Stoicism is the new in thing by angrypixels
Summary: Where Itachi is a sweet, gentle medic, Sasuke is a touchy feely needer, Naruto is a self-acclaimed artist with a fake smile..and Sakura is suffering from permanent facial muscle paralysis.
Genre: AU. Non-mass. Obvious OC.
Paring: Sakura/Itachi.
Chapter 2 - Twist of mind
"How is my daughter?" Sakura's mother urgently asked the medic nin while hovering over Sakura's bed.
"She is not in any life threatening danger. However, the pressure caused by hanging almost solely by her own body weight has caused some soft tissue damage to her throat and jaw…" the medic pursed his lips while he flips through his notes. "Apparently some tendons and muscles were also torn and are currently inflamed."
Sakura's mother looked down on her poor little girl whose lower face and neck looked like a swollen tomato with black and purple bruises to match.
"Will this all..heal?" Sakura's mother waved vaguely at her daughter injuries and shuddered.
"Likely yes." replied the medic.
Sakura could hear all of this of course. There were many hard words and she didn't understand half of what was going on. She couldn't even see what was going on either. Her face felt like it was burning and her cheeks were so swollen and painful that opening her eyes made her felt like fainting. She couldn't breathe properly, swallow or even drink without excruciating pain radiating from her mouth down her throat (those were the hard words the medic nin used to tell her mother why she didn't want to drink water).
Sakura scrunched up her fists when the medic was finally done with her, leaving her mother to fuss and coo at her like a worried hen. She didn't feel like responding to any of her mother's questions or looking at her mother's concerned face. If she could use her voice, she would be screaming her lungs out just to express her frustration. She was never near a stupid tree again. And she was never going to help random strangers anymore.
In the room right next to a Sakura who was developing dendrophobia (fear of trees) overnight, Itachi stood silently while watching his little brother sleeping fitfully in the hospital bed. Sasuke tossed and turned, his small lips whispering silent words as he fought nightmares. He would rather bring Sasuke back to the Uchiha compound to rest in a more familiar environment, but the medic nin, who cowed under Itachi's solemn glare despite the former being at least a head taller, informed the worried Uchiha main family that it would best if Sasuke stayed overnight to observe.
The young ANBU slowly reached forward and brushed away a lock of ebony hair from Sasuke's forehead. He remembered watching the medic nin immediately change from a shivering overgrown squirrel into a emotionless, focused medical practitioner while he swept his hand across his brother's small form, green energy flowing seamlessly into his body scanning and healing.
It was so natural, so serene and so….right. Although Itachi had seen numerous chakra healings before, it was the first time he felt so awed from the whole process. To give life, energy and heal anyone, especially those close to heart. Willingly parting your own energy in hopes of mending those in pain. It was beautiful.
The wonders of being a medic. The gift of life through their hands.
Itachi traced circles on his little brother's forehead softly. He always loved seeing Sasuke's reaction every time he flicked his forehead. Like a surprised yet adorable little animal. Itachi could feel the sides of his mouth twitch upwards at the fond memories. It was without doubt that Itachi loved his brother dearly and would never harm him. It had hurt Itachi, even if he did not show it outwardly, when he was unable to help his brother as he thrashed and cried on the table after he forced Sasuke to let go of him while medic nins held him down and sedated him. Helpless. He knew nothing of healing and comforting.
Itachi lifted both of his hands. He had taken off his gloves and his whole ANBU gear. His heads were not smooth. Calloused. They were clean and spotless at the moment, but there were endless times when they were dripping with red, hot blood. Fresh from the kill, from removing the light of life from a person's life. And it wasn't always an enemy either. These hands were so different from those a medic. They took away life instead of giving.
Itachi's eyebrows twitched slightly as he tightened his hands into fists. Such hands that have taken so many lives should not touch his innocent otto lest he suck the pure life out of him like a demon.
Itachi turned around and left the room silently. He had many heavy thoughts on his mind that night.
Within a few days, Sakura was discharged from the hospital. The medic nin assured her and her mother that once her inflamed tendons and muscles healed, she would be as good as new. However, Sakura never imagined that things could go wrong just like that. For the first week out of the hospital, she still couldn't move her facial muscles properly without pain or speak words other that huffs and grunts. In order to prevent further pain, she tried very hard to school her expressions to a minimum and use body language to express her intentions. However, Sakura was still a child and those around her unfortunately fell to same category, intellectually and emotionally.
