Chapter 2: No, I Don't

He laid with his rigid back against the resistant rubber of the examination table. Sasuke lay perfectly still except for the gentle rise and fall of his chest. His face was neutral with a tinge of permanent distaste. His haunting eyes stared steadfast into the dusty off-white ceiling. Despite all of his external stillness, his mind raced in various directions as he lost himself in contemplation. The hospital room's familiar but aging blue walls provided him a sense of restless nostalgia, like he was trapped in a recurring nightmare that he never failed to forget once he woke. Plus, the rusty pink tile made him feel stifled in a once-pastel world.

His head still ached from the forgotten actions of the previous night, complicating his ability to focus on a stream of thoughts. He had spent all morning tending to his pains by drinking water and tea while burying his head with the soft confines of his pillow. The only reason he bothered to leave his house was to attend this Hokage-mandated appointment. He took special care to remain unseen on the way to the hospital so he could avoid Naruto's overbearing presence and give himself ample time to recover. He needed the rest so he could at least act like he wanted to deal with Sakura. In spite of all his efforts, the headache lingered on in a weaker form. Oh well. It mattered little to him; this was not his first hangover.

Nor was it his first time with a woman. What was new, however, was the aftermath of thoughts he had about her. On the surface of Sasuke's emotions, he felt a hot indignation at the thought of his appointment. Tsunade threatened his citizenship if he did not agree to attend these sessions and preserve one of Konoha's most precious doujutsus. When she revoked his ability to go on missions and imprisoned him within the village walls, he obeyed solely for Naruto's sake. He felt angered to be treated like the psychotic avenger he once was, a man that always found himself teetering between salvation and damnation. To be looked down upon with pity and fear, like a feral monster backed into a corner. He had known these sparks of loathing since his first visit to this room and for years before that. But this time was different.

Despite the disgust searing in his blood, his subconscious would notice the sullied ceiling and flicker an image of her creamy skin. His peripheral was filled with the muted blue walls at his sides, and his mind countered with her pale lavender eyes. And the scuffed tiles, dull and faded from years of traffic, did not compare to the vibrant red of her cheeks-

A distant set of footsteps had Sasuke glide into a sitting position on top of the examination table within a blink of the eye. The heeled tick-tack-tick-tack grew closer and stopped before pushing the weighted door open with a soft whine. When Sasuke shifted his gaze to examine the person who walked into the room. He was met with a long, platinum blonde ponytail and sapphire blue eyes. He internally groaned. When he "agreed" to these sessions, he had specified and demanded that Sakura be his doctor. Not because he had any particular fondness for her, but because over the years, she had at least acknowledged that the Uchiha had boundaries that were not to be crossed. Other women were still learning that lesson. "Where's Sakura?" he scowled.

Ino scoffed and disregarded his lack of manners. She strided further into the room, her ponytail swaying with each step she took until she plopped down on the designated chair. Her shoulders gave a lazy shrug as she adjusted the papers on her clipboard. "I'm not at liberty to say," she sighed for the added drama, "But what I can say is, whatever the hell you told her last night must have been bru-tal! She's pissed." Her lips paused on the p, over enunciating the final word.

Sasuke met Ino's rich thirst for gossip with a steely, indifferent leer. However, this was Ino. Her gaze did not falter. Sasuke made use of the rare seconds of silence to process what the kunoichi had said. Last night… "What the hell does Sakura have to do with last night?"

The medic's jaw dropped in an animated manner. Her eyes practically bulged out of her head. She hastily readjusted her expression, switching to something much more flattering and ladylike. "Kami, Sasuke-kun, I didn't even see you drink that much sake last night. Don't you remember leaving the bar only a few minutes after Naruto and Sakura left?"

Sasuke did not waver from his statuesque stance. A bar, he pondered. Yes, he remembered being harassed by Naruto for days on end at the mention of a birthday party. He was almost certain the event was for the girl whose existence had been troubling him all morning long. Naruto scolded him about how he needed to set time aside for his "friends" and how this reunion would be the perfect opportunity since everyone was planning to attend.

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His onyx eyes peered at the onslaught of snow and slush piling outside the shabby bar's window. I hate winter. Anything outside of Konoha's mild climate in the spring and fall was weather that the last Uchiha deemed too troublesome to bother with. Especially when said weather inhibited roads, disrupted his daily routines, and Kami forbid, instilled a sense of meaningless joy and festivity amongst the village people. Sasuke rolled his eyes before glancing towards the center of the table.

In the center of it all was the Hyuuga heiress, who was a bit past tipsy from what Sasuke could observe. Her cheeks were alight with a reddish glow, her eyes glazed over with a drunken calmness. She seemed to be daydreaming despite being the main reason for tonight's celebration. Annoyingly, she was also the main reason why Sasuke had been dragged from the comfort of his warm, relaxing, and most importantly, warm home.

