Sakura sat in the chair by the bed. Her hands lay in her lap, her nails now wore down, with the nervous picking she had down to them over the night. The sun was beating down on her back. This was the only sign she had that let her know that it was day. She hadn't taken her eyes of the occupant of the bed in front of her in hours. Things like watching the sun rise didn't seem that important compared to what was going on in the small hospital room she had spent the last eigth or nine hours in.
He was almost completlty covered in bandages. His right arm was the worst, she had warned him about that so many times. He didn't listen, he never did. When it came to taking care of himself, he never listened, to her or anyone. He had this way of looking at you as if he was taking in everything you were saying, so intensely, then opening his mouth and letting you know he hadn't understood a word you just said. It would be more annoying if he didn't have those big eyes. That though he tried to hide it showed the pain he hide. That didn't stop her from hitting, yelling at him when he really needed it.
Her mind drifted to the scar he was going to have on his right hand. As a consequence of her medical training, she could visulies the scare that a wound would make before it had started to heal. Naruto in this way as well as many others, surpriced her. He never scared the way she thought he would. Scars where part of their job, that didn't make them any less noticeable. He must have a lot of scares more than most.
To keep her mind focused on something, until he wake up. She started to think of all the scars she knew he had, following on from her train of thought. As a medic Nin and his team mate she knew most of them. She started from the bottom and worked her way up.
He had a long scar on the bottom of his left foot. A faint smile spread across her face, just thinking about it. He had got it when he stepped on a kuni that was hidden from view under a pile of clothes in his room. Something that didn't not surprice her. What did was that he was able to find anything in the first palce. He had put a badge around it, and gone to train like normal. It was the next day when they were on a scouting mission, that she noticed he was slower than normal. As always he brushed it off, it took a lot of consent nagging to get him to tell her what was wrong. By then she also had noticed a small red stain on the bottom of his shoe. Once he told her what happened she healed it for him, but not before telling him how much of an idiot he was.
Then there was the burn on his right thigh, it almost wound around his whole thigh. She didn't know for sure where he got the burn from, but she had a good idea. The fight with Sasuke. Sasuke used fire jutsu, so it was a simple leap of thought to think there was a very good chance he had been burned by one of them. She had first noticed the burn, when they had staying at an inn on their mission to find Sasuke. Once she noticed it she had to avoid looking at it. The thought of it made her blood run cold.
Thinking about Sasuke would normally have brought an unseen tear to her eye, but not now. She still cared for him, hoped one day they would be able to bring him back. That was it; she had put him on a pedestal and he had fallen from it. No one can live up to that, that kind of expectation, or could they. She had thought nothing of Naruto when they were younger, but he had grown in her eyes, like he did with the rest of the village. She didn't hold him up on a pedestal, she had learned her lesson, but if anyone could live up to that pressure it was him. No one bet the odds, did the imposibel like he did.
She knew he must have a seal, for the nine tailed fox. That it was probably on his stomach, But she didn't know for sure, she never saw it. She only ever saw the damage it did to him. She herself still had a scar to attest to the damage of that poor, and that was only less than half of the power that he had sealed away inside him. It amazed her now, sometimes she would see him, just doing normal things, and think of the hided power he had, and wonder how he could even move at a normal pace with the weight on him. Her mind wondered to the affects have that scar forever marked on him were. That thought brought a tear to her eye, because of the way he was treated for having that mark. She hadn't been much better; she didn't even have the excuse of knowing, and being scared. She was making up for it now, in any small way she could.
She had to move on to the next scar, she was aware of. To stop the tear from falling. The scar on his back was one she knew all to well. She had been there when he got it; she had been the reason he got it. He had had to come to her rescue, and got hurt in the process. He tried to shake it off, like it was nothing. It was clear to her that he was in pain. It had been the first time in a fight that she saw through his fake smile and determanastion and saw who hard it was for him to keep going. Her mind wondered then to all the times they had fought as team 7. He pushed himself so hard; there must have been times then when he was hurt. Yet she had relied on him, so had Sasuke. He never let them down, he would rather have died than let them down, or any of his friends. She couldn't understand that kind of feeling, not from, him. Him how had been treated so badly, like he was nothing, how he could give so much for those that did so little for him. She knew she couldn't be like that in his place. He was a better person than most people.
She then moved down his left arm. She ignored the right as she had already been over that scar, spent what felt like an hour healing it as best as she could. Though she didn't know how much good it would do. She remembered that scar, on his left arm the most clearly. It even brought a full smile of pride to her face. He was so determined, she would never have admitted it back then, but she was impressed. She had never known anyone like him. He never backed down or gave up no matter what. He was true to his word too, he never froze up again. He learned from his mistakes, she hoped she had too. Now all they had to do was get Sasuke to lean from his. Then maybe they could move on.
The marks on his checks weren't scars, but they were permanent marks to the world. Showing who he was. Again her heart ached, from guilt. How many people knew the meaning of those marks before she did. Did Sasuke, was that why he had wanted to fight him. She for the second time pushed thoughts from her mind, and moved on.
Normally hidden under his headband, was a long thin scar. He got it from his fight with Gaara. She realised that, most of his scars she knew about, but only a few of them she had witnessed. This was the same. It proved that he really was a knuckle head, with a big heart. She imagined that Gaara had one the same. That it was a sign they had reached each other, and changed each other for the better.
These were all the scars she knew of, but she knew he must have more, a lot more. That was including the unseen scars, the emotional ones. The ones from spending his childhood alone. From having the village look down on him. The pain of not know what your purposes in life is, not knowing where you come from. Having the person that you where closest to admit that, the first person to ever do that. Then have them turn their back on you, on everything, for a selfish reason. So many more she could never begin to understand, or comprehended. And all the ones she herself had caused. All the things that made him, him.
The tear finally fell. She had made a promise to herself, that this time she would save Naruto and Sasuke. Now she made a new one, she would do everything she could for Naruto to help heal his scars. Now and in the future.
"Sakura, why are you crying" A soft low voice spoke from somewhere outside of her head, pulling her back to reality.
He was finally awake. Looking up at her with his deep blue eyes. If she looked hard enough she was sure she could see tiny lines in his eyes, scars from what he had witnessed in his life.
"IT's nothing. I just have something in my eye" She stood up and took his right hand in hers, and started to heal it a little more. Doing anything to stop him asking anymore questions. "Try stretching, dose it hurt"
He did as he was told. "No its fine" He shout her his bright grin.
She wasn't falling for it. So she healed it a bit more. It was all she could do, but she knew he didn't care. He was so grateful for any attention or affection he got from any one. What could be expected from someone that lived their life without any attention or affection for so long. That was why he did so much for others, because what was a little think for them. Like sewing his pants, meant the world to him, and was equal to taking a nearly fatal hit. What she didn't know was that if it came from her it meant even more.
It was when she was holding his hand in hers that she realised. Her whole life was in his hands. Her life revolved around Naruto, it always had, she just didn't realise it. A lot of important people and ideas, where in his hands. She couldn't think of any other pair of hands that she would trust it all to. A heartfelt smile crossed her face now.
"Ok are you hungry" She let his hand go, and pulled out an apple from her bag, sat back down and started to peal it for him. He nodded, his trade mark grin on his face.