So yeah… It wasn't a one-shot… Think should make it a 2 or 3 shot… ? I've got way too many projects going on to do much more than that don't you think?
Part 2: Condition of the Condition
Hyuuga Jin leaned against the wall of the hospital room, ignoring what civilians would consider 'excruciating' pain. A piece of his leg was hanging open, so he absently supposed they would have ample excuse to be on the verge of passing out. Did he also mention that his shin was shattered.
As a Hyuuga, Jin was beyond embarrassed at the damage, since it could very well have been avoided. His doujutsu was supposed to make the success rate of the attack that had caught him null and void. If only he hadn't been caught very slightly off guard by pink.
Sakura.
It had been the blossom, floating harmlessly from the branch the wind had blown it off of, that made him think of the woman.
However, as a red-blooded, heterosexual, healthy male, Jin was grinning inside. Any excuse to use Room 1007, provided he wasn't so injured that he could not get to watch the pretty doctor work, was an excuse he would take. So his injured leg was accepted with ease. His teammates had been skeptical of his lack of a sour mood after being caught with such a basic ninjutsu, but Jin had ignored them.
He was going to really ask her out one of these days.
It wasn't as if he repulsed her… Far from, because he knew for a fact that she was attracted… at least he hoped so.
The way her fingers brushed his skin when she healed him, or the way she leaned in closer, or how she smiled warmly when she saw him… that couldn't possibly be only their doctor-patient relationship, could it? Jin quelled the uncharacteristic nervousness in his chest by giving it a firm thump with his fist.
He pushed the red button on the wall.
He hoped she would hurry. He really didn't want to lose so much blood that he would be prevented from thinking clearly when she arrived.
For the first time, Itachi remembered very clearly what was plaguing him, and as he surged up towards her, Itachi stared his illness in her shocked, concerned green eyes.
It had all been about Sakura.
And even as he came to a stop, the realization stunning him beyond anything he'd ever encountered, his hair loosed from its tie, his breathing erratic and his heart beating overtime, there was one though resounding in his head.
'Kami, I want to kiss her.'
Her hands were pressed against his chest, her eyes wide, and her lips parted. Their eyes met and held, and Itachi found himself in a really strange position.
On one hand, he'd ignored some very important details pertaining to his condition, because he'd simply not wanted to consider that they might be pertinent. On the other hand, he couldn't decide if he wanted to be anywhere but here, or if he wanted to be nowhere else but here.
Seeing Sakura dance on a table at Sasuke's party was not something he had enjoyed seeing, that much was true, but Itachi had failed to consider why he never wanted to see her do such a thing again. He was decidedly displeased with the thought of men looking on and seeing her. Lusting after her. Wanting her.
Hating the hospital was something that had always been a part of Itachi, however, ever since that mission he'd had a much more vehement aversion to the place. Because as an Uchiha, and the heir at that, the chance that the best medic available would be set on his case was almost one hundred percent... And the best available medic would be either Sakura or Tsunade. So that meant he'd have a fifty percent chance of being operated on by Sakura.
If he had not found himself lying in his room that night, staring blankly at the ceiling as his mind recounted - ad nauseam - the image of her gyrating hips, toned arms and slightly parted lips that his Sharingan had inadvertently captured, then Itachi might not have so great an issue. However, the Uchiha heir could not abide by the thought that his failures (any injury whatsoever) in battle would be revealed to the object of his… momentary fixation.
Well… it had been more than momentary if he were to be honest… because Itachi had found himself staring at his little brother and wondering if Sasuke had seen anything of the like from his teammate before… How much had Sasuke seen?
And his heart would start beating overtime as somewhere in his subconscious mind he imagined…
"Are you alright?" Sakura was asking, her hand sliding from his chest to his neck. She was no longer focusing on his eyes, her eyes instead canvassing his heaving chest and the pulse beating in his throat.
His imagination had always been his greatest strength, and also his greatest weakness.
"You have your Sharingan on," Sakura continued. "Do you remember anything from your dream? What was happening?" Her questions could be answered, but Itachi found himself beyond reluctant. No, he very plainly was not the least bit inclined to truthfully answer her. How could he tell her that the reason his Sharingan was on was because…
Heat burned the base of his neck.
"Ach," Sakura muttered, her lower lip pulling in between her teeth. "You're getting flushed, and your body is getting warmer, but I can't seem to determine anything being wrong with you physically," she said, her brows pulling together.
Did she really have to do that? Itachi found himself wanting to bite that lower lip of hers too. Trying to catch and control his thoughts, Itachi looked away sharply. So… apparently there was nothing wrong with him apart from an unhealthy attraction to his little brother's ex-teammate.
