Chapter Two
Twice Now

Brightness.

Blurriness met his vision as the brightness of the standard hospital lights flickered lightly above his head. His mind went into momentary overdrive before realizing where he was and how he got there. Itachi was home. Itachi was in Konoha – the place of his birth, and most likely the place of his death. Those who knew the truth would no doubt assume that Itachi would welcome death with open arms. Yet when it came to Sasuke's old female teammate, Haruno Sakura, she seemed hell bent against the idea.

Clearly, this woman thought that she could save him from whatever disease fate had decided to give him.

Perhaps that wasn't fate's true intention. Maybe fate thought that death was too sweet of a punishment for the Uchiha; perhaps fate had other things in mind for his demise.

He felt his lips moving, air passing through the slightly chapped lips and making sounds, but they were muttered and garbled into a blob that his brain could not separate. Desperately, he tried again; someone was there. Someone was sitting in the chair next to his bed. That someone happened to be a male. He was tall and young.

As the center of his vision came into focus, Itachi began to notice the little details of the figure residing in the chair next to his bedside. He had dark hair, like him, and a face almost akin to his own. It was Sasuke. Of course, Itachi knew that this must be some sort of vision or cruel genjutsu because Sasuke was dead. Itachi had the eyes to prove it.

His younger brother stared at him with curious eyes, as if he was asking him why he was currently in a hospital bed, rather than six feet under in a wooden casket. Sasuke tilted his head to the side and leaned forward. "Aniki." He stated simply and said nothing else to quell Itachi's burning curiosity about this vision. Suddenly Itachi was brought back to the past, years before Sasuke's innocence was ruined – years before everything was destroyed.

Sasuke was playing in a field while Itachi leisurely threw kunai at nearby trees surrounding the clearing. He paid more attention to his little brother than the tree he was wounding, however, because Sasuke was known to skin his knees and trip over conveniently placed rocks. Surely, his mother would be disappointed to find out that he couldn't protect his little brother against a few rocks and pebbles.

As he was striking the tree, Sasuke rustled around in the tall weeds and bushes, frolicking around in the sunlight. Dandelion seeds flew up into the air as Sasuke mercilessly plucked every one of them and attempted to make a million wishes. If Itachi knew then what he knew now, he would wish that no one would try to overthrow another.

With a shout, Sasuke proclaimed that he found something and hastily waddled over to his aniki to display his prize to him. It was a bird, and it appeared that one of its wings was broken due to Sasuke's rough handling of the petite little creature. It attempted to flap around in Sasuke's hand pathetically. Just as Sasuke was about to throw it to the ground and promptly stomp on it, proclaiming that it no longer had a use now that it was broken, Itachi ceased his movements and cradled the creature in his hand.

"All things are precious, Sasuke,"

Itachi was brought back to the room he was currently forced to stay in until he eventually died. The memory brought upon him was unfamiliar, but it was sure that he had to experience it in order for him to remember things so vividly. Knowing himself as a child, he would have most likely brought it to the Inuzuka clan.

Now, as he turned his head toward the figure, he was equally curious. The figure beside his bed was most definitely Sasuke. But why? Why did his mind insist on taunting him with the one thing in his life that mattered? Why did fate have to be so cruel to give him another memory of his fallen brother? Wasn't living with his crimes enough?

The telltale feeling of the prickle of fresh tears began to emerge behind his eyes. On his right, the steady beeps that reminded him that he was alive began to skip their usual rhythm and radically bounce all over the place. His vision of Sasuke was abruptly replaced with the ceiling as the world around him began shaking.

What once was clear was now blurry again. Even now, the edges of his vision were black and the center blotting out into darkness. Numbness met the pain of the convulsing his body was unwillingly going through as the sound of rushing and voices filled his ears.

A low, steady beep met his ears before his world went black.

"-cart here! Uchiha-san is coding!" A nurse called out to a nearby orderly.

"Hurry up, we need 400ccs of-"

"-one contact Haruno-sama, she'll want-"

"-charging, and… clear!" It was silent for a moment as their patient's torso lifted toward the paddles before being abruptly brought down. The monitor flat lined. The doctor on duty's mouth formed a thin line. Haruno-san would kill him if he let him die. Besides, it went against the Hippocratic Oath. "Recharging!" he announced.

