Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Set Fire to the Rain ❯ God Only Knows What I'm Fighting For ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 2: God Only Knows What I'm Fighting For


“Close enough to start a war …

All that I have is on the floor …

God only knows what we're fighting for …

All that I say, you always say more …

I can't keep up with your Turning Tables …

Under your thumb, I can't breathe ...”
Adele - “Turning Tables”


The white daffodils turned their heads up to the morning sun, as if seeking its warming rays.  The flowers were set in a small, clear vase against the window sill of the third hospital room on the third floor of the building.  The clock on the wall read 9:00am.  The general atmosphere of the Konoha Hospital was rather peaceful and calm with only a few resident patients in attendance … one of which included a young man with spiky black hair named Uchiha Sasuke.  It seemed like clockwork that a certain pink-haired kunoichi would come and check-in at the reception desk and make her way to the hospital bedroom that Sasuke resided in.  The young woman was dressed in a red sleeveless top that was partially zipped up with a white tank top underneath, black mid-thigh length shorts, a short grey apron skirt, and knee-length boots.  She wore her pink hair in the same fashion as her shishou, with the front strands of her hair at shoulder-length framing her facial features while the rear strands of her hair were parted into two individual pigtails that reached the middle of her back.  She carried with her a small brown basket with two daffodils that she had just bought from the Yamanaka Flowers shop a few blocks down the street from the hospital.

Sliding the door of Sasuke's room open, Haruno Sakura entered his room closing the door behind her.  She graciously walked the right side of his bedside approaching the table that had the two flowers in them from the previous couple of days.  From the brown basket, Sakura unwrapped the white daffodils from the clear plastic wrap that held the two flowers together and clipped the tips of the flower stems with a pair of scissors.

“I brought you fresh flowers, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura uttered to the unconscious young man that laid next to her, “I hope you like them,” she smiled to herself as she exchanged the old flowers with the new ones, quickly disposing of the old ones in the trashcan next to the bed. Sakura then turned her green eyes down towards Sasuke's fair complexion.  She felt a small cringe creep up into her chest as she tried to suppress the frown she felt with a small smile.  Turning her attention to the blue sky above her, she pushed back the white curtains a little, opening the window slightly to let in some fresh air.  She instantly felt the cool breeze of the morning wind wash against her cheeks, filling her senses and making a flush …

“It's a beautiful day today, Sasuke-kun. So peaceful …,” Sakura smiled warmly as she pushed back some of her hair behind her ear. Feeling consumed by the gentle breeze and gleaming sun, She sat herself on the window sill looking out at her village.  To her right she could see the main street filled with people going in and out of the small shops and restaurants.  The main street led to the Hokage's office which was built in front of a mountain with craved images of the five Hokages that protected this land for many generations. To her left was a valley terrain with small communities of villagers that resided in Konoha.  This was her home.  Her precious leaf. The everyday livelihood of her people had once again restored itself, and she was more than grateful of this fact …

'If only …'

Sakura turned her soft green gaze over to Sasuke's gentle face. For the pass two years, Sakura would come and watch over the Uchiha in hopes of giving some comfort to him. For two long hopeless years, she waited and she prayed for her dear friend to awaken from his slumber. For two long years … she held the pain of watching Sasuke lay in this bed day after day after day. Even though Sakura was facilitated to watch over and care for Sasuke, to her it was more than just watching his vital signs and heart rate. No … it was much more personal to her.  Sakura wanted to give him love and comfort in hopes that her own efforts would someday pull him out of the coma …

'Sasuke-kun …'

In a sense, it was also giving her that comfort and hope just by watching over him. She prayed for him, read to him, spoke to him …. I so desperately wished that all of her efforts would not be left in vain. By doing this, the pain of seeing the man that she loved laying before her grew less and less dreadful.

