Bringing Back

by Steinuun

They had a child together and still it seems love is out of the question. Can they find happiness together or should she say goodbye at last? She should have known better than that. A SasuSaku story.

19. Burning

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! TO ALL OF YOU WHO ARE STILL THERE THANK YOU AND I HOPE TO SEE YOU AROUND STILL. I'M NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER TO THE LAST REVIEWS BUT NEXT TIME I'LL DO IT AND I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE TO READ YOUR OPINION ON THIS STORY.

READ MY PROFILE FOR AN EXPLANATION OF MY DELAY.

CHAPTER 19 IS MORE LIKE A TRANSITION CHAPTER IN WHICH I WANTED TO PUT HOW SAKURA'S HEART WAS AT THIS MOMENT AND HOW THINGS WERE GOING ON WITH SASUKE. WHAT HAPPENS HERE WILL CAUSE SOMETHING BIG AND NEW THINGS WILL COME AROUND SO I HOPE YOU'RE STILL THERE TO FIND OUT.

SPECIAL NOTE: TO CHIPSET I DON'T KNOW IF YOUR OFFER IS STILL THERE SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS YOU TOLD ME IN YOUR PM. LAURY_UCHIHA I READ YOUR PM THANK YOU FOR THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, I TRIED TO CONNECT YOU AS A BETA READER SINCE DAYS AGO BUT YOU APPEAR LIKE PENDING OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

AS A SIDE NOTE IF SOME OF YOU LIKE GUNDAM 00 I WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU TOLD ME HOW IS IT BECAUSE I JUST WATCHED THE FIRST SEASON AND ABOUT EPISODE 12 I THINK OF THE SECOND.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU.

Chapter 19

Burning

Kakashi POV

It's amazing how time goes by so quickly without you noticing it. Our little Uchiha heiress's second birthday is finally today. I'm marveled at the fact that so many long months had passed since I knew from Sakura's own lips about her unexpected pregnancy and later about Sasuke's strange sickness. It's hardly unbelievable all the things that had happened since that moment and how some things hadn't change, unfortunately and sadly, like the one we all were hoping to evolve into something else.

Sasuke and Sakura are still treating and living with the other like before and their life is so separate from the other and just connected by the undeniable fact of having a daughter together that the hope that Naruto had stated to exist against everything that day when he tried to help them in that mad plan of him had definitely died day after day and night after night since that single moment. Naruto still believes in a future where his two teammates will be together even after he hadn't done anything again and hadn't said anything related to it. All the rest of us just had accepted finally that there won't be anything between the dark haired young man and the pink haired young woman. They had to mature before due to their soon parenthood and they somehow had assumed their responsibility but that's all. There's not a single trace of interest, deep and true, in Sasuke's heart towards the mother of his child but a relationship born from the mere fact and good manners and consideration brought out from education and gratefulness and just that. He doesn't even consider her as someone special among the circle of friends and teammates he has around him and it's like she's just any of them in his mixed vision of the world. He seems to not need her specially or care more than the logical and needed. He's polite and that's the plain truth. Icily a stoically polite but polite at the end.

Sakura on the other hand had retrieved to that wall behind she hides built with acceptance, resignation and hopelessness. She had hardened so much in her feelings towards him that she fakes so incredibly when he's around that some people had started to murmur and think that she doesn't love him anymore. Of course, all of us, who are near her and know her and care truly for her, know that that's a plain lie and it is the disguise and weapon she uses to go on living without having a little hope of Sasuke returning her feelings. She loves him still and she will always and it's kind of sad and at the same time cruel how some people could find the love of their life, the desired soul mate so easily and early in their life and seemingly not be meant to spend the rest of their time sharing it with that love. I know this is Sakura's case and breaks my heart to know and see how much she tries and does to live like this. The man she loves is near her and contacts her because of their daughter but he's always unreachable like a far away and cold star in a nocturnal sky. She's polite, caring and normal whenever he's around trying to match his behavior on her own terms but we all know how much it hurts her and saddens her to not have his love.

Now it was Miyu's second birthday and this time her father was going to be there so Sakura had prepared a big party to celebrate it and we all were invited. Ino had lent her house to the occasion and we were reunited there at sunset enjoying the music, the talks, the food, the drinks and the good company. Hinata and Tenten had helped the green eyed mother and blue eyed godmother to decorate the place and they had done a wonderful job. There were balloons and lamps and a lot of other kind of decoration and the little girl was delighted in her own innocent and ignorant world with all the people there who hugged her and kissed her and gave her gifts. She was beautiful dressed in three shades of pink and looking at her Anko and I had commented how a beautiful girl she was going to be when she were older. She was a pretty little girl, so beautiful that I know that in the future she will be a girl with a lot of boys after her. She couldn't hide the fact that she was an Uchiha after all, she looked more like Sasuke than Sakura even having traces of the medic nin in her appearance. But in character she resembled a good and strange mixture of the both that had grown up with time even when she has her own personality's developing. Somehow her likeness in character is a little more similar to Sasuke's in some traits but less sulking, cold and indifferent and she has Sakura's kindness and that's a very great thing.

I sighed smiling happily while I was waiting Anko to bring me some cake looking Miyu with her grandmother opening boxes of gifts with those curious, sweet and understanding eyes she has. I was sitting on the same table as Sasuke right now and I caught him by the corner of my black eye watching content, meditative and softly at his daughter in his seriousness. There was a sad hint inside his black eyes but it was so hidden that it was impossible to know why it was there. I didn't dare to break him from his observance and just stayed in silence until Anko appeared with two plates with a big piece of cake in each one.

"I almost lost these thanks to Naruto!"

She said laughing and greeting Sasuke with an enthusiastic nod and a big smirk. She sat down and we started to eat the piece of our spongy and delicious chocolate cake (that Hinata herself had done) with the company of the father of the birthday girl who had finished eating his own and was finishing his drink. Anko and I talked and laughed about the party and the late news around the town and the people but we were always attentive in our way to Sasuke. We could tell that he was happy in his own way but I didn't quite understand why he seemed so sad too at the moment. Anko was saying that Sakura had prepared a wonderful party.

"Where's Sakura by the way?"

"I saw her inside the house, in the living room with the girls. You know, girls talk."

"Oh I know."

She chuckled at my knowing look and then suddenly Sasuke got up and he seemed to be looking for something. I chuckled before speaking wondering if I had guessed right.

"If you're looking for the bathroom there's one just by the hall at the entrance of the house."

He nodded somehow embarrassed and disgruntled and then went away slowly walking.

"What's with him? He should be smiling on this day!"

"Yeah. I think we forget under what circumstances Miyu was born. Maybe Sasuke feels somehow guilty about it."

Anko stared at me first surprised and then nodded thoughtful and nostalgic. She sighed while I ate in silence and remembered when he had taken Miyu in his arms when he first arrived at the party and had landed a sweet kiss in her forehead. He had hugged her caring and lovingly and she just smiled rejoicing in seeing him there and didn't stop in saying in her own mismatched speech that he was there truly happy. Sasuke just heard her staring softly and with a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He had bought her a lot of stuff as gifts from clothes to toys and had stayed with her till all the guests appeared and Sakura attended them brimming in joy and nostalgia just glancing back at her daughter and her eternal unreturned love with touched expression.

"But not matter what, this day is for celebrate. And besides, he had done a great job as her dad. Even when he entered in her life as someone who didn't care about her or love her at first, now he's really devoted and committed to her."

"I do wonder what will happen when Miyu find out, older of course, about how her life began in the world. Inevitably she will find out sooner or later. She will know what her dad thought about her first and how much he hurt her mother with his words. She will know how much he rejected her at first."

After a pause she glanced concerned and meditative at me.

"Do you think Sasuke thinks in that too?"

"Yes. I could assure you just by how he looks at her sometimes. The weird thing is that I thought I saw that kind of look in him when he was with Sakura too."

Can I dare to think that Sasuke in fact felt bad thinking in that? Yes, I can. I saw the pain behind his wintered look whenever he landed his dark eyes on Miyu and I knew, yes, I perfectly knew, that he thought in that. This day was special so that pain was showed better in the deeps of his onyx pools that tried so experienced to hide it behind his common seriousness and serenity. I had caught him with the same look sometimes when he was with Sakura too, or at least I thought I saw it. I wanted to believe that I had seen it. But for Miyu is was very real when you knew him and had spent part of your life near him and trying to understand him and train him. It was a pain born from feeling like crap for something horrible you did to that person, something hurtful that only brought shame, hate and suffering for yourself. Something you dread that it could kill your connection with the person you really and purely love against all misunderstandings and bad decisions. That was the pain I saw in him besides the resignation and acceptance of knowing he had brought it to himself.

"Poor Sakura... she loves him so much and he doesn't give a damn. He doesn't even let her know what he thinks and frees her for good from her unreturned feelings. That's something he could do, you know."

Yes, Anko was right. And that was another doubt inside our minds. If Sasuke could never love Sakura back, why he didn't show it straight to let her know that she couldn't keep waiting for him and loving him? She could then have the strength and certainty to move on and find a man who can love her and care for her as she deserves. She needs to be release from that pain imprisoning her if there is not hope at all. She needs to have someone who shares her life with. She isn't going to love him as she loves Sasuke but at least she could find another kind and intensity of love and find the happiness she's worth.

And even when I truly and really desire that bliss to Sakura and Sasuke together, as a couple in love, I have to accept that it is unlikable to happen. So if they can't be happy together at least I want them to be blissful with another person sharing their life. The both deserve it. And I want what it best for the two even if it isn't what I sincerely wanted and wished to be.

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Sakura POV

"So nothing had changed at all, Sakura?"

I just could nod at Tenten with calm and sad green eyes. We were talking and sitting on the living room of Ino's house. We hadn't had times to share and talk about girl's stuff since some time ago and even when we really enjoyed going out and spending time with our male friends sometimes there were things that only can be talked or shared within us. And talking about some of our male friends was one of them. But I didn't want sincerely to talk about Sasuke-Kun with them because I knew that my mask was fragile and shattering thanks to this fateful day and our current situation. I could feel the sorrow gripping my throat tightly. I don't want to cry. Not today.

"I can't believe it! We have hope after what Naruto and Hinata did but now..."

Hinata flinched remembering that mad plan of his blond boyfriend still somehow ashamed and blushing but she just gazed kind and worried at me while Ino gestured with her hands in exasperation. I was sitting in the main couch with Tenten while my dark haired and blond friends shared the other and smaller one in front of us. My three friends were pretty serious, concerned and understanding while they were watching me. I just was sitting still and fixing my jade and sorrowful glance on the table centered in the living room with eyes lost in past memories and unforgettable feelings. I had had hope too. I had had it when he offered me his hand and held mine while we were walking through the hospital looking for the exit and then when he accompanied me part of our way home. Even when he didn't hold my hand out of the building and with reason knowing we were in public, he had been polite enough to share time and space with me. I fondly remember that day and cherished it with undying love and care deep in my heart, and I smiled in spite of my broken hope at rejoicing in how it felt his hand holding mine softly, how his adored presence felt beside me, how the silence didn't matter between us, how even when he wasn't putting all his attention to me still somehow I knew he was aware of me. It had lasted minutes, just minutes that seemed seconds to me and I had found myself falling in love with him again like a cursed fool without escape. I didn't let the awkwardness, nervousness and shyness to won over me and I, blushing inwardly, smiled just happy for that single and little gesture of recognition and kindness from him towards me, just me. I didn't put attention to the people watching us with awe and murmuring for seeing that unlikely to happen and when we reached the point where our paths differed I just said goodbye to him with a grateful and sincere smile and hardly restraining this undying love and I saw him go till my eyes couldn't distinguish anymore his beloved stance. I had wanted so bad to cling from his arm and rest my head against his shoulder.

