A/N: Alright then, like I promised, I would update today. I'm so sorry for making everyone wait this long for the chapter. The problems with RL have gotten better, and I'm just waiting to see how things with play out. In the meantime, all my Naruto projects are on the go again and I'm happy to present this chapter to everyone who waited so devotedly for it. I cannot believe that I have passed one thousand reviews. Exactly one thousand seventy as I post this chapter. I could not have done it without you, the readers, this achievement belongs to you just as much as it does to me. Thank you!
Chapter Twenty-Five: Clarity
Sasuke was standing upright, holding his hands together to form the seal of the tiger—a seal that he found the most useful in focusing his chakra—and carefully distributing the chakra equally throughout his body, he sent it out in a pulse. It had been three days since he had started training this specialized form of chakra with Neji. Sakura had said that it was best if he took up training with Neji for a bit while learning his three-sixty degree vision, seeing as Neji would have more experience in that field than she did. So while he trained with Neji, mastering the basics of this new technique, Sakura was out training with Naruto, Lee, or by herself for the upcoming mission.
Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he missed her company; Neji was not exactly his favourite person to be around. The Hyuuga prodigy seemed to have come to peace with the fact that he was almost killed because of the Uchiha's defection from Konoha, however the man was still arrogant in his ways, and their personalities, while admittedly similar, clashed. Sakura's bright cheerful voice and chakra signature would have been nice to have around. But she understood the importance of the upcoming mission and was taking responsibility for her own training.
"Did you sense the returning pulse?" Neji asked from slightly behind, causing Sasuke to jump.
"No," he replied emotionlessly, "I was distracted."
"You cannot afford to let your mind wander, you have a deadline approaching, and I alos have a mission before the end of the month, so we need to get as much accomplished in a short time," Neji reprimanded critically, "Try again."
Sasuke bit back his grumble and focused the chakra again, releasing it in an equal pulse once more. This time he was paying attention, and within a split second, the chakra returned to his alerted senses, washing over him in a strange manner. He was not unfamiliar with the feeling, having gotten used to it over the past few days, however the signals he received back were overwhelming and scrambled—though it the images in his mind had been getting clearer and clearer with each attempt.
Sorting the information out in his mind again, something suddenly clicked. He sent out another successive pulse to the one he had just given, and then he used the information in that burst to clarify the image. He could almost figure out what was around him—What if he sent out the chakra continuously? He should then receive the information back continuously and as a result be given constant information about his surroundings. It was no different than masking two chakra signatures at the same time, he deduced as he began to radiate the chakra at a constant rate. A pause, and then it began to become clearer and clearer within each second.
Around him he could 'see' that they were indeed in some sort of courtyard that surrounded them on all four sides, the walls bringing an end to his knowledge. Behind him he could 'see' Neji's form standing there like a blurred blob; in front there was a taller strange blob with some indiscernible blobs scattered near it. The ground 'looked' soft and spongy like, the lack of clarity making him unable to discern each blade of grass. In his mind each object was hazy, the signals still scattered randomly, above him, though, he received no returning signals, there was just a gaping expanse above him. Chakra returned at different intervals, the closer objects sending it back faster than the farther one. It was hard not to get confused between the earlier signals that were from far away and the closer signals that had just been sent out.
"Did you succeed?" Neji inquired again and Sasuke nodded mutely, trying to grasp the different signals individually so as not to confuse them.
The feeling was slightly nauseating now that he had to concentrate more. In his mind the image he conjured was a soft glowing green—the same colour as the chakra he had seen medical ninja use in the past. It reminded him vaguely of Sakura for that very reason. The sky above him was black, an endless expanse, save for the occasional blot that streaked across—bird, he assumed. There was something eerie about the chakra world that bothered him though, something he could not place. The images in his head, they had no shadows, there was nothing he couldn't 'see'. Figures hiding in the shadows would not be able to tail him, he noted—this was an advantage, however the lack of shadows unnerved him. He could not place why that bothered him, so for the moment he ignored it, focusing instead on the image in his mind.
"I can't get a clear image," he muttered to himself, "I can't make anything out at all."
"It is the same for Byakuugan users when they begin their training," Neji told him passively, "It is because the body has to grow accustomed to sorting out the details that are sent to you. Over time, and with practice, even the smallest of details will not escape you, and you will be able to, in a sense, see everything."
"I can make shapes out," Sasuke said to himself more than the Hyuuga present, "The walls are obvious, but I don't know if there are windows or doors. I can sense your form standing behind me, but I cannot make out your head from your neck or your neck from you shoulders. And—" Sasuke paused in his speech to point at the scattered shapes in front of him, "—what the hell…are those?"
