*hiding behind a counter*

The concepts introduced in this chapter are purely based on my working knowledge. Please note that this is not an attempt at propagation in any shape or form.

*slowly rising up with a white flag*

As always, thank you for the reviews, follows, favorites, and reads! And apologies! *.*

Chapter name is dedicated to Einstein's first experiment and eventual theory developed by Louis de Broglie and other physicists, called the wave-particle duality, which theorised how a photon (the smallest electromagnetic unit we currently know) has the physical properties of both a particle and a wave. It was seen in experiments that when a given particle is being measured, it acts as a normal particle. But when the measurement equipment is removed, when you're not paying attention to it essentially, the same particle acts like a wave. This theory also gave rise to the idea of a multi-verse, supported by legit mathematical equations.

Enjoy! :)

CHAPTER 17 - Wave-Particle Duality

Sakura returns to her apartment a day after Christmas. There are no voices coming from 10A, and she's grateful that they're both in Konoha, despite feeling strangely lonely. She hadn't realised how much they'd become a part of her daily life – the coffees, the dinners, the movies, the bickering, the peaceful evenings spent in relative silence. Uncle Obito told her that the interview will take place on the 4th of January, the very next day that Itachi and Sasuke are due to return.

So Sakura spends her days at the hospital, surrounding herself with work and as many surgeries as she could get her hands on. It works, because not everyone is hoping to dip their hands in blood around Christmas and New Year's Eve.

What she does not expect, however, is a familiar man with black hair and black eyes sitting in the hospital cafeteria one afternoon, eating salad as though he belongs there. Surprised, Sakura approaches him and pulls out a seat.

"What are you doing here?"

Sai blinks at her. "I came to meet Ino."

"But she's not here."

"Not right now, no," Sai frowns. "She's joining me in a bit."

Sakura opens her mouth a few times and closes it, not knowing where to even begin. "Right," she finally says. "And you are meeting Ino because …?"

Sai tilts his head at her as though examining a share species. "Because I want to."

"Right," she repeats. "And you want to meet her because …?"

"Sakura," he places his fork on the plate and faces her seriously. "You're aware that I'm not very good at this. It sounds as though you are jealous."

She stares blankly. Blinking rapidly, she assumes the face of a goldfish once more. "No," she eventually clarifies. "I'm not jealous. I'm curious."

"One and the same thing," Sai dismisses it mildy.

"No," she corrects him. "It's really not."

He raises his eyebrows in surprise. "But jealous people are usually the most curious."

"What?" To Sakura, this sounds like the stuff Kakashi or Uncle Obito would tell her when she was five years old.

"Remember how your neighbour kept asking me things?" Sai reminds her. "He sounded rather jealous."

She forces the thoughts away instantly. "I'm not jealous, Sai. I'm asking you because you and Ino are my friends, and neither of you mentioned anything about … this."

"About what?"

"Why you're coming all the way from Kiri to meet her," she explains, feeling a bit stupid while doing so.

And then Sai does look at her as though she is stupid. "I told you," he says patiently. "I'm meeting her because I want to."

Sakura gives up. "Okay. That's great, Sai. Are you staying for a few days?"

He smiles. "Yes. I'll be staying with Ino. I'll head back to Kiri after New Year's."

She's surprised to hear it. Last time they met, Sai was adamant about working through his vacation days. "You took a voluntary holiday?"

He nods, still smiling. "I wanted to spend time with her," he says again.

"What about your job?" she frowns.

Sai shrugs and picks up his fork again to continue eating. "I have many holidays piled up. I decided to use them."

"To meet her?"

"Yes. I don't understand why this is so difficult for you to comprehend, Sakura. I thought you were intellectually gifted."

She glares at him, but he isn't paying attention anymore. Sakura decides to go and get her own plate of food. When she returns to the table, Ino has arrived.

"…and we'll go to Chouji's Bar," Ino is saying excitedly. "He has the best draught beer in the city! And we can visit the museum, and the park, and there's this amazing restaurant down by Naka Street and they serve the best Thai food! Hey, Sakura. Look who's here! Sai came to surprise me. Isn't he so sweet?"

Sakura bites her lip to stop herself from grinning like a maniac. "Yeah. So sweet. Are you guys dating?"

