Parent Trap

A/N: i've changed the summary of this story, because i've decided to go in a different direction with it. but it's still the same story! and this chapter totally, absolutely advances the plot, and even my readers will be able to tell, lol.

Warnings: OOC!Itachi, Paranoid!June, phone calls, bad guys, totally made up medical jargon about the occipital lobe, and anything else I might have forgotten.

enjoy!


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Parent Trap - Chapter 8
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June sighed heavily as she leaned back in her chair. She was tired and sore, her neck stiff from hours of data analysis. She glanced down at the two reports sitting on her desk, a small ball of anger beginning to form in her gut. She picked up the one on her left, dated almost five years ago, and her eyes quickly scanned the information.

Uchiha Itachi, male; attending physician: Tsunade; periodic, temporary blindness; early onset of degenerative eye disease. No cure.

June shifted the papers and scanned the test results that backed up the information.

Setting it down, June picked up the report on her right, dated little more than three days ago.

Uchiha Itachi, male; attending physician: Fujimiya; periodic, temporary blindness; unusual activity in occipital lobe during wake and sleep; possible CIB – contact neurologist SUMB.

June set the second report down, letting out another annoyed huff. She just couldn’t understand how the tests showed two completely different results. Degenerative eye diseases didn’t just disappear, she was sure. But she was equally sure that her tests weren’t wrong, as she’d carefully handled them herself.

Her eyes shifted back to the first report.

… attending physician: Tsunade…

Her eyes glanced down at the bottom of the report.

Prepared by: Y- K-

June frowned in irritation. Whoever had prepared the report five years ago hadn’t signed his or her name very legibly, so June had no idea who to track down and ask about the conflicting data. And it frustrated the hell out of her.

Closing her eyes, June thought back to the day after Itachi’s sleep study, recalling the hopeful and almost pleading face of the man’s mother, Mikoto-san, when she’d come to pick up her son. Itachi’s face had been as impassive as always, but June had been sure he was brimming with curiosity and maybe more than a little anxiety.

“There were some trace amounts of unusual activity in Uchiha-san’s occipital lobe, where his vision center is located, that could very well be the cause of his periodic loss of sight. I will send these test results off to a trusted colleague in Suna, and I can hopefully have a better understanding of what needs to be done to correct your vision soon.”

That was what she’d said, and that was what she still believed, but the whole situation didn’t sit right with her. It screamed at her that she was missing something, the key as to why Itachi had been given no hope for five years, only for his early diagnosis to be completely thrown out the window. Tsunade usually didn’t make mistakes like this.

Though, June couldn’t say the same for whoever Y- K- was. It wasn’t uncommon for doctors to hand off simple tasks to interns or nurses, and the staff at Konoha Hospital wasn’t known for incompetence. Again, there was a vital piece of the puzzle missing, and June would certainly grind her teeth into nothing trying to figure it out.

Her office phone ringing startled her, causing her to flinch and strain a muscle in her neck. Cursing under her breath, June reached for her extension and brought the phone to her ear.

“Fujimiya,” she snapped into the receiver.

“Ah, as sunshine bright as ever, I see,” a warm voice greeted her over the line. Rolling her eyes with a fond smile, June relaxed back into her seat.

“Chiyo-san, how are you?”

“As well as could be expected. But enough chitchat. I’m calling about those MRI scans and wave charts you sent me. It doesn’t look too serious, and I am more than willing to follow your assessment on the matter.”

June sighed in relief. Chiyo was one of her professors from Suna University, who still practiced neurology at Suna University Medical Branch. If the old woman didn’t contradict June’s theory, then it was more than likely the correct answer.

“And what about the other set I sent you?” June asked in a quiet voice.

The other end was silent for such a long time that June began to worry.

“June, I’m not going to beat around the bush on this, so hear me out. There was something off about those reports. Some of the findings couldn’t possibly have come from the data provided, and some of the test data wasn’t even commented on. It was a half-assed job, and whoever did it needs to be fired.”

June’s eyebrows drew down, creasing her forehead right above the bridge of her nose. Securing the phone between her ear and her shoulder, she reached for the five-year-old report and went through the information again. Chiyo’s analysis of the given data was correct, and was even something June had noticed herself, but it didn’t seem that big a deal. Some information found in these tests weren’t vital to the question at hand.

Holding one of the MRI pictures up to the light, June ran her eyes over every printed letter on the laminated page, checking it with each printed letter on the picture she’d taken. The difference between the two came from the activity in the occipital lobe; whereas hers showed a minimal of unusual activity, the old scan showed massive amounts of damage and non-activity, which, though a huge difference in overall outcome, came out to inexplicable changes that suggested jack as to what had happened from one test to the other. Itachi had had no documented operations, so therefore the damage couldn’t simply have been fixed.

