-16-
„It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of."
Randy K. Milholland,Something Positive Comic, 08-16-05
„I can't think of anything to write about except families. They are a metaphor for every other part of society."
Anna Quindlen(1953 - )
„There can be no spirituality, no sanctity, no truth without the female sex."
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider,Northern Exposure, Revelations,1993
It's been…how long, I wonder. Not that it matters. I still wouldn't be able to tell. All I know that it's GOOD!!
And so these were the thoughts of Yamanaka Ino, as she slowly sipped her tea while listening to the sound of running water in the shower.
Maybe I should ask Sai to move in to my place? Hotels are hotels, they can't be a real home. No matter that it's Plaza. Who cares anyway? In this case, I'm going to need a new mattress. Since the way we were doing it…my old one won't hold. Guess I'll need to clean the attic up as well, since Sai likes to draw, so he's going to need hi-
These cheerful plans were interrupted by a phone ringing. Ino frowned. Who could that be? She picked it up and accepted receptionist's directed phone-call.
"Yamanaka Ino speaking" she said as the music (you know, the annoying one while you're waiting to be connected…whoever invented that must be in hell) gone off.
"It's been a while, Ino. How are you doing?" a low, calm, masculine voice reached Ino's ear.
"Itachi?" the woman scoffed at the receiver "what a surprise. You calling I mean. What's the catch?"
"I have a favor to ask" he said calmly.
"Shouldn't things be a little different? Like, totally the other way around?" Ino smiled with a cruel smile.
"Would you buy it, if I said it has something to do with my brother?" Itachi asked provokingly.
"Should I take it you lost to him in fight over that girl?" Ino shot back the provocation. Itachi silenced for a moment and from that Ino knew she hit the right spot.
"Keen observation, as always. So, what do you say?"
"Meet me in 2 hours at…the usual place" Itachi let out a little laugh.
"See you then"
Ino hung up with a little smile.
"Who was that?" Sai asked as he walked out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"It's…from my work. I need to get to the modeling agency soon. One of the models had some…administrative problems"
"I see" Sai walked closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist "so you have to go?"
"Yeah" Ino kissed Sai lightly "but don't worry. I'll make it up to you later"
Sorry, Sai. I think I'll have to save moving-in for our anniversary…whenever that will be.
-x-
"I can't believe we're doing this!" Temari complained as she and Shikamaru were scrubbing their hands before doing the infamous angiogram.
"Yeah, this is insanely troublesome" Shikamaru agreed with a sigh "but working for Uchiha was insane to begin with. And we all know that he's insane, so arguing with an insane person is, in itself, insane"
"My ears are burning" Sasuke said as he stepped in the prep room.
"Watch it, so they wouldn't melt" Shikamaru shot back before Temari could say any words of excuse.
"So, you guys ready for a little picnic in our patient's heart?" Sasuke put on blue operating coat and dived his hand into sink to scrub.
"You do realize how dangerous it is, right?" Temari asked, hand lifted in the air.
"Yes, I do. Don't worry, the entire blame will go on me. Where's Karin?"
"Dealing with Naruto" Shikamaru reported "a thing you should be doing"
"Sorry. If I go near him now, I'll be in a hospital more than I have to"
"Which you deserve" Karin's voice reached the three "I got his consent. Although Naruto looked like he's committing a suicide"
"In a very non-invasive way, yeah, he is committing a suicide" Sasuke shrugged and went to the procedure room, where nurses just finished prepping Hinata.
"How are you doing today?" Sasuke asked, putting on the gloves.
"Lots better. But I suppose you assume it's temporal"
"Exactly. What's your major?"
"Comparative religion" Hinata scoffed with a smile "is that medically relevant"
"Unless you start praying" Sasuke smirked and put on a mask "then I'll have to fight over my rights of successful procedure" Hinata let out a little laugh.
"You guys ready?" Temari asked as Sasuke and Shikamaru prepared the instruments.
"Yeah" Sasuke confirmed and took the catheter "pushing catheter into the main artery and moving slowly up…injecting the dye" all the leaned towards the monitors.
