Life or Death
AU: Set before the war, before Sasuke had remotely returned.
It was a late Thursday afternoon when a commotion entered the hospital, four men carrying in a bloody body. That body was Sasuke Uchiha.
Tsunade stood stunned at the front desk, and dropped her paperwork, beckoning the men to follow her. "This way, we need to be quick. Shizune, follow us and gather a few nurses" Shizune nodded and whizzed off into a nearby room. The sudden arrival of the boy wasn't as much of a surprise as it was to everyone else.
Rumours had been floating of his pending return, but he was still battling with ninjas from the sound – clearly this had been a rather gruesome encounter.
A blonde ninja rushed through the front doors just as the corridor ones closed. "Wait!" Naruto attempted to follow the group of nurses, but was stopped by Kakashi.
"We need to leave them to work, if you go in, he could die" Naruto stopped his struggling and sighed, leaning his weight slightly against Kakashi. "Come on, I'll treat you to some ramen while we wait" The blonde debated this, he was hungry, but he didn't want to leave and miss anything.
"Fine, since you're paying for once" He chuckled and walked alongside his former sensei until their reached the stall – it was going to be a long day waiting for news; any news at all.
They sat at the bar table, Naruto having ordered five bowls, and that was just to start. "So he's back" Naruto muttered, still not quite believing it was real. "I don't know how to feel Kakashi; I'm delighted he's back, but I'm so angry" Kakashi just looked at his student; the blonde had grown up beyond his years recently. He spoke as if he was an old man sometimes and it scared him, he still remembered when he was a knucklehead.
"It's something you need to have a serious think about. Are you ready to just accept him back?" Naruto shrugged and thanked the store owner as the first of his bowls was pushed towards him.
"He looked so broken. What happens if he dies?" Kakashi wasn't sure how to respond.
"I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens, we should probably go and find Sakura after this" Kakashi smiled through his mask as his student ate, their chat returning to a lighter tone.
~S*N~
Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto stood nervously outside of one of the hospital rooms. Sasuke's surgery had gone well and he had just woken up, but none of them knew what to expect when they walked in the room. Chances are that Sasuke still wouldn't want to be here and that thought scared Naruto the most.
He fiddled nervously with the edge of his jump suit and jumped slightly when the door opened to reveal a tired looking Tsunade.
"He's doing ok, he'll be fine in a few weeks or so" She paused and looked at Naruto with a bizarre look on her face "But he will only see Naruto" Sakura and Kakashi shared a look and Sakura was about to protest when Tsunade interrupted her. "You can see him later Sakura, for now, come and help me prepare some medication" The pinkette nodded and shot a worried look at her blonde teammate.
Naruto took a deep breath and paused on the door handle, he was about to see Sasuke for the first time and he wasn't sure how to act.
Stepping in, he spotted a body wrapped mostly in bandages except for his face and right arm. When onyx eyes meet sapphire, Naruto stopped again.
"Dobe" The one word was weak, and lacked venom. Naruto frowned and shuffled closer, but still keeping his distance, noticing the cuffs strapping Sasuke to the bed.
"Teme, what are you doing here?" Sasuke said nothing and looked away. "Don't ignore me!" His voice became angry as he stormed over gripping the side of the bed with tight fists.
Sasuke sighed and looked back to him, but Naruto noticed that his gaze was directed at his lips. For a brief moment he wondered if there was food on his face, but a quick glance in the mirror in the other side of sasuke's bed proved otherwise.
"I'm coming home, isn't that what you told me to do?" Naruto paused, feeling the anger build up at the nonchalance in the other's voice.
"You think you can just walk back and look like you don't care? Tell Tsunade that Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei couldn't come in?! You're so selfish!" Sasuke seemed unaffected by his rant, but when he leaned up so his face was an inch away from Naruto's, he uttered 5 words that made Naruto freeze.
"I came back for you" With that, lips were pressed against his softly; so soft that Naruto barely felt them and it took a few seconds for his brain to kick into gear. But by that point, Sasuke had removed himself.
"Wha – Sasuke?" Naruto's lips were tingling as much as he wanted to deny it, deny the fact that he was happy that Sasuke was back and deny the fact that he wanted nothing more than to kiss him again.
Before he could think otherwise, Naruto grasped Sasuke's face in his hands and slammed their lips together. The kiss was somewhat short and messy due to the overenthusiastic inexperience from the blonde. Sasuke tongue prodded Naruto's lips and The hand closest to him pulled on his jacket, dragging him closer.
A knock on the door shook Naruto back into reality and he shot backwards, rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry to interrupt, Sasuke needs his medication" A nurse popped into the room and without another word shared, Naruto took off, not looking back as he climbed the Hokage mountain. What the hell had just happened?
One month later:
Naruto stood in Tsunade's office, the day after Sasuke was discharged from the hospital.
"Now brat, I know you haven't visited Sasuke since the first day. But he was asked to pick someone to live with him as his supervisor for the next 2 months to prove his innocence and loyalty" Naruto didn't like where this was going. "And he chose you" She looked at his blank expression.
"Is there anyone else that would do it?" She looked surprised at his resistance, wondering just what had happened that day.
"No, he only wants you and I agreed to it. I thought this would be best for the both of you" He scowled at her, but nodded. "You move in to the mansion today, so pack your things. And please, try not to kill each other"
AN: There will be at least one more chapter, probably two.