Squinting her eyes at the picture again, June had just about given up when something about it finally nagged at her anal retentiveness.

It was off center.

How the hell could that possibly have happened?

“Chiyo, I’ve got to go. Thank you for taking the time to look at Uchiha-san’s file.”

“Of course. I will talk to you later."

“Thank you. Goodbye.”

June hung up the phone distractedly as she turned to her computer and brought up the hospital’s digital filing system. Some years ago, with the money from a sizeable donation, Konoha Hospital had upgraded its computer system, allowing instant access to patient files through digital means, rather than the old paper filing system, and June couldn’t have been more grateful.

She pulled up the search and tried to access Itachi’s files from five years ago, but after a few moments, the search came up blank. There was no record of Itachi’s original tests, even though his first visit had been after the system upgrade. There was no way it hadn’t been entered; she could find old patient records from the sixties in the new system, and her latest patient’s records were the ones that just happened to get lost or neglected?

A feeling of dread settled over June.

“Are you saying someone fucked up my results?”

“There was something off about those reports.”

Off center…

Not the same…

Degenerative eye diseases didn’t just disappear…

No results from your search…

June hurriedly grabbed both reports, ripping out of her chair to track down Tsunade. Something absolutely not right was going on with Uchiha Itachi’s files, and Tsunade needed to know, especially if she’d misdiagnosed him for years because of it.

She knew the elevator would take too long to get to her floor and get her to Tsunade, if the woman was even still in the hospital, so June quickly walked, nearly running, actually, down the corridor to the stairs, slamming through the door and taking the steps down two at a time. When she got to the first floor, June hurried to the nurses’ station to ask Tsunade’s whereabouts.

As luck would have it, as she rounded a corner, she could hear Tsunade’s booming laugh as she and some others conversed near the station. There was Tsunade, some nurses and doctors that June knew, and then there was a man she’d never seen before, but he was wearing a doctor’s coat and a nametag like he belonged there.

“Tsunade-sensei,” June interrupted when she could, hoping to draw the older woman into a private conversation.

“Oh, June! I’m glad you’re here. I’d like to introduce you to one of our resident doctors who just returned from an overseas residency. This is Yakushi Kabuto. He’s a surgeon. Kabuto-kun, this is Fujimiya June, our relatively new resident ophthalmologist.”

June slowly put the reports beneath her arm as she shook hands with the man. As she took in his appearance, something grated on her. His hair was long and a dark gray that she couldn’t think of as natural – though Kakashi’s hair was silver in his young age – and his glasses took up far too much of his face.

“It’s nice to meet you, Fujimiya-san. I hope Tsunade-sama hasn’t been giving you as much trouble as she gave me.”

“Oh, hush, you,” Tsunade growled while every around laughed. Except for June. She was staring at Kabuto intently, her face devoid of the slivers of disgust that crawled up her spine.

It was his smile. It was arrogant and cold, almost like he knew something no one else did, a dark secret that gave him such immense enjoyment, perhaps at others’ expense. It was similar to Uchiha Itachi’s smirks, but there was a fundamental difference between the two: Uchiha Itachi’s made people want to punch him in the face; Kabuto’s made people want to vomit and call the police.

It was sheer evil.

The doors to the hospital opened, and the group lazily glanced over to see who had come in, since emergencies would have come in a different door. When conversation died off and the group was still looking toward the door, June forced her eyes away from Kabuto, her arm tightening on the reports when she recognized Uchiha Itachi walking toward them.

“Oh? Are you still treating Itachi-san, Tsunade-sama?” Kabuto asked in an insincerely curious way.

“Oh, no. June, as an ophthalmologist, is much more qualified to handle his case. In fact, I hear he’s been such an easy patient lately, much more agreeable than when you and I treated him.”

June was about to ask what Tsunade meant by ‘you and I’ when she was frozen by the rather cold look Kabuto was giving her. The fluorescent lighting was glaring eerily off his glasses, and June got the feeling he was not too pleased with her.

Her breath froze in her lungs as her thoughts from earlier screamed through her mind.

… attending physician: Tsunade… Prepared by: Y- K-…

Y- K-…

Yakushi Kabuto.

“Fujimiya-sensei,” a dark, rich voice said lowly next to her ear. Her lungs quickly took in air once again, and she spun to face Uchiha Itachi. “Just the woman I was looking for.”

With one last glance at Kabuto, confirming that his icy glare was still on her, though now it was worryingly focused on the reports under her arm, she reached her arm out and caught Itachi’s arm in her hand.

