Disclaimer: Naruto nor any of its characters belong to me. This is a work of fiction inspired by the aforementioned.

Hurt Any Less

by EmeraldWolfChild

"Sakura-chan."

His voice exuded weariness. So the pills weren't working, damn it all to hell.

"Can't sleep again, Naruto?"

The faint tinkling of the beakers in Sakura's hands gave note to their tremors as the kunoichi closed her eyes in exhaustion. Her voice was raspy. She doesn't think he heard her.

"Sakura-chan, are you almost done?"

Done. Was she ever going to be done? The hospital was filled with the wounded and the dying, shinobi and civilians alike, and she'd just pushed herself through yet another two shifts. No, death was never done.

She knew what Naruto was asking though. Are you going soon? Can I come?

Are we going to go see him?

"Give me five more minutes, Naruto," she smiled over her shoulder. "I'm almost finished."

"Liar," his eyes crinkled gently. "You're never finished."

He gently poked her shoulder. "I'll be outside."

It was exactly a month since Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura had brought back the Sharingan wielder and traitor, Uchiha Sasuke, back the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The morning they walked back to what had once been Konoha, three nights had passed since Naruto and Sasuke bled crimson confessions on the all-knowing stones of the Valley of the End. The sky was irresistibly blue when the makeshift gates came into distant view, and Naruto cast a careless "Race you, teme!" over his shoulder as he dashed ahead, stance slightly twisted: a compensation for the balance shift since the loss of his dominant limb.

Chirping cicadas filled the air, their hum carried on a breeze so soft and inviting it hardly seemed possible that there had been anything but peace in their world only a week prior.

Sasuke let out a small sigh behind her and Sakura smiled slightly, sure that Naruto's optimism would transform to impatient waiting in a few minutes when he realised he was alone in his haste.

Sakura's breath hitched when she felt a ghost of a shoulder nudge her own.

She watched Sasuke leap forward, his footsteps faintly thudding on the coarse gravel. Beside her, Kakashi looked on, expression briefly flitting between worry and amusement. In the distance, the blond twisted mid jump in response to the chakra spike behind him, propelling himself backwards, his arm extended above him in what looked like a wave to keep balance. Sasuke gently tapped it with his own as he effortlessly took the lead.

"Too slow, usuratonkachi."

"Fuck you."

Naruto glowed like he was carrying the sun.

After the last three days Sakura could barely feel her fingers. Her chakra network was overwhelmed from performing two surgeries back to back on severely depleted reserves, and every step sent pins and needles running up her arms.

Nevertheless, compared to the boys, it was a minor inconvenience. The first night Sakura had spent bringing their fevers down and touching her hand to Naruto's cheek whenever he woke to feverishly gaze in Sasuke's direction. Next to him, Sasuke openly and quietly wept in his sleep, sticky with sweat yet lost to the world in slumber.

"Why are you like this," she had whispered more than once, "There is nothing physically wrong with you. You chakra networks aren't damaged and your bodies don't display any trauma that I haven't already worked on. I don't know what else is there to fix. What is wrong with you?"

"Some wounds you can't fix, Sakura," Kakashi finally interjected. She doubted he'd slept for more than an hour during the last few days, "And I'm not sure those two realise they even have them yet."

She placed a cool towel on Sasuke's forehead, whose eyes briefly fluttered at the touch. "Have what, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Scars, Sakura. They're going to have to deal with a hell of a lot of scars."

They had left camp late the next morning. Rousing Naruto had proved to be next to impossible, and Sasuke looked like he would fall asleep on his feet the second they started walking. However, Sakura needed the hospital and Tsunade's second opinion for fear of their condition worsening so Kakashi finally hoisted Naruto onto his back, the blond ninja hardly stirring, and they started their slow trek back to Konoha.

Sasuke remained silent, only whispering Thank you, Sakura whenever she handed him more medicine and changed his bandages, a desperate yet flat edge in the words - as if he couldn't say it often enough. She'd caught him stumbling out of the corner of her eye, but they had ignored his hissing gasp and continued onwards. Otherwise, it seemed like the Uchiha was trying to make his presence as little and unobtrusive as possible.

What else is fucking new. She'd already had three years to get used to his phantom presence.

