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To Duel With Fate	By : Mihkail Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Itachi/Sakura Views: 4864 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not profit from this fanfic.

Chapter List
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There were voices somewhere. Drifting in and out within the fog of her chaotic and nonsensical mind. None of them were familiar, and she couldn't distinguish any of the words. Just muffled syllables spoken softly through the darkness, constantly interrupting every random, passing image that unfolded around her without much direction. That was, until something touched her.
Her senses rushed back to her, ushering her into a new realm. She recognized her own limbs instantly, as the haze dispersed and she suddenly felt the confines of her own body once more. The muffled voices sharpened, drifting much closer through a sea of black. Sakura's eyes cracked open slowly, a flood of body aches reigniting to the forefront of her mind as she peered into the blurry, dark room.
"Sakura..."
Springing from her stillness quite abruptly at the sound of a voice right next to her ear, she immediately regretted the movement as pain shot through her neck and head. The chair she'd been half sitting, half laying in hadn't been very comfortable, and the small table she had slouched onto hadn't proven to be a great pillow, either. She smacked a hand against her cheek, only to realize her entire left hand and arm had gone numb...but she still felt the smudge of drool on her face, and blinked down at the shallow pool left on the table. If she'd been any more awake yet, she would've felt a little embarrassed, but she was too busy trying to figure out where she was, and why she was there. The time and day itself eluded her, even. Clearly, she was in dire need of more sleep, and was not at all ready to start functioning yet. Everything was just one giant confusing headache.
"Sakura, what are you doing here?"
The voice, still so close to her, forced her to wake up a little more and mumble something incoherent as she rubbed her puffy eyes, and turned to look up at the source. Black eyes stared down at her from a pale and sinfully pretty face. So pale that it almost glowed in the dark, framed in short strands of black that looked like flawless silk. It took her a couple seconds to realize it was Sasuke standing right next to her, staring down at her, but when she did, she instantly turned pink and quickly wiped the drool off her cheek with the back of her hand.
"Buh...wh-...gah! What? Where am..." She blinked furiously and looked around the room. That's when the quiet sound of the heart monitor reached her ears, blinking its neon green light on the screen across from her, in between two taller forms that were standing next to an occupied hospital bed.
"Sasuke, don't be rude. She must have been here all night. You should be thankful he has someone watching over him so closely." A gentle female voice carried over to them, and Sakura spotted the pale face and dark hair and eyes that mirrored Sasuke's so acutely.
"I didn't mean it like—... Sorry." He ended his fragmented sentence with a defeated grunt, glancing away from his mother and back to Sakura, who was still too wrapped up in trying to put everything together to speak yet.
Mikoto carefully moved closer to the sleeping form buried under sheets and blankets with thin plastic tubes protruding all over the place. She bent down, petting a small hand over Itachi's forehead and down his cheek, murmuring something Sakura couldn't pick up. Fugaku stood next to her, keeping his downcast eyes and all-too serious expression on the motionless body. In the dim light, she could make out the dark shades of his Konoha Military Police uniform, and the tired lines on his face that reminded her a little of Itachi's. He must have been working late, without a chance to stop home before the bad news reached him.
Things were clearer now. She remembered where she was, and why... After Itachi had been stabilized, Sakura had collapsed into a chair, and watched a couple nurses wheel him away to clean him off and get rid of the mutilated and useless ANBU uniform that had been left in rags. It had been around 2 am then. She should have gone home. Everyone had told her to. But she wouldn't... She had waited for them to transfer him to a room, and when they did, she marched her tired, stubborn butt in there and sat down. They had brought him back to life, mended his lungs and ribs the best they could, and dealt with the rest of his internal injuries, but he wasn't in the clear yet. If something happened, she wanted to be there, and she wasn't going to let anyone push her out for any reason.
Whenever she had drifted off the sleep was beyond her. The last thing she could remember was staring off into space at the shifting light on the screen and the numbers next to it, searching in vain for any threatening blips that would signal something was wrong. She should have known she would have nodded off eventually. She also should have expected his family to show up. She'd just been so drained that it slipped her mind.
"My shift had just ended when he came in..." She began slowly, glancing back up to Sasuke, who was still watching her intently, and waiting for an answer.
