It's June 9th, so you know what that means? It's Itachi's birthday! I made absolutely certain that I updated an Itachi chapter in honor of the day, so here it is! Enjoy!
"Afternoon, Itachi, how are you today?" Doctor Mignogna greeted Itachi.
Startled by the sudden opening of the door, Itachi's eyes fluttered open in the face of Doctor Mignogna's outstretched hand. "Good afternoon." Itachi replied, returning the handshake whilst brushing his bangs out of his face. "I've been better, honestly."
"Of course!" The physician laughed. "If you were feeling fine, why would you need to be here?" He asked.
Ever the joker. Itachi remembered from his last visit to the doctor's office.
Doctor Mignogna smiled as he took a seat in the chair behind the makeshift desk. "Let me ask you this instead: what brings you in today?"
This was it. For a while now, Itachi knew that something wasn't quite right and passed it off as work related stress. Nothing out of the ordinary. And with Sasuke gone, he'd been working even harder in an attempt to distract himself from the overwhelming lack of activity in the apartment which made it perfectly reasonable that he'd be even more stressed out. "I've been depressed lately." Itachi sighed, surprised by the courage in his own words. Although he had been exercising the thought for a couple of days now, today was the first day he had openly admitted it to another person. And himself.
"Really?" Mignogna asked with a raised brow. "What's been going on?"
In preparation for what was sure to become a lengthy discussion, Itachi crossed his right leg over his left so he could lean against the desk a little more comfortably. "Sasuke just moved out recently."
"Your younger brother?" The doctor asked. Itachi nodded. "Is this his first place?"
"Yes."
"Okay." Mignogna nodded.
Itachi closed his eyes, tired from both a long day of work and the depression that was ailing him. "I've been worried about him. He didn't tell me that he was even looking for an apartment until a month and a half ago and I'm worried that he's not ready to be on his own."
The physician, who had long since sat back in his chair with a thoughtful hand propped under his chin slowly nodded and crossed his ankle at the knee. "What can you do?" He asked. "Were you expecting him to live with you forever? You must have realized that he was going to move out someday."
Sasuke said the same thing. Itachi thought forlornly.
"I know you want to protect your brother form all the evil in the world, Itachi,"Mignogna continued, "but he needs to learn how to pick himself up when he falls; you can't always be there to catch him."
"I know." Itachi said.
"But anyways, you say that you've been feeling depressed as of late. I can imagine some of the anxiety that you have regarding your little brother may be causing some feelings of sadness here and there, but have you noticed any changes in your sleeping pattern?"
Itachi regarded the doctor with tired eyes. Isn't it obvious that I'm not sleeping well? "I've been extremely fatigued lately, so much so that I can't seem to wake up to my alarm in the morning like I used to without turning the volume to maximum capacity. Even then I'm still not entirely awake. I nearly fall asleep after dismissing my alarm and again while I'm taking a shower in the mornings." He explained. "I have yet to fall asleep at the wheel, but I fear that it's only a matter of time."
Across from him, Mignogna's right hand was hard at work, furiously scribbling down the details of Itachi's testimony on the legal notepad attached to his binder. "Do you drink coffee or take any supplements to help you stay awake?" He asked without looking up from the pad.
"I drink four to five cups of coffee a day and still find myself struggling to keep my eyes open at times. I've tried taking a nap when I return home from work, but that usually results in me sleeping until my alarm goes off again in the morning."
"I see." Mignogna said as he finished his notes. "When did you start to notice changes in your sleep schedule?"
"At the beginning of the month." Itachi answered easily. "I had a nightmare that a police officer turned up at my door at one in the morning to tell me that Sasuke died in a car accident. When I woke up, I realized that my alarm had been going off and that I only had fifteen minutes to get to work on time."
About halfway through his story, Mignogna had set to work detailing the most medically relevant facts in sloppy bullet points that floated high above the ledger lines of his notepad, nodding all the while. "Okay. Have you noticed any changes to your diet or appetite?" He asked. "Eating less? Eating more?"
"I've been eating less than I usually do lately." Itachi supplied.
Mignogna nodded and sat back against the wall again. "And when did you start to notice that?"
That was a good question, and one that Itachi hadn't given very much thought to before. He was never very big on breakfast, and depending on how much work he needed to accomplish by end of the workday, he didn't eat a very big lunch either. Which left dinner… "I don't know." He finally answered when he remembered the sandwich he'd left in the fridge the other day. "I just found a roommate who's made it his personal mission to share his food with me every chance he gets and each time I refuse because he doesn't need to worry about me. I can do that myself." He answered and mentally kicked himself as soon as the words left his mouth. If you can take such good care of yourself, why are you here? "But the other day, he mentioned that he never sees me eat anything because I'm always so busy working and it made me wonder if there was some truth in his statement so I did some research online regarding my fatigue and loss of appetite."
"And when was this?"
