Chapter 2: Rash Decisions

With a sigh, Sakura lay her head back down on her pillow after telling her teacher what had happened and waited for Tsunade's tirade to begin. As the silence continued to draw out, Sakura's anxiety only continued to grow. She knew that an explosion from her teacher was not only inevitable, but well deserved. However, the silence was killing her.

"Sakura," Tsunade calmly began, "that was over a week ago."

Sakura's stomach dropped as she absorbed the implications of that simple statement. A week? I've been out for over a week? "How did I end up here? When I passed out, I was alone and that kunoichi had left me for dead."

"Sakura, before we get into that, there are a few things you need to know first."

"Okay…" Sakura was really starting to get worried now. Her teacher was definitely not the most tactful person she knew, so for her to dance around a subject like she was doing now was a serious cause for concern.

"When Kakashi and the rest of the squad found you, the corrupted chakra had already infiltrated your eyes, optic nerves and began seeping into your brain," Tsunade explained slowly. "Hinata attempted to heal you, but she just didn't have the skills to perform such a delicate procedure in the field.

"Kakashi then made the decision to abandon the mission to get you back to the village, and back to me, as swiftly as possible in order to save your life."

Sakura winced at this revelation. They had failed. It was all her fault. She ignored her mission objective and compromised the whole operation. Once again, she had failed miserably. Sasuke was gone again, and now there was no hope of finding him.

"However," Tsunade interrupted her self-flagellation, "as the squad was on it's way back to the village, they encountered two extremely strong chakra signatures. It was determined that they belonged to Itachi and Sasuke. Upon further investigation with Hinata's byakugan, it was revealed that Itachi and Sasuke were locked in fierce battle not far from where you were found. As the team travelled, it was determined that if you all had kept your current direction, the whole squad would intercept the brothers."

Sakura's breath caught. She couldn't dare to hope that somehow, some way, a miracle had occurred to set everything right. Afraid to make a single sound in case she would distract her teacher and she'd stop talking, Sakura held her breath and awaited the rest of the mission report.

"Kakashi made the call to intercept them, sending a secondary team - consisting of Hinata, Sai, and Pakkun – ahead with you to get you here first. However, before your team could split off, Hinata realized that not only was the fight over, but the sole survivor had been rendered unconscious."

"Sole survivor?" Sakura whispered. "Who was it?"

A long silence followed Sakura's whispered question. As the seconds ticked on, her breathing started to quicken. Panic began to grip her as she dreaded her teacher's next words.

"Sasuke. Sasuke finally killed Itachi Uchiha."

Her breath leaving her lungs in one fell swoop, she began to feel light-headed as she tried to wrap her head around that one single name. Sasuke. Sasuke survived. Sasuke defeated Itachi. Sasuke finally obtained his goal. He could finally come home.

"Once Hinata relayed the information that Itachi was dead and Sasuke was unconscious, Kakashi once again changed the plan and everyone went to apprehend Sasuke and bring Itachi's body back with you."

"So Sasuke's back? He's in the village? When can I see him?" Sakura couldn't contain her joy. Sasuke was finally home! Her miracle had actually happened.

"That's where things get complicated." Tsunade shifted on the bed and Sakura's back stiffened. "He's currently being held in interrogation until he can provide enough evidence to the council that he has no intention of betraying the village again and that he'd be an asset to keep around, rather than a liability."

Her words put Sakura on edge. "He's in prison? For what? Leaving the village? He just took down not only Itachi Uchiha, enemy of the state number one, but Orochi-freaking-maru, the man responsible for so much destruction and the assassination of the third Hokage." Sakura was vehement in her defense of her old teammate. "Sasuke isn't a criminal, he's a HERO!"

"SAKURA!" Tsunade bellowed, snapping her out of her rabid tirade, "what he has done for the village doesn't negate the fact that he not only abandoned it to begin with, but he attempted to harm shinobi from our village as well."

With a deep sigh, Sakura calmed down a little to allow Tsunade to finish telling her everything that had happened while she had been unconscious.

"Anyway, when Kakashi's squad came upon the battle scene, Itachi was well and truly dead, Sasuke was severely injured and unconscious, and your condition was starting to severely decline. In a rash, heat of the moment decision, Kakashi decided on a course of action that has made my life living hell. The amount of paperwork sitting on my desk because of his stupid impulse is staggering."

Sakura was starting to get scared again. "What did he do?"

With another heavy sigh, Tsunade shifted and grabbed Sakura's right hand. "Sakura, has Kakashi ever told you how he got his sharingan?"

Confused by the sudden change of subject, Sakura could only nod her head in affirmation. "Yes. He told me once that when he was a chuunin, he was on a squad with an Uchiha who was killed. Before his teammate died, he ripped his own eye out and gave it to Kakashi to compensate for the fact that Kakashi had been blinded in one eye due to his teammates careless actions." Sakura paused for a moment. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Sakura, Kakashi decided that the only way to save your life was to completely eliminate the invasive chakra corrupting you. The only way to do that was to remove your tainted eyes."

With a sharp gasp, Sakura reached her left hand up to touch the dressings covering her eyes. "You mean I'm blind?" She whispered in despair. Her entire life just shattered. All of her hopes and future aspirations were now scattered to the wind. All of her hard work, all for nothing. Her career as a kunoichi, gone.

"No, Sakura," Tsunade interrupted, "I don't mean you're blind. I mean he replaced your corrupted eyes with ones that were untainted."

Silence descended upon the room as Tsunade allowed Sakura a minute to try to piece together the implications of her words.

"Shishou." Sakura's voice trembled as she asked, "Whose eyes did he replace mine with?"

"Itachi Uchiha's."

X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X

Thanks again for taking the time to read my story. I promise it'll pick up soon and the twists and turns (as well as some good old fashioned sasusaku fluffiness) will begin. please leave a review and tell me what you think.