Some of the nurses looked puzzled, while the one who happened to be operating the machine seemed impassive to the entire situation and began recharging.

"Clear!"

"-you have any ramen? All I see is this green stuff and carrots." When Naruto finally shut the door, Sakura was right there waiting for him, arms crossed and disposition firmly set in an accusing façade. The blond stopped eating the tomato he found (a quirk that he encouraged ever since Sasuke died – Sakura did not have the heart to tell him that there are better ways to keep Sasuke's memory alive) and straightened his posture until it was in an upright position.

She offered him a flat look. "They're called vegetables, and they're good for you."

Naruto made a face at his companion. "So?" he began, the juice of the tomato flowing in between his fingers and down his chin, "They still taste disgusting – not gonna make me wanna eat them more if they're good for me, Sakura-chan, you know that."

The pink-haired medic-nin remained impassive. "Ah, how could I forget?" She teased before abruptly striking a pose (which included leaning forward as she put her left hand upon her hip while the other hand held a piece of spinach and thrashed it around wildly) at him. "Uzumaki Naruto: defender of Konoha, barer of the nine-tails-"

"-not to mention the greatest shinobi to ever live-"

"-and he drops dead in the battlefield due to lack of iron and a high sodium intake." Naruto grumbled to himself as Sakura took a deep breath, which was no doubt going to be another beginning of a lecture, "Really, Naruto-"

And by this time, Naruto had already tuned her out, spinach stalk flapping around and all.

"Why haven't you seen Itachi yet?" That most certainly had brought him back to the present. It was a question that had been nagging him for the past week, basically ever since Itachi had decided to grace Konoha with his presence. Out of everyone, Naruto assumed that everyone would think that he was going to visit Itachi first, because of his attachment of Sasuke; it was only natural to assume so. Instead, he had been avoiding the hospital like the plague, and considering that it had been a week since Naruto brought Sakura her favorite cookies with the little hearts on them, people were starting to notice.

Naruto eyed the piece of vegetable that Sakura was previously waving around. Angrily, he yanked it from its previous station and sniffed it. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Naruto tossed it back to Sakura and muttered to himself.

The one thing that Naruto didn't get was the fact that everyone just expected him to visit. They all expected him to excessively monopolize all of the Uchiha's time. Why did they even care? Did they not want him dead? Didn't they want the Uchiha name to die with Itachi? Why should Naruto visit him? Why should he visit the man that had been chasing him down since he could remember?

The pinkette's eyes creased with worry – this sort of behavior was so unlike Naruto, in fact, it was so unlike him that Sakura wasn't even sure that it was Naruto. Her suspicion immediately dissipated as soon as Naruto began rummaging around the kitchen, looking for some ramen.

The would-be Hokage paced around the kitchen table and plopped himself in one of the two chairs Sakura had in her kitchen. "You sure you don't have any ramen?" Inwardly, he winced, knowing that Sakura was going to have a field day with that one. Meaning that Sakura was going to either throw him into the dirt to have a taste of some worms, or that she was going to throw him out of the window to taste some tree bark. Neither was that appealing to him, especially since Kakashi had mentioned splinters on your tongue was downer when you had a sex-life.

The male decided that now was as good as ever to spare Sakura a sneaking glance; she did not look pleased, especially since Naruto refused to eat the piece of spinach she threw at him. "Naruto," she began sternly, adopting the motherly look that she had perfected so long ago. The blond scrunched his face up at the vegetables and opted not to answer the question Sakura prompted earlier. Of course, he could pretend that he had no idea what she was talking about, but Sakura knew that Naruto wasn't that stupid. "Naruto," she began sternly, and this time her arms were crossed against her chest, posture defining the epitome of agitated and weary. The medic-nin was simply exhausted. How Sakura managed to look like so many things at once, Naruto would never know, but for now, he supposed that he could just ignore her motherly attempts at punishing him, "why haven't you gone to visit him?" she asked again.

