(Previously)

Tsunade added, "When I returned to Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi, were dazed and unconscious. Other jounins who were with Kakashi then, told me that Kakashi fell unconscious after an encounter with Uchiha Itachi. Jiraiya told me that Sasuke fell unconscious after an encounter with the same man."

"So those events are similar with this situation." the medic nin said, "It's just that it's not Uchiha Itachi who did it. Uchiha Sasuke isn't the victim of the Mangekyou Sharingan in this event. He is the suspect."

"Let's hear what he has to say." Tsunade left the emergency room, "Get some neurologists to test Sakura."

(Act 5 – Broken from Reality)

"Wake up." Tsunade spoke as she stood beside the sleeping Uchiha Sasuke, with her hands on her hips, frustration and anger evident on her face.

"Wake up!" Tsunade yelled.

Sasuke opened his eyes.

"What did you do to Sakura?" She immediately asked as soon as she saw his eyes open.

"Who is Sakura?" Sasuke asked, yawning.

"Sakura is the medic nin we found in your room."

"The pink-haired coward?"

"You didn't just say that."

"I just did."

Tsunade flew a punch to the wall above Sasuke's headboard, creating a dent on the concrete and cracks reaching up the ceiling.

"Nobody calls my student a coward." She answered, "You were away from Konoha for 10 years, so you don't know what change she's undergone. You didn't even remember her name! What right do you have to call her a coward?"

The explosive tags on the closed window caught her attention.

"Who put those explosive tags on your window?" She asked.

"That woman." Sasuke sat up, "Her name's Sakura right? Ah right… now I remember, her name is Haruno Sakura…"

"For what reason? What was her reason for putting explosive tags on your window?"

"She thought I was escaping this hospital through the open window." He answered, "She wanted to get out of this room quickly, but I didn't let her because she irritated me."

"And what did you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"SHE ENDED UP UNCONSCIOUS WITH ABNORMAL BRAINWAVES IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM FOR NOTHING?" Tsunade scolded, "IF YOU DON'T TELL ME NOW, I SWEAR I'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES! DON'T MAKE ME ANGRY!"

"You already are."

She grinded her teeth and said, "Tell me what you know now or you'll end up in the emergency room and the operating room as well!"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, "I really don't know."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!" She retorted, "SHE WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS ON THE FLOOR IN YOUR ROOM, AND YOU DON'T KNOW THE REASON?"

"Just tell me you're accusing me."

"YES!" She tried to calm down a bit, "I'm accusing you!"

"I didn't do anything to her!" he harangued, "Even I don't know what happened!"

"Why should I believe you? You've been missing for 10 years-"

"I don't care how long I have been missing; all I know is that I don't know what happened!" Sasuke snapped back, "I didn't use my Sharingan on her!"

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes, "And then you'll make me believe that pigs will sprout wings on their backs tomorrow and fly with the birds?"

"I just saw her trembling and she was terrified when she saw her own blood." He calmed down now, "I just don't get it – she's supposed to be a medic nin, why is she so afraid of blood?"

"Blood…?" Tsunade finally became attentive.

She remembered the time when she was a hemophobic. How did she become one again? Oh yeah, when she couldn't save Dan from a critical injury…

The Godaime Hokage's eyes widened, "I became a hemophobic back then because I couldn't save Dan from a critical injury! So that means... When Sakura was healing Sasuke back then, it was her first time to see him after 8 years and she wasn't concentrating on what she was doing. As a result, she accidentally or intentionally cut a major artery, spurting blood on her face, hands and clothes… That's it!"

"Are you sure you didn't use the Mangekyou on her?" she asked.

"I'm positively sure. My Sharingan was activated at that time, but I didn't use the Mangekyou on her." Sasuke replied.

In an instant, Tsunade got outside and made her way towards the emergency room.

"Is she conscious?" Tsunade asked.

"Not yet." A medic nin replied.

Now, the emergency room was filled with 4 medic nins, 2 nurses and 3 neurologists.

"Her brainwaves are quite abnormal." A neurologist replied, "She has been disturbed or frightened greatly by something. She must be under a jutsu or something…"

"Is it possible that the abnormal brainwaves are caused by a phobia attack before she fainted?" Tsunade asked.

