Chapter 2
Sasuke paced around the almost empty waiting room of the Konoha hospital. He stopped and ran a hand through his hair for about the 56th time that day then started pacing again, now wringing his hands in front of his chest. It was very unlike his normal behavior. Sakura looked at Sasuke with a sad look on her face, her chin rested in her hand. Poor Sasuke… he must be so stressed… if he loses her… she glanced at Naruto who was sitting next to her, his eyes following the older Uchiha as he paced back and forth.
"Sasuke…" Naruto started as he stood up, but was interrupted as a doctor walked into the waiting room and looked at Sasuke,
"Mr. Uchiha?" Sasuke jumped and rushed over to doctor, his face looked twice as pale as it normally did, giving off the impression of a ghost.
"Y-yes?" he asked, his voice quiet and shaky, a look of worry in his eyes. The doctor's eyes softened, placing a hand on his shoulder he started,
"We've done all we can, now…" he stopped, as Sasuke seemed to freeze and completely stop breathing,
"W-what…you…she…" the doctor blinked, then chuckled lightly,
"Oh heavens no! We've done all we can Sasuke, at this point she just needs to heal, we can't speed that up… she's still asleep… but you can go see her now." Sasuke nodded and took off down the hall, towards Miho's room. The doctor smiled slightly, turning to look at Sakura and Naruto,
"I'm sorry, but there is a two guest limit per room…" Naruto winced and stood up, heading towards the door. He was used to being sent away, after all, he was a demon. Sakura looked after Naruto, then down the hallway. Running after Naruto she grabbed his shoulder,
"You go ahead…" she smiled, "My mom is expecting me home soon anyway." waving she ran out the door. Naruto blinked once, then turned around, looking at the doctor uneasily. The doctor smiled and said,
"Don't worry kid, we don't discriminate here, after all, you never asked for the fox demon…" Naruto brightened and relaxed, thanking the doctor before taking off down the hall as well. Seeing a door opened slightly he walked inside.
Sasuke sat in a chair next to the bed, holding his sister's hand. Even though it was barely noon, the bags under his eyes mad you think he hadn't slept in days.
"Sasuke?" Naruto called quietly, shutting the door behind him and walking inside. Sasuke turned his head slightly, looking at Naruto out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey Naruto…" he muttered, looking back at Miho. Naruto's eyes shut for a moment, before pulling up another chair next to Sasuke. Placing a hand on his shoulder the blond smiled comfortingly,
"Hey, don't worry Sasuke, she'll be alright. She's an Uchiha after all, and your twin, something as simple as this won't ever bring her down." Sasuke smiled very slightly at Naruto,
"…Yeah…" he said, looking out the window next to the bed, "She…." he started, looking at his sister again. Naruto turned his head, looking at Sasuke,
"She's always had weak bronchial tubes… our parents… often kept her locked up in the house… not letting her go much farther then the yard unless she was going to school…" he smiled sadly,
"I had full freedom… they paid more attention to Itachi anyway… but… she was my sister you know? I whenever I wasn't training with Itachi… I was always with her… and even when I was with Itachi, I'd normally help her sneak out so that she could some with us…" he sighed,
"The last time she had an attack this bad… was when we were playing tag… she wanted to play so bad… and I wasn't thinking… and we were far from the house… had Itachi not followed us… she would have…" Sasuke trailed off, shutting his eyes again before burying his face in his hands. Naruto's sighed and wrapped an arm around Sasuke's shoulder, and was shocked when Sasuke didn't jerk away, or slap him, or something else that would end in pain both mentally and physically for the Kyuubi holder.
Feeling slightly more confident, he pulled Sasuke toward him so that the Uchiha's head was resting on his shoulder,
"It'll be alright Sasuke… don't bring up more painful memories on yourself… and most important of all, don't blame yourself. Unless you forced her to run a 100-mile race less then an hour, or something drastic like that, you cannot blame yourself… you're here, waiting for her to get better, and you got her help. That's what matters Sasuke, you're being a good brother, and we both know that's all Miho cares about anyway." Sasuke blinked once, staring at his hands on his lap, …It's times like this… things like this, that make me fall for him even more… he lifted his head slightly, and Naruto winced slightly, pulling his arm away in fear, but Sasuke didn't pull away. Looking up into his face Sasuke asked,
"Naruto…why are you doing this?" Naruto blinked, not understanding the question,
"What do you mean?"
"…this…" Sasuke gestured with his hand around the room, "Being nice to me… comforting me… I… I'm so cruel to you… why…?" Naruto laughed quietly and smiled at Sasuke,
"Cruel? Aw, come on Sasuke, you're not cruel, you're my best friend, the first to ever except me as a person… always looking out for me in your own, cold bastard-like way. Sure, you've got an attitude that could rival Ino's and Sakura's together…" he smirked at the offended look on Sasuke's face, "But, when you want to be, you can be really nice, but I doubt you'd ever notice or admit it." Sasuke blinked, this time, he was confused. Shaking his head, he placed it back on a now bewildered Naruto's shoulder and sighed,
"…Thank you…" he muttered, turning his head slightly so that his face was pressed against Naruto's shoulder. Smiling, Naruto wrapped his arm back around Sasuke's shoulder and said quietly,
"You look exhausted…you can go to sleep you know… right here, I'll wake you up if anything changes…" he waited for an answer and frowned when he didn't get one,
"Sasuke, I'm serio-" he stopped short as he looked down and saw that Sasuke had, in fact, already fallen asleep, one hand holding Miho's tightly, and the other using his own knee as support to keep from falling. Chuckling, Naruto rubbed his thumb up and down Sasuke's shoulder in a comforting way as he continued to watch the younger Uchiha for any signs of change in breathe or movement.
