Paradigm Shift

She doesn't even think as her feet pound against the ground, her torso pitching forward. In these moments, time is supposed to stand still and her life is supposed to flash before her eyes, but for her, it's like time is flowing backwards, stripping away the years until she's nothing but a desperate thirteen-year-old girl. This moment is so much the same, as the two people who have shaped the course of her life throw themselves at each other with reckless abandon, and she, shaking with fear and tears in her eyes, ends up in the middle.

But this time, only one ceases his attack.

For a moment, there is no pain. And then she looks down and sees a sword, still sparking the chidori, rammed almost to the hilt along the bottom ridge of her left rib. The sight makes her cold. She can hear Naruto's yells, but they're muted, and she realizes warm rivulets of blood are running down her cheek. She coughs, and then coughs again. This is not the first time she's been stabbed, but this is a very different sword.

She lifts her head, and meets his eyes. She's not sure what she expects to find there. Indifference, or maybe even triumph. Instead she finds wide eyes, like he's in shock. Maybe he's surprised that after all these attempts, he's finally managed to kill her. Or maybe she's the one in shock and seeing things.

"Sasuke-kun," she mumbles, delirious as she frantically sends chakra to her stuttering heart before she slides off his sword and to the ground and darkness.

She wakes, and tries to scream, but none of her muscles fire. She realizes she's not even breathing and it's the most horrifying sensation of her life. She's staring straight at the ceiling of what must be a triage tent, and dammit, why is she not still unconscious because this hurts so bad…

She hears Shizune screaming at a medic for their distraction, and she hears Naruto yelling her name, and there's so much noise, but then a soft murmur cuts through it all. "Sakura."

She tries to reply, but artificial chakra-laden oxygen floods her lungs and the darkness takes over.

She wakes again, with heavy eyelids and a stiff body. She gasps and flexes her fingers and wiggles her toes, relieved to find the paralysis was temporary. Once she has that vital concern addressed, she opens her eyes. She's staring at the ceiling of Konoha's hospital, and she finds it looks very different from this angle.

She closes her eyes again, and runs a thread of chakra through her system to examine the damage and repairs. Her heart appears to be in working condition, despite the fact she most likely went into cardiac arrest after the chidori. The strands of chakra wrapped around the organ bear Shizune's signature. Her lungs are also functioning, though the left shows signs of Shizune. It must have collapsed, and been repaired by chakra. Her left eardrum bears Tsunade's signature; the attack must have ruptured it. Overall, the surgeries to save her had been successful.

She opens her eyes again, and drags herself into a sitting position. She pushes off the light sheet covering her and begins a physical examination. The first, blaringly obvious change is the dark red, almost purple jagged lines running down her arms and legs like lightning bolts. She pulls up her shirt, and sees that the lightning flowers originate from her stomach. In a way, they are almost beautiful, and she quirks a smile at the fact that Sasuke has inadvertently branded her. She's surprised they haven't faded, but she's not sure how much time has passed.

In addition to the lightning flowers, a set of stiches line her stomach. Shizune must have been nervous about complications to her lung and wanted to leave the wound partially accessible. She's surprised Tsunade has yet to fully heal it. She runs her fingers along the stitches. The scar will rest a couple inches above the one from Sasori. There's also a new scar, running in a vertical line down her torso before veering slightly below her belly button. It's odd, and it takes a moment for Sakura to realize it resembles the zipper from her preferred attire. A quick inspection reveals that the rest of her body bears similar scars—there's a vague impression of her kunai set scarred into her thigh, next to small squares from the buckles on her skirt, and a hand to her forehead discovers new scar tissue beneath her hair from her forehead protector. All the metal on her body burned into her skin, most likely to the third degree if scars were left behind. She's amazed she still has hair, a testament to Shizune's skill.

She drops her hand and sighs. She must have been a mess.

The door opens, and in walks Tsunade, who looks exhausted. She moves directly to the end of Sakura's bed, flipping through a chart. "You," she says without looking up from the chart, "are lucky to be alive."