"What?" he finally asked, "Why should I? Why should I see the person who killed Sasuke's clan?"

The pinkette looked like she had been slapped in the face. "Naruto, you know the truth, don't you?" Sakura avoided his gaze. "I mean, why wouldn't you?" she mentioned, hugging her arms to herself and shifting from foot to foot. Suddenly, Sakura thought back to the moment she alluded that Itachi was being granted the gift of life. Naruto hadn't acted as surprised as someone should. In fact, he looked like he was expecting it now that she thought of it. "You do know, and you still don't want to see him!"

The man in the orange jumpsuit stared at his longtime teammate, previous crush and best friend. She would do anything for him, and he for her, but Kami forbid Naruto disagree with her on something as serious as this. Of all people, he should be the one who was angry. He should be the one who wanted the last Uchiha to die painfully as long as possible – not the villagers, not Kakashi and most certainly not Danzo.

Danzo. A sour feeling churned in his stomach like bad ramen. Naruto eyed the harsh violet bruise gracing Sakura's face; it was ugly and swollen on Sakura's normally smooth, porcelain skin. Why didn't she dodge him? Why didn't she hit him back? "Sakura-chan." He finally began, the roughness of previously clearing his throat arising again, "Why do you want him alive?"

"Because," she answered in a quiet voice, "Sasuke-kun would have wanted this." Sakura finally looked at him with a gaze that held all the emotions she was unwilling to express at the moment. When she was child, she would have been more than willing to bare her heart on her sleeve, but now as an adult Sakura knew that some things were better left unsaid.

The blond squinted at his teammate but nodded in recognition at her reasoning. Sakura loved Sasuke and Sasuke loved Itachi the most – it was only logical (as Kakashi called it so many times) for Sakura to naturally want to help the last thing reminding her of Sasuke.

"And how does that make him good?" Naruto whirled, the burning fire of anger creeping into his body. "Why did he kill his family? Why didn't he just walk away?"

"Because he had no choice, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "He – he was just a child! A boy of only thirteen! What other choice did he have other than to slaughter or to be slaughtered with them?" The medic-nin in her told her to calm down and to rationalize the situation. Everything she said seemed to be logical and level-headed – it was Naruto who wasn't making any sense.

Taking her sudden silence as permission to speak, Naruto continued on with his argument. "He could have said no, Sakura," Sakura's eyes widened – Naruto didn't add the honorific to her name – he always added the honorific. Was seeing Itachi so troubling to him? "He could have reasoned with them! He could have-"

The sound of Sakura's beeper going off interrupted their argument with a shrill whining. The beeper simply read 'CODE BLUE' in a marquee, and then the patient's room number and stationed nurse, which meant that someone was coding. Immediately, Sakura recognized who was residing in that room. She had to get there quick.

"I have to go." She said tersely, "But this conversation isn't over – you can't run away from everything."

But why didn't he want to see the last remaining piece of Sasuke, his best friend? Because Itachi had his eyes – and looking into them would be like looking into the torture Sasuke went through every day of his life. Naruto did not want to experience that first-hand when he had already lived a life of hell. It may be selfish, but it was true.

The words "poor" and "soul" were rarely ever used together in Kakashi's dialogue, unless it involved putting the word "unfortunate" in between them and including a certain pink-haired student of his. Those were the words he stringed together in a sentence today when he heard that Itachi was going to be put on trial for his "crimes" against the Uchiha family, the elders and Konoha. Even though he thought he had already prevented this issue by actually using formal documentation rather than orally declaring it. Unfortunately, it seemed that the elders had found some sort of loophole, and now they were trying to get in the middle of Sakura and her patient.

Although, Kakashi had no idea why those three subjects had to be separated when it would have been easily summarized with Konoha, but instead, the elders decided to be the raging bigots that they were and make a point in ostracizing the Uchiha clan and Konoha. He wasn't even going to dwell on the fact that the Uchiha clan was responsible for founding Konoha in the first place; therefore, making the entire argument that the Uchiha clan and Konoha were two separate and unrelated things completely invalid. Then again, mentioning this might just anger them further, and Kakashi most certainly did not want any of that.

