Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Please keep the reviews coming; it motivates me to write more/faster!

CHAPTER 5

Sakura stepped into her office to get her white lab coat. She shrugged herself into the arm holes, grabbed her clipboard, and set off to make the rounds in the hospital. She had just come from the ANBU headquarters. She had told Ibiki that, if Sasuke would talk to him willingly, he was not to use any kinds of mind tricks or torture techniques on Sasuke. Ibiki had agreed, partly because that's also what Tsunade had wanted. Ibiki also knew that Konoha had asked a terrible thing of Itachi, and that they now owed it to Itachi to treat his little brother, the last Uchiha, with the utmost respect.

But another reason Ibiki agreed to Sakura's request was that he knew she still cared about her teammate, and he knew it would be best not to go against her wishes. Sakura never threatened or blackmailed anyone – she would never abuse her powers and refuse to treat people if they went against her wishes.

But that was exactly why Ibiki wanted to respect the girl's wishes. He wasn't sure if the kunoichi knew just how much Konoha valued her – medic nins were always scarce, and great medic nins like her only came along once, maybe twice, a generation. Tsunade, despite how young she looked, was now getting along in age. After Tsunade, it would be Sakura who would have to shoulder the health of the entire village. She had already taken over the hospital, and Ibiki knew that having Sakura might even mean the difference between losing and winning a war if a war did break out.

Ibiki liked that the girl was always so humble and willing to help anyone. He knew that it was no easy feat for a nineteen year old to efficiently run an entire hospital, especially when the world was in such a turmoil due to the Akatsuki. He was grateful for her service to Konoha, and because of this, he wasn't opposed to going easy on Sasuke if Sasuke himself would cooperate willingly. When Ibiki told Sakura that he consented to her terms, he couldn't help but smile back as she gave him her own smile with a soft "thank you."

Now she was back at the hospital, and there was no avoiding it: she had to check up on Sasuke and see how he was healing. She slowly made her way to his room, and she inwardly cursed when she realized that she couldn't even stop in front of the door to collect her thoughts because two ANBU were placed by the door, and they opened it for her when she approached the room. She gave them weary smiles, and stepped into Sasuke's room.

He was sitting up, but his eyes were closed. He didn't open them as she approached.

Sakura stood at the foot of his bed and looked at his face, grateful that his eyes were closed. She suspected that they were closed because they hurt – having the Sharingan on constantly had undoubtedly taken its toll on his eyes. The eyes of twelve-year-old Sasuke flashed in her head briefly: they had been so black, so bottomless. So… pained, even at such an early age.

She studied his face. He had always been good-looking, and it hadn't changed with the years. He still had the prominent, proud, and beautiful face of an Uchiha. Sakura had seen Itachi once before, many years ago. She thought that Sasuke looked very much like him, especially now that he had gotten older.

She wondered if he was ever reminded of Itachi's face when he looked in the mirror.

In the middle of her observations, Sasuke's eyes opened suddenly. The alertness in his eyes made Sakura almost… afraid. He was so intense, so determined to push everyone out. She could see it in his eyes, which she could now look at very well. His eyes were still black and bottomless. She had thought that it was impossible that they would have more angst to them; she was wrong.

Seeing his eyes made Sakura want to cry for him. He was so damaged. She wondered if he was too damaged. She desperately hoped that he wasn't too far gone to salvage.

"Sasuke." She found herself breathing out his name. He remained impassive, and only stared at her. He offered no greeting or response, but then again, she hadn't really expected him to.

She went over to his heart monitor and studied the equipment. She wrote down a few notes on her clipboard, and moved closer toward the boy.

"I have to make sure your wounds are healing properly and change your bandages. Does it hurt anywhere?"

Still the boy offered no response. He merely looked into space. He wasn't in a talking mood – but then again, was he ever? She saw that he had closed his eyes once more.

Sakura was about to reach over to him, but thought better of it. She decided it would be more prudent to explain to him what she was about to do, so that he wouldn't… attack her, or something, at her sudden movements.

