INTIMACY

Part One

Much had changed in the years since the conclusion of the fourth great shinobi war: Kakashi's face had been carved into the mountainside, taking its place amongst those of the other Hokages; Naruto and Hinata had gotten married at long last; the village had been rebuilt and expanded, and Sakura had finally gotten her own apartment.

Perhaps the last didn't deserve to be weighted the same as the others, but frankly, it was the most interesting that had happened to the kunoichi since they had defeated Kaguya and dispelled the infinite Tsukuyomi. It was the most interesting thing that had happened to her since Sasuke and Naruto had battled in the Valley of the End and Sasuke had departed one his quest of self-reflection and redemption.

Some things hadn't changed: Naruto still loved Ramen, Kakashi still loved Jiraiya's series of smutty books, and Sakura still loved Sasuke. At least, she thought of him often and fondly; she wrote him letters to which he'd never once replied – so in that sense, Sasuke hadn't changed much either, she thought with a twinge of bittersweet sentiment.

But more unexpected changes were on the way.

When Sakura was not away on missions, she was working at the clinic. She was second only to Tsunade in expertise and ability, although Shizune still beat her in terms of raw experience. Since Tsunade had retired and they had lost many good medic nins in the war, the demand for qualified healers was great and Sakura spent many long days and nights tending to the sick and wounded. It was late into her shift when she spied an unexpected name next on her list of patients. She had not thought that Hinata had been sent on any recent missions. Initially concerned, she hurried to the patient bed only to discover her newly-wed friend sitting upright, ostensibly healthy and whole.

"Hinata!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise. "What's the matter?"

Hinata flushed, colouring pink, and touched her stomach in a way that instantly revealed what had brought her in to the clinic without her saying a word, but she replied anyway: "M-morning sickness, I think. I just wanted to confirm. I wanted to … to surprise Naruto-kun."

Sakura beamed, although internally she felt a tiny, unwanted pang of jealousy. How petty of her to feel anything less than ecstatic for her good friend's joyful news, but she couldn't help but feel that she was being … left behind by everyone around her as they paired off and started new lives together.

"Here, let me see." Sakura said, pushing those ugly feelings deep, deep down inside of herself. Focusing an amount of chakra in her hand, she asked Hinata to lift her shirt and passed her hand over her lower abdomen. Just there, faint but distinct, "a chakra signature. I can sense it. Have you tried looking with your byakugyan?"

Hinata gave her head a nod, lowering her shirt and doing up the zipper on her jacket. So modest as always, although she had a bust to make any girl jealous. "I thought I saw another chakra signature, too. I just wanted to be sure."

"Congratulations!" Sakura said, letting out a happy squeal and clasping Hinata's hands in her own. She summoned the last of her energy (after working ten hours) to jump up and down a few times in excitement.

Sakura decided that she would get a cat, or maybe ask the Inuzuka's about taking one of their puppies off their hands. She could only live vicariously through her friends and their relationships for so long.

Hinata departed shortly afterwards and Sakura returned to work. Ten hours down, two to go. The tail end of her shift passed by relatively quickly as she shoved her own creeping depression out of her mind and focused on work, quickly and efficiently going from one patient to the next. Normally she prided herself on her cheerful and personable bedside manner, but that particular night as her exhaustion and mood gradually worsened she found herself scarcely looking at her patients as she spoke to them, let alone reading their names. Her eyes passed right over the personal section and focused on the medical information. Her last patient of the night was a male, aged twenty-one, shallow puncture wound to the chest. She stepped inside the room, staring at his chart as she ordered in a very business-like tone of voice: "shirt off."

The man complied without a fuss. Continuing to skim over his chart, she spoke: "it doesn't say here what caused the wound. Weapon or ninjutsu?"

"Kunai."

That deep, rich voice sent a thrill down her spine. She dropped her chart with a start, the clip-board clattering to the floor. Her heart leapt. "S-Sasuke-kun?"

There he was: naked from the waist up, sitting on the medical cot with one arm resting on a knee, his other arm cut off just before the elbow. His hair had grown longer since she'd seen him last. The rinnegan was still present in his left eye, the sharingan in his right left deactivated and black. His expression was so painfully familiar, that cool mix of indifference and irritation with which he always seemed to regard her.

"Sakura." he greeted casually. "Long time no see."

She had to resist the urge to fling herself at him and immediately begin sobbing into his chest. It had been a long time – too long. But that would not do, no matter how she secretly craved it; she was not a child any longer. She was a professional and right now, he was an injured patient in need of her help. Her heart could do flip-flops all it liked and a persistent lump could form in her throat, but she still wasn't going to make a scene. There had been plenty of those already.

"Lie down, please." she said, bending down to pick up the clip board and cautiously avoiding his gaze. The more she looked directly at him, the more she felt like she would melt into a puddle of happy goo. He'd always had that peculiar effect on her. If she had thought time and distance would erase it, she had been mistaken.

She was suddenly painfully conscious of how she looked: dark, purplish bags underneath her tired eyes, her unflattering clothes rumpled, frizzy strands of pink hair escaping her ponytail. He, of course, was as handsome as always. In fact, she thought that the years away had only further enhanced his good looks. He appeared a bit taller and his shoulders broader, his jawline hardened and last traces of boyish roundness gone from his face. His bare chest was solid and sculpted with muscle, dotted with scars here and there from bygone battles.

After staring at her with his intensely heated gaze for a long moment in silence, Sasuke obeyed, stretching out horizontally on the cot. She came to stand at his bedside, carefully inspecting the wound before wordlessly beginning to heal him, pouring chakra into her hands and placing it over his injury. He let out a long, quiet sigh and shut his eyes as the flesh and skin began to stitch itself seamlessly back together.

Finally, the right words came to her:

"Welcome back, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn." he replied, without opening his eyes. "Thanks."

This is intended to be a series of short chapters exploring the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura that develops after the end of the war and before the final prologue chapter of the manga. Warning: mature content up ahead.