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Chapter name dedicated to the entire MCU.

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CHAPTER 6 – Being a Hero

All Sakura can think about is that her Chief was shot. Her Chief was shot because Mr. Sakinaka was aiming for Dr. Orochimaru and the Chief distracted him, and in a panic, he shot her instead. It gave Dr. Orochimaru time to bodily throw Mr. Sakinaka outside of Chief's office, shut the door, and activate Code Black. Following this, Mr. Sakinaka started roaming the halls with the gun, shot a few more staff members, and eventually found Sakura in the storage room where he'd shot Dr. Darui – his first victim.

All Sakura can think about is that her Chief is alive, Dr. Orochimaru is alive, Dr. Darui is alive, and Ino is alive.

All Sakura can think about is that Sasuke, Itachi, and Naruto had hurried to check on her when they saw the events on the news in their office.

All Sakura can think about is that Kakashi and Uncle Obito are staying with her, and refuse to go back, even though Sakura is supposed to receive hospital mandated therapy sessions before she can be cleared for surgery again.

All Sakura can think about is that Itachi didn't hug her, didn't say a single word to her, didn't offer any kind of comfort. All he did was hold her gaze, the way he always does, and Sakura knew, she knew, that he understands.

Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi, Kakashi, and Uncle Obito stayed with her when she had to give her statement to the police. Kakashi was holding her right hand and Uncle Obito was holding her left hand. She began by explaining Genma's case, how Mr. Sakinaka visited the hospital a few times demanding answers, and then Shino had seen him on that day, and Sakura continued on her rounds, sending Dr. Darui, then going to check-up on him when he didn't return immediately, finding him with a gunshot wound, giving him emergency surgery, then Mr. Sakinaka had turned up, and Sakura couldn't stop operating –

"Wait," the police had interrupted. "You continued the treatment with his gun pointed at you?"

"I couldn't let Darui die," she had said.

"He said and I quote 'Stop or I'll shoot', and you … didn't stop?"

"I couldn't let Darui die," she had repeated.

By the time she was done with the statement, her hands were nearly crushed.

In the following weeks, Sakura is approached by various reporters wanting to hear about the story, and she refuses to say anything.

After she got home on that day, Sakura doesn't come out of her bedroom for three days straight. On the fourth day, Itachi knocks on her door.

"It's me," he says. "Can I come in?"

Sakura is sitting on the floor by the foot of her bed, holding her knees to her chest. "No."

"Okay. I'll just talk from here." She hears some shuffling and when he speaks next, Sakura wonders whether he's made himself comfortable by sitting down on the other side of her door. "You'll have to come out at one point."

"Yeah, but this doesn't have to be that point."

"Maybe not," he concedes. "Then what point will it be?"

"I don't know."

"Okay." A brief moment of silence. "You remember when we had that conversation and you said doctors can't always save the day?"

She doesn't answer.

He soldiers on. "I believe you. It's not always possible for you to save the day, and no one should be expecting it of you, either. However, I also believe that you always have a choice. You don't need to choose being the hero every time, and it's fine. It's okay not to do that."

"I chose to be one."

"Yeah," he says softly. "You chose to be one."

"I could have died."

"We're all going to die at some point," he reminds her.

"I could have died that day."

"Sakura," he sighs. "I know that you think you did the wrong thing, that you made the wrong choice. I know that you never wanted to be a hero. I know that now everyone will have great expectations from you, expectations that cannot be possibly met. And that's a scary thought. But you will always have the right to make your own choices, do your own things. I promise you that it is possible to live the life you want, regardless of what people want from you."

Sakura remembers then that Itachi is a prodigy. She remembers that his father wanted to enrol him in the programme for gifted children. She remembers the way Naruto practically kisses the ground that Itachi walks on, because he's proven himself "super-smart". Despite having the mind of a genius, Itachi graduated with his own age group, set up a business of his interest, and is currently speaking with her through a door.

"It is what it is," she repeats his words back to him, the words he'd said when Sakura had asked him if he had any regrets for not taking up his father's offer.

"It is what it is," he repeats after her.

"I'm a cardiothoracic surgeon," she reminds herself. "I'm a surgeon who operates on people because I enjoy the thrill that it gives me."

