Author's Note: *bows* I return. In some semblance of good health. To all who have favourited, followed and reviewed up to this point, thank you so much.

The Delinquent Uchiha

Chapter 11

They sat facing each other. Two sturdy armchairs pulled up together with the seats touching, creating a kind of laying or reclining space. Sakura's feet were rested at one end, Itachi's at the other, their bodies facing towards each other and their eyes locked.

"Did you know..?" she asked quietly. Itachi closed his eyes and took a sip of tea in a weary fashion.

"I suspected the odds were never in my favor. We can always wish for things, but we can't always have them."

"You're going to destroy him."

"... What about you, Sakura-chan?"

"You're breaking my heart..."

Sakura felt so guilty. Guilty that she couldn't just tell him herself. It was simple; she said she was sorry, she dished out all the condolences she had to offer, she says she wishes there were something she could do, she'll be there to hold him up... but she wanted to deny this was happening. She wanted all of these things for herself too in a selfish kind of way. She wasn't coping. Sasuke was going to be in pieces. They were going to be shattered together.

They were outside Officer Kakashi's room. He was in there having a discussion with Tsunade. Sasuke and Sakura were sat outside the door on hard, cold plastic chairs. The uncomfortable texture felt amplified against Sakura's skin as she waited in dread. She couldn't bring herself to talk and jumped out of her skin when Sasuke was the one to break the silence.

"I don't get it, Sak. What's going on?" he asked. Sakura gazed at him, her eyes watering. Don't call me Sak... it's too endearing. You're going to hate me. She shook her head, bottom lip wobbling.

"Can I give you a task, for the future?" he asked. Sakura gulped.

"Could you... Try sound less fatalistic?"

"I'm being realistic, Sakura-chan. This is important to me."

"Of course I'll do it, idiot!" she sniffled.

Itachi beguiled her with a smirk and she almost forgot her premature suffering. She watched as he reached down the neck of his top, pulling up a chain from under the fabric and pulling it over his head. He took her hand, drawing it towards him and scrunched the chain up, lacing it into her palm and closing her fist around it.

"That's for you and Sasuke. You have to be together when you use it."

Sakura opened up her palm. A raven pendant, elegant and sophisticated in design. Attached to it was a key. Regular. Plain. Overwhelmingly important. She smiled at this trinket that wholly embodied the man before her.

"But, what's it for..?"

Sasuke hated this. Sakura crying - what was that all about anyway? She'd just turned up late morning all weepy and told him to come along. He was a bit dazed, still tired from the day before. It turned out - he'd even slept through a small earthquake somehow, he'd found out. His dream was still haunting him too. He just wanted to hide under his covers all day and maybe drag Sakura with him. If she consented. Or maybe, even if she didn't consent. He'd have his way regardless. He was used to getting his demands met.

He tugged the back of his naturally windswept hair in frustration before glancing over at Sakura who had some steady tears licking down her cheeks. He flicked one off with a brush of his finger and sighed, squeezing her shoulder.

"This isn't because I kissed you, is it? You're not getting me done for sexual harassment?"

"Sasuke!" she laughed, virtually against her will. "I wouldn't be here if that was the case."

"Just checking I wasn't that bad."

"Why did you do it..?"

"I still don't know. I did owe you a proper kiss anyway," he said, cautiously wrapping his little finger around hers, as though making a pinky promise, before consuming her hand up within his. He raised both, kissing the back of her hand before setting it down. "But I think I have a more compelling reason than that."

I really, really like you. You're kind of captivating. You're smart. You're not a brainless fawning idiot who only wants me because you'd have good looking babies and bragging rights. And that's not even scratching the surface. Best of all, I was WRONG about you and I don't even mind. I'd date you... I... I would date you! Or rather, I will date you.

"But Sasuke..." she said, trying to pull her hand away. She pursed her lips, brows knitting together. He'd have called the look 'guilty' if he had to label it with anything. "Sasuke, there's something I need to tell you."

"Don't tell me you already have a boyfriend..."

"B-boy...? No! Sasuke, it's nothing to do with relationships... it's... it's more personal than that. It's Itachi-"

"Itachi!?"

"May I interrupt?" asked Officer Kakashi, clapping his hands. They both jumped, hands severing their connection. He'd been stood there for how long? And they hadn't noticed. "Will you come in, please?"

Sasuke stood up without hesitance but Sakura stayed where she was, staring at the floor. He shook his head, trailing inside. He'd talk to her later about whatever got her so wound up, for now he wanted to know why he was being called to talk with her mother and the tardy liaison officer.

"Sakura... it's okay," said Kakashi, putting a hand on her arm. He pulled her up lightly and guided her down into a seat next to Sasuke. She couldn't think of anywhere worse to sit. She wanted to go sit in the corner of the universe furthest away. Sasuke nudged her with his foot though, frowning.

"Sasuke Uchiha" stated Tsunade, leaning forward from Kakashi's seat at the desk. "My name is Tsunade, I'm a doctor. I don't know if you know anything about me."

"Sakura told me bits and pieces," he nodded, unsure as to why he was being spoken to.

"Well, I don't know if had ever come up between you two but on occasion, your brother has had appointments with myself."

"Yeah, she said..."

