Itachi hissed, feeling sharp and dull pain in every part of his body. His head was throbbing, his chest felt like it was on fire, and he couldn't open his eyes. He groaned and attempted to pull himself up into a sitting position, but a pair of hands on his shoulders gently pushed him back down.

"You're awake."

"Sasuke?" Itachi rasped. He must be back in Konoha. He couldn't remember much of what happened. The mission, he supposed it had been unsuccessful. The last thing he remembered was fighting Pein. An impossible battle he had been destined to lose.

"It's me," Sasuke replied. Itachi attempted to pull off the bandages around his eyes, but Sasuke stopped him. "Don't. Your eyes need time to heal if you ever want to use them again."

"Where's Naruto?"

"He's fine," Sasuke said, and Itachi detected a hint of smugness in his tone.

"The mission…"

He heard Sasuke huff out a breath of air. "The mission went as well as could be expected, according to Naruto," he answered, "He said you killed three Akatsuki members with ease. It was the fourth one that left you in this condition."

Itachi relaxed a little. He was not surprised. He had been hesitant to go up against Pein in the first place.

"But Naruto handled that for you," Sasuke said, the smugness quite obvious now.

"I don't remember," Itachi said. He felt Sasuke press a cool glass into his hand. Greedily, he drank it. Water. It was soothing down the tenderness in his throat. He felt it pool in his stomach, cold and heavy.

"Sakura said you have a pretty severe head injury," Sasuke said, "You're lucky it didn't kill you."

"She is my medic?" he asked.

Sasuke scoffed. "She was."

The sentence alarmed him, but Sasuke's tone was light, almost teasing. He didn't ask about Sakura again.

"How long have I been out?"

"Three days."

He tried to sit up again. Sasuke pressed him back down to the mattress.

"Don't," he warned, "I'll get Tsunade if I have to."

Obediently, Itachi rested his head back against the pillow behind him. His throat felt raw and his muscles ached. He wanted to stretch out all of his muscles, but his exhaustion was overwhelming.

His stomach growled loudly and Itachi groaned because even though he was hungry he was also nauseous.

"Let me get you something to eat," Sasuke said. Itachi didn't argue. He heard his brother leave the room and then minutes later; he came back, this time with company.

"Itachi," Tsunade said. "Good to see you awake. You had us pretty worried there for a while."

Sasuke set a tray across Itachi's lap. With the bandages over his eyes he couldn't see what was on it, but he felt its warmth against his legs.

"We'll get a nurse in here to feed you in a minute," Tsunade continued, "But first I want to check your vitals and make sure everything's good."

"Hokage-sama," Itachi said, his voice still raspy and labored, "Not that I don't feel privileged to be in your care, but surely you have more important things to do."

Tsunade laughed sardonically and then pressed her hands against his chest. "Sakura and I had to compromise," she explained, "I wouldn't let her be your primary medic and she didn't trust anyone other than me to do it."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm the best."

"No, I mean why wouldn't you let her be my medic?" he asked, but when she snickered he realized that she had been teasing him.

"I'm sure if you think on that a little harder you'll figure out the answer," she replied.

"Tsunade-sama," Sasuke said, "About his eyes. Now that he's awake you can run some more tests, right? To see how they are?"

Itachi felt her chakra, very similar to Sakura's, pooling in his heart and lungs. After a moment, she removed her hands and he heard her scribbling things down on his chart.

"That's really Sakura's area of expertise," Tsunade said, "So I'll let her handle that. She's doing rounds right now, but I'll send her down to take a look when she's finished. In the meantime, Itachi needs to eat and then rest some more."

"What about his pain?" Sasuke asked, "Can you give him something for that?"

"I'm fine, Sasuke," Itachi said, though it was hardly convincing as he winced.

"There's not much I can do right now for his pain," she replied, "But he'll be fine. We'll keep a close eye on him for the rest of the day and if he looks good by evening he can go home."

Itachi felt relief he didn't know he needed. Truthfully, he did not enjoy being in the hospital (who did?) and he missed his own bed.

