#sasusaku hospital

[millientea]

If anyone has fics of post-war Sasuke in the hospital pls tell meh <3

[moldy-flowers]

Trying to find a Sasuke x Sakura shipper that understands the complexity of Sasukes character and the trauma he went through and doesn't write him as a stone cold bad boy Is like trying to find a needle in a dystopian world in which sewing is illegal.

[roobylavender]

you know what would automatically change my hatred to love for sasusaku? If their genders were reversed. Majority of the reason why I hate sasuke and sakura relationship is because the type of environment and the culture I grew up in where it's been fed to women since basically birth to always be faithful to her man no matter how terrible he treats her, even after marriage. The pharse, "Just be patient and he will change", infuriates me to another level. Seeing sakura chasing after sasuke throughout the series after numerous rejections and an attempted MURDER on her by him made me roll my eyes so hard like girl just move the fuck on omfg. And even after their "marriage" sasuke's treatment towards her doesn't get better lmao, leaving her alone with a whole ass child to take care by herself?? BYE sakura's patience for him is outmatch cus I would've divorced his ass for that. Though, the more I mature, little by little I begin to understand the complexity of their relationship after putting my gender issues aside for a second and look deep into them. And especially now, after reading your perspective on their whole relationship, it really did made half of my hatred go away and understand the relationship wholeheartedly. Like yeah, I absolutely love the trope of one person saying they don't deserve the other person's love but the other person keep loving them anyway, that stuff makes me giggle and swing my legs in the air and shit. It's just that the only way this trope would work for me if the person loving them has enough self-respect for themselves AND if it's a girl in the former & the guy in the latter. And honestly, I found naruto being borderline obsessed with sasuke annoying too but the reason why I can digest it more well is because naruto can go head to head with sasuke without backing down. Like, I wanted to see at least ONCE sakura having a heated argument with sasuke, or punch him in the face in the series. I feel like sasuke deserves a punch from her at the very least 🤷🏽‍♀️

Sigh, I really did wanna love their relationship and their journey to love (that scene of him catching her when she was about to fall and then having that iconic eye contact had me feeling butterflies ngl) since it has all the tropes I love but the execution is just so...

i mean if it helps any i absolutely hate post-canon and that's where my primary divide with most sasusaku fans lies 😭 i'm not sure if you read the blue-plums post i reblogged but it's a good dissection of why exactly it fails as a conclusion to both their individual arcs and their relationship arc generally. the post-canon we see is a direct answer to what sasuke's and sakura's dreams are at the start of the series, but the problem with this is that sasuke and sakura are nowhere near being the same people at the end of the series as they were at the start. generally, i don't think post-canon really takes the individual arc of any character into much account. its primary goal is maintaining the status quo with a slight veneer of friendship power draped over it for aesthetics. but nothing at the root is changed despite every traumatic development the characters were relentlessly subjected to. resultantly, you're left with a portrayal of sasuke as a neglectful father who glorifies the lone-wolf hero trope, which goes against everything he could possibly have learned from itachi; and you're left with a portrayal of sakura as someone content to keep house despite the bulk of her character arc being grounded in her ability and desire to take initiative not only at home, but abroad. it's not true to who either of them is by that point and, even more than that, it's a disservice to everything they've put themselves through for the sake of the love they were vying for. so while i love sasusaku as it progresses up through 699, i tend to wholeheartedly ignore whatever comes after and relegate that instead to either my own imagination or blue-plums's in her fics

what i will say about the naruto and sakura distinction is that a lot of people are more comfortable with how sasuke reacts to naruto bc they believe what naruto is doing is right. it's kind of like: if the only thing sasuke will realistically respond to is violence then obv naruto can resort to that violence without dwelling on it too much. but if you think about violence in the context of sasuke's entire life, it's not actually helpful at all beyond its ability to physically bring him to a grinding halt. even when naruto finally breaks through to sasuke, it's not the violence that makes things click for him. it's the words he says after, and it's the words he's always said before that that have stayed in sasuke's mind. violence, in contrast, is a poisonous thing for sasuke bc it's the only thing that has defined the parameters of his entire life. it robbed him of every person he cared about prior to his meeting team seven, and inevitably it intimidated him into seeking out more violence once he realized that he was incapable of saving the new people he'd come to care about as well. everything, at the root, was driven by sasuke's traumatically-exacerbated response to love and loss. the idea of losing naruto and sakura to the hands of anyone else was unbearable. so he decided that he'd rather have killed them himself. it was absolutely irrational. but a twelve year old child put through that kind of successive, relentless trauma was never going to think rationally, and certainly not after being exploited by people like orochimaru and obito (and to an extent itachi) in turn

all of this to say: there is of course a gendered aspect to the fact that sakura's response to sasuke is markedly not violence. but i also think people sort of refuse to dissect her response any further and esp in context of the narrative itself. despite being the hallmark of rationality within the team and perhaps even the series, sakura was inevitably always driven by the value she placed on humanity. it would've been so easy and rational and "right" to kill sasuke bc he was an insurgent, a terrorist, a danger to public safety, etc. but sakura knew it was more complicated than that. even without knowing about the intricacies of the uchiha massacre she'd been a witness to his suffering and struggle and helplessness. she was as much unable to kill him bc of her love for him as she was unable to kill him bc she knew it wouldn't be right. bc really, what would it solve. sasuke being written off or dying would accomplish nothing bc he would become one more person in the long line of victims to nationalism and the military-industrial complex. while naruto's desire to retrieve sasuke was driven by his love for him it was also driven by the fact that he was stubborn and relentless and refused to give up on people. if you won't believe in yourself i'll beat the belief into you. it's a very shounen-esque trait. in contrast, sakura's desire to retrieve sakura, while also driven by her love for him, was significantly driven by her ability to see that sasuke needed help. in fact, that's all she ever wanted him to get: help. and it would be one thing for this to be an isolated desire but when you read it in context of her own goals as a medic and a mental health professional, her unwavering belief in sasuke is a lot more striking. she was the only person in the entire narrative who never resorted to violence as a solution to sasuke's problems. and she was angry, to be sure. much as she loves him the struggle to bring him back and convince him that he was worthy of love and healing left her emotionally exhausted. but they're also children at the end of the day. she could've been angry at him, or naruto could've been angry him, and in the end none of it would've mattered in the face of knowing they'd finally gotten through to him. he had a smile on his face, he didn't have an arm anymore, and for the first time in his life he met a loss with utter peace and content. it was a thing of miracles after six years of relentless grief and sorrow, and nothing else could've been on their mind.

