Symptoms|| Sasusaku

Symptoms

One-shot. Canon-compliance. Post-war. Sasuke's thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character, plot, or setting from Naruto.

***

There aren't many things which possess the power to alarm the Uchiha. He has a mountain-hard constitution and he barely remembers catching a cold in his childhood days. But he feels uneasy as of lately, with the weird sensation inside his gut and the sudden rise in his heart rate, and though it's not exactly uncomfortable, it's unfamiliar and he doesn't like it. And as if his trial isn't the day next to this, he finds himself worried over a miniscule feeling residing in his gut. 

It has been two days since the funeral for the shinobis fallen in war, including the Hyuga prodigy, Neji. The whole night he couldn't sleep, for his hospital roommate, Naruto, kept sobbing, unaware of the eavesdropper. And now here he is beside him, scowling at the tray of food lying before him with an obvious absence of ramen(Sasuke knows this even though he is blindfolded) much to the disappointment of the blonde hero. The traces of war haven't disappeared from the memories of the young and old shinobis, and it's still too early to overwrite them with fresh memories. But the blonde doesn't seem to mind it, or rather, he has gotten better at hiding his insecurities and concerns, which Sasuke isn't sure, is a matter to be proud of or to be worried upon.

"What?" The voice shakes him out of his reverie, as his heart thumps out of his chest on listening just a syllable of it, "You haven't eaten yet? How do you expect to heal faster if you don't eat healthy? And Sasuke— Oh! Oops! The nurse fed you so of course you have eaten." She bends to pick his empty plate and he almost misses her next words under the loud beating of his heart, "Tell me if you need anything. The nurse will be coming later to give you your medicine," she points a finger towards the small piece of furniture topped with a flower vase which, he is as certain as he is about Naruto being an eternal idiot, is brought and taken care of by Sakura, as far as he can discern from the faint aroma beside him.

"And Naruto, I need you to finish it in the next ten minutes or I'll postpone the day you'll be allowed to eat Ramen," she crosses her arms before her chest, a clipboard in her hand and her body wrapped in a white doctor's coat.

"Oh, come on, Sakura," Naruto whines, "you can't do that to me."

"I can and I will." With that she walks to the door, ignoring Naruto's childish protests, and Sasuke swears under his breath when his heart skips a beat for some unknown reason, which he doesn't know is the secret smile Sakura passes him. And the only thought reaching his mind is, 'To hell with this blindfold!'

He frowns in thought. Sasuke doesn't like to appear weak but he knows there's a fine line between courage and idiocy, so he dwells upon its symptoms. He suspects he has somehow contracted a rare kind of disease where his heart beats too fast and there's a ticklish feeling in his stomach which reacts to Sakura. Not only that, but he also seems to be losing control over his mind and body. Like a few days back, when Sakura finished checking up on his arm and started to walk away, his hand subconsciously grabbed her wrists. Her questioningly flustered silence was answered by a stupid excuse he made on the spur of the moment saying he wanted to check the mobility in his good arm. He remembers Naruto snorting and breaking into a fit of laughter in response, and Sakura bashfully excusing herself out. He also remembers throwing a pillow on Naruto's face( he judged from the direction of voice) to stop him from laughing, which immediately resulted in a pillow fight, a feather-filled hospital room and an extremely infuriated Tsunade.

***

The trial happened and Sasuke was sentenced to prison. Life in seclusion isn't particularly appeasing to him but he is used to it, and isn't much uncomfortable either as much as he can judge from three days in prison. He doesn't get visitors, except the medical ninjas coming to check up on his arm, and he is unfazed by it. The shinobi guards aren't directly aggressive towards him, and he appreciates it, along with the amount of time he gets for self-evaluation. But he sometimes finds himself being disappointed when he longs to listen to his friends' voices and he can't, knowing that Naruto hasn't still completely healed, neither has he but both are in different circumstances, and Sakura is still busy in hospital duties. He hears about it from Kakashi, who finds a few minutes a month to keep his mental state in check.