"They ran past me with him when I was walking down the hall, and...I didn't recognize him at first, but then I realized... So I... I ran after them, and... I helped." It was a sad excuse of an explanation, but she found herself at a loss for the right words, and with each second that ticked by under his curious gaze, she felt more and more nervous. It didn't make sense for her to be so nervous, and she knew that, in the back of her mind. Perhaps it was the guilt subconsciously lurking around, poking holes in her confidence. The guilt she still held from her first meeting with Itachi. Sasuke didn't know any of that, but even still, she found it difficult to completely relax under his spotlight.
"You helped them after your shift ended... And then you stayed?" His voice murmured down to her, sounding much more suspicious to her than it really should have, and Sakura suddenly felt a little too hot under the collar.
"W-well, I...yeah. I mean... He's your brother, soo..." Her voice grew smaller and smaller as she trailed off clumsily, failing to notice her own hands gripping into fists in her lap as she squirmed uncomfortably. Yeah, he was Sasuke's brother. That's why she had stayed. There couldn't be any other reason besides that... Right?
She nearly jumped when she felt a hand thump down on her shoulder, and her head jerked back up to look at him.
"Thanks, Sakura." The words that reached her surprised her, and she gawked silently at the faint smile he gave her, before he glanced over to the bed.
It was only a simple thank you, but it was the most genuine thing he'd said to her in a while. A long while. She never had apologized for going off on him all those months ago, and ever since then, he'd been a little different around her. A bit more aloof, if nothing else...ironically, the exact opposite of what she had wanted him to be, and hoped he would be considering the things she had said. But...this was Sasuke. His frustrating reaction shouldn't have shocked her at all.
The warm hand slipped off her shoulder, and she watched him move to the bedside across from his parents.
"This is the first time he's been in a hospital, I think." Sasuke joked quietly, looking down at him while Mikoto kissed his cheek next to the oxygen mask and stood back up. "And hopefully the last. Look at all these tubes..." She said, frowning sadly while her husband remained silent, lost in thought.
They didn't know, did they? No one had told them the state in which he had been brought to the hospital. She could tell just by watching them. They didn't have a clue how close they'd come to losing him forever.
"He lost a lot of blood."
The three looked over at her simultaneously, and Sakura tensed slightly under their collective gazes, feeling a bit nervous again. This was the first time she'd been around Sasuke's whole family. If she'd ever even spoken to his parents before, she couldn't remember when. She just felt so...out of place, all of a sudden.
Letting her eyes fall to the floor, she sifted through the flashes of memories that had occurred only hours ago, trying to decide what details to tell them, if any, while her head pounded unsympathetically.
"There was some damage to his chest, so we had to drain the fluid, and...there were a lot of gashes to stitch. He's ok, though... He'll be fine. Just a little beat up." Offering a slight smile, she decided to leave it at that. What use was there in painting a horrific picture? No matter how accurate, troubling them with such things wouldn't do any good now. Who wanted to hear that their son, or their brother, almost died—had died—and was seconds away from having a sheet pulled over his head? Sakura wasn't even a part of their family, and it had torn her up inside when she thought he was truly gone. She didn't want to burden them...especially with things that were in the past, and couldn't be helped now.
"Oh, his back is a little messed up too. He'll need some physical therapy before he goes back to work." She added quickly, remembering the splints and bandages they'd used.
As little as she had given them to mull over, the vibe in the room had shifted noticeably, and the looks they were giving her—the look Sasuke was giving her—was enough to reinforce her belief that she had done the right thing in downplaying Itachi's injuries.
"Uhm... What did they tell you?" She mumbled more quietly, watching them expectantly.
"They said he had been admitted to the hospital at midnight, and that he was in stable condition and resting." Mikoto spoke while the others stared. The doctor charged with his care must not have dropped in yet, or perhaps they had just showed up... Either way, he was bound to make his appearance sooner or later, and there was no doubt he would share more of the awful details with them that Sakura had avoided. If only she could stop him... Of course, they had every right to know what he had gone through, but this was one thing she wished she could hide, for their sake.
"Well...someone should be in shortly to talk with you. I'll leave you guys alone with him." Sakura pushed her stiff form out of the chair, joints cracking and popping as she realigned herself into a normal position. She still didn't know what time it was, but she could already tell the next day ahead of her was going to be brutal.
