Prompt: "…Is it supposed to be green?"
Pairing: Sakura x Itachi
Set in AU && Non-mass.
Like most shinobi, Itachi never enjoyed hospital visits. It was the reason why he was especially meticulous during missions—so that he wouldn't have to end up too battered up. It was also the reason why he never bothered with having check-ups on his eyes.
He was accustomed to the blurry blobs of color and figures. The headaches and dry eyes were also tolerable. Itachi knew that it was a danger to himself, and others, when he went on missions with his sub-par vision. However, as long as his Sharingan worked, he knew that he could execute a mission successfully. He also knew that going to the dreaded hospital for a simple session could help wonders, but Itachi couldn't bring himself to go.
He knew something was off. Itachi was the sole person in the Godaime Hokage's office, besides Tsunade herself. Standing patiently in front of her desk, Itachi waited for Tsunade to address him. Silently, he wondered why he was called just a few hours after his return from a mission.
And for some reason, there was this dreaded feeling sitting in his stomach.
With the clack of the pencil landing on the wooden desk, golden orbs locked with obsidian. Or well, they had appeared to be golden for Itachi.
"How are those eyes treating you, Uchiha?"
"They are fine, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade sighed. "Within this past year, there are no records of your eyes getting treated—as they should be," she looked at him once more. "Judging from the state of Shisui Uchiha's eyes, I can safely assume that your eyes are probably no better. Therefore, from now on, I am ordering mandatory eye checkups for all Uchiha personnel."
Itachi stopped himself from sighing.
"Is that understood, Uchiha? You better be in the hospital if you want those eyes of yours to work, and I will be checking records," Tsuande glared at him.
"Of course, Hokage-sama," what else was could he say?
Plopping down on her chair, Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Her legs were cramping and her feet felt heavy. Ever since Tsunade dumped the responsibility of treating the Uchihas, the hospital has gotten even more busy. Healing eyes are never an easy task, and healing Sharingans made the task even more difficult. And the fact that she has multiple procedures to go through, drained Sakura even more greatly. Her chakra reserves are low—like a weak flame flicking around, trying to stay lit. However, the night was barely over for her.
Her arms reached for the thick manilla folder on her desk. Sakura would have never thought that Itachi Uchiha would become her patient. Sure she had treated him once in a while when his team would come in the ER injured after a mission. Besides that, she rarely saw him in the hospital. Opening up the folder up to read, Sakura opened her mouth and a yawn escaped from her lips.
Groggily, Sakura blinked once before closing her eyes. She moved her hand to scratch her face when Sakura heard a loud thud! Snapping her eyes open, she looked around until she saw the manila folder and its contents scattered around her. Realizing that sunlight was seeping through the window, she looked at the circular clock on the wall.
Crap, she had fallen asleep for longer than she would've preferred. Letting a groan of frustration, her hands swiped through her pink locks before gathering all of the papers back into the manila. She'll just let an intern reorganize the papers later. Sakura smacked down the folder on her desk before rushing out of her office.
The smell of peroxide and other chemicals almost stung his nose. The smell was another thing that made the hospital even more dreadful. Itachi wondered how a place could be and smell so cleanly. It was almost irking.
Everything around him had pale colors. The walls were probably white, same with the pillow and seat covering. Even the cabinets were a pale grey. With his blurry vision, he could easily mistake the colors as just a plain wash of white. Nonetheless, he was seated on the reclining seat. Itachi had been in this room for probably almost half an hour already. Despite being a patient person, he found himself having the urge to just escape out the window. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was the fact that Hokage would be tracking his appointments.
It was just all so troublesome.
Finally, he sensed a chakra presence that was nearing his room. Eventually, the sounds of footsteps soon followed. The person knocked on the door twice before opening the door. As the figured neared him, Itachi realized it was Sakura Haruno. He mostly saw her in passing—when she would be with Sasuke and Naruto, or during his hospital visits.
"Hello, Uchiha-san," her voice was surprisingly refreshing. It sounded like a glass bell echoing— clear and almost piercing, but easy on the ears.
He didn't respond, though. Itachi gave her a slight nod. He couldn't help but feel the awkward tension in the air. From what he could see, Sakura was reviewing his charts that was attached onto a brown clipboard. Occasionally, she'd scribble marks on the paper.
"Well Uchiha-san, this session will be brief. I'll just be checking the status on your eyes and maybe healing some of the damage today," she paused, giving him a glance. "If you would, please lay down."
As Itachi positioned himself on the seat, Sakura moved over to the head of the seat. With a deep inhale, he closed his eyes while trying to relax himself. Her cool fingers placed themselves on his temples—he hadn't expected them to feel so cold. Itachi next heard the soft buzzing of her chakra before feeling it crawling into his head.
"Just try to relax and don't reject my chakra or make sudden movements," Sakura softly told him while closing her eyes herself in concentration. She was taking her time mapping out his eyes, slowly and carefully. After a few long moments, Sakura finally had a good grasp of his eye's condition.
It wasn't so good.
