A Glass Of Crimson Souls

7) in which they doubt

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." -Hamlet

Their relationship improved, not surprisingly enough. Miho, at first still crass and sarcastic to Itachi, found herself lightening up to him, more tolerant of his presence. He slowly increased his time around her—first inviting her over for dinner, since Hiroki and Fugaku still hadn't returned from their mission, then eventually coming over to her house for lunch once a week. The number of meetings steadily grew, and Miho found herself bumping into him—by chance or on purpose, she didn't know—more than once a day, whether it was in the market, on her way back from ANBU headquarters, or from a trip to the hospital.

Miho, like Itachi, was perceptive. And just as he could read her, she could discern his thoughts at times. And sometimes, Miho was under the impression that Itachi spent time with her because he wanted to spend less with his family, which seemed absolutely absurd to her. Perhaps it was the pressure that the Uchihas put on him. The need to stay perfect.

Was she flattering herself in thinking that he was more comfortable around her? Able to be…well, imperfect?

When she wasn't pondering such strange and deep thoughts about Itachi though, Miho was studying. Knowing that Hiroki would be less than happy with her choice to enter the medical field, she'd already signed up for the closest examination date, which was swiftly approaching.

A few weeks after rejecting Itachi's offer to date him, Miho sat in the stifling examination room of Konoha's Medical Academy, a pencil poised perfectly over her paper as she furrowed her brows, reading the questions carefully.

When two patients enter the hospital at the same time, one with a collapsed lung and the other with a punctured, which do you treat first? Explain both your reasoning behind your choice as well as the procedures you would use to approach each patient…

Miho scowled and began to write, impatient with the procedure and regulation questions. Seriously, did it matter? Why couldn't she just choose both of them to treat at the same time? Both seemed severe…but no, she wrote down the textbook answer as neatly and concisely as she could, then moved on to the next problem.

Nothing save for the scratching sounds of pencil lead across starched paper could be heard in the room for three hours. Miho was already beginning to get restless, glancing over her paper one last time before standing up. It wasn't like she was going to be able to answer all of them anyway, especially the dental ones. If a patient came up to her with missing teeth, the most she'd be able to do was recommend them to the nearest dentist and be done with it…

A few people looked up at her as she approached the examiner; the test had a time limit of five hours, but there was no point in her remaining any longer to brood over impossible questions anyway.

The stern-looking head nurse looked up at her as Miho placed her hefty test packet on the desk.

"Done?" the old woman said, pursing her lips.

Miho nodded listlessly.

The examiner's lips thinned to an even smaller line as she leaned over and picked up the packet, flipping through it and glancing over Miho's answers.

"You seem barely proficient in the dental and dermatological sections," the nurse commented.

"You can say severely inadequate," said Miho dryly. "I didn't find much point in learning the dental section, seeing as I wanted to go into the Intensive Critical Care Unit, and I thought I could pick up the dermatological parts through my residency. Everything else, I managed to learn."

"You're a cheeky one," remarked the old woman. "Need I mention that I am professionally part of the dental unit?"

"A very useless profession then," said Miho lightly.