Sakura clasps her hands. "What exactly… happened?" She could be referring to many things. She could be asking how she had been saved. She could be asking how the battle ended. She could be asking why Sasuke had been in the triage…

Holy shit. Sasuke was in the triage tent. How in the hell did she forget that minor detail?

Tsunade choses not to answer, and instead steps around the bed and places a hand to Sakura's forehead. The chakra sweeps through Sakura's system, and Tsunade nods, satisfied. "Thankfully, you are out of danger now. I had a chance to heal your eardrum before I was dragged to attend a former teammate of yours. You have Kakashi and Shizune to thank for your life. Kakashi told me you exhausted most of your chakra to heal the wounds inflicted on him by your former teammate. He carried you back to our forces, where Shizune was able to resuscitate you and begin your initial healing. Your heart is currently in good condition, but we are still concerned with your lung. Once I have recovered more chakra, I will do a more thorough examination and we will discuss your full recovery."

"Shishou… Is Sasuke… here?"

A very small smile sneaks onto Tsunade's face. "Yes."

"But… how?"

"I believe that is a question better answered by Naruto. Who knows how that boy manages anything." Tsuande makes a mark in the folder and snaps it shut. "I expect you to recover soon. The sheer amount of political maneuvering and paperwork required by the Uchiha's return is ridiculous." She leaves Sakura's bedside and moves to the door with firm, measured strides.

"Shishou!" Sakura cries.

Tsunade glances over her shoulder. The small smile is back. "I'll send Naruto in. Try to keep him from hugging you."

The door clicks closed, and Sakura leans back on her pillows. Sasuke… Back in Konoha? What the hell happened while she was unconscious?

The door bursts open with a boom, and in bounds Naruto. "Sakura-chan! You're awake!"

Sakura holds out her hands, and his momentum skids to a stop inches from her hands. "You're not allowed to hug me. Hokage's orders."

His face shifts from pure joy to pure shock. "I can't hug you? But you're all better! Your nurses all said so!"

Sakura sighs. "Fine. Gently."

Naruto's gentle is most likely not Tsunade's definition of gentle, but Sakura lets it slide this one time. She pushes him back and looks up. "Sasuke?"

His expression shifts again, this time to almost dumbfounded confused happiness. "Yeah, he's back."

"And how, exactly, did that happen?"

Naruto scratches his head, and snags a chair. He sits on it backwards, and rests his arms and chin along the back. "Well, I don't really get it. You fell, and Kakashi finally got there and pushed Sasuke out of the way and picked you up and told me it was up to me now. And I got pissed, because that bastard may be like my brother, but he almost killed you, and that's just not cool." He jerks his face up to Sakura, scowling now. "And what's up with that? Why the hell did you jump in between us, Sakura? That was really stupid!"

Sakura drops her head. "I…"

"I mean, I'm awesome and everything and totally able to change my attack midair, but if you had jumped in a spit second later, I might have hit you! Chidori and Rasengan are badass enough on their own, and together they totally own! You could have ended up like Madara!"

Sakura snaps her head up. "You two fought Madara?"

Naruto grins. "Yep! But we're not talking about that; we're talking about how stupid you are."

"Oh really? How about we talk about how stupid you are! Naruto, you two were trying to kill each other! You were planning to let him kill you!"

"So? He probably wouldn't have managed it."

A strangled noise escapes from Sakura's throat. "Of all the times to play chicken, you pick that one."

"It would have worked!"

"You didn't know that!"

"Well, whatever. It worked in the end."

Sakura rolls her eyes. She's sure that's exactly what he'll write on the mission report. "So… what happened after?"

Naruto scratches his head. "Well… Um… Kakashi took you away and you were super bloody and gross and not breathing and it was fucking scary Sakura, so don't ever do that again—"

"Yes, we've established that I was dumb, get on with it."

"Well, I kinda lost my temper right about then. And I started screaming at Sasuke, and he didn't even talk back, which is really weird for him cause he usually goes on those psychotic rants of his and stuff, but anyway, I started yelling and he didn't move so I started hitting him and he didn't even fight back."