"A tree with a rock and two bushes beneath it," Neji replied evenly, "You've made quick progress in a couple of days, Sasuke; most Hyuuga children cannot learn this quickly. But then again, I suppose no less should be expected of an Uchiha, a blind one or no."
Sasuke had nothing to say to this comment, instead he remained silent, now trying to focus his chakra on one particular object, to perhaps gain better detail on said object. Neji, however, seemed to have other plans.
"It is getting to be evening, and I am sure that Sakura will be expecting you home soon," Neji said in a blank way.
Cutting off the flow of chakra he gave a firm nod and said nothing in response. He never argued with the Hyuuga prodigy and left when he was told to. If it had been Sakura overseeing his training, he probably would have insisted on a little longer, but he did nothing of the sort now. He walked the distance to the veranda, being extra cautious, the location still being somewhat unfamiliar to him, and stepped up on the edge.
"I will have someone walk you home," Neji told him politely, stepping up next to him, "If you have time, continue to practice manipulating your chakra, and try and use your three-sixty vision as often as you can. I will see you tomorrow morning."
Time flew quickly over the month of September as the progress Sasuke made seemed slow to him in relation to the pace he would have liked to have been making. The mission seemed to be drawing nearer and nearer at a rapid pace and he felt like he was standing still. It had only been a week and a half—mid through the second week in September—since he had begun to work on his skill, and while the images in his head had increased in detail significantly (the trees now had visible branches and clear canopy blobs), he still found himself practicing as often as he could.
It was one of those rare days that he and Sakura were both home at the same time, and awake. Normally when Sakura came home it was later in the evening and he had already gone to bed. Though she never knew it, Sasuke would lie awake in bed until her presence came within his now very large range of chakra signature detection. After sensing to make sure that the signature was still flickering with the same cheer, instead of the intermittent spark of injury or the low glow of near-fainting, he would allow himself to fall asleep, knowing she would soon be home and there for him by morning.
Today was different however—Sakura had come home early on Lee's insistence, and Sasuke hadn't arrived much later than them. He had listened with amusement as Sakura complained during dinner in a Naruto-like fashion about how she wanted to continue training, but Lee had told her she was over-working herself. The rant itself had been amusing, but Sasuke inwardly found himself agreeing with Maito Gai's favourite student. Whenever he had sensed Sakura's signature, he had noted that it seemed utterly exhausted, and worry was beginning to afflict him. However he trusted that Sakura knew her limits, for it would be hypocritical of her to go preaching about his determination to keep working even though he was tired.
Even though the two of them were home early, neither of them had passed up the chance to continue training. Sasuke was sitting on the edge of his own veranda, Sakura doing some stretches on the lawn.
"How have things been going with Neji?" she asked conversationally, disrupting his concentration as she spoke.
"Fine," he replied simply, the comment sounding neither rude nor warm.
"Are you able to sense things fairly well or…?" she asked, unfamiliar with how she should call his training.
"Things are generally clear, but things are out of focus. Directing my chakra at a particular object or place makes it easier to see them, but focusing it all around me is a little more difficult" he commented, and he knew she was probably stunned by the verb that had been dubbed for the chakra sensing, so he added: "'Seeing' is the most practical way to describe what happens when I sense with my chakra."
"Oh, okay," she said awkwardly, and he smirked slightly in amusement, "I just thought I'd ask because I haven't hardly seen you at all in the past week."
"Hn," he replied in agreement with her statement.
"You know, I've missed you," she said afterwards, her voice sounding contemplative, serene, "We've been spending so much time together that now, to me, it's strange to be without you for so long."
He gave a small smirk to himself; he knew what she meant. He didn't know why he actually missed her, perhaps it was because she was the only ward against isolation and loneliness that he knew of, and to have that absent, missing…
"I mean, I'm sure that you've enjoyed the space that you've been given, and all," she continued with an air of uncertainty, seeming to take his silence negatively, "But I just feel that—"
"It's fine," he cut her off.
"What is?" she asked, her voice confused.
"You're presence, I don't mind it when you're around," he told her offhandedly.
Reflecting on how Sakura had grown as a person, she wasn't irritating anymore. Before as a child, she had been clingy, loud, and almost useless to the group. He had noticed that after the Chuunin Exam she had become less so and was doing her best to help the team. And now, being around her when she was a young woman, he could tolerate her, grown a little attached to her even.