But that was just the memory and I didn't have anymore of that kind after it.

I still wonder why he acted that way towards me that time when now we had retrieved to our politeness and courtesy way. I don't and I can't and I shouldn't push myself into him. I don't want to see his rejection towards me again like that moment in the cave and if I see it again in the deep of his black eyes I could surely die inside from pain and sadness. I fear to see him rejecting me again in any way he could do it. I prefer to be seen as something neutral in his world than something unwanted. Only that single thought hurts me and fills my eyes with unshed and unstoppable tears.

"That moron needs to have his ass kicked!"

The voice of Temari on the speakerphone startled us a first. Not seeing her in person here made us forget about her presence there even in that way. She couldn't come to Miyu's birthday and it didn't surprise me. Suna was far away and she was the older sister of the Kazekage. No one of the three sand siblings could come and go as they wished it anyway.

"She's right! What the hell is in his stone heart?!"

"After that kiss you stole from him he should be begging you girl. What else could he want in a woman? He needs only you."

I heard Ino and Tenten's words grateful for them but crushed too. Hinata just nodded sadly. How many times do I ask myself that? What else he wants from a woman? What is what I'm lacking to make him to love me and stay with me forever? Why I'm not enough? What do I need to do to have his love? But I know that if he really doesn't feel anything for me then there's nothing else to hope and wait. I cannot force myself into his heart and that's the plain truth. But there have been so damn little clues that keeps my bothering heart leaping in joy and expectation and there's where the trouble lay. If I didn't have anything to keep me daydreaming I could find a way, with a lot of effort and time, to let him go or at least I want to believe it possibly true.

"Sakura, honey, you maybe should ask him straight if he feels something for you, even the slightest thing. You cannot go on like this; this is just suffering, damn and plain suffering. Make the move girl."

I know Temari is right. And my other friends agreed with her but I cannot bring myself to do such a thing because I dread about the answer and the consequences. I curled my fists clutching my dress and the knees that are covered by it and supporting my shaking hands. I just cannot have him gone from my side for that question. I'm not strong enough to go on living without him in this sad relationship we have. The only joyful part of my life is the daughter we have and I'm so pathetic that I thank her in my devotion for the opportunity she gives me day after day and night after night to be close to him. That's how pathetic I am.

"I... can't... I just can't... I love him so much that I can hardly contain it inside of me... I love him so much that I don't have an idea of what I could do for him... I love him so much that even when all this had happened, even in spite of my resentment and pain, I cannot stop loving him, I can't..." I was clearly and honestly crying now with my body shaking from the stranded emotion and daring to fight the hurt I felt that was trying to cut my cracked voice. My friends just were silent watching me with touching and preoccupied looks and I heard Temari sighing with sadness. "I cannot stop loving him... I cannot even after he hurt me and he still does even with intention or not... even if I cannot expect anything from him besides what he could and wants to give me, I love him and I had tried, oh God how much I had tried!... in vain, just in vain to stop loving him and I cannot do it!..."

I was now bursting into tears and screaming sincere and free. I hadn't talked with anyone about how I felt with all this and now that they had given me the chance all my hidden suffering and secret pain were pouring out from my aching and broken heart like a flow of an unstoppable river. I gasped for air and when I tried to calm myself and collect me from the shattered pieces of my soul I sunk deeper in my frustration and desperation.

"I love him... I love him... and I cannot ask him that because it would kill me to hear the answer if it's not what I was waiting to hear... that's what I don't want to ask him... I don't want him to go away from me... I don't want to be away from him... I want to be near him even if it's like this... there's hope inside of me and I cannot kill it... I cannot! I love him... and these three damn words are so little to describe what I feel for him..." I was still crying and crying releasing the ache I contain and control inside of me day after day, night after night... I couldn't gaze at the faces of my friends, I was so ashamed for my suddenly and unexpected breakdown, for my behavior. I don't want any of them worrying for me, for something that's just expected and anticipated. "I had tried to focus in not feeling anything when I am near him... I try to not show what I feel for him... I try and try... trying to believe foolishly that I could succeed and believe my pretense, my lie... but that only hurts me more, just breaks me more... but it's the only thing I could do and let me go on and live... I have to pretend and lie to myself and to others to find the way of enduring this... just to be near he... and I love him so much, so much, that I breathe it... I had forgiven him and I had been trying to forget... I love him... what can I do?..."

Tenten reached me and held me tight and supportive with sad and worried face like the one each of them had in that moment. Temari was the one who spoke first after sighing sadly.

"I don't have to be there to picture in what state you are. You really love him. I never had a doubt about it but I never either had the certainty. He had hurt you so much in all this years since he left Konoha the first time."

Hearing her saying that made me remember that unforgettable and heartbreaking moment. I had tried to stop him so badly; I had tried with all my might. I could hear me inside that memory saying to him that I could have make worth his stay and not regret it and that I could have make him happy. I guess I'm still that little girl crying to his back and pleading to give me an opportunity. How sad. I'm still that little girl begging for his love, for his care. And I'm still crying for it, since then, inside and deeply in my soul and heart.

"That's right." Ino suggested softly. "Sasuke had caused you a lot of pain and you still love him. I think there's not way of escaping it. If all he had done to you hadn't worked out the miracle of stop loving him, I guess sadly and unfortunately that you won't stop loving him ever. I know I'm being cruel but"

She paused feeling bad but I, calmer thanks to Tenten's soothing embrace, nodded at my blue eyed friend.

"Don't worry Ino... I know it already... I know that probably I could find someone else to share my life with but... I won't stop loving Sasuke-Kun ever. In some way or another I'll love him, I'll quiver for his attention and I'll crave for his affection. It's just... that it hurts so much..."

I smiled with resignation and tears fell from my emerald, puffy and crystal eyes and Hinata took my trembling hands in hers reassuring me her understanding. No one said anything more for long minutes and I felt grateful at their company in my shared suffering. Little by little I was finding control over myself like always and my tears were dying inside my lost glance before forming their shape to escape rebels from my green eyes. When I found myself stronger and better I looked up and smiled softly and thankful at them.

"Sorry for lashing out this on you... I don't want to worry you or change the mood of Miyu's party. I cannot be like this in this important day for her." I remember everything that had happened since two years ago and I felt the pain clutching my battered heart again trying to break me but I breathed deeply stopping it. Two years... and nothing had changed. I'm still the little girl crying like that faraway night when he left the first time.

"Don't say that Sakura! That's what friends are for."

"Ino is right. We're here to listen any of us."

"You can count on us always."

"And break down whenever you feel it."

I nodded and thanked them smiling widely touched. I smiled at Ino, at Tenten, at Hinata and Temari. My four friends. My four talented and strong ninja friends.

"Anyway I think you should return to the party. I have to feed two brothers."

Temari said sighing tiredly with exasperation but joking at the end. Ino and Tenten laughed and Hinata and I just giggled and the atmosphere was light and cheerful again and I silently thanked for it and dried my tears immediately. Temari was right. There was a party outside and I cannot let my inner and own pain to spoil it. My little girl was 2 years old and that was all that matters now.

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Kakashi POV

When Sasuke returned from the bathroom I caught something different in his dark eyes just like that time when I had left him waiting for me outside the hospital sitting on that bench. He simply sat down at the table where I was still chatting and laughing with Anko and stayed lost in thought seeing Miyu playing with her grandmother and her new toys. I saw that he was very deep in his own world and he was barely putting attention to his little girl. I noticed that he was deeply thinking in that introspective and profound way he has and not being a victim of his strange illness. I was at ease for that. But I felt too worried and curious about his moment of deep meditation and drifting reverie. I heard laughs and voices talking happily and I turned my attention to Sakura and the girls who were leaving the house and returning to the party after the girl's talk Anko had talked me about. I knew that Sakura had been crying. It was plainly obvious to me who knew her for so time ago and I sighed concerned and saddened at how her emerald eyes were crystals menacing to break without warning. She was trying so hard to hide everything. But I knew too my other former student and I looked at him by the corner of my black gaze meditative and wondering. Anko, luckily for me, was now chatting with Kiba's sister who was sitting on a table next to the right. Sasuke had averted his black and cold gaze at just seeing the entrance of the mother of his child and I found myself sighing sadly at their current situation. I did wonder why he had averted his black eyes when she came to the backyard with the girls and why he seemed suddenly deep in thought with his furrowed brow and pale face staring without staring really at the ground.

Everyone in the party were quite happy and enjoying it. Anko asked me to take her to dance and when I dared to say no she threatened me with a profound glare and cute pout and I couldn't say no anymore so I got up and she took me by the hand and led me to the little crowd that was dancing already. I had to admit that I somehow liked it and enjoyed it especially when Gai taking a very surprised Kurenai joined us trying to compete like always with me. Soon there were laughs and giggles and jokes around us and we ended being the two couples dancing like in a real competition. Even the birthday girl was clapping happily her hands watching us in her proud mother's arms.

After I spun around Anko with a special movement that made our public to go in a chorus of "Wows" and put Gai burning in friendly jealousy, by casualty I faced the table were Sasuke was sitting still drifting away and something weird alarmed me immediately. His head had dropped strangely and he had started to shake with violence, without him able to control himself. His trembling was still slow and weak but it only took me seconds to let go of my Anbu friend to worsen in quicker and stronger involuntary movements. Then it was in a rapid way and with a rhythm that clutched his muscles with sharp tightness and forced him to bend down with an unbearable pain gripping him completely. He was paralyzed by it and he couldn't raise his contorted and shaking arms to brace himself, weakened in seconds of utter terror for me. I run like a mad to the table and I barely reached it when he had fallen from the chair to the ground with his face paler and cold expression and the searing pain showing clearly in his crystal black narrowed eyes.

The party fell into silence suddenly and then I heard voices and noises but I didn't put attention to any of them. Sasuke needed me while he was trembling intensely and without control over himself, tensed and pained deeply at the damn seizure's brusque demand. I caught him and I held him in my arms the tighter I could trying to steady his trembling body. I trapped his flying and frenetic arms while he was arching wildly his back with clutched tightly eyes and wincing from utter pain. For a second he crossed his pained glance with mine and I noticed how hard he had been trying to control it seeing his obsidian eyes shinning bright with unshed tears of ache and then he closed them again tightly just grabbing me wincing still by my shirt with his left brusquely curled fist. Surprisingly and strangely enough I was able to control him on my own and I noticed concerned and interested that he was somehow weak this time and that's why I had been able to just steady him myself. The last time we had been three people trying to held him and steady his trembling body. In my deeply worried mind there was just one thought running through it and I said it in silence trying to make it real to him especially when not only his nose started to bleed again. His ears were bleeding this time too.

You'll be ok.... you'll be ok... it's just like the last time... you have received your treatment... you'll be fine... Sasuke... you'll see...

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"He'll be fine. Give him space to breathe, please."

