Whumptober, Day 7 - KakaSaku (mostly Sakura)

Prompt:My spidey-sense is tingling (helplessness, numbness, blindness)
Fandom:Naruto
Pairing/Characters:Kakashi, Sakura, and Tsunade
Words:918
Rating:T
Notes:This was requested by @birkastan2018 and it’s already spawned a full 3,000 word story. I couldn’t have the whole thing done by today sadly, so he’s the blip that started it.

Something surrounded Sakura, denser than water yet lighter than air at the same time. She was floating, a feather caught in the breeze or a leaf in a river. It would be simple to be carried away, easier than fighting the current. A familiar voice called Sakura’s name, but it came from a long distance. For a second, she considered ignoring it. The submersion was comfortable, familiar even. Still, she knew she didn’t belong here. Sakura stretched toward the sound, but she couldn’t brush the surface.

The call came again, annoying in its insistence. Sakura struggled to burst through the bubble of unconsciousness. Awareness returned in gentle waves, sense by sense. Sakura would have laughed at the irony if she’d had control of her voice; she’d always hated the sound of the heart rate monitor, but it was the first concrete link to the real world that she had. Her eyes were too heavy to open, but the machine maintained a steady thrum beside her. That was enough for now, the rest would come.

Focusing all of her energy, Sakura drew a breath into her tender lungs. It was shallow and weak, but it was real. She felt, rather than saw, someone shift from her bedside. The machine behind her picked up in rhythm, increasing with the beat of her heart. A door opened to her left. Sakura turned toward the sound, anxiety stirring in her stomach.

A hand touched Sakura’s shoulder, then caught her wrist to check her pulse. “Sakura? Do you know where you are?”

“The hospital,” Sakura answered. Fear rose like bile in the back of her throat. She recognized Tsunade’s voice, but she couldn’t see the woman. Trembling hands rose toward her face, but someone pulled her arms down. “I can’t see anything,” she whispered.

Tsunade hummed from an alarmingly close distance, and Sakura shied away from the sound. “Do you remember what happened?”

“I,” Sakura opened her mouth to answer, then realized that she didn’t. She shook her head, trying to stop the overwhelming panic that threatened her consciousness. “What’s wrong with my eyes?”

“There was an explosion and your eyes were injured, from the container, the substance inside, or maybe the smoke. I don’t know yet, but chakra doesn’t seem to help. I’ve bandaged them for now.” Tsunade rested a hand on top of Sakura’s head, smoothing her hair. “Now that you’re awake, we can take them off.”

The relief that washed through Sakura’s stomach was so powerful that it almost made her sick. She nodded, then stilled as Tsunade unwrapped the gauze around her head. The process seemed to stretch for hours, but eventually cool air caressed the overheated skin. Sakura exhaled as Tsunade spoke in soft, careful tones. “I’m going to remove the patches now. Take your time, and open them whenever you feel ready.”

Not trusting her voice, Sakura nodded. The medic removed the final barrier with a tug of tape against Sakura’s eyebrow. For two heartbeats, Sakura didn’t move. Then, she opened her eyes. Frowning, she tried a second time. By the third, terror gripped her lungs. A pen light clicked to life by her ear, but she never saw it. “I can’t see anything,” she exhaled, voice trembling.

Panic rose in Sakura’s throat, hot and rancid. She swallowed the taste of vomit. Tsunade was talking, her voice rambling through medical terminology that might as well be a foreign language for all that Sakura took in. I’ll never practice medicine again, she realized with a start. I’ll never go on another mission. I’ll never watch the sun rise over the training fields. I’ll never see—

“That’s enough,” Kakashi rumbled from Sakura’s right. She turned blindly toward the sound as a second wave of pain locked her lungs. His hand touched hers, an anchor in the sudden sea of unfamiliarity. “Take a breath. You’re okay.”

“I am not okay.” Sakura bit off the words as the scenarios in her mind spun out of control. She’d never see Ino’s wedding dress or watch Naruto don the Hokage robes. She’d never have a normal life. “It would have been better if I died.”

Kakashi’s hand squeezed hers with an intensity that was almost painful. “Stop it,” he growled.

“We don’t know that this is permanent”

“He’s right.” When Tsunade thumbed Sakura’s left eye open, there was no change to the darkness that surrounded her. “It’s early, still. I didn’t want to intervene before we knew the extent of the damage.”

Sakura laughed, the sound sharp enough to slice her throat. “And, now you do.” She jerked her hand away from Kakashi. “Can both of you leave, please?”

Tsunade started to speak, but Kakashi said something too soft for Sakura to hear and the woman fell silent. She couldn’t see what he did, and her stomach clenched when she realized that this was what the rest of her life would look like. Tears stung her eyes, and she wanted to laugh at the irony of feeling the liquid on her skin. After a moment, two pairs of footsteps retreated, and the heavy door clicked into place like the sound of a coffin lid closing

Sakura rolled onto her side and knew a moment of terror when her arm met open air. Her stomach lurched with the dizzying sensation of falling, and she realized that she wouldn’t be able to move without assistance again. Tears welled against her lashes as Sakura curled into a fetal position. In the darkness, Sakura sobbed into her pillow.