"Sakura. Marry me."

"W-what?!"

Sasuke gave her a flat stare and repeated himself. She felt faint. Was she hallucinating? She knew that she had been spending a lot of time at the hospital lately. Shikamaru had dragged her away from work today to make sure she had at least eaten one meal before releasing her back into the world with a kiss, so she was pretty sure this was real. Unfortunately.

"Sasuke-kun, it's really not necessary to propose marriage. I promise I'm just doing my job with your eyes."

It had been several weeks since she and Naruto had been sent on their "diplomatic" mission to retrieve Sasuke from Suna's tender embrace. He had been as incommunicative as always, answering her questions about his health with a series of grunts and single syllables. She had discovered through the trial and error of conversation that the advanced state of his Sharingan was degenerating the chakra pathways of his eyes, causing his eyesight to rapidly deteriorate.

He had stated in their official report that this was the reason he "allowed" himself to be caught, though Sakura privately thought that he was no match for Gaara's sand with his blood limit working against him. Tsunade had refused to provide treatment unless Sasuke agreed to a chakra suppression seal as due punishment for his missing-nin vacation. He would be village bound for one year, starting three days ago.

Tsunade, the wonderful, caring mentor that she was, put Sakura in charge of both Sasuke's eyes and his mental health exams. It's like she wants me to poison her sake.

"I need to revive my clan."

Right, she thought. His other ambition. "Well, I can put you in touch with the head of pediatrics, I'm pretty sure she's maintains a list of women who have expressed interest in being a surrogate."

Sakura was holding his head still with one chakra-laden hand and shining a penlight into his left pupil, so she felt, rather than saw him scowl at her.

"A surrogate won't work. Who will take care of the children?" Children? Does he want a litter?

She moved over to the other eye, performing the same test. "You? The father of said children?"

"Don't be ridiculous. As soon as this year is up, I'm going to be active duty again."

She tilted his chin up. "Activate the first level of your Sharingan." His eyes flashed red and she ran a glowing green hand over his temple to get a feel for the chakra pathways. "Get a nanny?"

"A nanny is not a mother. The Council agrees with my decision."

She was startled. "You talked to the Council about getting a nanny?"

Ah, there was the scowl again. He's going to get frown lines if he keeps up that.

"No, they agree that the Uchiha should start anew, with fresh genes in the bloodline."

"Makes sense. They have always been greedy about Konoha's clans." She tapped a finger against his temple. "Mangekyo." His irises swirled together in the familiar pinwheel and his posture drooped fractionally. Just the activation brought him close to the limit of what the suppression seal allowed him. She ran through her diagnostic quickly. "Okay, off."

His eyes immediately turned to black and he sat stiffly, the metaphorical steel rod in his spine back in place.

She stepped back and turned off her penlight, scribbling down notes on her clipboard. "Okay! Well, good news is that this is a totally curable situation. Bad news is that it's going to take some doing. The eyes are delicate and the process I have in mind will require some healing in between sessions."

He stared at her unblinkingly, so she went on. "We can start tomorrow, after I run the treatment plan by Tsunade-shishou tonight."

"Sakura."

"Yes?"

"You never answered me."

I was hoping he wouldn't notice. "Sasuke-kun … why me?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her second round of evasion. "You're the only woman I can tolerate."

"Wow, gee, thanks. I really felt the love in that one." She gathered her notes and looked at the clock, entirely ecstatic that he was the last person she had to see today. Sakura had promised Shikamaru that they would have dinner alone together tonight after barely seeing each other since she had gotten back from Suna. She knew without asking that he worried about their fledgling relationship in the face of Sasuke's return. He was going to have kittens about this proposal.

"Is that a no?"

She whirled on him. "Yes that's a no!" He quirked an eyebrow at her phrasing. "Oh shut up, you know what I meant. I'm already in a relationship, in case that had escaped your notice."

"With the Nara? I assumed you were just passing time."

She was flabbergasted. "Passing … are you insane?" Sakura clenched her hands into fists, trying desperately to keep control over her temper. Medics don't hurt their patients, Sakura. Not even if they deserve it a lot.

"You can't possibly want to trade me for him."

Oh well, that does it. Sakura slapped him viciously, putting years of frustration behind the blow, only remembering at the last second not to flow chakra to her fingertips. He fell off the exam table with a thump and stared at her with wide, shocked eyes.

"I don't want to be your broodmare, Sasuke. Nor have I wanted to be anything but your friend for years. You just never realized that people change."

He climbed to his feet, annoyingly graceful. "People don't change, Sakura. Not really."

She sighed and placed a hand on his cheek, healing the blooming bruise. "I'm not going to argue philosophy with you. My answer is 'no' and it will stay 'no'. Why don't you talk to Naruto about this? Maybe he knows a girl who might interest you." Or maybe he can just take you off the market completely.

"No. It will be you or no one. I don't have time to coddle some other woman."

Sakura was edging toward exasperation, thinking longingly of the relaxing dinner she and Shikamaru were supposed to be having. "That attitude right there is why no one likes you."

He looked shocked again and she laughed. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun. You're going to get the same treatment as all my other friends. No more nice Sakura." She shrugged off her white coat and shooed him out of the room. "Now go home to stare at your wall or whatever your new hobby is. I have a date to get to."