"Really?" she seemed genuinely surprised.
A small frown descended onto his brow; did he really give that impression? That she wasn't wanted?
"Annoying people grow on me, I suppose," he said with a light smirk on his face, and he knew that she was smiling at him. If he redirected the projection of all his chakra, he could barely make out the traces of that smile, almost.
"Well, I'm glad," was all that she said in response.
There was a spell of silence between them, and Sasuke took up the act of trying to focus his chakra all around him again. He could sense the wall to his left, the supporting pillar in front of him as he sat facing between the wall and the garden. He could see Sakura moving, the rough outline of her stretching positions apparent. However he could not see things in detail. There were slight depressions in the wall for windows and doors, but beyond that there was no indication. He could see where the grass ended and the flowerbeds began, but he could not see clearly the blades of grass or the earth of the bed. Neji had assured him that with practice he would be able to detect each one as if he were actually seeing it. So far, no such luck.
He let out a small growl, in frustration and dropped his hands from the seal, leaning his head back on the pole is back was against. He lay in contemplation for a while. He had been on edge all week, the smallest things annoying him, and the most obvious things missing his attention. He was having difficulty focusing on anything at the moment, and what annoyed him is that he knew the reason why. He was tired of hanging around with Neji, the cold, direct orders and responses getting on his nerves after so much exposure to his personality.
He really did miss Sakura's company, her encouraging words, her gentle laugh, and he missed it when she sang softly to herself while she worked. Having spent so much time with his friend for the past five months and a half, he shared in her sentiments when she had said it was strange to be away from one another.
The wind blew gently around him, and leaves shook loose from the trees, falling across his senses. He could almost see them, the outlines of their jagged edges, the veins—he knew they were there, but he still he could not pick up on the subtle details. One landed on the porch a little ways in front of him, and quickly became hidden with the floor. The fact that he could not distinguish the difference between a simple leaf and a plank irritated him.
Diverting his chakra so he was focusing it only forward onto the wood, he could separate the floor from the leaf, and make out a slightly rough edge on the leaf. He scowled; this was going nowhere it seemed. Hyuuga Neji had suggested that maybe if he used his already trained senses to help him get a better picture of what he was focusing on, he may be able to gain an advantage.
He moved slightly to make a grab for the leaf when another small puff of wind took the leaf to the air again, blowing it farther from his reach. So much for that, he grumbled in resignation, instead following the blob of a leaf with his senses until it landed near Sakura, where he lost it in the grass' signals. Sakura's foot came down where he had last sensed the leaf, entering the area of his concentration. Something occurred to him at that moment.
"Sakura," he called out to her, completely abandoning the pulses of chakra, allowing himself to lapse into an empty void.
He heard a pause from her, "Yes?"
"Come here," he made a small impatient waving motion with his hands, beckoning her over.
The grass rustled quietly under her footfalls, and when she spoke again, her voice was about a meter from him. "What is it, Sasuke?"
"Sit down," he indicated to a spot next to him, moving so his legs were hanging over the edge of the veranda. She complied without a word, and he sent out a small pulse of chakra in order to determine where she was exactly. Slowly he reached out towards her face, resting his hands gently on her cheeks.
"…Sasuke?" she asked uncertainly, her breath sounding caught in her throat. He couldn't help but be slightly amused by her reaction.
"I can't see you; I want to know what you look like," he told her evenly. He hadn't seen her for years, and he realized that he still didn't know what she looked like now.
He ran his fingers slowly over her face, tracing her features gently, letting his touch paint a picture in his mind. The constant flow of chakra clarified the image and as his hands moved, he could see her face clearly in front of him. Slender eyebrows, softened cheekbones, a curving jaw line—a portrait of a pink-haired woman, rather than a pink-haired girl, appearing in his head. She had matured and grown from what he remembered. His fingers passed over her lips, then tucked behind her ears, and finally tracing down her neck where they came to rest at the nape, the ends of her petal-hued tresses brushing gently against the back of his hands.
"You kept it short," he stated in a factual manner, his voice somewhat quiet. He had thought she had kept her hair short, though he had never been certain.
Sakura had sat through the procedure quietly, seeming too surprised to say anything. It was a moment before she found the voice to reply. "Yeah," she murmured shyly, "It's easier to manage."
"It's better short," was all he chose to say in response. It was more practical in his opinion.
"D-do you really think so?" she stammered in a somewhat nervous manner.