Itachi chuckles on the other side. "You sound like a psycho doctor," he teases lightly and Sakura doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Why would anyone enjoy cutting people open?"

So Sakura laughs and cries at the same time. "You almost went to pre-med, you jerk."

"Almost being the operative word," he corrects her instantly. "Do you know why I canned the plan?"

"Because your parents only had money for one degree?"

"No," he says. "Because I knew that if I became a doctor, one day I might have to operate on my intern in the storage room. And that's just yuck."

She laughs harder. "Oh my god, Itachi! That's so mean!"

"Come on," he insists. "You have to agree that it was disgusting."

"I'm not answering that."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he decides. "Next time a reporter asks, 'why didn't you wait for anyone before starting the treatment?', you should tell them how much you enjoy putting your hands inside people's bodies and you were afraid your secret would be out."

Sakura is in stitches by this point. She gets to her feet somehow, opens the door, and Itachi must have been leaning against it because he suddenly topples over backwards in her bedroom, and Sakura sinks to the floor beside him, laughing even harder.

"You … shouldn't … make fun … like that," she manages to choke out.

Falling over backwards doesn't seem to have fazed him because he's beaming at her, propped up on his elbows on her floor.

"I wasn't joking," he tells her.

She swats his arm. "Shut up."

She sobers up slowly, and it takes her a few moments to notice that Kakashi and Uncle Obito are staring at them through the open door.

"Dinner?" Kakashi finally offers.

"Yes, please," Itachi answers before she can get a word out. "I'm so hungry I feel like I can eat a horse."

Only then does it register that he's wearing his work clothes. This time, it's a white fitting shirt tucked in black pants.

"You look like a waiter."

Itachi rolls his eyes and moves to sit up properly. "I look like a CEO."

They stand up and head to the kitchen area. Uncle Obito is setting out four plates.

"Where's Sasuke?" Sakura asks, frowning. Surely, they're not just going to exclude him?

"With Naruto," Itachi informs her and instead of taking a seat, goes to the cupboard to pull out wine glasses. He knows where she keeps her alcohol, as well, and it takes a second to remember that she's never told him that.

"Itachi," Kakashi calls out from where he's spooning out the salad onto the plates. "Can you grab the forks, too?"

And Itachi does that. The three of them work around each other as if this is a daily occurrence.

"What am I missing?" Sakura eventually blurts out.

All three men pause in what they're doing to stare at her instead.

"Oh, well, you see," Uncle Obito begins awkwardly. "Since you were unavailable –"

"Holed up," Itachi corrects him.

"We had the boys over for meals," Kakashi finishes. "You know, getting to know the boys staying across the hall from my daughter and all that."

Sakura flushes, understanding the implication. "They're my friends! Not … not that."

Kakashi shrugs. Itachi looks away. Uncle Obito beams at her.

xXx

"Sakura," Itachi says conversationally when they're having dinner, "you never told me that Kakashi writes porn."

Sakura chokes and Uncle Obito immediately thumps her on the back, hard. "You … you told him that?"

Kakashi shrugs as if it's no big deal. "He asked me what I did for a living."

"I think it's great," Itachi muses. "I mean, someone has to do the job."

"Exactly," Kakashi agrees. "Sakura, can you imagine what would happen to our population if there were no porn books?"

Sakura groans loudly, cringe-worthy memories filling her mind. "I know, I know," she says loudly. "Population boom."

"So what is it that I do?"

"You save the world," Sakura sighs.

"Ingenious," Itachi compliments whole-heartedly. "Never thought of it that way."

"Sakura," Uncle Obito begins, "you never told us that your neighbour is the CEO of Uchiha Corp. and his younger brother."

"I did," Sakura says. "I told you my neighbours were nerds."

"Says the nerd," Itachi quips instantly.

"Sasuke is such a delightful young man," Uncle Obito gushes. "And his boyfriend? Naruto? What a refreshing personality!"

Itachi and Sakura both choke, and Kakashi and Uncle Obito thump on their backs.

"They're not," Sakura gasps.

"They're not dating," Itachi breathes out. His eyes are watering.

