Chapter 21

He moved his head to rest in the palm of his left hand as he extended his right arm over to her, where she began to wipe it gently with the washcloth. He sighed slightly, grateful that there was nobody in the room to witness what was going on; he felt embarrassed by his helplessness. He was actually a little angry about what had happened too—he had looked like a fool in front of all those people at the hospital, tripping over things that Sakura could have warned him about—completely missing that she had been trying to help him to begin with before they had even left the room. He clenched his jaw tightly and scowled; what fools the Uchihas must appear to be now.

"Turn your head towards me, Sasuke," Sakura ordered and he reluctantly complied.

The washcloth came to his face as Sakura gently removed anything smeared on. He couldn't understand her—she said she wanted to help him, yet she let him disgrace himself, and seemed to have found it amusing too. He suddenly winced as the washcloth came dangerously close to his eyes.

"Be careful!" he exclaimed irritably, flinching backwards away from her, trying to protect his sensitive eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but I'm going to have to get close; we can't risk infection," she replied apologetically.

He grunted and allowed the washcloth to come in contact with his face again, bracing against the pain when she got a little too close to the sore area. After a few more minutes she took the cloth away and stood again. Her footsteps receded as he heard her rinse the washcloth out in the sink of the bathroom that was located somewhere at the other end of his room.

He turned away from her when she came back, he was still mad about how she had treated him. A sigh came from behind him and then he felt her pulling twigs and leaves from his hair. His foul mood darkened.

"I wish you would stop sulking, Sasuke," Sakura said from behind him, "It's very childish."

He felt her hands come away from him, followed by the sound of a few steps, then the rustle of a garbage bag as the leaves and twigs were dropped inside. A cupboard was opened somewhere and there was rummaging for a few seconds before it was closed again. Behind him, he could sense Sakura approaching once more, and then after a moment, a gauze bandage was rested against his eyes, being wound about his head. He waited patiently until Sakura tied the bandage before lying down on his bed and curling up into a ball.

"Why did you let me make a fool out of myself, Sakura?" he demanded, facing away from her, "I thought you wanted to help me."

"I tried to, but you wouldn't let me," she said in an exasperated tone, and he felt the corner of the mattress by his feet sink as she sat down, "You insisted that you 'could manage fine on your own'."

He curled up slightly tighter, feeling angry. "Perhaps I am too used to being independent," he hated saying it out loud, feeling vulnerable because she knew him that well.

"Well, I can't imagine that this is easy," Sakura murmured sympathetically, "I mean, after all, it must be terrible to be blinded. But there was nothing you could do, right? So it's not your fault you're in this state."

At that moment, Sasuke remembered every single reason why he had never liked Sakura. Her ironic, yet true, words awakened something within him; she couldn't understand him—she knew nothing about what he had been through. She had tried to associate with him even though she could never even begin to relate to him. It had always been that way, her clinging to him, agreeing with him, sympathizing with him, even if she knew nothing about the situation. She really did to meddle too much—of all the people in the hospital, why did it have to be her who had to help him? Why couldn't it be anybody but her? Why did it have to be Sakura? Why Sakura?

A burning sensation erupted on his neck where the curse mark was; he could feel his anger awakening that power that Orochimaru had cursed him with. The twisting pain worming its way around his emotions, drawing motivation from them and then suddenly breaking free of his mood, running rampant and out of his control.

Anger suddenly disappeared as apprehension seeped in. His eyes widened despite him not being able to see, and he began feeling the marks starting to spread from the symbol on his neck. Frantically he tried to control it, force it to recede, but he was still weak and he was losing. It was spreading quicker than normal—he had noticed that it had been acting up strangely of late, but only when he activated it. Why was it activating without his consent? Panic started to grip him, which caused him to worry even more—he never panicked.

He slapped his hand onto the mark in desperation, though he knew that it would not be able to stem the power that had burst loose.

"Sakura!" he heard himself shout her name frantically, though he did not know what she could do for him. He only knew that if he didn't get the mark under control soon, he could end up killing her against his will. Who knew what the village would do to him then—forget the deal, he would be most likely executed. Unacceptable.

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