Clarity
Chapter 1
The city lights flashed by as they drove along the highway. Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, smiling at the person that brought him the most happiness in this life. There was just something about their relationship, their friction, that made them perfect for one another. They were two halves of a whole, and all that other mumbo jumbo you hear about all those ideal couples.
Sasuke caught the moron staring at him, turning back to the rode with a smirk. "What are you staring at?"
Naruto let out a love struck type of sigh. "I don't know. Your eyes. Your lips. Your everything."
"You're like a puppy, dobe." Sasuke laughed. He didn't really know why he was so lucky. Naruto was the brightest ray of sunshine anyone could ask for, and by some miracle, he belonged to Sasuke.
"Shut up, teme." The blonde stuck his tongue out at the driver, his demeanor mimicking that of a child.
"You're adorable." Sasuke reached out his free hand to ruffle those golden locks.
"Sasuke!" Naruto whined. The older man wanted to just wrap him in a hug. He glanced over once more, opening his lips to say something but he was cut off. "SASUKE!"
Panicked, obsidian eyes flickered forward only in time to see headlights and then, nothing.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Naruto's eyes fluttered open, white walls and machines meeting his gaze. He didn't like the feel of this room, it was confining. The emptiness of the walls felt like they were draining the little energy he had left right out of his soul. When he tried to get up, pain seared in his right arm. The rest of his body seemed to only have a few cuts and bruises. Then he realized, the crash.
"Sasuke..." he tried to call out for his boyfriend, but his voice was so weak it scared him. Trying again, not a sound came out. He needed to find him. His feet were unstable, his entire body shaking. But it didn't stop him from venturing out of the hospital room. A nurse spotted him once he made it out into the hallway. She was telling him that he needed to get back into his room, but he didn't hear a word she said. He wasn't listening to anything aside from the organ beating inside his chest. Three nurses were beside him in the next few moments, desperately trying to constrain their escaped patient.
"Leave him." The women around him released their grip at the sound of this voice. It was a voice he recognized. Temari. "Come with me Naruto."
The blonde nodded and followed the doctor into the intensive care unit. If it were possible, the hallways here were even more dismal and dreary than the ones he had been put in. There was this cloud of gloom looming overhead, as though nothing would ever see sunlight again. They stopped walking near the end of the path, Temari beckoning to a slightly ajar door. Unsteadily, Naruto pushed it open. The sight that met his eyes immediately instigated tears. The only thing keeping him from ripping his heart open was the insistent beeping of the machine that monitored Sasuke's heartbeat. He was still alive. Naruto held his hand, interlocking this fingers loosely.
"He got the brute force of the impact. Broken ribs, fractured leg, and his wrist is broken in three different places." Temari glanced at Naruto from above her glasses.
"Is he going to be okay?" The boy's voice was just barely above a whisper, she could hear the sobs he was dreadfully trying to hold back.
"The breaks and fracture...they'll heal. But Naruto, there's one more thing." Crystal eyes locked with hers causing her to hesitate before saying it. She glanced at the bandages wrapped around Sasuke's face. "He's blind."
Naruto stared at Temari for a long while, disbelief fogging his judgment. Sasuke couldn't be blind. He was an artist, he lived for the colors and the vibrancy. He always saw everything in a way no one else could, it was something Naruto loved so much about him. When he woke up...he would be so devastated. The world that once gave him inspiration in every form, took that right away.
His vision shifted to the bandages Temari had been fixated on. He leaned down to kiss Sasuke, smiling through his tears. "It's going to be okay. I love you."
"Naruto?" Temari hadn't heard the words he mumbled.
"We need to talk."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
When Sasuke opened his eyes, there was a throbbing pain in his head. He shifted his vision to figure out where he was. The weight on his left hand turned out to be Naruto. The blonde was sleeping peacefully at Sasuke's bedside. He couldn't help but smile.
"I see you're up." A doctor walked into the room, her expression grim.
"Yeah. I'm feeling better. How's Naruto?" Sasuke inquired. The woman pursed her lips, fixating her gaze to the clipboard in her grasp.
"He's going to be just fine."
Sasuke raised his eyebrow at her. "What aren't you telling me?" She motioned to the mirror against the wall.
Getting up slowly, Sasuke hobbled to the sink and mirror. When he met his reflection, he found himself staring into a pair of cerulean blue eyes.