with her hair. They soon were both asleep.
The morning waltzed in, and the sun met them on the couch.
"Hey guys, why did you leave?" Naruto loudly said.
"Shhh" Sasuke shushed him and pointed to Sakura who was fast asleep on his chest.
"Help me take her to her room" Sasuke whispered.
Naruto slowly picked her up and Sasuke slowly stood up behind him.
Naruto put her in bed and Sasuke covered her with a blanket.
"Let's go outside" Sasuke whispered.
They left the room and sat in the kitchen.
"Are you hungry?" Sasuke asked "I am going to make myself something".
"I am starving" Naruto responded.
"Yeah, me too" Sasuke answered.
"I bet, you couldn't keep a thing down yesterday" Naruto commented.
"Yeah, for reals. Thank you, you know, about yesterday….and everything honestly" Sasuke said.
"You are my best friend, that's what friends do" Naruto said.
Sasuke simply smiled and continued cooking.
"I meant what I said yesterday, you know, I am sorry. I am so sorry about everything that happened to you" Naruto said.
"it's not your fault" Sasuke responded.
"You don't get it, it's my…" Naruto started.
"Morning, you two" Sakura said in a sleepy voice.
"Hey, sleepy head" Naruto greeted her.
"You are just in time for breakfast" Sasuke said.
"Smells good" Sakura said sitting next to Naruto "I can take care of that, sit, you need to rest"
"Sit down, I am okay" Sasuke said before serving breakfast for both of them.
"This is so good" Naruto said as he devoured the food.
Sakura was ready to say it was good, but she tried it and it was actually really good.
Times were good, life was good.
Judge's chambers.
"Your honor we'd like to submit the diary of one of the medics involved as evidence" Katsumi said.
"Your honor this medic that they talk about is nowhere to be found, as far as we know this diary could be fabricated or even stolen" the defense lawyer said.
"Your honor this is an attempt by the defense to undermine our defense" Katsumi said.
"Katsumi, I'd love to admit it into evidence but without a witness the diary is inadmissible" the judge said.
"Your honor, the diary has sufficient evidence to prove its veracity" Katsumi said.
"Katsumi even if it was real, there is no way to prove that the diary wasn't stolen. I will not be admitting it without a witness" the judge added.
Out of court
"You have no evidence now beautiful; you should leave it as it is" the defense lawyer said.
"I'll make you eat those words" Katsumi said.
"Face it, you have no more evidence. I'll be filing a motion to dismiss this ridiculous case and put this behind us" the defense lawyer said.
"we'll see about that" Katsumi said before leaving.
Witness protection house
"I have bad news" Katsumi said to Sakura.
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"We cannot use the diary as part of our defense" Katsumi said "without it, we do not have sufficient evidence to proof Sasuke was cooperating"
"What about my testimony?" Sakura asked.
"I don't think it will be enough" Katsumi answered "we need substantial evidence, or I am afraid we'll lose the case".
"What is going to happen if we lose the case?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, in the worst case they could surrender Sasuke to the interrogation force again" Katsumi said.
Sakura took a deep breath as her heart shattered into a million pieces.
In the room next door, Sasuke was listening to the conversation. All of a sudden everything was blurry, and his knees felt heavy. The world was underwater, and he couldn't swim out.
The peace that soon came, was soon going away.