“Right on time, Uchiha-san. This way to my office, please. Tsunade, I need to discuss something with you later,” she said sweetly as she turned them away, refusing to turn and regard Kabuto one last time.

She walked Itachi to the elevator, making idle chitchat about the weather, his family, anything really as they waited for the doors to open. Itachi smirked and replied to her questions, as they demanded, allowing her arm to wrap through his without her knowledge. When they entered the car and the doors dinged closed, the conversation ceased in mid-sentence, and June leaned back against the far wall, letting out a relieved sigh.

“I didn’t know I had an appointment today, Fujimiya-sensei,” Itachi spoke with a bit of humor in his voice, bringing June out of her thoughts. Realizing her arm was entwined with his, June hastily drew it away, hoping the blush she could feel rising to her cheeks wasn’t that visible.

“You don’t. You just happened to walk in and provide a better choice of company,” she said coolly, her eyes trained on the shiny doors before them. “That aside, why are you here?”

“Better company I may be, and yet I get the feeling you’d rather I were somewhere else,” Itachi said almost teasingly.

“And here I’ve heard you were a demonic businessman who didn’t waste his time with jokes, or emotions for that matter.”

“Ah, but seeing as we’ve already slept together, I feel I can take liberties with my own personality.”

June laughed in spite of herself. “You slept, Prince Charming; I watched how your brain lights up when you dream of perverted activities.”

“I had beautiful inspiration,” he shot back, causing her to choke on her chuckles. “But I actually came to ask if you’d join my family for dinner. My mother would like to get to know you better and express her gratitude for saving my eyes.” June could practically hear the eye roll he refused to physically do.

The elevator doors opened, and she began to walk down the hall to her office, aware of Itachi following right behind her. “I’m afraid I will be unable to attend. I’ve some business to see to. But I am glad you’re here.” She opened her office door and motioned him inside.

His face was blank once again, a big difference from the coolly amused jokester from the elevator. June was a little sad to see him go.

“I just finished consulting with my colleague in Suna, and with her backing, I’m confident in telling you that your problem stems from a chemical imbalance in the occipital lobe. It seems something is inhibiting your brain from making this chemical, so I will prescribe you something that will help in this process. It should boost your brain’s ability to make this chemical, and soon it will be able to do it on its own.”

“So I won’t be on medication for the rest of my life?”

“No, Uchiha-san. Just until all your faculties are at their best once again.”

Itachi was silent a moment, his face still blank but for a sudden anger in his black eyes. “I have been suffering for years, depressed, told there was no hope, and you come along and tell me to take a few pills and I’ll be fine?”

June tightened her jaw, unwilling to be another victim to an Uchiha’s pride. “I apologize for my colleagues’ blunder over the years. I would suggest you look on the bright side; at least you’re not going blind.”

He stared at her coolly for a moment before breathing out softly. June assumed it was an Uchiha’s version of sighing heavily.

“What should I do with my old medicine?”

June’s gaze sharpened on Itachi’s. There’d been no mention of a prescription in Tsunade’s report. “What medicine?”

Itachi raised one fine brow and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out an orange pill bottle with a prescription label on it. June reached her hand out and took it from him, her eyes running over the name and widening when she realized what it was.

This is…

“Wrong’s wrong?” Itachi demanded.

“Who gave you this prescription?” she asked instead of answering.

“Tsunade.”

“Did she write out the prescription for you to fill?”

Itachi was quiet a moment. “No, it was Yakushi-kun.”

June’s breath left her body. Kabuto had prescribed such a dangerous drug to someone suffering from eye problems, on top of faking test results? Something sinister was going on around her, and June didn’t know where to start to stop it all. Keeping Itachi away from Kabuto would be number one, quickly followed by informing Tsunade of what was going on in her hospital.

“Fujimiya-sensei, I grow tired of your silence.”

June was startled out of her thoughts. Clearing her throat, she asked, “How long have you been taking this medicine?”

“I’ve been taking it for years, one pill a week. Is there something wrong with the medicine?” Itachi asked darkly, more than likely expecting an answer.

June smiled at him, hoping it didn’t look as fake as it felt. “Of course not. I was just startled by its presence, since no one informed me you were taking it. It will have a negative effect on your body if it mixes with the medicine I prescribed. Tell me, have you taken it this week?”

“Actually, I haven’t taken it for the past several weeks. I’ve been too busy to remember. This is the first week I’ve even thought of it.”

June hid her sigh of relief behind a thoughtful sound. “Then your system should be cleansed of it by now. There won’t be any side effects, I’m sure. But just in case there are, you may call me at any time.”

