Disclaimer: I did not come up with 'Naruto,' but I'm sure you guys already knew that :P
Warning: Rated T for language and violence. May change to M if possible Team 7 threesome or heavy pairing ensues.
Pairings: Any or all pairings are possible: SasuSaku, NaruSaku, SasuNaruSasu, Team 7 threesome, or it could just end up being a Team 7 friendship fic. Let's just see how this develops, shall we?
Criticism: Feel free to tell me what you honestly think about the story, pairings whatever! Also any feedback you can provide me with that will better the quality of my writing will be received with much love :)
A/N: This is a sequel to Self Pity. Self Pity seemed to want to go in a million and one different directions! The story I finally posted is the eventual storyline I ended up with. And now I think I have stirred up some interesting drama to be dealt with in a new fic. So I wrote this to see how Sasuke's new handicap will affect his life and that of those in Team 7.
Also, despite the fact that this is a sequel, you do not have to have read Self Pity to read this fic. (Though, it might help :P)
Synopsis: Sasuke must live with the consequences of saving a fellow teammate. And apparently with Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi too all because some vengeful murderer just can't stay dead! Will Team 7 be able to survive these newfound circumstances? Or will Sasuke's handicap be one more roadblock in the way of forming bonds with his team?
Not All Who Wander
Chapter 1: The Morning After.
Sakura awoke to an awkward beeping sound ringing in her ears. Her head seemed to throb. Where in the world was she?
"She's waking up," said a male voice coming from somewhere nearby. Sakura let out a low groan; gods did her head hurt!
Slowly she cracked open her eyes; white, almost blinding light seemed to spill in all at once. White walls; white counters. She looked down; white sheets as well. She was in a hospital bed. Two men dressed in blue scrubs were standing by the end of the bed. The two nurses seemed to be studying her before one said: "How are you feeling, Haruno-kun?"
Sakura blinked her eyes in puzzlement; how in the world had she ended up in a hospital room?
With a gasp it hit her. Wandering out at night, picking up that mysterious attacker, Sasuke coming to rescue her. Sasuke?! That's right he had chosen to come back for her. He had stopped the attacker's blade before it could come down upon her. Sasuke? Suddenly a vivid image of the moments before she lost consciousness flooded her mental view. She was leaning over him, her open palm spread over the bare flesh of his face as she had tried to clot the wound. His bloody flesh underneath her hand, oh how she remembered it! The place where his eye should have been, his beautiful onyx-colored eye that was so dark it looked almost black. Now only pinkish white and bloody flesh remained. But, at least he was alive. Of that she had made sure before she finally allowed the darkness to claim her. She remembered rolling off of him and next to his side, sleep so imminent she could almost touch it, but right before she gave in she had spotted the leather pouch that her attacker had on his back pocket. Her fingers had reached out for it, knowing that when they were saved, she would need to remember to grab it, if only to give Sasuke that much more of a chance at being able to have his eye back.
With a gasp Sakura sat up. "Sasuke-kun!" Where was he? Her head darting in every direction. Where was he, was he even alive?
Suddenly the door opened and in walked Kakashi. For a moment, Sakura felt her mouth go dry. After all of the trauma of last night, to see for the first time a familiar, friendly face! Sakura felt her eyes beginning to well up with tears.
"It's ok, Sakura," Kakashi said, even his neutral voice sounded so soothing to her ears. "Sasuke's okay. He is in the room next door asleep."
Sakura could hear herself panting; desperately she tried to calm her breathing. Sasuke was okay.
Suddenly, Naruto ran into the room from the still opened door.
"Sakura-chan!" he said, for the first time that goofy smile wasn't on his face. Instead he looked slightly pale; his blue eyes a bit moist. With a smile that looked more like a relieved grimace, he went over to the bed. Kakashi just stood by the foot.
Sakura blinked as she took in the room, and the people in it. She was alive! Last night she had honestly thought she would never be able to see her friends again. And now here she was sitting in a room filled with people who cared about her. The warm light of the sun filtering in through the partially opened window.
"N-naruto," she mumbled, tears slipping out from the corners of her eyes.
Naruto came a bit closer.
"It's okay Sakura-chan." his hand going to rest on the bed beside her.
Sakura looked down at his hand; a tear rolled off of her cheek and fell upon his skin.
"N-naruto," Her voice choked, barely containing the turmoil she felt. She scrunched up her face; this sent a new way of tears spilling down her rosy cheeks.
Suddenly she threw her arms around him, and hugged as tightly as she possibly could. Desperately trying to regain the same surety about her life as she had had only a day ago; everything had felt different then. She felt fragile now, as if at any moment her life could be ripped away from her. She wished she could go back to the way things were when she didn't have to worry, when she was so distracted with everyday life that death seemed like a strange, far off thing, something that wasn't really going to happen to her. It felt like such a long time ago since she felt like that; had it really only been yesterday?
Naruto had gone ridged. If she had turned her head to see his face she would have realized that he was beet red. She heard Kakashi move from his spot at the foot of the bed. But, she couldn't stop herself from crying. The trauma of it all... To be finally safe! Suddenly, Naruto returned her hug with a fierceness of his own.
