Sakura became aware of the feel of fresh sheets under her, and of the sound of birds singing outside. She breathed in the scent of the morning dew mixed with flowers and some kind of perfume. It had to be Ino's. She was the only one who would wear something like that. She opened her eyes, eager to greet her friend, but was met with only blackness, never ending eternal blackness that seemed to stretch out forever before her very eyes. She blinked, and it was still there. Something was wrong. She tried to move her arm, to see what was wrong with her eyes, and to see if she could see her hand in front of her face, which anyone could do, even on the darkest of nights, but found that her arm did not want to move at all. Instead, all she got for her trouble was a pain that shot from her elbow up into her shoulder that made her cry out in pain and clench every muscle in her body.
"Sakura?!" Ino's voice came from her left, "You're finally awake...Do you have any idea how long I've been sitting here?"
"Ino..." Sakura's throat hurt, and her voice came out in something that was between a squeak and a whisper, "Where...are we?"
"We are in Konoha Hospital," Ino replied softly, "Room 210."
"The...hospital?" Sakura said, "Why am I...here? And why...why can't I...see anything?"
"You have a bandage over your eyes," Ino said, "From the surgery..."
"Surgery..." sakura couldn't remember anything about a surgery, "I don't...think I remember that...The last thing I remember is...the match...Everything was so loud, and...and it was so hard to see...everything went black...and then...I woke up here..."
"Well, you did take a pretty good beating from that guy," Ino said, "I'm not surprised you don't remember it."
"could you..." Sakura began, "Get..."
"I'm already here," Came the hokage-sama's voice as she appeared at the foot of her bed, "I was informed when you awoke and came immediately."
"I...see..." Sakura said. Her head was pounding, and her shoulder ached like hell, her ribs felt like they were in pieces, and her right leg felt like it was on fire, "What...What's wrong with me?"
"Several things," Hokage-sama replied, "The least of which is that your right leg and shoulder along with several of your ribs were shattered when you impacted the wall, but so far they have not responded as well as Id hoped to the treatments...I may have to take over myself."
"Why...did..." Sakura asked, struggling to make herself talk normally, "Why...did I...have surgery?"
"Surgery?" Hokage-sama asked, "Because you eyes and ears were severely damaged as well. We know that your ears are working at least, but as for your eyes...There's no way to be sure until we remove the bandages..."
"Are you saying....what...I think...you are?" sakura asked.
"Yes," Hokage-sama replied, "I am...Much as I hate to admit it...There's nothing I can do that I haven't already done, Sakura. So...So you have a chance of...of being blind."
The words hit Sakura like a lead weight being dropped down her throat. Blind. She couldn't believe that Tsunade-sama had said that. If she had given up on it, then she was sure that there was no hope at all for her recovering her sight.
"That...That would mean that..." She began, dreading even the thought of finishing her own sentence, "That I would..."
"Yes," Hokage-sama said, "It would mean that you could no longer be a shinobi."
"Well, that won't happen," Sakura said, "Because I'll be fine...How soon until you remove the bandage?"
"We'll have to wait for two more days before we can be sure that the wounds created by the surgery have completely healed," Hokage-sama said, "We'll know then if it worked or not."
Tsunade-sama was hiding something from her. She could hear it in her master's voice. The only question was, what?
"Is there anything else that you wanted to tell me, master?" sakura said gently, hoping that she could coax it out of the other woman and not have to die of curiousity as she lay here.
"What would make you think that?" The Hokage-sama asked.
"You sound concerned," Sakura said, "And I want to know about what."
"It's nothing that you need to concern yourself with," The Hokage-sama replied curtly. Sakura heard her turn and head out the door, and then she heard the other woman pause at the threshold, "You just...concern yourself with getting better, Sakura."
"Of course," Sakura said, "But..."
She didn't get to finish her question because the door slammed shut a moment later, leaving nothing but Sakura and the sound of Ino's heavy breathing in the room. She wondered what it was that Tsunade was worried about, but she dare not ask, especially not now.
"Ino," She said absentmindedly.
"Yes?" Ino replied, sounding as though she had been waiting for Sakura to say her name her whole life.