"Oh," Uncle Obito frowns, disappointed. "They would make a great couple."

"More wine, anyone?" Sakura almost yells.

"Please!" Itachi holds out his glass.

"What about you, Itachi?" Kakashi inquires. "No romantic partner?"

"No," Itachi answers carefully.

"Never?"

Sakura's interests piques. They've never spoken about their romantic love lives. This should be fun. In fact, it's difficult to imagine Itachi ever being in a relationship with anyone. He's always been so completely … himself, as if he'll never need anyone else to fill up spaces for him. There don't seem to be any spaces to fill up.

"Well," Itachi drags out. "I've been in one long term relationship before. And dated a few women over the years."

"Really?" Sakura asks, taken aback. "I've never seen you go on dates."

"Not recently, I haven't," he admits. "I've been really busy with starting up my company."

"Oh?" Kakashi interjects. "When was the last time you dated?"

"You know," Itachi laughs nervously. "I don't even remember that."

"So when was the long-term relationship?" Uncle Obito asks, tilting his head curiously.

Itachi is clearly uncomfortable being under the spotlight for discussing his personal life. Sakura purses her lips to stop herself from giggling.

"During high school," he answers. "We broke up when I moved for college."

"Ah…" Uncle Obito nods his head with utter seriousness. "Long distance is always difficult."

"I guess," Itachi shrugs. "But it wasn't just that. I didn't think it was worth to try a long distance relationship."

"Why not?" Kakashi frowns.

"I didn't … well, I didn't…"

"Love her?" Uncle Obito suggests, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. That."

Sakura stares at Itachi. She didn't know he is the type of person to consider love, or even make decisions based on it. Granted, Sakura knows that Itachi does love people – such as Sasuke, his parents – but to think that Itachi might have a romantic dimension to his personality is strangely alluring. Here is a person who cannot comprehend social relations and boundaries, and yet, was able to comprehend something like love for the sake of a relationship.

"It's alright," Uncle Obito comforts the man. "All in good time."

Itachi offers a strained smile, but doesn't speak on the topic further. The two men get the hint, and Kakashi diverts the conversation to his own recent research instead. It's not exactly the best experience to be listening to Kakashi rant about a swinger's club but Sakura doesn't say anything when she sees Itachi take a huge gulp of his wine.

xXx

Sasuke arrives after they're done with dinner. He enters the apartment using his own set of keys that Sakura doesn't remember giving him.

"Sakura!" he grins as soon as he sees her near the sink. He bounds over quickly to hug her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she mutters in his chest with a crushed face. "I'm fine."

He pulls back.

"How do you have the keys for this place?" she asks, hands on her hips.

"That'd be me," Kakashi calls out from the couch. He's sitting on one side with his back resting against the armrest, and his feet in Uncle Obito's lap on the other side. "Obi and I had to go out for some work yesterday, so we gave the boys your emergency keys."

"You're not getting them back, by the way," Itachi tells her. He's leaning against the counter with hands crossed over his chest.

"Why not?" she demands. Sasuke nudges her aside to access one of the cupboards and pulls out the bottle of wine for himself.

Itachi snorts. "With the way you keep passing out from exhaustion, I think we need the keys."

Sakura shoots him a warning glare. She doesn't care for such details when she's filling Kakashi and Uncle Obito about her life. She paints a nice picture for them, most of the times, so that they wouldn't worry.

"Don't mind us," Kakashi says lazily. He's not even watching her. "We always know when you lie to us, doll. Never forget I taught you the skills."

"And I can vouch for the fact that he's a big, fat liar," Uncle Obito mutters even as he massages Kakashi's feet.

"Takes one to know one," Kakashi tells him and smiles sweetly.

"How was dinner with Naruto?" Sakura asks Sasuke, mostly to direct the conversation elsewhere.

Sasuke perks up. "It went well. He's worried about you, too, by the way. I promised him I'd call with news. Hang on, I'll just send him a quick text to let him know you're okay."

Uncle Obito is giving her pointed looks from behind Sasuke. Sakura and Itachi catch each other's eyes for a few seconds, before Itachi shakes his head and Sakura understands.

Let's not get it in our heads.