He doubted it could stay at attraction. For an Uchiha, love was a curse, and this blasted human failing had snuck up on him while he'd fancied himself impervious. Ever since he'd found out about the family curse, and seen it materialize with his very own eyes, Itachi had vowed not to be wasted in such a way. The unending pit of depression after the death of a dearly loved one was not attractive in any way shape or form for Itachi, and so he'd closed himself off. Completely.
But as it had before, his body failed his mind. And as they said, one rotten apple in a basket can ruin the whole lot. And that one little failing had eating its way into his mind. Quietly like the shinobi he was.
He was just a man.
He was just a man that had been alone for far too long, since he did not want to chance developing feelings for anyone through any contact outside of business. In fact, he saw pretty much every woman as someone with a probability of being a black pit of depression, especially if they were weak.
Wait.
Was that why he was attracted to Sakura?
When had this even started?
She used to be an absolute ninny in the old days. A source of amusement and veiled disgust for him, even. But then, after Sasuke's near complete defection after a harsh episode with the Uchiha elders, Sakura had completely changed. Well, over time, in any case. Then, when Sasuke had advanced physically beyond her and beyond Naruto mentally, and had gone on to become an ANBU before them, Sakura changed even further.
Then Jiraiya, the Sannin, had come to Konoha and took Naruto away for training after the death of the Sandaime. Sakura had then been taken under the wing of the Godaime. Itachi had not considered the damage to himself when Sakura started training with Shisui from time to time. Which meant he had a chance to see her becoming stronger. The change hadn't been too drastic. She wasn't exactly a prodigy by his standards, after all.
He hadn't had much to do with her, because he hadn't even noticed that her very gradual changes had been changing him too. And so he'd never even actively considered, consciously that is, that he might be attracted to Sakura.
Her dancing on the table had only been that very last straw that tipped him over the edge; the tip of the iceberg as it were.
She wasn't as flat-chested and silly as she used to be. She wasn't really flat-chested at all anymore. She certainly wasn't silly. And she most definitely wasn't weak.
Could it be that every time he thought of anything affiliated with her, even in the slightest, his body would react, but the strength of his conscious mind would block any link to her and keep him completely in the dark? Itachi didn't put it past himself.
His body was, after all, in peak, prime condition, and everything functioned perfectly. So it stood to reason that as a red-blooded man, he would react like one. His mind, on the other hand, was admittedly above average, so it was no surprise that it would block certain thoughts completely. That feature had saved him countless times in the past, so it might just have been attempting to save him once more from-
"Uchiha!" Sakura suddenly barked, yanking Itachi's attention firmly back to the present. He blinked at her.
"Hn," he grunted. She was so… easy with him. Did he not make her the slightest bit unsettled? He didn't want to be comfortable for her.
Not at all.
"Your heartbeat is back to normal." Sakura said the words, conscious that Itachi was still not giving her his full attention. Her tone was not as relieved as it should have been, because Sakura hated being ignored more than anything, and she'd gotten pretty used to her words being heeded, and rightfully so. She'd earned that much.
Just because he was a prodigy didn't give him any right to-
'Slow down, Pinky,' her Inner interjected.
Right.
He'd just woken up from a terrible nightmare. Sakura had seen the effects of those enough in her field of work.
'He still has his Sharingan on,' she noted with more sympathy than before. Sakura heaved a small sigh.
"The only medical condition that's standing out for me based on your symptoms is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since you are having troubles remembering the dreams I'll do a few more tests later in the week to figure out what triggers the heart palpitations," she continued, rising to standing position.
She looked down at the flashing pager she had in her left hand. Room 1007.
"For the time being, I'll have to go back to the hospital. I've received an urgent page." Funny how he snapped to attention when she said she was leaving. Sakura turned and picked up the coat and leg warmers she'd taken off earlier.
"What… am I supposed to do?" he asked, his voice sounding like dark chocolate. Sakura hated that one of her absolute eargasm inducing sounds was the sound of a man's deep voice when he just woke up. She paused, bending over still as she prepared to put the left leg warmer on.
She clenched her teeth against her inner fangirl. Instead, she straightened and placed her right hand on her hip and stared down at Itachi.
"Go back to sleep. I'll alter the medication and put some herbs that calm the mind in. I'm also going to give you a herbal tea to help you to be calm enough to meditate easier. I'd give you one of the pills but…" she paused, her gaze raking over his figure with grudging appreciation. Instead of continuing, she put the leg warmers on and shrugged on her coat.