"Sunday afternoon."
"And do you agree with him?" The physician asked.
Itachi shrugged. "I guess so. At first I didn't think much of it because the man barely even knows me. But when I only ate a bagel with cream cheese on Monday, I convinced myself that something was wrong with me."
"I see. Are you experiencing any feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness?" Mignogna asked, running through the list of symptoms commonly associated with depression. "Do you, or have you had any thoughts of suicide recently?"
Itachi shook his head vehemently. "Suicide, no. Hopelessness, no." He replied. "I do, on occasion, feel like a worthless older brother for not being involved enough in Sasuke's life, especially after our father died. And when I finally got involved, I ended up driving him away."
Mignogna nodded in understanding. After Mikoto died, Fugaku and Sasuke moved to the next town over and had their medical files transferred to the local hospital where Mignogna became their family physician. After Fugaku's passing, Itachi moved here to be closer to Sasuke and was also assigned to Mignogna who was starting to understand their unique family dynamics in the years since working with them "That's understandable." He said, placing his pen on the legal pad and before turning to face Itachi. "Can I ask you to hop onto the examination table while I conduct a brief physical examination, please?"
Itachi did as instructed, quickly closing the distance between the chair where he was sitting and the examination bed, which took up most of the room.
Once Itachi removed his neck tie and was comfortably seated on the crunchy tissue paper covering the bed, Mignogna began his examination, starting with his breathing, followed by his heart beat, eye and ear inspection, and reflexes.
"Tilt your chin up for me, please." Mignogna instructed next. "I'm just going to press a few areas on your neck to check for swelling in your lymph nodes which will tell me if you are suffering from an underlying infection that might be causing your symptoms." He said, pressing his forefingers under the base of Itachi's jawline before scooting away from the exam table. "Do you have to be anywhere tonight?" He asked him.
"No." Itachi answered and brought a hand up to his neck to feel where the doctor's fingers were just pressing. "I was planning to go home once I'm done here."
"Okay." Mignogna answered, scribbling something on a smaller tablet this time. "I'm going to order you a blood test down in the lab to check for signs of hypothyroidism, a disease that affects the thyroid gland which is responsible for regulating things such as your heartbeat and metabolism."
Hypothyroidism? Itachi balked with wide eyes. That wasn't one of the illnesses that came up in his search last week.
"It's also been known to cause depression, but can't be detected through a physical exam; it has to be done through bloodwork." He said, ripping off a sheet of paper and handing it to Itachi.
Itachi merely glanced at it before asking "When will I know if this is my problem?"
"While we can perform the lab test today, we won't have the results for about a week or so. If you receive a phone call from us, you'll have to schedule another appointment so that we can discuss our findings. If you don't receive a phone call from us, you're in the clear."
"And then what?" He asked.
"Well," Mignogna started to explain before scribbling something else onto the very same notepad from before, "we'll give you medications for it. But until then, I'm going to prescribe you some anti-anxiety meds to help take the edge off your concerns about Sasuke." He smiled, and handed Itachi a prescription to be handed to his pharmacist.
"Okay." Itachi said after a moment of studying the new slip of paper in his hands. "Thank you."
"Oh, anytime!" Mignogna said, rising to shake Itachi's hand. "Just remember to stop by the lab which is located right by the hospital entrance and don't forget to hand this to your local pharmacist to receive your prescription, okay?"
Itachi nodded and returned the handshake. "Okay." He said and turned to take his leave. "Thanks again." He said over his shoulder.
"Anytime!" Mignogna replied as he followed him out, sticking his pen into the breast pocket of his dress shirt.
Author's Note(s):
1. I've used a lot of Naruto characters (mostly obscure ones like Miru and Suikazan as well as some that have not been mentioned yet) so when it came to this chapter, I needed a name for Itachi's doctor (because, let's face it, I can't just keep saying "The doctor said" over and over and over again, can I?) But when it came down to Naruto characters associated with medical ninjutsu, the options were limited. Soooo...I decided to use the last name of one of the character's English voice actors! So without further ado, I present to you Dr. Vic Mignoga (aka. Nagato's English voice actor). That is not to say that this man is Nagato or that Vic Mignogna is an actual doctor. I just needed a name for the guy!
2. Itachi's birthday does occur within the span of this story (I think chapter 14 fell on his birthday if I remember correctly...) However, I didn't do anything with it because Sasuke wasn't talking to him at this point and Itachi didn't strike me as one to celebrate the day (even if it occurred on a Saturday). I will give you this though: he was hoping that Sasuke would at least call him to wish him a happy birthday that day and didn't.
3. I've done my research on depression and hypothyroidism, but if you suspect you have any of these things, please see a doctor. I am, by no means, a doctor and am not qualified to give you medical advice. I just write stories.
Until next time~
Sasori33-001
PS The next chapter is set to be a Kisame chapter (that might be subject to change, though!)