A/N: Alrighty then! I got a couple of very good questions from icygirl2 and I thought that everyone deserved to know the answers to them.
Q: How will Sasuke kill Itachi if he's blind? Is he going to be stronger and learn another source of power by developing other senses? Will there be a battle between Itachi and Sasuke?
A: Well, as much as I'd like to answer all of the questions, I can't without giving away too much of the story—I have it all planned out. What I will tell you is that yes Sasuke does manage to…grow accustomed…to his blindness, but I won't tell you how. Also, there will be a battle between Sasuke and Itachi, with a unique outcome.
I hope that's got you excited for what's in store. On with the story!
Chapter Seven: Of Trust, Spilled Secrets, and Other Things
Sakura opened the door to Sasuke's room and greeted him with a smile that he couldn't see. He had been showered and cleaned, a fresh hospital gown and his damp hair told her as much; and a tray that had the remnants of a meal scattered on it, lay on his lap. Sasuke himself was holding a bowl, prodding the inside with his chopsticks in an investigative manner, shoving aside food he didn't like, and probing around for anything good that was left over. Sakura watched his behavior with interest—so he was already using techniques like those to help him discern his surroundings; rehab shouldn't be too difficult if he was already picking up on it by himself.
"Sorry I kept you waiting," she said cheerfully, going over to him and resting her book bag on the nightstand, "I see that they got you some food—that's good. Did you sleep at all while I was gone?"
"A little," he replied absently, setting down the bowl and chopsticks, "Where were you?"
"Just wanted to grab a few things, that's all," Sakura replied happily, not wanting to state that she had been going through things at his house, "I brought something for you too. –Are you done eating?"
"Aa."
Sakura took the tray from his lap and carried it over to the door, setting it outside and off to the right—a nurse would come and pick it up later. Turning around, she closed the door behind her and walked up to Sasuke once more. She opened her bag up and withdrew the set of clothing that she had taken from his house.
"I know those hospital gowns feel terrible and itch something dreadful, so I brought you some clothes—thought they would be more comfortable," she told him, laying them on his lap, "I don't know whose they are, because your stuff is still the same size as when you left. It might be your father's—anyways, it's a similar style, and I got you black, since that seems to be your preference."
Sasuke said nothing as he placed his hands on the folded garments, feeling the fabric in his hands, an unreadable expression on his face. He traced the emblem of the Uchiha clan, running his fingertip along the seam in a thoughtful and memory-invoking manner. Sakura wondered what he was thinking of at that moment, his bandaged eyes preventing her from reading any emotion behind them.
"I'll step out of the room so you can change," she said pleasantly, walking over to the other side of his bed and drawing the curtains shut, "Just give me a shout when you're ready."
Sakura closed the door behind her after she had exited the room, and waited patiently. The halls were rather quiet that day—it was not nearly as busy as it had been a couple years back. Konoha was completely recovered since Orochimaru's attack and no longer were the ninja teams being constantly sent out on dangerous missions. There was the occasional one that took a turn for the worse, but there were hardly any serious cases, and so far this year, only one ninja had died on a mission. The chaos had diminished as things settled out and the hospital was peaceful as it should be—also a lack of Naruto tended to help matters.
"Sakura," Sasuke's voice came from the inside of the room.
Smiling, she went back inside, once again closing the door behind her. She looked over at Sasuke, who seemed to have had no trouble changing clothes, however—Sakura laid a hand over her smiling lips so that she wouldn't be tempted to giggle. Once the feeling had passed, she lowered her hand and cleared her throat slightly.
"Sasuke, your shirt is on backwards," she said as politely as she could, managing to keep the amused tone out of her voice.
The young Uchiha growled and retracted his arms inside his shirt. After a moment of struggling, he managed to get it rotated around his neck so that he could slide his arms out through the sleeves once more. He sat rigidly, trying to act as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened; Sakura mused at his prideful behavior.