"Don't worry Sakura-chan, you're safe." Naruto started, "And Sasuke's okay too. And I promise you, I will find the son of a bitch who did this to you both and make him pay."
Sakura stiffened. Suddenly, she pushed herself off of his shoulder.
"What? What do you mean you'll make him pay?" The tremble in her voice didn't stop it from coming out harsh, "I made him pay! I killed that bastard! I-I." More tears were streaming down her cheeks, before she could no longer contain the low cry that ripped from her throat. She had killed a man. That much she knew. Even now she could remember the feel of the blade as it sunk into his neck and struck the bone.
It was then that she felt a comforting hand rest upon her back. Kakashi was standing beside her.
"When your parents discovered the two of you, the man who attacked you both was no where to be found."
Sakura was shaking her head.
"There was a lot of blood, too much blood for whoever it was to have survived." Kakashi continued.
"No," Sakura kept shaking her head, she was getting angry now. "I saw him, I felt him die, I killed him!"
"Sakura," Kakashi said, "I am sure that you did after all of that blood. He must have had an accomplice that wanted to protect any secrets his body may have contained, it's not uncommon."
"But Naruto just said-"
Kakashi gave Naruto a pointed look before he continued, his voice as light as ever.
"Naruto has been worried about the two of you ever since you both were brought in. He is just thankful that you are alright, and is trying to calm you down in his own way." Again he gave Naruto a look that said, watch what you say or I'm gonna make you leave the room.
Naruto flashed Kakashi a somewhat sheepish grin, his hand going to scratch the back of his neck, his fingers trembling slightly in discomfort.
Suddenly, another nurse, female this time, appeared in the doorway. "Kakashi-sempei," the nurse said, "Uchiha Sasuke has also woken up."
A low almost continual rattle of chatter seemed to gnaw at the edge of his consciousness, as if noisy little bed bugs were eating away at his brain, all the while grunting a jody to help move the job along. Sasuke let out a grumble. His body felt swore, so swore in fact he could have sworn a large, concrete wall had fallen on him and crushed his limbs.
Onward and onward went the chatter.
Sasuke let out another groan.
Chatter, chatter, chatter-chatter-chatter.
Would they shut up already?
The chatter only grew louder. Almost as if the offending vocals were in protest; his head was now beginning to ache, soon it would rival his body in the sore department.
Dammit, why the fuck couldn't he be left alone for one goddamn moment?!
Finally the chatter about him was beginning to become decipherable.
"I think he's coming too," the chatter said; it sounded distinctly like the low tones of a middle aged man.
Sasuke went to open his eyes. Wait a moment. He tried to open his left eye and nothing seemed to happen, as if his brain suddenly had refused to take signals regarding anything to do with his left eye; no blinking, he couldn't even swivel his pupil around to try to sense who and what was in the room. It was like he had no eye at all. No eye?
Then he remembered. The attacker? Sakura?! Suddenly he remembered those green eyes over him, gleaming with a hint of excitement, as the bony cheek of his attacker dimpled in an almost sadistic grin. Then it was like he could feel the knife again cutting, sawing away, at his skin. The skin around his left eye resonated with a dull pain.
Sakura. If it hadn't been for Sakura, would he now be blind completely?
Light spilled into his view as his right eye opened, almost hesitantly, as if a bit worried that it wouldn't be able to work now that it was on its own. The moment the light dimmed down when his pupil dilated enough to account for the intrusion, a man's face came into view. The face was so close to him that Sasuke wanted to push it away.
"Just as I thought," the man said, "His depth perception is poor."
What the hell? Who the fuck was this guy to say anything about his abilities being poor in any way? Oddly, the voice sort of sounded like his father's to his mind.
"Well, it's to be expected, right?" Another voice said. A woman's voice. How the hell had Sasuke messed the fact that there were two people in the room? "He is lucky to have any depth perception at all given the circumstances."
Who were these morons? Haven't they ever heard of a little thing called bed-side manner? And not to mention, haven't they ever heard of the Uchiha name. Uchiha's were always superior in most things. One eye or not, he would recover all of his depth perception; just give him a couple of days, they'd see!
Suddenly, the man hovering above him finally seemed to notice that Sasuke was awake for he leaned his head down even closer to the Uchiha's face and said in a voice that Sasuke thought was a bit too loud.
"Uchiha-san, you are in a hospital. Your facial muscles have been damaged which is why you will find making facial expressions and even talking to be uncomfortable. Nod your head if you are feeling ok?"
Sasuke's eyebrow wanted to rise in annoyance, but instead the muscles right above his left eye only groaned in protest.
Instead, Sasuke nodded. His attention was suddenly taken to the many bandages that were constricting his face. How the hell had that bastard managed to cause him so much damage? Then again, it wasn't like the guy was actually caring where he cut when he was trying to remove Sasuke's eyes.
Suddenly, he felt a familiar presence in the doorway. Kakashi-sensei. His pupil quickly found the familiar shape of his teacher standing in the frame.
"Kakashi-sempei," the nurse who had been yelling in his face earlier now directed a more quieter and respectful tone towards Kakashi, who gave a quick nod of his head in reply
"Uchiha-san seems to be making a fine recovery."
