A/N: Hello to all my lovely readers! :-h Good news! Your (not so loyal) servant is back, well and alive! This was written ahead of time for kuripsu's palanca (affirmation letter). I extended it for the full joy of all the KakaSaku fans of the world! \o/
But about 240 of my countrymen have died in the tropical storm locally know and 'Ondoy'. To you, it's probably 'Ketsana'. Anyways...
This storm has brought a month's worth of rain to our country (and that's a lot, mind you, since it rains practically every other day here in the Philippines). More than half of the capital (Manila) was underwater. 1.4 million (estimated) people have been displaced by the flood. Heck, my friend's whole village was submerged in water. My stepfather's friend died after his house was flooded, a cabinet fell on him and he drown, unconscious.
You may be happy that my family and I weren't affected, since we live in this huge-ass building complex. But please, Filipino based readers, let's help out our country. To those too far to help, prayers are often appreciated.
This chapter is dedicated to all those who lost their lives in Tropical Storm 'Ondoy'/'Ketsana'; to those who have been displaced and lost their homes, friends, family, etc.; to Vietnam, who is next to face the fury of this storm, that they may be protected; and to my fellow Filipinos, may they be kept safe from the coming storm this week.
{If you want to see how heartbreaking this story really is, type in 'Typhoon Ondoy', 'Flooding in Manila/Philippines' or 'September 26, 2009' in Youtube's search bar. It can really bring you to tears.}
It went on like that for a year. Every week, Shizune would come and give him his medicine. Chit-chat never strayed away from the topics of his health and the hospital. But once in a while, she would tell him about her 'imouto'. Apparently she was in Suna, working on a classified case, or something around that idea. Gradually though, the stream of information ended and Shizune became his permanent doctor.
The silver-haired man sat in the waiting room right outside Tsunade's office, waiting for the initial results of his test. It seems that he has been suffering more and more headaches, and his eyesight fluctuated between very clear to the point where all he saw was an abstract of light and colors. He told this to his doctor, and she dragged him out of his little apartment to the hospital to get himself thoroughly checked by Tsunade herself.
"15 minutes," They told him—30 minutes ago. He scoffed quietly in the green plastic chair. This was exactly the kind of thing that made him avoid the hospital at all costs.
--
Back in her office, Tsunade rubbed her forehead thoughtfully. She stared at the numerous charts hanging by the wall, trying to decode the hidden meaning behind it. Tilting her head, she whispered calculations to herself.
"That's odd…" She said, before turning towards the door and hollering out her subordinate's name.
In seconds, said subordinate was right beside her. "Hai Tsunade-sama?" She asked respectfully.
"Look at these statistics." She commanded.
Shizune analyzed them, conjuring up years of experience solving these types of cases. In less than a minute, she spoke up. "Everything's…"
"Exactly." Tsunade replied with a stern nod.
"Should I make the call then?" The ever-so-ready subordinate inquired.
"Yes please."
--
Sakura squinted at the dark blue in front of her. Normally, this would have been fine. After all, she was nearsighted. But the thing was, the 'dark blue' previously described wasn't a possible antidote to the Sharingan. Instead, she was looking at the dark night sky; anger boiling as she discreetly mumbled obscenities.
Just because she fell asleep on her desk because of working six days straight doesn't mean that Hana and Itachi had to send her back to the residential building in their humongous research complex and ban her from working for the next three days.
Wanting to get in the last word, she turned back with a hand raised in the air. "Don't forget to take your week's shots Itachi-sempai!" She left the building before the rave-haired man could retort.
She plopped down on her couch located in the residential building in the research complex where everyone (including herself) pretty much lived. She set her head down on the headrest and only then did she realize how tired she really was. Her head lolled backwards, her eyes drooped and her body went limp. Before she knew it, the young doctor was asleep.
--
Hana raised up the test tube to eye level before placing it in its prescribed rack. She set it down, took a few notes on her clipboard and handed it to the intern waiting for it to be handed to the next department.
