O Koishii O

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...thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

- Shakespeare

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O Chapter Five O

It was truly an art despite what all the critics said.

The delicate process required a type of dedication, balance, and patience that was bestowed directly from the gods.

Ramen was an art, and Mikoto-san treated it that way.

Placing a hand on his cheek, he tried to stop a drop of drool from falling from his mouth as he closely watched the Uchiha matriarch prepare his favorite dish; Naruto was practically dying to finally eat.

The dim lights were splaying an even color around the room, lightly illuminating the edges of his golden hair and then bouncing off the red rimmed bowls that were displayed on the table.

Naruto had arrived first with the purpose of spying on Mikoto while she prepared her famous ramen; however, by the time he had reached, the vegetables had been evenly chopped and thrown in the pot with a specific concoction of spices that was special to the Uchiha family.

Thus, much to his disappointment, he missed out on the secret recipe once again. But, if there was one thing Naruto knew how to do it, it would be to persevere, after all, there would be many opportunities to steal the formula for himself.

Tapping the dark table lightly with his calloused fingers, he waited with a mix of boredom and anticipation until he suddenly felt a familiar chakra approaching the kitchen.

"Sakura-chan!"

Partially knocking his chair back, he bounded towards the girl and crashed into her, wrapping his orange clad arms onto her torso. He briefly heard Sasuke tsk, and move around them, probably to place the bouquet of daffodils he held into a vase.

"It's good to see you too Naruto," Sakura heaved out between the bone-crushing hug. She stepped back to take more of his weight, making eye contact with the woman behind them.

"Sakura!" Mikoto exclaimed, forcing Naruto to let go of the girl and let the older Uchiha have her chance as well.

"Thank you for coming," Mikoto said giving Sakura a brief hug, "I'm so happy you're in Sasuke's team," she smiled, grasping Sakura's hands in her own, "My heart's at ease knowing he is in good hands."

The pink haired girl repressed a snicker at Sasuke's annoyed groan from the background, and instead chose to squeeze Mikoto's hands back, "Of course, I'll take good care of him."

Naruto sat back down, watching as Mikoto forced Sakura into a chair next to him. His stomach unintentionally fluttered as Sakura turned to look at him and smiled; you could say he had somewhat of a crush on his new teammate.

However, his thoughts of love and romance suddenly switched towards the hot meal that was placed in front of them, as his mouth began water. Naruto repressed a groan at the self restraint he had to implement to stop himself from attacking the meal.

Sakura must have noticed his expression, because she giggled, "Naruto, just wait a few more minutes."

She shook her head and lightly patted the poor boy's shoulder.

"I know Sakura-chan!" he whined, "I'm just soo hungry!" .

Sasuke settled himself in front of the blonde and shook his head, "Dobe, I saw you eating at Ichiraku's just before you came here."

"Well that's because I have a high metabolism," Naruto countered, briefly glancing at Sakura to confirm he had used the right word.

Sakura smiled, "You should try to eat healthier though Naruto."

"I agree," Mikoto said, as she made her way towards the table with the last dish. She placed it gently in the center, and sat down next to Sasuke and across from Sakura, giving the girl a grin.

"Is Itachi-san on a mission?" Sakura inquired, noticing the absence of his powerful chakra.

Mikoto nodded, and shifted in her seat, "Aa, he left today morning I believe, or... I don't even know anymore, the boy has been taking a lot of missions lately," she heaved with a sigh and shake of a head.

She glanced around at the meal she had prepared. It had taken her quite a while, but Mikoto enjoyed cooking; it was a pleasant task especially since Sasuke had helped her today.

There was a colorful array of bowls on the table that suited a variety of tastes. From spicy, to mild, to tomato laden ones- she was quite proud of her work and especially the arrangement, which was just as important as the actual food quality.

Nodding to herself inwardly, Mikoto was about to clasp her hands together and commence the meal, when the hairs on the back of her neck rose. Maybe it was because she was so attuned to his presence, but despite the suppressed chakra signature, she could still feel Fugaku's silent footsteps as they made their way to the kitchen.

The bamboo screen door opened, and it was as though a wave of anxiety swept through the room as everyone stiffened.

"Oh! Anata!" Mikoto said with a slight edge, "I thought you would be at work."

Fugaku's dark eyes rested on hers, "So it seems, since you've planned a slight gathering here."

He looked ruffled and tired, nothing like the young man Mikoto had married so many years ago. It seems like people changed in more than just appearances though, since she didn't miss the cold stare he was sending her way.

