Sorry that it's been a bit. I just haven't been feeling it lately with regards to writing. That makes me sad because I really like this story, but I just didn't have any brilliant inspiration, and it was depressing me.
Lucky for you all, though I just did! It doesn't address last chapter's ending, but, hey, if I'm inspired to write something, I'm inspired to write something. So, without further ado, here is the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Snellen chart.
Since it was a new term, all the teachers decided to switch their students' seats around. It just so happened that in History of Magic, Itachi was moved to the back. It was then that Itachi realized that he couldn't see the words on the blackboard anymore.
Now, of course, this worried the young Uchiha very much. After all, he hadn't used his Sharingan very much in this place, and his body was young and refreshed, so he shouldn't be losing his sight due to his Mangekyo Sharingan just yet. Itachi found, to his relief, that when he activated his Sharingan, he regained his full sight, but he wasn't about to do so in a classroom full of students and a teacher who could notice.
So Itachi decided to do what he normally would not have the luxury of doing back at home – he decided to research his troubles. Searching the medical section of the library, he looked up the deterioration of the eye's ability to see distant objects. It was then that he realized that he, the infamous Itachi Uchiha, was near-sighted.
Thinking back, he realized that he had probably been this way for a long time, and just hadn't realized it. After all, the last time he'd had to see something far away without the Sharingan was when he was in the Academy when he was seven, and then after that, he'd mastered the Sharingan when he was eight, and had used it to see distances ever since. When he'd gotten older, he'd attributed his inability to see distances without his Sharingan to the detrimental effects of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Because of that, it was no wonder that he hadn't realized that he was near-sighted until now.
The problem was how to correct it. He knew that glasses where a way to counteract near-sightedness; however, wearing glasses during a fight was impractical because the enemy would always try to attack the face in an effort to give his opponent the disadvantage. Of course, being an Uchiha meant being able to put away his glasses and switch to the Sharingan. And, Itachi supposed, being in a civilian place had its benefits, as he could wear glasses without the danger of an attack. So now he just had to get some.
After some brief deliberation, Itachi decided to visit Madam Pomfrey. As she was the school's medic, she should have knowledge of where to acquire glasses.
"Hello, my dear," Madam Pomfrey greeted Itachi when he walked in. "What brings you here today?"
"I'm having trouble seeing far away," Itachi told her. "I only noticed this now because my classes switched seats, and I'm in the back for some of them.
Madam Pomfrey nodded and rummaged around in one of her closets before pulling out a chart of letters. "What's the letter on the top?" she asked.
Itachi looked, and had no idea. It wasn't that he couldn't see it; it was that he had no idea what it was called. This struck him as strange, as he could read perfectly fine. He attributed this to the strange technique which brought the Akatsuki to this place. "It's a vertical line with three prongs," he said. "It's the second letter in the word 'me', except that it's the version which is found at the beginning of sentences and at the beginning of proper titles."
If Madam Pomfrey found this odd, she did not show it, and continued. "How about the second line?" she asked.
Itachi could see these enough to be able to distinguish them. "The one on the right has a vertical line and a semicircle with the arc pointing to the right attached to the top," he said. "The one on the left also has a vertical line, and resembles the top letter, but lacks the bottom prong.
"Very good," Madam Pomfrey said. "How about the third line, dear?"
Itachi looked. The letters were blurred around the edges, but he could still distinguish them. "On the right is a zigzag which is found four times in the spelling of the candy Fizzing Whizzbees. In the middle is a circle which begins the word 'on'. On the left is a vertical line with a horizontal line evenly laid on its top."
Madam Pomfrey nodded. "And the fourth line?"
"This is the last line I can distinguish with some sense," said Itachi as he squinted slightly at the blurred letters. "I believe the one on the right consists of a vertical line with a large semicircle pointing right on it. I cannot really tell if it's one or two, though. It's the formal version of the start of either 'dog' or 'box', though. The one directly next to it is a blur; I cannot tell what it is except that it consists of a jumble of straight lines. The one directly to the left of it is either the formal form of 'frog' or 'pop'. The one on the far left is a vertical line with a horizontal line attached to its bottom right side. It's so badly blurred that it's a wonder that I can tell what it is, though."