at the end of the day, team seven's love for sasuke isn't rational. the farthest thing from it, really. but that's what makes it so radical in context. if love in naruto was only ever meant to be rational then hardly anyone would survive. love was always written as an act of defiance and for however subtle the depiction sakura exemplified it

[tranquil-turbulence]

SS Month ‘23 - Day 14

Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15

Prompt: Werewolves

WARNING(S): Mild description of injuries

“Code blue! We’ve got another code blue!” She could still hear the nurses yelling as they ran past her room, seconds before the intercom came to life with the same message. “Code blue.”

Sakura heaved a sigh, or as deep a sigh as she could manage with how weak she still felt. Her wounds were no longer a sharp, rippling pain, but now a dull ache through her bones and muscles. She hadn’t been able to look into a mirror, but judging by the wrappings and gauze she felt on her face, it probably wasn’t pretty.

Turning her head, she looked at the teenage boy in the next bed. He’d gotten here a little after she had, another casualty of the attacks. His eyes were wrapped tightly in bandages, keeping him sightless, and there was a large ugly gash going from nostril to chin, passing through his lips.

Whether he was awake or not, she couldn’t tell. All she could see was his chest rising and falling, the teenager seeming very fragile in that large white bed. He’d had a few visitors now; a couple that were apparently his parents, his mother fraught with worry, and a man who claimed to be his older brother who sat at his bedside until the nurses gently told him to go. Despite all of that, he never said a word, or gave any indication he heard them.

Shifting in her bed, she let out a tiny grunt of pain as her wounds pulled. The bright lights of the room were starting to sprout a headache.

“H… hey…” her voice rasped. “You’re awake… right?”

For a moment, the boy in the next bed remained silent. Then, quietly, he answered, “I’ve been awake for a while now.”

Sakura smiled weakly and reached for the water jug at her bedside table. “Do you… do you remember what happened…?”

The teenage boy’s brow furrowed, creasing the wrappings.

“The last thing… before I got knocked out… was my house being destroyed…” Sakura took a moment to sip some water. “And then I wake up here…”

“I don’t remember much,” the boy admitted. “But… I remember being hit… by one of them. Dammit… I hope I haven’t gone blind.”

She sipped more water, looking at the window. The sky was still dark with the night, and luckily the full moon had waned since the attack.

“So…” He began almost awkwardly. “I’m Sasuke. Did they… seriously put me in the same room as a girl? I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“Why, you nervous around girls or something?” She joked with a wheezing laugh. “I’m Sakura.”

He hummed, thoughtful. “Not nervous, just… curious. I wouldn’t expect them to put us together, considering.”

She giggled again, her throat a little less painful. “I suppose between my injuries and your blindfold, the nurses won’t have much to worry about."

The amused expression that flickered across his face made her smile grow. Maybe her stay in the hospital wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[cozyassa]

SASUSAKU AT THE HOSPITAL

[catflorist]

omg that sasusaku art you reblogged... i would pay so much money for your take on that prompt!!!

hi anon! here you go! :) thank you for this prompt, it's been a long time since i wrote anything and it was really fun! i hope you like it!

inspired by this incredibly beautiful artwork by @millientea!

dreams [post-war sasusaku, rated T] ao3 / ffn

In the brief time between the break of his fever and the break of dawn, Sasuke was absent of all his guilt. He held onto Sakura’s hand, and fought sleep to experience the sensation for as long as possible.

After the war, Sasuke's injuries keep him stuck in the hospital. Sakura visits every day.

First Sasuke lost a war with himself. Then he lost an arm. Then the infection and the fever struck, making him keel over then shiver feebly in his hospital bed for three days straight.

His more lucid moments were filled with strangers whizzing into his room to poke and prod him and stick needles horribly into his arm. And when the fever took hold, it carried him downstream to delirium. His nightmares were kind enough to visit him in waking hours, magnified and painted in strong color and detail. And each time he drifted briefly back to consciousness he was greeted with hot, billowing pain at the stump of his arm and the sound of his vitals blaring.

Later a team of doctors inform him that he’s survived a deadly case of sepsis and avoided a second amputation of his left arm. He’ll need bedrest and continued close monitoring. Naruto’s healing well, he hears. Figures.

The days blur. An IV chains Sasuke to bed, where he chokes on boredom thick as smoke. He memorizes the markings of each bird that lands on his windowsill. He watches a ball of dust in the corner move three riveting inches to the left over the course of twenty-four hours. He whips out his sharingan to memorize the lines of his palm, and compares that image to a corresponding record from the last time he was bored to death in a hospital. His heart line has grown longer.

Monotony breaks whenever Sakura breezes into his room.

“I brought you apples.” She smiles at him, a little knowingly. The apples are cut neatly into decorative slices.

She visits at the beginning and end of each shift. In the mornings she smiles brightly in a crisp white coat, and twelve hours later she still smiles brightly, with tired circles under her eyes and loose uncombed hair. This time she’s wearing civilian clothes, here to see him even on her day off.

She’s fearless, for her part. He’s quiet.

When he thinks back to the haze of fever, he remembers slender and cool fingers smoothing damp hair from his brow. A swirl of healing chakra that felt like the way her voice sounds. When he awoke, a nurse mentioned the doctor attending his case invented a new chakra technique on the spot to siphon away the infection.

Sasuke didn’t need to ask who. She never said anything, and he never asked.

He suspects Sakura’s involvement elsewhere, too. When he thinks about why he’s not kept in handcuffs or locked away entirely. In the roasted tomatoes that appear on his meal trays. The reason why Naruto is allowed the occasional visit, shuffling in on crutches and staying until the nurses chase him away.

