Itachi sat by Sakura's side as the nurse was slowly, but surely trying to tend to Sakura's wounds.
Sakura examined the medics' face, but she didn't recognise her at all.
"Um. May I suggest concentrating your chakra through your hands to aid my muscles in regrouping. I'm already using my reserves to numb my shoulder so it won't hurt." Sakura advised the medic. The medic ignored Sakura's advice and rushed to wrap a bandage around her shoulder before leaving the room.
Sakura let out a laugh as she unwrapped the bandages to look at the wound.
"She didn't even clean the wound…I didn't realise how bad the hospital used to be…" She spoke out loud. She looked at Itachi briefly before looking down at her hand. "Itachi, Uh…Can I have your help please?" She asked cautiously, unsure of his true intentions now that he had all his memories back.
"Sure. What do you need me to do?" He responded. Surprising Sakura with his formality.
"Could you grab a wet flannel please. A warm one…preferably." Itachi nodded as he got the required gear. "I'll need you to lend me some of your chakra through one hand. And I need you to clean up my wound while I reattach new muscles in my shoulder." Sakura informed professionally as Itachi complied without hesitation.
Sakura eyed him cautiously as he picked up her hand. He started transferring his chakra into Sakura. She felt a warm pulse of energy surge throughout her body. With Itachi's hand gripped firmly on Sakura's, she slowly moved her hand near her shoulder so she could speed up the process.
Itachi dabbed the mildly infected area of her wound with the damp cloth, although he didn't have to do it for too long as Sakura's body started repairing itself and, after a short while, her skin reformed around the area, completely erasing any form of injury. He smirked as Sakura turned her hand around to grab onto his hand.
"I can see that you're done with your healing, Sakura," Itachi spoke before turning his head to look at her. His hair gliding past his shoulder with ease. "Now you're just being greedy now."
"Easy for you to say. I'm in my nine-year-old body…I have loads of energy but my chakra depletes faster than I'm used to…So yeah. I'm taking some more chakra to keep my levels high enough…Just in case." Sakura sulked. Being taken back by Itachi's attentiveness.
A few seconds later, Kakashi entered the room. Staring at the two ninja in front of him in confusion as Itachi took his hand from Sakura. Pain filled his eyes as he looked at the back of Itachi's head.
"Itachi, I need to speak to Sakura, alone." Kakashi snapped the two's focus onto him. Itachi moved to the door to close it. "It's private." He continued.
"Is it about your old future memories…Kakashi?" Sakura questioned, causing Kakashi to widen his only visible eye slightly. "It's okay…Itachi knows too…I think it's got something to do with my necklace." Sakura continued, looking down at her necklace before deciding to hide it under her clothes. "What a weird situation we're in." Sakura laughed sadly, Kakashi decided he'd leave his other questions for later before he took a seat on Sakura's hospital bed. "How bad are the hospitals medics…am I right?" Sakura's voice started shaking.
Kakashi placed his hand over Sakura's forehead. Sakura started to cry.
"We can do so many things…" She spoke through her tears, slowly building herself up. "Sarutobi, Sasuke, Jiraiya, Gaara, Asuma…Neji…Ino…" Sakura broke down into sobs in between names.
"Yeah…" Kakashi agreed, quickly using both hands to cup her face and wipe Sakura's tears away. "The Hokage will be coming here in a few minutes, you have to compose yourself…For my sake I'm afraid. If he deems that you've been traumatised by my reckless mistake, I'll be removed from the ANBU task force…I kinda need the money at the moment." Kakashi's eye wrinkled up as he smiled at Sakura. "God Sakura." He breathed out. "I thought you were dead there."
Sakura sniffed the tears away before coughing and smiling back at Kakashi.
"I would have been from the treatment the medic didn't give me. Would you believe she just put a bandage over my shoulder without even cleaning the wound! I'm sure the bandages were used previously…They had a weird smell to them." Sakura laughed. Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle and ruffle up her hair.
"He's approaching." Itachi informed as he opened the door. Kakashi stood up from the bed and he removed any emotion that was previously showing on his face.
Sarutobi entered the room shortly after Kakashi stood up.
"Sakura, are you okay?" The Hokage asked, making sure to speak slowly and clearly so that Sakura would understand. The medic tending to Sakura entered the room behind him.