Shizune was saying seriously and deeply preoccupied while Tsunade was treating and checking Sasuke up with deep concentration and attention. He was still lying in Kakashi's arms and was now slightly shaking and breathing hardly and unevenly. The people had been dispatched due to the situation earlier from the party and the only ones who remained there were the close friends and family of the birthday girl. Sakura's mom had taken her to the house after Miyu started worrying seeing his father suffering like that and now the group of friends and some of their relatives were trying concerned to be around and near the sick young man. The jade eyed mother of the little Uchiha was staring intensely worried and shaking and sobbing accompanied by Ino and Naruto who were holding her reassuring. Her hands were clutched together tightly with desperation and deeply suffering at seeing him like that.

"I was expecting this. I really hoped and thought that I was going to prevent it with the treatment but I knew I was lying to myself."

Tsunade said quietly and Kakashi just nodded serious. He could see the real and profound preoccupation in the eyes of the young ninjas. Only Naruto and Shikamaru knew about it as himself and the others were shocked after witnessing that. The Hokage checked Sasuke's eyes opening them slowly like Kakashi had done the first time and unfortunately he saw the same. He was completely lost and his inner light was completely down. At least his shaking had stopped and his body had relaxed and was limp and weak in the silver haired man's arms that was still holding him.

"How long it was this time?"

Kakashi asked worried with soft voice. Tsunade just stared at him seconds dead serious and concerned before answering him. She was trying to conceal his erratic heart beatings that had gone wild with the seizure. She lay softly and carefully one of her hands over his chest that was rising rapidly and the other over his closed tightly eyes. The warm chakra from the famous specialist was working its way through the dark haired young man with quickness and utter direction.

"7 minutes. And his ears bled this time too. It seems that it had worsened instead. I'll need to do a complete check up on him again to see if I can stop it to get worse the next time. I thought that I had achieved it but I only delayed the bigger seizures and controlled the smaller ones. I was conscious that I wasn't going to heal him and that he was going to suffer for either of them sooner or later. But I was pretty sure that I had achieved the goal of stop it from evolving and it seems I had failed in that and I don't know why. I was certain that if another big seizure came, it was going to be just like the first he had when you three helped him. I wanted that at least if I cannot cure him."

The blond woman said sighing tiredly and angrily at herself. There was something weird in all this and she was feeling uneasy and worried about it. When she finished calming him completely with her healing chakra and his heart and breathing rates were inside a normal rhythm, the honey eyed Hokage looked at Kakashi and Shizune serious.

"Take him to the hospital. He needs to be under observation till he wakes up. We hope he'll wake up at the same time like the last one."

Her dark haired assistant and the famous sensei nodded serious and worried and the only living sannin helped Kakashi to get up and lift Sasuke. Then he took the unconscious young man in his arms and with Shizune disappeared leaving everyone in stress and shock. Tsunade sighed calming herself before she had to answer especially to the pink haired young woman who was staring crying at her with utter pain and demand.

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"I'm sorry for not telling you any of this before, to all of you. But especially to you, Sakura. But I was trying to protect Sasuke from unwanted eavesdropping. And sincerely I thought I could be able enough to prevent something like this to happen again."

"You should... Tsunade-Sama... you should... have told me..."

Sakura was crying sadly and that crushed sincerely the honey eyed Hokage but she just could nod at her worried. They had heard about his first seizure but she was pretty sure that nobody really understood or could begin to imagine how dangerous it was indeed.

"Don't get angry at Kakashi, Naruto or Shikamaru. They knew because they witnessed it first. They were ordered by me to not talk about Sasuke's last symptom. But right now all of you know and you have to keep it secret and make a story to the ones who witnessed it anyway. We need to protect Sasuke. If someone knows of the real dangerousness of his strange illness it could be very bad."

They all nodded still silent and shocked. Sakura was the last one who did it. She didn't want him in danger anymore; she didn't want him to suffer anymore. She wanted so bad to protect him and if the silence had been doing it, she could suck up her anger and disappointment at them for not telling her the truth about his health. She could comprehend and try to keep the secret. She just wanted to see him opening those beautiful black eyes of him even if they could only see her with coldness and indifference forever. Tsunade looked at her reassuring and Sakura nodded worried and lost in thought.

"Well I have to go now to attend him in the hospital. Last time it took him 6 hours to regain consciousness so don't grow desperate. Have patience. I'll take good care of him and I'll investigate this."

With those last words she was soon gone. Naruto was still holding Sakura's shaking frame like Ino and had a guilty and ashamed look in his blue, sad and worried eyes.

"I'm so sorry Sakura-Chan... for not telling you."

She shocked her head slowly calming herself little by little. Her maturity born from her career as a medic nin was serving her well. She couldn't let herself to fall in insignificant things when it was about someone's life. And more precisely, the life of the man she loved so much. She had grown up to be the quite talented medic nin she was now to take decisions even if they were difficult and hard to take and let others to understand. She had learned to be cold headed and controlled in the most terrible and desperate situations. She needed to rely on that now that her soul was devastated in deep concern. She needed that strength, that calm and that certainty her role as a medic nin provided her in this kind of situations. If she didn't have it... she surely would be broken into pieces crying madly on the ground.

"I understand your reasons... it just that I would have wanted to know from the start..."

Naruto nodded ashamed and silent holding his best female friend with profound worry tainting his always cheerful face. Ino was at her other side holding her too with deep preoccupation for Sakura and Sasuke too.

"You'll see that Tsunade-Sama will fix him. Don't worry Sakura."

The blond pretty Yamanaka said reassuring her firmly and all her other friends did it too with soothing words and optimistic and hopeful expressions. Only Shikamaru stayed quiet and lost in thought wondering about Sasuke's seizure. He had his brow furrowed in deep consideration of the circumstances and actions of the Hokage herself. She had looked so puzzled and intensely concerned...

"You need to rest and take Miyu home. Don't worry; we'll take care of the things here."

Ino offered sincerely kind at the pink haired young mom and she nodded absent and still tearful and consternated. She couldn't take out the image of the father of her daughter suffering in that terrible way from her mind. That image had burned its path to her aching heart and she was sure it will last forever in the deepest caves of her tormented memories.

"Ino is right. Come on, Naruto-Kun and I would walk your mom, Miyu and you home."

Hinata said looking sweetly and concerned at her friend and Sakura just nodded again without really strength left to talk. So many emotionally exhausting things had happened today in this day that it had should be so special and joyful. Miyu had been born two years ago even under hard circumstances and now... her birthday had ended in some sort of the same way. Sakura had wanted now that Sasuke and she were in good terms to really celebrate their little girl's birthday together at least for her. She had been so excited and thrilled to throw a party where he was going to be. She had expected this day to end differently and full of happiness and hope. She sincerely had wanted all the best for the man she loved so much and the daughter he had given her and was the treasure of the both.

The medic nin didn't talk in all the way back to her home accompanied by her mother, Naruto and Hinata. She was carrying a slept Miyu in her arms thinking over and over in the deeply hurt she felt crushing her heart every time she thought in Sasuke. She hadn't wanted to think seriously in his weird illness all this time, she had been trying to believe that he was fine with it and less she didn't want to even consider the idea of him getting worse or dying. It was weird to her to feel and think that and she felt like a coward when she realized now that she was only denying the fact and she didn't want to face the truth. The outcome of his strange sickness scared her to her deepest core and provoked huge terror inside of her weeping soul that she had been all these long months, with their days and weeks, believing that he was stable and fine. She didn't dare to go beyond that hopeful and foolish thought because she couldn't imagine life without him. The tears immediately invaded her green eyes whenever she thought about it so she in an unconscious way had been trying to believe that he couldn't get sick again or that his condition couldn't worsen suddenly and that the famous Godaime one fine day would cure him even when she had been always honest saying that it was impossible even for someone as talented as her. She held back a sob and the unshed tears forming in her eyes when she drifted to that horrible and painful thought. She didn't want to worry anymore the persons around her who were so sad, worried and taking care of her. When she saw Naruto by the corner of her teary jade glance and noticed his grim expression, she suddenly understood why he had wanted so desperately to help her to be in peace and contact with Sasuke. That understanding only gripped in sorrow and pained her already aching heart. And the dread born from it made the pink haired medic nin to shook inwardly desperate and suffering at the secret lines behind all that and that maybe her blue eyed friend didn't exactly know them in the real meaning. And she didn't dare to go beyond that because it could shatter in pieces all her already battered being.

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Kakashi POV

Sasuke woke up this time 12 hours later. All of us had been attentive to his situation but no one could match how Sakura stayed unwavering at his bed's side almost all the time. She had only gone to her house to take a bath, eat something, rest and sleep some hours and stay with Miyu who had really resent her father's suddenly disappearance seriously. The little Uchiha had kept asking her young mother for him and Sakura only could smile sad and concerned at her, showing strength and force for her daughter's sake and promised her that her father would come to see her soon. But Miyu Uchiha, being so observant and quite understanding and kind creature, nodded nodding warmly and surprising her mom told her in her own mismatched speech that Sasuke was going to be fine.

And Sakura just cried smiling sadly and touching at the dark haired little beauty that she loved with all her soul.

Sakura's mom stayed with little Miyu when she came to the hospital hours later deeply worried and sad for Sasuke's condition. I had gone to see her after leaving Sasuke hospitalized and being taken care in the experimented and talented hands of Shizune and Tsunade-Sama and went straight to her house to see her and reassured her that Sasuke was going to be fine. That's how I witnessed that beautiful and moving connection between mother and daughter. I accompanied her to the hospital but left her alone with Sasuke knowing that she wanted to be there for him and that I had to take care of myself too. Sakura had found renewed will and might inside of her in those hours waiting in home to come to see Sasuke and now was concentrated, calm and hopeful and the shock she had received seeing Sasuke going through that seizure had worn out thankfully for her own behalf. I know what she thought seeing him suffering like that. And I know she understand perfectly well the situation. She's a medic nin, a very good one, in fact a great one not for nothing. And she now understands why Naruto had done what he had done and it was that the thing that had shocked her so badly. Because now she knows what I know.

And we both know that Sasuke had a true possibility of dying thanks unfortunately to a bigger and scarier seizure that the one we had witnessed this time.

And we both didn't dare to go to that territory wanting to believe in Tsunade-Sama helping and fixing him in some maybe magical way and winning against that real possibility. We wanted to believe in that and we remain silent even between the two of us, just in spite of our faith. That's why I smiled at her when I said goodbye and left her with Sasuke in that quiet and peaceful room. My female former student had smiled back at me truly believing that everything was going to be fine and trying to be strong enough for whatever her inner self was murmuring her in suspicion and instinct.

Just like mine.

But the worst part that I didn't want to share with her was the real concern Tsunade-Sama was feeling with all this. That I kept to myself and pondered about just with the blond sannin and her dark haired assistant while they were still trying to figure out what had happened with Sasuke and his treatment. Anyway we only kept it secret to others and worry only among ourselves and I found myself remembering that old feeling I had when I had witnessed Sasuke's first seizure. And I knew sadly that I hadn't forgotten it for some unknown reason but still I prayed against it just like my strong and faithful pink haired and emerald eyed former student did deeply in her worried soul.