Walking over to the edge of the bed, Sakura picked up the discarded hospital gown, "Feel for the tags inside the neckline, it's easier to tell which is front and back that way."
A grunt was all the response that she got out of him and Sakura couldn't help but grin to herself. She knew that he was embarrassed—the redness on the back of his neck told her as much—so she decided not to say more on the matter, choosing not to prod at Sasuke's already bruised ego. After tossing the gown into a laundry hamper, she went and sat down on the edge of the bed, kicking off her shoes. Swinging her legs up over the side, she took a cross-legged sitting position opposite Sasuke.
"I'll start the process," she said about to reach out and removed the bandage, but Sasuke reached up quicker than her and grasped the ties on the end of the knot.
He untied the bandage from behind his head and let it unwind fully before he gathered it up in his lap. He let it rest for a moment, feeling the gauze between his fingertips before offering it to her. Taking it gently, she folded it up tidily after his hands had returned to resting on his knees, where he sat silently as before. It was a psychological thing, she knew; he took off the bandage in order to give him a little sense of independence, and she was aware that he probably needed that reassurance.
"Alright then," she spoke happily, laying the bandage beside her, "Let's begin."
"…Wait."
Sakura paused, lowering her hands again for the second time; a vaguely worried expression came across her face, "What is it?"
For a moment Sasuke said nothing, but merely turned his head so that he was facing the floor. He licked his lips, and then inhaled a little, then let it out again. There was another short silence before he could say what he wanted to.
"I'm sorry," he muttered faintly.
Sakura blinked, so surprised that even Inner Sakura stopped to stare. Had she just heard correctly? Had Uchiha Sasuke just apologized? Her brows knitted together in worry; the Sasuke she had known had rarely apologized for anything, even if he knew he was wrong.
"Whatever for?" she asked quietly, knowing that she probably sounded confused.
"For what happened yesterday…with the curse mark… it shouldn't have happened," he replied, still not turning towards her.
This was a huge step for the prideful Uchiha, and Sakura could tell that he was having a hard time saying this to her. She felt compassion flood her when she looked at him, his head tilted away in a humble manner, his mouth set in a firm line.
"I couldn't control it," he stated gruffly, and after a moment's pause, "I'm sorry."
Sakura thought a moment about reaching out and grabbing his hand, but decided against it, knowing that that was probably going to far at this point. He still didn't entirely trust her, and she didn't want to destroy the fragile relationship they already had. She smiled sadly instead, and kept her hands in her lap.
"It's not your fault," she replied, shaking her head slightly from side to side, "It was partially my doing. I kinda provoked it into happening."
Sasuke continued to face the floor, and after another long silence he spoke again.
"I was never going to use it again," he told her, his voice quiet, yet firm and hesitant at the same time, "except once. I thought that I could use it to get around my blindness, and kill Itachi using it."
The expression on his face told her that he didn't want to talk much about it, but he was telling her anyways, despite not wanting to. Whether it was a return of the trust that she had shown him, or if he just felt the need to talk to somebody about the matter, Sakura didn't know. She glanced over to her left and noted that a bar on the bed frame had been conformed to the shape of, and crushed by, somebody's fist—Sakura knew very well whose fist it was.
"Sasuke, just because you're blind doesn't mean that you have to give up the life of a shinobi," she told him tenderly, "I may have been assigned to simply get you back on your feet so that you can live on your own, but ultimately it's you who decides when you want me to leave. If you want me to help you to rebuild your skills so that you can stay a shinobi, you just have to ask. And I know that there are others who would be willing to help you learn skills that I can't teach you. Nobody resents you for leaving Konoha, Sasuke—you were greatly missed. And as far as Naruto and I are concerned, you are still a citizen of this village, and always will be."
She let the silence drag out for a little while so that he could chew on her words, letting him think it over a bit.
"I would like to start the therapeutic process—if that's alright with you," she said tentatively, "I've recovered quite a bit of chakra since yesterday, and I can go for longer if you wish."
