Chapter 6: The Sickness

~XX~

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Sasuke was awakened with a small, quiet, and, if his ears were still functioning properly, a quite feminine one. He thought it was his mother's, but according to what he could remember from what Itachi had told him, his mother was not to come back until next week from a journey to look for more doctors to be sent in the palace and check him up. It cannot be his mother's.

His assumption had been proven correct when the source of it spoke almost as if whispering, "What happened to him?"

Even though awake already, he had kept his eyes close and refused to make the slightest move to give away his consciousness. One: because there was a female, and his eyes were currently red with Sharingan, if she looked at them, she will become captivated because he could not turn it off at his current state, and two: because his head pounded very agonizingly with a throbbing pain that he could not muster up the strength to open his eyes.

He heard the shuffling of clothes that was soon followed by his older brother's voice, "It started six days ago, when he began coughing violently and uncontrollably. The next day, he had fever; and the next, he had been bed-ridden and could not move, and then after it, he had difficulty in eating. The day before you came here, yesterday, his body had rejected any kind of food or beverage."

He winced inwardly at the thick sound of pity and worry on his brother's voice; did he really look that pathetic? This was the very reason he had wanted to die already, but his brother would not let him. All of the people in the family did not let him and instead, had wanted him to keep living, to continue suffering even more as days of pure torture passed. There was another set of noise that indicated the shuffling of clothes, this time, it was accompanied by footsteps. The steps went nearer and nearer, and he figured in his mind that this was another one of those doctors who came in here to heal him. He mentally shook his head. He could imagine what the outcome of this meeting would be, her going home, his whole family disappointed as what had happened previously with the numerous others, and him, dying.

'Another one of those failed attempts…' He bitterly thought.

He felt the shifting of the right side of his bed and figured that it was the female that had taken a seat on the edge. The smell was too womanly, sweet and fresh, like the smell of mint and grapefruit combined in one, and far from the spicy one of his brother. Nothing happened for a short moment, he felt the side of the bed shift again and a warm hand rested on his forehead. His throat was hurt and all dried up, but his Uchiha pride had still enabled him to make an indication of disapproval by the form a short, croaked, and rasped moan.

The doctor had gotten the message and had removed her hand, only for it to some back on another part of his body. He felt the gentle and warm hand rest atop his chest, probing and gently pushing downward, not to hurt but enough to let her feel his heartbeat clearly. He did not make any protest this time, knowing that it will both be futile and a real waste of energy, because knowing doctors, they would not listen even if you kick them right on the face, anyway. After a few moments, she lifted her hands and the bed shifted again.

"I will need the candles, your highness." Was what she said.

There was more shifting on the room, scuffling, clanking, shaking of what sounded like matches, rubbing of surfaces that he was not really sure of what particularly, and then the familiar and irritating somewhat orange color that appeared and illuminated behind the closed lids of his eyes. It was the light of the candles, and it did no good to him but add more sting he was already feeling on his eyes and at the back of it. The twisting and pounding ache intensified a notch, and he released a weak sound of both exasperation and hurt, he turned his head away from the lights, which was on his left, and his face came to meet with something balmy and soothing, it was a hand- the doctor's hand, cupping one side of his face, thumb moving continuously lazy on small left-to-right-and-back patterns on his cheek, occasionally grazing the corner of his mouth. It all momentarily made him forget about the soreness he was just feeling. Strangely, it felt right to him, her hands on his face oddly fitted, covering the hollows, planes, and depressions of his cheekbone, temple, and jaw. And through the influence of the irrational and spontaneous part of his brain, he leaned into the hand and purred faintly- purred! - And Uchiha Sasuke never purrs. Never. Ever.

He reasoned that it was because of the illness, that it had finally gotten and affected his mental faculty, but inside- deep, deep, inside- he knew it had nothing to do with being sick, and the very thought plagued him so much, the amount of enchantment the female possessed and the way it held much power over him, that he had forced it at the back of his mind and had shut it off for the purpose of forgetting it. If this woman could really heal him, then he would thank her, but not- definitely not- fall in-love with her.

The hand disappeared, much to his disappointment, and it travelled down his neck, to his chest, and stopped at his abdomen. Had the situation been different, he might have thought the action was sensual, provocative, and enticing, but he was ill, and he looked like a pile of bones inside a piece of flesh called the skin, so he did not give it any wrong meaning. He would not have minded her touching him in any other places, privet or not, had she not said the next words.