"And that's all you can see, dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "Distinctly, at least?"
"Yes, Madam," said Itachi.
"Alright, then," she said as she took out a piece of paper. "I'll write you a note so that you can sit in the front of the classroom until I can get you some glasses, ok?"
"Thank you," Itachi said. "How much will I have to pay for them?"
"You're one of the ones that turned up this fall, aren't you?" asked Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes," Itachi said.
"I'll speak to your Head of House for you," said Madam Pomfrey. "When the glasses come in, I'll send for you, alright?"
"Thank you," Itachi said with a small bow.
l l l
"Waah! Tobi missed Itachi!" Tobi exclaimed. "Tobi realized that the Itachi with him was a clone, and Tobi was lonely!"
"Hush, Tobi," Itachi said, quieting the boy. "The civilians here don't know what clones are."
Tobi immediately lowered his voice. "Tobi is sorry. Tobi will be a good boy. But Tobi wants to know where Itachi was today."
"I was researching," Itachi said.
"But Tobi looked in the library and Itachi wasn't there!" Tobi said.
"After I was done, I went for a walk," Itachi said. "I went to see the medic."
"Uh oh," said Tobi. "Is Itachi sick again? Is Itachi having blood coughing troubles again?"
"Actually, no," said Itachi. "I haven't had that problem in a while now, though I should probably look into that. Thanks for reminding me, Tobi."
"Tobi says you're welcome!" Tobi chirped. "Tobi is a good boy."
"Yes, he is," Itachi said. "Now, is Tobi done with his homework?"
"Yes," said Tobi. "Itachi-clone helped Tobi, and Tobi is a~ll done!"
"That's good," said Itachi. "Now, will you let me do my homework now?"
"Yes! Tobi is a good boy!"
The next day, Itachi moved to the front of all of his classes, taking Tobi with him. Konan and Nagato asked him if he was alright, and assured them that he was. A week later, he was called to the Hospital Wing.
"Your glasses came in, dear, and don't worry, the price has been taken care of," said Madam Pomfrey. "Here. Try these on." Itachi did. Then Madam Pomfrey took out the letter chart. "Can you see all of the letters clearly?" she asked him.
"Yes, thank you very much," Itachi answered.
"Now, I noticed that you did not know the names of the letters when I was checking your vision," she said. "Did someone cast a Confundus charm on you?"
"No, Madam," Itachi said. "It is a strange thing, but I can read without knowing the names of the letters. I know what the letters look like, and what they sound like, but I don't know what they're called. I'm fairly certain that it's the same with the rest of my friends."
"I see," said Madam Pomfrey. "You can move back to your regular seat in your classes now."
"Thank you," said Itachi. He paused. "I meant to ask you something before, but I forgot. A while ago, before I came here, I was very sick, and my body was weak and I kept coughing up blood and having trouble breathing. Now I think I'm better, but I'm worried that the sickness might come back."
"Hm, it sounds like a bad case of pneumonia to me," said Madam Pomfrey. "If you don't mind, I'll examine you now."
"That's fine," said Itachi.
Madam Pomfrey gestured for Itachi to sit down on one of the hospital beds. She said a spell, and her wand lit up. She then used the wand and scanned his lungs. "Hm, I don't see any signs of infections…wait. What's this?" she mumbled as she focused in on a particular area. Itachi said nothing as she examined him. Finally, she said, "Stay here and rest. I need to speak with someone."
Itachi nodded, but said nothing. As Madam Pomfrey hurried out of the room, he laid back and thought. He had known that his illness from back at home would have eventually killed him, though he still had plans for his fall. He had developed the illness not too long after he'd joined Akatsuki, and it had progressively gotten worse and worse. The medics that he and Kisame had stopped by had had no idea what was wrong, and the legendary medic Tsunade was absolutely not an option. Sasori had at one point taken an interest in Itachi's illness, and had taken a sample of his blood to examine, but then the man had gotten himself killed by his brother's teammate.
