Author's Note:

Hi everyone, I am so sorry that I have not updated in nearly 3 years. It really doesn't feel like I've left the FanFiction community for so long, but apparently it has been. I would like to thank Sakura Uchiha123 for being a complete dear and sending me a PM 2 months ago to encourage me to (firstly update) and complete this fic. I had told her that I would update this fic by May, but the PM really stuck out to me, so that's why you see me updating 2 months early. This is not the last chapter, and there will be many chapters after this one, but I hope that my writing still keeps your guys' interest after so long. I may be slightly rusty. Now I just gotta head over to update Just One Night. Woops.

Apologies once again! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 5 - VELVET

Corneal Transplant…Heterochromic Diseases… Retinal Scarring…Retinal Detachment…Vitreous Humour Infection…

Slightly swollen green eyes scanned the shelf in the dim room, the only source of light coming from her chakra-induced glowing hand. Earlier, she did promise Tsunade and Kakashi that she would head straight home and contemplate their decision of sending her back to Suna with Gaara. After she left the room, she had exited the Hokage building only to mask her chakra and quickly dart back inside the building to make a silent run to the Forbidden Jutsu documents holding room.

Even though she was second to Tsunade in Konoha as a medic, she was still limited from the Forbidden Jutsu Hall. No one aside from her and Tsunade knew that, but she decided to play it safe than sorry. She'd rather they knew nothing about her search through the endless stacks of scrolls, in case one of them decided to ask Tsunade why she was always constantly in or around the area. There would be no time for any questions or answers before she was sent off to Suna.

Luckily, Tsunade had given her a tour of the room during her apprenticeship just to tell her the location of where the documents were kept when she took one out for a patient's surgery. Only her Shishou was allowed to take a look at the documents for a patient's surgery, because she deemed herself old enough that even if such dangerous jutsu killed her, it wouldn't matter due to her age.

Sakura raised a trembling hand and ran it through her pink tresses, backcombing it with slender fingers. It was aggravating; she'd been here for what she assumed to be almost two hours, and there was still no luck in finding anything remotely close to what she'd been looking for. It was almost time to return home as well...she'd have to return with groceries to tell Sasuke that she was late because of shopping. She sighed and dropped the scroll back to its respective place on the shelf, turning as she did so, and carelessly bumped into a random box sitting hazardously on the shelf beside the one she was tending to.

It spilled all over the floor, the pinkette cursing at herself for not being more careful, hoping that the noise she made wasn't loud enough to alert the ANBU stationed outside the door. A few scrolls unfurled in front of her, rolling down the aisle and making her run after them. Her eyes caught a few of the words on the parchment, "Complete eye transplants aren't feasible at this time, but—," the words abruptly cut off, a line on the paper marking it that it was continued on another scroll.

Her breath caught in her throat as she fumbled in the dark for the other half, grasping it tightly in her hands before ripping it open to see if it was the scroll she needed. Her fingers trembled as she unrolled the rest of the scroll to see if there was another break line at the end; there was none. She quickly rolled up the two scrolls and stuffed them into her chest bindings, scrambling to place the other fallen scrolls back into the box on the shelf. Flustered, she waved her hand around to make sure everything was in their correct positions before dimming the light as she stepped closer to the exit of the room. There was no one outside the room much to her relief; they were most likely changing their shifts. She quickly opened the door and slipped out, swiftly performing the seals to lock the heavyset doors.

Not taking any chances, she left the building through an open window, her sandaled feet splashing through the puddles left by the heavy rainstorm now diminished to a small drizzle.

X-i-o-n

Sakura hurried home, eager to read the scrolls she had stolen – borrowed – from the Forbidden Jutsu Hall. The bag of groceries bumped against her leg several times as she hurried home, a light skip added in her step that had not been there since a month ago. Sure, it was uncomfortable with two scrolls squished against her chest, but from the little bit of scripture she had read within the dark room, there was definitely a way to make Sasuke see again, and a little bit of physical pain in her bosom for a small amount of time was worth it if the jutsu does indeed work.