"I am now, no thanks to that medic." She responded, showing no mercy to the medic. The medic's posture stiffened as the Hokage gave Sakura a quizzical look. "I'm lucky that Itachi came in with me. If he wasn't here I'm certain that the wound on my shoulder would have been infected long enough to develop into an unnecessary, and preventable, virus. The medic also used a bandage that was already out of its' packaging," Sakura continued before turning to Itachi. "Thank-"
"No need to show your gratitude. I am required, by oath, to make sure that all the Leaf Villages shinobi are safe." Itachi interrupted, distancing himself from Sakura. The Hokage looked over his shoulder at the medic before exhaling a deep breath.
"I guess it's time to introduce some new procedures to the hospital..." He muttered before turning back around to examine Sakura. "You're fully healed?" He questioned.
"Yeah…All thanks to Tsunade's books!" Sakura quickly spoke as she had no struggles in pulling herself up to a sitting position, surprising even herself that she felt no pain in her shoulder.
There was a pause before the Hokage looked up at the clock above Sakura's head. He stood up straight while eying Sakura cautiously.
"If you feel like you're well enough, would you like to return to school?" Sarutobi questioned. Sakura nodded her head innocently and hopped off the bed, to prove the point that she was fine to him. "Alright then," He spoke before looking over at Itachi. "Escort her, Itachi." He ordered while shooing the medic out of the room with him.
Sakura stared blankly at the door where Sarutobi exited.
'The school is barely 15 metres from the Hospital' Sakura thought to herself. She started to head to the door before noticing that Itachi hadn't moved. Itachi was having, what looked like, a stare out with Kakashi.
"Itachi…I hope you have no plans of-" Kakashi started.
"You have my word that it won't play out like it did last time. I have a plan to keep the peace." Itachi answered. Kakashi chuckled before walking up to Itachi and hugging him. Itachi hugged Kakashi back however, Sakura found it difficult to watch Kakashi hug Itachi.
"Uh…I don't know what your relationship with Itachi in the past was…but I'm still finding it hard to consider Itachi as an ally." Sakura spoke, separating the two from each other.
"Oh, Yeah." Kakashi chuckled. Hope shining in Kakashi's eyes. "Catch up with you later." He said as he left the room.
Sakura looked up at Itachi, keeping her guard up.
"Thank y-" She started.
"Like I said, no need to thank me." Itachi interjected before walking out of the room. Sakura skipping to catch up to him, frowned at Itachi. His face was completely cold.
It took them no time at all until they reached the gates to Sakura's school.
"My goodness…" Sakura's eyes built up with tears as she saw a lonely Naruto hanging by himself on a swing. "I forgot all about Naruto." She whispered to herself as she fought hard to keep the tears back.
"I'd like to formally invite you and your parents to my house for dinner tonight." Itachi suddenly spoke. Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "It's part of my plan. I'll inform your parents myself. Just make sure to tell Sasuke that I'll be here after school ends to walk the both of you to the compound."
Before Sakura could question the Uchiha any further, he darted off in the direction of Sakura's house.
Sakura stood still as she moved her attention back to the school. It felt weird for Sakura to see everyone as innocent and oblivious as they were as they played with each other. Her eyes landed on a familiar dark haired miserable looking boy.
She had to refrain the laughter that threatened to escape her lips as she walked over to Naruto.
"Hi there, Naruto." Sakura said softly, bending down to look at Naruto's face.
Naruto jumped and looked up in shock.
"Y-you know my name!?" He said, his eyes lighting up considerably, pulling at Sakura's heart strings.
"Of course I do!" She smiled as she held a hand out. "I'm Sakura Haruno, it's nice to meet you." Sakura greeted. Naruto looked at Sakura in confusion and paused. Sakura looked back in confusion, asking herself what she said to make him stop talking.
"Your clothes are torn…" Naruto muttered. Sakura looked down and noticed quite an embarrassing hole that almost exposed her chest. Sakura tried to cover herself while cussing Itachi for failing to mention that her clothes were torn significantly. Her face reddened as Naruto roared in laughter.
"Don't you worry Sakura-Chan! I'll give you my jacket!" Naruto offered as he removed his jacket. Sakura appreciatively accepted his signature orange jacket and giggled.
The bell rung. Naruto held out his hand to Sakura. She quickly threw Naruto's jacket on before zipping it up. She hesitantly took Naruto's hand before noticing Hinata run into the building.