"Hokage-sama?" His new assistant called anxiously, as if he might fire her at the drop of his ridiculously huge hat. Technically, he didn't fire the last three assistants, they all just up and quit when he asked them to read Icha Icha Violence out loud. It was literature – a wonderful read – and if they couldn't see that then they should just leave.

So they did.

Kakashi stared at the summons scroll before him. "Yes?"

"Shouldn't I being doing something?" she inquired, eager to please one of Konoha's most famous and strongest ninja.

The Copy Ninja smirked beneath his mask, and anyone who knew him well enough would have noticed; unfortunately for her, his new assistant wouldn't. "There are many things you should be doing, for example, I could make you do my laundry if you want?" The girl made a face. "No? How about cleaning my bathroom?"

The blond squinted at him and frowned. "Have I offended you, Hokage-sama?"

"Offended?" he asked, bemused, "No."

She blushed suddenly. "I beg your pardon, Hokage-sama-"

"You're pardoned." He retorted, smirking beneath his mask. His assistant blinked for a few sparing moments before huffing at him and walking away. She slammed the door to his office shut; that most certainly was not in character for an assistant, especially his assistant. Then, as if they forgot something, they slammed open the door and threw a piece of paper at his desk.

"I quit!"

"Very well." He stated with a wave of his hand. His former assistant fumed, let out an enraged cry and left the room. Kakashi couldn't bother to feel sorry for them; he had more important matters to attend to, such as reading Icha Icha and ignoring the duties of the Hokage.

The man gulped deeply.

Sakura suddenly let out an enraged cry, effectively frightening the messenger and nearly beheading a nurse that happened to cross her path with a pair of scissors that she had in her hand. "What. Is this?" She asked, shoving the unraveled scroll in the messenger's face.

The messenger got wide-eyed and began to panic silently. "Haruno-san, you're not supposed to show that to me-"

Sakura clenched and unclenched her jaw. The elders and their loyal subjects were really starting to get on her nerves, especially this spineless jellyfish that thought it was appropriate to grace her with his presence. The look on Sakura's face was pure and unadulterated murderous intent. Her fingers curled around the standard office chair behind her in a vice-like grip, and at that moment, the messenger knew it was either get out of the way or die.

"And I'm also not supposed to do this!"

Thankfully, being a ninja and knowing Sakura's reputation had its many advantages, and the few people that were in the pathway of the chair managed to dive out of the way before it promptly smacked their heads off of their shoulders.

The chair crashed into the wall and fell onto one of the computers, leaving a nice dent. Then, Sakura began trouncing down the hallway, shoving anyone (except patients) who was in her way.

Sure, Sakura felt bad about destroying the hospital, but she really didn't care right now. She did care, but the anger fogging her brain was preventing her from feeling anything remotely close to remorse. Sakura stomped down the hall purposefully, ready to tear apart anyone who dared to step in front of her and stop her.

By now, an alert message had been passed throughout the hospital telling all staff members to stop Haruno Sakura at all costs. The kunoichi snorted at the announcement – they made her sound like she was a wild animal, not just a very angry woman. A nearby nurse decided that it was appropriate to attempt to stop her. The elders would probably give her a promotion. Sakura inwardly sneered at that. "Haruno-san! You can't just destroy the hospital!"

"If you don't let go of my arm, I'll break it off and beat you with the bloody stump!" she snapped. For such a short girl, she sure could be intimidating. The nurse released her arm and opted to send someone to detain her instead. Sakura caught wind of that and rolled her eyes. As if they could detain her.

"Hey Sakura, I need to you look over some-" Sakura promptly ripped Kiba's clipboard out of his hands (she didn't even want to ponder on why he was in the hospital, requesting that she look over some order forms, in the first place) and broke it in half before handing it back to him, "-shit, never mind, then." What did he need with medical charts anyway? His sister was the medic-nin, wasn't she? Behind her, doctors and nurses scrambled to salvage what was left of the broken computer.

The medic-nin continued to destroy everything in her path (granted, it probably should have been Kakashi's office and not the hospital) until she reached her office. "Sakura." A commanding and slightly amused voice called out behind her.