The optical nerve was severely strained, and started to show some blockage. In addition, the chakra paths that were connected to the eyes were tattered. There was also an abundance of built-up chakra surrounding his eyes which, too, strained on his blood vessels. Sakura refrained from sighing. She contemplated if she should work on the eyes and attempt to heal some of the damage. Rather, the question was where she should even begin. With a lot of contemplating, Sakura decided she'll remove some of the built-up chakra.
When she had perhaps removed half of the chakra around his eyes, Sakura carefully retracted her chakra. "Alright Uchiha-san, that concludes our session today." she promptly told him as her hands grabbed for his clipboard. Immediately she began to scribble down of what she discovered, as well as her treatment.
Meanwhile, Itachi opened his eyes. Instantly, the dull ache around his eyes had been relieved. However, his vision didn't show major signs of improvement—if at all. He peeled himself off of the chair, and back into an upright position. Simultaneously, Sakura finished writing down her notes.
"I'd like you back here weekly, and I estimate that healing your eyes will take several months," she took a breath. "I'd also like to remind you that any of the treatments I'll be doing will be temporary. With each activation of the Sharingan, it'll just undo my work. Therefore, I'll also be having routine check-ups on you periodically."
Once again, Itachi nodded. "That's fine. Is that all, Haruno-san?"
With a small smile, she nodded. "I'll see you next week, Uchiha-san." Nestling the clipboard in the crook of her elbow, she turned around and walked out of the room.
Without fail, Itachi found himself back in that same exam room week after week. It always proceeded just like the first time: they would exchange greetings before Sakura would work on his eyes silently, then she'd give a run down and bid him a good day. Slowly but surely, he could feel and see the difference. What would be giant blobs of colors eventually became actual figures and shapes. Yes, blurriness was still affecting his eyesight but he didn't mind as much. After all, the pain had subsided and he rarely had headaches anymore.
And to imagine it had only been six weeks.
However, on the seventh week, Itachi had been called for an urgent and highly-classified ANBU mission. With his team, they were to gather information and assassinate a suspicious group of rogue-nin. At first, things had gone well. The team went undetected for several days before physical repercussions had occurred.
Well, more precisely, before they were ambushed.
Sakura didn't have a good feeling. Her day so far was slow and peaceful, and that was not a good sign. Every time she had a slow day, it had ended badly. Most times there would be an emergency surgery on a patient, and other times there were even casualties.
As she stood by the nurses station, trying to catch up on charts and paperworks, Sakura couldn't shake off the uneasiness. Eventually, she couldn't focus and slammed her pen down. Running shaky hands through her head of pink locks, she groaned. At this point, Sakura was simply waiting for the bad news to come.
"Haruno-sama, an ANBU team was ambushed. The members sustained major damage, but they don't seem to be fatal."
And there it was. "Call for Shizune or Tsunade, or both of them if you can," Sakura ordered the intern before running off to the ER.
She couldn't exactly say she was surprised when it was Itachi Uchiha's team that came in. However, she was surprised by the damage they dealt. Instinctively, Sakura went to Itachi first. She instantly hovered her hands over his chest and began to scan for the extent of the damage with her chakra. Luckily, he only had sustained superficial injuries. However, the main problem was his eyes. She could tell that he had overused his Sharingan, causing even more damage to his eyes.
"Great, I'll have to start the process all over again," Sakura thought begrudgingly. Nonetheless, she got to working on him.
When Itachi finally reached consciousness, he tried to open his eyes. He nearly panicked when he couldn't open them. Immediately, his hands sprung to his face, where he felt the bandages wrapped tightly around his eyes. As his fingers started to itch them away, a pair of hands stopped him.
"Stop it. You'll just further ruin everything I've done to salvage those eyes of yours," he picked up on that clear voice again. Hesitantly, his hands went back to his sides. "Those bandages will stay on, Uchiha-san, and they'll be on for probably another month until I can fully heal your eyes." He sighed. Then, silence followed soon after before he registered her chakra and footsteps distancing from him.
He was sure that because these darn bandages will be remaining on him for much longer, he'll be in the hospital for that duration also. Sighing once more, tried to catch more sleep.
The healing sessions continued. Each and every session was almost an exact carbon of the last, even from before he got ambushed. She'd greet him and then get to work before leaving having a few words.
After a month, Sakura finally deemed Itachi ready to remove his bandages. To be frank, Itachi was ecstatic and silently rejoicing but he remained stoic outwardly. He felt the bandages being carefully removed form his head—layer by layer. Then when it was finally gone altogether, he hesitated for a moment.
Prying his eyes open, Itachi saw nothing but white at first. Gradually, all of the colors and shapes began to distinct themselves. The very first thing he saw was green. He found himself asking, "is it supposed to be green?"
As his eyes finally adjusted, Itachi realized that he was looking at Sakura, specifically Sakura's eyes. She gave him a small, but genuine smile.
"If you're talking about my eyes, then yes."
It sure was nice to be able to see again, and he couldn't complain with the sight either.
AN: Oh me, oh my. That turned out better than I had thought, haha. Truthfully, it was a struggle trying to show the development between the two characters. However, I'm still happy about the ending.
Please let me know of what you thought of this one-shot.