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Sasuke Uchiha's condition didn't recover totally in the next days and nights. There was gossiping about what had happened in Miyu's birthday about his sudden seizure and faint from the ones that had witnessed it. Naruto had told his friends about his first big seizure months ago and the smaller ones that were almost unnoticeable and they were very worried about the Sharingan's user when they finally could comprehend the real situation concerning his health. But they obeyed faithfully the Hokage's orders and when someone outside their group that had been invited to the birthday party said something about it they tried their best to pretend and lie about the true significance of it. They wanted to everyone outside them to think that Sasuke was recovering and doing fine after that terrible incident. His security and sake were on line and they did all the possible to protect him and support him while he was still hospitalized and later when he was out but his condition was weaker and unwell comparing it to his previous state before Miyu's party. Tsunade gave him free days from trainings and missions to recover in the peace of his little room beside the one belonging to the silver haired former sensei of him and that didn't raise a lot of suspicion or doubts after Tsunade said that she wanted him fully recovered and had lied saying that he had hurt his right leg thanks to the fall caused by the extreme seizure and that explanation filled everyone's curiosity about his absence.

Sasuke was seemingly recovering slowly and even when he was weaker than other times he could live on his own and take care of himself. Tsunade kept him still under test and on check in case there was something odd going on with his health and Kakashi always went to see him when he had time before or after a mission. All the ones who knew about his actual state thought that he was recovering and that some day soon he would be like before the famous party but neither the blond Hokage or the silver haired sensei believed it in their shared and preoccupied silence and hiding from others to know, even if that other were the best friend or the mother of the child of the sick one. They didn't see total recovery to his previous state after seeing him paler and weaker day after day.

So when he came to Sakura's place at last after days and nights resting on bed, she felt truly happy and relieved at seeing him at her door by his own feet and alone without the assistance of someone. He hadn't come to see or pick his little girl up till this week and the pink haired knew how much Miyu was waiting for him. She had been asking her all morning about the hour when he would appear and Sakura just smiled and giggled sweetly at her innocence. Inwardly she wondered if the little dark haired beauty understood in her own way that her father was pretty sick. She wondered saddened what feelings that knowledge caused in her daughter's pure heart.

She was in the kitchen and Miyu in her own bedroom when Sasuke arrived and she let him in polite and normal as she always acted towards him just keeping to her strained inner self her deep worry for him. When the minutes passed and she was just talking about common stuff before going for their child she noticed first the little changes in him and then when she finally figured out what was happening it was too late to prevent it and she could only caught him in his fall after he collapsed due to his sudden migraine that brought him unbearable and stinging pain and made her felt so frustrated, afflicted and concerned, with her soul and heart aching terribly for not being able to heal him in any possible way. So she just stayed sitting some minutes with him in her arms lying unconscious on the clean kitchen's floor embracing his limp body and caressing his slightly pained face with teary, worried and terrified jade eyes looking hopefully his chest raising slowly with a harsh breathing and she told herself that he would be fine sooner or later and she would be so grateful to be just there to see it.

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Sakura POV

"What happened Sakura?"

Shizune asked serious and worried standing still at my door. I went straight to my biggest preoccupation serious, pained and concerned. She entered closing the door behind her back glancing kindly at me.

"Sasuke fainted because of his migraine."

I said simply with a voice that I didn't let to break due to my true and hurtful desire of cry. I was trying to be calm and receptive even if my heart was demanding me otherwise in its suffering's howling. Since Miyu's birthday Sasuke's health had been going down little by little, so unexpectedly and shocking that I had found myself worrying with the slightest symptom he showed even when I had heard about it or saw it before. I was so alarmed since I had seen that terrible seizure he had painfully experienced that now I react at any sign that could mean he doesn't feel well or something bad is going on inside his body or mind. I know I cannot do it all time because after all, I don't live with him and I'm nothing to him. Nothing more than the mother of his child. But when he's here to see or pick up Miyu and I had the chance and opportunity to share space and time with him, I can't help to be attentive at every single detail of his person, worrying inwardly when I thought in that darkness that engulfs me when I remember clearly in what real condition he is.

"Like other times?"

The Hokage's best friend questioned the Haruno quickly going through her medical equipment she had brought with her. Sakura was looking at her serious and focused with glassy jade eyes full of determination.

"Yes. He came to pick Miyu up and he suddenly fell ill. He seemed fine first so I didn't expect it to happen. Mother couldn't come today so I guess he was lucky I was here. I did what I could to make him feel comfortable. But I haven't checked his medic file... so"

I paused feeling bad for not having information about his sickness. Till now I had decided to let that to Shizune and Tsunade-Sama to take care of it since I retrieved myself from his life mostly. We were nothing more than two parents of the same little girl but we weren't friends or companions so I had thought I didn't have a right to meddle in his life. My brown haired friend nodded staring sadly at me.

"I understand. I'll leave this copy of his file with you in case you want to see it." I looked surprised and somehow ashamed at her but she was just smiling kindly. Was I so easy to read? "You're a medic nin after all and you're the mother of his child so you must know about his condition."

She extended to me the yellow file still looking kindly at me and I just doubted a second before taking it firmly in my hands. I knew what this act of mine really mean to me. Maybe Shizune couldn't see it or imagine it, but for me it was clear that with taking his medic file I had taken the decision to care enough about him to try to be there for him. I knew that after taking the papers and later reading them, I would be inevitable bond to again fall for him and truly care and greatly love him and try to be near to help him in every way I could. I was leaving my somehow far away spot where I had been longing these days since he returned to Konoha for the last time, I was abandoning the spot where I look sorrowful at his separate life from mine built with normalcy and politeness and resignation and acceptance. I was moving from that spot to get close to him even if I knew that I would be hurt for my unreturned and hopeless love. But I didn't care because all I wanted was to help him and heal him and I loved him so much that I couldn't careless what could happen to me if my sudden and annoying presence bothered him again.

"It was lucky that you didn't have to go to work today Sakura."

Shizune said while she followed me on the hall to my bedroom. I was clutching the file so drifting in space and lost in thought that I didn't know how I started to walk. I just nodded with a simple smile.

"Yes. I'm very happy to return to Konoha's main hospital again. Working in the clinic was a great experience but I missed there. And I missed working with Tsunade-Sama, Ino and you."

"We missed you too. Thank God you could stay with Sasuke now. We have a lot of work there thanks to a misunderstanding between two villages that it's better for him to stay here with you at least today till he feels better. Naruto said that he'll come later at sunset to pick him up and take him to his home. You just need to take care of him the rest of the afternoon."

I nodded and I was going to open the door of my bedroom when Shizune asked me something concerned and serious.

"Are you ok taking care of him? I can arrange something in the hospital for him if you want."

I denied it with a gentle shock of my head and my smiling gratefully face after turning to her. Shizune just smiled understanding before hearing me speaking.

"It's ok. As you said I'm a capable medic nin and I can take care of him some hours till he gets better. In fact I want him here instead of a hospital, near Miyu." I didn't dare to say out loud and near me. I have to control myself to not make him to avoid me or reject me, not now that he's so sick and weak. "So it's ok."

I smiled hiding my sadness at my real wish and she just nodded sweetly. I opened slowly the door and the darkness almost blinded us if it wasn't for a small lamp that was lighted up next to the bed. I knew that with his migraine he couldn't tolerate light and noise like a normal person would do. I had left Miyu sleeping after rocking her and telling her sadly and smiling feeling bad that her father couldn't see her right now. My daughter seemed to understand the affliction that flowed through me because she fell sleep soon and didn't give me any problem at all. She was such a bright girl that I always wondered if she wasn't a genius like Shikamaru was. Shizune immediately went to the bed and started checking him quite experienced in the matter. I didn't get surprised anymore, after all she had treated and taken care of him before in a similar episode months ago. I was just staring worriedly and tearful breathing deeply seeing him shaking slightly on my bed thanks to a light fever and with a barely visible wince of pain in his furrowed brow. He had his dark and beautiful eyes half opened and seemed to be lost in space staring at an invisible point in the ceiling while the Hokage's assistant treated him with her talented and powerful medical tools and chakra.

And I gripped tighter the yellow file against my chest furrowing my brow in seriousness and determination while my mind went back to that day he had woken up in the hospital after his powerful and dangerous seizure and I had felt my heart brimming in relief and hope after all that long hours of waiting by his bed and that unconsciousness that had taken him in its dangerous darkness.

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Sakura POV

"Hey, you finally wake up!"

I smiled warmly and happily with my hardly contained eyes brimming in controlled tears facing his really pale face. He had slowly flickered open his dark and blurry eyes just seconds ago and my heart had leaped in joy and relief. Every hard hour spent at his side worrying myself to death was worth just being there when he finally regained his consciousness. He had been out 12 hours and I knew that was a long time to be unconscious in his case. When I felt my heart grabbed by the intense preoccupation I shrugged it smiling at him again and without taking my hand off of his left one lying still on the mattress.

"You made us worry really! We were going nuts because of you, Sasuke-Kun. We're glad you're back."

I sincerely said looking lovingly at him but trying to conceal it at the same time. I was talking in a cheerful tone because that prevented me to hug him desperately and face the chance of the future I dreaded terribly for his behalf. He was slowly blinking still numb from the side effects of the hard seizure and medicines and I could see by his confused expression that he was trying to focus his sight and figure out what had happened.

"Shh... calm down. Everything is fine now."

I said calmer but still concerned and kind. I was trying so hard to not let this love out from my aching chest through my damn jade eyes. I retrieved myself to my part as a medic nin and I got serious when he finally locked his foggy dark glance on me with that freezing serenity of his. I let go of his hand slowly trying to not show him how much I wanted to stay holding it forever and I looked relieved at him controlling myself with the major might I could gather right then. I didn't want to give him a reason to repel me, to avoid me or get angry at me. I couldn't bear that thought now that I knew that he was so sick.

"You had a seizure. A big one. You were unconscious for 12 hours."

I said calm and serious staring at him with my medic nin's look. Sasuke-Kun closed his tired eyes and then gazed at the ceiling stopping his intense observation over me. He was so pale... he seemed so exhausted. I couldn't say anything for long minutes filling my soul with his lying being and quiet presence and hearing the machines that were checking constantly his pulse and breathing. I got sad after thinking that perhaps he was bothered with my presence there so I sighed melancholic but smiling knowingly and inwardly. He was like that anyway. He didn't like others prying over him when he was either fine or sick. That wasn't exactly just directed to me specifically. But it still hurt to not be the person to change that in him. I ached seeing him so separate from people in general. My heart died every time I imagine him lonely in his mixed reality and dealing with it in his silence and the almost loss of showing pain and emotions. I saw him dozing into sleep again and blinking slowly with a very slight wince showed in his pale forehead. I narrowed my eyes worried and pained and wishing truly to take out that from him.

"You'll recover, you'll see. I wanted to see you awake. Miyu had been asking for you and now I can tell her that you'll be fine and you'll visit her soon." I smiled sweetly and concerned and got up. My dark haired Uchiha turned slowly his glossy black pools facing me again with freezing calm and intensity that burned a path through my heart like always. "Try to sleep, Sasuke-Kun. You need it. I'll see you later, ok?"

I smiled widely trying to get rid of my stinging tears and restrained pain throbbing in my heart and I waited till he closed his eyes again and his slow and peaceful breathing showed me that he had fallen sleep in fact. Some rebel tears run through my face but I didn't put attention to it and I leaned down and kissed his right cheek softly and lovingly closing my watering eyes just a second. Some loose and silky strands of his black bluish hair were there falling over his pale face and I caressed them carefully smiling sad before going to the door to leave. I just wanted to see him open his eyes, just that even if he didn't care about me being with him there. I had gotten what I had wished and I felt really relieved and hopeful for his recovering, knowing that Tsunade-Sama wasn't going to stop till she could get him better again. And I was going to be there to help her even behind the scenes, even if he didn't notice me there.

