Chapter 8 – No Turning Back

"Move."

They were reasonably wary when Itachi stepped up, easily slipping between Sasuke and Naruto's struggling. Shisui was wary for an entirely different reason, however, when he gently cupped Sakura's face in the same way a man would touch his lover, waiting for the moment her terrified green eyes snapped open and widened at the sight of his Sharingan, tears filling them mere seconds after meeting his gaze.

And then she was gone again, falling into the trap of his genjutsu without any resistance.

Sakura had assured him that nothing had ever or would ever happen between her and Itachi, but the way he handled her, the way he stared down at her, had traitorous thoughts filling his mind. It filled him with a great possessiveness, one he hoped was only heightened due to his Mangekyō forcibly activating out of stress and anger and hatred. But…

Her stomach.

Until Itachi had intervened, Sakura had been in and out of consciousness. Only an hour had passed since her return to him and since discovering what Danzo had done to her, his Sharingan hadn't deactivated once. Partly out of anger, but mostly due to an overwhelming fear of what state his eyes would be in once his Sharingan was deactivated.

It was with a sigh that Itachi stepped back, his hand lingering for a moment until he finally pulled away, appearing troubled by whatever he saw in her mind. "I have placed her under a peaceful genjutsu," he murmured. "The sights in her mind are…"

Itachi was at a loss for words? What had he seen? Whatever it was, it was enough for him to spare only a single, concerned glance down at Sakura before leaving the room, his cloak trailing behind him. He didn't look at any of them. Didn't utter another word. He left his sentence unfinished and their imaginations running wild.

"What the hell does that mean?" Naruto yelled after him as he rushed to the archway, gripping it on each side of him. Whether he could still see Itachi was a mystery to the others, but Shisui seriously doubted it. He would be long gone to try and sort through that head of his. "Oi, Itachi!"

"It means Danzo's done a good job of messing her head up," muttered Sasuke darkly.

Great. The snarling, emotionally unstable Sasuke was back. That was exactly what they needed at that moment in time, wasn't it? And because of his words, Naruto was going to get seriously wound up, with the whole situation undoubtedly escalating into a fight.

"Save your whining for later," Shisui warned them coolly, returning to his seat at Sakura's bedside. He reached out, taking her cold hand between the both of his. According to the medic: it would take a while for her to feel warm again. Having lost so much blood and been left naked in a cold cell was bound to have that effect. "Sakura needs to rest."

"Who put you in charge?" came Naruto's angry demand.

All it took was the narrowing of his Mangekyō for Sasuke to intervene, grabbing the blond by his collar and yanking him out of the makeshift hospital room, warning him not to get involved.

It was only when they were alone that Shisui breathed out a heavy sigh, bringing Sakura's hand up to his forehead. She was freezing, but they had already covered her in several thick quilts and Tenten had returned at some point to dress her in winter clothing once the medic had seen to all the wounds.

"There's nothing I can do about this, I'm afraid," Shisui recalled the man saying regretfully, his heavy eyes lingering on the clan emblem. "Even a medic-nin as great as Godaime-sama would be unable to reduce the scarring."

He'd said that it looked as though it hadn't only been carved into her skin, but it'd been burned there, too. Danzo had branded Sakura like a farmer branded his livestock. He branded her as belonging to the Uchiha Clan, like she was nothing more than a possession rather than her own person. Or was it that he was branding her a traitor to Konoha?

There was no stopping the tears that filled his eyes and Shisui shut them tightly in response, willing away the horrendous aching in his chest.

"Forgive me," he whispered.

She looked so small. Like one rough movement would shatter her completely. It only occurred to him in that moment that it was the first time he was truly seeing her – all of her. The smallest details, any details. How long had he waited for such a moment? How badly had he longed to see her face? He wished it was under different circumstances. Wished her skin wasn't horrifically bruised and cut up, wished there wasn't a thick layer of bandages covering many parts of her body. Her face was swollen and discoloured, neck in bloody, rope-burned ruins, lip busted and a large gash spread across her forehead, only recently stitched up, still angry in appearance. Gods, they'd done so much to her. What scared him most was the state of her mind. Simply watching her in those past few minutes terrified him. What had they done to her?

Unable to look at her startling appearance any longer, Shisui swallowed down the urge to voice his frustrations and pain, eyes squeezing shut against their joined hands.

"Forgive me," he begged brokenly.

I should have protected you.

As Itachi had told them: he placed Sakura under a peaceful genjutsu. Shisui could see through it without even trying, his eyes never missing a single detail of the vision his friend had painted for her. The field of thousands of flowers must have brought some form of comfort to her and after a moment, Shisui could recall how she always had fresh flowers around his home. Always something different. He'd always wondered if they would be vibrant flowers, for they certainly smelled it.

He refused to look any further than the genjutsu. With his Mangekyō, he was more than capable. He could enter her mind and warp it without her ever realising, but Shisui refused. Never would he ever use his Sharingan on her without Sakura's permission, even if he knew it would help her.