A shrug rolled off his shoulders in response, and after a pause, he brought his hands away from her neck and rested them back on her cheeks. An amused smirk came to him as he felt the warmth of her face.
"You're blushing," he accused her lightly.
"A-am I?" she stuttered, the warmth of her face increasing a little more. She laid her hands on top of his in a somewhat self-conscious manner, but did not remove them from her cheeks.
"Your face is getting warmer," he commented bemusedly.
She clasped the back of his hands and looked at him intently through the tears that were building up in her eyes. Sasuke probably didn't realize it, but his eyes were aligned perfectly with hers, his dark obsidian irises matching hers equally. She was staring deep into those eyes, eyes that were gazing steadily back—eyes whose gaze passed through her viridian eyes and beyond her. He was not able to see her, she knew, but she felt that the gaze was both there and not—nonexistent yet deep enough to penetrate her soul. And as she looked into those sightless eyes, a sorrow welled up within her, the tears sitting dangerously on the edge of her eyelashes, threatening to fall.
"Your face is getting warmer," he told her, an amused smirk playing on his lips.
In response, she closed her eyes and leaned forwards so that her forehead was touching his; she could sense his uncertainty at the gesture, but Sasuke made no move to put distance between them. It was then that she swore to herself that she would do everything—everything she could… She would restore Sasuke's sight, even if it killed her.
Cracking open one of the medical textbooks that she had borrowed from the library, Sakura scanned the pages thoroughly. There had to be something she had she could do, and in order to discover what she was required to do, she needed to find out what was wrong. After the silent oath to herself yesterday evening, she had made a point of borrowing every book from the library that could have anything to do with the human eye and promptly hauled them back to the manor.
It was evening now and Sasuke was taking a shower at the moment, allowing her to set some time aside to pull out the books and arrange the embossed spines towards the wall. She knew his senses were probably only a little better from yesterday, but she did not want him to see the spines of the books. She knew that attempting to restore his vision with a three point something-or-other percent chance, was really a slim possibility, even if she did extensive research; she did not want to get Sasuke's hopes up.
Now, she told herself decisively, what could be the thing that was preventing the return of vision? Obviously the light wasn't obstructed from his eyes; she had made sure there was no residual damage after healing them, so there must be something preventing the impulses from his eye to his occipital lobe. There could be retinal damage that she was unaware of, there could be sensory damage of the optic nerve to his brain, or there could be damage to the occipital lobe as well.
"What are you doing?"
Sakura jumped slightly as Sasuke addressed her and she looked up at him. He wasn't facing her, but she knew that he was probably analyzing her with his senses. Being so immersed in her studies, she had been startled when he spoke, not even noticing that he had come out of the bathroom.
"I'm just brushing up on my knowledge," she told him lightly, feeling bad for lying to him, "The mission is ten days away and I want to make sure I'm up to date with my medical knowledge. This is a B-Ranked mission, which means there is the potential threat of danger. If anyone was to get injured, I have to be able to assist them."
He gave a nod of understanding and walked over to the bed, crawling underneath the covers on his bed and putting his arms behind his head, facing the ceiling. It wasn't until he spoke that she realized that something was bothering him.
"Sakura?"
"What is it, Sasuke?" she asked him absently, currently distracted by the info bit on the suspensory ligaments.
"I want to…get some renovators to remove Itachi's room from the house," he said after a moment, sounding unsure of his words, "I don't want it there anymore."
Sakura stopped reading and looked at Sasuke with an expression marked with surprise, "You do? I mean, you don't? Ack, you do want renovators, and you don't want the room around anymore?"
He gave a firm nod, "It's bothering me."
"Bothering you how?" she asked; as far as she knew, he hadn't been anywhere near the room. In fact he seemed to be avoiding it like the plague.
"It's like…a hole in this house," he said finally, the words sounding awkward like he didn't know how to explain it to her, "It's like a void where everything is being pulled towards it, drawing everything in and letting nothing out. I know it sounds strange but… I just want it gone."
"I'll look into it tomorrow," she told him firmly. This was the first time he had ever discussed the room since she had demanded him to make her understand, to talk to her about things like this. It seemed that finally he was making an attempt at explaining to her, and that was enough for her, she was glad that he was at least trying to open up a little to her.
He gave a small nod and then rolled over onto his side, facing away from her. Returning to her reading she gave a shiver at the thought of Itachi's room. She could understand why it bothered him, because she too was now feeling the affect of it. It would be removed as soon as they returned home from their mission, she decided; she doubted that there would be any renovators that could come on such short notice.