"Do you know something?" Sakura asked, "Something that I should know about?"
"Who me?" Ino said, sounding about as trustworthy as a thief testifying in court, "No, of course not."
"Oh," Sakura said, "I see...Well then, could you do me a favor?"
"Sure," Ino said, "Anything. You just name it."
"Could you go and bring Naruto here for me?" Sakura couldn't believe she had just asked Ino to do that, but if anyone could help her make sense of things, Naruto Uzumaki was the one guy she knew she could count on.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Ino said, sounding rather hesitant but eager to please, "I mean...It's Naruto. What would you want an annoying guy like that around for?"
"I have my reasons," sakura said, "Are you gonna do it for me, or not?"
"Yeah," Ino said, sounding as though she'd just signed her own name in the bingo book, "I'll go get him..."
She hear Ino's chair scrape the floor, and then she heard her leave the room. Alone at last, Sakura set about thinking out exactly what she would say to him when he got there, and exactly what questions she needed answered.
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Naruto was so furious with himself and the rest of the world that he didn’t think he could hit this tree hard enough, or anywhere near enough times to feel better about it, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to beat on it – and neither did his bloodied knuckles. As he punched the trunk of the tree again and again and again, thoughts flashed through his head. He saw Ino’s eyes as she had looked at him, and talked to him. They had been those same eyes. The eyes he had seen everywhere he looked in Konoha until just recently, the eyes that said he was a monster, something that was neither caring, nor capable of feeling, something to be regarded with the utmost contempt. He saw the conversation that he and Sakura had had that day, he saw the cocky smile on her face as she agreed to take part in his “little tournament”, and he remembered the pride he felt as he had listened to her talk about how she was going to kick some ass and take some names as she went along. She had come a long way from the little girl that knew everything but could do nothing that he had grown up with.
She had trained in the time he’d been gone, everyday from what Granny had told him, and she had become one of the most admired and respected medical ninja in the entire village, not to mention one of the strongest Kunoichi the world had ever seen. She had come so far to fall so suddenly, and the fact that he had contributed – even in some insignificant way – to that downfall cut him in places he didn’t even know he could be cut. He felt as though he had betrayed her, like he had let her down like he had the day he failed to bring Sasuke back, except that this time, it was worse than that.
“Well, Naruto-kun,” Said Kakashi’s voice from the tree above him, causing him to jump slightly, “It seems you’re training extra hard today.”
After he said this, he tilted his head to the side and closed his exposed eye, something Naruto knew meant he was smiling warmly, but for once, he didn’t appreciate the gesture at all. In fact, he really wanted Kakashi to just go away for once.
“Kakashi-sensei,” He said, “Welcome back. I had heard you were in the wave country on some kind of mission…”
“Yeah,” Kakashi said, “But you know plans, always changing.”
“Yeah…” Naruto said – though he knew better than that. He knew perfectly well why Kakashi was here, even if Kakashi thought he didn’t, “I know what you mean…I take it Granny called you back?”
“You’re getting sharper,” Kakashi said, jumping down to stand next to him and looking him in his eye, “But have you figured out why, I wonder?”
“Oh I know why,” Naruto said, unable to keep his malice out of his voice any longer, “You came back here to be on babysitting duty, didn’t you? You came back here to keep me from doing anything ‘foolish’, right?”
“I guess you could say that,” Kakashi said, “Not that I think it’ll help, but I’m going to try and take a different approach with you this time, Naruto. If you’re willing, that is.”
“Of course I’m not!” Naruto said, making a rude gesture in Kakashi’s direction, “If you think I’m going to let you pick up after me every time I make a mess, then you’re wrong! Why can’t you just butt out for once? Huh?”
Kakashi’s eyes narrowed. Then he disappeared, and reappeared right behind Naruto, his hand on one of the kunai in the pouch on his right leg.
“Can you give me one reason,” Kakashi said, “One damn good reason mind you, why I should even -think- about letting you handle things on your own?”
“Because,” Naruto said, not even bothering to turn around, “I’m the one who screwed it up this time, and –I’m- the one that had to fix it.”
