Price of Battle
By: Ta-chan
Pairings: Sasunaru if you squint.
Summary: Naruto fought and succeeded in bringing Sasuke home, but with a small price.
Disclaimer: Ze plot be mine, ze characters be Kishi-sensei's.
A/N: Hah, this little piece o' work actually started out as a flashback for another fic. Crazy, huh? Yeah, I thought so too.
His heavy eyelids finally opened and he saw the girl that had begged him to stay just days earlier. His body ached from the wounds Naruto inflicted upon him. Naruto… He did the best he could to look around the room he was in. Just how the hell did he get into a hospital, and where was Naruto? Certainly he couldn't have brought him here; the guy was more busted up than he was. He looked at the pink girl and forced his mouth to open. "Where is he?" His voice sounded groggy, like he'd been asleep for days.
"Who--?" She smiled softly, "Naruto's in the bed next to you." She pointed behind her.
Sasuke looked to his left, and saw him lying on his side attached to a respirator. The only sign of life in him was the slow but steady rise and fall of his chest. The sight was a lot to take in. He looked back to Sakura, "How did I get here?"
Her smile dropped and she bit her lip, looking towards the comatose-like blonde. "I think he carried you." Her gaze came back to him, "You know, you two have been asleep for a few days. Hopefully since you woke up, he'll wake up soon, too."
He didn't pay attention to the last comment; he was more focused on the first one. How could he carry me? That's not possible. Again, he looked at Naruto, and felt a sudden and sharp pang in his gut. It had nothing to do with his wounds, nothing at all. It was guilt. He looked at Naruto and felt an enormous wave of guilt wash over him.
Flashes of their fight were sliding by in little bits. Every punch he landed every kick he received. All the awful things he yelled, and how the guy next to him just took it but still tried to reason with him. This idiot fought through all his insults, never once getting held back by them even though they must've hurt. He pushed them all away and focused on getting him back, and he did it.
He felt something bubble up inside him, and threaten to burst out. He turned over on his side, though it was painful, and put his back to Naruto. "Sasuke-kun…?"
He'd forgotten she was there, "Leave me alone!"
By the way she spoke; he could tell she had a sad smile on her lips. "I won't tell you not to feel guilty, but I know that he wouldn't want you to; it would be an insult. Because he fought his hardest, too."
Sasuke knew that, but it didn't stop the feeling from growing. "If I'm up before him, then he held back."
Despite his inner protests, Sakura stayed for about three more hours after that. Then just as she was about to leave, like a TV drama, Naruto starting coughing. Of course she rushed over to him and started removing the respirator so he could breathe.
Naruto cracked his eyes open and the first thing he saw was Sakura's relieved face. "Wha…? I'm alive? I was for sure I died when I hit the ground at the gate." He attempted to sit up, but was pushed back down by the pink girl.
"You idiot, don't try to move!"
He put on a big grin, "I really must've died if Sakura-chan's worried about me." He still wound up being able to sit up, despite the girl's hand pushing down.
Tears that weren't sad began to run down her face, "You big dummy!" Her arms went around his neck, not trying to be careful of his wounds, "Of course I was worried, I really thought you weren't going to wake up!" She tightened her arms.
His bright grin softened, "All we've done lately is made you cry, I'm sorry."
She let go of him, and wiped her eyes off. "You know, you would wake up right as I have to leave."
He didn't look over to Sasuke like he wanted to and he mustered up a disappointed face. "Really? Well, I guess I have bad timing." He wasn't liking the idea that he was about to be alone with Sasuke.
She smiled, "Yeah, you do." Again she wiped her eyes, "Uh, I'll be going now, but I'll be back later."
He put on a smile, "Yeah, ok. Seeya." Naruto watched her walk out the door and felt his stomach twist and turn. His eyes wandered over to Sasuke's bed, he saw an outline of a body and looked away. This was bad, their visiting hours were probably up--that's why Sakura had to leave. So he really was going to be all alone with Sasuke for the rest of the night.
Sasuke looked over at the bed next to him and saw the guy fidgeting around in his bed. His hands that were burnt by the strange chakra he used wouldn't stop fisting and unfisting the sheets below them. The Uchiha swallowed a lump in his throat and looked away. He hadn't realized how awkward it would be alone with him like he should've, but it was definitely living up to its potential.This is completely ridiculous. He stifled a groan and opened his mouth. "Did you really drag me back here?"
Naruto's eyes widened as he looked towards the other bed. He quickly covered up his surprise with a triumphant grin. "You bet your ass. I told you I would, and I did."
He was relieved to know he wasn't the only one feeling awkward. Though it was strange to see such a blatant cover up coming from the blonde boy. Beyond the bandages, under his right shoulder, he could make out a jagged-circular scar from his Chidori. It was already scarred over because of the weird chakra he used. That chakra gave him a bad feeling, but he couldn't place it.
"Mouu…!" He suddenly groaned causing Sasuke to unnoticeably flinch, "I'm so damn bored, I hate friggin' hospitals. And I have to piss!"
He rolled his eyes, "Stop complaining, this is all your fault." Sasuke didn't like the hurt face he saw for a second before the guy scoffed and ignored him.
What was I supposed to do? Let you walk away? Like hell.Naruto threw off the covers and winced at the pain the sudden movement caused. He stood up just as abruptly and another round of coughing came with a little surprise. Blood. He didn't see it because he refused to remove his hand from his mouth, but he could feel it. He gripped the edge of the bed with his other hand and stared widely at the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to fight the burning sensation in his throat. Before he removed his hand, he turned his back to Sasuke.