Sakura blinks. "What?"

Naruto fires a set of nods. "Yeah yeah, seriously, I started beating the crap out of him, and he let me! And that kinda pissed me off cause I thought he was just not taking fighting me seriously, but then I started thinking, hey, maybe the bastard's actually listening, so I stopped hitting him and tried to talk, and then he decided it was time to fight, so that happened."

Sakura clenches the sheet in her hand. "You fought?"

"Yeah. Good thing, too. I think Sasuke doesn't hear anything you say unless you pound it into his brain. So that's what I did!"

Sakura jerks up. "Did you hurt him?"

"Nah, no more than he deserves! But seriously, he should've known there was no way he could beat me! So I kicked the crap out of him and yelled a lot and some other stuff happened and then he was on our side again!"

Sakura groans. Typical Naruto. "I'm betting the 'some other stuff' was important in the long run?"

Naruto flashes the grin she knows so well. "Well, yeah."

"Naruto." Her voice takes on a warning tone that he'd better recognize.

He drops his arm over the chair back and looks away from her. "Well… Yeah. It's kinda complicated and involves Itachi and I don't think I should tell anyone yet. We told Tsunade and it's all classified or something so…"

Sakura nods. "Ok… I guess."

"Bu maybe Sasuke will tell you!"

She smiles, a little bitter around the edges. "Maybe." Naruto rewards her with his own grin, the one that scrunches up his face and her smile grows a bit in return. "So, Sasuke's on our side again, huh?"

"Yup! And then we were fighting together like old times except without you, which sucked by the way, cause he was way nicer when it was the three of us, but yeah, we went off and found Madara, and we kicked his ass!"

Sakura raises an eyebrow. "You killed Madara? That easily?"

"Well, no, I was pretty sure we were gonna die like eight times, but we did it! I told you, the Rasengan and Chidori are totally awesome together!"

Sakura sighs, and sits back. "You did it that quickly. He's dead. Just like that."

Naruto looks uncomfortable again, and starts fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket. "Well, it wasn't exactly a short battle. Madara was really pissed at Sasuke, and was pretty much half focused on just killing him. By the time we finally won, Sasuke was… well, pretty messed up."

Sakura clenches her fist, frustrated. "How did this all happen? I couldn't have been out for that long!"

Naruto flashes a very strained half grin. "Well… You kinda were. We all thought you were really gonna die. Shizune was barely keeping your heart beating and then they still had to operate on your lungs and lots of other stuff was going on and…" Naruto stands and moves over to sit on her bed. "Don't do that again, kay? When we got back, your chakra went nuts for a sec and then your heart stopped beating and Shizune went crazy and it was really fucking scary. So yeah… Don't do that again. Ever."

Sakura sets her hand on top of where his is now gripping her sheets so hard his knuckles turn white. She runs light circles along the back of his hand, and it gradually relaxes. She's answered with the return of his bright smile. "Anyway, let's go see Sasuke! Baa-chan said I could take you as long as you don't walk!"

The sense of lightness his smile brought her plummets. "I don't think that's a good idea," she says, dropping her eyes back to her lap. "I doubt I'd be a welcome visitor."

"Nah," Naruto says, hopping up and dragging out the wheelchair in the corner. "He was totally freaked when he thought you were gonna die cause of him. He wouldn't let anyone take care of him until you were stable. Even made Baa-chan fix your ear before he'd let her look at him."

Sakura feels a bit of shock at that statement. "He did what?"

"Yeah!" Naruto says, as he easily picks her up to transfer her to the wheelchair. "Which was stupid of him, not that I don't think your ear is important, but he was looking like he was gonna bleed to death. But whatever, Baa-chan fixed you up in a jiffy and then started working on him. She's pissed, though. She's gonna have so much paperwork now; missing-nins don't come back very often. Kinda cool, though, that we managed to make it happen!"

