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In a shared hospital room, Team 7 is reunited. Two foolhardy boys on their cots, bandaged and bruised, eyes trained on the girl who could pull dying men from the brink with just a wave of her palm.
Sasuke is no stranger to pain. He's had to make companions with the sharp throb behind his eyes from overexerting his Sharingan, and recently, the agony of having one's limb blown to smithereens.
The dull ache that uncoils in his stomach, slivers into his chest and seizes his lungs, however, is new.
It begins when Sakura enters the room for their recovery assessment. She stands by his blonde teammate's side, hands aglow with healing chakra, brows drawn in concentration.
Sasuke tries to focus on the ceiling panels above his head, tries to quell the uneasiness and guilt and, oddly enough, the thrill that courses through him whenever Sakura enters his proximity.
But her presence is distracting and he can only train his eyes on the water stain on the ceiling tile above him for so long, so he shifts his eyes to the right without turning his head.
Whatever that bizarre ache in his gut represents, it blooms in his chest when his eyes flick to Naruto's face.
Sasuke has seen that look before. An expression, a feeling, really, directed at himself long ago, by the very woman standing in that room.
Adoration. Love.
Blue eyes are fixated on Sakura as she dresses wounds, checks vitals, does what she does best. The impish grin of a child with a crush has been replaced by the gentle gaze of a young man straddling the impossible boundary of friendship and love. An expression forged in years of camaraderie, growth in tandem, shared defeats and victories.
When Sakura opens her eyes and smiles down at Naruto, Sasuke realizes how little he knows about the relationship between the two. The fondness, the softness there is unmistakable in nature; affection.
Sakura loves Naruto, but to what end, Sasuke doesn't know, and that thought sours in his stomach like milk on a hot day.
“Sakura-chan, you're really the best.” Naruto says, and he means it.
Sakura clucks her tongue and shakes her head with a grin. “Yes, yes, well, I've had a lot of opportunities to practice because you seem to love getting beat up.”
“Hey, you should see the other guys!”
They bicker as they reflect on a life lived during the time when Sasuke made an active choice to be disconnected from it. He feels self-conscious, like he missed out.
The truth of it is that Sasuke did miss out.
On so many things.
He knew from the moment of Sakura's heartfelt plea all of those years ago that under the correct circumstances, Sakura could be someone he loved. Now, laying in a hospital bed, Sasuke thinks that maybe he has loved her, maybe he does love her. The circumstances were never right, but her devotion to him was true and unconditional. For Sakura, the circumstances didn't matter, not really.
Unlike himself, Naruto has always been steadfast in his beliefs and has always looked at Sakura with boyish admiration unapologetically. Unconditionally.
That thought makes Sasuke feel ill, the stark contrast in their treatment of her, in the way their connections to Sakura have developed. It seemed wrong to selfishly grab the attention and affection of a woman who may not want it anymore, who would be much better off being loved by someone like Naruto.
He startles when his ruminations are broken by a gentle touch on his shoulder. Sakura looks down at him, notably quieter than before, eyes fleeting from his own with what he can only assume is discomfort.
Sasuke's brows draw together, mouth settling in a hard line, eyes cast away and towards the door. There is no banter, no jest. Her hands hover over the painful puckered skin at the site of his amputation. The way she speaks is gentle and tentative, a soothing balm as she describes the purpose of each treatment she gives him.
He's always known her to be intelligent, but she is remarkably so now, speaking with ease about the intricacies of the human body, knowing exactly what to do for his multitude of symptoms.
When her touch leaves him, his eyes flick to hers, expecting her to look withdrawn and awkward. He is stunned to witness the pink glow of her cheeks, the viridian gaze directed at him that reflects the turmoil inside of him. He thinks he can see the longing there, the ember of hope being fanned by their shared eye contact. “You're healing well, Sasuke-kun.”
Suddenly, his perception of reality is blurry. Because he certainly knows that Sakura cares for Naruto, but the way she's looking at him now is different. The way her eyes flick to his lips for a fraction of a second and the rosiness at the tips of her ears tells him that maybe, just maybe, her heart resides with him.
Sakura smiles at him in a way that makes his blood feel scorching hot under his skin. She steps back and the air immediately feels cooler without her presence. With parting words for both of her teammates, she exits. The door clicks shut and there is a heavy silence in the room.
There is an unsettling implication that if he's right, if Sakura's heart still belongs to him, that his own ambitions will once again hurt Naruto. That Naruto, who saved Sakura from Sasuke himself, who never abandoned her, who never gave up, would have to endure a broken heart forever at the cost of Sasuke's own greed.