Sasuke was growling inside. Why the hell were they talking about him as if he wasn't even in the room? Wow these guys were jackasses!
Kakashi nodded again, before turning his attention on Sasuke. Finally, someone was actually looking at him!
For awhile his teacher studied him with his lone eye. Then he said in his normal, almost pleasant sounding voice, "So, I suppose you'll be wanting me to lend you one of my masks, then." His one eye almost completely closed as if he was smiling. Sasuke wanted to tear off that mask so he could knock that grin off of his teacher's face. Still, for some reason, the corners of his lips wanted to tug into a smile. In the end, he ended up just barely grimacing since his face hurt too much for him to actually go any further.
Just then, "Sasuke-teme!" and then an orange blur was running through the door frame. Suddenly, Naruto was at his side.
"You feelin' better!" A huge grin broke out on Naruto's face. Sasuke grimaced. What the hell was this idiot smiling about? Sasuke didn't think anything was funny. Suddenly he began to feel self conscious. Naruto, his rival, was staring at his face: at the fact that now Sasuke only had one eye. Suddenly, Sasuke was painfully aware that now bandages, rapping around his face like an eye patch, were the only things shielding the now bare spot of skin from prying eyes. Naruto was so close; could he somehow see Sasuke's bare flesh through the weak, linen fabric? Which right now, felt nonexistent.
Sasuke couldn't help wondering what Naruto was thinking about as the blond kept looking at him.
His stomach was beginning to tense up. Naruto must be thinking about just how weak Sasuke must be! He had to be thinking that! How else had the attacker been able to disfigure Sasuke in such a way?! It only proved Sasuke's weakness.
Sasuke pushed Naruto's face away.
"Hey!" Naruto grumbled, "What the hell is your problem bastard!"
"Just leave me the fuck alone." Sasuke was growling inside. Perhaps now Naruto wouldn't even look at him as a rival anymore. Who the hell would want to compete with a guy who only had one eye? Suddenly an even more terrifying thought struck him. What if now Naruto pitied him? Above all else Sasuke did not want pity. He was alive for God sake's. Somehow he would get his strength back. He wasn't going to let anyone look at him with pity in their eyes. He didn't care if he was half blind.
"Easy there, Uchiha-san," the nurse beside him had said. Again his voice seemed strangely too loud for the room. "Please if you move too much you'll only end up causing your stitches to rip. So just try to stay calm for me, okay?"
Was Sasuke imagining it, or did that nurse sound like he was talking to a child? Sasuke looked over at him. Inside he was fuming. What gave this man the right to speak to him in such a way?!
"I think I can handle them, thank you," Kakashi said, his arm going around Naruto's shoulders. Again that smile of his was on his face. Sasuke however looked away. But not quick enough to notice the sad look that had crossed Naruto's face. Sasuke closed his last remaining eye, and took a deep breath. Perhaps he was overreacting. Suddenly though, the idea of keeping his eye closed on a permanent basis was looking all the more tempting. That way he wouldn't have to see the sadden looks that everyone was sure to give him. Poor Sasuke, they all would be thinking. And so young too! Now he will go the rest of his life disfigured. Sasuke growled that the thought. He didn't need their pity. Still, at least he could see one good thing coming out of all of this: now he would finally get rid of those annoying fan girls that followed him around. It wasn't the way he planned on getting rid of them...but at least it was a way.
Sakura was sitting up in bed.
Her parents had only now came in to see her. Apparently even though the Harunos had nearly lost their daughter, the ANBU were still hesitant about letting civilians into the room. Perhaps they thought they had to have Sakura questioned about her attacker first, otherwise the mollycoddling of her civilian mother might make the ninja side of her brain suddenly shut down and forget his identity or something. Well, if they hadn't thought along these lines, their actions certainly did.
After Kakashi and Naruto had left, two ANBU had entered to question Sakura about the man who had attacked her. Sakura had tried to tell them everything she could remember, including giving them a pretty good description of how he looked like. Now though, Sakura was thoroughly exhausted and more than anything else just wanted to be coddled in the warm arms of her mother.
For a moment she thought about how horrifying it must have been for them to have discovered her and Sasuke the way that they did. She was surprised her mother was looking so alert and determined; she would have thought that after that, her mother would have needed to go and lie down.
"Sakura!" Her mother's voice came out somewhere in between a sigh of relief and a worried exclamation. The next minute her mother was by her side, and then Sakura's hand was concealed by the warmth of her mother's.
"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Her mother's voice still seemed a bit out of breath, as if she was still in a recovery process of her own.
"Better."
"You had us scared there, Sakura." Her father had come over and stood behind her mother, his eyes were smiling at her warmly.
"Sorry."
Then her mother was angry; the anger coming so suddenly it was as if her mother had finally given herself permission to be angry now that she knew her daughter was safe.
"Just what were you doing outside in the middle of the night all by yourself, like that?!"
Her father also looked upset, but not nearly as enraged as her mother.
"All this time you have told me and told me that I shouldn't worry, that even when you go on these missions, you will be okay, and that I shouldn't stop you from becoming a ninja, and then you do something like this!"
"Mother—"
"Don't mother me; do you realize that you could have died out there?"
