Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I never will...Unfortunately.
It was a hot afternoon and Sakura had just finished all her homework for the day. She grinned to herself, triumphant that she managed to finish all of her schoolwork without any loud distractions: being mainly Naruto and Ino. She flopped down onto her bed, wondering if she should call them over. Even though they were both loud and annoying most of the time, deep down she wouldn't have it any other way. The blond duo made her life more exciting.
"I don't have anything to do… Maybe I will call them," mused Sakura out loud. She sat up and grabbed her pink-cased phone from her desk and dialed Ino's number.
After hearing Ino's voicemail for the fifth time, Sakura frowned. "She better not be partying. We have exams tomorrow!" She then tried calling Naruto only to find herself hearing his voicemail as well. Exasperated, she called a few more times before deciding to leave him a message.
"Naruto. What the hell is going on? First Ino and now you. Answer your phone, dammit!"
Minutes went by and she got no calls. Sakura gave up with a sigh, and decided to take a shower to calm her nerves. I hope nothing bad happened, Sakura thought, biting her lip worriedly. She forced out a small laugh and scoffed at herself. "I'm being stupid. They probably went out and didn't hear my calls. Or they lost their phones, again." She smiled fondly at a memory from not so long ago.
The pinkette threw her phone onto her bed and looked through her chestnut drawers to get some clothes. Finding a clean red T-shirt and some jeans, she tucked them under her arm and walked over to the bathroom and proceeded to take a shower.
Leaving the bathroom fully dressed and hair still wet, Sakura checked her phone and grinned, seeing two missed calls from Ino. She quickly called back, running her hands through her pink strands.
"Heeey, finally! God, you scared me for a bit. Naruto wouldn't answer my calls either and-"
"Sakura!"
Sakura's smile faltered as she was cut off by Ino's panicked tone.
"Ino….? What's wrong?!"
"Sakura, oh my god! Naruto's at the hospital."
Sakura froze, her heart pounding hard against her ribcage. Naruto? At the hospital? That was nothing new. That boy had a gift at making people pissed at him. However, she could hear Ino's sniffles from the phone and oh my god. Forcing herself to respond, Sakura asked shakily, "W-what happened?"
"We were headed over to Temari's party a-and there was this truck….," Ino sobbed. "…It came out of nowhere! ….T-then there was glass everywhere a-and…. Oh my god, blood!"
She felt like vomiting. Trembling, Sakura forced herself to calm down. She weakly said, "I'll be there soon."
Sakura stumbled over to the door, flung it wide open and raced downstairs. Grabbing a jacket and clumsily putting on some flip flops, she ignored her parents' questioning stares. Sakura ran to the garage and entered her second-hand red Mercedes, cursing when the car refused to start. After a few more tries, Sakura got the engine to start up and quickly backed her car out from the driveway.
Tears distorted her view of the road as she drove. She furiously wiped them away and bit her lip. "Could this day get any worse?" Just then, a black car cut her off and she cursed. "DAMN YOU!" Sakura yelled hoarsely as she glared at the blond head of the driver. ...Blond...? Sakura almost broke down right then and there. "Naruto..."
Sakura burst into room 407, the smell of disinfectant and anesthetics immediately overwhelming her senses. She scanned the white room panickedly, noting three hospital beds in the room. "Where is he? What happened? Is he okay?"
A nearby nurse immediately made a hushing motion. "Please, there are other patients in the room!"
Before the pinkette could make a retort, a platinum blonde girl emerged from the far corner of the room smiling weakly at her. Without a word, Sakura ran up to her and embraced her tightly. Before she could open her mouth to speak, Ino let out a sharp breath of pain. Sakura, alarmed, instantly let go of her friend.
"Ino? What happened to you?" Sakura asked worriedly. Upon closer inspection, she saw bandages peaking out from under the blonde's blouse.
"Broken ribs," Ino said, then paused, seeing the concern in Sakura's eyes. "Don't worry, forehead. I'll live," she said in a half joking manner. She took Sakura's hand and pulled her over to an occupied bed in the back of the room. "I'm sorry if I worried you too much. Naruto's doing... better." She made a gesture towards the spiky-haired patient in the bed.
Sakura teared up and reached out to stroke Naruto's sun-kissed forehead. He had blood stained bandages wrapped around his head and cuts all over his face. One eye was purple and swelling rather nastily. However, he was breathing evenly.
"Naruto, you baka," Sakura said softly, holding his hand in hers. She turned to Ino and asked, "So.. What happened?"