"I trust you can keep an eye on him at home, Sasuke?" Tsunade asked, "And Itachi, within the next week I'd like a mission report. I won't demand it of you while you're recovering, but I'll need it eventually."

He heard the sharp click of her heels on the tiled floor as she walked back to the door, and then their pause as she stood in the doorway. "And good job, Itachi," she said, "You and Naruto make a good team."

.

When the nurse arrived to feed him his lunch (nothing more substantial than soup), Itachi had demanded that Sasuke leave the room. It was humiliating not being able to feed himself. He felt extremely vulnerable in a way that he had not felt in years.

But Sasuke, stubborn as he was, refused to leave. In fact, his brother seemed to be in a more talkative mood than normal and chatted with him – or rather, to him – as the nurse fed him spoonsful of miso soup.

Begrudgingly, he was grateful that his brother had stayed. It saved him from a potentially awkward silence with the poor nurse relegated to feeding him. And his brother's company was pleasant. He had missed him.

It was with carefully hidden surprise that Itachi noted that Sasuke mentioned Sakura several times during his chatter. Each time it was in passing, but each time it did not contain any of the hostility he had come to expect.

He wished he could see his brother's face so he could gauge his expressions.

When his soup had been finished and another glass of water had been downed, the nurse silently picked up his tray and left. No sooner than the door had clicked shut behind her, a sharp knock came from the other side.

Without waiting for a reply, the door opened.

"Itachi-san," Sakura said. Itachi felt a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Let's take a look at your eyes."

She was in medic mode, he figured as he listened to the click of her shoes as she approached. And with Sasuke's presence, she was bound to be colder toward him than she might normally have been.

But then he felt her brush away hair from his forehead, her knuckles grazing tenderly against his scalp. It was affectionate and not in any way clinical. He froze, unsure of how to respond to such a gesture with Sasuke there. He wanted to take her hand and kiss it, or say something. But he had no words and he couldn't kiss her. Not with Sasuke there.

"We were so worried about you," she said, and he could hear from her tone that she was smiling. Her fingertips landed on his temples and he felt her chakra in his head, in his eyes. It was a jarring sensation, but he trusted her.

"We?"

"Me and Sasuke," she replied. But he couldn't focus on her words anymore as the sensation of her chakra became overwhelming. For years, his eyes had been strained and hurting. His vision had been reduced to a blur without his Sharingan activated, which is why he chose to have it on for most of his exile.

But that pain was slowly ebbing away now, and he felt light-headed and nauseous again. Like taking a deep breath after nearly drowning.

Instinctively, his hands lashed out and gripped her wrists and attempted to pull them away from his temple. She wrenched her arms free and placed her hands back at his temples.

"I'm sorry, Itachi-san," she said, "I know this must be uncomfortable for you, but I need to do this before I take your bandages off. Your eyes were in terrible condition, even before you left. I should have taken a look at them sooner."

He let out a ragged breath and relaxed.

"He'll still be able to use them, though, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, I fixed most of the damage," she replied, "His vision should be infinitely better than it was before. I imagine he suffered from migraines a lot, too, but that should stop now."

Itachi fidgeted under her touch. It felt so nice and so strange at the same time. Her chakra felt foreign and dangerous inside his head and even though he knew she was helping him, he couldn't help but want to shove her away.

"However," she continued, "Using the Mangekyou will always result in damage. I can reverse the effects, but only to a certain extent. I routinely work on Kakashi-sensei's eye after his missions, so we'll have to work out a similar deal with Itachi-san."

He felt her pull away from him and her chakra dropped from his mind like it had never been there at all. His headache was gone and his eyes felt… well he couldn't feel them. There was no pain there at all anymore.

"I'll do the same for you when you awaken your Mangekyou, Sasuke-kun," she said.

Itachi heard his brother grunt in what he hoped was appreciation. Then he felt Sakura unwrapping the bandages from his head.

"Turn off the lights, Sasuke-kun," she instructed, "He'll be sensitive to light."

She pulled the bandages off completely, but covered his eyes with the palm of her hand. "Keep your Sharingan off, Itachi-san," she said, "You can open your eyes when you're ready."