It must have been around two hours before another dared to join them. It gave him the chance to calm himself, to try and control his emotions. Others avoided the makeshift hospital room for the longest time and he wondered if his hatred was truly that palpable.

"Forgive me," the Hyuuga girl murmured, hand holding onto the wall for support. Without a medic-nin around, she was left to heal naturally with small doses of medication to help ease the pain. Shisui couldn't imagine what kind of agony she was in, having an eye stolen right from its socket. "I have been ordered to rest." Smiling faintly, she added, "Hanabi seems to have forgotten which of us is the elder sibling."

Ah, so he was looking at Hinata then. It was rude of him, but with all the chaos going on around them, he continuously got the two mixed up. How, he wasn't entirely sure. They couldn't have been more different in appearance, especially with Hinata's injuries.

"How are you feeling?" Shisui asked, though his eyes returned to Sakura's motionless form. There was a faint sound of Hinata breathing out a shaky sigh of relief and it reminded him of how intimidating his Sharingan actually was. He'd have to keep that in mind around the civilians.

"We must wait until Sakura-san awakes for an official diagnosis, so I must deal with the pain," Hinata replied softly and he heard her dainty footsteps before she was lowering herself onto her futon. "Unfortunately, Atsushi-san doesn't have the specialist equipment needed by civilian medics to scan my injuries, meaning he cannot properly treat them."

More than anything, Shisui wished Sakura would be left alone to recover by herself, but he understood that as the greatest medic-nin in the world, she would never have a moment to herself any more. Either because people needed her too much, or she felt the need to always help others. She would never take a break.

He would make it his personal mission to ensure she got enough rest.

Noticing out of the corner of his eye that Hinata was hesitating in returning to sleep, Shisui asked, "Will it cause any problems further down the line if you do not receive the correct treatment?"

Lightly, she shrugged, her single, pale eye going to Sakura's sweating features. "Although I may have lost one of my eyes, I still have the other. I will learn to cope and adjust." Then, more quietly, "Sakura-san never let them inflict much mental torture on me. I suppose she, like others, knows how weak I am mentally."

It wasn't said in a way to gain pity. She stated it like a fact being read from a textbook.

"When she is waking, please inform me," Hinata requested, leaning back and covering herself with the sheets. "If Sakura-san sees me she will no doubt demand to examine and heal me. I cannot allow that in her current state."

Ah, so she understood. She also felt the need to protect Sakura, the woman who had gone so far out of her way for them both. Shisui was glad for that. Still, he couldn't help but say, "The repercussions of not being treated correctly are-"

"I will manage," she said more surely, her voice gaining confidence and when Shisui glanced her way, she didn't falter like she had moments before at the sight of his eyes. Her single eye stared into his, but a second later and he saw her swallow nervously, eyebrows knitting together delicately. "Sakura-san, on the other hand, will not. You weren't there, Uchiha-san, therefore you don't understand the horrors we – no, the horrors Sakura-san went through."

Of course. Sakura had put herself between Danzo and Hinata as much as she possibly could. To make matters worse: she helped Hinata escape.

"What happened that night?" he asked.

To an extent, Shisui understood Sasuke's impatience whenever Hyuuga Hinata spoke. She hedged and stuttered too much, hesitated too many times. When discussing something such as Sakura's experiences, he wanted fast replies. He wanted details. For a moment, despite her mouth opening, no words left her. It was a struggle Shisui had no hopes in understanding.

Then, so softly he almost missed it, she whispered, "It was not long after they took my eye."

"Hinata," Sakura cried out, her features a blur to Hinata as she struggled forward, catching her when she was thrown into their cell without a care. Something was dripping on her face and it took Hinata a few moments to realise her friend was leaning over her, crying at the state she was in. "Shit, Hinata."

Even after all they'd done to her, Sakura still had that magnificent heart that drew so many to her. The heart that longed for peace and good health, the heart that broke into tiny pieces continuously at the sight of pain and suffering. It was a beautiful heart and Hinata understood perfectly why Uzumaki Naruto loved her so.

Weakly, she tried to reach for her face. At some point during the disgusting procedure, she stopped feeling the pain. They hadn't used any sedatives. Hadn't used anything to numb the feeling. No, Danzo wanted her to feel everything. He wanted her to feel him taking her eye while she was powerless to stop him. Oh, she wished she was stronger like her sister and cousin. She wished she had greater fighting spirit like Naruto.

Her hands weren't the only ones shaking, Hinata realised belatedly, squinting to try and see. It was disorientating. Her nose made it impossible to see anything on her left, her right eye straining to make up for the difference.

"You're getting out of here," she muttered lowly, bringing their bodies closer. Hinata wondered if she was wearing the expression that scared Naruto greatly, or the scared desperation she'd witnessed several times over the years.

"W-We."

"Huh?"

"We…"

Hinata only just saw Sakura's shaky smile, though felt her nod. "We're getting out of here."