Sakura frowned and pivoted on her heel. "Kakashi-sensei, they can't do this-"

"Actually, they can." Kakashi retorted in a way that only the Hokage could. "You're only making matters worse, Sakura." He put a calming hand on her shoulder.

The pinkette shrugged him off. "Did you tell him?" she asked softly as she reeled her anger into check. Sakura felt horrible for her outburst. She was in her twenties; she was not a twelve year old, damnit! One disappointed look from Tsunade-sama and Kakashi, and Sakura knew that she was going to have to issue an apology. At least she didn't have to face Tsunade yet. The medic-nin shuddered to herself; even though she was her mentor, that woman would not hesitate to rip her a new one and then some.

"I was on my way when I caught wind of your outburst," he paused, sending her another look, "but you could if you prefer." He sent her a rakish grin, however, she could not see it – Sakura still knew it was there.

"I don't prefer anything, Kakashi-sensei." She replied snootily, heading towards the door, despite the fact that she had just denied his accusations. "I'd appreciate it if you would stop setting me up with former criminals." She sent him a cheeky smile, to which he glared at, and caused her great joy.

Sakura calmly made her way down the hallway, to the elevator and down another hallway until she reached Itachi's room. Assuming that he would want at least a little bit of privacy, Sakura knocked on his door before entering.

"Haruno-san." He murmured quietly.

Sakura mustered a smile. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

Itachi did not reply; he just stared at the IV and other wires that were connected to his body as if to say "how do you think I'm feeling?"

The medic-nin cleared her throat awkwardly. "Right. Well, you had hallucinations this morning, right?"

Uchiha Itachi nodded and stared at the ceiling. Sakura nodded to herself and scrabbled on her clipboard. "One." His voice sliced through the silence, startling Sakura and nearly ruining all the notes that she was currently scribbling onto his chart. Ah, so his attending doctor was exaggerating.

"I would like to check up on your eyes, Uchiha-san if that's okay." It didn't matter if it was not okay because Sakura was already at his side, pressing the proper button for lifting up the top half of his bed. The Uchiha nodded and opened his eyes wide enough for her to see.

With her penlight on hand, her breath caught in her throat. He looked so depressed. His eyes were sad and hollow; she had never seen Sasuke's eyes like that before. Granted, she was not sure if she preferred sadness to anger and revenge, but that was not the point. The point was that Itachi was depressed, and he wasn't just enduring the depression that most terminal patients go through, he was mourning the loss of his brother.

It was at that moment when Sakura realized that Itachi really had nothing, that he was truly alone. She put away her flashlight and decided that she could check them later. "Uchiha-san," she prompted hesitantly, "would you like to see the gardens?" Sakura flinched – she was an idiot. Great, now she sounded like a woman crushing on another handsome man.

Itachi raised a perfect brow at her. The pinkette twitched. "Uh – you know, not like that!" she stuttered, and regarded Itachi's still raised brow. "I meant, to – uh – to, lift your spirits and such! I figured you could use a little sun." For good measure, Sakura displayed an annoyingly bright smile. He stared at her with a vacant expression and continued to watch her with one until the smile dropped from her face. Wait, was he –

"You are my doctor, are you not?"

Oh, he was so mocking her. And here she thought Uchihas were the serious, calculating type. At least, Sakura thought to herself, that is what Sasuke was like. Sakura twitched. "Yes." She answered flatly. He lowered his eyebrow back to its proper spot and stared. Sakura would have squirmed under her gaze if she didn't think he was like Kakashi, and Sakura was beginning to think that he was just as sadistic as the current Hokage. Like a true Uchiha, he neither confirmed nor denied her decision.

But this wasn't Sasuke, a voice reminded her; Itachi isn't Sasuke.

Sakura moved her eyes to meet his in a challenging glare, but she did not expect herself to stumble in her quest to defy him. The male bore his eyes through her soul, penetrating every part of her being; ripping her open with one single look. It was amazing. Never had she been so captured within someone's gaze. And just like that, he blinked, and it was over. Itachi barely attempted to hide the amused look in his eyes; it was as if he wanted her to know. It wasn't until she noticed the sudden change in his eyes (Sasuke's eyes – they were one in the same, and that was how Sasuke expressed himself) that she realized she was staring. At him, rather intently, actually. The pink-haired kunoichi huffed to herself and rolled her eyes at his look. "I'll go get a wheelchair."