That hit a nerve.
"Of course I realized that! I was the one out there!" Sakura hadn't realized she still felt any anger, but apparently it was leaking out of her ears if her tone was any indication.
"Do you think I don't realize that? I made a mistake! I'm sorry mother if you have never done that! And for your information, if I wasn't a ninja and had never learned how to control my chakra as I did, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now, get it?!"
Sakura sat there panting, fuming really, but outwardly all she got to display for her anger inside was the raspy heaving in and out of her chest.
Her mother looked away. "It was that Sasuke wasn't it?"
"What!" If her mother wanted to keep fighting she was going in the right direction.
"You were out with that boy, the one who keeps breaking your heart over and over again, Sakura I don't believe you—"
"Shut up mother," Sakura was a bit taken aback by the deadly calm in her voice; even she had never heard herself talk like this before and to her mother of all people. But she didn't back down:
"Just, shut up! You have absolutely no idea what you're even talking about so don't yell at me!"
"Sakura, don't you take that tone—"
"I will take that tone, because for your information if Sasuke-kun hadn't found me when he did, I would be dead, plain and simple, rapped and gutted on the floor like a—" She was sobbing now. The anger she was feeling now! How could her mother be saying anything about Sasuke, especially after last night? Then the fear of what almost happened to her—what she almost became—was crashing down upon her. Tears were now streaming down her face in a torrent of salty bitterness. Sakura had yanked her hand away from her mother's and had hid her face in her palms, trying to both comfort and stop herself from crying.
"Sakura," her father spoke up, "Your mother and I were just worried about you, that's all. So please just try and calm down." Here he looked over at his wife, "I think we all need to calm down."
Soothingly he placed a warm hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"Dad-dy!" Sakura said between sobs, "I'm so sorry; I'm so, so sorry!"
Here her mother also put a hand on her daughter, this time on her leg—since it was the only thing she could do, other than actually hugging Sakura.
"I never—oh gods—I never wanted anything like this to happen! And now it's all my fault that Sasuke-kun's—"
But she couldn't bring herself to say it. No, saying it out loud made it far too real.
"I heard that Sasuke is in the other room, and that he is okay, Sakura honey," her father said.
She could tell that he was trying to be helpful, but Sakura shook her head. No, Sasuke was not okay. In fact now he would have to carry the mistakes that she made, like scars, with him for the rest of his life. And to think wasn't she supposed to be the one madly in love with him? Well, so much good that did? Love conquering all, bah! All it did was—
But then her thoughts stopped. No, that was wrong. Love, or rather concern for a friend, had in fact conquered all. It was this concern that had brought Sasuke back for her, what ultimately saved her life. And it was this love that allowed her to somehow manage to heal herself to a point where she was functional and what ultimately allowed her to save Sasuke's life as well. No, she could not knock love, not after all it had done for the both of them.
Suddenly, Naruto appeared in the door frame.
"That bastard's being a pain in the ass again, can I come in here?" And he seemed to have answered his own question for he walked right in.
"N-Naruto?" Sakura looked up in confusion. "You-you talked to Sasuke-kun?"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said, his voice a bit pouty, "And all that bastard did was bitch about how much of an idiot I am; nothing's changed really." Then he cocked a grin, "I guess that's a good thing, right?" He looked over to Sakura for her opinion.
Sakura found herself nodding. It was a good thing, it meant that Sasuke hadn't given in to self-wallowing and was moving forward, not letting this whole situation get the best of him. For one moment, Sakura had to marvel at Sasuke. He had lost an eye, but instead of wallowing in self pity, he was trying to get on with his life. Wow, that was something that she didn't know if she could do. But then again, yes she could! Just like she could get over the emotional scars from that night. Now if only they had that man's body, then perhaps she would feel a bit more closure over this matter.
"In that case," Naruto said happily, "I'm glad he was being such a bastard; I think we're off to a great start!"
It was then that Sakura noticed that her parents were staring over at her and then at Naruto in slight confusion.
"Oh mom, dad," Sakura said, "This is Naruto, the other member of my team."
"Hehehe," Naruto laughed a bit sheepishly. He had noticed they were there, right?
"Hi," Naruto said to their startled expressions.
"Hello, Naruto-kun," her father said politely, her mother was still studying him, before she too smiled and said, "It's very nice to meet you."
Suddenly, she looked back over to Sakura. "Is this the young man that you say is always pestering you to go on a date with him?"
Naruto seemed to panic at that, his face turning a vibrant shade of red.
"Mom!" Sakura couldn't believe her mother. But, just when she thought her mother was finished, her mother said:
"He's cute, why don't you go? It would be a better use of your time, instead of following that Sasuke around."
Naruto's grimace turned into a smile, "Hey, Sakura-chan? You know what they say! You should always take mom's advice—". Then his face darkened, "Hey, old lady, what about Sasuke?!"
Sakura quickly recovered from her shock enough to know she had to shut Naruto's mouth and stop whatever unpleasant obscenity was on its way out.
"Naruto!" that seemed to have worked. Though somewhere inside her, she felt appreciative of Naruto. She was glad he wasn't about to let anyone talk that way about Sasuke. She felt surprisingly happy and connected to him then. They were a team—she, Naruto and Sasuke—and no one, not even an approving mother, was going to diss any one of their members.