Sasuke furrowed his brow as he inspected the meek girl closer. What was her name? Hima? Hana? Sasuke pondered as he drummed his fingers along his glass in a silent manner. In all honesty, Sasuke had never spoken to the girl directly and couldn't be bothered to. In fact, the only reason Sasuke was present at her birthday party was because for the last three weeks, Naruto incessantly begged the Uchiha to attend. Naruto had tried everything, including the promise of rebuilding his friendships with the Rookie Nine, offering to do his laundry, monetary bribes, and threats that did not frighten Sasuke in the least. In the end, it was the promise of free sake that had sealed the deal for him.

After a few moments, he let the absentminded girl free of his glare and turned his attention to his fellow teammates. On his right was Naruto, who was yapping away about his latest mission involving a journey to Kiri for diplomatic reasons. His eyes darted to Sakura, whose focus was targeted so much into her nails that Sasuke swore that she might have finally cracked and was about to rid the world of a certain boisterous Uzumaki. However, he knew the real reason for Sakura's standoffish rage.

He settled his gaze in front of him, staring low at the table where Sai had brought out his notebook and ink. As Sai's paintbrush flowed back and forth creating curves and forms into the paper, Sasuke clenched his hand around the glass as he pondered the last conversation he had with the rosette.

With a sharp exhale through his nose, Sasuke squinted his sore eyes open only to be bombarded with fluorescent light. He almost winced at the overwhelming sensation. Ever since the war had ended, his eyes were sensitive at times due to the effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan. As his blurred vision came into focus, he was greeted with the ghastly and excruciatingly sterile atmosphere of a hospital room with a particular pink-haired woman standing in front of him.

Sakura tilted her head to the side and let a small smile adorn her lips. "Your eyes should still be in a little bit of pain." She leaned closer and took a delicate yet thorough look at his eyes. "The intermittent rounds of medical jutsu seem to be repairing the chakra pathways in and around your eyes at a steady pace. With any luck, the surgery that Tsunade-sama proposed won't be necessary. You can continue to take these pills if the pain gets to be too much." She straightened her back and set the vial of red capsules down on the seat beside him. He tilted his head down and away from his estranged friend.

"Itachi's eyes," Sasuke muttered under his breath in a grim tone.

"Huh?"

"These are Itachi's eyes."

An uncomfortable silence settled in the air. After a couple minutes of this, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her for a second, analyzing her remorseful expression. Once he decided that she no longer had anything to add about his condition, he hoisted himself off the examination chair. With one swift motion, he snatched the vial and shoved it into his pocket while making his way towards the door.

"Wait!" Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke stopped with his left hand reaching for the door handle, not bothering to look behind at his teammate.

She inhaled deeply. "I have a proposal for you."

Now that piqued his interest. Sasuke ever-so-slightly turned his head in her direction, offering a physical acknowledgement to her statement.

She tilted her head downward towards the floor and raised her hands in front of her to wring out her fingers. "I know-," she took another breath and let out a weary sigh, "I know that returning to Konoha has been hard for you. And that, a lot has changed since you left, not only within the village, but within yourself too." Her emerald eyes bounced back to examine his rigid stance.

Sasuke had turned his head to the side opposite of her, obscuring his face from her view. However, she took the silence as an invitation to continue. "I know that your life goal has been to avenge your family. And now that you've completed it, you have a new priority: restoring your clan."

His brow twitched at the mention of his aspirations. He wasn't surprised in the slightest that Sakura had heard what he happened to retell Naruto upon his arrival. When all the red tape was cleared and the old hag had finished making his return a personalized hell, the knucklehead had asked Sasuke what he planned to do now that he had regained citizenship to the village. Naruto was an excellent blabbermouth and Sakura happened to be his favorite person to visit in between his demanding Hokage training sessions. Sasuke was, however, surprised to hear what Sakura said next.

"Please consider me to be the woman to help you achieve that goal."

He bit his lip with discomfort. "Please-e." Sakura's voice cracked and hitched like she was on the edge of tears, "I have been by your side for almost as long as either of us can remember. I have, and will always support you. I know how much you value family and how much you've hurt since you've lost it. I will be the perfect mother to your children. I will love you, completely and endlessly," she took a moment to recollect her breath and steady her cadence. Her voice faded down into a whisper, "Just please pick me."

Sasuke kept his sight glued to the door in front of him. Without turning back, he raised his left hand back towards the doorknob and stated, completely unphased, "I'll consider it." He walked out the door before she had a chance to respond.

