Sakura POV
The young man beside her quietly followed her through the busy streets of the village. He avoided eye contact with anyone, but otherwise, he seemed comfortable. Sakura smiled and waved at villagers she recognized while they walked, but her mind was focused on Sasuke.
"So, how's your arm doing? Did it give you much trouble while you were… waiting for your trial?"
Sasuke looked bemused by her aversion to say the word prison, but he let it slide. "Not too bad."
"Good, but just to be safe, I want to check it when we get to my apartment. I need to take a look at your eyes too. After being cut off from their chakra flow for so long, I'm not sure if they'll work as perfectly as they did before right away, but don't worry, they'll go back to normal!"
There was a pause in the conversation as Sakura pondered what else to talk about. It had been so long since the two of them had just hung out and talked. Sasuke was content to walk in silence, and while Sakura didn't mind the quiet, she wanted to get closer to him if she could.
"So… what are your plans now that you're out? Are you going to start taking missions?"
Sasuke glanced at her out the corner of his eye before sighing softly and answering, "I have to check in with Kakashi each week and report what I've been up to. I can't leave the village until the Kage's decide I'm truly trustworthy again. I can only take simple missions that Kakashi approves, and I have an ANBU tail at all times. So, nothing much is going to be happening."
"You have an ANBU tail?" Sakura looked around for the ninja in question, but of course he was hidden from sight.
"Yeah, make sure I don't set any civilians on fire, I guess."
Sakura laughed at that. "I don't think that's very likely, Sasuke. Well, if you get bored, we could train together sometime? I work most days, but I have evenings and every other weekend free."
"Sure." Sasuke seemed to appreciate the offer, but Sakura couldn't tell if he would really take her up on it.
As they rounded the next corner, Sakura fished her keys out of her pocket and led Sasuke up the stairs to her apartment door. Unlocking it, they both entered. Sakura took off her shoes and went into the kitchen to get some water. She poured some for Sasuke too in case he wanted it. When she came back, he had removed his shoes but hadn't moved from the front door. He seemed to be unsure of where he should sit or what he should do.
Smiling at him, she put the glasses down and sat on the sofa. "You know you can actually come into the apartment, right?"
Sasuke laughed softly and made his way to the other side of the couch.
"I've lived here for several years now. It's not a big place, but it was nice to move out of my parent's house. My dad barely let me though, saying that he'd never see me now since I work so much anyway. I should probably go pay them a visit soon. If I don't, they'll come to the hospital and interrupt everything there just to have lunch or something. Between them and Naruto, I'm never sure who is going to turn up unexpectedly. It keeps things interesting though, so I don't usually mind. But if Naruto could at least schedule his check ups after missions instead of finding me wherever I am and saying he needs it done now, that would be amazing. I don't know why I have to do the check ups each time. It's not like I'm the only doctor in the village. Sometimes he just shows up here at my apartment whenever he happens to get back, even if it's the middle of the night!"
Sakura realized she was rambling about nothing and glanced at Sasuke, expecting that he would be annoyed. However, she found him looking at her and listening to her. He didn't seem to mind her little speech at all. Slightly embarrassed all the same, Sakura turned to face the young man and decided to change topics.
"Anyway, let me look at your arm, ok?"
Sasuke nodded and swiftly pulled his shirt over his head, expecting her to need to have better access to his arm. Not expecting this, Sakura got slightly flustered and looked anywhere but at Sasuke. When she got the courage to look at him again, he was watching her with a small smile and a raised eyebrow. He knew exactly what had gone on in her head, and she hated it. Sending him a mock scowl, she gathered the chakra in her hands and began her task.
Being bound with little movement in prison had not helped his injury. The chakra at the ends had knotted itself in several places like blood clots, which would likely cause more phantom pains. She couldn't undo all that in one healing session, but she could try to untangle it in stages. Warning Sasuke that it might feel uncomfortable, she began with one of the smaller knots. Sasuke tensed, but he didn't complain. After getting rid of several little ones, she removed her hands and looked at the man in front of her.
"That helped," he informed her.
Sakura smiled tiredly, glad that she could do something for him, even if she couldn't fully heal it right away.
"We'll need to do that several more times until all of the chakra is flowing properly again. There are some big clots in there, so those may be more painful. We'll do it in stages, ok? Now, I say it's time for bed. I'll get you things for the couch." Sakura started to yawn as finished her sentence. She stood from the couch and made her way to the linen closet to get out the spare sheets and pillow.
Returning to the living room, she placed the items down on the coffee table along with something he did not think she would bring. "Here, you can use these while you're here. Naruto left some sweats a while ago, so until you can buy your own, you can use those."
Sasuke glared at the orange pants as if they were the most offensive piece of clothing he had ever seen.
Laughing, Sakura said, "Well you don't have much choice. It's late, and you've been wearing those same clothes for a while now. I'll put them in the wash tonight so you can wear them tomorrow to get some stuff of your own. Just add them to the machine, and I'll start it before bed."
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"Fine," Sasuke grunted. He took the pants to the bathroom to change, and when he came out, he could tell Sakura was enjoying this way too much. He rolled his eyes and went to make up the couch for the night.
Sakura seemed to sense she was close to crossing the line, so she kept the rest of her thoughts to herself. Instead, she smiled and said, "Well goodnight then, Sasuke! See you in the morning."
"Night."
Sakura closed her bedroom door behind her, leaving the young Uchiha alone. It was the first time he had been truly alone since the trial. A part of him was still surprised that he got off with such an easy sentence. Sure, being trapped in the village and followed day and night was going to be annoying, but he was free to go where he wanted and do what he wanted. As long as it was peaceful, of course, but he had no intention of causing a scene. Sasuke laid down on the made-up couch and stared at the ceiling for a while. He wasn't sure he wanted to sleep. It usually came with nightmares and sometimes pain in his arm. He hadn't slept much while in prison. He didn't want to give Kou, one of his guards, the satisfaction of seeing him wake in a sweat, possibly trying to fight off phantom pains. The man never seemed to grow tired of taunting him. He couldn't keep this up forever, though, and his body was begging for rest. Reluctantly, he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
Sasuke opened his eyes and saw red on the wooden floor. He propped himself up and looked ahead of him to see his parents lying on the ground, dead. Itachi stood over them with his sword. He spoke to Sasuke, but he didn't hear the words over the ringing in his ears. He felt sick. He wanted to run, but he was paralyzed. Itachi caught his gaze, and the loop began. Over and over, he saw his brother kill their entire clan. Saw him kill their parents, who didn't try to fight back. All the while, he could see the tears in Itachi's eyes.
He startled awake and jumped off the couch. Breathing deeply, he tried to calm down his heartbeat. The dream was nothing new to him, but it never got easier to bear. Sasuke looked at the clock on the wall, showing it was three thirty in the morning. He'd gotten a few hours of sleep, then. He couldn't stay and try to sleep more, so he folded the sheets and placed them on the table. He quickly put on his normal clothes, which were still a bit wet, and just as he was about to leave he paused, thinking about Sakura waking up to him gone in a few hours. He thought he should at least write her a note, so he found a spare piece of paper and quickly scrawled out his message. Satisfied, he opened the window and jumped out into the early morning. He walked aimlessly through the streets, constantly aware of the ANBU watching him.