Sakura's mother seemed a bit flustered that he had called her an 'old lady'. Quickly, as if not even realizing it, she brushed a hand through her pink cropped hair that was graying a bit in places. Sakura could sense her mother's feelings. Despite Naruto wanting to stand up for Sasuke, she still needed to make him apologize. It was never a good idea to call a woman old; nothing shook her confidence more, or was more painful.
"Naruto," She wished he was closer so she could shove him in the ribs. Naruto looked over at her confused. Pointedly her eyes looked from him over to her mother, who was still examining a few strands of gray.
"Oh," that seemed to have worked. "Um," he started, "Sorry about the 'old lady' part, it's just that Sasuke's my friend."
That seemed to make her mother calm down. Slowly she breathed a sigh of relief; she must have been associating the comment as more of a reaction to her words than to her actual appearance.
"Well, my apologies for saying anything that might have been hurtful." She said. Sakura felt relieved; she wanted her parents and her teammates to get along, not fight.
"I was just wondering why someone as nice as yourself, and who apparently cares for my daughter, doesn't get more credit?" Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that her mother was being somewhat manipulative with her words.
"I mean, why does Sasuke seem to only get my daughter's affections? When you are clearly the better choice."
"Mother!" Sakura had had it now, "Butt out."
Fortunately, Sakura didn't get the chance to hear her mother's next words, which if the look on her mother's face was anything to go by, were not going to be good. For then, two nurses ran past her door, following them were two more. Suddenly, she could hear what sounded like a struggle coming from the other room. And if the racket that was coming from next door was anything to go by, then it sounded like a mini war had broken out just over in the next bed.
"I said get the fuck off of me!"
"Kakashi-sempei, do something, get the boy back over here!"
"Goddammit stop calling me that, I'm not a fucking child so don't treat me like one!"
Naruto too was looking puzzled. Exchanging a worried and somewhat confused glance over at Sakura, he went for the doorway. Sakura too made motions of getting up, before her mother's hand was promptly on her shoulder.
"Sakura, you are in no condition to be walking around."
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'll go and check it out, okay?" God, was she glad that Naruto was there, otherwise she would have started yet another fight with her mother.
Sasuke grabbed a jar filled with tongue depressors from the nearby counter and threw it at the approaching nurse. He had had it! He felt fine—well actually he felt like hell, and could already feel the blood trailing down his face from where the stitches had ripped—but that was beside the point. He was through with all of their shit! He was going home and that was that. He had taken care of himself for awhile now, and the little problem of not having an eye was not about to stop that.
The nurse dodged the assailing jar and it smashed into the opposite wall, broken glass and tongue depressors slid down the wall to the floor. Sasuke grimaced. The sound of glass breaking would no doubt bring another wave of nurses into this fight.
It had all started when the nurse had decided to give him another sedative.
"Here, let me just give him a little sedative and he can go to sleep for awhile, his body still needs to recover." The nurse said as he pulled out a syringe from one of the counter drawers and went over to the IV bag. All the while though, his eyes avoided Sasuke.
"Just who the hell are you talking to?" Sasuke had growled. He was through with all of this talking as if he wasn't present.
"Uchiha-san," the man had started, his voice back again to that loud and demeaning tone, "You need to rest, after what you have been through your muscles are extremely sore and it wouldn't be good—"
"You don't think I fucking know that!" Sasuke had cut him off. "Dammit, it's my goddamn muscles, I should know how they fucking feel!" Kakashi, who was still in the room, was strangely silent. But, Sasuke preferred it this way. That way he could focus his anger at this jackass in peace without Kakashi nosing his way in.
"Now, Uchiha-san," the nurse started, "You apparently need to calm down, so I am just going to give you this, right now." Popping the tip off of the syringe he went to thrust the needle into the bag filled with liquids that was connected to Sasuke's arm via IV. But Sasuke wasn't having it. Before the needle pierced the bag, Sasuke jumped up and slammed his fist against the man's wrist. The nurse lost his grip on the syringe and it fell to the ground.
Now Kakashi stood up. "Easy now, Sasuke."
"Get the hell away from me! If I need to fucking sleep I'll do it myself."
The nurse backed away from him. Then his hand went down to the intercom he wore on his wristband. "I need assistance with an unruly patient."
"That won't be necessary," Kakashi had said, but the nurse wasn't having it. "Kakashi-sempei, I understand that out in the field you are a terrific ninja, I don't doubt that, but here in this hospital we nurses are the ones who know what's best for our patients."
That was when two more nurses had came in, and all hell had broken loose.
Now Sasuke found himself in the corner of the room, having pushed the nurse that was closest to him, and punched the one who tried to hold on to him. He had his back to the wall, so there was no way he could be caught off guard. In his hand he held a scalpel that he grabbed out of a counter drawer.
All the while though, he felt disoriented. More than once he had banged into the counters. And when he had gotten out of bed, it was only to realize with a grimace that he had miscalculated the distance between the bed and the IV stand and had ended up crashing into it, knocking both it and himself to the ground. Now his body ached like hell and he was so tired that he wanted to just close his eyes, well make that eye, and sleep right here. Somewhere inside of him, a feeling was growing. One that he hadn't felt for a long time, not since that night when his world had gone to hell at Itachi's hand. Yes, right now he was starting to feel helpless, just like he had then. Why the hell wouldn't they just leave him alone?