The incident occurred three months ago. Sasuke hadn't spoken with the medical kunoichi about the topic since. Every other session they had was strictly about his eyes. While he knew that Sakura would allow him to take this time with this decision, he didn't need his genius prowess to deduct from Sakura's actions that she had certainly expected a response by now. Especially since Sakura hadn't even greeted the lone Uchiha today, even though she went to great lengths to spend time with him in the weeks following his return to Konoha.

Sasuke was struck out of his reverie and his intense stare on Sai's quick doodle of butterflies dancing around a camellia was broken. He snapped his head to follow Sakura who was walking towards the center of the table.

"Well, everyone, it's been fun. But Tsunade-sama needs me to be at the hospital bright and early tomorrow for a high-risk procedure." He watched as Sakura plastered a grin on her face but couldn't help the feeling that it wasn't genuine, given her attitude a few minutes before. "Happy birthday, Hinata-chan. I hope you enjoy your party!"

The dark-haired shinobi jumped back along with his chair as Naruto carelessly jumped up to interject, clashing the two seats against each other for a brief collision. "Wait, Sakura-chan! It's too dark outside! Let me walk you home!"

The Uchiha's hands clenched into fists as he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes in frustration. Of course the minute I decide to do something, the dobe has to cut in and make everything more complicated… Before he could complete the mental image of setting Naruto on fire with Amaterasu, he was once again knocked out of his thoughts by someone else. Specifically, a giggle alongside a dreamy voice, "I wish that Naruto-kun would walk me home."

He furrowed his brow once again at… What's her name? Himiko? as everyone in the room turned to look at her sudden, albeit quiet outburst. He let out an almost soundless sigh and closed his eyes as he tuned out the people that were unfortunately his "friends". He didn't care about whatever antics they were pulling to get his deadlast teammate to walk home the girl who had a crush on him since the moment they met. Instead, he debated back and forth in his mind the pros and cons of giving Sakura his answer at this moment. As he contemplated his choices, he glanced his eyes back to the center of the table. The tipsy girl and his blonde friend were leaving.

Once the pair had waved goodbye and left the establishment, the remainder of the group poured themselves another drink. "To Hinata!" Ino yelled. The rest repeated her sentiment.

"To Hinata, and her glorious blossom of youth! May her walk home be passionate and youthful!" Lee yelled as tears streamed down his eyes and he snatched the leftover drink left by the Hyuuga heiress herself. TenTen smacked Lee in the back of the head before he was able to drink the liquid.

"Not you, you idiot! Do you think I want to take every D-rank mission in Konoha just so we can have enough money to rebuild this bar again?!" Neji massaged his temples at the memory.

Sasuke looked away from the two bickering at the opposite end of the table and looked down into his glass. He swirled the transparent liquid with a quick flick of the wrist before downing it. His expression never changed from the cool, calm, and collected look it had even when the alcohol burned the back of his throat. He was no stranger to sake, and often drank it during his travels as the village traitor. At this stage, one drink had little to no effect on him.

The table's conversation fixated on what would happen between Naruto and Hinata after they dropped Sakura off at her house. When talks of bets were added to the list and the realization that the only Team 7 member left other than him was the one member he had never actually worked with, Sasuke took this as his sign to leave. He quietly rose from his seat when Ino shouted, "Hey! Where are you going?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I have something I need to take care of."

Ino pouted. "Come on, don't be such a party pooper! At least pretend like you like to have fun with us."

"Let him go, Yamanaka. Just accept the fact that the Uchiha just isn't into you," Kiba snorted with a sly grin.

"Shut it, Inuzuka! At least I won't spend the rest of my life alone with a dog!"

"Hey, you take that back!" Kiba slammed a drunk fist on the table. Akamaru whined from below Kiba's seat. Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji looked at each other warily. With his only opposition sufficiently distracted, Sasuke took his chance to disappear from the party without notice and rushed his way over to the three people who left earlier. And most notably, to Haruno Sakura.

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The memory rushed back to Sasuke like puzzle pieces clicking into place, one after another, all in a matter of a second or so. Quite a few details registered in his mind, but before he could analyze them completely, he realized Ino's eager blue eyes were still staring back at him. Sasuke grumbled, "I'm assuming Sakura told you nothing, so you're trying to pry the information out of me so that you're updated on the latest… gossip." His lips fell at the corners ever so slightly, disgusted that such a word had to leave his mouth.

The blonde huffed. She crossed her arms and reeling her attention far into the upper left corner of the room. Her face adorned a slight pinkness, signifying to Sasuke had he caught her guilty of the accused crime. "Nooo," she drew out, "I'm just a concerned, loyal friend who's worried about her two dear friends." She placed her spare hand over her chest, shooting him a convincing troubled look.

Sasuke stared blankly at her while radiating an aura of annoyance and doom.