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open. Even with the lights off, the room felt impossibly bright. He blinked rapidly a few times, attempting to clear the blurriness that resulted from having his eyes closed for three whole days.

And then Sasuke came into focus beside him. Itachi gasped at the sharpness with which he saw him, even stronger than when his Sharingan was activated. He could see the pores on Sasuke's face, the individual strands of hair that had fallen across his forehead, even the swirls of grey that were mixed in with his coal black eyes.

"Once your eyes have adjusted to the room you may test out your Sharingan," Sakura said. She was standing at the foot of his bed and his eyes snapped over to her at the sound of her voice.

She was leaning her palms against the frame of his bed, grinning at him as he watched her. He didn't remember her hair being so vivid or her eyes being so bright. He wished she was closer so he could see more of her – her pores, her lashes, whatever shades were mixed in with that startling green.

Curious, he let his eyes bleed to red and surveyed the new sharpness in the room. Never had his vision ever been this clear before, even when his Mangekyou was still new. He could even see the hum of chakra in Sasuke and Sakura.

He furrowed his brow, overwhelmed. He cast a furtive glance at Sakura and was surprised to find her looking right into his eyes. It may have only been because of the nature of the situation, but it made his heart clench in his chest that she would look into his Sharingan in spite of her fear of it.

"Well?" Sasuke asked.

With his energy and spirit restored, Itachi pulled himself up into a seated position. "I don't know what to say," he said, "I've never seen so clearly before."

Sasuke grinned triumphantly and looked every bit like the little boy he'd known before he left the village.

"Alright," Sakura said with a hand on her cocked hip, "Visiting hours are over."

"What?" Sasuke snapped, "It's just past noon—"

"Out, out," she said, ushering him to the door. Itachi watched with bemusement as she shoved him into the hallway. He glared wickedly at her, but didn't put up too much of a fight.

"Don't get him all excited, Sakura," he said. She slammed the door in his face. "He needs to recuperate!" he yelled through the door.

Itachi felt his cheeks flush hotly. What could have made Sasuke say a thing like that? He didn't have time to think about it because as soon as the door was shut she launched herself into him. He winced as he caught her, holding her against his chest in spite of the flares of pain in his abdomen.

"You almost died, you idiot," she said, her voice muffled by his collarbone.

He breathed in her vanilla scent, smoothing down the hair on the back of her head. "I'm sorry," he said. Her hip and thigh were pressed against his right side as she sat beside him. Her upper body was thrown across his, her arms linked behind his neck. The position was infuriatingly intimate.

He felt her body trembling and then he heard a sniffle.

"Are you crying?"

She pulled away from him, brushing the tears from under her eyes. Her eyes were glassy and bright and her face was red.

"No," she said quite unconvincingly.

His heart was thudding in his chest. He'd never seen a worried expression like that on her face before, and he hated that he had caused it. It broke his heart. He placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her down into a kiss. She had promised him this – a kiss when he returned.

He felt her attempt to pull away from him first, reluctant, maybe even angry with him for nearly dying.

But almost instantly she relaxed in his arms, sinking further into him, pressing herself against him. He tangled his hands in her hair tightly, preventing her from pulling away.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said when they finally broke apart.

"Yeah, you should be," she said sassily. "You have no idea how worried I was about you."

He scoffed. "That won't be the last mission I go on, Sakura," he pointed out, "But hopefully from here on out they won't involve Akatsuki."

She moved to stand up but Itachi yanked her back down to the bed. She twisted her arm free from his grasp and glared at him.

"I would never have let you go if I had known what you were doing," she said, rubbing her wrist like he had hurt her.

He laughed and the action hurt the muscles in his stomach. He winced and curled slightly into the pain, clutching at his stomach. Sakura dutifully placed her hands on his chest.

"Let me?" he asked, still amused, "I didn't know I needed your permission, Sakura-sama."

Her chakra was soothing and calmed the dull ache in his stomach and ribs – starkly juxtaposed by the harsh anger on her face.

"Would you have let me go?" she demanded.

"I wouldn't have stopped you."

It was Sakura's turn to scoff. "That's ridiculous," she said, "You wouldn't even let me handle Kabuto on my own. There's no way you would have let me march off to assassinate Akatsuki members."

