Disclaimer: Ah, sorry about forgetting the 'Haha! You can't sue me!' crap in the first three chapters. Heh heh. Well, here it is. I don't own Naruto, but I do own Raiden, Genido, the sword Sazeto (had to include that), and...more that will come in later. Now, on with the story! Off to go put the disclaimer up in the first three chapters.
Wielder of the Sazeto
Chapter 4: What Happened?
By: Zashire-hime
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
'Huh? What's that noise?' Still in the abyss of darkness, the blonde ninja continued to question.
Beep. Beep.
'Ah...a hospital...HOSPITAL!? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?' He had one hundred percent no clue as to why he would be there. All he remembered was chasing the ANBU that had Sakura...and then, blank. He could recall being at the weapon shop with the blindfolded dude talking about the sword. He could also remember hearing a loud boom a few blocks down, and running off to see what happened, but when he entered a clearing in the forest, it was like the memory part of his brain shut down. All he could feel was pure rage along with seeing a few glimpses of red. 'Red? Red! RED!'
It had to involve the Kyuubi, but wasn't he only supposed to be called forth in a life or death situation? Why would chasing after someone count as life or death? He'd get his answers later, but for now, he had to leave the emptiness of his mind.
Slowly, he cracked an eye open about half way, but shut it immediately. 'Why must hospitals be so white? Why can't they paint it something like orange? Only a duller shade.' Yep, it was official, hospitals sucked.
Deciding to try again, he used most of his will power to ignore the blinding light of the white ceiling that he was about to face. He managed a crack a first, and then slowly lifted his eyelid even higher until his right eye was fully open. Step one: complete. Now to get his left eye open. He managed that a whole lot easier since his right eye had already adjusted itself to the brightness.
Soon the blonde had both his eyes opened, but wished he hadn't. In front of him was his friend, the cherry blossom, with two casts on. One was on her left leg, while the other was on her right arm. That wasn't what bugged him as much as seeing her face as well as the rest of her body. She was a mess. Cuts and scrapes in various locations that seemed to be what medical jutsu couldn't heal. She also had a big yellow-black bruise that covered most of her face. The blonde couldn't stand seeing his friend like that. Whoever did that to her was going to pay dearly.
oOoOo
"ACHOO!!" was the sound from the deceased bear-masked ANBU. "Hmm...I must be pretty famous to have somebody talking about me while being in the afterlife..."
"It's probably the blonde idiot," snickered his partner.
"Gah! Why can't he leave me alone! First I'm beheaded. Now, I'm sneezing my ass off, all thanks to him," the bear-masked ANBU muttered with over dramatic tears streaming down his face.
oOoOo
Erm...back to the situation at hand...
A brown haired nurse was making her local rounds from room to room at the local Wave hospital. She checked her clipboard and thought, 'Yes! One more room to go! I'm so tired!'
Opening the door, she dropped said clipboard and stared at the sight before her. Blonde ninja + awake does not compute. "You're supposed to be out for at least a week! Not a day!"
Naruto cringed at the volume level of the nurse which reminded him of an angry Sakura. 'Don't want to go there!' he reminded himself after the bruise he received last time that he pulled something stupid. He sulked remembering how the Kyuubi refused to heal him and was laughing his ass off at the size of the bump on the blonde's head. 'Stupid fox.'
"How are you up so early?" the nurse asked, completely puzzled.
"Umm...quick healing abilities?" he responded. Doing what he always did in these situations, changed the subject. "How is she doing?" he asked, indicating the girl to his right.
"Oh...she'll be fine. Nothing life threatening," the nurse explained. "By the way, what are those behind you? Are they..."
'Not again!' the blonde thought, covering his ears up.
'...Tails? I've never seen that before. Where's the cute little animal?" she asked, walking around the bedside. "They're YOUR'S!?" The poor nurse dropped to the ground, unconscious.
"Well, that went a bit better than expected...heh," his talking came to a stop when he heard another person walking down the hallway.
"Sana? Are you okay? I heard you-AHH!!" she screamed at the sight of Naruto walking over to hide in the bathroom. He was caught dead center. "What are you?"
"Err...a human," he said as if it were written on his face. Apparently no one in this town had ever seen a human with tails before. 'More like half-breed.' He sighed as the nurse ran out of the room. 'Better get Sakura-chan and head out.'
He walked over to the pink haired girl's bed and knelt down. 'Hmm...two broken limbs. Cuts. Bruises. She'll be fine.' He didn't want to cause her anymore pain, but the hospital was really starting to get on his nerves. So with that, he slipped his right arm under her mid-back, and then slipped his left arm under her knees to ultimately carry her bridal style. She groaned a little bit and snuggled up to the warmth radiating off of Naruto and fell back into a full state of unconsciousness. The blonde gave a warm smile down to her and staggered over to the window.
