• WHAT DO YOU DO IF ALL THE THINGS YOU THOUGHT WERE RIGHT WERE WRONG? •

Sakura was surprised when Sasuke pulled up in an hospital's parking lot. His brother, Itachi Uchiha, was in this place? Was he ill? Was it serious? Sakura hoped it wasn't anything serious. Did he get into an accident? That would explain why he suddenly disappeared from the news. But the news of an accident would have spread if there was one, right? Was she overthinking?

"Sakura." Sasuke prompted her when he saw she had fallen behind, lost in her thoughts. Sakura jostled awake and jogged up to him, flowers bouncing in her hands.

"Uhm..is your brother okay?" She asked softly, out of concern. Sasuke gave no answer. It caused more worry in the pink haired girl's heart.

"Oh Sasuke you're early today!" A nurse at the reception table greeted Sasuke as he entered the ward. Her face lit up in pleasant surprise at the sight of Sakura beside him. "Oh is that your girlfriend? What a beauty!"

"H-hello ma'am." Sakura greeted awkwardly while Sasuke grunted, not denying the woman's statement but not exactly approving it either.

"Is Itachi awake?" He asked instead. His brother slept a lot due to incessant tiredness as a result of his illness symptoms.

The woman's smile grew soft. "He should be. Go talk to him while you can."

Sasuke and Sakura bowed politely before leaving for Itachi's room. Every step made Sakura nerve. She was going to meet Sasuke's brother and frankly she didn't know what to expect. She ran her hand through her hair softly, adjusting it in case it had gone out of place and she didn't know, and smoothened out her dress. Sasuke snorted and she huffed but that was the only form of communication they had before they reached Itachi's door.

Sasuke knocked twice before he slid the doors open and ushered Sakura in. On the bed in the other end of the room sat one of the most handsome men Sakura had ever seen, but then again the Uchihas had good genes. He looked just like Sasuke but with stress marks running down both sides of his cheeks near his nose. He was laying in bed stroking an old looking plush toy when they came in. His unfocused dark eyes gazed at the direction of the door and he squinted, trying to figure who just came in.

"Itachi why don't you wear your glasses?" Sasuke complained at his brother for trying to force himself to see without the heavily lensed spectacles.

Itachi huffed tiredly as he relaxed back into his pillow. "Oh Sasuke." He acknowledged his brother.

"Where did you put your glasses?" Sasuke asked as he checked the bedstand and found only the empty case of the lens there.

"It doesn't matter." Itachi replied dismissively.

"The hell it doesn't-" Sasuke stopped short when when he saw the object in question in a corner at the other end of the room, broken. Itachi must've thrown them there in a fit and boy was Sasuke cross. "Itachi! Why did you break them?!" He growled as he matched across to pick it up.  Sakura stood at the door awkwardly watching the tense conversation play out.

"Throw it away, it's useless." Itachi said, unrepentant. Sasuke was getting hotter by the minute.

"What do you mean useless?! You know how bad your sight is!" He growled.

"Yeah." Itachi sighed. "It got worse."

There was silence after that. Sasuke's form trembled. With what, Sakura didn't know. She was beginning to wonder if she should make her presence known when a disheartened gasp made its way out of Sasuke's mouth. "No way." The statement made Sakura so sad because just then Sasuke looked like he was about to cry. The strong standoffish guy she knew was about to be broken.

"Uhm... Sasuke?" She spoke, anything to distract Sasuke's attention from the heartbreaking news. Although she wasn't quite sure what exactly was wrong with Itachi she could tell it was very serious. It seemed to work, her plan, because Sasuke's breath hitched and he looked up at her.

"I'm sorry about that Sakura." He apologized the same time Itachi released a curious 'hmm?'.

"You brought a girl?" The older male asked with a taunt in his voice. Sasuke clicked his tongue but his cheeks were pink.

"Yes I did, so what? It's not for the reasons you think." He replied dryly.

"Oh?" Itachi said amusedly.

"Sakura, meet my brother Itachi. Itachi this is Sakura." Sasuke introduced, motioning Sakura to move closer to Itachi's bed to stop his brother from squinting so hard trying to see what he could not. His vision was almost completely gone, which was why he had flung his glasses across the room in a fit. Even now with Sakura so close to him he could only see a blue and pink blurry figure.

"Hello Uchiha-san. I'm Sakura, it's nice to meet you." Sakura's voice was pleasant and calming to hear, it made Itachi relax a little. "These are for you." She gently handed the bouquet of flowers she got earlier to the smiling man who just smiled wider.

"Oh please, Itachi is just fine." He removed the formality between them. "The flowers smell nice. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like them." Sakura replied shyly.

"I'd put them in a vase..." Sasuke said as he collected the flowers from Itachi and drifted about at the background preparing a vase for the flowers.

Itachi smiled warmly at the girl beside him. Sasuke just introduced a female friend to him after all. It was refreshing to know that his brother made friends with other people aside from his blond best friend, Naruto. "Tell me, are you my dear brother's girlfriend?"

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelped from the bedstand where he was arranging the flowers in a vase, horrified. He didn't notice the subtle hurt in Sakura's face as he continued yelling at his brother. "Just because I brought a girl to you doesn't make her my girlfriend, idiot!"

"Ah, a potential candidate then." Itachi mused, teasing his brother a little. Sasuke was such a shy boy. He was never upfront with his feelings and would rather die than tell somebody he cared for them. However what his words don't say, his actions do for him, and Itachi has gotten adept at reading those subtle actions. His sight nearly depleting didn't remove his ability to tell that his brother cared for this Sakura girl, even if it was just as a friend, from the way he reacted.

"D-don't be stupid, this is not why I brought her here!" The dark haired boy huffed as he placed the last stalk inside the half filled vase.

"Oh?" Itachi exclaimed, curious. Sakura was also curious about why Sasuke brought her to his brother if it wasn't just for introductions.

"Yes you dummy." Sasuke came to sit on Itachi's bed, absent mindedly taking the plush toy the older was fondling earlier into his hands to do same. Sakura thought it was cute, him playing with a plushie that is.

"Why is she here then?" Itachi asked the million dollar question.

"Actually, you know those cinnamon buns?" Sasuke began happily, unknowing to the way Sakura's heart jolted at the mention of the cinnamon buns. "The one that tastes so much like the one from Hikari sensei's place?"

Hikari?! Sakura thought both in surprise and growing horror. Hinata's mother?! Sasuke and Itachi knew Hinata's mother?!

Now Sakura was a fast thinker, always so quick to piece two and two together. Instantly she realized why Sasuke had been so intent on finding the maker of the cinnamon buns. The reason why Sasuke had been so happy when he found her ... when he thought he found her...was not because he fell in love at first sight and wanted to find his Cinderella as her selfish mind had made up. No. The reason was because the buns were really special to him and to his brother. Now she felt really horrible.

"You made them, Sakura?" Itachi's voice brought her from the edge of an internal breakdown. He didn't save her from it though, he pushed her into a deeper one with his next question. "Are you related to Hikari-sensei?"

Sakura didn't know how to answer that. Itachi looked so happy right now, Sakura thought she'd puke. She didn't even know the full extent to what she'd done and she was already feeling this bad. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, like how Itachi and Sasuke knew Mrs Hikari but none of them could come to mind. In the end it was too overwhelming for her and she ran out of the hospital room after a broken sorry.

***

Ah the story is picking up! And the story is slowly coming to and end! I think it's pretty obvious how it's going to end but I'd like to hear what you think anyway. How do you think the story will end?

Thanks for reading. Please vote and review!

-Star.