Ino blushes. Her arm is hooked with Sai's and the man seems to be rather happy with the setting. "Kind of," she replies. "We've stayed in touch, and … I don't know."

Sakura watches the two of them share shy smiles and she starts to feel awkward, as if she's intruding. She spots Shino near the juice bar, and waves him over quickly.

"Hello," he sits down at the table with his lunch tray. "You must be Sai."

"Yes," Sai smiles.

"I'm Dr. Aburame Shino. Orthopaedic resident. It's very nice to finally meet you."

Sakura frowns at the exchange. "How do you know about Sai?"

Shino throws her a bemused look. "Were you hiding under a rock? Ino hasn't shut up about him for months."

"What?" Sakura stares at Ino, feeling betrayed. The blonde woman flushes under her critical watch, but mirrors the disapproving look.

"You've been busy," Ino says lightly. "And Sai is your ex-boyfriend. I didn't know what to say to you."

"Isn't that precisely why you should have told me?"

"See?" Sai says in astonishment. "You do sound jealous."

"Sakura, please," Ino scoffs, not letting her get a word in. "You haven't been paying much attention in months now. I didn't think you even cared."

"Why wouldn't I care?" Sakura's defences rise immediately. "Of course, I care, Ino! Sai is my friend. You're my friend."

I feel like I'm back in high school.

Sakura bristles internally. Stop. Thinking.

She sucks in a sharp breath to steady her mind. "Anyway," she purposefully drawls. "I'm very happy for you two."

Ino smiles back, the argument dissolving as instantly as it was going to begin. "Thank you."

"No holiday plans, Sakura?" Shino asks her.

Sakura gratefully turns to him. Ino and Sai seem to have gone back in their bubble, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"Breaking records," she grins at the man in response. "Can't wait to see what we get this time for Drunken Surgeries. What about you?"

"Same," Shino shrugs lightly.

Sai suddenly laughs out loud, and Sakura moves reflexively, and when she sees them – arms still hooked, faces close together, grinning at each other, she is reminded of Shikamaru – the way he looks at Temari.

You do sound jealous.

Maybe a little, Sakura allows.

xXx

Sakura is this close to screaming in frustration.

Tenten has been trying to steal her surgeries for better part of the evening. As soon as the ambulances arrived three hours ago, filled with promising gruesome blood-splattered humans, Sakura has moved around the Trauma Centre (all hands on deck, the Chief had ordered), trying to find patients who needed surgeries because –

Sakura is a surgeon. She isn't supposed to be in the pit, putting Band-Aid on people.

Tenten, the snake, has magically appeared everywhere when there's a promising patient, and picked fights with her with illogical justifications. Amidst their bickering, the Attendants gave it all away to the other surgeons.

And when Tenten pops out of thin air yet again for what feels like the hundredth time of that evening, Sakura loses it.

"Stop stalking me!" Sakura says angrily. "Have some dignity, for fuck's sake."

"Language," the patient interrupts. He's a priest who became the victim of some drunken group of people, and now has a metal rod protruding from his abdomen.

With no regards to the man's profession, Sakura shoots him a warning glare.

"This is not even your field," Tenten points out rather smugly. "You're not a general surgeon, Dr. Haruno."

"I know that," Sakura snarls. "But neither are you."

Tenten shrugs coolly. "I thought you're Dr. Orochimaru's student. I was under the impression that you're more capable than this – taking on general surgery. Look at you."

"All professions are equal," the priest reprimands her.

Both the women ignore him. "You can't even get your own surgeries," Sakura snaps. "I hardly think you're in any position to act like the All-Mighty."

"Don't use the God's name in vain," the priest interrupts yet again.

They ignore him again. "You're wasting time," Temari says condescendingly. "He'll bleed out. Just get out of the way already."

"Come on, now," the priest chides. "We can be civil about this."

"Shut up!" Sakura finally barks at him. "This is not about you."

He raises his eyebrows. "I'd think so, Doctor. The rod is in my stomach, not yours."

"And I'm going to be the one removing it."

"Not exactly," Tenten cuts in.