Sakura stood from her seat on the window sill and walked over to the other side of Sasuke's bed, taking another seat much closer to him in a chair.  Her body arched, leaning over slightly to look deeply onto his fair-skinned face.  The scars on his face were now less visible than what they used to be.  She personally treated his exterior wounds as well as healed and reformed the structure of his broken leg bones and dislocated shoulder.  She alone cleared his forehead of his long spiky black hair from his face and wiped the cold sweat from his brow when fever caught him.  She remained at his bedside as much as she could, even in-between missions.  Sakura could not stand not being beside him, let alone wanting to miss him if he would have ever awakened ...

'But when … will you, Sasuke-kun?'

Sakura stretched out her right hand to caress Sasuke's left cheek as her left hand touched his hand, slightly grasping it into her own.  His body was still, yet warm like he was just simply sleeping.  Her eyes narrowed as her fingertips lingered over his cheeks down to his chin, tracing his strong features.  She once again felt that tight cringe of her aching heart for him.  How deeply she missed his charming smile, his smooth voice and deep onyx eyes that she so desperately fell in love with when they were younger.  The deep love she felt for Sasuke was unconditional. She would give anything and everything just to hear his voice again.  The memories of the past consumed her almost instantly …

--------

Uzumaki Naruto sat up in his hospital bed. His arms, hangs, as well as his head was bandaged due to the injuries he had acquired during his brutal fight with his closet friend, Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto had fully recovered from his injuries after two weeks of being unconscious from the severe wounds inflicted upon him.  Lady Hokage stood in front of Sasuke's bed as he laid motionless. Yamanaka Inoichi and Morino Ibiki stood to the right of her as they spoke amongst themselves. Sasuke's overall state of mind was beginning to suffer a few days after the incident. In addition to his wounds, his state of mind was inadvertently suppressing his subconscious, and to this affect, caused him to slip into a prolonged coma. For the pass two weeks, Ibiki and Inoichi supervised the mental tests at the Konoha Intelligence Division in order to gather information as well as figure out what was the primary cause for Sasuke to slip into the coma.  However, to much regret and despair, the testing proved to be despondent.

Sakura sat in a chair next to Sasuke's motionless body, clutching onto his left hand.  Her downward gaze fixated on the Uchiha's subtle features.  Hatake Kakashi, as well as Shizune, stood in front of the hospital room door. They all conjugated within this room, discussing the conditions of Sasuke. Something was not right …

“Morino,” Tsunade spoke firmly, turning her attention to Ibiki, “What can we conclude from the results?”

Ibiki presumably handed Tsunade papers indicating Sasuke's charts of detailed analysis of his brain waves and response systems, “From looks of things according to the report, Sasuke's subconscious seems to be incoherent.”

“Incoherent?” Kakashi uttered, questionably, “What does that mean?”

“Yes,” Ibiki responded, “Something within Sasuke's mind as been manipulated and blocked away from his conscious mind. So much to this effect that it has hindered him from regaining consciousness at all.”

“Ibiki is right,” Inoichi exclaimed, nodding in response, “However, in addition to this, when we took him to the Intelligence Division to run the tests, I peered deeper into his subconscious … it's almost unexplainable really.” he lowered his gaze at Sasuke.

Sakura's green eyes glimmered in fear as she turned her gaze upwards looking at her master, “What is? What has happened to Sasuke-kun?” Her voice a bit cracked as she became desperate to hold back the tears welling within her eyes.

“In other words,” Tsunade paused for a brief moment to accurately prepare her next words, “Someone has implanted a block within Sasuke's mind. Something is suppressing his subconscious memories and secret from himself. In other words, keeping him from knowing his own thoughts. At the very least, we can be assured that is effect must be caused by Uchiha Madara. Furthermore, whether it be about the whereabouts of Madara's hiding or anything of that sort, we, ourselves, have no way of infiltrating Sasuke's mind and finding out.”

“With this much blockage of Sasuke's subconscious state from his conscious awareness, there is no telling if he will ever remember anything about anyone, let alone himself,” Inoichi added.

