[FANFICTION]
Title: genjutsu madness
Summary: In which Sakura becomes too powerful for Sasuke's liking. "It might be genjutsu, you know. Sakura-chan's pretty good with that stuff." And we all know how Sasuke feels about genjutsu, Sharingan-induced or not. Post-war.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Prompt: Phobia
Rating: T
Comments: This is the first time I've participated, and I've found out (the hard way) that you DO NOT write the prompts on the same day, especially if you're not feeling particularly motivated. Eh, now I know why the last two prompts were a bit of a fail. But me likey this one :) I hope you do too! :D
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
Uchiha Sasuke could count the number of times he fell into a genjutsu on his one hand.
The first time was with Itachi. It was the night of the murder, and his brother made him watch the massacre of his clan over and over again through Tsukuyomi. He detested that nightmare.
The second time was with Orochimaru. The snake sannin never used any jutsu - none that he knew of - but the illusion of death was quite visible in his steely, cat-like eyes. He felt weak, panicked; he felt hopeless and desperate. He loathed that feeling brought by the illusion.
The third time was, again, with Itachi. It was a fight to the death, and they decided to start by a game of illusions. His brother had eyes more powerful than his own, he reasoned, so it was inevitable that he'd be tricked by his brother's Mangekyo Sharingan. He hated the Mangekyo.
The fourth time struck a blow to his sanity. It was the ultimate illusion of all illusions; one that seemed to border on the thin line between lies and reality. He found out that everything had been planned by Itachi and the whole massacre ordered by the Elders. Itachi fooled him. For his sake, Itachi had concocted a master plan, as if it was a game, that would let him be the victor, the hero he never was. For Sasuke's sake, Itachi let him live a life full of illusions, just to keep him safe and be the hero Itachi should have been.
He decided then that he abhorred illusions, chakra-induced or not.
Call it a trauma-induced phobia of sorts.
Sasuke should have known that he'd be into one soon. After all, the people he trusted seem to have a habit of springing a genjutsu on him at the time he least expected them to.
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
Expect the unexpected.
Going by that philosophy, he should not have been surprised that it was Sakura, of all people, who decided to play the let's put a genjutsu on Sasuke game.
He would confront her, but he wasn't certain that she was the one who did this. It seemed to involve her a lot, but Sasuke refused to be an asshole - kami knows he'd been one for too long - and not give her the benefit of the doubt. An expert's opinion must be sought.
Definitely not the dobe's. He's Academy-level at the art of genjutsu. He would just end up saying, even with all the explanations, "It might be genjutsu, you know. Sakura-chan's pretty good with that stuff." Like he hasn't figured that out already.
And hell if he asked Naruto for help.
Kakashi, on the other hand...
So the next training session with the group (sans Sakura who was cooped up at the hospital as of late) found him and Kakashi talking about genjutsu and the blond idiot idly pulling out grass while listening.
The group had just finished sparring - Kakashi versus Sasuke versus Naruto - which ended because Naruto decided Sasuke was gay enough to be tricked by the Reverse Harem no Jutsu (which obviously didn't work), but was stupid enough to get distracted by Kakashi's ramen genjutsu, thereby letting Sasuke pummel him to the ground. It was a tie between the two Sharingan users.
"Why would Sakura put a genjutsu on you?" Kakashi, who was perched on a branch with his favorite book in front of him, raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha.
"Would I have bothered asking you if I knew?" Sasuke retorted. He was getting frustrated by now; why wouldn't these idiots just help?
"Alright Sasuke, no need to be up in a snitch. What, exactly, does the genjutsu do to you?" To show that he was taking it seriously, the silver-haired sensei hid his book in his shuriken holster, and dropped near the ground where his students were at.
Sasuke sighed. "I thought it was Sakura because the symptoms seemed to attack the human body. She's the medic, she'd know what she was doing."
"Be specific, please. Symptoms? Duration?"
"Almost one month now. It's gotten more serious, so I thought to ask. Elevated heart rate, weakening of the knees, excessive sweating, unusual nervousness and some... psychological disturbances," he paused, debating whether to specify on that part or not.
By now, the blond idiot has stopped pulling grass near his feet and was listening intently, while Kakashi seemed to have gleaned some information to this genjutsu, seeing as he had that twinkle in his eye, like when he found out what the enemy's tactic is. He wondered if he should continue talking or just forget about it altogether.
His sensei prompted him to go on, "Psychological disturbances how?"