"Oh, you don't have to leave!" Mikoto pleaded with a smile, catching her off guard. "It was thoughtful of you to stay... It's like he has his own guardian angel with you here. I can't believe Sasuke has never mentioned what a considerate and capable teammate he has." Shooting him a reprimanding look, Sasuke looked shocked for a second, before sheepishly glancing away, saying nothing. Sakura felt a swell of pride at the unanticipated compliment, but hid it under a bashful smile.
"Let her go." Fugaku's deep, yet low voice finally joined in, his eyes cast once more on his resting son. "She needs her sleep. The nurses will take care of him."
"Oh... I guess you're right..." Mikoto sighed quietly without putting up a fight. "I'm sorry Sakura, you must be very tired."
"It's ok! I stayed because I wanted to." She blurted, but before she could make a single move for the door, it opened for her then, bathing the dark room with a flood of light from the hallway. A nurse crept in and closed it behind her, letting only a thin shaft of light peak past to streak over the bed. She gave them all a pleasant smile, until her eyes fell on Sakura standing in the corner.
"Sakura! You're still here?" The disbelieving stare caused her to laugh awkwardly.
"Heh... Yep. I'm still here. Actually, I was just about to leave..."
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, after everything that's happened." Shaking her head, the nurse smirked before facing Fugaku and Mikoto, a clipboard in her hand.
"What do you mean, after everything that's happened?" His mother asked, watching her quizzically.
The nurse looked a little surprised at first as she took in the obviously ignorant masks on their faces. Sakura blanched in realization, and her eyes widened slightly. Raising a hand, she waved to get the girl's attention, only to be ignored.
"Well, after the ordeal your son has been through... She wouldn't leave his side. In fact, she was shouting orders at everyone in the ICU. We could hear her down the halls."
"The...the ICU?" Mikoto whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth as she listened intently.
All traces of humor left the nurse's face, as she seemed to understood just then that nobody had informed his family of what happened to him. She glanced briefly to Sakura, who was now waving frantically with both hands behind the turned heads, and gave her a quick, sharp look.
"Yes, he was rushed to the ICU. Mrs. Uchiha, Sakura here is the only reason your son is alive, from what I've heard."
Sakura's hands dropped to her sides, a sinking dread plummeting through her stomach like a bag of stones. The three of them turned to stare at her in disbelief, immediately searching for a more elaborate explanation. The one they now knew she had been withholding from them.
Her mouth flapped opened without direction, unsure of what to say to them, but with the look of embarrassment and horror on her face, they didn't need to hear anything from her to know the nurse's words rang true.
"Sakura... What happened?" Mikoto's voice reached her, and she felt her chest tighten.
"He... He was in pretty bad shape, initially..." Revealing reluctantly, she clenched her jaw, scrambling for a way to give them enough information to make them happy, without saying more than was necessary.
"Your son was dead on arrival. Sakura spent almost fifteen minutes trying to revive him. No one else would have waited that long. It's unheard of for a brain to recover after such a long time without oxygen, but he's doing alright so far. It's nothing short of a miracle." For some reason, the nurse seemed hellbent on exposing all of the raw and worst facts to them. If she could have gotten away with it, Sakura would have shoved her back out of the room and slammed the door, but there was nothing she could do now.
Mikoto stumbled a little, before grabbing a chair and slowly sitting down while her hands shook over her mouth. She stared at Sakura, piercing through her with an astonished look. Fugaku's eyes narrowed slightly at the news, his brows knitting together as he glanced down to Itachi, and then over to Sakura as well.
"Almost fifteen minutes...?" He asked her skeptically, eyes searching her own, and Sakura tried to keep her throat from closing up and becoming useless.
"...Yes...It's true." She finally managed to admit, and swallowed as her shoulders slumped. What else could she say to them? There was nothing for her to be ashamed of, but that didn't mean she wanted them to know everything that had gone on. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss...
Meanwhile, Sasuke had been standing there with his back to her, facing the nurse without so much as moving a muscle. It was as if he hadn't heard a single word anyone had spoken, as he stared off into space. Every so often, the nurse would give him a curious look, but said nothing.