"I did let you handle Kabuto," he argued.

"No, you stayed to spy on me."

"Not because I didn't think you could handle it," he countered, "I had other business with Kabuto."

She rolled her eyes.

"Besides," he continued, more gently this time, "We were enemies then."

Her gaze softened somewhat, but there was still something in her eyes that made Itachi curious. She reached out and interlaced their fingers. He squeezed her hand and let his head fall back against the headboard.

He hadn't expected her to be angry with him when he returned. He felt that her anger was misplaced. He hadn't done anything wrong. But he understood. How would he have felt if he had been in her position? It would have been harder than the actual mission – waiting for her to return, not knowing if she would even come back.

"I'll leave so you can get some rest," she said.

"Stay," he said, gripping her hand tighter, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

He shifted over on the bed to make room for her and patted the space beside him. She smiled, but shook her head.

"It's frowned upon for medics to get into beds with their patients."

He smiled back. "I hear it's also frowned upon to kiss them," he teased. "Besides, I'm not your patient."

Needing no further convincing, Sakura climbed into the bed and curled herself up against him. Her nearness made his stomach flip. He lifted his arm so that she could settle against him, resting her head on his chest. His heart was out of control.

"Do I make you nervous?" she teased, brushing the pad of her thumb across the racing pulse in his neck.

"Nervous isn't the right word," he answered, catching her hand and holding it against his chest.

She hummed and he felt the vibration in his chest. He had never done this before – whatever this was. He had never shared a bed with anyone, at least not like this. Not with anyone pressed so intimately against him. Even though nothing about what they were doing was sexual, Itachi's heart rate was skyrocketing and a pleasant warmth spread in his chest.

Sakura seemed quite content with their current arrangement and was curled into him like a cat. She sighed and he marveled at the way she seemed to melt into him. He wished he could fold himself into her, to just hold her and never let go.

"You owe me a date," she said.

"Yes, I do," he answered.

She stretched out her body and he felt all of the pops and cracks in her bones. He looked down at her and noticed for the first time how haggard she looked. She was paler than usual and dark swathes of purple marred skin beneath her eyes.

But she was beautiful nonetheless and for a moment he was too stunned to speak, having never really seen her up close with this much clarity before. Her lashes were still wet from when she had been crying and the dampness made them cling together and appear much darker than he remembered them to be.

Hesitantly, he reached over and brushed his fingertip along the ends of her lashes. She flinched, but didn't move away from his touch.

"How about I pick you up tonight at your apartment?"

"Tonight?" she squealed. "What makes you think you'll be out of the hospital by then?"

"I'm not sleeping here."

"Fine," she conceded, "But you still should be resting tonight."

"If you say so."

.

Sakura hadn't stayed for long, much to Itachi's displeasure. She had work to do and it would not have been good for anyone to catch them together in his bed.

He contemplated leaving right then and heading straight back to the Uchiha compound. Aside from a general ache and exhaustion, Itachi felt fine and just wanted to be home.

But shortly after Sakura left, Sasuke returned. He carried a bag with him that he tossed into Itachi's lap.

"Change of clothes and stuff," he explained. "I figured you'd want to get out of that hospital gown."

"Thank you."

Sasuke pulled up the chair near Itachi's bed and spun it around, sitting on it backwards with his legs straddling its back.

"Naruto told me about your fight with Pein," Sasuke said, "He said he couldn't have done it without you. That you were really impressive."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," Itachi said, "I don't remember it very well."

"I know. I'm not looking for more details," he said. "When you're feeling better, I want you to teach me your techniques."

"Oh."

"Oh? That's all you have to say?"

"I'm happy to teach you, Sasuke," Itachi said, "But I was using Mangekyou."

"I know that, too," he said. "But still. There is a lot I can learn from you."

"Alright," Itachi said, "I'll teach you what I can."

Truthfully, Itachi was conflicted about Sasuke's future training. He knew his brother was strong – he had defeated Orochimaru, after all. It seemed that the natural progression of things would be for him to gain Mangekyou. Sasuke had been through enough already, hadn't he? Why should he have to suffer even more to unlock what should have rightfully been his already?