Raising a brow at the two's unfounded reaction, he decided to hell with it and finished what he started. "I... can't get enough sleep because of... certain thoughts... and I can't think clearly... when she's around." Averting his eyes from what seemed to be a smiling Kakashi - he couldn't tell because the damn mask was in the way - and a openly grinning Naruto - what the hell? - he crossed his arms and frowned, "Why the hell are you looking at me like that?"
Naruto decided to choose this moment to speak his mind, "Certain thoughts, teme? Why, you aren't thinking perverted stuff about our sweet, innocent Sakura-chan, are you?" The blond was grinning ear to ear, and Sasuke couldn't help but to punch that grin off his stupid face.
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
Several bruises, four burns, two hours and a broken wrist later, both Sasuke and Naruto lay on the ground, panting. Their sensei had decided that enough was enough, and had brutally wrenched them apart before their signature techniques, Rasengan and Chidori, could clash in a disastrous blow. He then gently proceeded to remind them that had such a thing occurred, Sakura would not be happily treating them. And reminded them of what happened after the war, wherein Sakura ranted for three straight hours - while bopping a chakra-induced fist on their heads when she can - about idiots fighting unnecessarily and exhausting the medic and absolutely no consideration.
Naruto visibly paled.
On the subject of Sakura, their sensei turned to him, and said, "Speaking of which, she might be doing it unconsciously, you know. Remember her little trick at the hospital?"
Sasuke nodded; of course he remembered. He was the one who spotted it. After the war, when Sakura finished giving them her little lecture, the hospital was pouring with injured people. They were nearest to Konoha, so the more critical cases were rushed and given immediate attention. The lobby was full of somewhat frantic people, so he was expecting Sakura's floor (every medic had an entire station to themselves) to be in the same state.
Instead, he found semi-tranquil people waiting patiently for their turn; Sakura was at the other end of the hallway wrapping a bandage on a Suna shinobi. Naruto looked baffled, but Sasuke identified the cause of the tranquility to be chakra seeping out of the pink-haired medic's body. Later, when asked about it in the presence of Team Seven and her Tsunade-shishou, she looked as surprised as the rest of the people there. Smart and talented girl, Tsunade praised, and proceeded to explain that it seemed to be some sort of anesthetic to the body and a sedative to the mind. Ingenius, she praised some more, but Sakura blushed, saying she really didn't know how she does it.
They know now, thanks to his Sharingan. He also know now not to underestimate her, battle or not.
Frustratingly enough, his Sharingan couldn't detect any chakra in this genjutsu. He told Kakashi as much.
"Then I suppose, the best way to go about this would be to talk to Sakura about it. From what I can see, she's the only one who could alleviate you of your problem," Kakashi said, "I hear she'd get off hospital shift around seven tonight," he offered, indiscriminately urging him to go to her.
Sasuke nodded, brushed off his pants, and turned to leave without another word.
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
When Sasuke was out of earshot - not to mention out of sight - the blond turned to his sensei.
"You do know that that wasn't a genjutsu case right? Even I figured that much." Naruto said, raising a brow at the silver-haired man, "Poor teme, I think he's traumatized by all those genjutsu in our early years."
"Of course. I never said it was genjutsu, anyway. It would be no fun that way, ne Naruto?" their teacher smiled.
Naruto grinned. "I like the way you think, Kaka-sensei. Wait 'til Ino hears, she's dying for some gossip these days."
"Not a word, Naruto. Unless you want both Sasuke and Sakura after your head?" the jounin threatened, narrowing his eyes just the tiniest bit to show that he was, in fact, rather serious about the sic Sasuke and Sakura on you threat.
"Got it! Not a letter to anyone else, promise!" And with that, the blond bolted out of there, probably headed to either the ramen stand, or his girlfriend's house. Hinata, probably, seeing as he gets ramen when he visits her, anyway.
Kakashi smiled. 'Maybe we'd get to meet the next generation faster than expected,' he thought, fishing out his orange book, and flipping to the marked page.
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
Sasuke walked through the hospital door at exactly seven o'clock in the evening. As expected, Sakura was already in her office, taking her lab coat off and getting ready to leave. She seemed to have noticed him standing idly by the door, so she beckoned him to come in, "Hey, Sasuke-kun. I was just about to leave; did you need anything?"
Walking inside the small office, he shook his head, "I came to talk."
"Oh? About what?" Sakura was shuffling around, probably looking for her apartment keys. Muttering a small "aha!" as she found them, she turned to grab her coat before facing him completely, "Did you want to stay here or do we talk on the way out?"