"It's...it's not something we usually do... I... He's Sasuke's brother. I couldn't just stand there and...let him go." Her voice cracked unexpectedly with those last three words, and Sakura looked away from them, overwhelmed with a strange surge of emotion that had come out of nowhere, and she was forced to put all of her focus into keeping her eyes dry as she blinked and cleared her throat.
Crap. Why was she about to cry? Shinobi don't cry. This wasn't good... Everything was fine now. There was nothing to be sad about. She had done what she had to do, and it had paid off. Itachi was alive, his family was here, she could relax and go on with her life...starting with scrounging a couple more hours of sleep before the next long day began.
In her silent struggle to remain composed, she had missed the movement in the corner of her eye. The rest of the room had fallen quiet. Even the nurse paused. But there was a new sound briefly as a shift of fabric faintly caught her ear. In the next moment, a wall of warmth slammed into her, almost startling a yelp from her as her eyes flashed wide and she stared in wonder past a shoulder and brush of dark hair.
Sasuke had snatched her into a bear hug, and was holding her so tightly she was afraid to move...if moving was even possible. Her mind was wiped clean of all thoughts, and slowly, her arms curled around his back out of reflex. The back of a man that had barely ever touched her, outside of their occasional sparring, and the hand that had patted her shoulder moments earlier. Had Sasuke ever hugged her before at all? She couldn't recall... It was such a rare event that she didn't have a clue what to do. She was too stunned to even fully enjoy it.
Across the room, Fugaku leaned down and whispered something into his wife's ear, before kissing her on the head and turning to the nurse. "I'd like to speak with you outside." The nurse gave him a confused look, but obliged anyway.
"Of course... I'm not his doctor, though. He'll be able to fill you in better than I can."
"You seem to know enough." He insisted, and the nurse quickly nodded and walked out with him, almost seeming a little intimidated. He was, after all, the only one in the room that kept all of his emotions under control. There was something eerie about his level of reserve.
None of it registered to Sakura, though. Everything else in the world ceased to exist for a few fleeting moments...and then even longer, when she realized Sasuke wasn't letting go. His hands pressed into her lower back and between her shoulder blades, and his dark eyes cast an intense look at the wall behind her. Sakura had froze, unsure of what to say...unsure of what to even feel yet.
"Was he really...? Was he really dead?" Faintly, she heard him whisper behind her, so quietly it was as if he was afraid of his own words. Like he couldn't bare to speak them. It was a vulnerable sound she'd never heard from him before.
"Yes..."
"And you brought him back...? All by yourself?"
"No...not by myself...but...they kept telling me to stop...that there was nothing more we could do..."
His head tilted down to hide his mouth against her shoulder, eyes squeezing shut as he refused to let her go. He was remarkably still and quiet, and she could tell he wasn't crying, but those few gestures alone spoke volumes for him. There was so much emotion seeping to the surface that she never expected to feel from him...literally feel...as everything flowed through the hard steel of his arms wrapped around her, nearly crushing the air out of her lungs. He expressed more with that endless hug than he ever could have with words.
"He'll be ok, Sasuke. I promise." She muttered a little more fragile, sensing the same wave that had hit her moments ago returning as her eyes grew misty again. This time, it couldn't be helped. Once the initial shock had worn off, all those girly emotions she wanted to suppress were inching closer and closer. So what if this was Sasuke...actually hugging her...actually appreciating her...and actually showing it for the first time ever. This was no time to be mushy. She was supposed to be strong and encouraging, now that everyone knew what had happened. And she was trying...but... Sasuke was hugging her. For Sakura, he had been her greatest weakness for years, and the one person that eluded her so expertly. Embracing him was more than a little difficult to fathom now.
And just like that, it was over. One second he was holding her like she had always wished he would, and the next, his hands were slipping as he pulled away from her. There was a bitter-sweet ache in her heart as she looked up at him, his face passing into view as he stood in front of her, letting his arms fall away. Sniffing quietly, she wiped the corner of her eye before a tear could fall. His were dry, though they revealed a new heaviness, and a sadness as he seemed to gaze right through her.
