|||17+//AU Naruto||| Above and Beyond the Stars

①

Coming to was one of the most painful experiences that Sasuke Uchiha had lived through in quite awhile, but he managed that as well as to sit up in his strange bed. There were wires and tubes everywhere, but what caught his attention was what he felt in either hand. Looking to both his sides, Sasuke saw two women that seemed to have fallen asleep with his hand clasped tightly in their grasps. One of them, the elder of the two, Sasuke recognised immediately despite not seeing her lovely face for years now.

"Okaasan?" Sasuke's voice cracked, tears over spilling from his tired eyes.

She woke up instantly, her own charcoal orbs watering as she took in the damaged state of her youngest son. Mikoto Uchiha reached up with her free hand, caressing his soft cheek.

"You're okay now, Sasuke. You're okay now."

"Hmn?" The second female woke up now.

Playing it cool, Sasuke sent her a nervous smile.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I'm here because Mikoto-sama requested it of me, Uchiha-san."

"Ichiki, don't act like that that's the only reason," Mikoto's voice would have held a hint of teasing to it, if not for the current situation.

I don't remember anyone named Ichiki...?

He glanced at her again, trying to see if he could force a memory. A part of him felt like he should recognise the porcelain skinned female, but he just couldn't. No matter how much he stared at the ravenette, he was just not digging up the slightest clue of her existence. Sasuke did, however, note that her blue eyes reminded him very much of those which belonged to a knucklehead named Naruto Uzumaki. When she averted the gaze of said blue eyes, Sasuke knew that her motives were extended beyond a small favour to his mother.

"I must leave now, or I'll be late to class. Please pardon me," Ichiki gave a curt bow before leaving.

As she rose to her feet, Sasuke took notice of her height and her attire. She was rather tall, especially so for a woman, and wore stockings to cover any would-be exposed skin from her short skirt of a navy blue colour. Her stockings consisted of a translucent black background, decorated with opaque black cat heads. Ichiki also wore a navy jacket over her white button down blouse, a green ribbon tied at the bottom of its sailor styled collar. Sasuke had an inkling that she also wore a vest under her jacket due to the apparent bulk on her top.

"Take notes for me," Sasuke called out after her, attempting normalcy.

Without looking back at him, Ichiki waved him off over her shoulder and tried her damnedest not to bolt out of there like a mad person.

"So, how are you feeling?" Mikoto asked,  leaning over to press a white button on the wall by her child's temporary bed.

"Confused and hungry," he told the truth.

"The candy stripers will get you a snack. Why are you confused? Does your head hurt?"

What in the fresh Hell is a candy striper?

"A little," he again admitted.

"How may we help you?" a choir greeted the Uchihas' ears.

Sasuke looked away from his mother, staring at the five young women gawking at him. Out of the five, he recognised only three. The blonde was Ino Yamanaka, the redhead being Karin Uzumaki, and a pinkette by the name of Sakura Haruno. There was a ginger with a similar face to Sakura that he didn't know and another blonde, also wearing a ponytail. This blonde, however, wore glasses like Karin but had TenTen's grey* eyes. Though each female had their own special traits, they each shared the lovelorn expression on their creamy visages. He fought back a scoff and eyeroll, resigned to his unwanted fate of needlessly attracting just about every female that he met.

"Uh, could I get some water and a snack?" Sasuke probed, almost sure that they weren't listening to his words.

"Orokana, grab him a Snickers bar!!! I'll get him his water!!!" the orange haired lass cheered.

The glasses wearing blonde ran off, chanting nonsense as her cohort followed behind her. This left Sasuke and his mother alone with three of his worst nyghtmares. Unable to resist the urge, Sasuke gulped back a lump of fear that attempted to arise in his throat.

"Do you need anything else???" a chorus of want reached his disdained ears.

A window to jump out of, please?

"Maybe something for my head? It hurts a little," Sasuke scratched at the back of his neck.

"I'LL GET IT!!!" Ino darted off, hearts in her eyes as she sought to be useful.

"And what can we do???" Sakura and Karin asked in unison, batting their eyes.

Uh, go to Hell...?

"One of you could fetch me the paperwork for his discharge?" Mikoto suggested, smiling politely as she silently watched the dissipating horde of teenage girls fawn over her injured son.

"Right away, ma'am!" Karin was next to leave.

Sakura stood there timidly, self consciously fidgeting with the hem of her thigh length white dress. Her emerald gaze was cast to the floor off to her left, a faint blush dusting her pale cheeks. Flickering her eyes towards the bedridden Uchiha, Sakura quickly looked away again.

"And me....? What could I do to help you, Sasuke-kun?"

Aren't there other patients here that need help...?

"Uh, could you bring me something to read while my mum fills out the paperwork?"

Nodding briskly, Sakura sauntered off and returned alongside Karin a few moments later. She had a book clasped in her palms, a look of annoyance on her face. Handing the book to him, she turned her back and crossed her arms.

"Kuran-kōhai left this here for you. If you get bored of that, I can bring you real literature."

Curious, he glanced down at the cover. It was rather plain, a dark red background and a single silhouette of a bird. He admittedly could not distinguish the species, but it was black so he just assumed that it was a crow. The author's name was scribbled down at the bottom in white, unreadable to anyone other than the author themselves. It gave him a bad feeling, but he flipped it open and then just stared in confusion.

This isn't in Japanese. What the heck is this gibberish???

"Oh, don't you have a report due on this poem next week?" Mikoto looked up from her thick stack of papers.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck....

*TenTen, as described in the manga, has grey eyes and black hair.