"This isn't about you, either," the priest points out lightly. "This is about removing the metal. And this doctor is correct, it needs to be done as soon as possible. I don't believe that I'm in the best position right now."

Sakura frowns at him, feeling highly offended. "You're not going to bleed out. The rod is in such a way that the arteries are blocked. It's stopping the heavy flow. And all the vital organs have been missed."

"Even so," he says patiently. "It hurts."

"You don't look as if you're in pain," Tenten remarks.

"Just because you don't see something does not dispprove its existence."

Sakura rolls her eyes. Here we go. Since she's already given up on maintaining her bedside manners, she doesn't feel all that worried about what she says next. "Please do not bring your God in this."

"I don't need to," he smiles. "God is omnipresent. Besides, I was referring to pain. Just because I'm not screaming does not mean I'm not hurting."

"Right," Sakura says awkwardly. She begins to feel small somehow, and wonders if people become religious for the priest, and not the God.

Sakura manages to snag the surgery when the Chief shows up two minutes later in the middle of another one of their arguments, and orders Tenten to the Burn Unit.

xXx

Sakura slides the door open to the room, reading from the clipboard.

"Doctor?"

She startles a bit. She wasn't aware that he was awake. Sakura checks his vitals, even though the nurse has done so only half an hour ago, but she isn't sure why the hell she even came to this room in the first place. The surgery was successful. If any post-op complications rise up, Sakura would have been notified. Her visit seems rather pointless.

"All good?" he asks her lightly.

"Are you in any pain?" she asks instead.

The priest smiles. "A little," he replies. "But it's alright."

"Everything looks good," she tells him. "Make sure to take it easy, and follow the regime even when you return home."

"Yes, thank you."

Sakura hovers awkwardly. It's the middle of the night. "Happy New Year," she offers pathetically.

He takes it in stride. "Happy New Year, Doctor."

She rechecks the vitals, just so she'd have something to do.

"Everything is fine, Doctor," the man assures her, and she feels small again. Small and stupid.

"Right."

She places his clipboard back in its holder and walks to the door.

"Are you alright?" he calls out worriedly.

Sakura stops with her hand near the door's handle, and turns. He has pressed the button to raise the upper half of the bed, so that he can be in a sitting position.

"Yes," she says in the silence, but doesn't move to leave again. "Mind the stitches." She hesitates for a moment, even as he waits patiently, and throws all caution to the wind.

Just because I'm not screaming does not mean I'm not hurting.

Sakura sits in the visitor's chair and locks her eyes with the man. The priest. The man of God. She never became religious, the way people around her did, because Kakashi and Uncle Obito taught her to believe in her own mind above all else.

"Why did you become a priest?" she asks.

He smiles. "Is that what you really want to ask?"

It's not. She lets the silence press on, and tries to focus on the beep beep beep of the heart monitor, instead.

"Why did you become a doctor?" he asks her eventually.

This one is easy, she thinks. "Because my father told me that I'd be a good doctor."

And the man smiles a strange smile, an amused one, as if he's enjoying an internal joke with himself.

"The other doctor said that this is not your field," he continues curiously, still sporting the amused smile.

"It's not," she admits, shaking her head slightly. "I'm a cardiothoracic surgeon."

"Sounds complicated."

"It means that I operate on lungs, throat, and heart."

His smile becomes wider, and Sakura doesn't understand what the joke is. "You're a heart doctor, then."

She frowns, not liking the way he phrases it. It makes her feel stupid. "Yes. Among other things."

"Did your father tell you to become a heart doctor?" he raises his eyebrows.

"No. That was my decision."

He nods. "May I ask, why …?"

Sakura smiles a genuine smile, thinking about the rush and the thrill of her job. She's always enjoyed her choice, never once regretted it. "I hold hearts in my hand."

"I see." His eyes are crinkling in the corners. He has pretty blue eyes, Sakura absently notes.

"Why did you become a priest?" she asks again, and meaning it this time around.

"Because my father told me that I'd be a good priest."

Sakura thinks that maybe he's teasing her, repeating her own words back to her. "I'm serious."

"So am I, Doctor."

She gives up. Sakura gets to her feet, regretting to have started this conversation in the first place. She has no idea why she thought visiting her patient, who is a priest, in the middle of the night could have ever sounded like a good idea.

