It was the darkest day of his life. The damp floor of the cell was chilled, even though he had been sitting in the same spot for hours on end. He couldn't risk searching for the bed in this darkness, as he would look foolish in doing so. He could feel the fatigue weighing heavier on his shoulders as he wished to lay in bed, but he just couldn't bring himself to seem so lowly. To crawl about the cell effortlessly, only to hear cackles from the surrounding cells. It was simply degrading.

He heard the click of his prison cell open, only for it to close once more. He gripped at the chains that drained is chakra to keep him barely alive as he awaited to identify a voice. He felt the light hit his face, a welcome comfort. Only one person ever bothered to turn the light on in his cell, even knowing that he could not see.

"Sakura."

"Sasuke-kun." She stated, her footsteps echoing on the stone.

He felt her warm breath on his face as she went over the standard medical examination for prisoners. She tested his reflexes and scribbled on what he assumed was a clipboard with all of his medical information. He felt her hand approach his face and make contact in the area next to his eyes. She was intending to open them again.

He pulled away to the best of his abilities. He listened to her sigh, to which he responded with a grunt. She pitied him. He was blind and beaten, rotting away in a cell until the Elders had their say on his case. His former team was doing everything in their power to keep him from a death penalty, but he wasn't optimistic. He was dead in this world anyway-without his eyes, he was nothing.

"I can't help you, Sasuke-kun, not unless you let me examine them."

He couldn't bring himself to let her look at his eyes. His eyes embodied his pride. His eyes were the last bit of dignity he had left. She tried again, and he abruptly turned his face away. He would not let her see what he feared lied behind his eyelids. He had to distract her. She could only be persistent for so long.

"Did you really intend to kill me then?" His voice was hoarse, but he swore he felt a shift in the atmosphere around him.

He listened as her breath hitched. His mission was successful.

"Y-yes..." She faltered on the word, as though it was difficult for her to say, "It was so hard, Sasuke-kun...we had heard...heard you were with Akatsuki. I didn't...know what else I could do to stop you."

"Why...you...?" His voice cracked. Had it really been that long since he spoke? Even speech was becoming difficult due to his surroundings.

"I wanted you to go by my hands, and my hands alone..." Sakura replied, almost whispering, "It was selfish of me to think only I was entitled to going against you...but I did anyway, for my own reasons."

"But that's in the past now," Sakura moved to find the pen she had dropped after his sudden questioning, "You are home now, and safe."

Sasuke sensed her moving in the endless darkness. He thrust his hand out in an attempt to find her shoulder to hold her back from trying to get to his eyes again. He felt the emptiness of the air until he made contact with smooth skin. His hand carefully slid down her face to her neck, and finally to her broad shoulder.

"No." His voice was eerily child-like. He had no strength to hold her back from achieving what she was determined to do. It was only out of her good graces she had not forced him into revealing what he feared would be behind his eyelids. He involuntarily started to shake, and he withdrew his hand to assume a more defensive position.

He could hear the voices outside of his cell. Voices of pity and degrading voices ringing in his ears, the thunder in his eardrums emphasizing how pathetic he must seem. A once S-class missing shinobi, now practically curling into a ball at the feet of a medic. Had his medic been anyone other than Sakura, he would only feel more ashamed.

"No..." his voice was barely a whisper as she crept up to him. Her soft hands eased him out of the position he was in, and into one with his back facing her. She cautiously wrapped her arms around his midsection, her warmth meeting his chilled exterior.

"Please Sasuke..." she murmured into his ear, "I just want to help."

Sasuke had escaped all eye examinations for a few months. Not only was he afraid of his eyes being seen, but to the initial reaction he knew would follow. He breathed in a shaky breath, and slowly felt his way down his chest with his hand until he met the heat around his torso. He squeezed around her wrist, and slowly made the turn in her arms to face her.

She removed herself from him just a slowly as he came to face her. She rested her hands on his forearms. She waited until his trembling hands guided her own up to the corners of his eyes. She massaged the area around his eyelids before going to open them.

Her expert hands carefully pried both pairs of his eyelashes apart to reveal the lifeless ebony irises underneath. A short gasp was released from her throat as she looked into the dark eyes, realizing why Sasuke had resisted for so long.

The eyes were not his own.