This is a different AU to my story Hatsukoi. I have plans for it to be a lot more mature than my fluff piece.

I come up with a lot of 'what if's for the Naruto-verse (and maybe I'll even write some more of them some day), but this is the one that I've been playing with the most lately.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the other proper entities.

Summary: Sakura had been by his side since he lost his family, following him around since they were seven years old, trying to ease his loneliness in whatever way she could. He didn't even know why he allowed it. He just silently allowed her to claim the seat next to him at the beginning of every term.

Rating: M

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Pairings: SasuSaku / eventual light NaruHina

Rays of Spring Sunshine

Chapter One

The hospital room was bright and cheerful, with pictures of animals painted on the walls and drawings by previous patients on display in frames. Outside, on the other side of the closed door, the sounds of a hospital in full swing could be faintly heard, muffled by the small wooden barrier.

The single occupant of the room was sat up in bed, staring down at his hands in complete silence, dark eyes vacant. He was vaguely aware of the door opening and closing, but didn't look up, even as a woman settled in the chair on his left hand side.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun. My name is Mebuki." She said gently, as if talking to a startled rabbit. "How are you feeling today?" She eyed the uneaten meal on the table next to the bed, still slightly steaming, and pursed her lips. "Would you like me to have the nurses bring you a new breakfast? Something else? I'm sure I could convince the kitchen to make you some onigiri."

He shook his head in the negative.

"Alright, well, why don't you eat your breakfast, and we'll chat?" She rolled the table over and presented the food to him.

"Not hungry." He murmured listlessly.

"Eat anyway." The doctor prodded gently. "You'll get sick if you don't."

"No."

The woman sighed gently. He still had not so much as looked up from his hands. She gently placed a hand on his leg through the blanket, and he finally looked up, blinking at her. "I know you're sad, Sasuke-kun." She said gently. "The Hokage told me what happened to your family. I'm sorry." She ignored the tears that welled in his eyes; he turned to dash them away furiously. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" He glared at her, rubbing his eyes. It was the first real emotion he'd displayed since he'd woken up the previous day.

"Okay." She withdrew her hand. "Then why don't you eat your breakfast, and then I'll leave you alone?" She offered. Sullenly, he reached forward and picked up a pair of chopsticks. Picking at his food, he chewed resentfully and forced himself to swallow. "You have lots of visitors wanting to see you, you know." She told him gently. "Lots of your friends from the Academy have been asking after you. Would you like us to start letting people in?"

Sasuke shrugged, lifting his bowl of miso and sipping at it.

"Alright, we'll start letting your friends come to see you." She made a note on a clipboard. "They usually drop by after classes, so you'll start seeing them this afternoon."

They sat in silence, the only sounds coming from Sasuke as he slowly made his way through his breakfast. When, at long last, he set down his chopsticks, the doctor smiled at him and stood. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She asked, voice infected with false cheer as she stacked the used dishes and pushed the table to the side. "Now, make sure you get out of bed and move around a little." She told him. "Sitting there all the time is no good for you. Just tell the nurses at the desk outside if you want to go for a walk in the gardens. And you can use the shower at the end of the hall." She patted the small pile of clothing sitting on the dresser. "Just leave your clothes in the bathroom in the basket with your bed number, and they'll be washed and returned to you. Your clean clothes are here."

He nodded listlessly, likely more to get her to go away than anything else. "Alright. I'll come see you again tomorrow, Sasuke-kun." She put her hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard. But you're going to be okay."

They all came in the afternoon. Fourteen children his own age all crowded into his small room, peppering him with questions. He managed to tune them out, not even acknowledging his classmates until one of the girls all but jumped on his bed to hug him.

The reaction was instantaneous. He wasn't even conscious of moving. One moment, the blonde girl's arms had wrapped around his neck, and the next, she was flat on the floor, blinking up at the ceiling dazedly. He stared at his clenched fist as she rose, rubbing her jaw with a watery glare in his direction. "That wasn't very nice! I was only trying to give you a hug!"

"Don't touch me." He snarled in her direction. Everyone took a step back, shocked at the sudden hostility. "Get out." He growled at them all. "Get out! Get out, get out, get out!"

The commotion had summoned a nurse, who quietly shuffled all the upset children away. He could vaguely hear Ino, the one who he had punched, ask "What's wrong with him?" before the door closed behind them.

He didn't care that he had hurt the girl. She was going to be a kunoichi, wasn't she? She'd deal with worse, eventually. The world of shinobi was dark, and dangerous, and only the strongest survived.

He clenched his fists.

He was going to get strong. He was never going to let someone like his brother hurt people again. He'd… he'd kill his brother for what he did, and then… and then…

He supposed he'd have to start again. His father once told the story of how a single man founded the Uchiha clan many generations ago. He would do the same. He would rebuild them… somehow.

The doctor came again in the morning. He kept his thoughts to himself, but he had a direction now. He was less listless, ate with more gusto, rebuffed her attempts at conversation with hostility. She took it all in stride, assuring him that the anger he felt was natural. It was good that he was grieving, she said. It was healthy.

He didn't think he was grieving. Grief was sad. He'd grieved when his uncle died on a mission last year. No, this… this was white-hot fury. The kind that made him tremble with suppressed rage when he allowed himself to think about it for too long. The kind that made him throw things at the nurses when they came to check on him, and to punch the children in the gardens who dared to ask him why he was in the hospital if he wasn't sick.