"You look sad," he calls out and Sakura stops once again at the door.

He's not smiling anymore. She bites her lip.

"I'm fine," she says, but doesn't leave this time, either.

"Keep me company," he invites so Sakura sits down in the chair again.

"I'm fine," she repeats even though he didn't ask.

"Alright."

They sit in silence with the beep beep beep pressing between them.

"You know," he begins coolly. "Those boys weren't drunk."

Sakura startles. "What?"

He shrugs lightly, as if it's no big deal at all. "Those boys who did this – they weren't drunk."

"You should report that to the police," she reprimands, feeling angry with him, and on his behalf, both at the same time. "Father, that's not very nice. Actually, that's criminal."

"Call me Mr. Hagoromo," he tells her. "You're not a woman of belief, Doctor. It doesn't feel right for you to call me that."

Sakura shakes her head in disbelief. "That's hardly the point right now! I can call the police for you. They'll get the boys arrested."

"They were young and foolish," he dismisses it off-handedly.

"That's not an excuse."

"No?"

"No," she says firmly.

"Even so," he shrugs it away. "Our definitions of criminal are very different."

Our definitions of stupid are very different.

"That's still not an excuse," she replies, not knowing which statement she is protesting – the priest's or –

You were yourself, even if what you were scared you.

Stop. Thinking!

Something must have showed on her face, because the priest sobers up instantly, and is watching her carefully now.

"It's up to you," she adopts a casual tone, hoping to steer away from his meaningful eyes.

"Yes," he agrees. "It's up to me."

Silence. Beep beep beep beep beep.

"Why did you become a priest?" she asks yet again.

"Because my father told me that I'd be a good priest," he repeats.

Sakura glares at him challengingly. "Yeah? Was your father also a priest?"

Clearly, his father must be dead. The man is 71 years old, according to his chart.

He seems amused again. Sakura is starting to feel seriously annoyed. "You can say that."

"I don't get it," she finally says, shaking her head at him. "How can you dedicate your life to someone you can't even see?"

"But I do see," he retorts.

"You know what I mean."

"Doctor," he says patiently. "You believe in what you see. And I believe in what I see. There is no right or wrong here. There are no upper hands here. I serve God, but I'm sitting in a hospital room right now. I've just had surgery. I'm not a fanatic to dismiss medicine because I know that medicine is essential to our survival, and I'm a priest because I also know that faith is just as essential to our survival."

"I'm not spiritual," she tells him.

"I'm not asking you to be."

"I believe in science."

"I'm aware."

"If faith is essential to survival, does that mean that I'm incomplete?"

He laughs suddenly. "That's the thing with people," he remarks with mirth. "Why does faith have to mean being spiritual? You can have faith in science."

"I do."

"There you go."

And Sakura once again wonders whether people become religious for the priest, and not the God.

"Why did you become a priest?"

The man doesn't laugh or smirk with amusement this time. He looks her in the eye, and holds it steadily.

"I chose to be," he answers. "When I was a child, I learned in school about how the Universe came into existence. We call it the Big Bang. I believe in the Big Bang. I really do. And I also believe that the Universe is one monumental living creature, and yes, I'm aware that living creatures must inherently possess the ability to move, breathe, eat, reproduce, and so on. I took my Biology classes rather seriously," he chuckles at himself.

"The Universe for me is a living creature, Doctor," he continues. "It may not breathe, eat, reproduce in the conventional way that we're used to on the planet. But it does move. The Universe is expanding rapidly by the second, you must know that. And it does breathe and eat and reproduce in its own strange way. It might not be the case, but I chose it to be my reality. I chose to see the patterns, the signs, the potential, and the spirit. The Universe is not made to be taken lightly, to be written down in mathematics that we created, to be dissected so we will learn its secrets. I chose to believe that the Universe is an extraordinary soul, despite our incessant need to prove it ordinary."

He looks her in the eye, and holds it steadily. "So tell me, Doctor, why did you become a doctor?"

Sakura forgets to breathe. Beep beep beep. "I saved a bird. It made me feel extraordinary, and I liked it very much."

Itachi will return. 3 chaps to go. Please review! :)