She quietly slipped inside the house, her sandals lying forgotten in the foyer as she went into the kitchen to put the bag of groceries on the table. She silently went upstairs, hoping not to surprise her fiancé too much. Surprised that the door to his bedroom was open, or seemed rather forcefully opened, Sakura peeked around the corner, and to her horror, found that almost everything in the empty room was smashed aside from the bed. She flicked the lights on, finding smears of blood on the floor and the bedspread, a hand flying up to cover her mouth as it dropped open.

Tears gathered in her eyes in worry for the raven. "Sasuke." She whispered. "Sasuke-kun, where are you?!"

A fluctuation of chakra from the bathroom made her turn around, her feet leading her to the closed door, her heart pounding palpably on her tongue. She put a hand on the doorknob, frustrated to find it locked. Her hands fumbled with the set of keys before she found the right one to jab into the annoying bolt. The tumblers easily fell into place, and she threw the door open in anticipation to see something that would ease her fright if only by a little.

The smell of iron flooded her senses the moment she entered, panic rushing through her as she imagined the numerous possibilities that could've happened to her betrothed. She hurriedly flicked on the lights, the fluorescent lighting bringing up a more horrifying image than she could have imagined. The broken mirror immediately caught her eye, the remnants of the mirror in shards gathered in the sink and glittering over the obsidian countertops. She anxiously peered at it, noting the blood caked over some of the edges of the pieces wasn't enough to tell her if Sasuke was indeed fine.

She looked away to the half-pulled shower curtain, dread filling her as her sandaled feet crunched on the broken mirror pieces as she neared the bathtub, her fingers curling instinctively in fear at the prospect of seeing her fiancé in an even worse condition than she imagined. Clutching the slippery fabric in her hands, she took a deep breath before yanking it aside, the rings holding the shower curtain straining to keep the curtain from tearing off of them. Her emerald orbs widened in shock as she took in the raven's hunched form at the base of the tub, blood seemingly everywhere from what she could see.

She darted forward to grasp Sasuke's arms with her trembling hands, wishing that he was still warm and that there was something that she could do within her power. The moment she touched him, he moved; it wasn't his usual violent actions as of late, it was a startled response that a small boy would show if someone suddenly and unsuspectingly woke him up from a nap. It was so unlike him that she let out a small smile at his endearing actions. It wasn't until that he lifted his head to seemingly look at her that her mouth dropped open in shock and finally remembered that her fiancé was currently in a half-broken bathroom with blood smeared all over the room.

"Sasuke, what happened?!" Her observant eyes quickly scanned his body, noting that his face was severely bruised and that he had shards of a broken mirror embedded in his right hand, his slight movements lightly tearing the wound as it started bleeding again.

"Sakura." He breathlessly let out. She expected him to yell at her to get out, to leave him alone, and most of all, let go of him. Her throat started to swell up, trying to suppress the tears that he so hated hearing and feeling after his condition started. "I'm – I'm sorry."

The pinkette paused for a moment in shock at his first sign of cordiality in weeks, and all she could do in response was give off a small chuckle of relief. Tears spilled from her eyes, but not from the wreck that was in front of her, but because of the fact that he was finally willing to open up to her just a little bit. He wasn't pushing her away, and he wasn't yelling at her to stop looking at him. He had just simply said her name with an apology at the end, and that was enough.

After she recovered from her little fit of happiness, she gently pulled him to his feet in the bathtub, careful not to jostle his injured hand. "Come on, let's get you out of this and to the kitchen so I can patch you up."

X-i-o-n

The sharp tinkling of mirror pieces dropping into the kidney pan was the only sound audible in the kitchen. The thunderstorm had diminished to a heavy rainstorm, the drizzling of the rain only noticeable on the upper floors. A warm yellow glow coming from the overhead light made it easy for the pinkette to take out the intrusive particles from the raven's hand with a pair of tweezers, the patient being unusually quiet and obedient during the process. Hunched over the wound, she soaked a cotton ball with a bit of iodine, and lightly but fully swabbed it across the wound to sterilize it. He hissed at the pain, and she quickly looked at him with concern, but he did not try to pull away from her touch. After his wound was fully dressed, she hovered her hand over it to heal it up just a touch to take away the pain, but not enough so that it would be healed immediately.

