Happy Accidents

Chapter 14: Relief

Hours passed, the day climbing well into the next morning before Sakura awoke. At some point throughout the night, one of the nurses had come to remove the tube connected to the ventilator, allowing her to breathe on her own. She was groggy as she woke up, but she was alive... somehow. Using what little strength she had, she turned her head to the side to see none other than Detective Uchiha, seated in the armchair and half-slumped. He was asleep; he'd likely slept there the whole night.

As if he could sense she was awake, he stirred out of his own slumber, groaning and rubbing his eyes. It was then that Sakura noticed he wasn't wearing his usual gloves; he'd likely taken them off for comfort reasons while he was waiting in the hospital.

"You're awake," he said softly, eyes filled with worry. "How are you feeling?"

"Nngh... sore," she croaked out softly. "And tired, and loopy, and confused. I don't... exactly remember what happened." Her head hurt even trying to think about it. The details were all fuzzy, something she was certain had to do with whatever medication they had her on. Her chest ached; every breath she could feel a hint of pain, though it was dulled by her medication. Her other side hurt, too.

"You were attacked at home. You said you were going home early, and..." She could hear the worry in his voice; it was like there was hidden anger in his tone, directed at himself, for allowing this to happen. "Look, I know... I know it's hard, right now. But I need you to think. We need to find this guy, and I'm not leaving you alone until we do." He was firm and determined. Sakura saw the desperation in his face; it was more emotion than he'd ever shown before. With the professionalism of their job stripped away, all she could see was his kindness. His worry. He really did care, deep down. He just seemed to hide it, and she couldn't understand why.

"Right, I was... I was shot," she said with a hint of fear. Sasuke seemed to sense it, moving closer and grasping her hand. She glanced down to see his bare, scarred hand gently touching hers, while his other hand was stroking her hair gently. 

"You're okay. You're safe here, I promise. We'll catch him," he reassured gently.

"No, no, it's not that," she said, shaking her head. "He... I'm a surviving witness, that's... if I can't remember what happened, it could be crucial to the--"

"I know. Don't stress yourself over it. If you remember anything, speak up, but don't push yourself. Give yourself a few days to recover first." His tone was firm and gentle at the same time; he hadn't stopped trying to reassure her. "Just breathe. You need your rest."

"Okay," she said tearfully, feeling a sob start to choke her. All the fear that had been bottled up and held back came rushing forth, leaving tears streaming down her face. She felt his hand gently wipe them away, eventually reaching for a tissue so he could better catch her tears. Crying took so much energy that when she quieted, she'd passed back out again; her body was too exhausted to stay awake much longer.

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He felt relieved when she was asleep. He wasn't used to dealing with anyone in her state, at least not this intimately. It was difficult when he was filled with as much anger as he was. Anger at the situation. Anger at himself. Especially at himself. He couldn't shake the thought that he'd been responsible for this happening. That conversation with Naruto was going over and over in his head. Had she overheard him? Had he hurt her feelings, and was that why she'd gone home at that time? If she'd gone later, would this still have happened? Would things have turned out worse?

He'd let her decide whether she wanted to approach the conversation or not. 

After she'd been out for a few hours, Detective Uzumaki arrived to relieve him briefly, allowing him to go home and change into better clothing. He was still wearing his old clothes, though someone had managed to find him an old t-shirt he could change into rather than his bloodied dress shirt. He was back within twenty minutes, not daring to waste any of it.