Ino rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. "Fine. Whatever. Let's get started with the questions," she readjusted her clipboard so that it was steadied in her lap. "Within now and your last visit, have you experienced any of the following: migraines, blurry vision, hallucinations, blindness?"

"No."

"Pain, itchiness, or bleeding from the eye area?"

"No."

"Do you feel that your eyes have worsened, stayed the same, or improved since your last visit?"

"The same," he sighed.

Ino nodded while setting aside her pen and clipboard. She rose from her seat, "Okay. Well, you know the drill."

He did know the drill. He had been going to these appointments for months now. Each session was about thirty-five minutes long with three intervals. The extra five minutes were so the medic could take small breaks in between, if needed. The process was designed in a way that Sasuke's eyes could be healed over multiple sessions with low intensity chakra to avoid the possibility of reconstructing the chakra network in his eyes too quickly. If the network was healed too fast or with too much chakra, the veins in his eyes would become thick and excessive. In the best case scenario, his base Sharingan would be weakened and his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingnan would be rendered useless. Worse case scenario, he could be blinded. It was best to let the body do some of its own repairing in between the sessions.

Sasuke lay flat against the rubber table once again, perfectly still. He closed his eyelids and savored the way the harsh fluorescent lights faded into inky darkness. As much as these healings provoked him, the part he hated the least was the healing itself. He would always lay in complete stillness, enveloped in darkness, and subjected to the silence of the room. Oftentimes, he lingered in a state that was in between sleep and consciousness, if he did not fall asleep entirely.

He didn't flinch when he felt Ino's hands over his eyelids, but he did have to actively restrain himself from scowling when her chakra flowed through his system. Her chakra was not calming and subtle like Sakura's, but too bright and bubbly for someone like him. After several minutes, he settled into the sensation and fell in and out of sleep. He spent his moments of consciousness to ponder the little knowledge he had regained about the previous night. He remembered the blazing resolve he had when he left the bar, the absolute need to speak to Sakura. But as soon as he tried to retrace his steps after opening the door and walking out into the snow, his mind was blank. Did I even talk to her last night?

And then there was the issue of the Hyuuga girl. He mentally groaned. If Sakura ever discovered what happened between the two of them, he was in for more than just petty avoidances. More than likely, he would receive at least a few well placed punches. However, one detail could not escape his focus since recollecting his time at the bar. The way Hinata had stumbled over her own breaths at the sight of Naruto last night. He finally was able to place her face in his head. The awkward, almost painful to watch short-haired stalker from their youth had grown into an equally weird young lady who still harbored a massive crush for his best friend. The sparkling eyes, flushed cheeks and love struck smile were all the same.

A spark fizzled in his pitch black mind. She was Naruto's longest supporter, a girl who believed in the "demon child" for years longer than anyone else. She was Naruto's fangirl, not his. So what the hell was she doing in my bed?

To his surprise, he felt the pressure lift off his eyes and a long, relieving absence as the energetic chakra faded away from his head. He fought the gentle lull of slumber as Ino murmured, "Alright, that's it for today. Feel free to rest your eyes for a bit while I clean up."

"Hn," was his only response. He pried his eyelids open, blinking a few times to wash away the sleepy blurriness. The dullness waned away and the hospital's pastel muddiness came to retake its place. After a few moments, he pushed himself up with his two hands placed firmly beside him. His gaze lingered on Ino, who had finished gathering her things.

"Your eyes were supposed to be thoroughly examined today, but none of the usual volunteers could make it. One is on a mission and the other called in sick," she turned to face him after writing a few things on her clipboard. "You'll need to come in at the same time tomorrow so we can check them."

"Tch," he shot her a sharp glare.

She raised her hands up to showcase her innocence. "I'm just the messenger." She hugged the clipboard against her chest. Her heels clicked as she approached the doorway and halted. She craned her head over her shoulder. "And Sasuke," her eyebrows fell closer to her eyes, facing him with a solemn expression, "If I find out that you seriously hurt Sakura, her rage won't be the only thing you have to worry about." With that, she clutched the door handle and swiftly made her exit.

The glare Sasuke gave the door seemed as if he was about to shoot flames at it. Her words were an empty threat to him. As if she could lay a hand on me…

A/N Incoming:

Hello again! Welcome back to the second chapter! I hope you liked seeing Sasuke's perspective on the whole situation. Aren't you dying to know what he said to Sakura?!

Thanks so much to everyone who read/followed/reviewed! I've never had so many views or a single comment on any of my other works in the past so I'm eternally grateful to each and every one of you. 3

Next chapter should be uploaded next Saturday! (Hopefully, depending on my schedule) But if it isn't, just check back the following Saturday.

Have a great weekend y'all. :)