"Also," Sasuke continues after pocketing his phone, "I was wondering if you wanna watch the next MCU movie?"

Sakura considers. "Yeah … yeah, let's do it."

Sasuke throws her another grin. "Great! I'll let Naruto know, too." He takes out his phone again to do just that. "Naruto says he can come over tomorrow night." He walks to the couch. "You guys fine with that?"

"Totally," Uncle Obito agrees. "Movie nights are my favourite."

xXx

The next morning, Sakura comes out from her bedroom to find Itachi, Sasuke, Uncle Obito, and Kakashi nursing mugs of coffees in their hands. Itachi is in his work attire, leaning against the kitchen counter with his phone in the other hand, Kakashi and Sasuke are sitting at the table, and Uncle Obito is reading a newspaper on the couch.

None of them is speaking.

"Since when do I get newspaper?"

They don't look up. The only indication that they're aware of her presence is when Uncle Obito answers distractedly a few moments later, "You don't. I bought it."

"Right. This is so not weird," she mutters under her breath and grabs a mug. Itachi moves to give her space.

xXx

Sasuke puts in the DVD for The Incredible Hulk, and takes his seat on the floor beside her. Kakashi, Uncle Obito and Naruto are sitting on the couch, which left Sakura, Itachi, and Sasuke to sit on the floor with this backs resting against the couch. They're in 10A since Sakura still doesn't own a TV.

Sakura asks them why they're not watching the next Iron Man movie instead, and Sasuke explains that the order is not that straightforward. He says that Iron Man 2 is after Hulk, and then it's Thor 1.

By the time the movie gets over, Kakashi seems to be regretting his decision to have sat through it with what are clearly Uncle Obito's four clones.

xXx

On the Sunday of that week, Sasuke tells Sakura over morning coffee that they're going to the nearby hill for an outing. He explains that the seasonal fruits are best up there, and he knows one place that Sakura has to visit at least once in her life.

"It's a beautiful spot," he says excitedly. "You can see the whole valley and you're literally in the clouds."

Sakura is dubious. "I don't know, Sasuke."

"Come on," he pleads. "It doesn't take long to reach. It's only a forty-five minute drive."

"I didn't know you were the road trip kind of a person," she remarks.

He flushes a light pink. "I'm not," he admits. "Itachi showed it to me."

Sakura swivels her eyes to Itachi. He's on the couch with Uncle Obito and they're speaking amongst themselves in low voices. When Itachi learned that Uncle Obito is a journalist, he immediately started hogging most of his attention to speak about the various industrialists that Uncle Obito has met or interviewed.

Sakura remembers that the first time she'd seen Itachi, she'd wondered whether he is the outdoorsy type of a person. His skin is lightly tanned, but Sakura has never heard of any outing since the time she has known the brothers. Granted, she doesn't know everything about them …

"I don't know," she repeats to Sasuke. She doesn't feel enthusiastic about hiking up a small mountain on such short notice. She prefers to run on flat surfaces.

"Sakura," Sasuke whines. "It'll be fun! Don't make me use Naruto to convince you because we both know you'll agree then anyway."

She honestly might. Sakura has realised that Sasuke keeps Naruto close to him for a variety of reasons, but he seems to enjoy Naruto's convincing powers more than anything else. Moreover, it doesn't take Naruto a lot to convince, either. All he has to do is smile and ask nicely.

It is safe to say that Sakura has started to feel sympathetic towards Mrs. Uchiha and her bakery.

Sakura groans. "Fine." Sasuke cheers. "But just a drive, check out the spot, and then we're back. I don't want to spend inordinate amount of time up there."

"Done," Sasuke readily agrees.

Kakashi and Uncle Obito refuse the offer.

"You kids have fun," Kakashi says. "And come back in one piece. Sakura might be physically fit, but she prefers cutting people open than hiking."

"You got it," Naruto promises and gives him a thumbs-up.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Itachi, Sasuke, and Sakura file in the elevator in a neat line and leave.

xXx

Itachi takes the wheel. Sakura is squeezed in the back between an overly excited Naruto and an overly disinterested Shikamaru. The drive takes a little over an hour, and only because Naruto insists on stopping at various spots to click photos. He even haggles with a street-side seller and buys them all cotton candy.

