“I’m fine,” Sasuke muttered, before slowly rising. It was like moving through molasses, as he slowly tried to remember which way was up from where they were. It was strange how much he relied on his eyes as a shinobi, and he had never realized it before, never realized how useless he would be without his sight. His instincts were stunted, his thinking dulled, and – hell – he couldn’t even breathe properly.
It made Itachi’s desperation, his actions, his words from their last confrontation make a lot more sense. It almost made them… forgivable.
Sasuke removed his hand from Neji’s hair, reaching forward blindly with it instead for the bed frame. He knew it was there, knew it was just inches within his grasp, had heard it crack against the Hyuuga’s skull, but his fingers were only touching air. He raised his hand higher, searching, until his fingers brushed against the wooden bed frame. He slid his hand up the side until he had a firm enough grip to haul himself up from his knees onto the balls of his feet, never letting his other hand leave Neji’s arm for a moment. Once he had a steady enough stance, he reached back down with his hand to run it along Neji’s shoulder before hooking his arm under the other boy’s.
“Come on,” he said, quietly, before he slowly helped Neji off the floor – slowly so that neither lost their balance, so that neither of them lost their sense of direction, so that neither of them would lose the other. He guided Neji backwards inch by inch to where he knew the bed to be – he had only been touching it moments before – and helped the older boy sit.
This was better. This was calming him down. This was distracting him. He couldn’t see, but he was doing something. Something other than panicking.
“Do you have anything in here for your head? Like some ice or a first aid kit?” Sasuke asked. He had been around medical supplies enough in the past three years that he knew he could handle the items even while blind. He had memorized Kabuto’s movements and work with the items just in case he would ever need the knowledge without the medic nin around.