I just wanted him to be like before, and I'm not talking about when he was completely healthy, not, because I know I would be just lying to myself and waiting for something impossible. I just want him like the last days before Miyu's birthday and I hope and wish for his almost total and possible recovery some day.

So I glanced back just one last time before closing the door at my back and I smiled kindly seeing him serene and resting at least.

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Sakura POV

"Hey there, how you're feeling?"

I asked him sitting on the mattress beside his still and relaxed body. Shizune had gone hours ago immediately after treating him. Like she had said, there was a big fuss in the hospital and they needed her there. She had only told me that he was going to be fine in some hours and that I only needed to check on him when he regained consciousness to see if he was capable of going home. I had spent that long hours in the silence of my small and comfortable department thinking and worrying about him to death while I tried to distract myself doing the house chores I had to do anyway. When I had done that I finally read his medic file in calm and meditation and I had ended like I unfortunately had predicted: concerned, hurting and crying. There was no chance at all for him to recover totally some far away day, that was plenty clear and that was so hard and crushing to read from Tsunade-Sensei herself. She was the best medic nin existing in the world and she had accepted that she couldn't do anything more to heal completely Sasuke-Kun. That had killed any slight hope or chance of his recovery and I had to take time and space to get resignation with the simple and understandable diagnose she had written there. I had had hope, maybe childish and innocent hope, for his utter healing and now I had the proof in my hands that I was dreaming and waiting for something that it will never happen. Some small part of me, the negative and probably realistic one, had been telling me in murmurs that diagnose but I had tried so hard to not accept it and not find resignation at it. That was why I cried and cried till I cannot shed tears anymore sitting in the kitchen and throwing my heart out with every painful tear and desperate sob. When I found serenity and I let all my sorrow out of my pained soul I thought then that I couldn't keep myself depressed about it. I couldn't let that knowledge to blind me in the darkness of frustration, desperation and sadness. Sasuke-Kun needed me even if he didn't want it, I was the mother of his daughter and I love him so much, so much, that I don't care if I'm only that to him. Yes, I knew now that he won't heal ever and he won't be the same Sasuke Uchiha he was time ago. I knew it now. I knew how bad his true condition was and I knew that he needed care that he would never ask. I knew I would see him suffering like this sooner or later and that seeing him going through that will destroy me in sincere and aching pain and the frustration of not being of any useful help to him. But I knew too that he wasn't in fact dying and that if he was treated and taken care of, my Sasuke-Kun could live almost normally and be the great shinobi he always wanted and the father of Miyu like he had been trying to be these late days. When I realized that, I stopped my grief and tormenting and I focused my will and might in helping him to regain his former health and strength and I dismissed the idea of losing him forever knowing that it wasn't exactly the only outcome of this. I pushed aside all the feelings I could still be nurturing inside of me concerning what he had done and said to me in our troubled past just in spite of giving him my total support and care. I had little time to get resolution now that he was sleeping in my own bed and my own room and my own department and his medic file had opened my eyes and had forced me to take decisions about him, about me, about our little child and about everything. I had been expecting unfortunately this even if I had fought against it in my fragile ingenuity so I could now start to work with the reality I was facing without doubts and useless hopes.

He was alive now and that was what mattered and I wanted to be someone in who he could depend and trust even if he could only saw me as his nurse or medic nin. He's alive now. And I had him with me now, here, in my home, in my room, I have him close to me thanks to our link as the parents of my little girl and I was content and glad at least with that.

His slight and weak movements took me out of my reverie and I just softly smiled with deep and hidden concern fogging my troubled mind. He fixed his dark orbs on me with tiredness.

"Naruto will come to pick you up later. I'll bring you some food before he arrives. You're still a little lost to get up anyway."

Sasuke-Kun was just staring coldly at me with an intensity that burned my heart but I pretended otherwise. I cannot let him know how much he affects me now, I cannot be an annoyance and I cannot bother him with my incessant presence and showering of love, even if I'm dying inside just for the chance to hold him and kiss him. That's why I got up and left the room without glancing back and I went to the kitchen to prepare him something light for dinner. While I was doing it I found amusing how I've never had done something like this before especially for him. Sadly and inwardly I smiled imaging myself as his wife just taking care of him. What a blissful thinking, I said to myself picking the tray with all the stuff I had cooked for him and I returned to my room and I stopped when I heard giggles inside of it. I peeped inside through the half opened door and I saw him sitting on my bed watching softly and caring at a kind and observant Miyu who was sitting across him and saying something still not understandable in her own mismatched speech. Some words I could get easily but others not and I smiled happily seeing that scene in silence and thoughtfulness. Sasuke-Kun was so calm and relaxed, with a soft expression and true love and attention at the little dark haired girl in front of him that was gesturing and babbling sweetly and curious. The usual indifference and coldness, emptiness and tiredness, were really gone from his pale face and an amusing smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth. I had witnessed previously in the hospital how good her presence was to him.

And seeing him like that only for minutes filled me with utter and blessing happiness and stinging pain knowing what I know now. I dismissed that awful thought shocking my head.

"Miyu, I didn't know you were here sweetie."

I simply said entering the room and pretending I hadn't been spying on the both and my daughter just turned at me smiling kind and said something like Dada's awake. I just nodded hearing still her half correct, half wrong words and I focused on her while I got nearer the bed and give the tray with food and drinks to Sasuke-Kun who took it immediately staring at me intensely and somehow interested. Miyu got up on bed and I took her by her little waist to keep her from falling.

"Your dad needs to eat and rest a little while. Do you want to stay with him?"

I asked her smiling gladly like I always do when I'm with her and she, now calm and watchful nodded. I turned to Sasuke-Kun then and I saw him eating slowly in silence and attentive at the both of us.

"Do you mind?"

He shook his head and I nodded just in response and kiss Miyu in her forehead making her to smile.

"I'll be right back. Take care of dad and don't give him any problem, alright?"

"Yes mamma."

I smiled again and let her to sit down again on the mattress and I got up without looking back at him. I knew he was watching me and I could feel the weight of his black stare on my back but I walked to the door and let it open before going away. It was true that I had some things to take care of still in home but I wanted too to let them alone together and I knew, even if I wasn't there to testify, that Sasuke-Kun was really and sincerely calm and happy when he was with Miyu. That was good to him so I continued my house chores just smiling sometimes when I heard my little girl giggling or laughing and I kept myself away till I had finished what I had to do and I peeped again inside the room. Since long minutes I hadn't heard Miyu talking or giggling so I wondered why it was. When I landed my emerald eyes on the bed I saw that she had fallen sleep in Sasuke-Kun's arms and that in fact he was sleeping too. Miyu's head was resting on his chest and he hugged her softly and protectively. The both seemed so peaceful and untroubled that I just stared moved and meditative at them smiling softly and lovingly. Carefully and without doing a single noise I entered and put the covers over their lying and relaxed bodies and turned off the lamp leaving the room in slight darkness. And then I left the room closing the door after glancing back at that pair of dark haired beings that I loved so much with my heart exploding in blissfulness and the same calm they shared now in their sleep and I had seen before in those pair of obsidian eyes so alike and different at the same time.

And I was calm. Like I had not been since some time ago.

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Kakashi POV

"So you don't know still what's wrong with him?"

I asked directly at the blond Hokage and she just shook her head in denial lost in thought. We were the both alone in Sasuke's room, days after Sasuke's last seizure. He had spent hospitalized two days in observation while they did tests on him. All the young ones had come to visit him and Sakura had brought Miyu too the next day he woke up. Her visit had visibly helped Sasuke a lot even when it was difficult for people who don't know him to notice the little and almost invisible changes in him and his behavior. The hours Sakura and Miyu were there in the white room with him had left him calmer and less cold and indifferent and he had tried hard to leave behind the tiredness he still felt gripping his body and mind. Naruto had been another cause of weird joy to our Uchiha heir and I smiled at the cheer and light moment he brought to my dark haired former student just with his presence and incessant talking. Some other thing I had found interesting was the fact that Sasuke had appreciated all the visits and had been polite enough to not glare or get cold suddenly with others wishing him to get well. He was serious like his trademark demanded but he had been attentive at any of us. When his daughter visited him he had been looking intensely at her, especially when Miyu took his hand in her little ones and just smiled at him kindly without saying a word. When he had had his seizure she had been worried for him just seeing him in that state even if she couldn't comprehend all that was happening but she never cried in fact. She never looked desperate like any of us when he was out that 12 hours and she was the one who reassured and supported her young mother when Sakura was dying silently in concern and waiting. And then she had been the one that just by taking his hand and kissing him in the forehead smiling sweetly and calling him "Dada" had soften his face the most. I had witnessed that and I had seen how touched Sakura was looking at the both happily and how Sasuke had stared with some sort of longing at the pink haired one.

His eyes had been so emotional for first time since a long time ago.

And now the wise and strong Hokage and me were here in his room while he was again bedridden thanks to one of his catatonic episodes, just days before he had fainted in Sakura's home due to his intense and painful migraine and even when he had gotten a little better since that, he had woken up today trapped in this symptom that was always the most unbearable to confront to any of us. Seeing him like if he was dead was something so hard to do, staring at his stillness and empty expression and lost gaze. I sighed sadly watching him from the corner of the room where the blond female sannin was studying him in silence and worry.

"I don't have a clue yet but I'll get it. I won't stop till I find out what the hell happened."

She said scratching her head desperate and sighing tired and still drifting in thought. I nodded serious.

"I don't get why the treatments are not functioning right now. It doesn't have logic. There weren't different circumstances that could have led to this result. The treatments always did well. He followed them faithfully."

"Maybe his body needs others. Maybe it has gotten used to them."

"I know that and I predicted how long I can keep him with them until searching for others ways to treat him or other doses. This is too soon and unexpected."

I nodded realizing somehow ashamed that I should have thought that she had that in mind. After all, she was the best medic nin known not only in the Land of Fire. But I was very worried at how frustrated and concerned she seemed and I felt real preoccupation and protection towards Sasuke.

"I'm just hoping that this is just something temporary. If he doesn't get better after this I'll have to take stronger measures to help him."

She then came over the bed and leaning a little laid a hand on his dark messy hair patting his head with softness and seriousness. Sasuke didn't do anything and in fact I knew sadly that he wasn't there in the room with us and didn't know what was happening with himself and around him. He was lost in a world we don't know and couldn't reach in any way. The way his dark eyes were unfocused and dead were so damn hurtful to watch that I chose ashamed to stare up at the blond mature woman who seemed so thoughtful.

"What do you mean with stronger measures?"

"I don't know." She sighed defeated and ashamed too. "That's something I'll have to figure out too. But I know I have to do something."

I just nodded understanding perfectly her frustration and deep concern for Sasuke. She finally said goodbye to me and went quietly and meditative to the door. I stayed in my spot leaning against the wall with my arms crossed across my tense chest and my half dark look glazing distracted at the silent presence of my former and best student.

"Kakashi" I turned my head at her soft voice and I found her still at the door with her hand nearly opening it. "Take care of him. And if you see something strange or new in him, please don't lose time and come to tell me."

I nodded again furrowing my brow and while I was watching her leaving in careful silence I knew that whatever she was thinking that it could happen now about his condition was in fact dangerous and concerning. She wasn't the only one expecting this weird illness to get worse. I was the other one. And even if the wise Hokage wasn't confiding all her doubts and fears about it with me I knew, and she knew, that we were in the same line of dreading thinking.