"Hn," he responded, turning his head towards her, opening his eyes. She knew he was still thinking about what she had said, and she gently laid her fingers on the chakra points, not wanting to disrupt his thoughts.
"Just relax," she told him, as she began to collect her chakra, "You don't want a sore back again."
Closing her own eyes, she focused the chakra and sent it out through her fingers, picking up where she had left off the previous day, healing the damage slowly and with care.
Sakura's words had touched something within him, making him feel undeserving of her devotion and determination to help him. The reaction he had to losing the curse mark made him feel selfish and ungrateful as he reflected on it—though he knew that he would sooner die than ever admit it.
He set his jaw as he recalled something Kakashi had once said to him—that if he relied on the cure mark, it would prevent him from ever growing stronger; and he wondered to himself if it was already too late for him. He should have never allowed the curse mark to be awakened, he could have killed Sakura, and then who knew what would have happened after that. He should have on no account gotten angry with her…he was the one who had acted out of line. The loss of the curse mark was entirely his fault, and he didn't blame Sakura at all for what happened—that was why he had asked her to leave the room for a while, he didn't want to take his anger out at her.
He thought of the deformed frame of the bed—that was what he had taken his anger out on. It was his own incompetence that had cost him the power he had been saving, and now it was gone. If he hadn't been so naïve about Orochimaru giving him power, or so childish in not acknowledging Naruto's improvements by striving to continue to believe he was better, he might have never ended up in the situation where he had to take his vision. He could have improved without Orochimaru—all he needed to do was ask for help.
He shouldn't have refused her help.
A memory came to mind as he recalled the first time Kakashi had taught them to focus chakra in order to climb trees without using their arms. Naruto had asked Sakura for help, hoping to get some tips on to how to do better. It wasn't until many bruises and painful landings later before he had grudgingly asked Naruto about what Sakura had told him, only to have Naruto grin wickedly and refuse to tell him anything for the longest time.
If you want me to help you to rebuild your skills so that you can stay a shinobi, you just have to ask.
He just had to ask. That was it—it was so simple, yet why was it so difficult? He should have asked Sakura for help back then, then he wouldn't have had to put up with Naruto's gloating and he most likely would have made it to the top quicker.
And even though he no longer had the curse mark or the Sharingan, he had to get strong again—he still had to avenge his clan. Even if it meant living in this state, he would do it.
…The most despicable way…
'I will defeat you, Itachi,' he through fiercely to himself, his brows knitting, banishing Itachi's voice from his head, 'But I will do it my way.'
"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked, and Sasuke realized that she must have seen the frown on his face.
"Iie," he replied shortly. After a moment he added reluctantly, "I want you to help me to continue being a shinobi."
He could not see her smile, but he somehow knew that it was there.
"Okay," was her response, and he could hear a warmth in her voice that made him relax to some extent. Somewhere inside of him, he had been worried that she would have refused.
"Arigato," he murmured quietly, feeling unworthy of her help.
"Don't worry about it."
A silence fell between them after that, and Sasuke knew that it was probably to help her concentrate on the process. Her fingertips felt warm against his face as the chakra flowed from them, healing his eyes. The sensation was a strange one—as the injury mended, it felt like it tickled, but not to an intensity where he felt the need to rub his eyes to be rid of the reaction. It was a peculiarly enjoyable sensation and the flow of the chakra caused his mind to feel a little tranquil, a strange feeling of serenity pulling on the corner of his awareness, trying to get him to relax.
His suspicious nature and stiffness the previous day had fought off the effects of the chakra flow, but now it descended on him like a thick blanket, and he was no longer as alert as he had been. He felt the urge to rest his hands on top of Sakura's in order to keep them from leaving his face—to keep the feeling from going away. He couldn't remember the last time he felt as peaceful as he was feeling now.