The neurologist blinked and nodded, "That is possible… but as far as I know, records say she has a normal fear for anything that a human should fear. Remember, a phobia is an abnormal fear for something."

"And when you have an abnormal fear, you begin hallucinating: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling things far apart from reality. You will feel like the very thing you fear the most is already eating you alive." Tsunade replied, "She fainted because of a phobia attack."

"But what did she fear precisely?" a nurse asked.

"Is it possible that we can wake her up?" Tsunade questioned the neurologists.

"She's not in the Rapid Eye Movement stage, and she isn't in the Coma stage either… so, I guess we can." Another neurologist replied.

"Then wake her up." Tsunade replied.

After a few minutes…

Sakura sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Why the hell am I in the emergency room?" Sakura looked at the machine cords attached to her.

Tsunade stood beside Sakura and took a kunai.

"Sakura look at me, okay?" Tsunade smiled.

With one swipe of a scalpel she picked up from the drawers of the emergency room earlier, Tsunade's palm was bleeding.

"Hokage-sama!" everyone in the room gasped.

"Blood…" Sakura whispered as she uncontrollably began shaking.

"Get away from me! Get away!" Sakura screamed.

The neurologists went by her sides and tried to calm her down by injecting a tranquilizer drug into her system.

Tsunade healed her own hand and said, "She's positive for hemophobia."

"How did you know that she has hemophobia? That it was a hemophobic attack that sent her unconscious?" a neurologist asked.

"Uchiha Sasuke told me he saw her trembling when she saw her own blood." Tsunade replied, "That was very unlike of her indeed."

"What should we do?" a medic nin asked.

"I'll think about it." Tsunade answered as she exited the emergency room.

Sasuke's door slid open and in came the Godaime Hokage.

"Now what?" Sasuke hissed, "Are you here to arrest me?"

"I'll arrest you for treachery to Konoha as soon as you're fully-healed." Tsunade said, "For once, you've been telling the truth."

Sasuke glared at her and sighed, "I told you so."

"She's positive for hemophobia, an abnormal fear for blood." Tsunade informed him, "She was never a hemophobic before."

"What do I care?"

"She almost killed you."

"What?" Sasuke hissed, "What do you mean by that!"

"When you were brought here to the hospital, she helped me in healing you, along with a medical team. She wasn't at all being focused at what she's doing because it was her first time to see you again after 8 years. She had given up on hoping you'll be back here but when you did, maybe she had been cursing herself." She added, "While she was operating on you, her healing chakra turned into a cutting chakra and she accidentally or intentionally cut one of your major arteries, causing you to bleed fatally at that time. You already lost a lot of blood due to your countless injuries, and cutting a major artery just made it worse. You were supposed to die then because of that, but it was a good thing that I restored the artery with the help of the medical team."

Sasuke had his eyes closed, just listening to Tsunade.

"When she cut your artery, your blood spurted onto her face, her hands and her clothes." Tsunade placed a hand on her hips, "I'm sure she was dazed at what happened. So flashbacks of the events must've traumatized her and when she saw her own blood, she thought it was yours. That event caused her to have hallucinations, therefore causing a phobia seizure."

"All I can say is that I didn't use the Mangekyou on her." Sasuke sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"I know that." She told him, "If you used the Mangekyou on her, she would not be able to wake up. But she did, just now. And I tested her to see what her phobia was, and I saw it myself, she's a hemophobic now."

"So you're saying?"

"Hypnotism is a good way to cure phobias." Tsunade smirked.

"And so?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm asking you to use your Mangekyou Sharingan… to hypnotize her and cure her from her hemophobia." The Godaime Hokage said.

TBC…

--- --- --- --- ---
The Fifth Hokage clarifies her ideas to Sasuke on how to heal Sakura from hemophobia using his Mangekyou Sharingan. However, this idea seems too ridiculous for Sasuke. Tsunade had to compromise something that might go in the wrong way just to make him agree.

Act 6: Submission to Unfaithfulness

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED HERE!"
-Haruno Sakura

A/N: I am welcome for any suggestions, ideas, inquiries and comments. Feel free to contact me.

Do drop a review for this fic, please!

+Releina Artemis+