Sakura sets the plate of apples at his bedside. Today, they resemble rabbits. Sasuke has never eaten more apples in his life, but he does not think of complaining.

���Good news. Your IV is coming out tomorrow!” She smiles, waiting for his reaction.

Right. He should be happy. The feeling flickers dimly and goes out like a damp torch.

Sasuke doesn’t know what his life will look like from here on out. There’s nothing left to hunt after. The main sources of his suffering have all vanished or changed form. All that awaits him is empty space and time—time to reflect, to let the cumulation of all his actions and decisions sink in.

He doesn’t regret the desertion, the treason, as much as others might hope. If he were to go back in time, knowing what he knows about the village, his choices might even look similar. But he regrets hurting the people who cared for him.

He regrets hurting her.

Sakura’s smile has faded. “What’s wrong?”

Sasuke wants to sink under his blankets, to be alone with his guilt. “Nothing.”

“Are you in pain?”

He throws her a glare. “I said it’s nothing.”

Years ago, this would have been enough to scare her away. Now green eyes meet his with full force. “Don’t do this. Don’t be distant.” Sakura’s fingers flex and curl at her sides. “Whatever is on your mind, you can tell me.”

She treats him with such kindness, such patience, though he’s certain he doesn’t deserve it.

“Why are you here, Sakura?” he asks quietly.

“I’m a doctor,” she says, with a flash of irritation.

“You know what I mean.” Sasuke’s vision swims like the beginnings of a migraine. “Leave me. Get on with your life.” He wants the words to carry a touch of contempt, but the lump in his throat filters it all out.

“Why would I leave you?” The pure sincerity of her voice cuts him through. “We just got you back.”

His tongue feels thick and heavy. “I’ve hurt you.” How could she forget?

“I’ve hurt you, too.”

He manages a shake of the head. It’s not the same.

“It’s in the past,” she insists. “We want you in our lives—we always have!”

“I don’t understand why,” he bites, gaining strength.

“Because I love you!”

Birds take off from the windowsill.

Wringing her hands, Sakura clarifies, more weakly, “I love all my friends.”

An icy flame tears through Sasuke’s entire body. He doesn’t believe her. Somehow, he must have tricked her. After everything he’s done, how can someone lower themselves so deeply as to love him? Hot pressure rises behind his eyes. He opens his mouth to recite every reason why she’s wrong.

“So get used to it,” Sakura snaps, recovering and doubling down, like she knows what he’s about to say. Sakura, who has always been a little brazen with her affection, who has so much love and care to give that it confounds him and most others. “I don’t care what’s happened or how long it’s been. You’re still my teammate.”

Sasuke feels a phantom of his past self crouch on his chest. It whispers, push her away, break the plate of apples. Trust yourself and no one else. Be alone. This is the way he knows to protect himself. It’s worked so well, all throughout his life, he can’t imagine anything different.

Does he need to protect himself, from her? Did he ever?

“And…you’re still my friend.” Sakura’s shoulders rise and fall in a deep breath. “If that’s what you want.”

Outside, a raven’s feather drifts in a slow spiral of wind. Sasuke nods.

Sakura straightens. “Good.” Her eyes are jade reflecting fire. “Being friends won’t kill you, I promise. See you in the morning.”

In the morning, Sakura arrives to remove his IV. She’s still carrying an air of quiet victory. To inch this close, to insist on picking up their friendship exactly where they left it, that’s some audacity. Bravery, even.

He needs it.

His heart would crack without it.

Sakura carefully loosens the adhesive and presses gauze over the IV site. Sasuke is already looking away, taking a shallow breath to prepare himself.

“There’s no needles at this part,” she says.

It’s true, he hates needles—one glimpse and he breaks into a cold sweat. But he’s never told anyone. It bothers him that she noticed. “How did you know?”

“I’m a doctor,” she says, which explains very little. “It’ll be quick, I promise.”

“Still hate it,” he breathes.

“I know,” she says. “Done.”

He looks back. She smiles when their gazes meet, holding down pressure on his arm. He didn’t feel a thing.

“You make a small sound.” Her voice is soft. “Under your breath. Like you’re trying to speak but hold it back.”

Sasuke thought he hid the discomfort well. If he can miss such small details about himself, no wonder he was wrong about almost everything—what path to take, and where to place blame, and who to trust. His world has turned over too many times to count.

His senses hone in on Sakura’s touch, muted as it is through gloves and layers of gauze. She’s never changed. Never failed to ease his hurts.

He wants to ask about the fever. The infection that strode in like one last attempt by the world to kill him. She saved his life.

He feels his hand float through the air, stretching towards her face.

Empty air buzzes where his fingers should be grazing her brow. He’s still not used to the loss of his dominant hand. His stump lowers back to his side. Sakura’s expression remains calm, unknowing.

“Thank you,” he says instead.

He knows what the words will mean to her. And so he says it.

A soft smile overtakes Sakura’s face. Sasuke is known for his infamous gaze, but now he doesn’t know where to put it. When to meet her crinkling eyes and for how long. If it’s considered normal to observe the rise of her cheek, the strands of pink hair falling around her face. If he should risk a glance at her smiling lips. The decisions overwhelm him, and he finds he must look away.

Something is different, he thinks.

.

.

“He’s on your roster today? Good luck.”

Sasuke’s room is stationed at a quiet bend of the hall, a blind spot between patient rooms and administrative offices where hospital staff stop to gossip before continuing on their rounds. Whether he wants to or not, he’s often forced to eavesdrop.

“—ripped out his IV. Yes, just ripped it out. Three times. Maybe four. Wouldn’t let anyone touch him.”

“Have you noticed all those horrible birds outside his window? The crows?”

A laugh. “Never seen anything like it. Like a curse, I swear—”

“Excuse me.” The conversation grinds to a halt at Sakura’s sharp voice. “Room Four is still waiting on warm blankets.”