It seemed too soon that Sakura lowered her hands away from his face, the warmth of her gentle chakra going with them. The ticklish sensation receded and the dull ache returned to his eyes, but not nearly as bad as it had been before. His attentiveness began to fade back, and he couldn't help but feeling bewildered as he reflected on what he had been thinking a few moments back. He shouldn't have let his mind loosen up like that.
"I've been at it for just over an hour, "Sakura said quietly, not having moved at all from the end of the bed—had it really been an hour? It seemed only like minutes, "How do you feel?"
"Better," he replied closing his eyes.
"I think after a few more sessions, you'll be released from here," she told him kindly, but sounding slightly sleepy, "Tsunade-sama said that she would be sending someone to come talk to you about what you know about Orochimaru. They should be here in half an hour or so. You should try and get some sleep in before then.
He nodded mutely.
"After that's over, I'll come back and we'll take a walk around," she said shuffling over to the side of the bed. The weight disappeared as she stood, "and when we come back, I'll start something new with you."
He heard her pick up her belongings from the nightstand.
"Sakura?" he turned to face her and was a little startled as she brushed the bandage over his eyes, wrapping it around his head carefully.
"Yes, Sasuke?" she asked him gently, tying the cloth behind his head.
"…I trust you," he stated bluntly.
There was a pause and his hand was gently taken by hers. She ran her thumb over the back of his hand as she picked it up, brushing the knuckles, "I'm glad."
"Why did you just take my hand like that?" he asked, mystified by her actions, and slightly suspicious.
"It's part of what we'll be starting this afternoon," she replied simply, "Recognition by touch. It's also to let you know that I trust you too, Sasuke."
She released his hand and he rested it on his knee.
"You've been through a lot," she told him, sounding compassionate, "You need your rest."
"Aa."
Her footsteps patted quietly against the floor and the door creaked open.
"I'll see you this afternoon," she said brightly before she closed the door gently behind her.
"NANI?!" Naruto exclaimed pointing a finger unbelievably at Kakashi, "You finally get some time off from doing missions and you're telling me that you're TOO BUSY TO TRAIN ME?!"
"Now, now, Naruto," Kakashi said leisurely, walking down the road, his nose tucked in a familiar novel, "You're completely overreacting."
"Well, Ero-sennin is supposedly out making investigations about that Akatsuki group again, but it's not like there's any new information coming in. My bet is that he's probably flirting with all the local girls, 'researching' for the next edition of that series that you enjoy so much! But the point is that he's not around to train me!" Naruto complained, kicking a pebble on the road, "Seems like a waste of time, what he's doing…"
"He's on important business, Naruto," Kakashi said absently.
"Well, that's why you have to train me, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed boisterously, "You're overdue for training me anyways. The first time we took the chuunin exam you went and trained Sasuke instead! It's my turn to be trained now. You should teach me that Chidori attack thing, you know?"
"The Hokage has assigned me to a really important assignment, Naruto," Kakashi replied lowering his book to look at his watch, "And I'm late as it is."
"An important assignment?" Naruto's eyes lit up and Kakashi turned his gaze to the heavens, realizing he said the wrong words to Naruto: 'important' and 'assignment', "So where's it at? I'll come help too! I can do it better than anyone else!"
"No, no, Naruto," Kakashi said nervously sweat-dropping, waving his hands in front of him to shoo his old pupil off, "I'm sure that the hospital would appreciate it more if I took on the mission on alone."
"NANI?!" Naruto exclaimed loudly at Kakashi, making his sensei appear small and inferior in comparison. "You're going to the HOSPITAL? You're going to see Sasuke, aren't you?"
Kakashi paused for a moment to blink at the boy, wondering how on earth he knew about Sasuke. He decided not to dwell on the matter, and thought it better if he try to shake Naruto off.
There was a heavy and disapproving sigh from the fox-faced boy, "You know, sensei, you shouldn't play favorites so much."
"I'll train you later, Naruto," Kakashi promised lightly, before abruptly disappearing from the vicinity, making his way to the hospital hurriedly before Naruto could notice his disappearance.
After a few moments there was a loud outburst from the area he just left.
