Disclaimer: I own peanuts.
"ANBU-san?"
The figure on the bed stirred sleepily, one hand waving weakly in the air. Ryu moved forwards, placing his gloved atop hers, guiding it back to the bed. The girl turned her head towards him, pink hair falling over her bandaged eyes.
"Can you help me take my bandages off please, ANBU-san?"
Ryu paused. The doctors had said nothing against taking the bandages off – from what he gathered, they were merely there as a precaution.
"Sit."
Sakura jumped slightly – she hadn't expected the ANBU to speak. Still feeling slightly sleepy from the pain-meds, she propped herself up on her elbows, struggling to sit upright. Her muscles were trembling from the strain, but before she could collapse back onto the pillows, the ANBU had a strong hand at her back, pushing her fully upright. She wobbled slightly and started to fall forwards, but was again saved by the ANBU, as he put his other arm in front of her, letting her use it like a support.
"Thank you, ANBU-san."
The ANBU didn't say anything, but then, Sakura hadn't really expected him to. He was using his free hand to undo the bandages around her head, unwinding them carefully. Sakura sighed and relaxed slightly. It felt nice to be able to feel the air against her skin. There was some resistance as the last layer peeled away, and when Sakura blinked, her eyes were crusty with something different from sleep.
The ANBU guided her back down to the pillows and, suddenly feeling even more tired, Sakura made no resistance. The strong presence at her side disappeared for a moment, but before she could worry, the ANBU was back and wiping at her face with a warm damp cloth.
"It's blood, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"I'm not going to be able to see again, am I?"
"…No."
Unexpectedly, Sakura felt tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. She hiccoughed, not wanting to cry, but the ANBU just continued wiping at her eyes.
"You are bleeding."
Sakura stilled, slightly panicky. Then she realised what the ANBU meant and blanked, saying the first thing to come into her head.
"I'm crying. Is it blood?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
The ANBU stood and walked back to his post by the window. Sakura turned her head away from him and let her tears fall, the bloody liquid staining the pillow and leaving crimson tracks on her face. What would she do now? She wanted to be a ninja, and now… Now she couldn't. She was going to be blind and useless for the rest of her life! The tears fell faster and now she was unable to hide her sobs, the distraught sounds echoing in the small hospital room. There was a warm hand on her shoulder, and it might have been the ABNU or it might have been a doctor, but she didn't care because she was blind and useless and all she could do was turn right around and cry into her pillow like her heart was breaking (which it was).
OoOoo
Sakura was dismissed from the hospital three days later with the injunction to come back if anything went wrong, a bottle of eye drops (once in the morning, once at night) and a lovely white stick and a pair of sunglasses. Her mother tried to take her spare hand to guide her home and Sakura let her, even though the doctors said to let her learn by herself, but they hadn't been able to save her sight so what did they know, anyway?
And she got home, and went upstairs to her room, where everything was tidied away and there was a new alarm clock in her room with big buttons to help her use it and her wardrobe was organized and everything was new and safe and… Sakura wanted to scream, say I'm not weak, I can learn, I can do this for myself
But she didn't, because she was blind and useless, and was probably going to die in some stupid accident before she was even ten years old. So she sat down on her bed, with its soft, new covers that were folded back so thoughtfully and lay down after a few moments, not even bothering to undress, just lying there and listening to the bird in the tree outside, crying a little because she'd never be able to see outside that window again.
Eventually, she fell asleep.
OoOoo
It wasn't much, the thing that caused her to finally snap. Just a little annoyance, just a little niggle, but it was piled on top of three weeks of repressed screams and tears, three weeks of millions of other little niggles and annoyances and 'are you all right, sweetheart' and…
"WILL YOU JUST FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
Author's Notes: Obviously not complete, nor is it ever likely to be. Sakura's characterisation is way off because I couldn't decide what I wanted from her, but hey. C'est la Vie.