Turning her attention back to her book, she allowed a small smile to grace her lips. If Sasuke was willing to be rid of Itachi's room, then changes were possible, and maybe, perhaps maybe he was beginning to let go of the past.
Another long day of training had come and gone for Sasuke, and the mission was creeping closer and closer, now there was a week left before the mission was to commence, and Sasuke felt secretly excited. He had tried to brush the feeling off, telling himself that it was only a mission and he shouldn't get worked up over it like a child would, but despite that, he still found himself anticipating the mission. Excitement, it wasn't a feeling he had felt in a while; he hadn't had anything to look forward to in years, it was a little nostalgic.
He gave a small grin to himself as he walked towards the back door; only seven more days and then he would be able to get out of the village for a while. Konoha was all well and good, and he was glad that he had stayed, but he felt a little restless, wanderlust seeping into him. It would be nice to get out to travel. Naruto was probably beside himself with excitement over the fact that they were getting together as a team again, and this was their first mission in a while. He wondered if Sakura was excited as well—probably not as much.
On the topic of Sakura, he had requested that they do some training together, using the excuse of becoming accustomed to how they fight normally in an all out fight. He actually wanted to have a reason to be near her again, and away from Neji's persona for a bit.
He reflected on the two training sessions he had been through with her; the tables had turned now that he could somewhat see what was going on around him, and his vision had gotten sharper the more he practiced it. Details were almost crystal clear to him save for the extremely minor things, and he could tell what Sakura was doing, no matter where she was standing. Whether she was in front or behind, or above, he could see her. And even if she was underground, he could sense her chakra signature, picking up on it easily. Before he could sense where she was coming from, now he could see the attacks she was to deliver, and while he missed the advantage of using the Sharingan to pick up on the subtle movements and the movement of chakra as it was subconsciously molded, allowing him to be able to tell what was happening before hand, being able to see things a little later was better than not being able to see them at all.
Ever since he started training with Sakura again, she had only won once out of multiple sessions.
One thing concerned him though, he noted with a frown as he kicked off his shoes at the back door: Sakura was working herself harder than she had been any time previously those past five months. At first he thought it was just because she wished to get back into shape for the mission, but the sudden lack of suggested breaks, and the determination to train later instead of heading home had now grabbed his attention. It wouldn't have concerned him so much if it hadn't been to such an extreme degree, and he found himself wondering if Naruto and Maito Gai's pet student, Lee, were both letting her get away with this. She was clearly overworking herself.
Additionally, if Sakura hadn't been getting enough sleep before, it was even worse now. For the past couple days she had been staying up so much later than usual, reading. His nightmares were already hindering her sleeping patterns, and now she was getting even less sleep from reading her books. He had no idea what she was researching, but she was so absorbed by the information she barely responded when spoken to—rare behaviour for Sakura to show, as he was used to her listening carefully to every word he spoke.
It was just as he was walking down the hall towards where Sakura's signature sat in the kitchen that he felt her get up and come swiftly in his general direction. When she appeared at the end of the hall she made a beeline for him and promptly seized his hand; raising and eyebrow at her, he allowed her to tow him deeper inside the house.
"Sit down on the couch," she told him as they entered the living room, "I want to examine you for a minute."
"Examine me?" he echoed, sitting down on the couch next to her as she gave his hand an insistent tug.
"Yes," she replied, not saying anything to elaborate—Sasuke was unsure of whether it was deliberate or not, "Don't try and detect anything using your chakra, I don't want it to interfere with mine."
He gave a nod, cutting off the constant pulse of chakra he had been emitting, sitting perfectly still.
"Turn your head away from me," she instructed, and he complied, feeling utterly and completely bewildered.
He sensed Sakura focus her chakra in her hands, molding it in a way that he had come to associate with medical ninjutsu. Two sets of fingertips were placed on the back of his scalp and she sent the chakra into the back of his head; at first it was fine, tingling oddly as it passed through his scalp, but then a couple of images flashed across his mind. They were too fast to tell what they were; whatever Sakura was doing at the moment was obviously affecting his mind. He remembered all the genjutsus she had put on him and how they forced the illusion of sight upon him—her explanation on the back of the mind being associated with vision vaguely came to him. The chakra was beginning to affect him, he realized as his thoughts became clouded. A similar sensation had happened when he was still in hospital back in May.
"Okay," Sakura said after a moment, retracting the chakra from his system, causing his mind to both long the sensation to return and to clear again, "That's fine then. Turn towards me."