Footsteps scatter in two different directions. Sakura sweeps into his room. Her face is a storm. If he saw that expression on a battlefield, he would reach for his weapon. He pictures her cutting apple slices into playful shapes to reverse the effect.

“Don’t listen to them,” she mutters, and throws the curtain divider closed.

“I don’t care.”

“I care.” Absent-minded, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth, Sakura does something she’s never done before: she sits on his bed. All Sasuke’s attention is pulled to the hand’s width of space between his ankle and the slight dip of her weight on the mattress. He slowly shifts his legs away, careful not to draw her notice.

Sakura pulls a velvet pouch out of her coat. “Here. I brought something.”

The most exciting part of Sasuke’s day was when the scent of antiseptic wafted through the door a little stronger than usual. His interest spikes. “What is it?”

Sakura opens the pouch and pours dozens of black and white Go pieces onto the bedspread. She begins arranging the board among the folds of his blankets, and after a moment, Sasuke leans forward to help. He hasn’t played Go since he was a child, but the smooth, round stones feel familiar in his palm, and the rules come back quickly. They play five games in a row without speaking. Sakura wins the first, and he wins the last four.

When they look up again, it’s dark. Sasuke’s neck is stiff from bending over the game for so long. Time has never passed so quickly for him in the hospital.

Sakura is sitting fully atop the bed now, as she has for the past three games, legs crossed with a pensive hand held to her chin. She packs away the game pieces in silence and pulls the drawstring shut. A crease lingers between her eyebrows.

“You could have died.”

Her eyes swell with tears. She doesn’t make a sound.

“I didn’t,” Sasuke says, soft as he can.

“But you could have.” The tears flow faster than she can wipe them away.

“You didn’t let me.” It makes his gut twist to see her cry, even if she cries because his life matters to her.

“I almost didn’t bring the flowers that day. I didn’t know if you’d want them.” Sakura lifts a sleeve to her face. “If I wasn’t there when the shock hit…”

Sasuke struggles to follow. His memory of the whole ordeal is hazy. He has a vague recollection of a nurse removing a vase of wilted flowers from the bedside in the days after the fever lifted.

Sakura’s shoulders tremble with a sob. “I could have lost you.”

“You didn’t lose me.” He catches her hand. Fingers slide together like whispering a secret. “You have me.”

She lifts her tearstained face. Sasuke feels feverish as his words echo back in the silence of their breathing. Her lips part, bitten and red.

“You only ripped out the IV twice, Sasuke-kun.”

Her expression is knit with determination. Sasuke can’t stop himself—a smile twitches onto his mouth. Sakura seems confused by the reaction, studying him hard.

Movement flashes in the corner of Sasuke’s eye as a large black bird lands smoothly on the windowsill. He recognizes this one for a miniscule nick in its leftmost flight feather.

“And the birds. They’re ravens,” he says evenly. “Not crows.”

Sakura smiles, sudden and shining and wide. Sasuke doesn’t fully understand the meaning of the exchange, but contentment sweeps over him.

The warmth of her hand lingers long after she lets go, and he remembers something about the fever.

.

.

The infection stalls for days, but when the worst comes, it comes quickly.

First Sasuke’s mouth fills with saliva, then arrives a tsunami of inexplicable dread, and that’s all the warning he receives before an important current in his body shifts off-course and begins to sweep him away. Sasuke breathes deep. A sweet scent hovers in the air. Sakura arrived a moment ago with fresh-cut flowers.

His stump throbs with such a sick, bleeding ache that he loses his grip on his senses. His limbs are all trembling. Another breath. His lungs allow just enough air to call out her name.

Footsteps, a sharp voice. “Sasuke? What’s wrong?”

Healing chakra skims over his body. Sakura lets out a tense breath.

Sasuke knows suffering like he knows the face of an old friend. He can feel it loom over him, its breath ghosting the back of his neck.

“It’s—it’s serious, Sasuke-kun.” The air thickens with chakra, a thrum strong enough to detect by ear. “But you’re going to be fine.”

The breath returns to his lungs, but in exchange, screaming hot pain erupts at his arm and reverberates through every corner of his body. Each pain that flares and fades is replaced quickly by another. His mouth and the tip of his nose go numb. His vision cuts in and out. He is a boat tossed by angry waves, kept afloat solely by the light touch of Sakura’s fingertips.

“Don’t leave,” he hears himself say.

Her voice finds him like sunlight. “I won’t.”

“Do you hate me, Sakura?”

Not long ago, Sasuke hated her. The ache of hatred never left his chest. He hated her so much that her face sometimes replaced his nightmares, and he would wake up blinking away tears. He understands if she feels the same.

He never hears her response. A dark, turbulent quiet rushes over his head, and his old friend follows after him.

At dawn on the day his fever breaks, Sasuke floats awake, greeted by swirls of light floating on the inside of his eyelids. His body feels like his own, but different, like he’s been pulled apart and put back together in a different order. He curls his fingers—the numb tingle of phantom pain lights on one side. The fingers of his other hand tighten around something.

He opens his eyes to a world washed in soft grey. To Sakura’s sleeping face, her hair silver in the light. A dream? No, his mind doesn’t grant him peaceful dreams.

Her head rests tired and heavy on the edge of the bed. Between them lies their hands, tightly clasped, as if they met in a moment of turbulence and held on ever since. Long enough so he can’t distinguish her touch from his own. Flowers watch on the windowsill, shedding petals.

.

.

Sasuke plays more games of Go. Less needles are stuck into his arm. He begins to walk again. He feels fresh air on his face. Sakura’s visits continue like clockwork, until one morning she fails to walk through his door.

He sits and watches the birds as morning stretches into afternoon. The chair that has never left his bedside remains empty. After years apart, how quickly he’s grown accustomed to her presence. But this stretch of time is coming to a close. When he leaves the hospital, he doubts he will see her so often.

His window looks out onto the hospital roof, crisscrossed with pipes and exhaust vents, and a small sliver of the street. When the wind blows just right, the branches of a sakura tree wave into view, buds unfurling.