For a moment, it looked as though he were about to speak, but he stopped short. Sakura watched him curiously, waiting, and then felt a hint of apprehension when she noted the unusual change in his eyes. They sharpened somehow, and were no longer drifting through her, but dissecting her rather closely. They weren't looking into her own, either, they were aimed down somewhere along her chest or shoulder—she wasn't sure where.
"What...?"
She looked down when he said nothing, and her vision was flooded with the yellow and blue flowers of her slightly wrinkled and blood-spattered yukata.
The yukata she had left at their house, crumpled under Itachi's robe.
Ice washed through her insides, chilling her to the bone as a spark of panic ignited within her. She had completely forgotten what she was wearing. Of course, the entire day before she had been freaking out and taking ridiculous precautions to evade Sasuke...and then when he shows up in Itachi's hospital room—and naturally he was going to show up—it magically slips her mind. To be fair, she had been asleep when he came in, and worn out beyond belief, but Kami... She should have remembered to take care of at least that not-so-minor detail!
When she looked back up at him, her eyes were a little too wide, and her pulse a little too thick as the color drained from her face. Those dark orbs, twitching over the pattern that covered her, eventually snapped to stare into her own wildly alert, pale green, and she nearly flinched.
He recognized it... He definitely recognized it... She could tell. He didn't need to say a word.
"Uhm! I'm sorry... I really need to go...now.. Gotta get ready to train soon! Kakashi... I have to train with Kakashi. Today—this morning! He's going to show me..something...because... I-I'll see you later!"
And with that hasty, pathetic patchwork of an excuse, Sakura hurried past him and waved a quick goodbye to his grieving and confused mother before dashing out the door. She slipped between Fugaku and the nurse, bowing apologetically as she barely managed not to smack into them, and broke at a near jog down the empty hallway. The kind of pace that screamed, 'I'm not trying to attract any attention...but holy shit get out of the way!'
"Hey..."
He ears picked up a voice calling behind her, the very last voice she now wanted to hear. Sasuke had poked his head out of the door, and then wriggled in between his father and the nurse, just as she had. She didn't stop though, in fact, she moved even faster as her heart pounded.
"Sakura!" He yelled louder, sounding slightly annoyed when she ignored him.
"I'm really tired, I gotta go!" She called back quickly, before breaking into a run...somehow missing how terribly contradictory her actions and speech were. But she couldn't think straight anymore. All she wanted to do was escape. Dear Kami, if she would ever be forced to face him with the truth, it couldn't be today. Any day but today. She couldn't handle any more stress right now...and probably neither could he.
She zipped around a corner and disappeared without hearing another sound from him, and instantly breathed a sigh of relief, though in the back of her paranoid mind she wondered if he would start chasing after her. Needless to say, she made the rest of the way out of the hospital and started her journey through the village streets back home as if she were trying to out-maneuver a stalker. Never once stopping to think that she might have left something important behind...like her bag with her medic uniform. The one still sitting in Itachi's hospital room.
"What am I going to do now..." She muttered in exasperation to herself as she took a shortcut down an alley. Sleep was now the last thing on her mind, even as the desolate roads and black sky revealed she still had a bit of time to take a long nap before she needed to be up and functioning again. For a short while, everything had been perfect. She had been so close to him. She had actually felt significant for once. Before tonight, the only reason Sasuke had ever paid any attention to her was because she was on his team, and so he had no choice...that's really what she believed. But after he'd learned that she had saved his brother's life...it was as if he saw her as something valuable, for the first time. Even if these weren't the best circumstances, it had felt so good... But then, he had to see the one thing she didn't want him to see. He had to pay attention to the stupid clothes she was wearing, and the look on his face... It was like a light bulb had popped over his head. A very bad, foreboding light bulb. Could her luck be any worse?
What if he asked Itachi who he had been with that day, whenever he woke up? Would he answer honestly?
What if he asked her point blank? What would she tell him?
Fifteen minutes later, Sakura was able to flop down into her clean bed and stare up at the plain ceiling. No, there would definitely be no more sleeping tonight. Exhausted though she was, her mind was reeling. One thing was for certain, though. This yukata had to go. Nevermind the fact that it was stained with blood. It was going in the trash either way. But for now, all she could do until the sun came up was waste away in a hundred reasons to worry.
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To Duel With Fate