By that evening, to Sakura's relief, Naruto had finally awoken and his barking laughter acted as the magic glue their little group needed. It must have moved the Universe too because all of a sudden, it seemed like they were back to five years ago, foolish and stubborn and naïve all at once.

Naruto teased Sakura mercilessly, sneaking up on her and tickling her sides (a little difficult with one arm, but he managed). Sasuke would throw some jibe at him, ("Dobe.") to which Naruto responded with one of his own ("Teme."), launching himself at the Uchiha and slinging his arm around the other's neck. Kakashi would finally thwack them across their heads for making so much noise, pausing the banter for a few minutes. Sasuke would then always glance at Sakura with a knowing glance that read He's such an idiot, before it all began again.

And so it went, a group of people interacting with memories by memory.

Now, the gloves on her hands felt chaffing, but her heart was so light it seemed to drag her out of her own body: She'd caught herself looking at he way that the sun seemed to nestle in Naruto's hair and how Sasuke's eyes would flick between her and Naruto when they lazed around the fire in the evenings.

Kakashi-sensei, though he tried to hide it, was also affected: He had been letting them sleep through their watches, and she was sure that he glanced over Icha Icha Paradise a few times too many in their general direction; whether it was to check their breathing or to convince himself they were all actually there she wasn't quite sure.

However, this, whatever this was, wouldn't last. Tension always lurked in the shadows, an invited guest shuffling in the corner, confused at why no one was expecting his arrival. But for now, it was exactly what she could cope with. She would need a long time to process all of her feelings now that the dominant keening desire for Sasuke to return had been abruptly silenced, slithering away like a content snake…okay, maybe not the best metaphor. But her feelings were in an upheaval, and it seemed like she had too many and too few simultaneously crammed in her, demanding her undivided attention.

There was also the not-so-small matter of Naruto collapsing. The first time it happened, he was mid sentence in a soliloquy about ramen, laughter on his face, and a bounce in his step. She had dashed forward to catch him, a split second before Sasuke lurched forward (a testament to how out of it he actually was). Supporting Naruto's chest on her forearm, she had lowered him to the ground onto his knees as Kakashi quickly scanned the surroundings for an ambush. Nothing.

"Sa-sakura-chan? What happened?" Naruto asked her a heartbeat later. His stamina really was phenomenal.

"Why am I on the ground?"

"You obviously fainted," Sasuke squatted on his other side. "You feeling alright, idiot?"

"What do you think?" Sakura snapped, feeling her heart race, "He's just collapsed mid-stride so clearly, Sasuke-kun, he isn't." He was about to add a concussion to the missing arm you've given him.

It had come out sharper than intended. A shadow flitted over Sasuke's face and she saw him quickly schooling his features into the damningly familiar stare they'd all grown acquainted throughout the years. It's a good thing guilt was an emotion he'd burned out of her some time ago. A hand through the chest often does that.

Sakura couldn't help it though. It wasn't her fault he'd chosen to be an absolute asshole for so long. He didn't have to be such a wise ass to Naruto since it was clearly his fault Naruto was in this state. Furthermore, Naruto was so rarely actively incapacitated that her adrenaline was back into overdrive, going through every possible scenario. Her hands mindlessly rubbed circles into his back.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Naruto looked at her concerned.

"I'm fine." Was she? "I'm just really tired all of a sudden." That, at least, wasn't a lie.

He chuckled, "Guess my sleepiness is rubbing off you, Sakura-chan. Sorry!"

Oh, Naruto.

The next time he collapsed, several hours later, Sasuke was the one to cushion his fall, crouching into the falling body. Wordlessly, he hoisted the unconscious Uzumaki onto his back, clearly costing him effort, being with his own severed limb and all. They let him.

And so it went.

Now, Konoha was finally in view. They were home. At least, they were back to what was left of it.

"We should probably catch up to them, Sakura," Kakashi's voice held gentle amusement, "They need you to make sure they don't hurt themselves at the finish line."

So there they all finally stood – together – and Sakura couldn't help but dig her nails into her palms. This was it. As soon as they stepped through, Sasuke would officially be home.