The sky is overcast. When they start climbing up the hill, Sasuke and Naruto start bickering on which spot to park at until Itachi finally reminds them that he's driving the car, and he is the one who knows the area better than they do.

They eventually do stop in the clouds. When Sakura steps out of the car behind Naruto, she has to squint to see anything in the fog. It takes a few moments to adjust, and by the time everyone is out of the car Sakura can faintly see the edge of the cliff and the valley beyond.

"Let's walk downhill," Itachi calls out. "The fog is denser than I thought it would be. I don't want Naruto to accidentally topple off."

Naruto protests loudly but follows Sasuke as they begin the walk. Sakura stays close to Itachi on her front and Shikamaru is carefully trailing in the back.

Sasuke leads them to another edge of the cliff and the fog is thinner and the valley is clearer. Sakura blinks in surprise. Sasuke was right. The view truly is beautiful. There is nothing beyond the cliff but the greenery below and the sky above. There is a cool, crisp chill in the air and it calms down Sakura like medicine.

She takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it out. She's standing between Itachi and Sasuke now, and she knows that it's not true, but it feels as if they're standing on the edge of the world.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru eventually spread out. Sakura doesn't move, and neither does Itachi.

Sakura thinks about Genma and his proposal. She thinks about the heartbroken intern. She thinks about Genma's father, who died in search of relief for the grief that he was facing, who didn't know what to do anymore and resorted to taking another life for his son's lost one. She thinks about Dr. Darui and his open abdomen in the storage room, and her hands dipped in his blood.

Standing on the edge of the world, Sakura thinks about many things. Most of all, though, she thinks about Itachi and Sasuke's value in her life, of Naruto's smile, and Shikamaru's disinterest. She thinks about Hinata's words having a strong spirit as well.

Itachi had said that it's okay not to be the hero. It's okay to choose not to be a hero. It's okay to want the life that you want to live, despite what others expect of you.

Sakura is not Tony Stark. She is not the Iron Man. She was not kidnapped by a terrorist group, and she didn't create an armour of metal. Sakura is not a hero. She never thought of becoming one. The concept of "hero" was never even in her dictionary. Yet, here she was, standing on the edge of the world, contemplating on the thin line between heroism and stupidity.

When Sakura was eight, and she saved the bird, Kakashi took her to a psychologist. Not because he thought she was insane, but because he thought she was special. The psychologist told him that Sakura is good enough to skip a few grades, and so Kakashi took her advice, happy beyond words that his little doll was gifted with a sharp mind. Sakura finished high school early, and even skipped one year of college. The choice that Itachi's father couldn't make for his son because Itachi's mother stood her ground, Kakashi did with Sakura.

He encouraged her, pushed her, made her believe in the strength of her mind. He told her that she was a special girl, and she could do great things if she ever wishes to. He told her that mistakes are alright, that wrong decisions are part of the process, but she must always choose to have faith in herself. He taught her the value of knowledge, that knowledge is never black and white, but the ability to see the grey between them.

"It's not what you know that's important," he would say, "but what you do with it."

When she was twelve years old, and Kakashi and Uncle Obito sat in front of her, surrounded by over fifty packets of tampons and sanitary pads, and explained the menstrual cycle to her, and how she'd need to use them very soon –

"I know this," she insisted, "I read about it already."

"Well," Kakashi cleared his throat, "that's that, then."

"Basically, I'm killing babies," she said.

"No," Kakashi corrected her, "you're killing the chances of having a baby."

"Don't you think that's bad? That I'm not giving it a chance to live?"

Kakashi hmmed thoughtfully. "You will have many chances, doll. When you're ready, you will take it. Only when you're ready."

"All in good time," Uncle Obito quipped in.

Sakura thinks about many things, standing beside Itachi on the cliff, until the pieces in her mind begin to fall back into place. Until she learns how to believe in her mind again, that it wouldn't betray her faith in it, the way Kakashi had taught her. Until she accepts that she wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she'd let Dr. Darui die on her watch.

She feels the light drizzle start to fall, and it takes her a moment to realise that her cheeks are not wet because of the rain.

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