Chapter 6

"Itachi-san, your cherry blossom seems a bit wilted today," Kisame says after pouring a cup of steaming sake down his throat. "You said you'd take care of her."

Itachi ignores him. I do the same.

The Kiri-nin arrived this afternoon and if I hadn't been so worked up over my theory, his appearance might have startled me. However, after last night, I don't think anything will make an impression on me for a while. I spent the day cooped up with Itachi in an awkward silence, inwardly debating whether I should ask him about it or not. In the end, I decided against it. We've pushed each other's buttons enough for the time being.

I push my still half-full plate of barazushi away and drink some tea instead. I haven't really had an appetite today.

"We can leave in the morning, nee, Itachi-san?" I hear Kisame asking. "I'd like to try the hot bath before we leave."

"Hn."

Itachi finishes his food and drains his cup of tea, then stands up abruptly. I haven't finished mine, but I follow his cue and walk away from the table, back to my 'cell', which is on the first floor of the establishment. It's quiet inside, and as we climb the stairs I hear Itachi's breath catching again. By the time he closes the door to our room, he starts to cough.

It's quick and violent, racking his body as it follows its course. I count the moments it takes for it to succumb. When Itachi lowers the hand from his mouth, I notice blood. Clearly, he was feeling ill downstairs and he didn't want Kisame to know.

"Sit down, please," I tell him quietly, the first words I'm saying to him since last night.

He shakes his head, drawing in short, ragged breaths.

I owe him nothing, shannarou! If anything, I should be watching him suffer with a smile on my face. Two things prevent me from doing just that: the thought that Itachi Uchiha might not be the man everyone thinks he is and my pledge to help those who need me as a medic-nin.

"How long has this been going on?" I ask. When he doesn't reply, I step towards him. He shoots me a glare, Sharingan blazing. I stop and raise my hands. "I can help you," I say, deciding to give it another try. "But you need to trust me. What's the worse that can happen? If I knock you out and try to run, your friend downstairs will just wrap me up and deliver me straight back to you."

He look incredulous. Also dead-tired. His lips are starting to have a blue tinge and I don't like the look of that. He's not getting enough oxygen. At this rate, he'll soon pass out without my having to do anything with it.

Just when I'm about to give up, Itachi walks up to the bed and sits. I go to his side and place my hands on his back. I can feel his muscles tense, but I don't stop. Green chakra lights up around my hands and I push it into his system. The damage to his lungs is the work of almost a year and it would take me at least twice that much to heal them completely.

I do all I can for the time being. I ease his pain and dilate his airways to allow him to breathe. I identify the cause of the blood he coughed up and take care of it. I am so absorbed in my work, I don't notice how quickly my chakra drains. But when it fades, Itachi is breathing normally again. Color has returned to his face.

"You haven't been taking care of yourself," I say. His body is struggling with more than a couple of deficiencies, stress, tiredness and whatnot. Funny, I never would have imagined Itachi as one to stress over things. I don't tell him any of that. Instead, I tell him: "You should rest now."

Itachi's Sharingan fades to black. He closes his eyes for a while. I begin to think that he's fallen asleep already, that after feeling high from the sudden absence of pain, tiredness has overwhelmed him. I place a hand on his shoulder to get him to lie down and he starts, taken by surprise. Imagine that, taking an Uchiha by surprise. My lips curl into a smile at that thought.

Then I realize what I'm doing and my smile turns upside down. This is Itachi Uchiha I'm nursing back to health. I'm not supposed to be here. He's the wrong Uchiha. I'm betraying Sasuke-kun and everything he believes in, shannarou… But what if the reason Sasuke-kun hates Itachi for is all wrong? Would he care enough to listen? I scoff inside. Does he ever?

Itachi doesn't wake up for hours. He doesn't move, he doesn't make a sound. At some point, I go to check if he's still breathing, but he's only deep asleep. Not even my brushing a lock of hair from his forehead wakes him up. I leave him be.

I return to my place and pick up the book I'd been reading. He has removed all weapons from my backpack, but left everything else untouched, including this medical book. For lack of something else to do, I started reading it again, though I've finished it twice before.

I don't realize how fast time flies until I can't see anymore. When I look up, the sky is a dark shade of lavender. I light a candle and keep going. I focus my attention on the chapter dealing with respiratory diseases and forget there is a world out there.

Itachi wakes up around midnight. I hear him stir and put the book down, but I don't move. His head turns toward the window and he jumps up when he realizes it's wide open.

"I'm here," I say. He looks at me, perplexed. "The air got a bit stuffy," I explain with a shrug of my shoulders. That seal of his gave me some trouble, but I don't mention it. Let him think it was a piece of cake. He probably doesn't understand why I'm still here, though. It's okay, I'm not sure I understand either.

I thought I knew all I needed to know to hate this man. At first, it was enough for me to know that Sasuke-kun hates him. Then Sasuke-kun left to become stronger in order to defeat Itachi and the hatred became my own.

Looking at Itachi now, the loathing I had for him is gone. Something's missing. Something doesn't add up. I'm like a child looking at an incomplete puzzle and in my hand is a piece that doesn't fit. What do I do now?

Find the missing piece, shannarou!