CHAPTER 8

Sakura had been contemplating the issue that brought her to Sasuke's door for several days now. At first, the idea had popped into her head out of nowhere – it suddenly sprung up, announced. And every day after that, she would find herself thinking of it while she went about her business in the hospital.

Finally, when she realized that she had to at least try to get an answer out of Sasuke about this, she set out for his new apartment. It was about 9 p.m., and she wasn't done with her work at the hospital yet, but she knew that it would be well past midnight when she actually finished the work, and she didn't want to visit Sasuke so late at night. So she left her office, resolving to come back soon.

Sasuke's apartment was actually quite close to the hospital. It had been two weeks since Tsunade had announced Sasuke's punishment for his defection: a year of probation – which meant that he could not become a captain of a mission, nor could he get a bad report about his behavior from his captain – and three years of missions without pay. Since everyone knew the truth about Itachi and the Uchiha massacre by now, no one really had a problem with Sasuke being reinstated as a Konoha ninja. The village was eager to move on from its dark past, especially since it meant that Konoha would once again have the Sharingan kekkei genkai.

Since the decision, Sasuke had been given his apartment and ordered to stay in until further notice while Tsunade handled the diplomatic backlash of reinstating Sasuke as a Leaf nin. Sakura thought this quasi-house arrest to be an unfortunate event, as Sasuke was sure to be in a rather bad mood. She didn't know much about the nineteen-year-old Sasuke, but she knew that he did not like to be cooped up.

When Sakura finally was on his doorstep, she didn't pause in front of the door before knocking. She had come here with a purpose, an important purpose, and she wouldn't waver now.

"Hi Sasuke," greeted Sakura as Sasuke opened the door to face her.

He had felt her chakra approaching his apartment – she had a very distinct chakra signature. Sasuke hadn't seen Sakura since he had left the hospital; Naruto had complained on many occasions that Sakura was buried with work. Sasuke had wondered why it was that the girl always had so much work – inwardly, of course. However, his answer was answered one day when Naruto mentioned in passing that the pink-haired nin had been the director and head medic of the hospital for several months now.

Sasuke was surprised. She was only nineteen, after all. He had previously thought that medic nins finished their studies in their late-twenties to early-thirties; yet Sakura was nineteen and running an entire hospital.

But clearly the work was getting to her; Sasuke saw how tired Sakura was as he regarded her from his doorway. She was pale, and had bags under her eyes as if she hadn't slept. He also saw that she was rather frail-looking; her thin frame contrasted oddly with Sasuke's understanding of her abilities as a ninja, as he had heard that she now could smash the earth to pieces with a single punch.

With a silent nod, Sasuke stepped to the side a little to indicate that she could come in. Once she did so, he walked over into the living room, where he had been reading some old family scrolls. He took a seat at the sofa, and Sakura took a seat opposite to his after a brief survey of the room.

"This is nice," Sakura glanced around, taking in the apartment. "I guess you'd be itching to get out, though, huh?" She added softly, almost as though she was talking to herself.

Sasuke didn't say anything. He wasn't one for small talk – he wondered why she had come. She had clearly been busy with the hospital, and from the way she looked, she probably wanted sleep more than anything; so why had she come to see him instead of either working or sleeping?

Sakura's jade eyes looked straight at Sasuke's black ones. "Sasuke… how far has your eyesight deteriorated?"

This was probably the last question he expected Sakura to ask him. She had cleared up the pain from his Sharingan a couple of times after the first try while he had been in the hospital, but she hadn't examined his eyes.

"I remembered something Kakashi-sensei said to, um, Itachi once." Sakura stumbled over his brother's name. She rushed on with her next sentence. "He asked if Itachi's gone completely blind yet… and I know Kakashi-sensei's eyesight is getting worse, too."

Sasuke merely looked at her. He didn't particularly want to tell her that his eyesight had deteriorated – a lot. But he didn't want to tell anyone about this, because he didn't want it to be known that using the Sharingan could have that effect. Sasuke had lived among enemies for so long during the past few years that he figured that the less was known about his eyes, the better.

"I don't need your help," Sasuke finally said.

Sakura actually scoffed at him. "But you do," she countered quietly. "I know enough about your kekkei genkai that I know you'll eventually go blind if you keep using it the way you've been using. It might be years away – or it might be months. I really don't know that much about it to tell. Which is where your cooperation comes in." Sakura paused. "I can't not do this, Sasuke. You and Kakashi both are going to go blind, and I know I can help if you just let me. I can't get the research done from Kakashi's eyes because his Sharingan is stuck – it won't change back to its normal state. Your eyes are the only sample I have."

She really had changed, Sasuke thought. He knew that the Sakura he had known as a twelve-year-old wouldn't have had the guts to ask this of him or pursue the matter further after Sasuke refused help.

She also wouldn't have been so sure that she could heal his eyes.

