Hospital
Summary: A wounded Itachi and a shaken Sakura. It's time to acknowledge long repressed feelings.
Remember that English is not my mother tongue and as such there may be mistakes. If you find one that bothers you of the understanding of the text, feel free to correct me.
Itachi blinked slowly. He had a killing headache, and his whole body was numb. All in all, he didn't feel really good. What had happened exactly? And where was he? A white ceiling above him, white walls, and he was lying in a bed.
"Oh! You're finally awake!" Sang a familiar voice. "You got me worried there for a second!"
Itachi's eyes managed to focus, and he recognized the unmistakable face of his cousin Shisui. Something was wrong there. This was definitely not his room and not his house either. He tried to move, but his body refused to obey. He tried to talk, but he couldn't even open his mouth.
"The doctor said not so overwork yourself," Shisui said. "So don't move, don't talk, don't do anything aside from resting."
Itachi tried to frown. His cousin seemed to notice his confusion, and he grinned.
"You don't remember?" He said. "Well, I'm not surprised, the doctor said you probably wouldn't. Want me to tell you?"
Itachi managed to glare at him, and Shisui's grin widened. "Oh, sorry for annoying you!" He said. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you right away. You were on an S-ranked mission and you had an accident. You are currently in Konoha's hospital, and it's been five days already."
Itachi shot him an incredulous look. "Well it's true," Shisui shrugged. "I know, it seems unbelievable that you, of all people, would be sent to the hospital because of a mission. But well, even the bests have accidents sometimes. But you know, you came really close to dying. Our wonderful healers did their best to save you. What I don't understand is how it happened. It just doesn't make any sense."
Now he remembered. He was effectively on a mission, trying to apprehend a highly dangerous criminal, and because his mind was wandering elsewhere, he got stupidly injured. What had he been thinking about? Why of course, about the pink-haired vixen that had been doing her best to avoid him during the past week, after that eventful Christmas Eve.
"Well, I ought to tell your mother that you've awaken," Shisui said, getting up. "She was worried sick you know. And she wasn't the only one. Try to sort things out with your sweetheart. She's the one who saved your life after all."
As Shisui left the room, Itachi became aware of a second presence in the room. He managed to turn his head slightly to the left, and discovered a patch of tousled pink hair. Its owner was sound asleep, head and arms resting besides him on the bed.
Sakura. The woman who was tormenting his every thoughts day and night. And apparently, the one responsible for his present state. And also the reason he was still alive too.
He watched as she slowly woke up, her eyelids fluttering open sleepily. She straightened and stretched a bit with a grimace. Falling asleep while sitting on the floor surely wasn't the best thing to do. Then she looked at Itachi, and saw him looking at her. Tears immediately flooded her eyes and, ignoring his state, she buried her head in his chest, arms around his neck.
"Oh my god! You're awake!" She exclaimed. "You're awake you're awake! I was so afraid that you would… that you…"
She sobbed heavily against him, and he wondered what he should do. It was the first time in one week – no wait, one week and five days – that she actually talked to him.
"I'm so sorry!" She said. "It's my fault isn't it? I know it is! I shouldn't have… shouldn't have avoided you so long! I'm so sorry!"
His body was slowly reawakening, and Itachi opened his mouth tentatively. He coughed a bit, his throat dry and sore from having been unused during five days in a row.
"Why…" He tried, before coughing again, "why did you… run away?"
Of course, he could have said plenty of other things, but it was the first thing that came to his mind. He had been wondering about it for a whole week after all. And now that he finally had the opportunity to talk to her, he wasn't going to waste any second of it.
She let him go, wiping her tears, and looked down in shame. She looked awful, he noted. Dark circles around her eyes, wild untamed hair, stressed features, pale, she was a mess.
"I… I don't know," she finally replied. "I… I couldn't think straight and… my body moved on its own. I know I hurt you, and I'm really sorry. I guess I was… extremely confused and… unsecure."
He waited for her to compose herself and develop.