His classmates didn't come that afternoon. He didn't care. He supposed he had scared them off yesterday. Good.

It was five o'clock when there was a gentle knock at his door. He didn't bother answering; the door slowly crept open, and a small face peered at him from the crack. He recognized her. She had been there yesterday; one of the girls from his class at the Academy, all pink hair and green eyes and huge forehead. Haruno Sakura.

"Um," she fidgeted with the hem of her dress, standing in the doorway. "Ino-chan says she's sorry for yesterday." She said in a small voice.

"Why didn't she come and tell me herself?" He sneered, voice dripping with hostility.

She blinked at him, still not moving from the doorway. "She's scared." She admitted honestly.

He snorted. "So are you." He observed.

She hesitated, before shaking her head. "No, I'm not." She said slowly. "Kaa-chan told me that people can get angry when they're sad." She peered up at him with big green eyes as she slowly crept forward and closed the door behind her. "I think you're very sad."

If he'd had anything within reach, he'd have thrown it at her. As it was, the nurses had taken away anything that wasn't too heavy for him to lift. "I'm not sad." He growled.

She peered at him, disbelieving. "Maybe it's deep down?" She suggested.

"Why are you here?" He demanded. They weren't even friends at school. She was too shy to talk to anyone but Ino, most of the time. In fact, he thought, she was regularly bullied by the older kids.

"Kaa-chan works here. I'm waiting for her." She pulled up the too-big chair next to his bed and climbed into it. "She said I could wait here instead of her office."

"I don't want you here." He spat, looking away from her.

"I won't be long." She sounded upset. "Kaa-chan will come get me at six o'clock." She rummaged through her little backpack before presenting him with folded up pieces of paper. "Sensei asked me to give this to you." She put it on his bed. "It's make-up work for all the stuff you've missed so far." She said brightly. "I can help you, if you like."

Despite himself, he picked up the homework. He'd need to do it to become a better shinobi, he reasoned. But that didn't mean he wanted her help. "Go away." He snarled.

Her face fell. "Okay." She sniffled. "I'll bring you more homework tomorrow, then." She clambered down off the chair and pushed it back to the corner she'd gotten it from without looking at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun." She said as she slipped out the door, closing it softly behind her.

His days passed in the hospital at a snails' pace. Doctor Mebuki would come in the mornings, and Sakura would come in the afternoons to give him his homework. He sometimes went out into the gardens, but preferred to stay indoors. He ate when he was told to and bathed when instructed, and sat silently through probing questions about how he was feeling. He sometimes got visits from people who knew his parents, but it wasn't until he was a week in the bright little room that anyone of consequence came to see him.

He looked up, mildly surprised as the Sandaime entered his room, telling his ANBU shadows to wait outside. Sarutobi Hiryuzen was an old man who had returned to the position of Hokage after the death of the Yondaime. As he settled into the chair at his bedside, Sasuke wondered why he'd come.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke." His voice was reedier than Sasuke remembered, from hearing him give announcements outside the Hokage's office. "I came to ask you about what happened at the Uchiha compound last week. Can you tell me what you saw?"

Sasuke clenched his fists. "My Nii-san killed everyone." He snarled.

The Hokage nodded. "Did he tell you why?" He probed.

"Does it matter?" He demanded.

The Sandaime sighed. "It does." He said. "Many of the other clans are afraid. The Uchiha were strong. Anyone that can… well, the village is anxious that your brother be found and made to answer for his crimes. Is there nothing else you can tell me?"

"No." It didn't matter. None of it mattered. He hid his face, ashamed of the tears welling up and spilling over his cheeks. Uchiha do not cry, his father had once said. Would his father be ashamed of him now? Or would he have allowed this one slip of the rules?

The Hokage sighed. "Very well." Sasuke looked up at the weariness of his voice, and the Saindaime's expression softened at the tear tracks lining his face. "I'll make sure one of the doctors brings you to the memorial service. It's in three days."

The boy, looking so much younger than seven, finally broke down sobbing. The Hokage patted him awkwardly on the shoulder, and watched as the boy buried his face in his knees, a sound like a dying animal escaping him as the man opened the door and stepped out. Sasuke distantly heard a little voice nervously stutter "G-good afternoon, Hokage-sama," from the hall. Sakura had come to deliver his homework.

"Ah," the Hokage's voice was steadier. "You must be one of Sasuke's friends. He's very upset right now; please take care of him."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

The door closed softly a moment later, and small footsteps approached him slowly. He heard a little shuffling to his left, before feeling the bed dip; he looked up to see concerned green eyes peering at him. Slowly, giving him enough time to move away should he feel she was encroaching too far into his personal space, she shuffled next to him on the bed and gently dabbed at his cheeks with a little pink handkerchief.

He opened his mouth to tell her to go away. He didn't want her pity. He was sad and he was angry and he wanted to break something and he wanted to cry and be left alone. But the words wouldn't come. Instead, he allowed her to put an arm around his shoulders and rub his arm gently, the way the girls held each other on the playground when one of them was upset. It was the first time someone had touched him so gently in almost two weeks, and without thinking, he clutched at her, sobbing into her shoulder as her other arm came around him.

The embrace was light, easy enough to pull away from should he wish. But he only clutched at her tighter, awkward position be damned, as he cried his heart out on the girl's shoulder.