"Sasuke." Kakashi looked up at the open gate, "While I'm sure you know what's going to happen now, here's the gist of it. As soon as you cross into Konoha, you're being taken into custody by the ANBU who are so diligently waiting out of sight…for obvious reasons. You'll be jailed, then put on trial, and then most likely found innocent."

("Most likely?" "Hush, Naruto!")

"After that, we'll see what we can do about your future missions."

"Hn."

A beat.

"I know."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Naruto finally interjected, scratching at the back of his head. "He'll be out soon anyway. Tsunade won't let him be locked up too long."

"Yes, but…" Sakura started, but the Uzumaki seemed to have already jumped to a new train of though, as usual.

"Bastard, get over here," he called, grinning, but then seemed to change his mind and walked over to where the dark-haired ninja was standing.

"Naruto, the hell are you…"

"Look bastard, you're not taking this away from me." Naruto slung his arm yet again around Sasuke's neck, their foreheads almost touching, "I am bringing you home."

"Tch."

There was that feeling again. Sakura couldn't help but internally wince as a coil of jealousy seemed to tighten around her insides. Great, more stuff to deal with.

"Sakura-chan, come on!" Naruto clumsily angled his hips towards her, "Grab on."

"Let go of me, dobe unless you're keen on losing the other arm."

"Tough shit, teme," Naruto gloated. "Come on, Sakura-chan."

Sakura giggled and looped her arm around his waist, careful not to nudge the bandaged arm too heavily.

"Are you done yet, idiot."

"What are you, twelve? Stop asking already, asshat. We wouldn't have to do this if someone hadn't decided to take an extended vacation to the snake pit with King Pedo snake and his snake people toys." Sakura felt her arm brush Sasuke's waist as Naruto attempted to get a better grip on them. "Literally red flags everywhere that he was creepy as fuck."

"Kakashi-sensei, were you at?" Naruto cast a glance at the silver haired shinobi, who had been watching them with an unreadable expression on the top half of his face (yes, the mask was back).

Sakura reached out her hand to their teacher, and gently squeezed when she felt the jonin take it. We're all here, Kaka-sensei.

"Alright! Now everyone together!"

And that is how Team 7 came home.

As expected, the ANBU was efficient. No sooner had they crossed the threshold when four of them appeared, unmistakably surrounding their new-old-teammate. One slapped a chakra suppression seal on Sasuke's forearm, and Sakura caught his gaze darken.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you're under arrest."

"You're all a bit eager don't'cha think?" Sakura felt Naruto's anger rumbling in his chest, but surprisingly he didn't add any more.

Clearly ignoring him, the ANBU turned to Kakashi.

"We're here to take him to the Hokage. Please allow us to escort him."

If Sakura didn't know any better, she would say Kakashi was glaring.

"Maa~, I'm always positively shocked at how courteous the ANBU have become."

Sasuke stepped forward, forcing Naruto's arm to slide off.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura began.

"Doesn't matter."

The ANBU closest to Kakashi gave a slight nod, and the five men vanished in a flourish of leaves. Sakura had the irrational thought of whether Sasuke had even been with them at all.

She sighed. He was just here. He was just here with you and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and he's here in Konoha. He's here. He's here. He is here.

The day was truly breaking now, heat lazily crawling into the shady nooks and crannies that had escaped the sun until now. She needed to stop this pointless dread and deal with the situation at hand. What did she need to do first? Find Tsunade? Look for the lodgings sign up sheet? Get Naruto to the hospital? Maybe Kakashi could…

Sakura's attention was suddenly drawn by Naruto's forehead protector landing on the ground in a faint metallic tinkle by her feet. Naruto was cradling his left eye, his cheek drawn with pain. She felt his legs refusing to hold ready to buckle any second.

"Sakura-chan," he hissed, "I think I might need help."

I hope you enjoyed that. I know how this is all going to end so I really aspire not to abandon this fic but as someone with summer school coming up...eh.

Anyway, thank you to my lovely beta, Jenny-R, for giving this a look over. You're a gem!

I am also so very sorry if anyone was too OOC/ scenes were abrupt - this was somewhat meant to be a Sakura POV before I realised that I've never written POV in my life. The more you know. Anyway, more angst, fluff and Team 7 bonding to come! Stay tuned.