"This truck crashed into us. The driver was drunk. I was sitting in the back with the beer"- Ino pointedly ignored her friend's frown of disapproval-"So Naruto got most of the impact. H-his head was thrown against the windshield... The doctor said something about mild 'blunt force trauma' and whiplash."
A dark haired nurse who's ID badge read 'Shizune' approached them, smiling sympathetically. "I'm sorry about your friend. He's still unconscious, but other than that he's healing rather well. I'm expecting about a month for a full recovery. Maybe even sooner."
Sakura sighed in relief and took a seat in one of the blue reception chairs nearby the window. Ino sat down next to her as Shizune continued to list Naruto's injuries. When the nurse finished, she smiled at them and said,"Well, I've got to go. I have other patients to attend to, but I'll be checking on your friend every once in a while so I'll see you around."
Sakura and Ino both waved at her and said their thanks as the dark haired nurse left. After a few minutes of silence, Ino turned her pale head towards the pinkette and grinned. "Hey, forehead-"
The blonde was interrupted by a loud growling noise. The duo turned to the source of the noise.
Naruto's stomach was growling.
"R... ramennnn..."
The petite pinkette had taken it upon herself to bring food for Naruto everyday after school. The reason being plain and simple: Hospital food was disgusting. Sakura would bring some left over tempura, red bean soup, or on some days when she was feeling especially kind, some miso ramen from Ichiraku's. Ino came with her on some occasions, but mostly only to goggle at the "crazy hot" male nurses.
There were two other patients sharing the room with Naruto. One was a plump middle-aged man who seemed always to be sleeping, and the other was a raven haired boy whom she assumed was around her age. The boy's bed was at the other side of the room, and he always had his back turned to them whenever she visited. She had contemplated introducing herself to him, but never got around to it.
One day, Sakura came into the hospital room only to find Naruto fast asleep. She didn't want to wake the energetic blond, so she quietly put the food on his bedside table and looked around the room. The pinkette had brought some fresh flowers and fruit to add color to the drearily plain room in her previous visits and it looked more much inviting now. In the middle of the room the middle-aged man was snoring loudly in bed while the boy was faced towards the wall... as usual. She decided to finally go over and say hi.
She approached his bed. He hadn't moved from his place under the blue linen blankets. She took a deep breath and brightly said, "Hi! I'm Sakura!"
He didn't seem to have heard her. She tried again.
"...Uhm, hello?"
No answer.
"Hello...?"
Still no answer.
Hesitantly, she poked his hospital gown-clad shoulder.
He didn't twitch.
Sakura's face paled. "Oh my God. What if he's dead?!" she panicked out loud, "Where the hell is a nurse when you need one?!"
Before she could run towards the door, a pale hand whipped out and grasped her wrist tightly. Sakura screamed out in surprise. Another pale hand reached out to cover her mouth as she was jerked, not too gently, downwards. Apple green eyes widened as they met onyx.
"Mmmmpph!"
The ebony-haired teen gave an irritated sigh and reluctantly uncovered her mouth.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Sakura shouted, "YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME."
His lips let out a muttered "...Annoying..."
Her eyebrows twitched. "What did you say?!"
He gave her a nonchalant look. The tips of her ears turned red. She was really peeved now. "Y-you arrogant jerk!"
Her only response from him was a blank stare.
This pissed her off more. "Are you deaf or something?" she hissed.
Again, no reaction from him whatsoever. It was like talking to a brick wall! He was doing this on purpose, she bet her life on it.
If this rude boy refused to be civil, then she wouldn't waste any more of her time on him. She flipped her pastel locks over her shoulder and flounced towards the door. Before she opened the door to leave, she glared over her shoulder at him. The douche was actually smirking at her. The nerve! Sakura Haruno was not going to let this-this... jerk have the satisfaction of seeing her blow up. Sakura gave a small "humph!" and threw the door open and slammed it shut. She was met with a small group of female nurses who had huddled together outside the door, eavesdropping.
A charcoal-haired woman who Sakura recognized as Shizune came forward, the nurse giving her an innocent smile.
"I see you've met Sasuke-San," Shizune said cheerfully. A little too cheerfully for Sakura's taste.
The pinkette made her way to the elevator, which wasn't too much of a far walk from Naruto's room. As the elevator doors opened she glanced at the nurses who had yet to disperse. They were whispering and giggling. Rolling her eyes, Sakura entered the empty elevator. As the doors slid closed, she couldn't help but replay her banter with the dark-haired patient.
A/N: My very first story, I hope you guys enjoy! Please R&R :)
P.S. I want to thank my beta, Iron Rose Writer. You're amazing.