"Liquidation complete." She stated before the intern nodded and left the laboratory.
She fell onto the chair set behind her, releasing a sigh of relief. The sound of air being released called the attention of her companion in the room, who swiveled over to her side and laid his palms on her shoulders.
"I don't know how Sakura can work a whole week without resting." The Inuuzuka sighed once more. "How the hell does she do it?"
Itachi chuckled. "That girl runs on sugar and caffeine. What more do you expect when those are the only two things she seems to consume?"
Hana laughed along with him. "I guess so."
Suddenly, a loud beeping noise interrupted their reminiscing. Itachi ran over to the intercom and clicked a few random buttons before the face of another research partner appeared on the small screen.
"What's going on Yamato-san?" He asked calmly.
On the other hand, Yamato was panicking and his breath was shallow. "Lab C7—the Sharingan in airborne!"
--
"Tsunade-sama, she's not answering." Shizune said, putting down her cell phone.
"Try the other lines." The blonde commanded with an elegant and dismissive swish of her wrist.
"But, Tsunade-sama, it's got to be two o'clock in the morning in Suna. She should be asleep by now." The onyx-haired woman debated, adding a nervous giggle at the end.
"Nonsense! This is my daughter we're talking about! She runs on sugar and caffeine! Of course she's awake."
--
A loud ringing echoed through her apartment, waking her up. She fell unceremoniously off her battered couch and onto the hard, unforgiving wooden floor. With a groan, she pushed herself off the floor just enough to look up to see what was ringing.
It wasn't her cell phone, because then Tokio Hotel's new song would be playing (yes, even though she's an over-achieving workaholic, she still has time to update herself on the latest in the music scene).
It wasn't the landline, since—psht!—as if anyone calls her, even if it wasn't the middle of the night.
That only left the medical line, accessible only by those with the MD, MR, PhD or any other medical certification card.
And with the alarm blaring through the complex, this call could not spell out anything good.
--
Itachi and Hana shared looks of horror before moving towards the one way glass window and looked out onto the hallway. Employees scrambling for their lives as their bleeding officemates chased after them in fear of their lives. Chemical Containment Personnel pointed annihilation guns at the infected.
The scene made Hana turn away and shed a tear.
As she winced at the sound of an intern's blood-curling scream, Itachi pressed an area in the wall and revealed a rack full of bright yellow Chemical Containment Personnel suits. "This lab is still sterile. Since we haven't touched C7 after the standard de-sterilizing process before entering this lab…"
"Of course,"
They slipped on the suits and rushed outside, carrying annihilation guns in their black gloved hands. They ran for the nearest exit, shooting at those whose retinas were bleeding blackened blood.
"It's ten times worse than what I expected." Hana whispered, almost to herself.
"No time for sentiments Inuuzuka." Itachi said, with ice slicked over his voice in a commander-like tone. It sent chills down Hana's spine to think that this normally nice guy could use such a tone. But then again, he is Uchiha Itachi.
As they ran towards the darkness of the outside world past double doors conveniently thrown open, a striking thought hit them both at the same time.
"Sakura!"
Both scientists cared for the pink-haired girl like a younger sibling. Once they were out, they spotted the nearest van and grabbed the Medical Line. Hana slipped in her ID card and dialed Sakura's apartment number.
Beep.
Beep.
--
"Hello? Haruno Sakura speaking." She spoke nervously into the mouthpiece, clutching it with both hands as to ensue being heard by the person on the other end.
"Sakura, it's me." A feminine voice spoke. "There's a slight problem…about the Sharingan."
--
Ta-ha! Hanging in suspense! Who's on the phone? What's going on with the Sharigan? How'd it become airborne? Are Itachi and Hana really together? WHAT HAPPENED TO YAMATO??!! :O TT^TT
Well, you'll find out IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. (-/_\-)
Ja~!
~Bella