In Itachi's original plan, his death would have awakened Sasuke's Mangekyou. What could unlock it now? His death, still, he supposed. As well as Naruto's. Possibly even Sakura's. He didn't know.

And he didn't have any urge to find out.

Sensing Itachi's discomfort, Sasuke quickly changed the subject.

"So, you and Sakura, huh?"

"Pardon?"

"Oh, come on," Sasuke said with a smirk, "It's obvious there's something going on with you two. You're not evening bothering to hide it. She just kicked me out of here so she could make out with you, didn't she?"

Itachi felt the tips of his ears burning. "We didn't make out."

Sasuke gave him a skeptical look.

"I thought you didn't approve of her," Itachi ventured.

"Not her," he said, "The two of you. But I've had a change of heart."

"Oh?"

"When you and Naruto were gone, she was the only person who could really understand what I was feeling," he explained. "She was just as worried about you as I was."

Itachi hadn't ever suspected that the two would bond over their shared worry for him. He had gone on for so many years with no one worrying about him it all. It was strange to think that their mutual concern for him brought them closer together.

"And the night you returned she sent a courier to come get me in the middle of the night," he continued, "She didn't have to do that. She was busy trying to save your life and she still thought to summon me so that I could be there, too."

"I thought she wasn't my medic."

"Naruto's dumb ass brought you to her apartment instead of the hospital."

"Oh."

"And then when Tsunade practically forced her to take her hands off of you, she demanded that Tsunade be the one to take care of you. She wouldn't let any of the nurses touch you," Sasuke said.

Itachi didn't know what to say.

"We took turns staying with you," Sasuke said, "So that you wouldn't be alone when you woke up."

"She didn't mention any of that."

"Then what did you talk about?"

Itachi's eyebrow twitched and he shifted closer to the middle of the bed.

"Or were you busy doing something else?"

Itachi sent a glare in his brother's direction. When Sakura teased him it was charming and endearing. When Sasuke did it, it was just annoying.

"She was angry with me."

"What for?"

"Almost dying."

Sasuke laughed. "Yeah, well, she's worked pretty hard to keep you alive. What, three times now she's saved your life?"

"I feel like I should do something nice for her," Itachi said.

"Get her a thank you card."

"Yeah, that should make things even."

Sasuke cocked his head to the side and a wry smile twisted up his lips. "You don't need to make things even. Sakura isn't a complicated person. She'll accept any sign of affection, no matter how small."

Itachi didn't want to think about how Sasuke knew that, but he couldn't help but ask. "You know from experience?"

"That's not surprising, is it?" Sasuke asked, "We're teammates."

"I don't understand why you dislike her so much," Itachi confessed, "I don't find her annoying at all."

"And I don't understand what it is that you see in her," Sasuke answered, "But I'm beginning to. She's changed since I left Konoha. She's still annoying, though."

Itachi sent him a reproachful look.

"Oh come on, you know she is," he said, "She's so… sassy."

Itachi smiled. "She reminds me of mom."

Sasuke fell silent. Maybe he didn't agree, or maybe he hadn't thought about their mother in a while. Either way, Itachi regretted the words. They hadn't ever discussed the massacre after Itachi used his Sharingan to show him the truth. Everything Sasuke needed to know had been shown to him.

But maybe they should talk about it. Maybe remembering the Uchiha clan together wouldn't be as painful as Itachi anticipated.

For all the pain and suffering Itachi had felt having to murder his own family – the look on his parents' faces, being the one to strike that blow – he couldn't fathom the pain that Sasuke must have felt, thinking that his brother, a man he loved and admired, could do something so heinous. Out of hate, nonetheless.

It was still a miracle, in Itachi's opinion, that Sasuke didn't appear to harbor any lingering hatred for him for what he had done.

"I suppose I can see it," Sasuke said, breaking Itachi out of his reverie. "They could both be quite stern sometimes."

Itachi smiled, but it was weak.

"And I don't remember mom being so sassy," Sasuke said, grimacing.

But then his smile got stronger.