"Sasuke, I know you'd rather stick needles into them than tell me that your eyes are bothering you, but I also know that they are hurting you. Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan hurts his eye, too. I'm going to put my hand on your temples and pour chakra into your eyes to try to make them feel better, so please bear with me for a little."

She didn't wait for a response, because she knew all too well that he wouldn't give her one. Instead, she reached over, placed her fingers on his temple. Her fingers glowed green, and after a few seconds, she saw Sasuke's face relax from the relief from pain – probably inadvertently, she thought. She wondered how long and how much his eyes had been hurting him.

After a few minutes, Sakura withdrew her hands. "That's all I can do for now, but I can come back any time they start hurting again. Just ask for me to one of the nurses."

She moved on to his bandages. His wounds still looked red and purple through the stitches, and she inwardly grimaced. Even though his IV was hooked up to a morphine administrator, Sakura noticed that Sasuke hadn't taken any of the pain reliever. She knew that he must be in pain right now. Why the boy chose to be in pain, she had no idea, but it made her sad.

Hadn't he had enough pain in his life?

When she was done, she looked at Sasuke. His eyes were now open, and looking out the window. She wasn't surprised that he wouldn't look at her – he was never a social person. She sighed.

"Your wounds are healing okay, but the healing process is going to be on the slower side. Please don't do anything strenuous while they're healing, as too much strain could just rip the stitches. And you had a collapsed lung and some internal bleeding, so really, the best thing would be for you to lay here until everything's settled back nicely inside your body."Sakura paused. "A lot of people busted their asses to save your life. Please don't make us regret it."

At this, Sasuke turned and actually faced her. His face, however, was as unreadable as ever. Sakura never could read Sasuke's face, even when he wasn't so deeply entrenched in darkness.

She knew he wouldn't actually say anything to her, though. So she turned around to go, and when she reached the door, she whispered, without turning around, "…Welcome back, Sasuke," before closing the door to the room.

He hadn't expected her.

Even though his eyes were closed – they were hurting him too much – he knew that it was Sakura who had walked in the door. He was surprised that he remembered her presence after all these years.

She had grown and changed. She now had a calm air about her. Her chakra wasn't like others that he had encountered – most of the people he knew possessed chakra that was almost bursting. They pulsed within people's bodies, and they always made Sasuke alert. But Sakura's chakra merely flowed through her – it was serene. It was soothing.

He was almost annoyed at himself for finding her chakra so calming.

Sasuke observed Sakura's eyes, and saw that they, too, had grown. Physically, they were still similar – the same bright, big green eyes. But the lightness she had in them as a twelve-year-old were gone.

Sasuke remembered looking into Sakura's eyes once and feeling envious of it. He had never admitted it to anybody, of course. But he coveted the carefree, delightful light that emanated from Sakura's eyes because his own eyes lacked light. His eyes had always been dark ever since the day his brother murdered his family. He remembered thinking contemptuously yet enviously that Sakura had eyes of a girl who had never known real pain.

But now, her eyes no longer had that light. He could see a glimpse of what had once been there, but it was faded and worn out. It was now largely replaced by – sadness, he could only call it. He wondered what had happened to make her eyes so different – then wondered if it had been caused wholly by him. He shook the thought out and closed his eyes once more.

Sasuke was surprised when Sakura was able to alleviate the pain in his eyes. He hadn't felt such relief in… years, he realized. The path that Sasuke chose in life had made him many enemies, and his Sharingan was almost constantly in a state of activation so as to not let his guards down. He wondered how it was that Sakura was able to relieve his pain in such a short time. But then again, he wondered why she was even checking in as his doctor. Was she really a medic now? She was only nineteen. Most medic nin's careers started in their late twenties, after all their studies.

She didn't talk as much as she used to. Sasuke wondered if Sakura was afraid of him. He couldn't really tell what she was thinking – it was odd; she had been so easy to read as a child.

But then again, she had probably changed with time as he has had to.

She didn't linger in his room. When she was done with her business, she excused herself out of the room. Her departure wasn't cold, but it was abrupt.

But it wasn't abrupt enough that he couldn't hear her soft "welcome back."