Sakura tensed at his voice, especially since she knew of his genuine dislike for her and, as she glanced towards the frowning blonde, apparently Naruto too. She made brief eye contact with her blue-eyed teammate, and silently agreed to get up and bow out of respect; however, Fugaku raised his hands just as they were about to.

"Naruto, Sakura," he nodded in acknowledgement, "Please remain seated, I will be joining you as well for dinner."

Fugaku made his way towards the head of the table, almost arrogantly sitting down at the extra plate that had been prepared there just in case. He looked expectantly at his wife and then clasped his hands.

"Itadakimasu," he spoke lowly, prompting the rest of the table to say their own respects.

Mikoto used all her self control to prevent from lashing out at her husband. She could feel how uncomfortable everyone had suddenly become, especially Sasuke who had become purely rigid from his father's arrival.

However, she refused to be outplayed by him.

"Naruto!" Mikoto said almost harshly, causing the blonde to look up suddenly as though she were going to reprimand him, "How's the ramen?" she asked, now in a lighter tone.

"It's great Mikoto-san," he relaxed and grinned, "I guess I'll just have to find out your secret recipe next time," he said with a pout more to himself.

Mikoto laughed taking another bite of her chicken. She didn't miss the way Naruto quickly returned to his food, or the way that Sasuke continued to move stiffly beside her.

"So, Sakura," the matriarch said now moving to bug the silent girl, "Tell us about your travels."

The pink head swallowed her food slowly, a little unsure about speaking, "Well... I've been to a lot of big villages, especially trading ones..." because of shishou's gambling habits, she dryly added to herself.

"We've been to smaller ones too, places that aren't even on the map," Sakura explained poking her food lightly with her chopsticks before placing them in her mouth.

If there was one thing she wouldn't change about her childhood, it would be her years with shishou and the time she spent exploring the world. The wisdom she had gained from the experience and from meeting new people, would never match the inky, black and white descriptions in the textbooks: the world had too much color.

Mikoto spoke again, dragging Sakura back to reality, "So, how exactly did you train then? And who trained you?"

This seemed to gain the interest of all the members of the table, including Fugaku who probably wanted to learn the secrets of the Hokage.

Sakura thought about her answer; she didn't want to reveal too much information, but at the same time she still wanted to provide a full answer.

"Shishou and Shizune-senpai mainly taught me," she paused for a moment to decide whether she wanted to elaborate, especially with everyone's eyes practically staring her down.

"I also learned from a lot of different masters around the nations. I spent a lot of time learning about katana with another sensei from Earth." Sakura explained.

Much to everyone's surprise it was Fugaku who spoke up, "What was his name?" he inquired, curiosity laced in his eyes.

Sakura turned towards him, "Kita Shusuke."

It was probably the first, and maybe last time, Sakura saw the Uchiha head look genuinely surprised. Apparently Mikoto and Sasuke were also taken back by his expression, as evident from the glance they shared.

"You trained under Shusuke?"Fugaku asked almost as a confirmation.

"Hai, do you know him?" Sakura replied.

Fugaku rested his chopsticks down and sighed, nodding his head slowly, "I'm greatly indebted to him."

"Mikoto," he looked up at his wife with something other than anger for the first time, "Do you remember that mission I had to Earth when Shi-san died."

His wife tapped her chin in contemplation, "Ah, I was pregnant with Itachi during that time, I was so worried because we all thought you had died."

Fugaku did his own version of what Sakura could guess was a chuckle, "When they brought me back you clung on to me until the nurse had to pry you off."

Sasuke spoke up in confusion, "Otou-san?" This was the first time he had heard this story.

"Anbu had sent me on a mission to retrieve a rumored scroll that had an ancient jutsu written in it. We were eventually lead to a small village in Earth, where we were brutally ambushed," Fugaku shook his head at the absolute stupidity of it.

"One of my teammates, Hyuuga Shin, stayed behind to let us go ahead. I was injured and only made it a few miles before I passed out. When I woke up I found myself in someone's home, at first I thought they had found me and captured me, but it turns out it wasn't the case."

Kita Shusuke had saved him so many years ago, Fugaku could barely move, yet the man nursed him back to complete health and even helped him return home safely. Shusuke had belonged to a family that had lived in Earth for centuries, but he himself was completely against the war and had been fined numerous times for avoiding the draft.

"I survived because of him,"he concluded with a nod, turning towards Sakura, "I'm sure he was a hard sensei though, none of the boys I saw while I was there could complete their training."