Suddenly, a pounding on the counter top beside him told him that someone had jumped up onto the counter and was approaching him from the left side, the side that could have not even existed for as much as he could see of it.
Sasuke spun to the left, exposing his back in the process, but he had no choice. But a bit too late, the nurse on the counter kicked at his hand, knocking the weapon from his now trembling fingers. Suddenly, another nurse had come up from behind and had locked his arms around Sasuke's waist. Sasuke squirmed and went to head bang the guy off of him, but now the nurse on the counter top had jumped down and had thrown all of his weight onto him as well.
"Dammit," Sasuke couldn't feel more helpless. "Get the hell off of me!" Another nurse had come over and together the three of them dragged him to the ground and collapsed on top of him. Sasuke couldn't breathe.
"G-get off!"
But they didn't get off. Two more men had come over to hold his legs down, while the first three concentrated on holding the rest of him down. Finally, the nurse that had started this whole mess came over to Sasuke's arm, the syringe in his hand.
"No!" Sasuke was struggling all he could, but still he could not get them off. He felt the needle prick his skin.
Suddenly, a loud roar came from the doorway.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Get the fuck off of him, you bastards!"
"Na-naruto?" Sasuke struggled to look up over to the doorway to confirm it really was his loudmouthed friend.
"Naruto no," Kakashi said, and must have held Naruto back, for no one came over to stop the men holding him down. The needle went all the way into his skin. Sasuke growled, hissing out in pain and frustration. It was so humiliating. He was a ninja, practically old enough to be considered a legal adult, since the age of an adult began at fifteen. Well, he still had a couple of years, but that hadn't prevented anyone from leaving him to take care of himself before, so why wouldn't they let him now? And why did they have to treat him like he was some sort of mutilated freak? He had already lost an eye, wasn't that enough?!
He wasn't the only one growling. Naruto too from his place by Kakashi's side sounded livid.
"Why the fuck didn't you just ask him? You didn't need to force it in him you son of a bitch!" Yeah, if Naruto's tone was any indication, he was more than pissed.
"Will somebody get him out of here?" One of the nurses said, but apparently Kakashi didn't allow it, because Naruto still stayed. Sasuke was starting to loose consciousness. Now he would be completely at their mercy. Suddenly, the weight on top of his arms and legs let up, even those pressing against his chest let go. Sasuke just lie there; far too exhausted to move. Any moment now, he was going to caulk out.
Suddenly, Naruto was at his side. "Sasuke-teme?"
Sasuke just let out a groan in discomfort. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Kakashi had come over as well. He was kneeling down over Sasuke's left side, his blind side. Sasuke let out another grumble.
"Damn sons of bitches," Naruto was still muttering under his breath. Slowly, Sasuke let his eye close.
Suddenly, arms were lifting him up. Sasuke opened his eye. Surely Naruto hadn't the strength to lift him as if he weighed no more than a pound of rice? No, it was then he noticed that it was Kakashi who had picked him up; Naruto had gone over to the bed and was clearing the covers away so Sasuke would not lie down on top of them.
Sasuke felt too tired to struggle anymore. Oddly, he didn't feel like putting up much of a fight now anyway. For some reason, he didn't feel Kakashi was bothering him, not like those damn nurses. Kakashi laid him down against the soft mattress, which seemed to feel more comfortable than it did before, though Sasuke didn't really know why. Naruto had quickly gone to work covering him up with the blanket. Sasuke stared up at him with a sort of odd confusion on his face. But he was too tired to question it. The blankets felt too warm for Sasuke to protest them with anything other than a groan. Next thing he knew he had given into the darkness, entering the rather peaceful, dreamless realm called unconsciousness.
"Sakura."
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura put down her spoon onto the hospital tray that was prompted up in front of her after licking the remains of the chocolate pudding from it. The tone of his voice made her slightly uncomfortable; almost subconsciously she played with the top white sheet of her bed.
Her father had gone out to get her mother and him something to eat, while her mother had remained in the room.
Naruto had toggled between her room and Sasuke's. He wasn't her only friend that came to see her: Ino had already came by three times, each time bringing a freshly cut lily from her parents' flower shop. Shikamaru and Choji had come by with Ino during one of her trips. And of course Sakura couldn't forget about Lee who had run in, tears streaming down his cheeks, overjoyed that she was making a fast recovery.
But now Sakura was getting antsy; she had been in the hospital for three days now, when was it time for her to go home already? She really hoped Kakashi-sensei had some good news; however, the neutrality in his face seemed to say otherwise.
"You wouldn't mind if I talked to Sakura alone, would you Haruno-sama?" Sakura was familiar with her teacher's mannerisms by now, so she didn't feel any relief at his overly cheery voice. Her mother however fell for it.
"Okay, Kakashi-san, I will just wait outside." And with that she gave him a smile and headed out the door, sliding it shut behind her.
The moment she left, Kakashi's face fell neutral again.
