Awaken

Naruto could do nothing but stare at Sasuke as he held himself back from sobbing. His fingers still clenched onto his shirt, trembling as his strength faded. Naruto wrapped his fingers around Sasuke's hands and ripped them off of him "What do you mean... break her" Naruto demanded darkly.

"I killed her. Naruto, I killed her!" Sasuke shouted with his head hung low "With my own hands... It was all me" He didn't dare to lift his head; he didn't want to imagine the look on his teammate's face. His fingers released from Naruto's shirt before he felt a strong tug on his own, making him look up. Naruto's eyes were fierce as his punch connected with Sasuke's jaw that sent him stumbling backwards.

"You bastard..." he spat. Sasuke was expecting this treatment from Naruto, he'd be damned if he thinks that this was all the punishment he gets. "That promise we made, about how we'd never hurt Sakura." Naruto waited for recognition to appear on Sasuke's features before continuing "We both know you would never break it, I know there's more to this, Sasuke. I'm not stupid" Naruto snapped. "And don't say stupid things like that, Sakura-chan is still alive!" Naruto added.

Sasuke looked up at the blond, hair falling over his eyes and his jaw throbbing. "Blaming yourself isn't like you" said Naruto, he gave him a cheeky grin and held out a fist to him. Sasuke looked surprised, he looked away then smirked. He realized that what he did was very uncharacteristic of him. He looked at the held out fist and knocked it with his own "Yeah..."

Sasuke then swung a punch at Naruto and sent him off balance "What the hell?!" snapped Naruto, whipping his head back around to glare at Sasuke. "That's for hitting me" Sasuke deadpanned and glared back.

"Wha-" Naruto was about to complained when he heard Sasuke mutter-

"Thanks"

His cheeky grin returned as he looped his arm around Sasuke and pulled his head down "That's more like the boring piece of crap I know"

Kakashi sighed and smirked under his mask 'Those two have grown after all' his attention turn to the operation room door, or rather, the one that was in there. His eye narrowed with concern 'Sakura...'

On the inside, Tsunade was shouting curses and at her student as her pulse dropped "Sakura! Come back, c'mon!" she sounded in frustration, and panic. Sakura's blood was everywhere, her insides were bleeding out. Tsunade could feel her Haemophobia wrecking her conscience with the mere sight of it, she forced herself to swallow it down and push on. Shizune was shouting orders at the nurses by the panic and havoc dimmed out to her as she noticed the slightest movement within her student.

Her finger twitched and her head moved just slightly as she breathed into the oxygen mask "Sa...suke..." Tsunade's eyes widened as she saw tears gathering at the side of her eyes. She gritted her teeth and lifted her hands from Sakura's body. Shizune was carrying over a fresh tray of towels and water when she saw Tsunade lift her hands as if she was going to give up on Sakura.

"Tsunade-sama! What are you-" her words we cut off when Tsunade shut her eyes and told her "Be quiet for a while, Shizune"

Shizune's eyes widened, she recognized that technique all too well. "Infuin, Kai" The diamond mark of her forehead spread out like branches and glowing a dark purple colour. She slammed her hands together and gripped a seal "Sozo Saisei!"

Sakura's wounds started to smoke as they closed up, as if they were just evaporating into thin air. Sakura's heart jerked to an awakening, she gasped for air as her chest arched up and slammed back down onto the operation table.

Her face scrunched up in pain as she began to squirm "Hold her down!" Tsunade commanded and immediately there were three nurses including Shizune holding Sakura's limbs down.

Sakura panted, desperate to fill her lungs but for some reasons each time she breathes in she couldn't get enough oxygen.

It's hot...

My body feels like it's on fire. What happened? It's so dark. Oh, that's right. I must've been caught up in the fire in the forest. Sasuke...

Sasuke!

Tsunade had stopped the bleeding; now all that's left to do is to seal the wounds. It was then she heard Sakura's voice "Sasuke... Wake up" she called out to him between pants. As if she was having a nightmare.

Sasuke suddenly felt at alert, he rose from his seat to walk over to the door. He had an urge to break it down, he wanted to know. No, he needed to know.

