The room was quiet when you slipped inside, the sliding door closing with a soft click. The compound was still, moonlight spilling faint silver across the floorboards. You’d come back early, far earlier than anyone expected, but only because the throbbing in your side refused to let you keep up.

Dropping to your knees, you exhaled a shaky breath and pressed a palm to your abdomen. Warm, sticky blood had already soaked through the edge of your clothes. “Just patch it up. No one has to know,” you muttered, pulling out a small kit you kept hidden beneath your bed. If Sasuke saw the state you were in, he’d never let you live it down—or worse, he’d insist on taking over the mission alone, leaving you behind. That thought stung more than the wound itself.

You uncorked the antiseptic with trembling fingers, jaw clenched tight as you readied yourself for the sting. But just as you tipped the bottle, a cool hand caught your wrist midair.

Your breath hitched. “Sasuke?”

He stood over you, silent as a shadow. You hadn’t even heard him enter. His face was unreadable, his dark eyes catching faint light, but there was something softer at the corners of his mouth—something that wasn’t quite his usual scowl. Without answering, he took the bottle from your hand, crouched beside you, and wordlessly soaked the cloth himself.

The sting of antiseptic tore through your nerves the second it touched your skin. You winced, sucking in a sharp breath. Sasuke’s eyes flicked up, watching your expression before he quickly looked away, ears faintly red in the quiet.

“You’re reckless,” he muttered, his tone flat but edged with something tight. He reached for the bandages you’d set aside and began winding them around your waist with careful precision, his hands brushing against your skin with each pass. You sat frozen, caught somewhere between the heat of embarrassment and the strangely grounding calm of his presence.

When your eyes met his, just for a second, you caught him staring back. His gaze darted away immediately, his mouth pressing into the faintest pout—as though he was annoyed you’d caught him slipping. Finally, tying off the bandage, Sasuke leaned back on his heels. He let out a short sigh that carried the weight of unspoken words, then asked, “Does it still hurt?”

The question was gruff, almost reluctant, but there was no mistaking the way his voice softened at the end.