He didn't voice any protests if he had any, and she was glad that he didn't, otherwise she was positive that she would have lodged his head into a doorknob. She ran a hand through her hair, more to ebb away at the frustration building up in her chest rather than to get the rose tinted tangles out. Sakura was angry at herself for allowing herself to be caught staring like that. Thank Kami she didn't swoon or do something as equally as ridiculous as that. Now that would have been awful to explain.

As she stomped away to retrieve a wheel chair, Sakura made a point to avoid looking into the eyes of her peers. She knew what she would see. They would look disgusted that she had willingly agreed to this. They would look disappointed that such an aspiring medic-nin would give up her reputation for a criminal. They would view her as a traitor because she was keeping Itachi alive. People talked about her, Sakura knew that, but now she knew that positive words were going to be spared in favor of negative ones.

Yet, as Sakura's shoes squeaked against the floor, she kept her head high because she didn't care.

The attendant froze immediately. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes and she made her way toward one of the nicer wheelchairs. Wordlessly, Sakura removed a wheelchair from the station and rolled it back to Itachi's room.

They made it to the garden just as everyone else was simultaneously leaving. Sakura suspected that it was because they were afraid of Itachi. Or her. Then again, it could be the combination of the both of them. Even though it annoyed Sakura greatly every time someone sent a worrying look her way, she knew that it was for the best if they were alone.

The garden was lavish, as usual – it also wasn't a garden. Since most patients were forbidden to leave the hospital, let alone allowed to go outside for a few minutes, a greenhouse converted into a conservatory was built to give the patients the nutrients only plants could provide, i.e. fresh air.

The medic-nin wheeled him next to a bench, and offered her hand. "I am fine." He murmured in an assuring voice.

Sakura nodded to let him know that she acknowledged his independence by scooting a few inches over but she remained close just in case his body decided to revolt against him. Itachi made it onto the bench just fine. This left Sakura hovering over him until she awkwardly straightened her back and twiddled her thumbs on the bench beside him. The medic-nin left a good foot between them. He isn't Sasuke, she repeated, and that makes him unpredictable.

Now that they were alone and seated, there was the matter of breaking the news of the trial to Itachi. Sakura assumed that he would not be pleased about it for various reasons. One of them being that he wanted to die, and peacefully at that, so it really didn't matter if he was going to be put to death – he was going to die anyway if he had anything to do with it.

The pinkette opened her mouth to say something but inhaled a breath instead. Itachi would notice; he was a ninja after all. He didn't motion or even twitch in her direction. Damn, he was really hard to read.

"You are…" she trailed off. Would he get angry like Sasuke or Naruto would? Or would he take it silently like Kakashi-sensei? Or would he do something else? "… Ah, well, the elders thought it was appropriate to-" Sakura cut herself off and sighed to herself. She was acting ridiculous, "- to try you for your crimes against Konoha."

Itachi didn't say anything – he wasn't even moving, nor had he moved an inch since Sakura wheeled him into the conservatory. The medic-nin thought it would be a healing process for him, but perhaps she was foolish to think that aspect. The man didn't even want to live anymore. How was Sakura going to convince him to fight for himself throughout the trial?

The trial – that was going to be a circus.

Sakura was miffed. Itachi wasn't saying anything – nothing at all! "Aren't you going to say anything? Grunt? Move your eyes – anything?" She inquired, enunciating the last word. "Aren't you the least bit mad or – or pissed at them?"

The raven haired man remained completely stoic as he fixed his gaze on her form. "No." he replied, his tone calm. "But I believe that it is none of your business, Haruno-san." He added; his tone slightly clipped compared to his previous comment.

A bit taken aback at his statement, Sakura continued to stare at him with a doe-eyed expression. She opened her mouth to retort but stopped herself short. He was right. It was none of her business. Sure, he was her patient, and that gave her some access to things that would be otherwise private, but Sakura had no business sticking her nose into his trial or how he felt about it. Yes, she had been pulled into this, but it was only because she needed to understand the situation in order to heal him. Sakura was really only there to make sure that he was taken care of – it was what Sasuke would have wanted. Sasuke would have wanted this, right?

