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Exhausted, Sakura collapses head-first into the ground between them.
“Sakura-chan!” cries Naruto, stump flailing above her head. As he grows more desperate he starts thumping her with it and crying, “Oi! Sasuke-teme! Do something! Sakura’s dying!”
Sasuke slowly turns to face her. He knows she probably isn’t dying, it shouldn’t be possible from chakra depletion with the byakugo seal in place. No, it’s likely she was just so tired she lost consciousness. Still, lying face first in the ground can’t be helping – neither can getting repeatedly thwacked by Naruto’s bloody stump.
“Stop it, she’s not dead,“ he says.
Naruto’s arm slows, landing softly on the back of Sakura’s head. He sniffles, lower lip trembling pathetically, “She’s…She’s not?”
“No.”
With a relieved sob, Naruto throws himself onto her back.
“Idiot, she can’t breathe if you do that.”
He jerks away as if burned as Sasuke sits up, reaches over with his good hand and rolls her onto her back. She is covered in blood. He glances at the ground next her face. Her face is covered in their blood.
He distantly registers the shrill yelp issued by Naruto and realizes he’s staring. Not that it matters, she’s unconscious and he’s worried about her health. He has to.
It’s not because he can barely look at her if she’s looking back. He remembers glimpses.
(But earlier when she’d been healing them, eyes closed. Look.)
Then she grimaces and he has no time to turn away before her eyes lock onto his.
“Sakura!”
She smiles weakly and turns to Naruto, “The bleeding stopped?”
He nods vigorously, raising his stump off the ground, “See? Sasuke too. Thank you Sakura-chan!”
She smiles and looks at him again, “Sasuke-kun?”
His chest feels tight and his throat is raw and it has nothing to do with his injuries. “Yes. Thank you.”
She sighs in relief and closes her eyes.
He clears his throat in discomfort and continues to stare.
Next to Sakura, Naruto watches his teammates.
Sasuke won’t admit it yet, but Naruto has known the way he feels about her for a long time. He remembers a hospital room, Sakura’s face hidden in his friend’s shoulder.
Sasuke, you…
There isn’t anyone else he looks at like that. Like,
raw.