But the Sakura that sat in front of him now had a quiet, yet fierce, resolve about her task. He could tell that she wouldn't leave without his agreement.

The truth was that Sasuke's eyes were troubling him. He had noticed a significant drop in his eyesight, and the constant headaches and pains that the use of his Sharingan brought on was always plaguing him. If Sakura was so sure she could fix it if she could just study his eyes – would it be so bad for him to let her do so?

Briefly, the thought that his clan wouldn't have wanted their bloodline trait to be studied flashed across his mind. But almost as suddenly as the thought appeared, Sasuke put it away – he didn't care for his clan's approval anymore. He had to move on from his past, and the clan that made Itachi choose between his family and his village had no right to dictate how Sasuke should live his life.

"How long is this going to take."

Sakura was surprised to hear those words come out of Sasuke's mouth. She had fully been expecting to have to fight teeth and nail on this, and even then, she had thought he would say no. She knew that his asking how long this would take was as good as a yes as far as Sasuke went. Language barriers, Sakura noted. She hoped he could kick that habit off, but then again, he was an Uchiha…

"I'm… not sure. I would have to do some research to even find that out. The Sharingan isn't exactly familiar territory for me, especially the way you've been using it." Sakura replied carefully. "I was hoping to get started on it as soon as possible, though, since you won't be receiving missions that require the use of your Sharingan for a while. I think your eyes are going to have a better chance of recovering if we start working on it while you have no real use for it. I have to get back to the hospital soon, but I could come by tomorrow night if you're not busy? I'll send a note with the exact time tomorrow evening; I'm not sure what time I'll be getting off my shift tomorrow yet…"

"You're going back to the hospital tonight?"

Sakura might have imagined it, but she thought that Sasuke sounded… annoyed. She then shook it off and told herself that she did imagine it; after all, why would Sasuke be aggravated that she was going back to work?

"Yeah, I just left for a little bit to catch you before you went to sleep. I haven't finished my work for today yet." Sakura smiled at him – or she tried, anyway. She knew that it was a feeble smile; she couldn't really conjure a real one when she was reminded of the pile of paperwork sitting on her desk, waiting to be read and signed. An involuntary sigh escaped her mouth before she could even stop it. "So… I'll let you get back to, uh, reading those scrolls, I guess. I'm sorry I came unannounced."

Sakura stood up from the couch and was about to move toward the door when she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Sasuke, if you could please do me a favor… Please don't tell Kakashi that I'm studying your eyes."

Sasuke's face was as impassive as ever as he gave her a slight nod. She doubted that he would have told Kakashi anyway, but she wanted to cover all of her bases.

She knew that Kakashi wouldn't exactly be thrilled that she was taking on extra work for herself, especially since the motivation behind it was related to his eyes as well as Sasuke's. Sakura didn't want Kakashi to feel bad, or worse, angry, that she was making herself more tired. She knew that, despite his easy-going demeanor, he really was concerned that she was being overworked. But Sakura told herself that she was really fine, and that she could handle a few nights with less sleep if it meant saving Kakashi and Sasuke's eyesights.

"I'll see myself out. Good night, Sasuke." She attempted another smile, but she knew it came up short this time, too.

Well, it wasn't like Sasuke cared whether her smile was feeble or not, she told herself as she exited his apartment and headed toward the hospital.

He didn't really know why, but Sasuke was irritated that Sakura had gone back to the hospital. It was already pretty late as it was, and since she was going back to work, it seemed unlikely that Sakura would get a full night's sleep.

He saw how tired she was – how much she looked like she needed a full night's sleep. Sasuke didn't know why he felt so annoyed that Sakura was working so much, and he definitely didn't know why she would even want to take more on her plate with the Sharingan research. But neither of these things was a problem that Sasuke could help with even if he could – or wanted to. It wasn't as if he had a real reason to care, did he?

She saved your life, nagged a voice deep down Sasuke's conscience. But he shut that thought up, reasoning that he hadn't asked for her help – just as he hadn't asked her to heal his eyes. This was all voluntary, for god's sake.

Plus, studying Sasuke's eyes would not only benefit himself, but it would also help Kakashi. Sakura had seemed like she wanted to do this for their old teacher's sake as well as Sasuke's – therefore, there really was no reason why Sasuke should care whether Sakura was stretching herself out too thin or not.

Just then, Sasuke remembered Sakura's request as she was leaving – "don't tell Kakashi." The reason behind it wasn't hard to guess: she didn't want Kakashi knowing that she was working extra hours to help his eyes.

Knowing that Sakura thought that Sasuke wouldn't really care whether she was overworked or not made him even more irritated.

And he had no idea why he was irritated at any of these things.

Annoying girl.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who's been reviewing the story so far – if you are following this story (for which I'm really grateful, by the way!), please review! Without the reviews, I don't really know what you guys like, don't like, etc, and even if it's just a general comment, I would really appreciate it. It helps me motivate myself to write more!