Hard as Sasuke tried to shunt away his past life, he could never escape the spring. The torture of falling petals, of green and pink. The world around him transformed as if to ensure he could never forget her.

Daylight is getting long when Sakura wobbles in, rubbing her eyes. “Hi.”

Sasuke’s spine straightens. “Hey.”

She sits in her spot by the bed, where he’s been playing a game of Go with himself. “How’s the game?”

“I’m losing,” he says.

Sakura smiles and shifts one of the white stones to a dangerous location. Warmth floods Sasuke’s chest, though now he’s certain to lose. Their hands move back and forth over the imaginary board, bold and quick.

Sakura yawns victoriously as she captures his last tile. “Another?”

Exhaustion shadows her eyes, but if he answers yes, she’ll delay sleep even longer. Does she ever sleep? Hospital staff are always wandering the halls to seek her opinion, or pull her into surgeries, or hand her a stack of paperwork. Yet she carves out a portion of her valuable time for him.

Sasuke shakes his head. But he’s not selfless enough to give up her company so soon. “How are you?”

Her tired gaze lifts and flicks away. A faint blush dusts her cheeks. Why? Is it strange for him to ask? He’s still ruminating when she answers. “I’m okay. It’s been a long day. Emergency surgery, complications, everything. I can’t remember the last time I slept…” Their fingers brush twice as they put away the game pieces. “I’m really sorry I couldn’t come earlier.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

Sakura leans against his bed and drops her head onto her arms. “Hope you didn’t miss me too much.”

What can he say? He did miss her.

Springtime has come again. The season used to drive him mad. The sakura flowering all at once, all over the continent, wherever he looked. The petals scattering like rain in the wind, catching in the folds of his cloak. The sight of blossoms on bare wood, crossing over his head in a blooming lattice. The five-petaled flowers, the five fingers of a hand he would never touch again. The color. It tested his patience, his devotion to his goal like nothing else.

Sasuke skims his fingers over the pink wave of her hair. He’s always wanted to, deep down. Sakura cracks open her eyes, catches him red-handed in his affection. He runs a thumb in the barest caress across her cheekbone. He is at his weakest in the spring.

“Come here,” he mumbles, fairly certain that she will. Terrified that she won’t.

“Where?” she whispers.

Sasuke lifts his chin. He rests his hand on the blanket. His fingertips burn from touching her. “Here.”

In the brief time between the break of his fever and the break of dawn, Sasuke was absent of all his guilt. He held onto Sakura’s hand, and fought sleep to experience the sensation for as long as possible. He did not deserve her, but he pretended he did.

Even as Sakura slides into the bed, rests her head in his lap, he cannot fully believe what he’s seeing. She presses closer to him, as if she wants to be close, and her eyes drift shut, as if his presence soothes her. A spell falls over Sasuke as he listens to her breathing. His hand lowers to her back.

Maybe, in the end, it’s as simple as she said. She loves him.

Sleepy green eyes blink open with a trace of shyness, of the girl that used to blush each time he spared her a glance. He will never admit how often he tested his powers. “You don’t mind?”

“No,” he says.

Sakura climbs higher. She folds her arms across his chest like he’s a pillow and tucks her cheek into the crook of her elbow. Sasuke’s heartbeat grows unsteady. Her hair smells the same, like jasmine.

Sasuke never imagined a future beyond his revenge, that his life could continue on and contain moments lit in a glow like sunlight through petals. Holding her awakens desires that have nothing to do with pain and sacrifice. He wants to stroke her hair until she falls asleep. He wants to visit her dreams. He wants even more. His chest aches in the way he once thought was hatred.

He touches her cheek, straightening out a lock of silky hair. She doesn’t stir.

Sasuke closes his eyes, and like he’s never had trouble with it before, dreams.

.

.

.

.

[sakuraspages]

Sasusaku snippet #4

[Homeschooled-suke]

"Naruto is traumatized because Hinata made him attend the labor and delivery class at the hospital. He said he's glad he'll never have to give birth to the tailed beast inside him."

Naruto has always had a tendency to overshare private information, but now that his wife is pregnant, Sasuke can't go a day without hearing about bodily functions he'd rather have ingored.

Sakura chuckles and holds her round belly.

"Oh no don't make me laugh, I'm gonna pee myself," she says quickly. Her own pregnancy is already quite far along and it's unclear who of Hinata or Sakura will give birth first.

There is a short silence between them. When Sasuke speaks again his voice is much quieter. "Are you disappointed that I don't do these things with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the pregnancy classes and all."

Sakura shrugs slightly. "I didn't expect it from you. We do things differently. It's fine."

Sasuke doesn't seem convinced. "Is it?"

"If it makes you feel better, I don't go to the classes anyway, I usually give them."

It is true that it would make little sense for him to attend a classe when Sakura already give him all the info directly.

"You're already a pro," he says with a smile.

Sakura nods. "Do you want me to teach you how babies are made?"

He eyes her baby bump. "Apparently we both already know that..."

Sakura raises her eyebrows and fakes a pout as she moves away from him. "Oh ok then."

He pulls her back and kisses her. "I'll retake the class."

[uchiha-hemy]

SasuSaku, después de la guerra, en una habitación de hospital 7w7

✨𝕮𝖗𝖉. 𝕬𝖗𝖙.:

https://x.com/sunimagee?t=zy7ibHLTsbEw7YKg-DCqsw&s=09

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[stu-dyingstudent]

Did Sasuke stalk Sakura during his time with Orochimaru? Even as a fan of sasusaku, and more importantly being a Sakura fan, I’m of the belief that he did not.

This is a really popular opinion or theory amongst supporters of the couple, but I have to disagree with it. The biggest reason for this being that I just highly doubt that Sasuke would want to risk infiltrating the village for something so frivolous and thus jeopardize his training with Orochimaru. Now, this isn’t to say that he doesn’t care about Sakura, but he has no reason to keep up with her during this time. When he left she wasn’t viewed as a threat or as someone possessing any impressive power. Yes, they had a bond, one which is shared amongst teammates, but Sasuke made it very clear that he wanted to cut any bonds until he accomplished his goal of killing Itachi. He saw them [bonds] as not just annoying and a nuisance, but as a weakness as well.