He shuts his eyes. He needs to reign it in, to remember his place. To remember who he's been for the last several years. Sasuke's heart thrums uncomfortably in his chest, eyes trained back on the water stain on the ceiling.
“You know,” Naruto breaks the silence. “You blushed the entire time Sakura was treating you.”
Sasuke's eyes widen and his head turns towards Naruto who's smiling at him in a strangely gentle way.
“...It's just warm in here.” Sasuke replies dismissively from under a heavy quilt.
Naruto gives him a knowing look and settles back down on his cot, one arm bent behind his head. “I haven't seen her this happy in a long time, ya know.”
Sasuke doesn't know how to respond, so he doesn't. Settling back on his own cot, he traces the curve of the ceiling tile stain with his eyes.
“I want what's best for both of you.” Naruto says quietly.
Sasuke's breath hitches, eyes fixed in place on the ceiling.
“I never stood a chance, anyway!” Naruto chuckles lightheartedly. “Her feelings never stopped, not even once. No one is owed love, but if anyone was, it would be Sakura-chan.”
Sasuke frowns. “But you-”
“Ah, stop that, huh?” Naruto responds awkwardly, waving him off. “There's another…Nevermind.” Sasuke would question this cryptic statement but Naruto persists. “You've got a thing for Sakura, right?”
Sasuke swallows thickly and blinks hard. He can feel his cheeks burning. His feelings have never been spoken out loud before. The way that it sends his heart thundering feels almost catalytic.
“Pfft-” Naruto tries not to laugh too hard. “You're hopeless, teme.” He shakes his head in amusement. “You didn't say no, which in your language is a ‘Yes.’” Naruto sits up in bed and swings his legs over this side, pointing his index finger in Sasuke's direction. “So, you got a thing for her, she definitely has a thing for you. It's obvious what you should do.”
Sasuke sits up as well, swinging his own legs over the side of his bed, staring at his feet dangling above the linoleum floor. After a beat of silence, he responds quietly.
“I don't deserve it.”
Naruto's hand smacks his mattress in exasperation. “And she doesn't deserve to be kept waiting out of some dumb need of yours to be self-sacrificing!” Naruto's voice is sharper, but not unkind. “We've all been through enough. It's time to be happy.”
Sasuke wonders how happy Naruto can be if the woman he's had feelings for all of those years chooses their former-defector, former-terrorist, former-almost-murderer teammate over him.
“But will you be happy?” Sasuke asks quietly.
Naruto's brows shoot up in surprise, but before he can respond, there's a gentle knock at the door. It swings open gently, granting entrance to Hyuuga Hinata.
She holds a wicker basket in her grip, filled to the brim with snacks and jars of herbal medicine and comic books.
“Ah, Hinata-chan!”
“Naruto-kun.” Hinata greets shyly, pale eyes flicking between him and Sasuke. “S-Sorry for intruding, I can come back later if you're busy-”
“No!” Naruto says, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. “Uh, I mean, we aren't busy at all! We, um…”
Sasuke's jaw nearly drops at Naruto's flustered state, not missing the tinge of pink at the tips of his ears.
“Wanna go for a walk? This place is making me stir-crazy.”
Hinata smiles and gives him a single nod, placing the basket on the table by the door. She gives a polite bow towards Sasuke as she turns to leave, long hair flowing behind her gracefully.
Naruto slips on his shoes and heads for the door, and glances back at Sasuke before he crosses the threshold. “About your question before…” Naruto grins at him. “Yeah, I think I'll be happy.”
The door clicks shut, his reservations and inner turmoil slipping out the door with Naruto's exit. Sasuke lays back down and closes his eyes, heart lighter than is has been in a long time.
…
Sasuke wakes up groggily, glancing to his right where Naruto's bed is still empty.
“Sasuke-kun?”
Sakura's voice is soft, coming from his left. She is seated in the guest chair, a clipboard in hand.
Sasuke sits up and perches himself on the edge of his bed, legs hanging over the side. Sakura flushes and nervously clicks the button on her pen, scrambling to stand. “I didn't mean to intrude, I just…” she glances at him sheepishly. “I didn't want you to have to be alone.”
He feels malleable in her hands, the warmth within her softening him, making the jagged edges start to be rounded out.
He decides, then, that he is going to give her his heart, and, if it is as he suspects and that she already has it, he will yield it to her forever.
Sakura gives him a light bow and turns towards the door but is stopped in her tracks by the question that comes from behind her:
“Would you like to take a walk?”