Several hours passed and not much had happened. Yawning, Naruto sighed, frowning as he felt a tingling in his left side. Sighing he tried to shift slightly without waking the Uchiha. Jumping as he felt Sasuke move, he looked on in horror as the Uchiha looked up at him, eyes half open and sleepy. Blinking a few times Sasuke let out a
"Mghfle…" sort of noise and shifted in his chair so that he was sitting forward again, before allowing himself to fall sideways so that his head was in Naruto's lap. Naruto gapped at Sasuke for a few moments before shaking his head and sighing again, resting his head against the wall (which, thankfully, was right next to Naruto) and sighed once more.
Slowly, he began to run his fingers through Sasuke's hair, earning a small moan from the sleeping boy as he snuggled closer to Naruto's stomach, smiling slightly, Naruto kept up the movements. A few minutes later, he yawned and looked at the clock which read '5:04pm'. Telling himself he was just resting his eyes for a few minutes, and without knowing it, he fell asleep, his fingers still resting in Sasuke's hair.
Around 7am the next morning, a small sigh escaped the lips of the younger Uchiha. Rubbing her eyes, Miho slowly sat up, looking around the room confused. The whiteness of the walls hurt her eyes, since she was used to waking up to the dark navy blue of her own room. Blinking, she frowned, trying to figure out why she was in the hospital.
Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered collapsing outside and hearing Sasuke screaming her name. Looking around, her eyes fell on the two boys next to her, both still asleep. Naruto was turned so that his back was against the wall with his knees next to Sasuke's hip, and Sasuke was leaning over against Naruto's chest, his arms wrapped lazily around the blonde's right arm, as if it were a teddy bear.
Beaming, Miho quietly stood up, stretching. Making her way silently to the door she jumped as it opened and the nurse made a small yelping noise as Miho covered her mouth. Giving the younger a Uchiha a slightly frightened look, she calmed down as Miho pointed to the two sleeping boys and placed a finger over her lips, silently asking the nurse to stay silent. Nodding, the nurse pulled back and mouthed,
"Good morning." before turning to leave, only to be stopped again. Looking at Miho she had to hold back her laughter as the Uchiha girl mimed using a camera, pointed to the two sleeping, then looked back at the nurse. Chuckling lightly she nodded, holding up a finger to show she'd be back soon.
Watching the nurse for a moment as she disappeared down the hall, Miho smiled and shut the door. Walking back over and looking at Sasuke and Naruto with a found look on her face. Shaking her head, turned to the bed, straightening the sheets, and fluffing the pillows, making it look as if it hadn't been touched.
Nodding at her work, she turned around, and smiled as the nurse appeared at the door with an instant camera. Rushing over, she took the camera with a smile and then ran back other to the sleeping boys. Taking several pictures, she grabbed them as they came out of the front of the camera before handing the camera to the nurse. The nurse smiled and bowed her head, before leaving once again.
About an hour later, Sasuke stirred slightly, groaning he sighed, snuggling closer to Naruto, or as far as he knew, his pillow. Sighing, he smiled; Warm… it's warm… looking up he blushed heavily, seeing that he was lying on Naruto's chest. Sitting up slowly he turned to the bed and felt his heart catch in his throat.
The bed was empty. (Since he didn't know she got up beforehand) He raised a hand to his mouth, attempting to hold back a sob and failed. It wasn't loud but Naruto heard it and jumped awake, looking around.
His eyes fell on the bed, then Sasuke.
"Oh dear…" he muttered, standing up and walking over to Sasuke, pulling the Uchiha into am embrace. Letting out a louder sob, Sasuke clutched Naruto tightly, sobbing silently into the blonde's shoulder.
A flash went off behind them and they both whipped around to see Miho standing at the door, putting something in her pocket and tossing a camera back at a nurse. Looking at the both of them the younger Uchiha smiled,
"Hey guys… what's wrong? Did I miss something?" she asked, taking a sip of the pepsi in her hands and a bite of the ice-cream in her other, "You know… people say hospital food is bad but this is goo-" but she was cut off as Sasuke flung himself at her, hugging her tightly in his chest, nearly causing her to drop the food she was holding, sobbing even harder then before,
"M-Miho…sis… thank god… thank god… If…if you…if…" but Sasuke's voice failed him and he just stood there, hugging a shocked and bewildered Miho as Naruto smiled slightly, watching them both.
Eventually, Sasuke pulled back, whipping his puffy and red eyes. Smiling and wiping his eyes, he leaned down, kissing his sister on the cheek,
"I'm really glad you're alright…" Miho laughed, smiling at her twin,
"Really now?" she said, "I couldn't tell." she rolled her eyes jokingly, dodging Sasuke as he attempted to smack her upside the head. Naruto watched the two siblings jump around the room, messing with each other. Granted it was so out of character for Sasuke, but Naruto couldn't help but smile, after all, the Uchiha really loved his sister, and Naruto couldn't help but feel a warmness fill him as he saw Sasuke smiling and carefree. So much happier then the one he normally saw… yet with the warmness, came sadness, a longing to know what they felt… the love of a sibling.