It was easier said than done. It took at least ten minutes for Hinata to transfer whatever chakra she possessed over to Sakura, who wasted no time in bending the bars on their cell, growling under her breath while doing so. Then, without pause, she scooped the Hyuuga up like she weighed absolutely nothing, even though her own injuries were surely severe, dashing madly in the first direction that registered in her mind.

Hinata couldn't find it in herself to worry about where they were going or their chances of being caught. She was lightheaded, her world spinning sickeningly once pain returned to her numbed senses, shocking her into laying rigid in Sakura's arms, blood dripping down her chin due to how hard she was biting her tongue.

"I-I can't…"

"Just a few more minutes," Sakura whispered in hushed tones, panting. "I know I saw one around here-"

They burst into a room just as she cut herself off and Hinata heard her friend breathe out a deep sigh. The smell of bleach and medicines barely registered in her mind. Did little to ease the suffering she was going through. What helped, however, was Sakura placing her down on a vacant cot to the far left of wherever they were. Hinata knew she was in safe hands. Despite being so greatly injured and suffering herself, Sakura was already putting herself to work at healing her wounds.

"I can't use much chakra," she said apologetically, examining her without any medical ninjutsu. "But I think I can stop the bleeding at the very least."

It nauseated her to know she would continue to be in agony.

"This will numb the pain, but it'll make you sleepy too," Sakura continued and held up an injection, features puckering with a frown. "You need to try and fight it for as long as you can, got it? If we get separated somehow, you need to keep running. There's no telling when he'll come back for your right eye."

Everything from that moment on was a blur to Hinata. The discovery of their being in the medical room, the fight for escape. She could faintly recall Sakura placing her down long enough to cause a decent amount of destruction, one that granted them an opening to escape, the operatives wary of attacking or getting close as they realised Sakura had access to her chakra.

Just as they reached the world outside of their prison, however, they were separated. Something sliced at the back of Sakura's leg, cutting into the muscle ruthlessly but just as Hinata began to turn towards her, intent on grabbing her and running, her friend screamed at her with a face that was flushing red in a mixture of pain and desperation, "Go, Hinata. This is Danzo's attack. Run!"

So she did.

She ran.

"I…"

Shisui continued to watch the features of the woman he loved as Hinata broke down into sobs, repeating her shaky apology. In fairness, she had not only been under the influence of strong painkillers, but absolutely terrified at the time of her escape. Did that stop him from wishing Hinata had ignored Sakura's order and try to save her? No, it didn't. Did he understand why Sasuke had been so angry the other night while listening to her story? Definitely. Did he forgive the girl? Without a doubt.

It wasn't her fault. Unless in that situation, going through the exact same decision making, nobody had any right to judge her actions – himself included. It was all well and good stating what he would've done, had their situations been reversed, but that was pointless. Pointless and upsetting to Hinata, who actually had to live through such difficulties. Just because Sakura fought hard to take on most of the torture, it didn't necessarily mean the Hyuuga was spared completely. Sakura couldn't stay locked in that cell every second of every day and soon enough, they would've grown tired of her constant interference. If they wanted Hinata, they would've taken her one way or another.

"I am going to start training again," she suddenly told him, single eye continuing to tear up but still determined. "Neji-nii-san said he will assist in bettering my vision, even if I only have one eye."

"You still have one eye," Shisui agreed. "A good one at that. Do not let it go to waste."

He rarely left her side. When the medic returned to examine her healing progress, Shisui merely stepped aside, allowed him to do his job and then returned to his seat the second it was over. The same went for Tenten's duties of changing Sakura's clothing. Only, for that, he turned his back on the women.

Now that he was seeing again, Shisui was hesitant to deactivate his Sharingan. He knew once it was gone, his sight would be too. There was no avoiding it. The stressful circumstances and his negative emotions had broken through the barrier, somehow avoiding destroying his eyes altogether. If he was to deactivate his Sharingan after thirty-eight hours of it being activated, what state would his eyes be in? Would he go back to darkness? Would Sakura ever be able to reverse the damage?

"Sleep, Shisui."

He didn't turn around. Didn't acknowledge the boy – damn it, the man who was like a brother to him. Shisui was no doubt the first to admit that he was in a sour mood, that his lack of sleep in the past thirty-eight hours was making said mood worse. Did he care? Not particularly. Sakura was his main concern. Without her, he may as well be blind once more, because… Well, what would be his reason for living?

She had become such an important part of his life. His every waking moment, before the attack on Konoha and after his return, had included her. Every single one of them. And Shisui wanted every moment after to include her. He wanted to have everything with her, regardless of the fact they'd only known each other a few months. The thought of her waking up and not being the same wonderful, flawed woman that she was hurt him. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

He loved her.

How could he live without her?

A/N - I don't have the time to reply to everyone for this update, I'm so sorry. I'm literally doing like twelve/thirteen days in a row right now between work and university, I'm aching all over and I'm getting kind of stressed. If you haven't already noticed, the updates are going to be much slower now. I simply don't have the time. Hopefully, my timetable won't remain like this forever.