It was then Tsunade slid the door open with a bang, the light on the 'Operation in Progress' sign went out. Her eyes immediately fell on the Uchiha who took a step back as if he was bracing himself for something. She scanned him from head to toe, her brows furrowed into a scowl as she

'So it's true' she thought and let out a breath, eyes closed in a disappointment. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, avoiding smudging herself with Sakura's blood. Sasuke took a look at her hand that was covered Sakura's blood. He looked down as if he was ashamed to face Tsunade.

"Sakura is stable; she will be transferred into a special ward as a patient under protective custody. Uchiha Sasuke is to be processed and taken under the Torture and Interrogation Force for information extraction" said Tsunade. Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened, Sasuke didn't look up.

"Wait, Tsunade-baa-" Naruto was cut off by a fierce tone of Tsunade's voice "He is to go nowhere near Haruno Sakura. Hostile actions can and will be taken against him should he show up near her ward" said Tsunade.

Sasuke blinked, he could handle being tortured, hanged, beaten with a mace but to separate Sakura from him was like tearing a chunk of his life away. He didn't want to be separated. He could feel a vicious impulse growing stronger and stronger in him. One thought flashed in his mind like neon lights-

If they won't allow me to see her, I'll just have to kill everyone in my way.

Slowly his sharingan appeared in his eyes. It was Kakashi's firm grip on his shoulder that brought him back to reality. "I will escort him myself to the Torture and Interrogation Department" said Kakashi. Sasuke snapped out of it, realizing what had become of him. His chest heaved in breaths slightly as he looked to Kakashi.

Tsunade nodded then turned to Naruto "Naruto, I need a word with you" the Sannin said. Kakashi nodded his head towards the hallway and walked, silently Sasuke followed. He was tired; all this rush of adrenaline pumping up and down, he felt like his body was going to give out at any second. But when he thought of what Sakura had suffered he didn't feel tired anymore.

Of course now, he wasn't allowed to think of Sakura. The mere thought would awaken his need to see her again; he didn't even get to see her after her operation. And then a thought crossed his mind. He wanted to see her, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she would feel the same. After all he did try to kill her and nearly succeeded.

'No matter what you turn into, I will always love you'

Sasuke felt a sharp pain shooting from his eyes; he shut his eyes and halted. Kakashi looked back at him. "What's wrong, Sasuke" he asked. Sasuke winced and blinked his eyes as he tried to catch his blurring vision. Sasuke took a step back and stumbled backwards uncharacteristically before coming to a stop when Kakashi pulled an arm around his shoulder.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" asked Kakashi. Sasuke panted as he gripped the right side of his face as if his eye was in immense pain. "No, I'm okay" he said mostly to himself. Kakashi gave him a concerned look and began to wonder a little before giving Sasuke a light push back on track "I'll book a checkup for you after your interrogation" said Kakashi.

"How long will it take?" asked Sasuke. "Well that depends on the number of your injuries-" Kakashi was cut off by an impatient growl from Sasuke "I meant the interrogation"

Of course Kakashi knew that, he just couldn't help but tease his student a little to really see how nervous he was about the interrogation and based on Sasuke's reaction, he'd say he was pretty nervous for his first time.

Sasuke had never been in the torture and interrogation room, but he's fully aware of what happens in there if you refuse to answer a question. But what he was worried about wasn't the physical torture, but the mental torture. He wasn't confident that he would be able to take on any more stress on his mind, he might just go insane. The only time he had been near the bloody room was when they interrogated Sakura when she lost her memories and he remembered that he didn't like the feeling of it then, and he was only just watching

"It won't take long, Sasuke" Kakashi assured him. Sasuke's hands clenched into fist as he prayed Kakashi was right- he wouldn't bet on it though.

The Torture and Interrogation Chamber was ironically located in the basement of the hospital which didn't take them long to reach. As soon as they stepped into their territory, the Torture and Interrogation Force members turned their heads towards them. "I've brought Uchiha Sasuke in for Interrogation upon the Fifth Hokage's orders" said Kakashi.

The first one to approach them was Morino Ibiki. The intimidating man eyed Sasuke with suspicion "An Uchiha?" he snorted "There hasn't been an Uchiha in here since the last captain" Ibiki said. Sasuke's expression remained un-amused as he refused to show any sides to Morino Ibiki, he knew how that man studies you. Your reply, the tone of your reply and the face you make gives him all the information he needs to find out your weakness.