The pink-haired kunoichi observed her ill companion surreptitiously. He was more slender than what could be considered healthy for a shinobi in service, and that was saying a lot. His complexion was gaunt, much like what a living corpse looked like, and Sakura knew that a living corpse looked like. Then there was the fact that he was sick, ridden with a disease that Sakura could not seem to find the cure to. Would Sasuke want this? Did Sasuke want his brother to die like this? No. No. Sasuke would not have wanted this.

Sakura stood up from her position and placed her hands upon her hips. "That may be true, Uchiha-san, but Sasuke is my teammate; and since he asked me to take care of you, it's my duty to do so, and that includes this trial."

His stare remained locked on her, and Sakura swore that his lips twitched. "It seems that you are the only person who thinks that, Haruno-san."

Naruto clenched and unclenched his hands. He had been standing in front of the hospital room for about an hour, and the head nurse was getting annoyed by his antics, or lack thereof, rather. As if she knew that he was thinking about her, the head nurse sent him another pointed look which probably meant something along the lines of "move it or lose it, kid." Well, she could stare at him all day if she wanted to, but there was no way that Naruto was going to set foot into that antiseptic-infested room any time soon.

If he was going to be honest with himself, Naruto would admit that he was nervous. No – he was terrified. He was terrified at the idea of approaching the man that had spent nearly half his life hunting him down. Countless shinobi had been trained specifically to fight off Uchiha Itachi. In the bingo book, he was a kill on sight target – there was no consideration in the matter. If someone spotted Uchiha Itachi, they were to engage until death.

How Izumo and Kotetsu managed to get away with allowing Itachi into the village without at least throwing a good punch or two, Naruto would never know. No doubt they would eventually pay for it one way or another. Though, Naruto couldn't think of a worse punishment other than gate duty or finding lost ninja cats.

Okay, it was now or never. You can do this. Slowly, but surely, Naruto allowed his hand to come into contact with the door knob. His fingers twitched in anticipation as a bead of sweat gradually began to form upon his brow. "Naruto-kun?" A barely audible voice beckoned from behind him, causing him to flinch and his hand to jolt back to his side.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto spun around to greet the ever-blushing Hyuuga with right hand behind his head and the other firmly set at his side. "What, uh, what are you doing here?" The blonde winced at his question. Asking Hinata – a fully trained medic-nin who worked at the hospital from time to time in between missions – what she was doing at the hospital was like asking Sakura why her hair was pink. "I mean, what brings you here?" He cleared his throat, "outside of… outside of… outside-"

Hinata put a hand to her mouth to stifle the giggle that was trying to escape her diaphragm. "Out-outside of-" Hinata became frustrated with herself. It wasn't because she was blushing again, oh no, she was far too used to the sensation to even bother trying to cover it up now, let alone try avoid it. She has known Naruto for practically her whole life – it was ridiculous, whether she was in love with him or not, to constantly stutter around the man. "-Uchiha-san's room?" she finished.

"Yeah…" he trailed off. It was stupid; Naruto had faced Itachi numerous times on the battlefield – he even let the man shove a crow down his throat. So why was it so hard to just visit him? Naruto knew the answer, but he didn't want to come to terms with it, not yet.

"I-I," Hinata swallowed the lump that always seemed to form when Naruto was around, "I kn-now that Sas-Sasuke was your friend," she blushed fiercely but thankfully did not faint, however, she was feeling a little light-headed. "He would want this."

After a few seconds of tense deliberation from Naruto's part, the blond boy smiled widely and clapped a hand upon Hinata's shoulder. "Thanks Hinata-chan! You're a great friend!" He pivoted on his heel and put his hand on the latch of the door.

"Y-yeah…" Hinata promptly turned purple and she plummeted to the ground, rather ungracefully, too. A nurse came to her rescue, kneeling beside her and fanning her blush in an attempt to wake up the Hyuuga clan heiress.

