Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Shippuuden, or any settings, characters, plot/ideas, etc. All respectively belong to Kishimoto-sensei.

Warnings: possible slightly OOC Sasuke, creepy murderous Madara(!)

Setting: Madara's hideout; then, Konoha hospital, during the Fourth Great Ninja War

Note: If anyone reads anything controversial here, it's mainly because I wasn't sure of the details at the time I wrote this... and I don't feel like changing it now, so whatever.

The Eyes of an Angel

Sasuke was sitting on a bedspread in Madara's hideout; his eyes were covered with bandages, as he hadn't yet fully recovered from the transplant. He now had Itachi's eyes... which also meant that he had the EMS... the only real problem would have had to be the fact that he still wouldn't be able to use his eyes for another few months, at the very least.

"Madara... when can I leave this place?" snapped the endlessly impatient teen.

Madara walked back in; he'd just received a report on events from White Zetsu. "Soon, Sasuke... very soon. You need to learn the importance of patience, my young friend."

"Don't call me your friend. And you may want to try keeping this in mind... patience is NOT a virtue of mine." Sasuke scowled.

Madara chuckled. "Ohh, of course not; of course not."

Sasuke stayed quiet this time... he'd been getting a strange feeling about something for almost a week now, but try as he might, he couldn't quite put his finger on what was supposedly coming their way.

Madara, meanwhile, was oblivious to Sasuke's silent musings as he prepared another supply of weapons—exploding tags, summoning scrolls, and the like, for his army. I'll simply send a clone or something out to deliver all this, he thought to himself lazily.

Naruto and Killer Bee rushed, fighting their way through Konoha and Kumo shinobi until they reached the edge of the island.

"From here on out, it's nothin' but water to the fight! Remember that motherfucka', a'ight?"

"Dude, I'm no idiot, dattebayo!" Naruto retorted.

The rest of their travels across the water were, needless to say, quite (shockingly) quiet—as Killer Bee apparently no longer saw fit to speak to Naruto for the time being.

Back at the battle:

Pretty much the entire Joint Shinobi Army was scrambled all over the place among the Zetsus and revived souls, fighting their own respective battles, and so on, and so on.

Ino had gotten separated from Shikamaru and Choji in the confusion.

I've gotta find somewhere safe to take cover from these damn things! They're everywhere! She looked around... that is, until she spotted a tunnel of sorts. "Ah-ha!"

Unbeknownst to her, however, was the fact that at the other end of the tunnel she'd found... was the one person she never thought she'd see again... in a position she'd never before thought possible. She decided to run for it, darting in between enemies she didn't know... until she dove in.

Ino sighed in relief. "That... was close... too close...!" She was a little out of breath—though it was more from nervousness than actual exhaustion.

"Huh?" Her eyes snapped open; she'd suddenly picked up a chakra she hadn't sensed in at least three years... and it was weaker than it should've been.

She ran, following it until she reached a big, dark room, on the other side of which sat a figure on a mattress.

"I wonder who...?" She thought aloud by mistake.

The figure turned its head to look at her...

Ino shook her head, a bit confused. It's a guy... about my age, maybe...? What's with his eyes...? Can he not see?

It was the figure's turn to be surprised. "Wait... I recognize this... it can't be."

"...! That voice... it... I... Is it you... Sasuke?" Ino was clearly at a loss for words as she cautiously approached the figure on the mattress; now, as she got closer, she realized that it was Sasuke. "...is it really you?"

Sasuke was shocked, to say the least. "It... no...! I-I..." He was a bit flustered at the nervous questioning, though he couldn't figure out why.

Ino walked until she was standing right next to his bed before she crouched down to his level and reached out a hand gently for his cheek.

He flinched at her touch, and turned away from her. "L-leave... now."

Ino's hand froze just a few centimeters from his cheek. "Sasuke-kun, I'm not Karin. I actually do care about you as a friend."

Sasuke froze this time, and just let her rest her warm hand on his surprisingly cold cheek.

"Sasuke... who...? When...? How...?"

He could tell—she was too shocked by his appearance to form sentences at the moment.

...and yet, he felt it—almost like a need to do it... so, he told her...

Everything.

All about his clan being massacred; the real culprits behind the conspiracy... his revenge gone awry, and Itachi's true reasoning... Madara being overly controlling, and about Madara's plans... even how he'd eventually realized that Madara had been brainwashing him into thinking that destroying Konoha was the right choice, when it obviously wasn't.

And now... now, Ino also knew that when the bandages came off, the eyes that would look at her—or anyone, for that matter—would be Itachi's eyes as well.

Sasuke would have looked at her sadly, were it not for the bandages. "Ino... I'm sorry to bombard you with all of this..."

"No, Sasuke... no!" And at that, she pulled him into a hug. "I... I understand... I know how it feels when only one parent cares... My mom was the same way... before she left for Iwa. So I basically grew up with just my dad."

Sasuke unconsciously leaned into the hug a bit, not saying a word.

Madara found them like this. "Well, well... if it isn't a little Konoha kunoichi, ne? Where'd you find this one, Sasuke?" He laughed coldly.

Sasuke scowled. Damn! How could I not have even sensed his presence? Then, he whispered so only she could hear him, "I-Ino...! You need to leave... now!"

Ino was surprised—she could've sworn his voice was laced with some kind of concern.

"Ino! Go, now!" His whisper was a little coarser this time, and she flinched.