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Naruto POV

I laughed openly hearing one of the jokes Kiba had told us. I hadn't done it since days ago when Sasuke's health was so precarious and frail. I had focused in missions and trainings and I had acted cheerful and hopeful to support and help Sakura-Chan and Hina-San was the pure light I had in my messy world that was capable of turning everything better just by her mere existence. But I knew she was doing her best too in this unknowing and concerning situation and we both hoped for everything to turn right soon. Right now we were content and happy having dinner in a nice restaurant with all of our friends, less Sakura and Ino who were busy in Konoha's Hospital with Shizune and Tsunade-Baachan. Sasuke had had a catatonic episode two days ago and Kakashi-Sensei had taken care of him then and now he seemed pretty recovered and stronger and I had decided to take him out of his room and have a nice dinner with all of us. In fact this dinner had been prepared especially for him and his recovery but of course, no one told him. We knew how he could have reacted at it. So there we were, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Hina-San, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sasuke and me just babbling and playing around, eating and enjoying ourselves with open laughs and sincere friendship and partnership. I was glad to see that Sasuke even in his usual he seemed interested and comfortable and I smiled widely just knowing the fact. His pale face was truthfully calm and his dark orbs glimmered with strength. Now even a slight trace of coldness or annoyance could be found right now in his expression. He just turned his attention to the one who was speaking in the moment and listened like any of us. He didn't laugh or break his perfect stance of control and chant that seemed to bring girls to him like bees to honey in his younger years but I knew he was having a good time. I saw it in the corner of his lips that sometimes twitched slightly in amusement or fun or how his eyes filled with light of utter relax and compliance.

So after we were just chatting and we had ended eating I started to recognize the way his behavior began to change little by little without a specific explanation due to my observance and satisfaction of giving him a time like this. First I thought I could be mistaken. My best friend started to look somehow detached to his current around when his black gaze was assaulted by a strange distraction that I have to say, I couldn't find the source. I saw distracted myself, how he started to pay less attention to our company and how his obsidian eyes slowly turned to one side and the other like if he was following something that I couldn't see. At first his onyx glance was somehow confused and apprehensive and with the pass of minutes it grew into a scared look with a hint of utter desperation. In question of mere minutes, Sasuke suddenly lost it and got up startling and surprising all of our friends and me. I followed his action immediately standing myself worried and sincerely confused by his strange act and saw him with his wide and shocked opened black eyes fixed in a corner of the small restaurant while he curled his fists into balls of trembling despair. I hadn't seen that expression of utter horror in his pale features since so long time ago that I cannot remember exactly when I had witnessed it.

"Sasuke, what's going on?!"

I asked worried trying to calm him and approaching my slow hand to grab his shoulder. I was sitting at his right side and Lee was at his left one. I heard my friends murmuring things in the same line of thinking like mine. They were pretty freaked out and honestly concerned for him too. Sasuke didn't seem to listen to any of us and his petrified pale face followed fixed in the same place. Just his focused glance was moving quickly from a point to another and all his frame shook without control giving me the impression that he was going to faint from tension soon.

"Calm down Sasuke-San, everything's all right!"

Lee said calm and tried to grab him by the shoulders with careful and slow movements. When his fingers touched Sasuke's clothes he snapped immediately and turned his head to him before raising his arms and pushed Lee with all the force he had against Kiba who was sitting next to Lee and even the table was shaken by his actions. Then our dark haired and eyed friend backed away from us and I noticed deeply worried how his glare was fixed in every one of us like if we were unknown to him and we meant a real danger in his current surrounding.

And then I panicked.

Because he didn't recognize us.

"Sasuke, it's me Naruto, everything is fine..."

I said trying to sound calm and in control of the situation but by the corner of my blue shocked and worried look I caught the serious and thoughtful glance in Shikamaru's wise face. I tried slowly to approach him again smiling weakly and sincerely seeing how Sasuke was staring at me with terror and anger mixed with desperation. His dark and now noticeable tired look was still following invisible shadows that we couldn't see and I knew that if he thought that he was in real danger he could possibly start fighting us in defense.

"It's ok… we're your friends, remember?"

I was mere inches away from him when he furrowed his painful confused brow and tried to push me and attack me like he had done already with Lee but I was quicker and I put myself out of his way. He backed away again and now I noticed how he was looking for a way to get out of there. The exit was plenty big and was just very near of him but in fact it seemed that he couldn't see it. And that fact made my worry to increase and filled me with frustration and affliction.

If he couldn't see the exit that could only mean that he was lost in some sort of hallucination and he couldn't tell what was real and what not.

And if he couldn't tell between reality and fiction… that meant he could be dangerous right now.

We couldn't know what was happening inside his demented and frail mind. We couldn't imagine what he was seeing or hearing right then. But his fear and agony grew suddenly with the force of a tide and the anger appeared there in the profound abyss of his soul showed through his black orbs and he started to grab the things that were near his reach and throw them at us and the place in a frenzy spree scaring the few people that were there having dinner just like us.

Even the owners of the restaurant tried to run and hide and I just heard them advising the people to get out of the place. There was a mix of voices and movements but in all the confusion I didn't put any attention to any of it. Sasuke was doing a mess and I had to stop him before it grew into something more dangerous. My friends were defending themselves from the objects flying through the space of the restaurant and didn't want to do something harsh to stop him. I took a deep breath and I started to approach him little by little knowing that I was the only one capable of calming him. He needed me. My best friend needed me. When I saw that he raised his shaking hands and braced his confused head with them I could sense his suffering and plea. I knew he wanted to stop the disaster he had unleashed without intention and I knew he was pleading to something or someone to stop it. He shook his head several times still holding it with his trembling hands and his breathing had accelerated and sounded harsh and uneven. He could go hyperventilating soon if he didn't calm himself. Those black eyes he had seemed so haunted, exhausted and terrified that I stopped my tracks in front of him grateful of being just for inches away from him. I didn't want him to stress so much that it could provoke him a seizure that we all dreaded. No. That was why I leaned slowly to face him deeply worried and still not trying to touch him.

"I'm here Sasuke, is ok, everything is fine… calm down, ok? I'm here…"

I said softly watching him with concern and then I tried to touch him putting my hands on his shoulders. He didn't look up to me. But when he sensed my trying he dismissed my gesture aggressively throwing his arms against me and backed away again till the wall stopped him. He pressed his back against the coldness of it and then still in the same condition he was, slowly let his body to slide down and sat there with his lost eyes full of despair. His pale face showed a true expression of confusion. I sighed glad that he had calmed and wasn't trying to hurt us or destroy the place anymore and I took sad contemplation of his state. Sasuke was lost in his inner world while he was sitting there and I knelt in front of him in silence before deciding exactly what to do or say. His arms had fallen slowly to his sides and he was staring at nothing when he pulled his knees against his chest breathing still harsh and uneven.

"Is he ok?"

The soft and adored voice of my girlfriend came to me. Hina-San was standing behind me and put a supporting hand over my blond hair with fondness.

"I don't know…"

She lifted her delicate and pale hand from my spiky hair and I reached for Sasuke again with carefulness and slowness but he, after sensing me, again tried to push me and get away from me. I lifted my hands furrowing my brow in preoccupation and care.

"Ok, ok… It's me Sasuke, Naruto… calm down…" He didn't lock eyes with me and still was looking at the floor at different points, following phantoms that didn't exist. I caught gently his flying and defensive arms with my strong hands and for once he didn't try to hurt me or get away from me. He stayed slightly trembling. "It's ok Sasuke… it's me, Naruto… calm down, and everything will be fine… I'm here…"

He seemed to calm down then after hearing my worried voice and feeling my grasp on him. I run my hands clutching softly his arms through them in an attempt of soothing him slowly and supportive. Minute by minute his trembling was lessening and his breathing became regular and steady but he didn't lock eyes with me. Not yet.

"Is he ok?"

Shikamaru asked seriously while all of them came near us carefully trying not to scare or provoke Sasuke in any way. I didn't answer right away still watching sadly and worried at my dark haired friend who didn't look up at us and was still lost in his mind.

"I think so." I said finally in low voice. Sasuke suddenly took his head in his hands again like if he was trying to not hear something startling me. But I didn't lose my grip on him and I focused my attention on him again. "Sasuke? Are you all right?"

He finally seemed to hear me somehow and looked up at my concerned blue eyes fixing his tired and pained glance on me. Noticing that he was calm and in control again I let him go and I rubbed his back with my hand smiling softly. I couldn't get rid of the affliction I felt and that it was clearly showed in my eyes.

"Are you ok Sasuke?"

I asked him knowing this time that he could comprehend my question. He slowly nodded averting his profound eyes and I felt him completely relaxing and breathing normally. I nodded at him and then I turned to my friends who were quiet and surveying the damages and I nodded to them in response of their own true worry. I let Chouji and Shino to help Sasuke up and they stayed with him still grabbing him by the arms in a supportive way. It was plenty obvious that he wasn't entirely fine and was weakened and shocked by the incident.

"Look at this." Shikamaru told me in low voice and I understood what he meant. The place was a mess. I felt ashamed. The owners were looking suspiciously and hardly at Sasuke and at us. I knew they demanded the pay for the damages. "It's terrible."

I could only add thinking hard in what had happened with Sasuke. He never had acted like this in no one of his episodes of hallucinations before. What had happened to make him act like that? It had been so long time ago since his last hallucination…

"I could only guess his sickness is getting worse and thereby, out of control."

Shikamaru's serious and low voice caused a deep silence among all us. Sasuke wasn't even paying attention to our conversation and was just there between Chouji and Shino with his tired and black eyes fixed in the floor with a strange spark of distance. Hina-San took one of my hands in her own supporting me and giving me strength when I was shaking in my own.

"He doesn't look very well." Neji added worried glancing directly at me. "This situation is going to bring him more problems to his current status."

I nodded paler after understanding his words. Shikamaru waited for them to sink finally in my concerned and afflicted mind. I felt Hina-San's hands clutching softly and lovingly mine.

"Take him to Tsunade-Sama, Naruto. I think it will be better if she hospitalizes him."

"You mean…?"

Kiba looked preoccupied and shocked at our smart friend while I was pondering still his suggestion.

"I mean that Sasuke needs to be under control somehow. And it will better if the Hokage does it than wait for another to handle it."

"Oh God… The Council…?"

Tenten's scared and clear voice froze us in our spot immediately. Shikamaru was right. He didn't have to nod to make us understand it. It was better for Sasuke if the Hokage herself took his condition on her own hands right now before the situation could get worse. I watched sad and with an agonizing anxiety at my best friend who was so lost and confused in his own deformed reality.

"That's my biggest worry." Shikamaru said again with low voice looking one by one the face of his friends including mine. "We need to protect Sasuke from the minimal chance they could get to take advantage over him. I think they're waiting for the perfect opportunity to have him in their hands."

"That's why Sasuke needs to be with Tsunade-Sama. She will protect him."

Lee said firmly with his brow furrowed in understanding. Shikamaru nodded at him and then looked knowingly at me.

"It seems you're one of the few people who could get through him Naruto. Take him to Tsunade-Sama. Don't wait. The Council could know about it very soon."

I nodded at him serious and worried and I approached Sasuke taking him by his waist softly and slowly trying not to disturb him. Chouji and Shino watched us with the same shadow of concern and affliction that was lurking in every pair of eyes of my friends. Sasuke didn't react a bit when I encircled his weak figure like I was trying to prevent him from falling. He had an intense mesmerized look in his pale face that bother and hurt me at the same time.