"What is it?" Sakura asked, "What's wrong?"
"I wouldn't say anything is wrong, per say. However I wanted to keep you informed with what has been going on, since it includes you and Sasuke, so I think you have the right to know."
"Okay."
"The ANBU have been able to identify your attacker as Kono Jin, a rouge ninja from the Village of Rain." Sakura nodded at his words, though they meant nothing to her; she had never heard of someone named Kono Jin.
"Jin was a very skilled ninja that killed three people in his village before he went rogue."
"If they identified him, perhaps they know who took his body?"
Kakashi smiled, "As perceptive as always, Sakura." Sakura smiled in spite of herself, she never could resist a compliment, especially from her teacher.
"After Jin left his village he joined forces with this Medic Nin named Sotomura Yoshiro, also a rouge ninja. Yoshiro's practices involved many ideas that went against the Council many years back."
"So then Yoshiro came from Leaf, then?" That was a bit troubling. Sakura always felt a mixture of sadness and terror whenever she heard of a Leaf ninja who had gone rouge.
Kakashi nodded. "You see, this is why we have to consider, however small the possibility, that Kono may not be dead."
"No, he was dead." Sakura said, shaking her head, "Kakashi-sensei, I felt him die, I was the one who gave him the killing blow."
Kakashi nodded, his lone eye seemed almost melancholic at her last words. "That may be Sakura, but Sotomura was no ordinary Medic; similar to Orochimaru, he liked to use live test subjects for his medical ventures. However unlike the Snake-Sennin, Sotomura was more obsessed with death and dying than he was about immortality." Kakashi sat down upon the edge of the bed.
"Apparently, before he left, he had told the Council that he was steps away from the creation of a jutsu that could bring the dead back to life." Sakura's mouth fell open. This could not be happening to her. No, not again. Cold fear swam in her gut; the idea that his man—this Kono Jin—was still alive somewhere was almost unthinkable. Suddenly, she was having trouble breathing.
"No," bringing her knees up to her chest, Sakura began hugging them slowly—as if she didn't even realize she was doing it—then she began to rock back and forth, "He has to be dead."
"Easy Sakura." Kakashi said, "I know this isn't easy for you, and many in the Council feel it's better that you and Sasuke don't know about this. However, I feel that if he is alive then your best chance is to be informed quickly, that way you can protect yourself."
"What am I suppose to do?"
But Kakashi held up a hand to silence her, "We'll get to that later. First, I wanted to give you some background about your attacker."
Sakura took a deep breath. Kakashi was trusting her by giving her this information. She really was a ninja in his eyes, however young she might be. She couldn't go and blow his trust by acting like a child. And as a ninja she needed to take responsibility: and now was the perfect time to do it! Besides Kakashi was still her teacher, he was going to help protect her, right?
"Jin is known to come back and extract his revenge. The three people in his village that he killed were his parents and younger brother. It was said that after killing his parents he accidentally let his younger brother live. Despite the fact that people were already looking for him for their murder he came back to his village and finished off his brother."
Sakura tried to stay calm. Was any of this information supposed to make her feel better? She shook her head, there probably was a reason Kakashi was delving into these details about her attacker. She had to trust her teacher and press on and just keep listening. However difficult it was getting.
"I'm telling you this because in the event that Sotomura somehow managed to bring Kono back to life you can be certain that he will come after both you and Sasuke."
"That's right." Kakashi paused at her interruption, and Sakura knew her strangely calm tone must have alarmed him. Still she continued. "Before he was about to kill me he told me that he had a ninja way, and that it was to always fight to the death." For a moment, Kakashi was silent; Sakura too was just staring at the loose thread at the corner of the hospital sheet. It was then that her parents' faces popped into her head.
"What about my parents?"
Kakashi nodded. "That was the next thing I wanted to talk to you about." Sakura nodded patiently, though inside her growing adrenaline was beginning to make her feel restless.
"In the event that Kono has come back from the dead I would like both you and Sasuke to come and stay with me for awhile. I will talk to your parents if they are unwillingly." She had figured he would say something like that. Live with Kakashi-sensei? Well, it was probably the safest thing to do; there was no way she was going to put her parents at risk. And Sasuke lived all by himself, perhaps it would be a better idea for him to go and stay with someone for awhile, especially because he would now have to adjust to living with only one eye. Who better than to teach him, than Kakashi?
"Okay," Sakura said when she realized his eye was upon her. Then her thoughts dwelt on Sasuke. Sasuke was so stubborn; she couldn't see him agreeing to this.
"What about Sasuke-kun, do you think he'll really agree to something like this?"
"Leave Sasuke to me, he'll come around."
Sakura felt slightly depressed. How was she going to be able to look at Sasuke again without being drowned in shame? All that had happened to him was entirely her fault. Then her eyes lit up. The pouch! Wasn't there a way to reattach his eye? She must have read that somewhere, otherwise she wouldn't have made sure she grabbed it before she lost consciousness.
"Kakashi-sensei, before I lost consciousness I took a pouch off of Kono's dead body." Kakashi was looking at her intently now.