He felt like being creative and used his tails to open the window, so he could have a clear exit. Naruto jumped up to the windowsill and leapt out the window.
He raced from rooftop to rooftop, all the while heading in the direction of Tazuna's house. The blonde noticed that the bridge was visible from the hospital and smirked a bit. This was the place where he belonged. No one yelling, threatening, or harming him in any way. Nope. Here he was viewed as a regular human and not as a demon as the Hidden Leaf Village liked to call him. He had never felt more at home than he did at Wave.
The blonde sighed once more. He had to get Sakura to Tazuna's. So with that, he continued on his way, again.
After five or so more minutes of traveling, he came upon the house he was looking for. He knocked several times and waited. Tsunami came to the door and gasped when she saw Sakura.
"What happened to her?" asked a worried Tsunami.
"Well, you see..." he then explained the little adventure at the hospital, and why he brought the cherry blossom to the bridge builder's house. The woman sighed.
"Okay, well you better bring her up to the room where she was staying. I was worried when I received the news that you two were hospitalized yesterday. I didn't know something this bad happened because my father chose not to go into any details," said Tsunami, her look turning downcast.
"Oh, I'm sorry for worrying you so much, Tsunami-san. I was protecting my friend Sakura from some ANBU that had kidnapped her," Naruto apologized.
"You don't have any reason to apologize, Naruto! She's your friend! You did the write thing! Come on in and put her down. You look really tired," the older woman said, helping him carry Sakura to the stairs.
"I'll get her from here. Thank you, Tsunami-san," the blonde thanked her. She nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"Not a problem. Just let me know if you need anything. I'll send Inari to get you when dinner's ready," Tsunami replied before walking away. Naruto's head followed her retreating form until she turned a corner. Then, his head turned back to Sakura.
'Okay, Sakura-chan. Time to get you back to bed.'
He carefully carried her up the stairs, taking one step at a time. When he reached the top, he turned to the right, in the direction of her bedroom. He opened the bedroom door with his tails, once again. The bed looked so comfortable, almost daring him to fall unconscious like his friend. He didn't dare do that for the fear of Sakura's wrath at finding him in the same bed as her. Not a good idea, he decided mentally.
He laid her down and whispered a 'good night' in her ear, and then tiptoed out of the bedroom. The blonde didn't forget to shut the door quietly rather than slamming it like he usually did.
An hour later, dinner was called. He stepped into the kitchen, and was greeted with a friendly sight. A dinner set up for four people. Tsunami was in the kitchen, getting some last minute things ready, while Inari and Tazuna were deep in a conversation with each other about random things that happened during their days.
Tsunami walked over and said, "Please take a seat, Naruto." He did so, and dinner commenced. He felt like he belonged to this family. His family. They talked for a while about different things, and before he knew it, the meal was over.
He climbed the stairs, and walked into Sakura's room to check up on her. Still out cold. He stayed there for about ten minutes, and was about to leave when the bridge builder appeared in the doorway.
"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" he questioned the blonde.
"Yes. I know she wasn't injured as badly as she could've been, but she was injured nonetheless. I still feel like I could have prevented it somehow," Naruto replied, slightly saddened.
"What's done is done. There's no going back. If you must, train harder to protect your friend in the near future," said the old man.
"I know, it's just every time I train, it's never good enough. Someone always gets hurt because I wasn't strong enough to protect them," a few tears slipped down his face.
"You're only human, Naruto. You have your limits. You can't do everything. Just work harder than you ever have before," Tazuna said, trying to give the boy some encouragement.
"I will protect my friends. It's a promise! None of my friends will get hurt again because of me! I swear it!" the blonde shouted with nothing but determination gleaming in his eyes.
"Now there's the blonde idiot I remember!" exclaimed Tazuna. Naruto almost face faulted.
Regaining his composure, he thought for a moment, and then said, "Hey, Tazuna-san. I don't remember what happened during the fight. What was the outcome? Did the ANBU get away? Can you please tell me?"
"You don't remember!?" the blonde simply shook his head 'no.'
"Well, you apparently slaughtered all of the ANBU by beheading them," explained the bridge builder, grimly.
"I...killed...all...of the...ANBU?" the blonde beginning to get scared of his fox features. 'Damn it. If you did this Kyuubi, you're going to pay.'
oOoOo
A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner. Hope you guys liked it. That's all for now. See ya!
Zashire-hime