Naruto's narrowed his eyes stared down at his bandaged hands, grazing his empty palms as his eyes glazed over with defeat. He then gripped them into fists as his expressionless face and narrowed eyes glared at them.

“Hokage-sama, if Sasuke should ever wake up again, he will have no recollection of anything. It would be even more doubtful if he would even remember his own name.” Ibiki stated, confirming this to Tsunade.

Tsunade gritted her teeth, becoming more and more flustered by these sudden turn of events. Nevertheless, the possibility of the situation becoming worse was inevitable ...

“Tsunade-sama,” Shizune spoke, regrettably, “the Elders ...”

Tsunade closed her eyes in frustration and cursed to herself in slight anger, “Yes, it would seem that they have their hands in this now too.”

Sakura looked up at her master with confusion, “What do you mean, Shishou? What will the Elders do to Sasuke-kun?”

Tsunade turned and walked over to the window to look out at the construction of the buildings in the far distance of the village. She sighed as she placed her hands on her hips and spoke firmly, “If he should wake up from his coma, the Elders will prosecute Uchiha Sasuke to the fullest extent of the law for crimes against the village. In other words, he will be declared a criminal of war.”

Sakura's heart sank lower than ever before. Her eyes trembled as her master's words repeated over and over in her mind, “No … no t-they … they can't-”

“It was only a matter of time, Sakura!” Tsunade's voice grew louder as she gave her young pupil a forceful look, “Uchiha Sasuke has long before been labeled as a rogue ninja. In addition for him being in cahoots with the Akatsuki, and not to mention with the murder of Shimura Danzo, he plotted and acted on taking out Konoha for good!” Sakura gasped as her own voice became and her breathing shallow. Tsunade had to be firm with her in order for Sakura to realize the full extent of Sasuke's own hands in his doing, “I'm sorry, Sakura. Although I am Hokage, the ruling over Sasuke's fate is overthrown when there is two against one. There is only so much I can do.”

She gripped Sasuke's hand tighter in her own as if someone was pulling him away from her at that instant. Everything surrounding them seemed to disappear in the blackness of sorrow and angst.

“Damn it!!” Naruto's fist balled up as he gripped the his sheets on both sides of him and gritted his teeth, “They … they can't do that! When he wakes up, Sasuke won't even be able to remember anything … I … he ...” Naruto started to curse himself, gripping the necklace that he now wore around his neck with his left hand as he continued to grip the sheets.

'Naruto …' Kakashi gazed upon the blonde-haired teen in sorrow, 'Up to this point, it has been nothing less of bad news one after the another.' he then turned his narrowed gaze over to Sakura's trembling body, 'if Sasuke ever wakes up, what will you do, Sakura?'

Tsunade closed her eyes facing the window as Inoichi and Ibiki watched the blonde teen shadow his eyes from the rest of them as he continued to curse …

“Damn it! Why … why couldn't save him? I didn't want to fight Sasuke. I didn't want it like this … not like this-”

“Naruto.” Sakura broke Naruto away from his words as she leaned down further and touched the side of Sasuke face, “No one is blaming you for this … not even me.”

Naruto turned his face up to look at Sakura as hot tears began to well up in his eyes …

'Sakura-chan ...'

“I was weak as well, Naruto. I couldn't stop you … I couldn't him from what was inevitable. I wasn't strong enough. At this very moment, I still feel weak. But we can't continue to linger on about it. We have to finally face the fact that … that we can no longer help Sasuke-kun. Not like this … not anymore …”

Sakura's words filled the room like a piercing blade of hopelessness as they all fell silent.  Defeat had finally washed over them all. Nothing more could be done for the Uchiha. All they could do was wait ...

Naruto eased his grip on his bedsheets as silent tears slipped from his eyes and trailed down his face. His deep blue eyes became shadowed once again from the people in the room. Tsunade turned to Sakura as she crossed her arms underneath her huge bust.

