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He supposed there was some sort of silver lining to all this, even if he literally couldn't see it. After all, he was going blind.
Sakura, however, seemed increasingly dedicated to his case. Today in particular, he could’ve sworn she’d stayed the duration of three shifts. Currently, she was perched next to him on his hospital bed, her hands resting against either side of his face as she flooded her chakra through his own chakra network.
He was still vaguely irritable about remaining in the hospital; he wasn’t actually sick, per say. Mostly, he just hated being in the bland white rooms. Everytime he’d ended up here, the heavy burn of disappointment had filled him the moment he awoke. When Itachi had defeated him, brushed him off as if he were a troublesome fly...when he’d gotten injured on the mission in Tea Country, but Naruto had only gotten stronger…
The hospital didn’t hold good memories.
But Sakura’s gentle hands pressed against him certainly made the experience...bearable.
During the war, Sasuke had accepted that it was very likely he’d lose his sight. He’d acknowledged it, and done what he needed to do to move forward. While it would be beyond incredible to retain it, he had already made the sacrifice. He told Sakura as much, but she was still determined to reverse the damage.
“If I have the power to stop it, I’m going to,” she’d told him solemnly. Sasuke believed her. He was just wasn’t sure that she have that power; that anyone did.
Often, she was called out of the room to attend on other patients. It seemed she was highly requested in the critical care unit, Sasuke’d lost count of how many times some anxious nurse had burst in with an urgent request for her presence. But every time, Sakura remained perfectly calm. The chakra lighting her palms would weaken, she’d quickly wash her hands at the nearby sink and be out the door with a calm, “I’ll be back, Sasuke-kun.” He’d hear her heels trail after the nurse, and the soft scent of her shampoo in the air was the only sign she’d ever been there at all.
She always came back. Even if she spent the whole night in surgery, he’d hear her lean in to check on him before she headed home. How many hours had she been here? And how much longer had she spent on his case when she wasn’t watching over him? Every time she came back, she seemed to have some new information for him, new possible treatments.
How could anyone feasibly do this much work and still be standing?
The next morning, Sasuke felt that he could almost feel his vision growing fuzzier, absurd as it was. Even if he had made the sacrifice, it didn’t mean it wasn’t a little daunting. His sight was something that so much of him relied so entirely on. To lose it, even for a good reason…
“Morning Sasuke-kun! I-” He suddenly heard Sakura’s sugary voice die in her throat, and a distant clatter as she dropped something on the counter. When she next spoke, it was clear she was in full-on doctor mode. “Shut your eyes and don’t move.”
He felt the bed dip as she sat on it, carefully cleaning off his left eye. Oh. Sasuke had barely felt it bleed. He stayed as still as possible as she bandaged it.
“Okay, now you can open.” The bandage wrapped all the way around his head, almost like-
“Hm. With your eye like that, you look a bit like Kakashi-sensei.” He could hear the smile in her voice. After a moment of content silence, Sakura let out a yawn, readjusting her position on his bed. Sasuke felt a stab of guilt. Slowly, he worked himself up to the talk he’d been meaning to have with her.
“Sakura. You don’t have to keep...doing this. I told you, I knew I was going to lose my sight from the start.”
“And I told you, you may be my patient, but you’re also my- my friend. If there’s a way to fix it, I told you I’d find it, and it just so happens-”
“You’re never not here.” The room froze. The only movement Sasuke felt was the gentle breeze from the open window.
“And do you have a problem with that?” Her voice sounded softer, more uncertain than before. With his eyes closed, Sasuke almost pictured a genin-level, long haired Sakura speaking the words.
“No,” he responded, realizing he was leaving too long a pause. “I’m just...I’m- I’m concerned that you’re not letting yourself rest-” He stopped when weak laughter shook the bed, slowly growing stronger. Prying open his unbandaged eye, he caught a flurry of pink. Sakura’s hair slipped over her eyes as she clutched her stomach with laughter. His pride was entirely lost.
“Sasuke-kun, you are literally losing your sight and you’re concerned about my hours at the hospital?” He watched as she rubbed a blurry arm over her eyes. Was she wiping off tears? She sighed happily. When he made no response, she took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Running her thumb over his knuckles, he felt strangely at ease. Even if things were as she said, it was a strangely soothing way to lose his vision: here, with Sakura shaking his bed with giggles.
There was nobody else in the world quite like Sakura Haruno, he decided. After all, at his core, Sasuke was a pessimist; he couldn’t believe that such a miracle would ever appear twice.