that’s some type of love.
He had never been the person she thought would first show up in a situation like this.
While she and Sasuke had grown closer since his return after the war, rebuilding their broken bond first before falling along the lines of a more tender relationship, she had never thought that he would be the first to come running after a mission gone wrong.
It had been a stupid mistake, really. Team Seven had taken on a mission to infiltrate and dismantle an organization of rogues that had been causing a series of uprisings all over the Fire Country, and she had gotten a bit careless in her role. With her specialty in poisons and her superior experience on the field in comparison to Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi had chosen her to carry on the task of assassinating the leader.
Sasuke was the fastest and stealthiest one in their lot, he had admitted, but it had been a long time since he was truly on the field, and he had yet to take on an official assassination mission. Her experience in the branch was more valued–if anything were to go wrong, she was better equipped to handle it with her training.
But, she supposed, as things did go wrong that night, she could have handled it better. Should have, really.
“Get out of my way,” she heard Sasuke say to one of the nurses, his voice low and hard, and holding a touch of warning. If she knew Sasuke as well as she did by now, that tone told her he wouldn’t be asking twice.
“Uchiha-san, she has not been cleared for any visitors yet, if you come back in a few hours she–”
A dismissive sound fell from his mouth, and the next thing she knew, Sasuke was shouldering past the nurses at the door of her hospital room, hand clenched into a fist and jaw tightened. Heart pounding loud, Sakura couldn’t help but to stare, mouth parting lightly as his dark eyes met hers.
She couldn’t help but to swallow when his gaze ran over her, taking in the bruises and bandages littering her form, lips firming with what she could only guess was resentment. This wasn’t a sight that he liked.
The nurses started towards Sasuke, grasping at his shirt and urging him to wait until her visitations were cleared, but before he could fiercely shrug them off, Sakura called, “It’s alright, let him be.”
Reluctantly, the nurses nodded, and retreated outside her room, closing the door behind them. A silence took to the room.
When Sakura met his eyes again, her heart quickened at the fierceness still found in their depths. This side of Sasuke was one she wasn’t accustomed to; while he had always been rather protective of her on the battlefield, it had never been with this kind of anger–at least, not since that time in the Forest of Death when the curse mark had first taken over him.
“Is he dead?” he asked, his voiced laced with such cold fury that it almost had her trembling. For a moment, she saw nothing but the image of a young boy with purple marks creeping over his skin, a maniacal smile to his mouth.
It faded away, however, when he pressed on, a certain desperation to his voice this time, “Did you kill him, Sakura?”
Something in her fluttered. This wasn’t the Sasuke-kun who was consumed by power and darkness, displeased that someone he cared about was hurt.
This was Sasuke-kun, the man reborn who had, if only just for a moment, been terrified of losing someone far too precious to his heart.
Swallowing tightly, she answered, “Yes.”
His fist tightened, and his jaw clenched, eyes flashing with something that she couldn’t quite understand, but that made her belly flop all the same.
“Good,” he hissed. “I don’t know what I might have done to him if you hadn’t gotten to him first–but I know his death wouldn’t have been clean.”
He would have suffered, she could hear in the silence that followed. I would have made sure of that.
Her throat grew tight. He never liked killing, never liked being cruel, not when he was at peace like this, and although her mind was screaming at her the reason why he would, that he did it because he cared, because he loved her, she couldn’t but to ask–
“B-But why? Sasuke-kun, why would you even–”
“Shut up,” he snarled, features contorting with a kind of anguish that made her breath catch. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Mouth parted, she stared at him, words escaping her every thought. Unsure of what to say. Could she even say anything when he looked at her like this? She could tell him she loved him, but she wasn’t sure that would even change anything. Sasuke knew that. He always knew that.
“I…” She trailed out, swallowing the tight lump in her throat and clenching at the seats. “Sasuke-kun–”
Shaking his head, Sasuke sighed and finally allowed himself to relax. Steadily, he made his way towards the chair by her bed.
“Just get some rest,” he said. “I was told you lost a lot of blood. You must be tired.”
Her heart warmed. She nodded faintly. “I am,” she admitted, voice soft. “But… you know, you don’t need to stay here while I do. You can go home–or train. I don’t mind.”
“You really don’t need to feel like–”
Her eyes softened. “Alright, Sasuke-kun,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Thank you.”
Sasuke said nothing, but the look in his eyes was one she didn’t think she’d ever seen before. It made her stomach flutter.
