Disclaimer: No owning done here. It is a SakuraItachi fic, but I need to develop more with each person before moving onto how Itachi comes into the mix. Please be patient with me, lime warning for chapter. Starts in Kakashi POV.
Healing
By: Apherion
Chapter 2: Cumulative Risks
He watched her as he wrung out the cloth for the umpteenth time. He gently patted at the sweat rising over her brow. A coma for sixteen days, a blistering fever at one hundred and three point five Fahrenheit, and to top it off, she had somehow sustained an internal wound that was months old and improperly healed. It was as if she didn't know about it. The ultimate cause of her condition went almost completely to the scarring tissue causing her high fever.
Medics couldn't undergo surgery with her because the scarring tissue was too near a vital artery and organ. If they had done surgery, Sakura had a little chance of survival, as well as the fact that she could possibly stay in a coma forever if the surgery was to happen. Tsunade would never risk the life of her favorite kunoichi and surrogate daughter.
His hands had turned raw red, and he was running on pure chakra alone to keep his eyes open. He hadn't slept but twice—getting less than an hour's sleep of the two times—since she had gone under. He was determined to be awake when she came back to consciousness, if she came back that is. He had lost Rin to the hospital as well, hence his thorough dislike for them. Anyone would hate them if they stole your first love away.
A nurse came in at that moment.
"How long do you think she'll stay like this?" He asked. The nurse knew of their relationship and how long Sakura had been gone.
"Please, do her a favor and just leave." The woman was kind, but she had a biting edge to her words. Her name evaded him.
"Kakashi, sir, I know that I'm just a nurse, but do you have any idea why she left? It would be better for the two of you if you left before she woke. She would much rather see friends than foes, I'm afraid." Kinaki, he suddenly remembered was her name.
"I'm staying; I think it would be good for us to see one another." His tone was hard, but Kinaki wasn't backing down.
"I will have security remove you. You haven't slept. I've seen you here. Day in and day out, eyes shut not once. As a nurse, I will admit you to this hospital for lacking of taking care of yourself. If my threats do not scare you, then I will involve Madame Tsunade and she will put an end to this." For the first time, he felt heated embarrassment fill his cheeks with her fiery words.
"Why did she leave on that mission to begin with?" Once he had regained his composure.
"Why…she left…let's see if I can do an exact impression so that you can get a full-view on how much it killed her." Kinaki adjusted her throat, and spoke in Sakura's voice quite well.
"'That was cruel…so cruel…I wanted to give him everything…he just shoves it back in my face…I-I'll be strong' she broke down in sobs at that point," Kinaki said, but once more put on Sakura's voice.
"'I'm leaving tonight…the mission could take twelve years…that's enough time…plenty enough time…maybe I'll move on by then,'" Kinaki stopped for a moment and looked at him. "You see, she left because of you. She went looking for the longest mission on the board and seized it, attempting to escape from the thought of you." His mind reeled, had she really left because of him? Had he really been that mean?
He would never admit it to Kinaki as she grinned evilly as she escorted him out of the room, but yes, he had been wrong. He just had no idea the depth of Sakura's love for him.
As he walked down the corridor to exit the hospital, he could hear Sakura's pleadings for him to reconsider.
Bleary eyes opened, strained and weary. They closed rapidly to shut out the offensive luminescence from above. A hand twitched, straightened at her side. A toe wiggled to siphon off the nitrogen building there. She popped her knuckles too. Now the eyes attempted once more to show the world she was awake.
Green orbs surveyed her surroundings, noting that no one was in the room. Her pulse was still at rest, and the machines didn't otherwise let anyone know of her return to consciousness. The steady beep of her pulse was consistent and she'd have liked to hush what was making the noise. Alas, she could not, for the hospital would not be pleased with her.
That's where she was, the hospital, obvious to surmise such a statement. The whitewashed walls, the never-ending pattern of tile on the floor, the plain-Jane nothingness that encroached dreadfully…yeah; this was definitely not her room.
She fell back onto the pillows, watching the ceiling, as if wishing there was something up there to come and retrieve her from the invasive alabaster room. With the thought lingering, she allowed herself to drift into the land of sleep, where dreams were one's guide.
"Kakashi," Luna moaned, twisting her hands in his silver hair. He was tender-headed and had begged her before not to do that—especially during sex. It was distracting. It was nice when she let go; now holding onto his shoulders as he moved in and out of her with a steady rhythm.
She was tight around him, friction increasing with a slight amount of pressure added from the heat. Neither of them said anything now, both so close to the edge of blissful ecstasy. Their breathing shallow and in time with the ebbs and flows of the love-making, Kakashi felt this time was their best together. So in-synch with one another it was unreal to him. It almost felt as though they completed each other in carnal pleasure.
Speaking of which—
His lips were seized with such force as she melted into him and he melted into her, amazingly coming at the same time. He held her face in his hands and kissed her deeply, his tongue swaying experimentally into her mouth, to taste. He brushed away her bangs from her beautiful ocher eyes. Those eyes and the face they were set into smiled hazily. He withdrew from her, throwing the comforter around them.
She snuggled into his sculpted chest and he kissed the top of her head, wrapping an arm around her pale shoulders.
"You are the best thing in my life," she whispered to him, kissing the musculature of his chest. Kakashi said nothing to this, silence winning his battle for the night. He still hadn't recovered fully from staying up with Sakura at the hospital. She probably will never wake up, he thought as he lie there holding Luna. Unable to fight sleep anymore though, his eyelids closed softly over his eyes, and he dreamed of Sakura.