Sakura shrugged finally at ease, "Shizune-sempai had taught me a little bit before, so I had some prior experience, but yes it had been a struggle."

Fugaku nodded in understanding, "Sasuke learned how to wield a katana under one of the sanin" he said tilting his head towards his son, "you probably know him, Orochimaru-san."

"Hai, I worked in his lab for sometime I suppose Taichou had already left by then," Sakura said looking at her captain.

"Probably," Sasuke shrugged returning her look with a question, "I've never seen you with a katana before."

"I have a seal on my back," Sakura explained, not going into greater detail despite the curious stares that turned her way.

There were a lot of secrets Sakura would take to the grave, and this was probably one of them. She had gotten the seal from an ancient family in return from saving their clan members from an attack by some missing-nin organization.

"It would be cool to see both of you spar," Naruto said, through a mouthful of food.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly on her and she couldn't help but produce a small smirk. Their first minor skirmish had resulted in an easy victory for her, most likely because the arrogant Uchiha underestimated her.

A loud poof suddenly distracted the group from their conversation, as heads turned towards the anbu that had entered. Mikoto wanted to lash out at the boy for interrupting their bonding session, but after a second of observing the anbu, her eyes widened.

He was on Itachi's team and from the blood that was dripping down his outfit and staining his light hair, Mikoto could immediately tell Itachi was hurt.

"Did something happen to him?" Mikoto asked, her hands clasping together underneath the table.

The masked anbu nodded hesitantly at the pairs of eyes, three bleeding red, that were pointedly on him. He turned his blue rimmed mask towards Sakura and spoke:

"Tsunade needs your help, she says..." he hesitated, "she hasn't seen anything like this before."

Sakura rose quickly from her chair followed by the rest of the party who were suddenly worried, "I'm going to go ahead," she nodded towards them before disappearing in a poof of petals.

"What's going on?" Sasuke demanded, the anbu after she left, helping his mom into her seat.

"Ya! What happened to Itachi," Naruto asked, concern laced in his blue eyes.

It was normal for shinobi to come home injured and bleeding, but something didn't feel right to Naruto this time. He had known Itachi for most of his life, and knew the bastard had only gone to the hospital a few times, something must have gone wrong.

The anbu inwardly sucked a breathe of air, technically he wasn't allowed to disclose any information about their mission to parties outside of the Hokage, but these were Uchiha, he was sure they would extract it out of his brain if they had to.

"It should have been a quick mission, but on our way back Itachi suddenly started coughing blood," he explained.

Fugaku's eyes narrowed, "He wasn't attacked?"

The anbu shook his head, "No it wasn't a physical wound."

"Maybe he was poisoned? A senbon that you didn't notice?" Mikoto probed.

"No Uchiha-san, we didn't come across any shinobi nin," the anbu explained, suddenly bowing, "I'm sorry but I can't give out more information."

Fugaku scowled waving his hand dismissively, before turning towards his wife, "He isn't sick is he?"

Mikoto frowned, "He had a physical, I mean, they didn't catch anything."

"Unless," Naruto interjected, "It was one of those annoying fangirl nurses, then they probably coped a feel and let Itachi pass without actually checking him."

Despite the stupidity behind his statement, Naruto did have a point. It could be possible that Itachi had been able to skip the basic procedures to get the requirements cleared.

Sasuke growled, "It doesn't matter, I'm going to the hospital," he said gruffly, disappearing.

Aniki what are you hiding?

"What do you think?" Tsunade inquired, her caramel eyes resting on the furrowed brows of her apprentice because of her slight height advantage.

They were in rectangular hospital room, a whiff of antiseptic and sickness was in the air, a smell that they were all used to. Uchiha Itachi lay on the bed, his skin pale was only emphasized by the black mane that lay tangled around his head.

"You were right about saying it was unusual,"Sakura mumbled focusing on her hands.

There was a huge mass in Itachi's lungs with many other smaller masses located around them, one had begun sprouting in his heart. They seemed to be clumps of unusual cells that were mutated and replicating incessantly, and a black muck surrounding them that bothered Sakura.

Shishou had healed many of the damaged areas allowing Itachi to rest easy for now. There was something else that was nagging her though, apparently Uchiha Itachi was nearly blind.

"What did the anbu say?" Sakura asked.

The Hokage pulled a seat to sit down, she deserved some rest after stabilizing the Uchiha heir; kami she desperately wanted sake, the strong bitter kind that was imported fro-

"Shishou?"