"I need him naked." She spoke in a business-like manner, no hints of hesitation or shame could be traced, and she spoke like it was urgent, and needed it done quickly. There was a small pause, before he felt large hands, undoubtedly his brother's, lift him up into a sitting position, one hand on his back while the other tugged upwards at the hem of his dark shirt. He moaned in protest, not one of the doctors that have examined him have had to look at him naked! But it was cut off when he felt the familiar feeling of itch and pain on his throat that signaled the coming of a fit of cough. Indeed, it followed when he tried to swallow it away and impede it. He entered a spiral of succeeding moments of torment, coughing like there was no tomorrow and expelling blood and mucous while doing so. The various pains on his body grew, and he felt the large hands of Itachi trying to soothe him by running his hands up and down his back, by the time he had stopped coughing, he was left feeling weaker and even more worn out.

"Please stop trying to dispute against this, Sasuke. Moving too much will only wear you out, let the doctor take a look at you." Itachi spoke in a scolding manner to him. He hated it, he felt like a six year-old kid who got denied of having dessert, but if he wanted everything done quick; he would have to behave. He winced; the sound of the word 'behave' left a bad taste, even when thought on his mind. He gave a small nod and Itachi slid the shirt up and off of him. The coldness that greeted the now exposed skin made him shiver, but her remained quiet and waited for the doctor to do her work.

There was another shift and the bed showed signs of another occupant, after he felt it sank, he heard the female's light voice, "Please hold him like this, your highness."

~XX~

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Sakura was dumbfounded the moment she saw the skinny and feeble-looking body on lying helplessly on the bed. It was no wonder they had been very urgent to request for the help of the supposed 'flesh-eating-witches'. They may as well have had made a deal with the devil just to heal the second Prince had they not found out about her Master. He looked so fragile, like a tiny piece of paper that could very easily be swayed and carried away by a small gush of wind. It made her feel pity towards the Prince, but she did not show it, knowing men, she was sure either him or his older brother would have liked it. She mentally shook her head at the thought. "Men and their stupid pride."

As soon as she took note of his heart rate and temperature, she had requested to have him out of his upper body clothing. He had protested at first, but when he had become wracked with a painful series of cough, he had concurred to the action. She was flabbergasted at the state of the Prince's health, his ribcage was clearly showing under the thin sheet of skin on his limbs, and he was so pale and weak, he could not even muster enough strength to speak properly. She may be a witch, but also is a doctor, and assessing him with a doctor's eye, she concluded that he is in the worse health a man who could not get sick could be in. All he could do was moan, grunt and rasp out sounds that served as hints of how he felt physically and emotionally.

She reached out a hand and asked somewhat dumbly for the Prince's permission, "May I?"

The Prince, though he chose to leave his eyes closed, gave her a delicately small nod; it almost looked like he did not do it at all. She put a hand over his chest again and searched gently on his ribs, feeling for a broken one, but when she found none, she let her hands wander on the surface of the elevated bones of his spine that had been made prominent by his thinness. She felt again for any indication of anything broken or out of place, but found none. She looked at the older brother and gestured for him to let his brother lie down again.

"That's strange," she started, "There is no indication of anything that might make him unwell of any illness according to the symptoms that you have told me."

She saw the first Prince narrow his eyes at her and grit his teeth before speaking, "You told us you can cure him of it." He stressed the word 'it', referring to the unknown disease.

She looked down at the ill one, if there was no sign of anything that could make him ill, it meant she does not know about the new illness. Maybe it was something from inside? Even so, she could have known based on his heart rate, temperature, and warning signs that he was ill with something.

Unless…

"Your Highness, would you mind letting me look at the rest of him?" She asked Prince Itachi rather pressingly. He nodded and took off the rest of his clothing, only leaving the undergarment that his younger brother wore. Without delay, she inspected every part of his front body, and seeing nothing, requested for him to be held in a different angle so she could inspect the back. She let her eyes roam carefully on his form before a discoloration on the left part of his back, just a little distance below his shoulder blades, had caught her eye.

She asked for them to wait while she removed herself from the bed and scurried over to where her bag of supplies were situated, she retrieved a tiny bottle of Narra tree roots preserved in early morning dew from clovers. She climbed back to where the two brothers were situated exactly as how she had left them and removed the bottle cork. She instructed politely to the older prince to let his brother be lain on his stomach, he followed her, softly situating his brother and angling him so that his back may now be fully exposed to her, but had still kept in mind to make his brother comfortable. He rested his brother's head on his lap while Sakura quickly went over to her work. She covered the small opening of the bottle with the pad of her index finger and turned it outside down, letting the padding of her finger be soaked with the liquid, before turning it upright again. She removed her finger and slowly brought it to the discoloration on the Prince's back, mildly rubbing a small circle over it, before raising it to reveal the discoloration.