Tsunade sighed, tapping her fingers on the mahogany expanse before her. Sasuke felt sick, he knew he was about to get told something he didn't want to hear. Should he have given Sakura chance to talk outside? She'd just mentioned Itachi herself.

"It's been agreed, we've put all arrangements in place. At the end of next week, you're going to be going home - for an indefinite period of time. You'll have to finish all of your sentence but we feel it's best you take this reprieve."

He didn't want to imagine why he was being given that opportunity. Circumstances had to be incredible and uncontrollable for those kinds of chances to be granted. He heard Sakura stifle a sob beside him and tried to pretend it wasn't part of what was going on in this room - that she was just randomly hormonal and it had nothing to do with what was going on right now. He found his lungs restricting the air he was allowed to take in and his breath kept catching on his throat, killing any questions before they passed over his lips.

"After the earth quake last night, Sakura asked me to come by and check on your brother whilst she came to see you. Some preliminary checks caused me enough worry to have him sent to hospital, and I pulled my weight as much as possible to have him seen to in record time. It's not fair... it's not fair he was born without a fighting chance but Sasuke, I'm sorry to say he doesn't have long to live..."

Sasuke zoned out as Tsunade began to explain something about the scarring on his lungs or something like that maybe. He briefly heard the word 'cancer' within her explanation but he wasn't absorbing a single word of it. His world had just collapsed in on itself. He allowed himself indignity. His jaw went slack and his head dropped down. His breathing was out of control - the very same sensation he'd experienced the night before.

"Kaa-san!" cried Sakura, shaking her head. "Please stop... I'm sorry... I'm sorry!" she whimpered, standing up and knocking her chair over, putting her arms around Sasuke's shoulders and resting her head on top of his.

Tsunade shook her head, understanding completely. She hated having to tell someone so young that he was going to be alone, and worse - her daughter was emotionally involved in this as well. It was tearing at her own heart more than any case ever had. She glanced over at Kakashi who's lone eye held a grim and tired look. She stood, jerking her thumb to the door and the officer understood his order - 'Leave them'. They walked in to the corridor, the door shutting quietly behind them.

It'd taken a while, after, for Sasuke to acknowledge Sakura holding onto him. He placed his hands against her arms when he finally shook out of his despondency. She jumped under his touch and he squeezed her upper arms firmly, wincing. He was sure that the expression she wore was an echo of his own torment.

"Is this what you were trying to tell me?" he croaked. She sobbed, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth and nodded.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know he had cancer too! I just knew things were bad, I didn't know-"

"Sakura, have you ever seen anyone else with lung cancer before? Or even all the other problems he has?"

"N-no?"

"Sakura!" he snapped, taking fistfuls of her shirt. "Are you some miracle, human diagnostic machine?"

"No!"

"Then how could you have ever known!? These things don't pop up and announce themselves! I don't care you didn't know! The world's best oncologist couldn't have looked and said for sure and you're just 16, Sakura! You're 16... stop trying to take the weight of this. If you're blaming yourself, somehow.. then stop. Stop, because it's annoying... I don't need a know-it-all..."

Sakura felt her heart sink. It was heavier than she could handle now. But Sasuke traced the shell of her ear with his fingers before reaching into her hair and playing idly with the pink expanses. When their eyes met, she felt like he was looking deep within her somehow. He looked fragile and needy. He was one to keep his guard up at all times but right now he couldn't sustain his indifference.

"Just be yourself. Without the blame... I'm not stupid enough to believe you're not hurting too. You wouldn't be in this state."

The state I'm in - he reflected.

He couldn't catch up with how quickly everything had changed. Not moments before, he was stood outside this room, teasing her and on the brink of asking her out. He'd woken up from his dreams, still fantasizing about how to go about it. His dreams didn't entail him making a slip-up which made him sound like he'd claimed rights to go out with her but it was good enough. Hell of a lot better than the soppy declaration his inwardly romantic mind had apparently decided on. He was a detainee in a juvie center. He didn't have the luxury of making big gestures at the moment anyway.

Now, he wanted to cling to her because - you're all I'll have - he felt so lost. He felt so swept under his emotions and he wasn't used to it at all. He was well acquainted with anger and annoyance. But heartache and misery? There'd only been one time in his life he'd felt so awash with those things and his mind had cruelly reminded him of that time last night before dropping this onto him. He was spent up and he needed an anchor. Sakura. Sakura be my anchor. Be my center of gravity. Keep me grounded, keep me safe. Keep me in one piece.

He closed his eyes and the first tears fell from his unguarded eyes. They oozed down the plains of his cheeks and pelted off the bottom of his jaw onto Sakura's hands in his lap. She stretched her fingers out, glancing at the splatter on her skin before cupping his jaw, resting her forehead against his. He let out a spluttering, shaken breath and permitted himself to cry just a little more. Sakura would never breathe a word to anyone about this secret he was sharing with her; that privately, he was weak.

"It's not fair... it's not fair..." he chanted, over and over. He was only just beginning to feel some level of satisfaction with his life. "... It's not fair..."

Itachi chuckled, mischief gleaming in those corvid-like eyes. Sakura shied away a little, feeling overwhelmed with concern for the look she was being given. He cupped the back of her neck and rested his forehead against hers, smirking. She could hear his chest rattling at this proximity.

"I'm taking that secret with me until the very end, Sakura-chan. But don't worry. It'll make itself obvious."