"They said he randomly started hacking up blood on the way back until he fell unconscious," Shizune replied in place, as she entered the room, a frown adoring her face with knowledge about what Tsunade was thinking.

"But look at this," the brown haired woman said handing Sakura the bloody cloth they found when changing Itachi into hospital robes.

The apprentice gasped, "It's old blood..."

Tsunade scowled and snatched the cloth from Sakura, "That bastard, this has been happening for a while."

"What about his physical? Surely they caught something," Sakura asked, grabbing his file from the table next to the prostate Uchiha.

Green eyes quickly scanned the details her mouth turning downward, "Nothing, there's nothing. But how?"

The Hokage plopped down in her seat and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "This place is a mess, why did I ever... "

Shizune tsked, propping a hand on her hip, "Now is not the time, we need to figure this out."

Tsunade let in a deep breathe of air. She had become a medic because of her inability to save the precious ones in her life, Itachi meant something for someone and she refused to let anyone else feel that same pain of loss.

"Right, Sakura what course of action do you think we should take?" she asked, wondering if the apprentice was having the same thoughts.

"I say we extract the black substance first, it has poison-like quality and it seems like it's protecting the mutated cells," Sakura answered.

It could be some protein substance produced from the mutated cells, maybe caused by exposure to powerful jutsus from such a young age and, as Sakura remembered the near-blind eyes, from using the sharingan too much.

"Then we cut out the cells and make sure the main progenitor is destroyed," she finished firmly.

"Hm, I was thinking the same thing," Tsunade nodded with approval.

Shizune smiled too, "We'll have to go slowly though, I say we target the one in the heart and the major one in the lungs, he can live with the smaller ones for a while."

An approaching small chakra signature and knock on the door quickly hushed the room of medics, as a nervous nurse entered and quickly bowed.

"H-hokage-sama, Uchiha Sasuke is here demanding the condition of his brother," she stated, blushing slightly.

"Sakura," Tsunade turned towards the girl, "Go talk to the little pest and then prepare for surgery, I want to start immediately."

The pink haired apprentice nodded, making her way quickly out of the room and into the bleach white hospital hallway. She could already see the dark shadow of Sasuke standing further down and approached him, letting her chakra release slightly to make her presence known.

"Taichou," Sakura called out as she reached him, giving him a small smile.

She was observant enough to realize that despite his cool exterior the boy was genuinely worried. It was times when Sasuke seemed the most aloof that he actually cared the most.

"How is he?" he asked, picking himself against the wall he was leaning on.

Sakura lightly licked her lips, "We have a plan of action, however we're not completely sure if it may work because we've never seen-"

Sasuke's nostrils snared slightly in what she could guess was anger, "Your saying the best medics in the world, don't know what's wrong with my brother?"

She supposed it was a slight compliment, but Sakura couldn't help but ignite a little at the slight poke at their intelligence.

"He's sick and has been sick for a while. Maybe, if someone had caught it earlier or people had paid more attention, Itachi-san wouldn't be in this situation."

The Uchiha clenched his fist, as he stepped into her personal bubble, a hand coming to slightly cage her into the wall, "I don't like what you're implying."

"Well, I didn't like what you were implying either," she snapped back poking his chest for emphasis.

"Look, Sasuke I don't have time for this," Sakura heaved, pinching the bridge of her nose, so much for starting over.

"I need to go prep for the operation, so if you would move..." she said, gesturing with her hand.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Haruno, you will call me Taichou and you will treat me with respect."

Sakura looked up into his eyes, that were threatening to bleed red, "Well, Taichou, if you don't let me go, your brother's survival chances will be even slimmer."

The Uchiha stepped back and let her pass without a word, watching Sakura as she gave him a mocking, majestic bow before walking into what he could only guess was the medic locker room.

Now all he could do was wait.

I have been a total poo and not posted ugh. But here it is! I've heard back from a couple of schools now, financially though I think Stony Brook is the best, so if you know/attend the school please let me know what ya think! I will be joining the honors college for biomedical engineering so lmk!

Thank you for all the support I know I am annoying but what can ya do. If you ever have any questions/concerns/hate/love pm me! I love hearing from everyone.

Again, BETA NEEDED- WILL HELP ME WRITE FASTER.

QUICK QUESTION
Does anyone watch Outlander? Just started it and I freaking love it!
What game plays do you recommend? I've seen Outlast, Witch's House, and now Beyond Two Souls, but I'm still new to this whole video game geeky/awesome world. I hated markiplier in the beginning but now I love him.