They both eyed it, the first Prince giving her a small glance before staring at the small shiner. The thing had slowly moved, separating into four, different pieces of dots with different sizes, then it formed shapes as the four spots became clearer, it had adapted to a color as dark as the color of ink, and the outline of shapes became so clear, it appeared as if it had been painted on his skin.

There was a small dot in the middle, and three, comma-like designs called tomoes surrounded it. It appeared like the black dots that decorated the red eyes she had seen on the King's painting. And she gasped as realization had hit her quick. She looked up at the older brother of the Prince, who at that time had been staring intently at her. She narrowed her eyes and gave her an alarmed look.

"Your Highness," her voice sounded quieter than necessary; "I now know what is wrong with your brother."

He nodded, "Please do enlighten me about it."

She took a deep breath to release a sigh, "I am afraid he is not ill with any disease."

"Then what is wrong with him?" He sounded impatient, voice giving away a hint of fear.

Her gaze had turned serious and she briefly looked away as she returned the cork to the bottle's opening. Then she looked at him again and spoke; voice low and somber.

"He is cursed."

~XX~

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The process had been in a rush, after she had informed and elaborated about the Prince's state in front of his family, which by then had only consisted of his uncle and his older brother, and had requested for permission to have a place to hold a ritual in and the required 'ingredients' she would need to heal the Prince with white magic, she had swiftly prepared everything she would need for the forthcoming ceremony. At that time, she had shed off her cloak and gloves, leaving her on her brown corset and beige dress.

She checked the whole setting again. She was inside an empty, stone room which held only one window, parallel to the location of the door. Tonight was a full moon, and its light shone and lit up the almost bare room. It was technically empty, save for the long ritual table sitting on the middle, a complex drawing of the earth pentacle drawn at the head of it and the water pentacle at the other end; the two, unlit red candles that was positioned at the ground, aligned with both ends of the table; and the spices she will need to concoct the element she would need to spray the Prince with. The spices being a cup of sea salt, a tablespoon of sage, chamomile, and lavender oils, and a bit basin of water; all of which she had already infused and purified with a quick healing and fortifying spell. The Prince's curse was called 'The Venom of Medusa'. A curse in the form of a seal that will only be revealed upon contact with a hindering-lifting potion like the one she had used a little while ago. She had insisted that the exorcizing of the curse be done that night because of the intensity of the magic the curse held. It had been done by the use of black magic, and the curse, according to its definition, would kill any victim on the last night of a full moon where magic reaches its strength's height, which was that exact night. No wonder the Prince's health had declined to fast in just six days, the curse had been rushing its effect in order to meet its intended result.

The doors opened and revealed, what she could only conclude as the members of the Royal Knights based on their armors, the King, and the first Prince. Along with them were two soldiers who both carried the ill Prince on a stretcher. They came walked in and the soldiers set their Prince down on the ceremonial table, then quickly left as the King have dismissed them. They all turned to look at her when the soldiers disappeared, and gave her a look of anticipation. She shook her head and did not bother to smile, "I am sorry, but you cannot all be present while I perform the ritual. Only the family is allowed to witness it."

"That's a shame. I would really want to observe a real-life white witch perform a ritual. I believe you are more- humane in your ways. You don't have to sacrifice lives or blood to call forth magic, am I right?"A green-haired, golden-eye, pale man spoke from her left.

She looked at him and jade met honey, she nodded before she spoke, "Yes, my Lord. We white witches do not perform rituals that include the use of things that signify damnation, death, hell, and anything evil. Now, if you will all be so kind and please remain outside the room so I can start the process now."

Some gave her a shrug, Lord Hidan snorted, yet again, and Lord Kisame gave her a small smile, before nine of them left the room, making the King and his elder nephew the only ones left. She looked at them and politely asked, "I will need utter silence while executing the rite. May I ask for you to please act as if you are not a part of this room for as much as you can; your Majesty and Your Highness?"

They both nodded. And she started her ritual by lighting the two candles and adjusting the Prince's head to fit in the middle of the drawn earth pentacle. She uttered a small prayer while doing so, "I call upon the goddess, Ereshkigal. Spare the soul of this young man from his dying fate, and let Verdandi, Urd, and Skulld continue to spin his thread."

She repositioned his feet so that it spread enough to let the water pentacle be seen in between it and uttered again, "Goddess of Earth, Cybele, I ask for your assistance to complete this ritual and spell."