"Let's go Sasuke."

I told him quietly trying to appear calm and after saying a dark and worried goodbye to the rest of my friends I forced him to walk step by step outside the place he had nearly destroyed so badly minutes ago. Hina-San was the only one who followed us in silence when we reached the lonely street of Konoha and I was glad to hear her soft and quick footsteps at my back as a support. I was so damn worried, confused and panicked for Sasuke's actions that I couldn't really think in logical reasons to make him act like tonight. Nothing strange or dangerous had happened to force him to act so aggressively and forgetting who we all were. We were just serenely having dinner. He was following Tsunade-Baachan's treatments and advices. She did a complete checkup on him every third day. Shizune was keeping him under surveillance after he had had that migraine attack in Sakura-Chan's house and then that catatonic episode in his own room barely days ago. Everyone of us were attentive at him and watching him like hawks and I couldn't understand what it was going on, what was wrong to sick him like this. I dreaded the possibility that his weird and unstoppable illness was getting to the critical point of no return.

"We're near the hospital Sasuke. Just be strong for a minute, ok?"

I told him preoccupied when I was forced to stop our slow walk because he was trapped in a visible pain inside his head. I wondered if he was fighting all alone the same intense hallucination he had in the restaurant or if it was just the beginning of a painful migraine again. He in fact couldn't really show how deep the pain was searing through him and his face was a perfect mask of coldness and indifference similar in freaking appearance of a doll. Only that pair of onyx eyes filled with the undeniable spark of unshed tears of unbearable hurt and his body trembled slightly. He had one of his hands covering his pale face. Hina-San looked sincerely worried at me beside us and I nodded slowly moving again and without waiting him to feel better. It was imperative to reach Tsunade-Baachan the sooner we could. I lifted and carried his weight giving quicker and precise steps towards our destination.

"Don't worry Sasuke. Everything will be fine, you'll see. Just be strong, alright?"

And I said the words like if I was talking to me too, wanting to really believe them in the uncertain night surrounding us and for the first time my undying hope was shaken to its core when I felt him trembling suddenly in my arms without a single warning.

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Sakura POV

I had ended my job when suddenly I noticed the screams and movements outside the changing room when I was searching for my bag to go home. I had spent all day there with Ino and Shizune helping Tsunade-Sensei in some cases and learning new stuff while she explained them to us. That was why I couldn't go to the dinner Naruto had organized for Sasuke-Kun and I had felt really sad for not going. I had hoped to see him in an atmosphere more social and natural and among our friends and I had felt really happy to picture him there after all the bad days and nights he had been submitted by his health.

So when the staff of the hospital I loved so much to work in came running through the hall and screaming things I was logically attracted and concerned and grabbing quickly my bag with my brow furrowed in sharp seriousness and high curiousity I left the room behind me prepared to lend a hand if it was needed.

I was left speechless and wide opened jade eyes staring confused how my friends from work were coming and going like if some sort of catastrophe had happened recently. It took me just seconds to flinch from my paralyzed state of shock when I saw Ino running to me in her medical nin role and I expected her to stop and explain whatever was happening. But she seemed to be so busy with her serious and worried expression darkening her pretty baby blue eyes and I had to grab her by her arm forcing her to stop suddenly. Ino stumbled thanks to me and spun around quickly looking at me confused.

"Sorry Ino" I said first asking her forgiveness for being so rude. I let her go immediately and it startled and concerned me how she was trying distractedly to avoid my emerald interested and confused gaze. "What's going on?"

She hesitated before saying something. Shizune approached us running just like her before and stopped staring painfully at me when I was still waiting for Ino to answer me.

"We have a problem."

I nodded at Shizune seriously while I noticed how Ino averted her thoughtful and worried look.

"What is it?"

"Sasuke-San is involved." When Shizune said that I felt like my breathing had stopped suddenly and I was stunned and glued to the ground under my feet. My right hand flown quickly to my throbbing chest and I blinked away the sudden tears of worry and pain imaging what was hiding behind those three single words. "Calm down, Sakura. He's not injured. At least not till now."

She was talking slowly and serenely at me but I could notice the distress and anguish she was trying to conceal like Ino. I nodded knowing that I had to calm myself if I wanted to be cold headed and help and I took a deep breath relying all my will on my apprenticeship and experience in hard situations as a medic nin myself. Sasuke-Kun needed me strong, I repeated wordlessly and incessantly to myself knowing that since I had read his medic file I knew how fragile his condition was, I had grown in my inner strength even if I felt being torn into pieces. That moved me to not lost control like before and immediately I focused in him whatever the situation was. He didn't need the old crying and weak Sakura and I didn't want to be like her either.

"What happened?"

I asked with a voice that seemed a murmur and affliction took over my green hazy eyes and Ino suddenly put a hand over my shoulder reassuring me.

"It seems that just moments ago Sasuke had a relapse." She said serious and worried without retiring her hand from my slightly shaking shoulder. "He had a breakdown in the restaurant where Naruto and the others were having dinner with him. Hinata and Naruto were coming this way to see Tsunade-Sama to tell her and leave him under her care hospitalized but Sasuke got pretty out of control again. He was hallucinating in the restaurant and in his way to here it happened again but it was… worse."

I nodded just for informing them that I understood. Inwardly I was shaken by the immense preoccupation and sorrow I felt for imaging the terrible scenario she was describing to me. My pulse and breathing had accelerated and I did a major effort to keep it at ease.

"Sasuke-San lost it completely." Shizune said now watching me with contempt and empathy. "He attacked Naruto-Kun and Hinata-San and then when he could run away from them… he lost control over his special powers."

I blinked shocked and trying to figure out what she really meant. When I got it I saw her nodding worriedly at me.

"Amaterasu?!"

I barely asked with anguish in my broken voice and she nodded again. I knew that when they talked about Sasuke's special powers always referred specifically to the maximum power the Mangekyou Sharingan has. I had seen him using Amaterasu before and I knew how destructive and powerful was. I felt shudders through my whole body picturing how bad the situation could be outside the walls of the hospital and how Sasuke-Kun was.

"The forest… around Konoha, part of it is right now consumed by the black fire. Some flames had caught some buildings too. Tsunade-Sama is trying to calm Sasuke-San but…"

Shizune couldn't say anymore and lowered concerned her dark look. Ino took her place in telling me the current situation but I was dying to run away from here and go to where Sasuke-Kun was. He needed me, I thought egoistically knowing that I was giving myself more credit that the one I really had. The anxiety was gripping horribly my tense soul. The tears were hardly contained inside my eyes for my shaken will.

"Naruto and the others… tried to calm him too but they hadn't had success. Just like other Jounin that were free from missions in Konoha. Sasuke starts the black fire wherever he looks… is too dangerous." She paused gravelly affected and looking sadly at me. "Naruto and the others had fallen injured in one way or the other."

"How is possible that they cannot calm him?!"

I asked desperately and seizing finally how bad everything was. My heart was screaming horribly for going to where he was without losing a second. I couldn't think, I couldn't feel. Nothing more than Sasuke-Kun filled me completely, my mind and my heart. Just this love pulling me to run to his side and hold him forever.

"He's not only using the Amaterasu." Shizune added understanding at me. When she saw my eyebrows rose in question she sighed tiredly. "He had used the Tsukuyomi too and even to Kurenai-Sensei, a master of Genjutsu was impossible to get near him to calm him. Kakashi-Sensei is worried for this… he dreads that Sasuke-San can use the last power of the Mangekyou Sharingan. That's why I came to look for Tsunade-Sama personally… because we think that she's the only one now capable of helping him."

Hearing that made me to take the final decision. But the both seemed to have other plans for me.

"We need all the help we can to attend the injured people."

Shizune said waiting for my response but I immediately shook my head firmly and seriously and controlling my sobbing and desperation.

"I'm sorry Shizune! But I have to go and see Sasuke-Kun! I have to! Please forgive me…"

I turned around quickly and forced my paralyzed body to run through the halls I perfectly know and I was glad when no one of them followed me. I didn't want to fight them for stopping me. I could felt the tears going down my cheeks when I was running through the busy place and I didn't put attention to all the eyes that looked me like a blur. I didn't listen to the words and voices. All I wanted was to locate Sasuke-Kun and help Tsunade-Sama to calm him soon. If he didn't stop… this was going to cause a lot of consequences to him that I deeply feared about, besides the terrible effect that could cause in his fragile health. My chest bothered me with my incessant running and my barely controlled sobbing and crying but I didn't care.

When I was outside of my work place I was stunned seeing all the scandal that Sasuke-Kun's actions were causing. There were people screaming and gossiping about what was happening and running and others had locked up themselves on their homes. Some were crying hysterically or afraid for the news. The plain truth was that it was a situation similar to a disaster and had woken up surprisingly Konoha in the middle of the night.

After my shock had dismissed I followed some of their look's direction and I saw the black and impressive flames of the Amaterasu meters away from my spot very high and daring the nocturnal sky. I didn't lose time in contemplating horrified what that meant and somehow immersed in a dreamy, or more precisely, nightmare state, I run again with all my might to that spot praying silently, sobbing and worried just thinking in seeing and helping the young man I love so much. I prayed for everything to be fine with all the devotion I could gather in my agitated and accelerated heart. My tears continued to fall through my already wet face but I couldn't feel them or control them anyway.

When I arrived to the spot where I guessed Sasuke-Kun was, I looked concerned and desperate the little crowd consisting in Jounin and Chunnin looking at the impressive and strong stance of our Fifth Hokage who was standing still and like waiting something near the line of the forest's beginning. She was alone there with her fists tightly closed and I could see how she had used her power in the ground behind us. It had visibly shaken thanks to her immense strength and in some points it had splattered into pieces of different forms and weights. My emerald teary gaze finally found Sasuke-Kun in all that mess and my heart throbbed inside painfully. Tsunade-Sama was staring carefully and deeply analyzing him while he was just fallen in the shaken ground under his feet trying to stand up without success. He was hardly breathing and it seemed to be an extreme effort for him. Some splattered pieces of the ground were somehow trapping him in that spot and I trembled worried when I heard him gasping for air and I noticed how pale and exhausted he was. When he finally looked up to the blond Hokage his red eyes with the magnificent, beautiful and dangerous design of the Mangekyou Sharingan were encircled by deep black rings and I saw him sweating from an intense fever.

The tears from my eyes fell again like a ghostly waterfall when Tsunade-Sama advanced to him slowly and carefully taking especial notice in every single step she went forward towards his fallen, weak and sick figure and even when Sasuke-Kun was still immersed in his power and showing it with his crimson orbs I knew like my own sensei that he couldn't use it anymore. He suddenly closed his eyes with a very real expression of profound pain and his pale forehead softly wrinkled in response. He was slightly shaking and Tsunade-Sama finally stood in front of him silent and observant, worried and emphatic looking the father of my girl for a long couple of minutes. It seemed that she was waiting to really be sure that the fallen Uchiha was not dangerous to try to get closer. The destruction the battle had left around me was impressive considering what had caused it and the short time it took to develop to this terrific point. I watched by the corner of my teary and green eyes how some Jounins were trying to contain the greatly devastating power of the Amaterasu with special techniques of sealing or containment of powerful jutsus. It was taking them a lot of effort and chakra to do it but they were clearly devoted to their task. Other Jounins and Chunnins were divided between protecting our wise Hokage or help the injured. I kept my tired and anguished gaze on my sensei and my only love and I felt my body relaxing when I stared at her finally just at mere inches away from Sasuke-Kun and then Tsunade-Sama was kneeling in front of him putting slowly and softly her potent hands over his shoulders in a way to support and calm him. When he looked up at her his eyes had returned to their common color and he wore a definitive and clear panic in those black orbs that I unconsciously advanced a couple of steps towards them with my hands clutched against my chest worried by that sincere expression on his pale face. I was stricken like if lighting had fell through me when I noticed how exhausted and empty he looked there with a real devastation in his posture and rendition.