The Kyuubi container finally turned the latch on the door and entered the sterile room. Naruto winced at the sight of Sasuke's older brother. His skin was pale with his face sunken. Itachi looked at least ten years older than his actual age. Sakura had mentioned that his health was not the best it could be, but she didn't mention that Itachi looked like a skeleton. It was then when Naruto noticed all the wires and IVs hooked up to Itachi's body.

Naruto wasn't stupid, he knew the signs – he had seen the face of death enough times to notice when it was going to strike. However, it was never quite like this. Being an orphan and shinobi, Naruto never really had a chance to witness the painful death which diseases resulted in.

But he did now.

Itachi was dying.

He was resting now. Naruto would be sure to thank the gods for their favor later. Knowing that Sakura would somehow find out that he did not spend time with the older Uchiha brother, Naruto crossed over to the only chair within the room and placed himself in it.

"You're not awake." Naruto said observantly. Itachi remained asleep, though Naruto wondered if he was just pretending to be asleep to avoid the rather awkward "you're not gonna steal the Bijuu from my body, are you?" conversation.

Don't forget me.

Out of all the things Sasuke said in his letter, that was the one thing he had requested. He didn't ask Naruto to take care of his brother. He didn't ask him to do anything, really; all he wanted was to be remembered. Oh, Sasuke would be remembered. Whether it would be for his crimes of passion, or the unbelievable sacrifice he made for his older brother.

"If Sasuke knew…" Naruto stopped. What was he supposed to say? He wasn't Sasuke. Sure, he knew Sasuke - and he was probably the closest thing the young man had to a best friend, but Naruto didn't know if this is what Sasuke wanted. Did he want Itachi to suffer? Did he even know that Itachi was going to be like this?

Itachi shifted suddenly, startling Naruto out of his thoughts, and bracing his frail body on his forearms. Wordlessly, he retrieved the jug of water and poured himself a glass. It was a difficult task, but he was grateful that Naruto let him do it himself. The ice was slightly melted, so Itachi suspected that he had been sleeping for a few hours. He also had a new bag of nutrients hooked up; no doubt something that Sakura thought would cure him.

"Sorry!" he said apologetically, "I didn't mean to wake you up!"

Itachi shifted his gaze to Naruto. He lifted the cup to his lips and sipped the water, allowing it to quench his dry throat and tongue. "It is alright." He murmured.

Naruto was a bit taken aback that he was speaking him and not grunting a noncommittal response like Sasuke normally would. Stop comparing him to Sasuke – he isn't Sasuke. "So… uh, you're sick?" he blurted out.

To his credit, Itachi didn't even waver, despite his poor health. "Yes."

Then it dawned on him. That's why Sakura wanted him to visit the hospital so much, because this might be his only chance to get closure before Itachi bought the farm. "You're really sick, right?" It wasn't a question; it was a confirmation.

"It is none of your concern." His tone was final, leaving no room for argument.

No. He couldn't let his happen – he couldn't let Sasuke's memory, what Sasuke did for his brother, especially after he sacrificed his life for Itachi – no, Naruto couldn't let Itachi die. Not like this. "You will live." He retorted. "If not for the sake of Sakura's sanity, then for Sasuke."

"I will die, Naruto." Itachi stated with such finality that the Hokage mountain would have been shaken to the core had it not been solid rock. "No amount of words can change that."

Naruto set his mouth in firm, determined line.

"You're wrong."

TBC

Beta readers:
Paisley May
Ashlee Ash

A/N: Remeber to review! Send me some feedback and how you think its gonna turn out, or how you would like it to turn out. Great ideas come from the littlest suggestions. Gimme some love, please. :) LOLOLOLOL. I suck. I do. I can't believe "LOLOLOLOL" is in my word dictionary. Anyways. Enjoy! Updates will be regular – I promise! Reviews are love.

Questions to Answer:

Iruka! Where is Iruka? Where you left him, I didn't forget about him.

Why won't Sakura heal her bruise? Because she wants people to look at it.

Who is the father of Ino's child? That's a secret.

Any other questions you have, let me know and I'll answer them the best I can next chapter!