She then started to put all of the spices in the basin of water after it, and proceeded to recite a protection spell out loud for all of the people occupying the room and those outside it.

"I call Upon the Sacred Three;

To Save...To Shield...To Surround

The hearth...The House...The Household

This Night, each night, every Night!

So mote it be."

After she was done, she rose to her feet and faced the Prince, then activated the circle of magic and the effect of the pentacles on the ritual table, with all fervor, she chanted in a low, almost whispered voice.

"I conjure thee, O circle of power,

As thou encircle every Tower.

That thou beset a place of Truth, Joy and love,

Encircling Flight of Eagle, Hawk and Dove,

Mighty Aegis of the Lady and Lord,

Rampart of thought, action and word.

To Work in Peace, Powerful and Free,

Who walk between two worlds conjure thee;

A boundary to Protect, Concentrate and Contain,

That Power raised here be not in vain.

Wherefore do I bless thee and consecrate thee, in the names of Cernunnos and Aradia."

She slowly rounded the table in a shape of an invisible circle. When she got back to her previous position, she peppered the water potion for cleansing and intoned in a steady voice:

"What was done was done

Be it now undone

By the light of the full moon's wane

Cleanse thy son's soul of taint and stain

Let now this hurtful spell reverse

And lift from him this vicious curse

As I enter now this sacred space

Return his spirit to its grace."

She dipped her hand on the basin again, and raised it to sprinkle water over his chest as she continued.

"Accept my offered apologies for him to what he had done

Disperse the curse with the first light of the morning's sun."

She dipped her index and middle fingers and took it to rest above his heart, then rubbed gently up and down. She felt the pull of life force and energy out of her body, almost like her soul was being separated from its shell, and immediately felt the physical and mental tiredness that came after. She thanked the Goddesses on her mind and finished the spell with a slight douse of water on the prince's hair. She kneeled beside his body and bowed.

When she rose to his feet, she faced the two beings that she had forgotten the existence of while doing the ritual. They had been true to their word and had not made any distracting move while she broke the curse. Either they are extremely disciplined, or they had badly wanted the recovery of the Prince. Or both.

She gave them a weak smile, the black magic of the curse had been strong, and the ritual had practically drained her of her strength. "It is done."

Both looked doubtful at first, but when they moved closer to see Prince Sasuke's body, his lips coloring into a fleshly pink, and his face flushing with red from the coldness, all traces of uncertainty had disappeared. They both looked extremely relieved. The older Prince smiled at her, a small, but nonetheless a gratified one, while the King also did the same, but with the accompaniment of a curt nod.

"Thank you, Miss Sakura. We owe the life of my nephew to you, we will be eternally grateful." The King said.

She nodded in return, not removing the smile on her face, however, when a gush of pain suddenly flowed through her body, the smile faltered.

As if sensing her fatigue, Prince Itachi had moved to her side and assisted her, "Would you like to rest now?"

He smiled up at him, "If I am allowed to leave now, I will."

The king spoke up, "It is still raining, and it is in the middle of the night. May I suggest that you stay here as a little gratitude token from me?"

She looked at the window; it was strange that the moon was still visible despite the heavy rain. But she paid it no mind, the exhaustion had slowly consumed her, and her mind refused to work anymore, so instead, she just gave a slight nod.

"Take her to one of the reserved quarters for guests, Itachi." Was the King's stable voice.

The Prince nodded and waited for her to finish gathering her scattered paraphernalia before they went out of the room. As soon as the doors opened, she was greeted with the Royal Knight's evaluating stares; she paid them no mind though, and focused on following the person in front of her instead. They travelled the dark hallway again and turned to the first left one that appeared, there were lights now, but she was too tired to observe the room like how she had done before, she turned her head downward and left it as it is until she had bumped onto something hard. When she looked up, she realized it was the Prince's back.

"Oh… I-I am sorry." She muttered absent-mindedly.

The Prince shook her head and opened one of the double doors that led inside the room she would be staying at. "Please take a rest now, you badly need it."

She nodded and bid him goodnight before almost stumbled to the room, she walked up to the bed at the center and fell unceremoniously down on its soft, silky, and inviting softness.

And eventually, finally falling asleep.

~XX~

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The first ever time that I wrote Sasuke's POV! DUN-DUN-DAAAANN!

Thank you for the reviews, and it had just come to my attention recently that I did not put a disclaimer.

Here it is:

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND ALL IT'S AWESOME NINJA GLORY.

Guys, you know the drill! xD

-Mina