It was a while before Madam Pomfrey returned. "What's wrong with me?" Itachi asked. "You look worried."
"You're sicker than I thought, dear, but thank goodness we caught it early," said the medic. "It's nothing my magic can't fix."
"Ah," said Itachi. "What is it?"
"Not pneumonia, but that's alright," said Madam Pomfrey. "Now lie still." Itachi did so, and she waved her wand, said a spell, and touched his chest with the glowing tip of her wand. "You must come back here every day so I can do that until your illness is gone, do you understand?"
"Yes, Madam," Itachi said. Before he could ask her again what his illness was, she shooed him out, mumbling about her having kept him long enough.
l l l
That evening at the Akatsuki meeting in the Room of Requirement, Kisame was the first to notice Itachi's new accessories. "Yo, Itachi, what's with the glasses?" he asked.
Itachi hesitated before answering, "I have recently discovered that I am near-sighted."
"…Say that again, un?" asked Deidara as he flew down with one of his flying creations. "The great Itachi Uchiha has eye troubles?
"And the tasteless, self-proclaimed artist has three more mouths than necessary," Sasori said. "Hidan's an albino, Zetsu has multiple personality disorder, and Tobi's retarded. What's new, brat?"
"Ugh, danna, why do you have to be so cruel, un?" complained Deidara.
"I'm not cruel, you're just brainless," Sasori said.
"At least I've got more of a brain than that dumb blonde prat, un," Deidara said as he hung upside down over Sasori's head from his clay bird.
"…You do realize that you're blonde, right?" asked Kisame.
"Shut up, un!" Deidara snapped as his face turned red, either from his mishap or from being upside down.
"Alright, settle down, settle down," Yahiko called over the chatter. "Anyone got anything to report?"
"We do," said Zetsu. "We found that Voldemort wants some little glass ball called a prophecy, and has already made a few failed attempts to get it. He's going to try again, though, and we're still in the process of figuring out when and how he'll do it next."
"Ok," said Yahiko. "You keep doing that. Uh…Itachi, you've got glasses. Nice. Kakuzu, Deidara, and Tobi, your probation is still on."
Deidara opened his mouth to complain, but Nagato cut him off. "No complaining. You brought this on yourself. Also, everyone, keep an eye out for that nosy witch Hermione Granger. She seems obsessed with finding out more about us, and if she finds out, she may not be able to keep her mouth shut."
"Anything else of importance?" asked Konan.
"I'm receiving medical treatment for which I will do my best to find out," said Itachi.
"You mean the medic didn't give you a diagnosis?" asked Sasori.
"I think that she thinks that I'm too young and will be distressed," said Itachi.
"Well, uh, you get better and all," said Yahiko. "Is there anything else?"
Hidan started waving his arms around madly. Kakuzu spoke for him. "Hidan probably says with many expletives that he wants someone to un-silence him, and that he wants to be allowed to sacrifice humans."
"No and no," said Nagato. "Anything else of importance?" There was silence.
"Good," said Yahiko. "Then go, and stay out of trouble."
I actually did my research up with Yahoo Health and discovered that the best fit for the symptoms of Itachi's unknown illness is non-small cell lung cancer. That made me very sad, but at the same time it made a lot of sense. As a ninja, Itachi would have been exposed to risk-increasing factors like smoke from exploding tags and other nasty chemicals. And Madam Pomfrey wouldn't tell Itachi what his illness was because she didn't want to scare him.
RaspberryUniverse suggested that I make someone actually find out the truth about the Akatsuki, or that I make them change back to their original ages. Seeing as I'm kinda in need of inspiration, I want your opinions on this.
Sorry again for the wait, and sorry for the relative shortness of this chapter as compared to others.
If you've got a comment, an idea, a correction, or anything else to say, feel free to say it! I live in America, so I extend to all of you the freedom of speech.
Until next time (which will hopefully be shorter than this time)!