Madara started laughing a bit more, still just as coldly. "Well? What're you gonna do, girlie? Save the blind kid or save yourself?" He was throwing weapons around at random.

At one point, Ino was expecting to get hit... but nothing touched her.

When she looked up, surprised... she was even more surprised to find what she thought was a force field around her and Sasuke—and then she realized that it wasn't a force field, but a jutsu that Sasuke was using.

"S-Sasuke...?"

Sasuke would've been looking her in the eye. "Ino... I told you to leave. The sooner you leave, the sooner he'll stop."

Ino glanced back at Madara for a split second. "Ah! Sasuke... something's telling me he's not gonna stop till he either gets what he wants, or is killed! ...but somehow I doubt anyone could kill a monster like him." She shuddered at her own words.

Sasuke quickly and silently summoned a cat.

"Denka!" He whispered its name.

"Nyaa~?" The cat looked up at him.

"Get her out of here. Take her to Neko-baa."

"Right, nya~!" Denka grabbed Ino's hand in his little paw, and both disappeared in a cloud of smoke before Ino could argue.

Naruto was busy destroying White Zetsu clones when he just froze.

"Yo, wha's'a'matta'?" Killer Bee yelled, worried, as he ran to defend his fellow Jinchûriki.

After a moment, Naruto came back to reality. "Dude! Somethin's wrong! Sorry... I'll leave ya wit' some clones for backup—I gotta go! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A few clones were left in the real Naruto's place, as promised, as the real one ran in a direction with which he was unfamiliar—and yet, he was absolutely sure, was the right way.

Sasuke was about ready to be attacked by Madara (considering the fact that he couldn't see)... when he heard a crash and a loud yell.

"Sasukeeeeeeee!" A familiar, loud blonde ninja burst in through a Rasengan-induced hole in the wall of the hideout, and jumped in front of Sasuke's bed, proceeding to fight off Madara somewhat successfully.

Naruto threw some punches, a quick Rasengan here and there, or summoned a few clones... he could've given Madara a run for his money—

—had it not been for Madara's transparency technique. Madara was dodging a significant amount of Naruto's arsenal, no thanks to that specialty of his.

Sasuke could only listen to the hits being delivered... until a clone grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up.

"I'd best get you out'a here... this place might collapse soon," it had said.

Sasuke had only nodded and let the clone lead him to safety about a hundred meters away just as the hideout blew up in a tornado of wind style chakra, and the real Naruto was sent flying.

"AAAAARGHHH—oofhh!" He landed in a tree just a little ways away from them.

Sasuke sighed; he wasn't surprised at all by this. "Naruto... let me guess. You want me to come home with you after the war is over?"

Said blonde fox popped down out of the tree he currently hung in, a wide, goofy grin on his face. "Duuuude~ how'd ya know?"

Sasuke sighed a second time. "You're all too predictable."

Naruto grinned more sheepishly this time, and in the process lost all concentration, falling out of the tree as the clone near Sasuke disappeared.

The war wasn't quite over yet... but a certain Uchiha was back home in Konoha—though still blind and, consequently, stuck in the hospital.

On the other hand, he thought, being blind might not be so bad, if it only lasts for another few months... I'll enjoy seeing her again even more. He was taken care of by nurses, of course... but... there was one, much more important person than any of them there who took care of him better than any nurse could.

Her name was Yamanaka Ino...

...and he was hoping to soon get the opportunity to ask her to be his girlfriend.

They had spent most of their time together lately during hospital visiting hours... and, since he still couldn't see, she (funny enough) would sometimes read the newspaper to him. And, of course, they would talk...

But for some reason, he couldn't gather up the courage to ask her the most important question on his mind—the one he most wanted an answer to. Not "who's doing well on the war front?" or "who's low on supplies", or what have you...

I want to ask her to be mine... but... how...? He pondered curiously to himself as he ate his lunch one day.

Ino knocked on the door suddenly, catching him off guard.

"Oh~ sorry, Sasuke." She chuckled as she replaced some wilted daffodils with a new bouquet.

He laughed a bit along with her. "No, no... it's perfectly fine, Ino."

"...you seem troubled about something...?"

"Huh?" Sasuke turned his head in her direction, a bit confused.

"I asked if you're troubled. I mean... I dunno... something seems to be bothering you today, Sasuke." Ino was fidgeting in her chair nervously.

Sasuke sighed quietly; it was his way to calm his nerves when they started getting out of control. "Ino... I... I've been, uhh... wondering, for... awhile now..."

"Y-yeah, Sasuke? What is it?" She looked curiously at him; he could feel it.

"I... well... Ino... would-you-consider-being-my-girlfriend!" He stuttered quickly. He apparently wasn't as calm as he'd thought he was.

"Uhh... what...?"

He aimed his nose at the floor; then repeated, a little quieter this time: "...would you consider... being my... g-girlfriend...?"

"O-oh! S-Sasuke... I... I don't know..." Ino turned as red as a tomato.

"What... you don't have to be kind about it, if you don't like me, just say it..."

"What're you talking about? I never said that! I just... well, I was gonna say... you know, with the war, and the village, economy, and family businesses and such... I'd like to, don't get me wrong, but maybe we could wait till after all this is sorted out...?"

Sasuke looked up, surprised, but content. "Al... alright." He nodded. "Sounds good to me."

So... they had an agreement.

And until then...

His first thoughts on Ino, every day, would be:

"She has the eyes of an angel... if she can see good in me."

...TO BE CONTINUED...

Maybe XD