I think that the most logical explanation of how Sasuke came across the information that Sakura is in fact a medic-nin is through either Orochimaru or Kabuto. Sakura was in a very public position as the Hokage's apprentice all while staying in the village to train and work at the hospital making her easy to gain information on. This is extremely notable not just as a development for her character, but she is studying under one of the most respected shinobi out there who also happens to be Orochimaru's former teammate. For these reasons, it makes it highly likely (in my opinion) that her apprenticeship would have been brought up sometime in Sasuke's presence. There is also the possibility that Sakura's achievements during the Kazekage retrieval arc either made it to his ears or landed her in the bingo book, which he probably would've read.

The other thing used to support the idea of Sasuke stalking her is the difference in her outfit from that flashback he has of team 7. Sakura is one of the few people in og Naruto to be seen wearing multiple versions of outfits whereas other characters, like Naruto and Kakashi, don't. I think it's reasonable to assume that there were occasions where she wore more "civilian" outfits while in the village like she did in part 2, but we just didn't see it.

Nonetheless, it clearly means something because either he went through the effort of looking into her training/developments himself or noting whatever someone else told him about her.

[pinkhairedlily]

seven years

sasusaku month 2024 | days 1 and 3: the start of everything x hospital visits

AO3 ✍🏽https://archiveofourown.org/works/57048928

It has become a habit—Sasuke’s nightly vigil by the window. 

Part curiosity: he watches people, sees them come and go, uses his honed senses for a pinprick of residual danger in the aftermath of the war. Humans are creatures of habit. The daytime shift security marshall takes a nap across the bench and waits for his partner to finish at eight. They have this secret handshake that lingers a few seconds too long. The two pediatric receptionists sneak out under the dogwood tree to eat their okonomiyaki at the nearby yatai. It’s the one that has long lines where nobody seems to be in a hurry. The novelty of a good taste. An elderly bald patient prefers to take his walk around the oval, twice and a half. Tonight, he is faster by ten minutes.

When the door to his room opens and the antiseptic cuts through the air, Sasuke is also reminded of his own ticks. He tenses just a little bit, leans forward towards his bent knee, and gives a nonchalant nod as greeting. 

This is the other side. Part pretense. Pretending he didn’t notice that her shift is over a while ago and that she is late today. He had told himself earlier, that she has a life outside of her white robe and maybe she smells something other than alcohol and betadine. On some nights when she did just that, Sasuke couldn’t help but feel it again—loneliness.

Everyone in his line of sight has somewhere to go, something to do, some place to be, while he is here, in his hospital room, in an existential limbo. What will he do tomorrow? It depends on his chart. Does he have someplace to be? Where even is home? What happens when he gets discharged? Untethered, he is.

The bottom corner of Sasuke’s bed sinks as Sakura sits.

“Did you have an emergency?” he asks.

She nods. “A gastrointestinal case.” Her nose scrunches up as if reliving the memory. “It was a quick one.”

“Hn. You better go home. I heard from Naruto you’ll have an early start tomorrow.”

“Ah yes, the boring council meetings. Kakashi and Tsunade-sama insist we attend, for the transition or something.” Ever perceptive, she picks up on his brooding. “What is it?”

Sasuke shakes his head, feeling silly now. “Nothing.”

Sakura learns, over the course of their nightly conversations, to wait the silence out and carry in comfort the weight of the yet unspoken. It’s the hospital, she said to him one time, it’s the people on these beds that taught me patience while knowing that time is precious.

So eventually, he lets it go. “Great things are waiting for you. Kakashi will be hokage as will be Naruto given his birthright. And you, you’ll be the hospital director.” The green eyes staring at him glimmer at the anticipation. She has been waiting for this, he realizes. “You’ll be the best,” he adds and her smile only gets bigger.

“I know,” she tells him, “Thank you.” In that split moment, Sakura seemed unrecognizable to him. Gone is the girl who would shy away from compliments. Here in front of him now sits someone who basks in her own light.

Everyone has found their place after the war, like stepping into shoes already made for wear. What happens to an avenger? Sasuke muses. No one tells stories of the avenger who survives the battle and lives. 

Sakura inches a little closer to him, the proximity of their fingers jolting him out of his self-pitous revelry. “The girl we operated on today had to have her intestines dissected and sewn together again to get rid of a tumor. It’s an invasive procedure, but I can better control her vitals than risk cutting through everywhere. Her gut lining, however, got wiped out, but it didn’t scare us one bit. Ask me why.”

“You’re treating me like your intern,” Sasuke winces, but then relents, “Why?”

“Like blood, the cells in our gut lining live under a week. They get replaced rather very quickly, a day, in three to one hundred and twenty days. About 330 billion cells get replaced daily, equivalent to about 1 percent of all our cells. In three and a half months, these would be like 300 trillion cells,” Sakura explains. “Some cells that make up our organs also get replaced, did you know that? Your esophagus, your skin, your eyelashes, your lips. They say, it takes seven years. Seven years to become a whole new you.”

Sasuke couldn’t help but look at the stump that borders his arm, one that prevents him from reaching out to tuck the stray strand that keeps on escaping her headband. “Some parts don’t grow back.”

“You’re right.” She throws both of her legs on the bed and sits under them. “Some cells regenerate very slowly—your brain, your heart—but I think it’s better that way, isn’t it? After all, they hold our memories, our feelings. I would never want to part with them.”

“It’s a dangerous thing.” Sasuke thinks back to his past, to the many unspeakable sins he committed, the wrongs he tolerated, the decisions that put him on this bed, in front of a girl he once tried to kill with the limb that is now missing. “To be promised with a new beginning.”

“It’s the universe’s way of giving chances to our bodies, I guess.” Sakura lies down completely across his bed, barely grazing his leg, her fingers gingerly dancing with the breeze from the window. “We don’t really have the power to deny life.”