“And just what is beating the crap out of that boy going to do to fix things?” Kakashi asked, his voice going icy cold, “Do you think that seeking vengeance on everyone is the way to fix all your problems Naruto?”
He had a point. Naruto had to admit that much, but he wasn’t about to give up that easily.
“It’s…” He said, trailing off.
“It’s what?”
“It’s all I know how to do!” He blurted out, completely tossing aside all respect for Kakashi, “I can’t do anything else! I’m not some brilliant medical ninja like Granny or Sakura. All I am is a kid who can take a punch and get back up. So what else am I supposed to do, sensei? –Stand- here and do nothing, when Sakura needs me the most?”
Kakashi was silent a moment before he spoke.
“And what if something terrible were to happen to you as well?” He asked, turning and pointing at Naruto, “What would Sakura do then? Instead of having you around to support her like you’re supposed to do as her teammate, she’d have to spend all of her time worrying about you too. How is she supposed to come back from this terrible situation without her teammate to lean on, huh?! Did you ever stop to think that she might need you just to –be there- for once, instead of running off on some god-forsaken quest to prove your manhood to her?”
Naruto was absolutely stunned. Kakashi had never talked to him like this before. He felt like he was three, and someone was trying to explain to him that the grass was green, and the sky was blue, and birds flew and fish swam, and that’s the way it was. He saw it all now. It was so clear.
“So, you’re saying that I should drop out of the tournament?” He asked his voice glum.
“I think it would be wise,” Kakashi replied, “at least until you’re ready to take those guys on. Right now though, they’re way above your level, even with the Kyuubi on your side, I’m not sure that even you could pull this one off.”
“You’re probably right about that,” Naruto replied, “So, what am I supposed to do then? Just sit here and wallow in my own self-pity?”
“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Kakashi said, a dangerous glint entering his exposed eye.
Naruto looked at his Sensei. [What the devil was he thinking anyway?]
“You’ve got something planned, don’t you?”
“I’ve always got something planned, Naruto.” Kakashi said, “Always.”
Naruto didn’t like where this was going at all, but there was no other choice at this point. If he wanted to help Sakura in any way, then he was going to have to play by Kakashi’s rules.
For the time being, anyway.
Kakashi started to say something else, but he was interrupted by someone calling Naruto’s name.
“Naruto!” It was Ino’s voice. She was in a tree not far from them, just on the edge of the clearing.
“Ino!” Naruto said, jumping over to the edge of the clearing to meet her, “What brings you here? Weren’t you with Sakura?”
“I was,” Ino said, “But she’s awake, and she specifically sent me to get you, Naruto.”
Naruto couldn’t believe it. Sakura had just woken up, and the first thing she had done was send Ino to get -him-? How hard had she hit her head?
“Sakura sent you to get me?” Naruto said, “What did she want?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Ino said, “But I wouldn’t keep her waiting, if I were you.”
“Right.” Naruto said, “Sensei?”
“We’ll talk later,” Kakashi said in a tone that said he clearly wasn’t anywhere near done with Naruto yet, “Go see Sakura.”
“Got it,” Naruto said, and he was off, just like that Kakashi had released him from whatever web the old bastard had been spinning for him – though he had no idea what it was that Sakura could want to tell him. First though, he wanted to stop by Granny’s and talk to her, maybe she could help him make sense of all this, though he sincerely doubted she would tell him much of anything at all. Still it was worth a shot – especially when things were this weird around the village.
Since it had all happened, Kakashi was treating him like he was a man, or at least an equal. Sakura wanted to see him more than anyone else, and the eyes of the villagers, which he had worked so hard to change, were now the same cold eyes they had been before. He fought back the tears that were welling up from inside – now was not the time to cry about spilled milk.
One thing was for sure though, something was going on, and Naruto Uzumaki was about to find out what.
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Chapter notes: Disclaimer: Once again, I state that I do not own Naruto. I would like to, and whoever does is one lucky man, but I am merely a fan writing a fanfic about an awesome series. That is all.
Sorry guys, not much time in Iraq for writing, so some of these may be shorter than the last couple, and some may be half done and such, but I will try my best ^^ enjoy!
Chapter end notes: Finally finished. Thank for waiting! Enjoy, ne?