"On the way out is fine."
Humming her agreement, she ushered him out of the door and moved to lock up. They walked down several hallways, but he didn't talk until they were out of the hospital doors.
"I want you to release the genjutsu."
Looking at Sakura at the corner of his eye, he saw her stumble on her feet, so he paused to let her gain her balance. When she was over the shock, the pink-haired medic turned to him, eyes inquiring and looking a little too lost to be called guilty.
"Nani? What genjutsu, Sasuke-kun?"
Proceeding to explain to her as patiently as he could the details which he relayed to Kakashi earlier (sans the psychological disturbance bit), he saw several fleeting expressions on her face, none of which remained long enough to be discerned. One thing remained though: Sakura was - and still is - blushing.
"Uh, I don't really know a-about any genjutsu like that," Sakura refused to look him in the eye, opting instead to continue walking and finding the ground more interesting than his face. She was quiet for a bit, then, "Wait a minute, who told you that was a genjutsu?" There were no more traces of embarassment on her face, only sharpness and a bit of skepticism.
"I talked to Kakashi earlier. The dobe was there too." Raising a brow at her reaction, he wondered if talking to Kakashi - while Naruto was there, nonetheless - was a smart move on his part. Judging by the mutters coming from Sakura, it wasn't the wisest decision he could have made.
"Those two! Wait 'til I get my hands on them! If they're as instinctive as I think they are, they won't be showing their faces for a week, at least! I'm so going to kill them!" There. She looked livid. He wondered if he should warn Tsunade about a rampaging, destructive medical ninja and two dead bodies before midnight.
Nah. The world would be better off with two less idiots.
"Sakura. If this isn't a genjutsu, then would you mind telling me what the hell this is?"
And Sakura was back to the stammering, blushing girl that she was earlier.
"U-uhm, a-actually Sasuke-kun, I-I think I m-might've left something. Uhm, hospital! L-later!" She bolted as if freakin' Kaguya was on her heels. Any other day, he would've let her run off, but no. Not today.
He wanted answers. He needed them now.
Cutting her off - she wasn't even heading in the hospital's direction - he jumped in front of her, effectively blocking her escape route. "Sakura. Answers. Now." He glared at her, showing that he was, in fact, seriously annoyed now.
"I-Iie, Sasuke-kun, j-just ignore it. It's crazy a-anyway. It'll go away soon, ne? N-Now, if you'll excuse me," she tried to sidestep him, but he blocked her off again.
"Don't make me use Sharingan Sakura." He glared harder, showing that he will, in fact, use Sharingan, if worse comes to worst.
Her shoulders sagged, indicating she has finally given up, "You really wanna know?" He nodded, "Promise you won't laugh, okay?"
"Fine."
"Everything you've said thus far is not actually genjutsu; it's a typical reaction when you... when you're with someone you uhm, you like... or in the more extreme cases, uhm, one you love," she said, peeking at his reaction through the corner of her eyes.
Sasuke looked as blank as ever, but no facial expression could ever hope to depict what he was feeling right now. Like Sakura? Him?
...Not a very farfetched idea, actually.
Not knowing how to react, he settled for saying, "Really now."
Sakura let out a weak laugh, sounding so unsure of herself that it just didn't sound Sakura, "I told you it's crazy. Now do you believe me?"
He mulled over things for a bit. "I'll let you know tomorrow at seven." Turning to walk toward the direction of home, he waved a lazy hand goodbye at Sakura.
Letting his words sink in, Sakura gasped. She let out a shaky laugh, "You must really like me, huh Sasuke-kun?" Looking at his retreating back, she couldn't help but blush when he turned around to give her a smirk.
"Like I said, I'll let you know tomorrow."
One last wave, and he was out of her sight.
Sakura smiled. "It's a date then."
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
"Ne, sensei, what do we do when Sasuke finds out?"
"Run for the hills Naruto."
"What?"
"You'll see."
A couple of minutes later, a red-eyed Uchiha burst through the foliage, Chidori already charged and ready to attack.
Naruto ran like the wind.
sasuke.sakura.sasuke.sakura.
A/N: Sorry about the lateness! Well, anyway, Sasuke probably too OOC or something, but hey! He has no more reason to be angsty, so I thought a light-hearted Sasuke would be nice every once in a while. Besides, it's too fun to write about oblivious Sasuke. :)
Oh, and a shout out to Matthew Uchiha! Thanks so much for your support in my fics!
Hana-chan, over and out!