"This is where…"
"Yes, the place where Elvis almost left the building" a sudden beep of the vital monitors drew their attention.
"Her BP is rising" Shikamaru noted.
"Mine is rising too" Sasuke retorted "of course, I'm doing the battle of the day here, so…shut up. Moving into aorta…injecting the dye"
"I don't see anything wrong with her heart" Temari said after few seconds of looking at the picture.
"Yeah, bummer" Sasuke said in a vague voice "now, either I'm right, or this procedure is about to go very bad" he pulled the catheter a little out and again injected the dye.
"What the-" Shikamaru's mouth behind the mask fell down.
"She has one, two…third ostium" Sasuke smirked "how many is she supposed to have?" he turned to Hinata "two" Shikamaru scoffed in a relief.
"Don't worry. One more surgery and you and your kid will be fine" Sasuke removed the catheter from Hinata's thigh.
"Thank you" she said with a relief and soft, sincere smile.
"Hey. It's my best friend's girl we're talking about. That's merely my commitment"
"Yeah, right" Temari scoffed "now, let's go. I'll schedule you for the surgery"
-x-
Half an hour later…
Sasuke was in a doctor's lounge, getting some coffee when Tsunade walked in, wearing a very strange expression.
Ok, this either can end up very good or very bad. Well, look on a bright side, she can't yell at me for saving a patient's life. Two lives actually. Now Naruto can have his fair share of sleepless nights and some toddler, crawling around, making mess and driving him nuts.
"Heard you had another satisfied customer"
"Ah, yeah. It was nothing, really"
"Go and talk to Naruto" Tsunade ordered.
"Is he…stable?" Sasuke asked, sipping his coffee.
"I might say…less unstable than he was thirty minutes ago"
"Oh, then it ok" Sasuke was about to leave, but Tsunade's words stopped him:
"Good call, Uchiha. Keep this up"
"Until you end up in asylum? That's my purpose in life" Sasuke smirked and left Tsunade standing with a vague smile.
-x-
Sasuke found Naruto sitting near the OR, waiting for Hinata to come out. The Uchiha sighed and walked towards him.
"How are you holding up?" he asked. Naruto looked up at his friend with sad and tired look.
"Good. Nice call, by the way"
"Yeah, well it the least I could do for my best buddy"
"You could've taken a safer route" Naruto pointed out.
"Oh, that, well…I…had a hunch that this was the right one"
"You don't have hunches. Either you saw something relevant to heart defect or you just experimented like you always do" Naruto gave a quick explanation "which is it?"
"I…really had a hunch" Sasuke shrugged.
And I thought Tsunade was a nightmare. Seriously, I'm never treating my friend's relatives, never in this life….ever AGAIN!! Besides the fact that they always know how you look like and can yell at you any moment, they always demand safest routes to be taken. The worst case is THAT and a friend being a doctor. Man, I'm screwed.
"I'll take it as a second option" Naruto decided. He kicked off the wall he was leaning against and faced Sasuke "sorry"
A hard punch to Sasuke's face followed.
Sasuke collapsed to the floor few steps away from Naruto.
"Ouch!" Sasuke's version of screaming.
"You ok there?" Naruto went to his friend and stretched out his hand to help. Sasuke stood up and carefully checked his chin.
"At least you left my bone in its place"
"Yeah, well…thanks" Naruto shot him a wide, dummy smile.
"For not swinging back at you or for Hinata"
"Both, I guess. But you really deserved this one. Do you know through what kind of Hell I went through?"
"Ah…Hell comes in types?" Sasuke raised one eyebrow. Naruto looked at him for few moments and started to laugh. Sasuke caught up with the mood and for about five minutes, both were standing in one place, laughing.
"I'm going home then. Need to keep this cool" he showed to his chin, which already started to become blue.
"We…sort of have some ice here"
"Ah…ice at my home is…better" Sasuke whirled around on his heel.
"Or there's someone to deliver the ice" Naruto giggled.