She reached over to her desk and picked up her business card, which she didn’t hand out often. “This number down here is my cell phone. If the medicine has any undesirable or adverse effects, please let me know immediately, no matter the day or time.”

Itachi nodded and placed the card in his jacket pocket. He stared at her in thought for a minute before straightening his lapels. “If anything odd were happening with my diagnosis and prescription, you wouldn’t hide that from me, would you?”

“I would divulge any information if it were beneficial to my patient,” June replied evasively. There was no way she could tell Itachi what was going on. He would certainly do something to endanger them all, if this thing was as dark and well thought out as June was beginning to believe.

“Of course,” Itachi said, not sounding as if he believed her. “I shall take my leave now. I will also inform my mother that you will be unable to attend dinner tonight. Have a wonderful night, Fujimiya-sensei.”

“Thank you. You, too.”

Itachi bowed slightly and left, closing the door softly behind him. June sighed heavily and walked behind her desk, sinking into her chair gratefully. She lowered her head to her desk, her hand clenching around the pill bottle she still held. The decision wasn’t a hard one to make, as Itachi was quickly, to June’s horror, becoming someone she wanted to help for more than just professional reasons. But it still took some courage and consideration.

Gritting her teeth, June sat up and reached for her phone. She dialed a number that every person in Suna knew, but no one but the very desperate dared call. The other end rang four times before the answering machine picked up, and after the beep, she said, “It’s Fujimiya June. Please pick up.”

She waited, and the phone was picked up on the other end.

“How can I help you, Fujimiya-chan?”

That particular voice was unexpected, dark and emotionless, sending chills up her spine. The pills rattled in her hand, and she steeled her resolve.

“I need a favor that only you and your associates can pull off.”

“I think that’s obvious.”

“Yes, of course. Well, I need some information on someone. It involves the well-being of one of my patients.”

“You’d go so far for a patient?”

“Yes,” she didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Then come see me, and we’ll work something out.”

“Yes. I’ll be there tomorrow… Gaara-san.”

The call disconnected, and June slowly put the receiver back. She still felt cold all over just from the sound of his voice. And she was afraid of what this favor would cost her.

She turned to her computer and immediately bought a plane ticket to Suna, following it with an e-mail to Tsunade informing her of an emergency trip. As her eyes roamed her desk for anything she needed to take with her, they landed on her business card.

June had told Itachi to call her with any problems, but she couldn’t trust that he would stay away from the hospital for however long she was gone. Quickly picking her phone back up, she dialed Deidara’s line at Itachi’s office, hoping the man was in.

“Uchiha-san’s office, Deidara speaking.”

“Good afternoon, Deidara-san. This is Fujimiya-sensei at Konoha Hospital.”

“Yes, good afternoon. How may I help you? I was under the impression that Uchiha-san had left for the hospital.”

“He’s been here, but it’s you I’d like to speak to. Deidara-san, I am leaving this evening for an emergency trip to Suna, and I wanted to ask that should Uchiha-san have any problems that require him to come to the hospital to see no one but Tsunade.”

“May I ask why such an ominous warning?”

“Please just promise me, Deidara-san. This involves the well-being of Uchiha-san, and I would think you of all people would be interested in keeping him safe.”

“Fujimiya-sensei, this certainly doesn’t sound like something that should be kept from Uchiha-san. But as long as you promise to let him know what is going on, I will do my best to keep him from the hospital while you are gone.”

June sighed, in relief and annoyance. “Fine, I will tell him. I had no intention of keeping it hidden forever, just until I had all the facts. But thank you, Deidara-san.”

“You’re welcome, Fujimiya-sensei. Have a safe trip.” The line immediately disconnected.

June hung up her receiver and began to shut down her office. She needed to get home, pack, rush to the airport, and call Naruto to tell him she’d be gone. And wasn’t that a conversation she was hoping to avoid. But if she didn’t inform him that she was leaving, she’d just get a frantic and angry phone call at some ungodly hour of the night when the idiot couldn’t find her in Konoha.

June bypassed the elevator for the stairs, and as she rushed down them, a knot of worry began to form in the pit of her stomach. Tomorrow she would be facing off with the Suna mafia, and all for some pretentious asshole that could make her blush with anger and embarrassment in the same sentence.

But on top of all that, June just hoped she was paranoid, and that there wasn’t some dark and twisted plot to harm Uchiha Itachi in the works.


TBC


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wow, that's some surprise, huh? well, i for one saw it coming, lol. how about you? anyway, the next chapter should be naruto's pov, and maybe things will get a bit heated between our two fav boys. stick around!

thanks for reading!