"I… you are a very precious friend to me," she went on, eyes locked on the sheets. "So when I realized that I… may be feeling… something… more, I was afraid. Afraid of what I was feeling, afraid that it would cost me our friendship. I tried desperately to hide it. So when we… kissed, all those feelings I had repressed broke free and wrecked havoc in my mind. The only rational thing I could think about was running away. I had no idea what it meant. Was it because you liked me too? Or was it just… I don't know, just a kiss with no special meaning? I'm a coward you know, I didn't want to find out, so I avoided you. I thought that if I stopped seeing you and talking to you, my mind would settle down. But it just made things worse, and I couldn't sleep at all during four nights in a row. And… and then…"
The tears came back, and she quickly rubbed her eyes to get rid of them. "Then they brought you to the hospital five days ago," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "You were on the verge of death, and all my problems were immediately forgotten. There was only one thing on my mind, saving you. I couldn't imagine you being dead, and if you weren't there anymore, I was afraid I was really going to lose it. When your condition finally stabilized, I was so happy, so relieved. All I had to do was to wait for you to wake up. If your family hadn't been there to support me, I don't know what I would look like today. Surely a lot worse. But you're alive, and that's all that matters."
He watched her silently during a few seconds. Her hands were still shaking on her laps.
"You are such a silly woman Sakura," he finally said, his mouth twisting into a small smirk. "You think too much. You always do."
She gave a small smile. "Yeah, maybe you're right." She said. "What do we do now?"
"I have yet to hear what I want to hear from you," Itachi pointed out, suddenly in a teasing mood.
She gave him an annoyed glare, but it didn't match the now widening smile on her lips. "I love you idiot. That's what you want to hear right? I love you, I love you, I love you! Happy now?"
"Very much. If you had said it right away, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble."
"Well sorry about that. How was I to know you actually returned my feelings?" She was gradually turning back to her usual self, which pleased him very much. "I'm not a psychic you know. Why didn't you say anything either?"
"You seemed to want to remain friends. Besides my family was so set on getting us together that the idea of confessing seemed quite humiliating to me."
"Since when do you care about what people say or do?"
"You're a special case. And now that things are clear, don't ever think about running away from me ever again. I'm never going to let you go."
"And if I do? Run away again I mean." She was teasing him, and he knew it.
"Then I will hunt you down," he replied very seriously. "I will lock you up in my room and never let you out."
"Hey, that's mean! I'm not some sort of animal!" She protested.
"Then behave. You owe me big after all. It's your fault that I ended up in this pitiful state."
"I already repaid you," she opposed. "I saved your life!"
"It doesn't count."
"What? You're so childish!"
"Maybe I will overlook it, on one condition."
She raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"
"I want a kiss."
She blushed. "Hey! What kind of demand is that?"
"If you're going to be my woman, it shouldn't bother you," he commented.
"But… but still! It's… embarrassing! And this is a hospital, and I'm still on duty!"
"Then why were you sleeping?"
"I was assigned to taking care of you! I haven't slept in ages!"
"Is there a rule that forbids you from kissing your patients?"
"Well… no, but it's a matter of ethics, ethics!"
"My my, it's very lively in there!" A feminine voice commented.
Sakura turned around and blushed as she saw Mikoto, who was watching them with an amused smile.
"I came as quickly as possible, wanting to see my Itachi-chan, and what is it that I find?" The woman said mischievously. "Ah, young love is so energetic!"
She came in the room, grinning widely and patted Itachi on the head, ignoring the glare he sent her way.
"I'm proud of you my son," she said. "Now, hurry up and start making me grandchildren. I'm lonely you know."
Sakura blushed and Itachi rolled his eyes. "You're going a bit too fast mother," he said. "We barely finished acknowledging our feelings. For all you know, we could change our minds afterward."
"Now now, don't say that!" Mikoto scolded, whacking him on the head without care for his injuries. "I only want Sakura as my daughter-in-law, and I'll do everything in my power to keep the two of you together. Now hurry up and get better so that things can finally get serious. Though I'm sure you will have a great time here, having Sakura pamper you every day."
Itachi wanted to sigh, but his body wasn't well enough yet to allow it.
"Sakura my dear, you look horrible," Mikoto then said, turning toward the pink-haired woman. "Come with me, you need a little grooming, and I have things to talk to you about. Becoming a part of the Uchiha clan isn't a walk in the park after all."
"But, I'm still on duty and…"
"I'm sure Tsunade-sama won't mind. And Itachi won't either, right dear? Now, let's go."
Itachi watched as Sakura was helplessly dragged away by his over enthusiastic mother. Well, he had no doubts that the following days would be eventful. Better rest while he could.
The long awaited confession! But it is not over yet, still one more oneshot to go! So stay alert!
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