"GET BACK HERE, KAKASHI-SENSEI! I'M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU! …HEY!"
Kakashi grinned lazily under his mask—some things never change.
It was late in the morning and drawing closer towards the noon hour, the sun shining beautifully on at day like that one. Everyone was out and about enjoying themselves, taking advantage of the good weather—but Shikamaru was not enjoying himself. He was looking around town for Chouji and Naruto, and so far hadn't had any luck in locating them—while that in itself was troublesome, there was also an annoying blonde who was still following him, doing a better job than his own shadow.
He had ignored her mostly as he visited all the usual restaurants where Chouji complemented the food, and other favourite hangouts, but no such luck yet; every place had been devoid of the two boys. There was only one place left to try, and if they weren't there, Shikamaru had no idea where on earth to look. Rolling his eyes heavenwards to the sadly cloudless sky, he prayed that Naruto would be at the last place he was looking, just so he could get rid of Ino.
After continuing on down the path for a while, ignoring Ino's continuous stream of gossip, a sigh of relief escaped him as he recognized the back of Naruot's orange tracksuit sitting on a stool at his favourite ramen joint—Ichiraku's. He also saw Chouji's form in there as well, though it was a little difficult to see him from all the dirty dishes stacked around him. But it was no mistaking; he had found them both, and what luck, at the same place too. The day seemed a little better already.
"There's Naruto!" Ino squealed ecstatically as she spotted him, dragging Shikamaru as if he hadn't intended on going over there himself.
"Naruto!" she exclaimed in a sing-songy voice, "I've been looking all over for you."
Turning his eyes heavenwards, Shikamaru abandoned her side and took a stool next to Chouji, while Ino continued to gush in a flirtatious manner at Naruto. Naruto seemed completely oblivious to her presence, causing Ino's voice to become less sugary with each new word.
"What's with her?" Chouji asked while slurping up some ramen in a way that would have made an etiquette teacher pass out.
"Sakura's been behaving strangely, so Ino dragged me all over town following her so that we can find out what she's up to," Shikamaru replied, leaning back against the counter, "Women can be so troublesome!"
"No kidding!" Naruto agreed suddenly, looking over at Shikamaru and nodding seriously, "Sakura is the most troublesome of them all!"
Ino, who looked like she was about to explode at Naruto for ignoring her this entire time, had suddenly forgotten her anger as she leaned down to Naruto, peering at him intently, her eyes devious and wicked.
"Really?" she asked, sounding so aghast that it was obvious she was pretending, "Why? What did Sakura do?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Ino's need for gossip but turned to Naruto with slight interest anyways, curious himself.
"Well, I went up to the hospital today to go and…er…give a talking to someone who really deserved it, but Sakura wouldn't let me," Naruto sulked, swinging his legs back and forth in a bored manner, "Said that he was her patient and I couldn't bother him. This guy has never let any injury hold him down before, so why on earth couldn't I see him? I probably should have snuck in."
"Who were you trying to see?" Chouji asked, while Shikamaru put his chin in his palm.
"Can't tell you!" Naruto exclaimed proudly, "Tsunade-obaachan made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone that Sasuke's back."
There was a stunned silence as everyone was trying to work out if Naruto had just given away the big secret or if he was making it up. The way he had revealed the information was so clichéd, that it seemed unlikely that anyone would ever make a mistake in exposing knowledge in that fashion. But taking into consideration that it was Naruto after all…the three of them quickly concluded that he was telling the truth—inadvertently.
"WHAT?!" Ino screeched so loudly that Naruto covered his ears. She looked like a blue-eyed demoness who had just crawled up from the depths of hell, Shikamaru observed, sweat-dropping, "Sasuke is back in Konoha and he's SAKURA'S PATIENT?!"
"Eh?" Naruto looked up at her and blinked a couple times in confusion, "If you knew already, then you just should have said so."
A tumbleweed blew by outside the shop with a dusty gust of wind, and there was an awkwardly dead silence—save for Ino's snarling.