He stared at him and in an instant knew what happened. "Naruto, was that…"
His eyes were staring at the red mess on his hand in horror. But he threw on a smile, "Nah, it's nothing. Just used too much of his chakra."
His chakra? Who's…? Before he could ask, he started moving. "What are you doing?"
He could make it to the bathroom without falling, he knew he could. "I said I had to piss."
"They have nurses for that."
He scoffed, "Like I want some nurse helping me piss." Why are you asking so many questions? Right as he got to the door, his vision started getting blotchy. He put a hand on the doorframe to keep from passing out. He almost groaned out loud when he realized it was the hand with his blood all over it. Mother of…! He walked in and shut the door quickly.
Sasuke looked at the smeared, bloody handprint on the doorframe and felt his jaw clench. He huffed, he didn't care. If that idiot was going to push himself to his death just because he had to piss, then he deserved to die. His mind went back to what the blonde's excuse was. 'Just used too much of his chakra.' Sasuke frowned. His? Of course, this threw an image of that red chakra swirling around him into his mind. He shuddered.
"What are you?"
"…A friend."
He moaned and covered his face with the pillow. He was right; this was completely and absolutely ridiculous. He didn't have the time nor the patience to worry about idiots that had extremely strange chakra. Not to mention a little bit frightening. He heard the toilet flush and the sink turn on. The next sound, however, made his eyes shoot open against the pillow. Coughing. He could barely hear it because of the sink, but it was definitely there. Sasuke bit his lip and shoved the pillow off his head. Fuck.
He couldn't ignore it, so he forced himself out of the bed despite the pain. He hated him. For making him feel like he needed to do something. When in fact, it would do him some good to just ignore the fact that he was coughing up blood. It was probably just all part of a stupid plan to get him to feel bad. He shoved open the door, ready to give him a speech about how guilt trips weren't going to work except it died without another thought when he saw the blonde's face. Beads of sweat lined his brow, he was shaking as he stood hunched over the sink, and he looked absolutely terrified.
Naruto's head snapped to the open door without thinking. His gaze was frozen in surprised coal eyes for several grueling seconds before he turned back to the sink and wiped off his mouth. "Jeez, can't a guy take a piss in peace?"
Sasuke stared on with incredulity as he wiped his mouth on already blood and water stained bandaged hands. He's going to try and play it off…? "Shut up…" He lowered his eyes and pressed fingers into his forehead, "Just shut up."
He raised a blonde eyebrow as the rest of his blood went down the drain. "What's your problem?" He forced himself to stop shaking and stood straight.
His eyes snapped up, "You're my problem!" Another flash of hurt that was covered up almost instantly.
"Why the hell do you care?" His gut told him to stop, but he couldn't. "I took a piss and felt side effects from my wounds, big fuckin' whoop." It hurt in more ways than one to fight with him like this. He pushed passed him, "Don't you have better things to do? Like plotting revenge, or a new way to kill me? Shouldn't you be worrying about crap like that instead?"
He glared at his back, "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Uzumaki?"
"It means what it means, Uchiha." He climbed back into his bed with his back still facing Sasuke.
He walked towards the bed preparing to actually fight him, but again was held up by something else he was doing. You could barely tell, but he was still shaking. In that instant almost all his fury deflated and he sat down on the bed. "God I hate you." He breathed.
He felt his eyes start to burn. Don't do it… Please God don't cry. "Then why are you still talking?"
He watched a blood-soaked bandaged hand go from clenching the pillow to the blonde's face. "No, the real question is why did you drag me back here if you're going to tell me to continue my goals."
Naruto clenched his eyes shut against his hand pleading with his tear ducts. "When I found out you left, I knew right then and there it was going to be a lose-lose situation." He paused, "If I let you go you'd be gone forever, but if I brought you back you'd hate me even more." He laughed bitterly to keep the tears at bay, "You're not playing a fair game, y'know?"
Sasuke swallowed a lump in his throat, "If you were going to lose either way why did you even try?"
Damnit… Tears sprung free and mixed with the blood and water on his bandages. "Be-because." He started shakily, "Even if both ways suck there's always one that's better than the other." His body shuddered as the cry passed through him. "You're here, my mission's completed, and everyone's happy. Even-- No. Especially Sakura-chan. I mean, she even hugged me." Another bitter laugh passed his lips.
Everyone but you. He looked on as his head tried to morph with the pillow to keep anyone from seeing him in this rare moment of weakness. He couldn't hide the noises, and Sasuke felt his stomach start to churn again. He didn't like seeing Naruto like this, he didn't like hearing him talk as if everything was a lost hope, and he really didn't like the way he cared about it.
"So just leave me alone already." The arm he was laying on wrapped around his stomach.
He was shaking even more and Sasuke didn't know what to do. He knew he should probably go back to his bed and do as he said, but he couldn't find the strength to. He felt like he needed to do something and hated that, too. Everything that came down to Naruto and what he felt, he hated. He hated this guy so much but he wasn't going to get anywhere sitting down and thinking about how much he hated him, he needed to act.
Sasuke took one last look at him and on a whim; he lay down on the bed beside him. He pressed his back against the blonde's shaking one, feeling every movement his shortened breath caused. He had no idea what made him decide this was the right thing to do because he was sure it was the wrong one, but for the first time he didn't care. All he wanted was to ease his pain.
If only for awhile.
Owari
A/N: Ok, so. This my very first time putting one of my fics on here. Be kind, & PLEASE tell me if I'm doing something wrong.