Though he was going to find out in the end, Sasuke just wanted to get this over with.

"His interrogation will be based on his last mission he returned from a few hours ago" said Kakashi. Ibiki nodded "Very well" he turned and walked to a large machine with wires joint to a helmet with Sasuke trailing behind him. Kakashi left the force to do their work and silently wished Sasuke good luck.

"Because of your sharingan we'll need to place a seal on you for now" said Ibiki as he motioned one of the chunin to come over to perform a basic seal on Sasuke. The chunin, Tonbo came over and faced Sasuke, he formed a few seals and plunged his hand into Sasuke's stomach, making the latter gasp and cough a little. Immediately Sasuke could feel the effects, his body felt heavy and sluggish. It was like his body turned to stone.

"Alrigh, to make this simple, we are just going to go through your memories" said Ibiki as he nodded over to the machine "Sit down"

Sasuke did as he was told and felt the helmet come down on his head, covering down to his eyes. He felt metal cuffs clamp down on his wrist and forbidding his hand's freedom. He could feel them reaching into his mind as he drifted, feeling lightheaded and sleepy and then everything went dark for him.

There he was, standing in the darkness. What is that? An image?

It was him, and Sakura. They were running through the rain. Oh that's right, they were supposed to deliver a message to Takigakure. And then they stopped for a while when Sakura sneezed, he gave her his cloak. Since then he felt like his cursed seal was bugging him.

And then he showed up. Sasuke was watching a re-run of his memories.

Orochimaru.

He clenched his hands.

This is where it began, he watched himself lose control, as Sakura tried to calm him down. Orochimaru's words echoing around.

"The cursed seal is a very delicate technique and it needs... maintenance"

"Never" Sasuke snapped at Orochimaru.

Would the outcome have been better if he had just agreed to go with Orochimaru, then at least Sakura wouldn't have to go through that.

He watched himself lash out on Sakura; her eyes were filled with terror as she ran. He didn't want to see this again, he knew he was just being a coward but he'd rather be a coward than to have to watch himself hurt Sakura.

"No more..." he said, his eyes never leaving the memory replay in the dark, teeth clenched and knuckles white as he relived each slash, each blow he delivered on Sakura. Every drop of blood that spurted out of her body, drenched her clothing and stained his.

And before he knew it, he felt something warm and wet rolling down his cheeks. He didn't want to watch, but he couldn't look away. "No more!" he screamed downwards, body bent forward.

His chakra went out of control as the machine began smoking.

"C-Captain" Shimon Hijiri turned to the Morino Ibiki who was standing back as supervisor. He scowled as he noticed as well. Sasuke's chakra was going out of control. "I knew I should've held Inoichi back" he cursed.

"Prepare for suppression" he told his team. There were three chunin level interrogators around the machine holding Sasuke. They should be capable of suppressing one person's mentality power. "We're already suppressing him as much as we can, sir" Shinobu told the leader. Ibiki just barely managed to hold back from revealing his expression; he held his serious composure and tried to think. For now all he could do was hope that the seal will be enough to hold him till they're done with the interrogation.

Sasuke's hands gripped onto the concrete arm rest he had his hands on and it cracked.

The seal was destroyed and Sasuke's chakra was back to full power. The helmet was destroyed and Sasuke was free, the sudden explosion of chakra knocked everyone back. Morino Ibiki coughed and lowered his forearm from his face to check for Sasuke. He was still sitting there thanks to the cuffs holding him down to the seat.

But what caught his attention were his eyes, red and glowing. He knew his sharingan had activated due to his mental stress but he felt that something was wrong. Sasuke's eyes looked at him, his red eyes wide and frantic. Ibiki's eyes widened and he was plunged into a dark world, everything looked blood stained. He realized that he was pinned to a cross. "Mangekyo Sharingan, huh"

Sasuke was lashing out, yelling out and struggling to break free as if he was being mentally tormented. His mind couldn't hold after watching himself wound Sakura to that extent. He was completely unapproachable to anyone and there was no one left to stop him.