"See you tomorrow, idiot" Sasuke waved, not turning around.
"You too, jerk"
-x-
"I can't believe he punched you" Sakura laughed later in the evening as Sasuke was lying on the sofa, his head on her lap and a bag of ice placed on his chin.
"What's stranger, he helped me to stand up and said thanks for saving Hinata's life" he sighed "this is the most bizarre case I'd ever had"
"Well, you know. You're a bizarre doctor, with bizarre methods, so…you deserve some bizarre cases" she gave him a warm smile "either way, you did well. You saved all three of them"
"Yeah, now Naruto can have his disaster in family life" Sasuke scoffed "I hope his kid will at least have some brain within him…or her"
Silence for a few moments…
"You ever wanted…you know, family, kids.?" Sakura suddenly asked.
"Is this Twenty Questions again?" Sasuke frowned at her.
"Just answer the question, you jerk" Sakura put a little pressure on the bag with ice.
"I…never thought about it" Sasuke asked with a sigh "I guess I was too busy with solving all those puzzles and medical mysteries. Why?"
"Well, I felt curious. You yourself make a fine puzzle, you know"
"How did the thing with Itachi go?" Sasuke suddenly asked.
"Ok, I guess. We…talked and…just…decided that nothing serious could be between us"
"And that's it?" Sasuke's eyebrows formed a frown.
"Yeah. What else there would be?" Sasuke gently pushed Sakura's hand with ice bag away and sat up, biting the nail of his thumb.
This is way too easy. Itachi is obviously plotting something. If I know him, he never lets go of his interest objects so easily. And since it's me involved, he will try something nasty, I can tell. Damn! What's in your mind, Itachi, you bastard!
"Hey, you're ok?" Sakura hugged him from behind.
"Yeah"
"The right answer is no" Sakura whispered "what's on your mind?"
"I feel uneasy. Itachi spends his life making people miserable and nothing gets him off more than making me miserable. And giving you away just like that is the exact opposite of what he'd do"
"Aren't you being a little pessimistic? Maybe he…changed"
"Right" Sasuke scoffed sarcastically "he never changes"
"Come on" Sakura pressed the bag of ice to Sasuke's bruised cheek again "he's your brother. If you feel that something's off, go and talk to him"
"The last time we tried to talk ended up in getting into fight"
"Oh, come on, stop looking for excuses"
"And you better stop talking" Sasuke turned around and kissed Sakura. They both fell on the couch, kissing intensely.
"So…will you…do it?" Sakura asked between kisses. Sasuke sighed.
"You're actually worse than him" he stated "fine" and he swung in once again with a kiss.
-x-
Itachi and Ino were sitting at an expensively looking restaurant, both drinking wine and sitting in silence.
"I wonder" Ino started the conversation "how long has it been…since we last sat like this?"
"Quite a while" Itachi smiled with a vague smile
"So" Ino sipped a little of wine "what's the deal?"
"You know a lot of people in Medical Committee, right?"
"Depends on what you need"
"I need Konoha Hospital to be checked and doctors to go through a medical trial"
"Are you…plotting world domination?" Ino smirked.
"You might say that" Itachi lifted the glass of wine and looked at the red liquid in it "I made a deal with Tsunade Senjou. My company will take Konoha Hospital under its wing. But lately I've came up with a condition about that"
"Which would be an insurance of everyone cooperating with you" Ino continued "only one problem left – your brother"
"Sasuke is very stubborn. He won't obey me even if he knew it is a right thing to do. So, the only way left is to eliminate him from my way"
"And to think it's all for one woman" Ino scoffed "this is going to be fun"
"It's not only about her. It's about running a business. And I'm good at that"
"Of course" Ino's leg under the table slowly moved and her foot, with high-heeled shoe touched Itachi's shin, moving up and down "I could never forget that"
"We have a deal then?" Itachi touched her hand.
"Yes"
--
A/N: Only one thing I can say: I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING!! Thanks for still reading this….ok, maybe there were two things I could say :DDD