"Why that little—" Ino promptly turned about and stormed out in the direction of the hospital, a diabolical aura pulsing around her, "Yeah right! Like I'm going to let Sasuke be her patient!"
"Aren't you going to stop her?" Chouji asked, turning towards Shikamaru questioningly as Ino griped to herself as she left, her fists clenching and unclenching. Shikamaru could have sworn her nails were now long and pointed.
"Ino's on a warpath," he shrugged, "To try and stop her now would be far too troublesome."
"Not to mention dangerous," Chouji grinned before ordering another ramen.
Shikamaru stared out after Ino for a second longer—he didn't know what it was, but despite her being absolutely unbearable, there was something about her that made him able to tolerate her. It was the strangest feeling… A cloud suddenly drifted across the sky and any thoughts that Shikamaru had were soon lost to distraction.
"Now, if you want to know who else is troublesome," Naruto was rambling on the other side of Chouji, "don't get me started on Kakashi-sensei."
"Tch," Sasuke scoffed quietly as the door to his room finally opened, his interrogator finally arriving.
The person who had just entered his room was late—extremely late, his internal clock told him; and Sasuke was not in the best of moods. Because of his interrogator's belatedness, he had grown extremely hungry, and was becoming more irritated by the minute.
"Kakashi," he said smoothly, his hands resting behind his head, not bothering to mask his displeasure at being kept waiting.
"My word," came the familiar laid-back and cheerful voice, "Sakura is doing a wonderful job in the rehabilitation if you can recognize people before they can even say a word!"
Sasuke found himself smirking, despite himself, "No…only you would be half an hour late for something like this."
"Only half an hour?" Kakashi sounded surprised, and Sasuke could picture his old sensei raising his eyebrows, "I thought it was more like an hour late. Hmmm. Tsunade-sama must have told me the wrong time again. Honestly, she should learn to keep better track of her time."
Underneath his bandages, Sasuke rolled his eyes at Kakashi's statement. He blinked a couple times to ease the tiny sting that came to them as a result. He was starting to keep his eyes open when he was awake; it felt more natural—even though he couldn't see a thing.
"It seems that you've recovered quite a bit since I saw you last," Kakashi continued cheerily, brushing the matter of Tsunade's time keeping aside, "I don't know if anyone told you, but I was on the team that found you in the woods. You were extremely lucky, we almost thought that you were dead. We were quite worried for you."
Sasuke couldn't recall anything of the sort, having the scent of the cherry tree as his last clear memory, so he merely responded: "I'm sure."
"Sakura worked very hard on keeping you alive when you were brought in. The irony of it all is that she didn't even realize that it was you!" Kakashi's cheerful tone carrying on, "I heard she was quite shocked when she found out—"
"People have not yet been permitted to simply drop by to visit me," Sasuke interrupted, wanting to get the interrogation over with, "I assume then that there is a reason for you being here?"
"Ah yes," Kakashi said thoughtfully, "I almost forgot."
There was a bit off rustling, followed by the sound of a scroll unfurling. Kakashi cleared his throat, sounding like he was about to read a long segment from a reading.
"You, Uchiha Sasuke, are being held under crimes that you have committed against the village of Konoha—" Kakashi abruptly stopped and after a pause, "Let's just skip the pleasantries. Okay, first question: Where is Orochimaru's hideout located?"
The first question was the first that he could not answer. Sasuke sighed—it felt like it was going to be a long morning.
A/N: Secret's out, and Ino is not pleased; Huzzah for Kakashi and Naruto's second appearance; and upcoming rehabilitation fun! Btw, sorry for the lack of fluff between Sasuke and Sakura for those who are looking for it. It just isn't at that stage yet between them. Sasuke still had his mind set on revenge and the like, and while he trusts Sakura now—to some extent—he's still our cold Sasuke a.t.m.—but we all love him anyways, so that's okay.
Please review!
Drieldwin