And then he called out to her. "Sakura...!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt someone hold his face, connecting their foreheads with his. He was forced to meet his eyes with Itachi's own mangekyo. Slowly, he felt his sanity return. "It's okay now" the voice told him "Your big brother is here"

Sasuke breathing calmed a little, cheeks stained with tears; his chest heaving as his eyes mimicked his brother's and returned to normal. He blinked a few times and Itachi released his hands from Sasuke's face and straightened. "Welcome back, foolish little brother" said Itachi as he gave his brother a smile.

"You're awake?" asked Sasuke, not sure whether to believe what he's seeing. "You're in deep shit, Sasuke. That I can tell you" said Itachi, looking around at the mess Sasuke's explosion made and ignoring the question. "Don't change the subject, Itachi. When did you wake from your coma?" snapped Sasuke.

Itachi looked back at his brother and poked his forehead. "We'll talk after you're cleared" said Itachi. Sasuke scowled at his brother as he walked off, having a brief chat with Ibiki before disappearing into the lift back up to the hospital.

"Alright, Uchiha" Ibiki began as he walked towards Sasuke who was still bound by the cuffs. "You interrogation's done, Tsunade-sama will decide what to do with you later. Now I suggest you get yourself cleaned up and go talk to Itachi" said Ibiki as walked over to his desk to begin writing his report.

Sasuke felt the cuffs release and he immediately stood up, not so much as giving them a backwards glance when he chased after Itachi, hoping to catch the older Uchiha in the hallway however as the lift opened, he sensed no trace of Itachi around.

Just as he stepped out of the lift, his vision began to blur and his legs felt like jelly. He stumbled a little before catching himself against the wall beside him. Maybe he should make a quick trip back home, indeed he was filthy he could practically feel the smoke, dust, blood and dirt caked onto his skin and along the way he could take a quick cat nap in the showers.

He stood in the showers, water cascading down his body as he lowered his head, staring lifelessly at the drain as a never ending flow of bronze colored water swirled in. He reached out for his shampoo only to find that it had magically duplicated itself. Sasuke felt that dizzy sensation once again and his eyes played tricked on him. He swayed a little as he felt around for a hold on the shampoo bottle.

When he finally held it in his hands, he felt his body falling backwards, he pinned himself to the wall and slid to the floor, panting. He blinked a few times before his vision returned to normal. 'I must be more tired than I thought'

He brought a hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes for a second, but that second had turned into a whole hour. Sasuke's body had suddenly jerked awake, his body straightened and he looked up at the showers with a sleepy look. He sighed and climbed back up with the help of the wall.

As he was drying his hair, the smell of his shampoo lingered in his towel and he felt a strange sensation of nostalgia before he remembered that he used the same brand of shampoo as Sakura.

Sakura...

Sasuke sat down on his bed with nothing but a towel around his waist and on his head. He didn't like being so gloomy, but usually Sakura would barge in and demand something whenever he was down or sometimes the mere thought of her would lift him from a pit of gloom but now the more he thought of her, the deeper he fell in.

After he dressed himself, he was about to leave with his hair still wet before he paused and remembered the time he went to visit Sakura in the hospital, how she told him to dry his hair properly or he'll catch a cold.

He sighed and reached back to grab his towel.

Awhile later, Sasuke appeared standing in Itachi's room, staring directly at Itachi as the latter was reading a book. "Did you have a nice nap, Sasuke" Itachi said all of a sudden. "Don't ask irrelevant things" said Sasuke. "You could've used the door" said Itachi, flipping a page. "Oh? Weren't you the one that deliberately left the window open for me, hate to waste the effort" said Sasuke in an almost sarcastic tone "Because if I didn't, you'd break it to get in" said Itachi. "Then why did you tell me to use the door" said Sasuke.

"I didn't, I just told you that you could. I never said that you should" Itachi looked up from his book to his brother and gave him a smile. "Sakura's ward is deeper in the west wing, so you don't have to worry about going too close to her since this is the east wing" said Itachi. Sasuke huffed and turned away "Who said I was worried about that"

"Your big brother knows everything" said Itachi with a chuckle. Sasuke's expression fell as he leaned back against the wall, hands in his pockets. "So you heard about Sakura" said Sasuke. "I bumped into your teacher" Itachi said with a smile. Sasuke looked at him, eyes serious as it narrowed on his brother. "You know, don't you." it was more of a statement than a question.