"There you go, Sasuke. Don't move it too much or else you'll rip it open again, and the wound isn't exactly a flesh wound either. It's a bit deep, so I wouldn't strain yourself for the next few days." She said in a light voice. Sakura got up to start cleaning the table, prepared to clean up the materials that she had used to patch him up. "I'm just going to start making dinner, so if you'd like, you can stay in my room until I get the other room cleaned up, and I'll bring dinner to you there when I'm done. Does that sound good, Sasuke-kun?"

"I–" He started but then stopped to clear his throat. She turned around from where she was at the garbage can in curiosity, her arms just about ready to release the used and dirtied materials. "I'd like to eat here tonight if that is okay – in the kitchen, I mean. With you."

Her mouth opened in surprise; he had not wanted to be out of his room ever since he could not see…and yet, today of all days, he decided to do so. Maybe what the others had said earlier was wrong; he did want to open up to her but it just wasn't time. "Yes, that would be…much appreciated, Sasuke-kun." She smiled, and Sakura could only hope that he could hear it. She turned back to drop the dirtied bandages into the garbage, lightly kicking it close before turning on the sink to rinse her hands with a lightly scented soap that smelled of spring.

A small scraping noise from behind her made her turn around, her eyes looking for anything strange. It had been such a long time since she had heard anything in the house aside from her own crying and actions, so the noises were something new to her. Before she had went upstairs to check on Sasuke earlier, she had left the bag of groceries on the kitchen table, unattended, and the pinkette had turned around only to see the raven get up from his chair to gingerly shuffle his feet around the table with his hands in front of him trying to feel for something. His hands hit the bag of groceries and he lifted the bag with his uninjured hand and shuffled his way over to the kitchen island to place the bag of groceries down.

"Need help…?" He gruffly asked. His face wasn't turned toward her; it was turned to the side as though he was ashamed to even direct his blind gaze at her.

Her heart swelled to an unbearable size inside of her, and she yearned to rush into his arms for an embrace, but she knew it wasn't time. She knew that having this conversation alone was taking a toll on his temperament already, and she did not want to hinder his progress by giving him more affection than he could currently handle. Sakura walked forward and placed a gentle hand on his bruised cheek, her healing having brought down the swelling and colour of the black bruise to a greenish-yellow. He flinched just the slightest at the contact – not the pain – but Sasuke did not draw away from it, the pinkette breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Not today, Sasuke. Perhaps another day after your hand is healed. I do not want you to strain yourself too much, as it seems you have had a tiresome day." She leaned in to place a gentle and lingering kiss on his right cheek, her right hand lightly placed on his left cheek to turn his face to her for better access. When she pulled away, the anguish on his face was clear, and he did not bother to hide it. "What I would appreciate right now is if you would sit down and wait for my one-of-a-kind cooking. I would like to make a feast tonight as it has been quite a while since you have had some real food to eat."

X-i-o-n

Sakura glanced at the softly ticking clock as she finished cleaning the dishes, flinging her hands free of water droplets at the sink before wiping her hands on a towel hanging from the handle of the stove door.

8:47PM

She momentarily paused at the base of the stairs to blankly look at the adjoined kitchen and living room before switching the lights off, plunging the main floor of the house into complete and utter darkness. Slowly lifting one foot up to place it on the first step from the landing, she stretched her arms out in front of her to feel for anything that could potentially make her slip painfully onto the uneven terrain. As she unhurriedly made her way to the second floor, she thought how long and arduous a process it would be to get up every day to be faced with nothing but a dark abyss, and that was just her speaking – a person without any sort of kekkei genkai whatsoever. She could hardly blame Sasuke for being so violently unaccepting of the unfortunate circumstance that had befallen him, especially because he had relied so much on his eyesight.

As she reached the top of the stairs with her eyes still tightly shut, she fumbled for the lights even though she knew where they were, her heart still as a bit of fear gripped onto it as her fingers kept touching blankness, worried that she ultimately wouldn't be able to find them. Any shinobi or kunoichi could simply channel chakra into their hands to give light just as she did earlier in the Forbidden Jutsu room, but she wanted to try – for his sake. Learn how to adapt to thinking with the mind of someone who can no longer see.