Naruto wheels her out of the room and they began their trek down the hallway. Nurses offer Sakura a few condolences on her injuries and hopes for a speedy recovery. Naruto does most of the responding, and before she knows it, they've pulled up in front of a door. She has to restrain herself from grabbing Sasuke's chart and finding out for herself how bad he had been.

Naruto cheerfully opens the door. "Sasuke's not gonna be walking anytime soon either. I'm gonna try to score me a wheelchair, and then we can have races in the hallway; it'll be sweet!"

The last word is proclaimed as he pushes Sakura into the room. Sasuke glances up from where he is quietly eating onigiri in his bed, and Sakura takes a moment to scan her eyes over his form. He is clothed in the same loose-fitting white clothing as her, and several sets of bandages are wrapped around his arms and legs. There is also a new scar, running along his neck and disappearing beneath his shirt. She's glad she wasn't the one to handle that wound; if it was deep enough for Tsunade to leave a scar, it must not have been fun to heal.

Naruto pushes her all the way in the room. "Yo, Sasuke! Look who finally woke up!"

Sakura flushes slightly. How long had she been out? No one has told her yet. Naruto continues, "She's looking pretty good, considering you royally bashed her up; good job, bastard."

Sasuke drops his eyes down, and Sakura sees his shoulders tense. "It's ok," she blurts, not wanting to cause a scene. "I'm fine."

Naruto snorts. "Sure, give him an easy way out. If I had been the one to do that, you'd be giving me hell for months."

"I would not!" Sakura protests, shooting another look at Sasuke who is still staring down as his plate of rice balls.

"Would too!" He lets go of her wheelchair and settles on the stool marked Staff Only. "But whatever, I know you love me more than him." He winks, and turns his full attention to their returned comrade. "So, Sasuke, you're looking better. And they're already giving you food? Good thing; eat up while you can, cause when you leave, you get to sample Sakura's awful cooking."

Despite trying to be sensitive to Sasuke, Sakura can't take that one lying down. She doesn't want to appear un-proficient at anything, even little things. "Hey! My cooking is not bad!"

"Um, yes it is."

"Is not! It's good for you! And you, Mr.-I'll-Survive-On-Ramen-And-Nothing-Else, without my cooking, you'd probably end up in here for malnutrition. Or scurvy."

"Who gets scurvy these days?"

"People who eat nothing but ramen."

A soft cough from Sasuke interrupts their bicker, and Sakura can feel blood rushing to her cheeks. She'd had this meeting planned out. If she and Naruto finally convinced Sasuke to return, she would remain cool and confident at all times in front of him. It would startle him, that he would never have a chance to even think of her as annoying.

Oh well. So much for that.

The door of Sasuke's room opens again, and Sakura twists to see a vase of flowers taking up most of the doorway. A few moments later, the vase teeters its way onto a table, and a smiling Sai stands do the side. "Hello, Ugly. I brought some flowers for you! I attempted to deliver them to your room, but was redirected here. I've been told the gesture is appropriate for foolish comrades who almost get themselves killed in reckless breaches of protocol."

Sakura bites down her temper. Bad enough she'd argued with Naruto; she can at least keep her cool with Sai.

Sai turns, and offers a brief nod to Sasuke. "Hello, traitor. I've been told it is appropriate to view you with suspicion and distrust until you prove yourself loyal to the village in a spectacular manner. Usually by dying, after which you will be viewed as a misunderstood hero and likely have a larger-than-life statue built in your honor. I shall endeavor to doubt you suitably upon your full recovery, and would be happy to help you find appropriate venues for your stereotypical death scene to take place."

Naruto snickers. Sakura resists the urge to smack herself in the forehead. "Sai." She grates out.

He turns the bland smile onto her. "You are looking even worse than usual, Ugly. Those marks are somewhat disturbing. Hopefully you can take inspiration from my gift and aspire to… how does Lee phrase it? 'Blossom into your everlasting youth?'"

Sakura steals a glance at Sasuke, and sees his eyes tracing her lightning flowers. Suddenly nervous, she lays her hand over the ones forking down her right arm.

"But that is perhaps a futile quest," Sai continues, "We should require the Hokage to assign you a mission to improve your beauty. I imagine it would be S-class; you could use the money."