Itachi raised his eyebrows "Know what?" he asked, though there was nothing genuine about his tone. "About what's happening to me" said Sasuke. "What makes you think anything is happening to you" said Itachi. Sasuke glared at his brother "Don't play dumb, nii-san! I could've killed Sakura back there, so why didn't I" snapped Sasuke.

Itachi sighed slightly "I've read through your memory extraction while you were taking your little nap. Your seal overwhelmed you and thus triggering a state of bloodlust. Orochimaru said that your seal needed maintenance when really you just needed a stronger control and it just so happens that our sharingan has control abilities but when your seal became too powerful for you to control, you lost it. So for you to regain control, you needed something more powerful than the Sharingan." said Itachi, he glanced over at his brother, expecting his realization.

"The Mangekyou Sharingan" Sasuke acknowledged

Itachi looked back down to his sheets "To awaken your mangekyou a state of great mental stress is necessary. That's why when you asked me how to achieve the mangekyou I told you to kill your best friend, I was being serious. Because it is in the human nature for our minds to react violently when we kill someone we're close to with our own two hands, therefore the mental stress helps to trigger our Mangekyou. This method doesn't work for just anyone with the Sharingan though." said Itachi. Sasuke frowned at the ground; he had always thought that his brother was lying to him about the way to achieve the mangekyou simply because he didn't want to tell him. "So when I thought that Sakura was dead, I snapped" Sasuke added. "Precisely"

"However you are still not safe from the seal, its power will continue to grow and if you don't become stronger, even with the mangekyou as it is, I'd say you have control for approximately 5 years" said Itachi. "Then teach me" Sasuke said as he looked up to meet the eyes of his brother "Teach me how to use the Mangekyou" he added.

Itachi smirked "Alright, but it's not going to be easy. And don't expect Tsunade-sama to grant you access to see Sakura just because you can use the mangekyou" said Itachi. Sasuke looked slightly crestfallen but he pulled himself back together nonetheless "I didn't think it was possible in the first place"

Amused at his brother's depressed state, Itachi smiled "Don't worry about it, Sasuke. Tsunade-sama's not a heartless monster, she'll let you see her soon enough" said Itachi. "She might not be but I was" Sasuke muttered, looking bitter. "At least now you have more time to spend with your dear brother" said Itachi. Sasuke scoffed "Dear brother my ass"

Meanwhile...

Tsunade was called in by a frantic nurse to Sakura's ward. She stepped into her student's room to find her heartbeats rising. A symptom of consciousness. Tsunade told the nurse to leave them alone as she sat by Sakura's bedside, prepared to tell her everything.

Sakura began to stir, her eyes clenched close before they opened, blinking multiple times. Sakura pushed herself to sit up slowly before Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her muscles tense. "You shouldn't get up yet, Sakura" Tsunade told her. Sakura's eyes were hazy as she looked towards Tsunade "Shishou...?" she said in a soft voice.

"Yeah, I'm here" said Tsunade with a soft smile.

"Where are you...?"

The blood in Tsunade ran cold, eyes widened and her fingers tightened on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura reached out to feel the air in front of her, as if looking for Tsunade. Tsunade took her hands with her trembling own. "Why is it so dark in here" Sakura asked. Tsunade clenched her teeth bitterly, Sakura had become blind? Refusing to accept it, she placed a finger on Sakura's forehead as a string of chakra connected. Tsunade's frown deepened as she couldn't find anything wrong with her eyes.

So why couldn't she see?

Tsunade could see a look of realization on Sakura's face as she let go of Tsunade's hand to touch her own face, Sakura felt for her eyes.

She was blind.

DUNDUN DUUUUUN!

Now, to activate the next chapter. YOU must answer me, these riddles three.

Number 1:

We hurt without moving.
We poison without touching.
We bear the truth and the lies.
We are not to be judged by our size.

What are we?

Number 2:

What word is shorter when you add two letters to it?

Number 3:

What travels around the world but stays in one corner?