Her fingers brushed the edge of the cover that housed the light switch, and she quickly flipped them on, opening her eyes wide as she did so. She stood stock still as her chest heaved up and down, the back of her neck prickling with cold sweat, her ears ringing with the small buzzing sound of electricity running through the light overhead, and lastly, the fear of not being able to see for roughly three minutes of her life scared her. It was different than the fear of knowing that potential attackers could be out there such as during the Chuunin exams when everything was camouflaged and hidden; it was the fact that you couldn't hear anything. Being in darkness with no means of getting out of it is suffocating and deafening at the same time.

Walking to the broken entrance of their old room in a stupor, Sakura left the hallway light on before flicking on the lights in the room. She listed out the things that she saw were off in the room: warped utensils, a couple of broken bowls, a few splintered pieces of floorboards that needs replacing, a couple chunks out of the drywall, sheets with a mixture of broken wood pieces, and the abundance of splatters of blood all over the room. At least the bedside table, dresser and closet were spared from any violent display of affection. It was a wonder that the closet doors hadn't been destroyed in the process, she mused, as she bent over to pick up the broken pieces of the glass bowls.

In the midst of picking up the broken remnants of the room, the pinkette came across a black headband with the Konoha leaf symbol on it. She instantly knew who it belonged to, and she should have guessed it before as soon as she saw the mess. Sakura shook her head, knowing that the past month's stress had clearly taken its toll on her, as the situation would've been so clear to her had she been her usual self. She placed it on the dresser to her left as she stood up, depositing the shards into the cloth garbage bag hanging off the side of the set of drawers. She stared at the mussed-up blankets at her feet, wondering if it was worth picking out all the miniscule pieces of broken wood from it to try to salvage it. But in the end, she thought it would be too lengthy a process for what the blanket was worth and was just about to stuff it in the bag with the rest of the discarded objects when a voice alarmingly shook her out of her reverie.

"Sakura." A familiar voice said.

"Holy shit." The frightened woman jumped at the sound and dropped the coverings back onto the blood-splattered floorboards. She quickly turned and saw Sasuke standing in the doorway, his eyebrows crossed at her reaction as he blankly looked at her. "Oh goodness, Sasuke. You scared the remaining living daylights out of me." Her lips turned up at the end in a smile, hoping that he could just hear the gesture.

He paused for a moment before saying, "I can help with the mess."

"Help with making the mess or helping me clean up the mess?" She joked. Then she quickly corrected herself as she saw his facial expression change into something sour. "I would appreciate some help, but I think I'm good. I was just about to throw out the sheets."

"Why?" He inquired, his tone relatively stable.

"A lot of broken wood pieces are embedded in it, and I just don't think it's worth the time to go through the entire thing picking out potential splinters that won't come out in the wash." She explained. "Besides, I probably wouldn't be able to get all the wood pieces out either; I'd be too impatient having to comb over it ten times over to make sure that we won't have random wood splinters if we are to use this blanket again."

"Hn. Leave it in the garden and spread it out over the two chairs there. I'll see what I can do." The raven slowly reasoned, almost hesitant to even give out such a passive suggestion that is very much uncharacteristic of who he is.

"But, Sasuke—" Sakura started, but was cut off.

"No buts. And…" He trailed off. "…come to bed. It's late. We can fix up the room tomorrow." With that, he abruptly turned on his heels and walked out.

Sakura stared at his retreating figure in shock. Just what was going on today…she somehow managed to hold a conversation with the one man who refused to talk to her for the past month, found a potentially practical jutsu to heal blindness, found a part of her house in shambles on her return, and her fiancé is finally allowing her to sleep in the same bed again. Shaking her head as she threw down the sheets onto the stained floorboards, she headed towards the bedroom where her well-deserved rest awaited.

Please leave a review! Comments are very much appreciated, and I hope to have the next update to you guys by the end of this month!

- Kanryu out 7:15pm 03/05/13

P.S. During my hiatus, many have read and reviewed A Pretty Still Doll and Enervis, and for that, I am truly thankful. Although I did not reply to every thoughtful reviewer, please know that you have my utmost respect and love. Same to all the ones who support me in my writing. :)