"Natsuhiboshi, naze o kai," Sakura sang as she straightened Sasuke's bed and changed his I.V. "Nare mo, kona shii -"
"She is here," Sasuke thought as she came to. "Sa... kura... he whispered.
"Yume wo, mi-" She froze. "Sasuke?" He smiled weakly up at her. "How are you awake? You should've been out for at least another we-" She gasped. "Sasuke, your eye!" He blinked, surprised.
"I... can see!" His right eye, which hda faded more and more toward blindness since he awakened the Mangekyo, was completely clear. Something warm and wet trickled down his cheek, dripping onto his neck and chest. He touched his face and drew back his hand. It was covered in blood.
"Sasuke, you -" Sakura stammered worriedly. He wiped the crimson tears from his face with a sad smile.
"It's nothing to worry about, I promise. It's just a gift... from someone who sacrificed more for me than I could imagine." He sighed and closed his eyes, then looked toward Sakura. She gasped and looked away.
"Don't use the Mangekyo here!" she snapped. "You don't have the strength! It'll only slow your -" Sasuke's hand gently touched her chin, turning her face toward his. She glimpsed his eyes, red with rounded neutron-like black irises. It was beautiful and terrifying to look into such powerful, merciless eyes from the heart of this clan's history. She looked on in awe.
"I'm not going to hurt you," said Sasuke. "I've spent far too long on that path already. I refuse to be led to live my life the same way my ancestors did." He suddenly groaned in pain and pressed his fingers to his eyes. Fresh blood spurted from his eyes and splattered his hands with red, dripping between his fingers and staining his robe.
"Ah!" Sakura gasped, pulling his hands away from his face. Sasuke couldn't bear to look at her - opening his eyes felt like burning his pupils with a brand forged in Hell's fire. "Sasuke, look at me," Sakura begged. "I need to stop the blee- Oh, my -!"
"Unh! Wh-what?" Sasuke panted as he forced his eyes open. His vision was fading in strange waves, like ocean tides, and it was making him sick the way his head throbbed with every pulse.
"Sasuke, your eyes - They're - They're -"
"What?!"
"They... have ripples in them!" It was true. The black of Sasuke's Sharingan had completely swallowed the red, and now the dark orb pulsed and moved out from the center in waves, like ripples in water. As the black color spread into the whites of his eyes, Sasuke's pain intensified and his vision completely vanished. He screamed in agony.
"S-Sakura..." he moaned. "Help... me!" He clutched at empty air in the void that enveloped his eyes. A soft hand clutched his tightly. His pain intensified, spreading through his entire body. The monitors in the room hummed and chimed as his heartrate shot dangerously high.
Suddenly Sasuke realized he couldn't breathe. He gasped for breath a little at a time, but it wasn't enough. The pain was too much. He coughed and gasped like a fish on land. He felt Sakura firmly tilt his head back and pry open his clenched teeth as he struggled to suck oxygen into his lungs. She began working a tube down his throat, and he finally lost his battle for consciousness, sliding into the comforting dark.