Naruto stands. "Now would be the time to shut up, Sai," he warns.

Sai turns to him. "Ah, Naruto. I have been asked by the Hokage to escort you to her office. It appears you are required for some of the paperwork caused by the traitor's return."

Naruto's eyes widen. "Paperwork?"

"She implied it is most urgent." Sai cheerfully grabs Naruto's arm, and turns to Sasuke. "Please feel free to inform me of your recovery so we can schedule a time for me to demonstrate my distrust of you, preferably in a very public venue. Now, how do you say goodbye to a sick person again?" He raises his eyebrows at Sakura.

"Get well soon," Sakura says flatly.

"Get well soon!" Sai declares, dragging a loudly protesting Naruto out of the room. The door slams shut, and Sakura sighs and lets her forehead drop into her hand. She's been awake, what, thirty minutes? Someone up there hates her.

And now she's alone—Oh crap, she's alone with Sasuke. Shit.

She peeks at him through her eyelashes. He's still staring at her. Well, not at her, she amends; he's staring at the marks. She drops the hand holding her head up and meets his eyes. "You'll get used to Sai; most of us have just learned to laugh at him. And the marks… They're called lightning flowers. They aren't painful and they'll fade in a few days."

He nods, and returns to eating his food.

"You've been quiet," she observes. "Any particular reason?"

He shrugs one shoulder. It's a small and quick movement, like a reflex. "I don't have anything to say."

She raised her eyebrows. "Nothing at all? You're not even going to tell me why you came back?"

He glances at her, in the same jerky movement as before. She barely sees it before he's back to his slow, measured bites. "I'm sure Naruto told you everything you need to know."

She snorts. "Naruto? He told me he hit you and yelled at you. Care to elaborate?"

He shrugs again, and she's struck by the thought that in many ways, Sasuke has never grown up. She feels like she's dealing with a surly teenager. "I don't have to explain myself to you. I don't owe you anything."

For a split second she is stunned by this phrase. The next second, she is furious. After all these years, after all the time and stress and love that he's stolen from her, he dares to say he owes her nothing. She clenches her hands, trying to calm down, but the anger boiling inside bubbles over. "You are such a bastard, Sasuke." Her voice is like diamond, smooth, but with a very hard edge. "You're a cold, uncaring, heartless bastard."

He stills.

"You owe me so much. If nothing else, you owe me for almost killing me."

She can see him stiffen.

"Do you realize that? If I weren't a medic-nin, I would be dead by now. Kakashi would never have gotten me back in time."

"You jumped in between us. You brought that upon yourself."

She scoffs. "Is that what you're telling yourself? Naruto managed to evade me completely. If he could do that, you could have at least turned your sword. And that doesn't even matter. This isn't anything you haven't tried before; you just managed to succeed this time. Are you upset you didn't?"

Sasuke jerks his head all the way up this time. "What?" he bites out.

She knows her eyes are harsh, but she will not back down now. "Are you disappointed that I survived? If I died, you would truly owe me nothing." He glares at her, but she presses on. "You and Naruto would have beaten Madara, and you'd be able to come back to a village where I don't exist. Would that have made you happy?"

He does not respond.

"Of course, Naruto would have been upset, but after awhile, you two would be back to duking it out. And this time without my interference, which I'm sure would have been much less annoying."

"You don't get anything," he grates.

"Then why won't you explain? I spent just as much time trying to get you back as Naruto; I deserve to know!"

Sasuke falls into a mulish silence, refusing to answer, and Sakura waits. She watches him grip his bed sheets and ignore his food and refuse to meet her eyes. It's awkward, and Sakura realizes how exhausted she is. She shouldn't have forced this confrontation so soon after waking up; maybe her pain medication is screwing with her head. She sighs, and drops a hand down to take the break off her wheelchair.

"While we were fighting, Naruto said that only by protecting someone else can you become truly strong," Sasuke says, snapping her attention back to where he is still looking down. "I've heard it before, but this time it struck a chord. A long time ago, I made a promise to myself that I would protect you. Naruto told me I've become weak, and I realized that I have. I lost my will to keep my promises."