It was approximately a month since she was in a coma, and Sakura was feeling right as rain. As rain is sad and associated with depressive, sleepy, sloth-like behavior, 'right as rain' was a perfect cliché for her. Yet it still got her nowhere.
"Sakura," Tsunade said in a firm, but kind voice. She was Sakura's mother figure, and Tsunade was a wonderful candidate for such a thing—when she wasn't trying to gamble, drink, or do both at the same time, like she was doing now.
"Umm, got any aces?" Tsunade looked at her cards, looked at Sakura, and handed her two. Sakura laid down the 'book' and declared she was the winner for the fifth time in a row. Tsunade had a pink flush filling her cheeks due to the sake she had been—and still is—drinking.
"That's it, I'm done with 'Go Fish,'" she air-quoted the game's name and set the deck on the table. Sakura just waited to hear her orders. She longed to go on another mission. She was never close to a suicide mission, but she liked getting close to them. Besides, what else could the 'S' in 'S ranked Mission' stand for? Nothing, because suicide was the best answer for it; at least one person would be killed on the mission, and the mission didn't guarantee survivors.
"Madame Tsunade," Shizune, a wonderful medic and friend of Sakura's—Tsunade's first apprentice as well—called from the doorway. Tsunade looked up under her blond locks and sized the woman.
"We have a situation," she winked at Tsunade, though Sakura did not see Shizune do this. Tsunade made a face and looked sternly at Sakura. Unknown to Sakura, this was a setup.
"Sakura, I need you to do me a personal favor and get me some of my special sake from the bartender." Sakura scoffed.
"You want me to get your booze to egg on this inebriation?" Tsunade looked at her protégée as if Sakura was mad.
"Yes, I expect you to allow the drunken stupors I put myself in! After all, I am Hokage," she said it as though that settled the matter. "Besides, if you don't do this, then I'm just going to have to find someone else to…"
"No, fine, I'll do it, but if anyone asks me, I'll say I was forced. You were supposed to be in rehab for this shit." Sakura grumbled, bickering like an old hag would if a walk was too far and no youngling helped her out.
"I got out, the whole 'recovering alcoholic' didn't suit me well; I guess you'd say." Tsunade said with a smile. Sakura just pushed past Shizune—who again made a gesture that Sakura was too busy to notice.
"Stupid, idiotic," streams of obscenities fell from Sakura's mouth as she went to Tsunade's specialized bar. "Not in my job description…should still be in rehab…she'll never change…" Sakura continued to mutter insults at her teacher.
She would have to come up with something to get Tsunade back for this. She could, in fact, just take a very long time returning with the drinks. Maybe I can take one myself and say that there was only one bottle, because I know she always gets two. Three if she's feeling puckish.
Nodding, Sakura went into the bar and looked around for the bartender. No one, as though this place had been abandoned a long, long time ago. A shiver snaked its away across her flesh and rippled through every exposed inch of pallor skin. She had the unnerving feeling that she was being watched too.
She walked further into the bar, letting an echo of her 'hello' drown in seconds. It was so strange. It seemed as though the bar was haunted. It gave her the creeps.
"Sakura," a voice stated gently in the awful silence. She yelped leaping back, eyes wide with horror and a hand over her heart. Her breathing quickly turned jagged and she looked like a deer in the headlights.
"Oh…" she breathed, "Genma, thank goodness. It's only you," she smiled weakly, and she felt a head rush thanks to the scare she had received.
"What do you mean 'it's only you'? You'll hurt my feelings Sakura," he said, hugging her like a friend would. It was great to see him and she hugged him back.
"It's just that…this place is so…deserted and…run-down. It gives me the willies," she said and she shivered again to prove her point.
"Yeah, you have goose bumps," Genma said, looking at her up and down. Sakura pulled some of her pink hair in front of her shoulder and began to play with it. Genma hated it when she did that too. Sakura only did it to piss him off anyway.
"Stop that," he hissed, taking her wrist and removing the pink tresses from beneath her fingers. "You're hair is too pretty, don't go making it fall out." He winked at her and Sakura rolled her eyes at the ceiling.
"Superstitious much—my hair isn't going to fall out because I run my hands through it. If that was the case, your hair would be gone by now," Sakura smiled at him and he laughed.
"Ok, ok, fair is fair. Did Tsunade not tell you?" Sakura looked at him with a blank expression. "Yeah, Tsunade opened another bar on the other side of town. I'll be glad to show it to you. You'll like it, I know you will." Sakura's eyes glittered 'sure'.
I should probably talk to her. I really need to explain a few things to her. Explain and mostly apologize to her, she was just a girl when we were together. I feel like a selfish fool.
Kakashi raked his hands through his hair as he sat on the couch, watching the wall. Luna walked through the door, calling out to him from the hallway. He heard her enter the kitchen, and he decided her would follow. She was a great cook. He sat down on one of the barstools and watched her.
Luna's hair was entirely too long, all the way to her knees. It was beautiful though, and Kakashi didn't know her secret to managing it. Her willow-frame curved naturally from breast to hip. Her chest did seem large, but only because her stomach was flat. She was as perfect as any human could get with a nice pale skin tone, amber eyes, and full lips.
She finished putting away the groceries and moved behind him.
"Sweetheart," Luna said, consoling him by rubbing his neck. "What's the matter?" Kakashi looked at her with his obsidian eye. Luna was such a pleasurable woman in and out of bed; Kakashi just shook his head.
"I may have to meet up with someone tomorrow…I need to speak with them." Luna smiled, almost as if she knew who he was going to be seeing. And she was ok with that.
"Take the whole day if you have to. I know you'll still be mine when the day's done." Luna leaned in completely for a full-fledged kiss.
TBS...