“Nevertheless … Sakura. I am placing you in charge of facilitating Sasuke's condition. If anything, even if he shows the slightest twitch, you are to report straight to me and only me, understood?”

Sakura hung her head low as her hair shadowed her sorrowful face, “Y-yes, shishou...” she replied, dispiritedly.

Tsunade immediately left the room with Shizune in toe as Inoichi and Ibiki followed after as well closing the door behind them.  The only remaining people in the room were the old Team 7, all of which hung their heads in sadness and defeat over the fate of their comrade ...

-----

Soft tears suddenly escaped from the eyes of the pink-haired kunoichi. She so desperately clutched onto the Uchiha's hand with both of her own as she stared down at his face.  Sakura felt total and utter emptiness. The torment of seeing the man that she loved in his presence state ate at her heart and soul. It consumed her more than it did when Sasuke first left the village to seek out Orochimaru to plot his revenge against his brother, Uchiha Itachi. No … this pain … this everlasting angst that consumed her was much different than before. She had always longed to take his hand into hers, to caress his cheek, to gaze upon his subtle face; it was her dream to be close to Sasuke, … but she did not ever wanted to her hopes and dreams to come true like this …

'I never wanted it to be like this, Sasuke-kun …'

Her lips began to tremble as her silent tears turned into soft sobs. She wanted to do more for him; so much more. She wanted to hold him close to her so he could feel her heart pounding in her chest; so he could feel the warmth of her body. Then, perhaps maybe … maybe this would bring him back to her. If he could hear her cries, if he could hear her sorrowful voice, if he could just see her heart and know … finally know how much she really loved him, … if he could only just open his eyes again and look at her one last time, maybe … just maybe he could know everything she had ever wanted to say to him; all the feelings that she balled up inside of her …

'Just look at me, Sasuke-kun …. open your eyes!'

How did she ever come to love him? A man that was once a boy who did not care to even give her a passing glance.  A boy that she became infatuated with.  How could she ever still love him? A boy that grew up into a man … a man that turned his back against everyone he has ever known, even to her. How dare she still be in love with him? In love with a man that almost destroyed her friends, her family, and her home. How could she be in love with him still?

'I have to know why … just open your eyes, Sasuke-kun. Please! … Please!'

Sakura threw herself onto Sasuke's body, hugging his upper body close to her own as her hands held his tighter and her tears landed on his face …

“Sasuke-kun … please … open your eyes! Wake up! … Please, wake up! … Sasuke-kun ...”

It was at that moment that Sasuke's left hand began to twitch slightly.  Sakura gasped in utter shock as she withdrew from holding him and stared down at his face.  Sasuke's breathing started to become more smooth and rhythmic as his face and lips trembled while making an audible grunt. Sakura stared at him motionless, her breath caught in her throat not fully able to comprehend what was happening before her.  Suddenly, Sasuke's onyx eyes began to slowly come into view as they immediately met Sakura's glassy green eyes.  His vision was weak, but slowly matured into clarity as he gazed upon the pink-haired woman that was drawn closer to his face.

“S-S-Sa-suke-kun..?”

Sasuke gazed up at the woman as his lips parted slightly, trying to speak …

“... Y-you ...”

The door to the hospital room then opened as Yamanaka Ino entered to check on Sasuke, “Sakura, hey, how is- ...” Ino's voice halted as she saw the now conscious Uchiha awake and trying to sit up in his bed, “Oh... Oh my goodness, S-Sasuke-kun is awake … Sasuke-kun is awake!” Ino ran out of the room at that moment to notify someone immediately.

Sakura was still in awe, clutching onto Sasuke's hand as he positioned himself up in the bed. The black-haired Uchiha looked upon the woman in slight confusion and wonder as she stared up at him.

“S-Sasuke-kun...”

Sasuke withdrew his hand a little from her grasp in a bit of confusion …

“I'm … I'm sorry, but … do I know you?”
Converting /tmp/phpMXJorZ to /dev/stdout