Tsunade-Sama was murmuring to him with a frown filled with true, deep and inevitable concern and Sasuke-Kun reacted at her sudden gesture trying to get out of her grasp and fighting against her imprisoning arms and clutching hands with a force so weak that it was a real pity to testify. There was nothing left inside of him that could give him enough might or strength to free him from her presence and voice and I prayed inwardly asking him to stop it already and just give up. Just give up and let her help him. He seemed near a certain collapse and I was so damn scared for that possibility.

The honey eyed sannin didn't lose a bit against Sasuke-Kun's futile attempts and I sighed calmer and hopeful when she held him firmly against her making a prison with her body to trap Miyu's father last tryouts. When finally he couldn't fight anymore he just closed tightly his desperate and dark eyes and with a little frown displayed across his pale sweated forehead rested his head against her shoulder almost limp like a broken marionette that had lost its wires. Tsunade-Sama stayed a little longer holding and supporting his tired body and I knew that she was checking him up while she patted her back and run her experienced and healing hands through his hair, head and arms. Her frown deepened with every little inch she covered and her full lips were soon closed on a tight tense line. That expression was not a good sign.

My teeth locked frustrated at myself for not knowing what to do to help. I was somehow new in the matter of his weird, unexplained and mysterious sickness and I couldn't help to feel desperation and sadness over my ignorance. When the fresh nocturnal air caressed my face I could feel then the wetness in my cheeks and little tears of profound pain and worry were still hanging from the corners of my foggy jade eyes. I wasn't crying anymore because I knew that Tsunade-Sama had the situation under control and I heard myself sobbing and panting due to the stress I had been feeling all the while. I tried to calm my bothered heart, stretched mind and leaping soul feeling for the very first time all the tiredness I had earned doing my job at the hospital and I did a lot of effort to not fall on my knees right there and close my eyes more than the necessary to blink fearing I could fall asleep in the moment. I reacted from my stillness and stunned state fixed in the fallen silhouette of the only man I had loved all my life when Tsunade-Sama called Kakashi-Sensei and Guy-Sensei to her side. They looked a little worn out thanks to their implication in the situation Sasuke-Kun had brought without a known and reasonable explanation and when she told them something quietly and pretty serious and concerned, the both just nodded in the same synchrony as her and Kakashi-Sensei took Sasuke-Kun in his arms carrying his limp and fallen being. Before they disappeared and I was very sure that they were taking him to the hospital, I caught saddened and worried how my silent boy was still conscious and his black orbs were unfocused and lost behind his heavy eyelids.

I don't know how I returned to my own home. I don't know what happened after I saw them disappearing and taking Sasuke-Kun with him and the Fifth Hokage raised up giving orders and commands in her full voice of authority. Somehow I know that I was left there in my spot speechless and extremely worried and asking my body to move and go to the hospital or just simply talk and ask my sensei what was going to happen with my Uchiha. But I was so tired that I just knew that Ino had come to me telling me something that I couldn't quite hear and then she held me by the waist pulling me to follow her leaving that place behind me. She didn't dare to talk to me anymore seeing how distracted and affected I was, but I was more thoughtful and concerned that really traumatized or paralyzed. I was trying to not be the old weak me and I was just figuring out what could happen from here concerning Sasuke-Kun. The destroying black fire that he had unleashed remembered me when Ino pulling me passed near one giant flame that this was going to be terrible for him and I dreaded really feeling that something unimaginable was coming his way inevitably without us knowing. After Ino left me in my bed sleeping and she lay beside me stressed and exhausted too, I thanked that mom was still there and had taken care of Miyu who was sleeping safely and unaware of what was happening with her father. My heart gave a start when I pictured how I was going to explain whatever hard consequence Sasuke-Kun's behavior had brought with what he had done this night. I couldn't continue thinking in that terrible shadow that was climbing over his head and therefore my head and my daughter's head like a bad omen that forecasted a very big confrontation and punishment I couldn't go deeper imaging that scenario caused by the darkness and tiredness of my numb body and mind that had won over me without a last word.

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The words spoken from the tight concealed voice of the third sannin alive had left speechless and stunned the people reunited there hearing them. She sighed tiredly with a face that showed deep and intense seriousness and worry over the matter and her honey eyes shone with alert and alarm provoking her to look profoundly meditative and intuitive without a doubt. It was the next morning and she hadn't had proper time to rest and sleep.

"It cannot be serious… right?"

Naruto's voice was shaking due to the confusion, surprise and dread he felt. It seemed he was the only one there that was capable of saying something in response to the words spoken by the blond Hokage hanging on the air still.

"It is. It's very real and serious."

"I know they have to be angry with Sasuke but…! What they're deciding!! There has to be an explanation to this!! Nobody died thanks to God and the injuries the Jounin and Chunnin suffered weren't dangerous! No one citizen was hurt in this! The material damages Sasuke can cover them!"

"You're right Naruto, in all you said. I don't think that Sasuke did this on purpose. But it is unquestionable what could have happened if all that you said weren't supposed to be like that."

"Tsunade-Sama and I are waiting for him to get better to do special tests on him. We want to figure out what happened to provoke this behavior in him."

Naruto just nodded slowly still frowning preoccupied and trembling in affliction to Shizune's sincere and tired voice. She had had a rough night too.

"This situation was all the Council needed to take strong measures against Sasuke." Tsunade said simply as a matter of fact landing eyes on every one present there. Her eyes fixed specially in the blond and blue eyed ninja that seemed totally devastated. "The villagers were really scared with this incident and it's understandable even when the incident took over a place away from buildings that were occupied in the moment. We took care of the black fire quickly and excellently but still it unnerved and freaked out the people in Konoha. That's something any of us couldn't deny."

Naruto just clutched tightly his fists in agreement and tension. Kakashi supported a hand on his shaking shoulder.

"The Council of Konoha therefore is sick and tired about everything related to the matter classified as "Uchiha" and is quiet terrified of Sasuke and all the problems he had caused since his first return. That's why they decided to put him under arrest and imprison him finally. They are thinking in avoiding future and possible damages to the village and to him too."

"They don't care about him."

Anko said firmly and narrowing her eyes and Tsunade could only nod agreeing with the talented Anbu. And by the way Guy and Kurenai were staring at her so firmly and seriously it was pretty clear that the both thought the same. After Kakashi had asked their help to assist him in his new training for Sasuke they all had spent some time in the company of the quiet and mysterious young man. They all cared about him. Hiashi Hyuuga had even come after he had known of the disaster and because the Council had demanded him to go and present himself with them and the Hokage and the sensei and tutor of the prisoner. The three of them had left the reunion barely minutes ago and now they were debating with the others the outcomes of the talk they had sustained with the Council. They were worried just like Naruto and his other friends who weren't there due to their implication last night trying to help and calm Sasuke. The only one there from their group of friends was Naruto himself with Shikamaru. The blond shinobi remembered feeling somehow guilty and preoccupied how he had asked Hinata to go and look for them in the restaurant while he tried to locate Sasuke and somehow control him. If he hadn't asked their help they would not be injured and hospitalized still. The only one who was in her own foot at the first hour in the morning was Hinata who wasn't wounded as severely as the others just because she had gone to warn Kakashi and Tsunade after telling the message of help to her friends. He saddened remembering how his best friend had attacked him and his beloved girlfriend before running away in a total state of confusion, terror and out of control. He barely was capable of protecting Hinata from the quick and unexpected moves from Sasuke.

"You're right. I know they don't really care a bit about him." Tsunade lowered her honey gaze thinking hard. "It's a lie that they want to help him and stop him from hurting himself. All they had wanted was an excuse strong enough to put their hands on him and his future. They want to get rid of him. That had always been the truth."

Her certain, honest and low words left everyone silent in the big office. Nobody could argue against the truth they represented. Naruto hissed angered and concerned under his breath and Shikamaru just sighed thoughtful crossing his arms against his chest and locking his teeth.

"They had always wanted to get rid of his clan. They had always wanted to get rid of Sasuke. And now they have the perfect reason to do it. They had decided to imprison him for a very long period of time if it's not for the rest of his life. Sasuke is a very real danger right now and we cannot go against that. They had all the truth with them to make viable their decision."

"They're terrified at his will to overpower the seal I imposed over him." Hiashi-Sama added meditative and sad. "They think that he's a bomb full of power to fear and lock up. And probably they're right. My seal wasn't enough to control him. I had failed and I found this very concerning and strange. I'm a humble person but I have to recognize that this that happened wasn't supposed to happen. Only if special circumstances got in the middle. Just like the treatments and checkups both of you had concerning him." He nodded to Tsunade with a nod of respect and recognition and then to Shizune. "Our matters shouldn't have ended like this. We are good in what we do so I only have questions bothering my head: What really happened to Sasuke Uchiha to go beyond that? Why my seal wasn't enough? Why your treatments and checkups weren't enough? What are we missing? What factors caused our business to fail to this point? You had said that you still don't have a clue but that doesn't mean that they're nonexistent."

Tsunade nodded frowning meditative at his speech. He was serious and offended by the words the Council had used to him and his failure about Sasuke. Naruto had heard everything with his pale worried face going deeper in fear and protection towards his former teammate. Shizune was lost in thought with the same questions Hiashi Hyuuga had asked to the tense air in the room.

"I think that too and that's why I'm going to see Sasuke and do all in my power to have answers. I'll have to do some delicate medical jutsus but I don't care if that gives me the information I want. Shizune will help me to do it quickly. I won't let us hurt him but I have to use strong measures before the Council decides another drastic move against Sasuke. It's necessary."

"Another?"

Kurenai asked worriedly and the strong sannin nodded with eyes filled in suspicion. Kakashi clenched his jaw lowering thoughtful his half gaze.

"They said that even if Sasuke was imprisoned that measure could not be enough to contain his power and craziness. I'm worried about that."

"Do you have an idea of what it could be?!"

Naruto asked desperately afraid and he crossed looks with Tsunade and Hiashi before saying something. The female sannin answered this time.

"We have some ideas but I won't tell them at loud until it's inevitable. But if they're heading to that result… and I don't have proofs to defend Sasuke…"

She didn't finish and all of them could understand how terrible the outcome was going to be for the sick Uchiha. Only Naruto was somehow lost in translation but he was hoping against all odds and that hope gave him patience and facility to let it go right now. He didn't want to ask and he didn't dare to think about it. He focused in his friend and helping him out of this problem.

"You'll have to wait if you want to see him. Even you Kakashi, right now Sasuke is isolated till he regains control of himself. Shizune and I will go and do our job and I'm asking you to all of you" She landed her tired eyes on a preoccupied Naruto and serious Shikamaru. "to not do something impulsive or unexpected. Let me handle this please and don't do more harm to Sasuke's situation. That's something you have to tell Sakura too. It's very important to follow the Council's requirements."

Naruto and Shikamaru nodded. They knew that Sakura was going to respect that as any of them. There wasn't any other way even when the blond and the pink haired wanted with all their soul to be there for their Uchiha.