"Well you look ridiculous." Sakura affirmed quietly.
Itachi remained impassive, but did in fact look ridiculous. Sakura had to give him some of her clothes, and after quick consideration Itachi had decided that he'd only needed the steel grey leggings. Needless to say they were very tight and very .. Distracting. Sakura leaned against the outside wall of the cabin while Itachi tightened his shoes, and hummed thoughtfully to herself. After explaining the events that had occurred moments ago inside they both agreed the best option would be to leave and search for Yukiyo. After she healed him a bit though.
Picking a direction Sakura lightly grabbed Itachis arm and threw it over her shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist and squatted down. He gave her a curious look while she wiggled into position and was completely surprised when they were tearing through the air a moment later. A thunderous rumbling was left in their wake and Sakura seemed unbothered, she was much more focused on the landing. She knew there was a clearing in the general direction that she'd jumped, and sighed in relief when she only had to reposition herself a little. Jumping was one thing; landing was always significantly, and a tad bit surprisingly more difficult. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed something dark in the distance and shuddered internally
She landed a bit roughly but her cargo seemed unfazed.
"Please lie down Itachi san." She gestured to the ground with a clinical smile. She cracked her knuckles as he sank to the ground and took a deep breath. Healing anything that wasn't superficial on the head was nerve wracking, despite being one of the best medic nin of her generation, some things were still unknown to her. Itachi and Sasuke were the only known Uchiha alive and she'd never had the opportunity to heal Sasuke. This would be a first.
Plopping down next to him, she gently shifted his head into her lap. A barely perceptible change crossed his features, and his dark eyes quickly started to turn red.
"No." She said sternly, flicking his forehead like you'd flick a puppy who'd misbehaved. To say he looked stunned was a bit of an understatement. She hadn't known him for long at all, but judging off of what she'd seen and the things she'd heard about him, she'd say this much emotion on his face was completely uncommon.
"Relax." She soothed, closing her eyes and running her hands over his temples, occasionally poking his pathways with curious chakra.
Thinking she probably had his pathways efficiently mapped out she went for it, unblocking certain spots quickly, and slowly pulling at others. How he'd gone on with this much damage was a complete mystery. She could feel years of scarring and lack of medical intervention resisting her, but she wouldn't give up. There was no way she'd be able to heal all of it some parts were beyond healing, and that was purely his own fault but what she could heal she would. This was the reason Yukiyo asked her to stay after all.
She slowly trailed her fingertips over his eyelids and could immediately feel the difference. He probably still had some level of his sharingan active beneath his lids and the only way she could think of comparing it was like running her hands across a stack of bumpy razor blades.
She opened her eyes to scold him, and was immediately surprised by how similar he and Sasuke looked, and how blissful and relaxed he seemed. Something in her chest squeezed painfully. As similar as they looked they were also starkly different. She wondered if Sasukes eyes were also in disrepair and if maybe one day...
She cupped Itachis face and gently pinched his cheeks. His startled eyes snapped open, and stole her breath away. Her eyes began to tear up a bit as blood leaked from the corner of his eye. How could one person endure so much pain? All he'd done was open his eye and all the work she'd just done was quickly being undone.
She sighed and put a finger between his eyes, she could feel the pathway between his two eyes collapsing beneath her finger. If he wouldn't shut it down she'd do it for him.
She could immediately feel the killing intent radiating off him in waves, and his body tensing in her lap. She frowned, she could sense some form of retaliation coming her way and snapped her fingers just above his eyes; sufficiently stopping the Kunai (where had he been keeping that?) he had touching her forehead. She watched a single drop of her blood drip between his eyes, and held her hands fast.
"Do it and I'll split your eyes in half from the inside." She said evenly, Chakra scalpel lingering unseen just above his pupil. Everything around them was still.
A moment passed and he threw the Kunai at a tree.
She withdrew her hand.
The tense atmosphere reminded her of something...
Sasuke felt a chill run down his spine. If he were the superstitious type he'd say that someone was thinking about him.
But he wasn't. So he stood up and closed Narutos window. He could feel the house was empty, which meant Naruto had a last minute mission or was having another late night rendezvous with Hinata. He sat back down on the spare roll and looked out the window at the night sky, tapping a finger gently against his knee in thought. He kept dreaming .. of her. Naruto did a pretty good job at distracting him, but he didn't necessarily want to be distracted anymore. It had been too long. Too long without a response. He never thought he'd make it past killing Itachi and after that he wasn't too sure how many days he'd had left. When everything happened the way it had, and the dust finally settled he'd been.. at a loss. What now? It was a question that had been bothering him for years.
When they initially returned to the village he really began to notice the people around him, how much they'd all changed. Even Naruto had a different, presence about him. It was surreal. Kakashi seemed to age quickly with his new duties as hokage and Sakura.. . Sakura had become incredibly hard to reach. If she wasn't at the hospital, she was on a mission, or helping other villages do damage control. On one of the few occasions he'd been able to have a moment alone with her she'd seemed, far away. Distant. Her eyes never quite met his, and her smile never quite reached her eyes. He remembered asking her something and watching the way her mouth slowly parted as she mulled over the answer. He noticed then, really noticed her. How much she'd changed. She didn't get flustered when he spoke to her, she seemed to exude confidence in everything she did, and she definitely seemed to be more thoughtful. Something inside him reacted, fluttering nervously against his organs making his whole being vibrate. He'd stopped breathing and she'd begun to notice. Slow realization crossed her face and it made him flustered.
He'd never gotten an answer to his question, as some random messenger nin appeared beside her and urgently insisted she'd been needed at the hospital. She left without looking back, and a few weeks later, so had he.
He flopped back onto his pillow and stared at the shadows on the walls. Figures that when he finally decided to come back, she'd be gone. He closed his eyes and sighed, allowing himself to fall asleep with her on his mind.