Uncomfortable, Sakura picks at the loose threads at the bottom of her shirt. "What was so different? Naruto's been trying to get you to come back for years; why this time?"

Sasuke falls back into silence, but she can tell he's quiet because he's considering his words. When he does speak, he's hesitant, like he's analyzing every syllable. "Over the years, I've tried to bury everything I felt for you and Naruto. I tried to convince myself that I didn't need either of you. And I succeeded for the most part. But when I saw you fall, something inside me snapped."

Sakura bites her lip. "You…"

"I've almost died before, and when I did, I was thinking about you and Naruto and Kakashi and everything I left behind. Especially you. When we were young, you were everything I was not. You had a family; you had friends; everyone loved you regardless of your talents. You're from a respected clan. You had everything.

"And I wanted to share that. It took a long time for me to realize, but you and Naruto were all I had back then. And I threw it away."

"Sasuke," she says softly.

"I thought you were dead." He raises his face and his black eyes burn into hers. "I thought I killed you and in that moment I hated myself. I hated everything I'd become. Because… You… When you fell, you said…"

She understands. "Sasuke-kun," her voice is barely above a breath.

"I used to be worthy of that."

They both fall silent after that. Sakura reaches down and removes the break, and wheels herself to his bedside. She inches her hand forward, giving him ample opportunity to pull back, and rests her hand on top of his. To her surprise, he lets her.

She runs her fingers in a figure eight over the back of his hand. When he speaks again, it's as soft and soothing as her simple act. "That wasn't the only reason I came back. Itachi was always five steps ahead of the rest of us, and he left Naruto a way to get through to me. But that's… between me and him."

Sakura nods. "It's ok. What matters is that you're home."

Sasuke lets out a chuckle that's more a forced exhalation than any real sound. "I don't know if I would call it home. That stupid teammate of yours, my replacement, is right. That's exactly how it will be now. People will never welcome me here."

In a way he is likely right. But in a way he is entirely wrong. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not everyone in Konoha is privy to what's been happening with you. Most of them will just hear that the Uchiha heir returned to help Naruto save the village. As for the shinobi… Well, the Konoha Eleven will finally get their twelfth number. It's always felt wrong to be uneven. And besides that… This is your home, Sasuke. Whether you accept it or not, this is where you belong."

Sasuke clasps his hands together, in a way that is so familiar to her. "You and Naruto both believe it will be that easy, but I don't think so. I don't feel that everything is perfect now or that it will ever feel that way; Konoha was not kind to my family. But Naruto has promised that he'll fix it all somehow, when he becomes Hokage. And I believe him."

She nods. "Yeah. Sometimes I think Naruto can really do anything." He looks up at her, and she smiles at him. "You should finish eating and rest, which is what I should be doing right about now." She removes her hand from his, and reaches down to roll away from the bed. "And don't believe a word Naruto says. My cooking is so much better than what they have here."

Sasuke lets out that same half-laugh. "I don't doubt it. They don't put salmon flakes in them the way you used to."

Sakura rolls away, still smiling. "Well, we'll convince Kakashi to let us have a picnic like we did when we were kids and I'll make some. He'll probably get a kick out of that."

She rolls to the door, and manages to get it open. Before she slides through, she turns back to where Sasuke is still watching her. "Welcome back, Sasuke-kun."

Notes

Yeah, I decided the Chidori gives people Lichtenburg figures... Just go with it.

Second of five fics written for SasuSaku month over on LJ. Theme was Post-Canon; the Prompt was "She was a wreck, but so was he." Still not completely satisfied with it, but it's grown on me a bit.

I hope you enjoyed reading! And reviews are lovely! (Seriously. I peeked at the visitor count for the last installment of this fic set, and yeah... If only I had that many reviews. I try not to be a review-whore, because that seems kinda silly, but would it be too much to ask for 10 percent of my readers to review? ^_^)

SJ