Sasuke recalls this view. She is fourteen, splayed across the blanket in the middle of a clearing, and the storm has just passed. The grass is wet, and the forest is thick with the sound of crickets and frogs and buzzing of insects. The air is clear and so is the sky. The villagers said that a comet will pass by the earth after traveling for one thousand years in human time. Kakashi and Naruto are asleep while Sakura plays with the embers from the campfire, incandescent particles that burn too bright and too hot and fizzle out just as quickly but leave them with a warmth that lingers. She knows this, Sasuke realizes, that’s why she’s not afraid.

He doesn’t witness the comet’s arrival. He was busy watching it make its journey in her eyes.

“Seven years is too long,” he tells her in the hospital room.

“There’s no reason to rush now that peace is here,” Sakura assures him. “Besides, we’re not leaving Konoha anytime soon. I mean, Naruto and Kakashi, and me.”

There’s no stars tonight, and the air rides on the cusp of spring and the start of everything. Sakura is still playing with the wind, and her hair is a mess of wisps. Sasuke reaches out and tucks the persistent strands behind her ear. He doesn’t look at the window, but the moon is full tonight. 

buy me and my cats coffee here (❁´◡`❁)

[mangasstuffcomics]

Sasusaku moments in the managa part 1

Sasuke was blushing in the manga makes sense a girl just said she wanted to marry him and his 12 old

The physicaly affection was too much for Sasuke apparently he blushed again sakura you can let go now blush

Sasuke acting like a actual 12 old would in the manga

More blushing sasuke also winking sasuke also smiling sasuke and sasuke also complementing her and also realizing something was wrong with Sakura

Sasuke was mad very mad sakura smiled at naruto and thanked him for saving her and sasuke became incredibly jealous of naruto strength and mad that he was incapable of saving sakura like naruto did he was so mad that he thought of sakura smile when woke up in the hospital and over and over again while training he didn't take the girl who liked him Prasing his rival very well one of the many reasons for sasuke inferiority complex concerning naruto and he thought about it for weeks too

Sasuke and sakura holding hands

Eye contact not the last time kishimoto drew them like this

Sasuke touching sakura cheek and hanging on her

Sasuke looks at sakura as she's hugging him in the manga

Sasuke opening up to sakura and telling her that itachi made him cry

Sasuke and sakura forest death

Sakura nothing something wrong with Sakura Sakura bring the First person to realize sasuke would leave the village and thanking Sakura end of part 1

Here's kishimoto drawing of Sakura with the crest of the Uchiha police force

[aceurenard]

People say that this scene reminded them of NS eps where Sakura hugged Naruto and Hinata watched them, but for me it gives me a déjà vu to Sasusaku hug scene in the hospital where Naruto just watched them instead, Sumire's expression was so similar to Naruto's when you compare them. I feel sorry for Sumire because it seems like Boruto only has his eyes for Sarada and it's always Borusara to begin with. Oh, MK sensei I see you..

In conclusion both mother and daughter love to hug people sksksks

[moldy-flowers]

Headcanon that when Sasuke and Sakura came back to Konoha Ino ran up to her and told Sasuke they would be going on a date and started fussing over Sarada and Sakura.

And Sai, with no idea what to do just takes Sasukes hand and is like: "We'll be going now." Cause he just assumes that they're just swapping partners for like girls night out and a guys night out.

And Sasuke, in shock with no idea what to do sort of just gets pulled away by Sai and looks back at Sakura with fear and confusion in his eyes.

(Of course Sakura finds this hilarious and just watches her husband get taken away.)

[setsunasknife]

I love the idea of the time Sasusaku got to just be domestic after Sarada was born. Sasuke got to be a stay-at-home dad, while Sakura worked at the hospital.

Sasuke sitting on their couch, Sarada asleep on his chest as he’s reading scroll about one thing or another. Sakura leaving for work and kissing him goodbye and running her hand gently over Sarada’s little head. Sasuke takes Sakura her lunch everyday so that he can see her and Sarada can visit her mommy at work.

After work, Sakura plays with Sarada and cuddles with Sasuke. For the first few years, they got some domestic bliss.

[eliseuocscreator]

Sasusaku genderbend Headcanons, L e t s' g o:

Sakura:

Short King(Same height as Canon)

He is extremely strong, but not so much with his wife

Tall girl short boy vibes(Morticia and Gomez Addams vibes too)

Will kick your ass If you say that he is not strong

He gets anxious when Sasuke sends him letters (he loves his wife very much)

Despite having raised Sarada alone, he waits patiently for his wife to return to the village

He's a very protective father (this goes for the genderbend version of my Oc Rairakku... so...)

He loves cooking, so much so that one of his hobbies is cooking and also working at the hospital.

When Rairakku(Fem), wanted to wear tomboy style clothes, he approved, as it reminded him of his wife when they were young

He was the one who cut his daughter's hair, as she was embarrassed to ask her father for it, he just supported and motivated her to do it.

Sasuke:

Tall and buff Wife(because YES)

Her muscles are extremely comfortable(According to Sarada & Sakura)

She is a protective mother of Sarada & Rairakku, after Momoshiki's attack

Loves bringing souvenirs of their missions for her children

Despite being far from the village, she carries a photo of her family with her to remember them.

She's an Amazon compared to Sakura and Sakura loves it

She doesn't like her daughter wearing skirts, as she remembers she didn't when she was young.

When she discovered that her son (Sarada) wanted to train, she supported him and saw potential in him, as she remembered her husband when he was young.

The scene with the cute peanut, would be even cuter (With Sarada)

The touch on the forehead would be a kiss on the forehead (While for Sakura it would be a peck XDD)

Well, I believe that's it :-)

[watermelonsloth]

Alternative Canon Ships

I think something that annoys me and a lot of other people about the canon ships is that they weren’t the only options by a country mile. So I wanted to finally put my money where my mouth is and take a crack at pairing the Konoha 12 without changing the manga.

Anyone I didn’t mention here should be presumed single in my AU because I either think they’re better single or I don’t care about who they end up with.