A wave of guilt hit Sakura as she recalled Hinata having feelings for Naruto. Sakura decided that she would make it her personal mission to get Hinata to interact with Naruto quicker.
"EW! Sakura is with the looooser! Sasuke doesn't like losers!" Ino shouted from across the field as she hooked herself onto Sasuke's arm. Sakura smiled at Ino before laughing softly.
As much as her blonde friend annoyed the living daylights out of Sakura, she was so relieved to see her head very much attached to her body…
"I think Sasuke can speak for himself if he has a problem." Sakura responded calmly as she lead Naruto into the building.
It didn't take long for the two to reach the classroom.
Sakura noticed that Iruka was looking at her in a different way than she was used to.
"Is everything okay, Iruka-Sensei?" Sakura questioned, noticing Naruto was still holding her hand as he tightened his grip slightly. "Oh, Sorry Naruto." She apologised. She let go of his hand before turning her attention back to Iruka.
"Well, Sakura, you missed our morning sparring session…" Iruka scolded, Sakura would have been intimidated if she didn't know any better.
"You don't have to worry about making me catch up with the warm ups Iruka-Sensei, I had my own sparring session this morning…" Sakura giggled. Naruto walked off to his seat.
"Yeah…so I've been told. Is it really true that you beat Itachi?" He asked, his curiosity taking over his professionalism while Ino and Sasuke were walking past.
Sasuke tugged his arm away from Ino. Before she could complain he shot her the 'Uchiha' glare. She scurried off in her seat without another word. Sasuke then turned to face Sakura, making her feel uncomfortable.
"U-uh, well," Sakura started while brushing her long hair behind her ear. "I didn't beat Itachi…He just let his guard down and I managed to severely wind him and break a few ribs in the process." Sakura's high pitched voice made that sentence sound eerily sinister.
"Impossible," Sasuke scoffed. "Don't make up rumours to get my attention." Sasuke finished before walking to his assigned seat next to Naruto.
Sakura watched Sasuke and stared him out for a few moments.
"Actually, Iruka-Sensei, I feel a bit stiff from laying in the hospital bed for the few hours I was for. Can I beat-up, I mean spar with Sasuke?" Sakura asked as she gave Iruka an innocent look.
Iruka crossed his arms before looking over to Sasuke.
"I can only agree to that if Sasuke does. I wouldn't want to be responsible for any injuries caused…" Iruka muttered the last part to himself as he waited for Sasuke to respond.
"Is that a challenge, I've seen the way you fight. You hold back. But it's not like that in the real world, there is no way you would beat me." Sasuke boasted.
"Did you not just hear? I broke your older brothers' ribs. Does that sound like holding back to you?" Sakura questioned as she leaned to the side and rested a hand on her hip. The room fell silent as Sasuke stood up.
"Fine." Sasuke smirked before walking down to Iruka. "If Sakura insists she could beat me, can I request that we use the training grounds in the Uchiha compound? My parents own it and today they're on a special mission." Sasuke continued.
Iruka bit down on his lip, thinking hard about whether or not to go off schedule. If he was being honest with himself, He didn't believe what the Hokage had told him a few minutes ago as Iruka noticed no injuries on Sakura.
"Okay class, we're all going to finish the day by sparring one on one in the Uchiha compound. Make sure you stick close to me." Iruka spoke to the small class, leading them out of the school and towards the Uchiha clan, nervously.
"Don't go crying to mommy when you're battered and bruised." Sakura teased, enjoying the new-found attention she was getting from Sasuke, although he ignored her. Sasuke walked ahead of the group and towards a man who was leaning against the side of the entrance to the complex.
"I'm taking my class to the training grounds." Sasuke stated, glaring up at the shinobi before him.
"Isn't that cute." The man chuckled before looking at Iruka. "Do you have a permit?" He asked Iruka.
"He doesn't need a permit. That requirement was agreed to be discontinued-" Sasuke started in a matter-of-fact way.
"Fine, fine." He interjected, not wanting to be reprimanded by the arrogant boy. He looked around at the class before his eyes landed on the pink haired kunoichi. He eyed her cautiously while the class passed him into the compound.
He noticed that she carried herself in a more authoritive way than Iruka was and he found it incredibly odd.
Sakura noticed him staring and met his gaze with her own. He flinched slightly, making Sakura smirk and walk off. She was starting to appreciate the small things in life.
A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review! 3