"But?" he in that sinful voice after watching her expectantly, one dark eyebrow rising. Sakura turned back to face him and offered a quick, respectful grin.
"But your body is in such exemplar condition I can't bear to sully it with pharmaceuticals," she admitted. Before he could responded, Sakura performed the seal for a Shunshin no Jutsu and reappeared at the Konoha hospital.
Jin looked up when Sakura entered the room.
"Konbanwa," he said on a gasp. The pain had caught up with him. "Took you long enough…" he grumbled. She stalked purposefully towards him and helped him to the cot.
"Sorry about that, Jin-kun," she said sweetly, giving him an apologetic smile that was illuminated only by the moonlight coming into the room. "Someone added a patient to the list," she said, her annoyance evident in her tone. Jin grunted in sympathy.
"How many do you have now?" he asked as she helped him lie down.
"Tch. Don't even ask," she groused. She left his side before he had a chance to stop her, and turned on the room light. So much for… whatever he'd been planning. She didn't freak out, laugh, or tease him for his injury - something that Jin really admired in her, because it was a tendency with people to do stuff like that when they became close enough to a person.
"Am I allowed to ask how you happened to get this injury on an A-rank mission, Jin?" she asked. Jin felt his heart clench. She'd said his name without the honorific.
"You can ask, but there I won't promise to answer," he responded smoothly, flinching as she removed the cloth of his pants from the gaping wound on his leg.
"Too embarrassing?" she asked, her voice level. She was actually not teasing him at all.
"ANBU," he responded just as evenly. She accepted his answer without complaint, and proceeded to tend to his leg. They talked as she worked, most of her contributions, he knew, were to keep him awake.
Roughly half hour later, all that was left of his wound was a pink scar that Sakura promised would fade as soon as the irritated cells healed. He'd gotten his leg ripped apart and his bone shattered for half hour of her time?
The thought didn't sit well with Jin at all.
He stood, testing his leg and found that it was only a little sore at the moment. Sakura eyed her handiwork with satisfaction and grinned at him.
"I'm going off to get some well-needed sleep now, Jin-kun. Make sure you do the same, please, and don't irritate that scar else it will stay there as a testament to your-"
The rest of her words were cut off when Jin's lips crashed against hers.
She tasted like… sweet coffee… and cinnamon. Nice. She stood still with shock for a few seconds before her hand fluttered to his neck and stayed there. Jin pulled her against him, liking the hardness of her kunoichi body. Just because she was the head medic at the Konoha Hospital didn't mean Sakura had gotten soft. At least not overly so like those civilian girls. She felt firm and powerful, and her skin had enough give to make her feel like a woman.
Which made him feel like a man.
He wasn't soft anywhere.
Her lips parted further for him, and when her fingers sunk into his hair, Jin knew that yes, Sakura was definitely attracted. He pulled away, breathing harshly for a moment to connect his pale grey gaze with her dazzling green one.
"Go out with me," he demanded, giving her his best rakish grin. She smirked back at him.
"Ask the citizens of Konoha. My time is not my own," she said cheekily, stepping away. He pulled her back into his arms.
"That's only your on-call time. Give me some of the rest of it, and I'll return the favor," he responded. "We're both shinobi. We know how it is… just… don't make me share." She leaned her head back, but didn't pull away, and gave him an appraising look.
"One kiss and you want to go out? Jin…" she murmured, chuckling a little uneasily. Jin shifted.
"I've liked you a long time… What? You don't want to?" he asked, leaning his face closer to hers. "Even if you say you don't, I won't believe you," he went on, "because you're staring at my lips right now." Sakura gave a short chuckle and looked away.
Cute.
"Alright fine. I like you well enough I suppose…" she murmured grudgingly. Jin raised one brow.
"Accept me better than that. I know you, Sakura," he said, putting emphasis on the words so she would know that… he knew. He knew she was scared of fangirling again like in the old days when Sasuke was all she saw. And she'd been ridiculed for it. However, Jin knew that she was past that, and even if she wasn't, he'd never reject her like Sasuke did. He'd been the one to ask her out, hadn't he? She peered at him searchingly for a moment, before she ducked her head.
"Okay… I'll go out with you," she said. Who knew the mighty fist of Konoha could be this sweet and cute? Jin waited until she looked up at him again before he pressed his lips to hers again.
And he hoped the Uchiha at the window fully noted that Sakura was no longer up for grabs.
Nerp… this isn't feeling like a 2 or 3 shot either. I'm doomed.
Anyway, please review.