Option 1

Naruto and Sasuke - The entire series is about them learning to understand each other and ending the cycle of hatred by coming together (in holy matrimony). Naruto wouldn’t have a character arc without Sasuke and Sasuke’s character arc is incomplete without Naruto. I don’t think I need to explain how they act as foils and compliments for each other or how they’re willing to go to great lengths for each other or how they show time and time again how much they value each other.

Sakura and Rock Lee - We really went through the chunin exams for nothing. They have very little screen time together, but what we have is good enough for it to at least make sense. Rock Lee is clearly willing to both wait and die for her and Sakura has a mini arc about learning not to judge people on appearances and to respect him that culminates in her giving him flowers in the hospital. Worst case scenario it needs to get the NaruHina treatment and have a movie made about why they came together in the end.

Shikamaru and Choji - I’ve already said that I don’t care for any of the inter-Ino-Shika-Cho ships, but they interact with too few characters for me not to bring them up here. They’re childhood friends, they obviously care for and respect each other, they have complimentary personalities, and Shikamaru stands up for Choji on multiple occasions. They don’t get too much attention in shippuden because Choji and Ino were shafted, but they at least continue to support each other when they are shown interacting.

(This is where we start losing a sturdy foundation because the characters don’t have enough screen time spent interacting with anyone unmentioned. From here on out the bar is in hell and I’m only pairing the characters off because it would’ve been expected.)

Ino and Sai - A lot of people shit on this ship and I get why (Ino is caught in Sakura’s shadow and Sai was literally Sasuke’s replacement in team 7, so it’s easy to see them as discount SasuSaku). However, the ship isn’t the most unbelievable in canon. Ino has shown that she has genuine feelings for Sai and they at least interact with each other.

Hinata and Shino - Hinata would make sense with either of her teammates, but I’m choosing Shino because he makes more sense. They’re similarly introverted types, they get along, Shino has been shown to have faith in her abilities (I’m not saying Kiba doesn’t, but Shino’s more consistent about it), and I think it would be fitting for Shino (who’s insecure about being unnoticeable) to end up with someone who would prioritize him if he ends up with anyone at all.

Option 2

Naruto and Sakura - These two would’ve made more sense, “red herring” and “pursued her for rivalry” my ass. Both are ready and willing to make sacrifices for each other, they interact a lot and most of it is positive (we aren’t mentioning the slapstick because I’m not having that asinine argument), there were hints throughout shippuden of Sakura returning his feelings, they have complimentary personalities, Sakura ending up with Naruto is beneficial to her character, Naruto ending up with Sakura is in-line with his character arc and theme, both stop to consider each other’s feelings on multiple occasions, Sakura attempts to help Naruto in any way she can on a regular basis, (even if I hate how often this is mentioned) Sakura is explicitly compared to Kushina, there are more hints at their relationship than I care to list here, and there’s symbolism for a flower under the sun/heaven and earth.

Sasuke and Karin - SasuKarin is the sister ship to Naruto and Sakura because of its parallels (the Uzumaki has feelings first, the girls are both compared to Kushina, the girls both act as support and medics to the boys who take on leadership roles, the Uzumaki wants to protect/see their love interest’s smile, etc). As for reasons: Sasuke has been shown to respect Karin and her abilities, Karin loves Sasuke because he was the first person to show her kindness, Karin has put her life on the line for Sasuke on multiple occasions, both are willing to go to great length for the other, and both unlocked abilities for the sake of saving the other.

Ino and Sai - I’ve already explained this.

Shikamaru and Temari - This ship isn’t perfect, but I think it makes enough sense for most people to not be upset (the only people I’ve seen complaining about it are people who hate Shikamaru or ship something else). They always share at least one scene when Temari enters the story, there are hints about it being romantic, and makes more sense in canon than many of the other options.

Choji and Hinata - This is, admittedly, a stretch, but it isn’t as much as a stretch as ChoKaru so I’m considering this still in the safe zone. The two both have shy and sweet personalities that make it easy to imagine them getting along, both struggle with overcoming their low self-esteem and taking action themselves, both care deeply for their friends, Hinata fits with what Choji wanted romantically in his infinite tsukuyomi dream, and both have the shared idea of maintaining kindness even in a ruthless shinobi world.

Bonus

Naruto and Hinata - This ship was fine, even with its lack of screen time, but the Last and Boruto ruined it, so we’ll just pretend that didn’t happen. Naruto learned to not judge and respect Hinata, Hinata has multiple scenes where she snaps Naruto out of spiraling (the proud failure speech is still peak NaruHina), Naruto stands up for Hinata, Hinata takes a lot of inspiration from Naruto and his determination, and Hinata cares about Naruto’s wellbeing and feelings so much it’s a near irrevocable part of her character. With nothing changed it would still be just as flawed and clumsy as in canon, but it wouldn’t be unforgivable.

Hinata and Rock Lee - Again, I’m stretching canon for a Hinata ship, but I think there’s enough ground to stand on to at least mention it. That ground being a weird amount of parallels. They both have experience being in Neji’s shadow, both of them are untalented and make up for their shortcomings through hard work, both care about the people they love to a self-sacrificial degree, both are true to their word, both of them admire Naruto (join the club), both of them has a teacher that acts as a parental figure, and both of them have unrequited love because the target of their affection has feelings for someone more conventionally attractive than them(though Hinata gets more conventionally attractive as the series goes on so…).

Ino and Choji - It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done. They support each other as teammates, Ino could help Choji be more confident, Ino getting with Choji could symbolize her getting past her superficiality, and they don’t have opposing personalities or beliefs as far as I can tell.

Sasuke and No One - I’m just putting this here to remind everyone that there’s an argument to be made about Sasuke being better off without a relationship. I absolutely get why he was paired off and I probably would too if I was in charge of the epilogue (it can be an indicator of him and the clan healing, plus an Uchiha child/the sharingan is a fun idea to mess around with), but him remaining single also makes sense. He states how he’s disinterested in romance and he just doesn’t have that many working potential love interests in canon. Yes, there’s Sakura but more than a movie could cover would have to change before the two of them could reasonably work together and it might still ruin her character.