Still confused, he did as he was asked, and was soon met with a similar procedure to the one before, however this time the procedure was longer, allowing the chakra being able to grasp him more readily. The longer she worked the chakra through his skin, the more his mind began to drift. The session soon came to a halt and allowed it to snap back to clarity again—the duration of her examination wasn't nearly as long as they had been in hospital, therefore his mind wasn't able to run too far away on him.
"Alright, thank you, Sasuke," she told him getting up, "That provided all the information that I needed."
"Are you going to tell me what you were doing?" he asked here, frowning slightly at the fact that she hadn't revealed it yet.
"I will, but not right now," she said to him, turning to leave.
"Where are you going?" he asked her as she was departing.
"I'm going to go read," she told him happily before her presence had wandered out of conversation range.
He sat there on the couch for a moment longer, shaking the last of the lightheaded thoughts from his mind. What was going on?
It wasn't until much later when Sasuke entered the bedroom that evening that any light was shed on the situation. When he entered the room he found Sakura sitting cross-legged on his bed, a large textbook in her lap. He had stopped where he was and determinedly turned his face towards her, putting on an expression that clearly demanded an explanation. There was the reading, the training until she was exhausted, the examination today, and he wanted to know what was going on.
"Come here," she said, indicating that he should sit down next to her, completely ignoring the look he had determinedly fixed her with.
Resigningly he walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. "Are you going to explain to me now?" he asked her, sitting crossed legged.
She smiled and put the textbook aside, "In a minute. Sit facing the wall on your left."
He did so, and when he was in place, with his senses he saw her reach out towards him as she had done earlier that day. She gently pulled on his shoulders, encouraging him to lie down backwards, and as he did so, his head landed neatly in her lap. She placed her fingers on his temples, and he realized what she was doing. She had done this before, when he was in hospital, when she had been healing his eyes; why she was doing this again, he did not know.
"You noticed that I've been reading a lot lately," she told him, her voice sounding somewhat professional, "Well, I told you that I was just updating my medical knowledge, but actually, I've been reading up on the human eye."
The book was lying next to him, and he could sense from where he was that the embossed title read clearly: Principles and Studies of Illness and Injury to the Human Eye. He had a feeling that he knew where she was going with this, but he scarcely dared to hope in case it was completely different.
"It just doesn't make much sense to me why you can't see," she told him, sounding perplexed by the notion, "Of course there was damage to your eyes, but I never saw the test results which gave the figure of a four percent chance of your vision returning. I went and looked that up today when you were training with Neji, and I think I have an idea behind the nature of your blindness. I never looked into it earlier because I hadn't really thought about why your sight couldn't return, I just knew it wouldn't."
"So what you're saying is…" he trailed off uncertainly.
"I might be able to get your sight back," Sakura told him with a smile, "I don't want to brag, but I remember clearly—the day before you were brought to hospital, Tsuande-sama told me that I had a unique way of using my chakra, a way that she hadn't thought to use. She told me it was effective, perhaps even more so. I feel that there must be something I can do for you that maybe nobody else can… And with your permission Sasuke, I'd like to try."
He was quiet for a moment, before giving a small nod. Even though he had adapted to the world he now lived in, he would give anything to have his sight back. The world that his senses gave to him, the world of chakra, it was all well and good, and even though he could see behind him now, it still appeared to him in his mind as the pale green, colourless world. Even though he was used to it somewhat by now, he wasn't used to the blackness above that was the sky, nor the lack of shadows. He wanted to see the blues of the sky, the greens of the trees and the grasses, even just to see the pink shade of Sakura's hair.
"Like in the hospital, I'll tell you again: there won't be changes over night; this could take a very long time, and even then, it still might not work," she told him, her voice serious, almost grave, "But I promise you this Sasuke, I will persevere until I find another way, or your sight does come back. Either way, I swear to help you."
His lip twitched in amusement at her speech; she was so determined to help him that she would go to such lengths. He shook his head slightly.
"Do only what you can," he told her, and she gave a small nod.
The gentle flow of her chakra came to him as she began to try and fix his eyes. He closed his eyes and shut down the chakra senses, only allowing himself to feel the gentle flow of her chakra and the smallest ounce of hope.
A/N: Whew, another chapter done. Mission starts on chapter twenty-seven. I thought you should know. People have requested that I restore Sasuke's sight in the reviews, but before any of you jump to any conclusions, you still don't know if this will work. I don't get swayed by majority vote--for all you know, Sakura's attempt could be me just pulling your leg. ;)
Please review!