"Forehead! Now you can't even talk!" "Serves you right for calling me a liar that day!" "What can you do? Hit me? Catch me first! Ha ha!"
Sakura stoically stood in the middle of the streets while a few children circled her, throwing immature insults and pulling at her hair.
"Pink hair! It's so ugly!" "Everything you wear makes you hideous!"
And girls always had to go for the appearances first. It was so stupid.
Sakura inwardly sighed as she pulled a tuff of hair from some boy who was tugging on it insistently. It was like living in hell now. Now a month after her nightmarish encounter at the forest, she almost wished that she was hanging again by a branch at her throat instead of being the receipt of ill-intended teasing from other children.
She couldn't shout sarcastic remarks or even fake a cry to draw attention as she usually did when she was outnumbered. Heck, she couldn't even throw a punch as that would somehow stretch the muscles in her shoulders and neck. The medic nin told her that her injuries would take some time to heal properly. Chakra healing could only help so much and sometimes, it was better to let the body heal on its own lest it would become immune to foreign regenerative power.
"Children get well fast. In a blink of an eye, she will be up and running around, playing with her friends." That was what the smiling medic nin told her mother. Yea right. Sakura huffed to herself loudly as she crouched down to avoid a stone hurdling towards her head. She couldn't even move her head properly and had to rely on her back and waist to make minor movements with her upper body. Running up and down? Nope. She was happy to be able to walk, albeit stiftly instead of being stuck at home. And friends? She didn't seem them anywhere.
Now utterly defenseless, all she could do was non-existentingly furrow her eyebrows and give a killer glare to those children who were bent on getting their revenge when she gave her fare share of sarcastic remarks in the past. Not that it deterred her teasers much given there wasn't any constructive consequences. Deciding to go home and ask her mother to remove the dirt and leaves in her hair lovingly thrown by her generation, Sakura stuck her hands into her pocket, turned around, kicked one boy in the shin to get him to move and sulked home.
Maybe she should stay home for a while until school starts. Ah...school. Going to school with other children was going to be a torture. No doubt they would make good use of this chance to make fun of not only her forehead, hair colour and now her inability to talk or make any facial expressions.
Inwardly, Sakura screamed and threw her arms in the air.
She had a feeling that she was going to be in a bad mood for a long time. Her favourite anmitsu was definitely not going to help this time.
"Itachi."
"Father."
Itachi silently stepped onto the porch and lowered himself onto one of the cushions near his father.
They both sat in silence as they watched the matriarch of the Uchiha clan, Mikoto, play with her youngest son in the garden. Of course, their version of play wasn't the usual tag or throw-your-son-into-the-air. Their fun was Mikoto throwing kunais randomly at her own son while said son tumbled and dodged while giggling with glee. Every family had it own quirks, especially ninja clans.
"Noticed something different?" Fugaku asked his eldest son, his eyes still watching Sasuke as he barely dodged a kunai aimed at his head.
Itachi did not answer immediately. He continued to observe the friendly play between his mother and younger brother. After a month, Sasuke was as good as before and was chasing him around playfully as he used to. However, something was…different. And he didn't have to activate his sharingan to note it. After a running away from a barrage of kunais, Sasuke crouched down and suddenly leapt towards his mother, grabbing her by her legs and making her tumble down with him on top. Mikoto good humouredly hugged Sasuke and patted him on the head. Sasuke, on the other hand, crawled up and hugged his mother's waist tightly while rubbing his head back and forth on her stomach.
Fugaku and Itachi watched as Mikoto tried to get Sasuke to let go after some minutes but was met with refusal as Sasuke clung even tighter to her, his little mouth pressed against her clothes as he whispered. Both Fugaku and Itachi activated their sharingan to read Sasuke's lips as they were too far away to hear his words.
Never letting go. Never. You are not going to leave me alone.
"Sasuke has not been sleeping properly." Fugaku noted with his eyes still focused on the pair in front of him.
"Nightmares." Itachi replied shortly. He knew that Sasuke woke almost every night sweating from his nightmares. Whenever Itachi was not on missions, his little brother would crawl into his blanket and grab his aniki. Itachi would let him, not being able to reject those eyes with unshed tears. Not once did Sasuke tell Itachi nor anyone else of his nightmares or ordeal in the forest. The Uchiha clan children were taught to not show fear and weakness. However, Itachi knew that it had traumatised him. Sauske grew up in peaceful times and was border line spoiled by many members of the clan. Being left alone in a pit in the dark was the worst experience he ever had.