"You see," Sakura stuttered; this was going to be hard. "Kono, um, when Kono was removing Sasuke-kun's—" Sakura looked away, before she made herself continue. "Well, he placed Sasuke-kun's eye in that pouch."
"I see," Kakashi nodded, "Hmm, and you are wondering about the possibility of future reattachment?"
"Well yes," Sakura suddenly felt more confident, "I mean it is possible, isn't it Kakashi-sensei?"
Again Kakashi nodded, but he wasn't looking at her, his lone eye seemed lost in thought.
"The surgeon who performed the reattachment in my case was a very powerful Medic Nin, one of the legendary Sennin to be correct."
"You mean Tsunade-sama?" Of course Sakura had read about her, she was the greatest Medic Nin Konoha had ever had. Sakura wondered how she compared to Sotomura Yoshiro.
"Well, Tsunade-sama hasn't been in this village for, oh about thirteen years now?"
"But if we could somehow make contact with her—"
"I would think she would come and perform the procedure."
Sakura released a breath. Perhaps Sasuke would be able to fully recover after all.
"Absolutely not." Sasuke's harsh tone seemed to ricochet off of the surrounding walls of the hospital room. "I take care of myself."
"Aw, come on teme! It would only be until that bastard finally gets killed." Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's overly hopeful look.
"Look if that guy wants to find me, then he can come and find me, but I am not going to hide at Kakashi-sensei's place; I don't care who the hell this guy is. Besides I've fought him before, now I have an advantage, he won't be able to pull the same tricks he did the first time around."
Sakura's face fell; she knew it would be too much for Sasuke's pride to handle. Naruto seemed to notice Sakura's sudden change of mood. Suddenly, he jumped up, and shoved his face against Sasuke's.
"Dammit, teme!" Naruto hissed, "Stop fucking thinking about yourself for a minute and think about Sakura; she doesn't want you to die, bastard!"
Sasuke suddenly looked livid. Sakura looked away uncomfortably; she knew that she was probably the last thing he wanted to think about.
"Naruto. get. the. hell. away," Sasuke's glare was almost chilling. "So you think if I fight him again I'm going to die, is that it?" Even Naruto was starting to look uncomfortable, perhaps he hadn't realized he was offending Sasuke as much as he apparently had.
Sasuke finally tore his gaze away from Naruto. Sakura had to look down at the floor because Sasuke had turned his head to the left and all she could see was those bandages rapping across his face and over his eye. She had put those bandages there. She couldn't even bring herself to apologize; it didn't feel right somehow.
"What, now you think I am too weak to take him on?" Sasuke was again trying to stare Naruto down. Sakura had never seen him this livid.
"That's not what I meant, bastard!"
"Then just what the hell did you mean?"
"I just, um, you know, just thought that it would make Sakura feel better, that's all."
"Just shut up," Sasuke turned away again. For a fraction of a second, Sakura saw a glint of despair in Sasuke's dark eye, before it narrowed again in anger.
She hadn't expected it would be this hard for her team. And this too was her fault. Gods, if only she hadn't been so stupid, so immature to take off like that by herself. But, she was different now! If only she could make them all see it. In fact, Sasuke didn't have to do this to appease her fear; no, she wanted him to do this for the sole fact that it might save his life.
Then she paused in her thoughts: did she really believe that Sasuke couldn't handle himself anymore—wasn't capable of protecting himself—now that he had lost an eye? Well, he was visually disabled, however partially, so perhaps she should feel those things? But, it felt wrong somehow. She knew Sasuke would rather die than have people believe that he was weak, and that he would continue to be weak for the rest of his life because of his new condition. Hell, if she was in Sasuke's place she would feel the same.
"Look, bastard," Naruto began again, though this time he seemed to get a brilliant idea, "It would only be 'til this Tsunade can come and help you reattach that eye—"
"What!"
Sasuke's tone made Naruto stop dead mid sentence. Sakura held her breath; she wanted to kill Naruto for telling Sasuke about that now of all times. Dammit, if only she hadn't told him, then his loudmouth wouldn't have blabbed to Sasuke.
"So that's it, you think just because I can't see out of one eye that I won't be able to fight?!" Sasuke was all but yelling now. Sakura had never seen him show much more than indifference. She was a bit taken aback, in all honesty. He must be really taking this bad.
"Well what the hell am I supposed to think, bastard?!" Naruto looked like he hit his breaking point, "You have only got one eye! You can't see as well anymore, don't you fucking get it?!"
Sasuke was breathing heavily. His dark eye a violent torrent of emotion: anger, accusation, frustration, and was there also fear, sadness and uncertainty?
Sasuke shut his eye tight, his hands gripping the sheets making his already pale fingers look just as white as the hospital bedding.
"Just get the fuck out." He whispered.
Naruto was still fuming. Without another word, he pushed himself off of Sasuke's bed and stormed out of the door.
Sakura was still sitting in the chair next to the bed. She looked at Sasuke, but he still remained the same, his eye held tightly shut.
"You too Sakura," he whispered. Sakura nodded, even though he couldn't see her. Slowly she got up from her chair, still looking over at Sasuke as she headed for the door in case he wanted her to stay. But, Sasuke never called her back.
A/N: Anyways this story is still in development so I would be very curious on people's opinions so far :)