Itachi shook his head. Foolish little brother, to be frightened by such an experience. He had a lot of growing up to do if he was to follow into his footsteps. Itachi's heart thumped painfully the moment he had that thought. No, he did not want his little brother to follow his footsteps.
"Shame that our family never had any exceptional medic nins. Healing would be best done in the confines of familiarity. Your cousin Shisui almost died a few months ago after his ANBU mission even after being taken to the hospital for healing. Bad timing to come in injured just when the hospital was urgently taking care of a chunin team whose mission had gone wrong. "
"Healing is not like killing." said Itachi as visions of the medic nin with his soft green chakra filled his mind.
Fugaku raised an eye at his eldest son. "Correct. To heal, you have to first willingly give. Not an easy trait, especially in our world. A valuable skill, perhaps even more valuable than the skill to silently kill. "
Itachi continued to quietly watch Sasuke hanging onto his mother hips as she stood up. Mikoto resignedly lifted Sasuke into her arms, something she rarely did ever since he turned five, and carried him to the lake outside the main house to watch the sunset.
Itachi turned off his sharingan and turned his head to look his father in the eyes.
"Father. I have a proposition to make."
Ramen was good. Ramen was always good. Miso ramen. Ramen in pork broth. Barbecued pork ramen. Ramen with eggs and seaweed. Ramen with bamboo shoots. Spicy ramen. Hey, Naruto even loved curry ramen. There was something about those yellow noodles mixed with yellow slop.
In fact, he was currently having a bowl of curry ramen right at Ichiraku. Technically, he was staring into his bowl, swinging his legs deep in thought. Naruto was still too small and his legs dangled from the stool where he sat. Ichiraku was one of the rare few places he could go into without being shunned by the public. Once a week, Teuchi, the owner, would give Naruto free meal and Naruto would always take up the offer and eat his fill. Today was no exception. A month after his ordeal at the forest, Naruto had managed to not fall into any more traps and had forgotten about the whole incident as quickly as the fruit sellers threw away rotten apples. Usually, Naruto would polish off at least five bowls of ramen but today, pigging out wasn't on his agenda. In fact, the thing that distracted him from eating his beloved ramen was..well, ramen itself.
Naruto stared at the noodles swimming in the yellow sauce. A layer of fragrant oil floating on top, with little pieces of onion here and there. It was so …complex. The way the noodles were looped around covered in curry, the layered onion, the specks of spices that could be seen mixed in. The whole mixture did not mix properly, yet it looked so…harmonious. Naruto lifted his chopsticks and gave his ramen another swirls. Look! Everything looked the same yet different again. It fascinated Naruto and he kept swirling his food around and around, just to see the different way the ingredients of his dinner would array themselves to his entertainment. Who could have guessed that food would be so….enthralling?
"Naruto, you going to eat that? Your ramen is getting soggy." Ayame, Teuchi's daughter asked him as she watched him swirl his noodles yet again. Naruto dragged his eyes from the bowl and glanced at Ayame. Within a few seconds, Naruto shovelled all the noodles including the soup down his throat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hands.
"Arigato Teuchi ojisan. I am full."
"What?" Teuchi popped his head out from the kitchen. "That was only your fist bowl Naruto! Am I dreaming?"
Ayame placed a hand on Naruto's forehead and frowned. "Are you sick?" Naruto shook his head and slid off the stool. "I have something to do. Sayonara."
Naruto left the ramen stall without a backward glance, his mind filled with images of the ramen he just stuffed into his small yet usually insatiable tummy. Today, he just wasn't feeling that hungry.
Hmm. Naruto thought to himself as he kicked a pebble in the streets. He had seen that colour before. The sand near the Hokage Mountain. Yes, almost the exact colour of the curry soup. As for the noodles…perhaps he could get some clay and dye it? But where would he find dye? Maybe some plant in the forest would give the clay some colour? Now for the onion…
Naruto was lost in his faults as he trudged along to the Hokage Mountain, ignoring the insults hurled by the children on the streets and the hostile glares given by the adults.
A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated!