L.

Distance

Chapter 10 Puppy-Sitter

That evening I decided I wanted to visit Sakura. Problem was, Milk wasn't technically allowed in the hospital. So that meant I had to find someone to watch him for a few hours.

"Please watch him?" I was currently following Sasuke around his house, begging him to watch Milk for me.

"Why?"

He was currently in the designated guest area looking for a book.

"Because I want to go to the hospital and see the girl I told you about." I watched as he scanned the books lining the shelves with mild interest.

"Oh."

"So will you do it?"

"No."

He wasn't interested in helping me out.

Again.

"Please? Please?"

"I said no Naruto."

"But why not? He'll be a good dog!"

"How can you possibly know that? You've had him for what? A day?" He gave me one of those How-Stupid-Do-I-Look-To-You faces.

I thought for a second. "Just about. So will you do it?"

"No. I told you I will not dog-sit your dog. You wanted him, you deal with the responsibility."

I sighed. He had a point.

But that wasn't going to stop me.

"But Sasuke…he likes you!" I pointed down at Milk who was following us around from room to room.

Sasuke glanced down at him and rolled his eyes. "I don't care. I told you I'm not going to watch your dog for you."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said no."

"…That's a shit reason."

"I don't care."

"Please Sasuke? Pretty please?" I grabbed his arm and began tugging on it like a petulant child, which sometimes worked and sometimes got me a punch to the jaw.

I was hoping it would work.

"Are you a fucking baby? No!" He shrugged me off and walked back into the kitchen, hands swinging. "Have Kiba do it."

That lit a light bulb in my head. "Good idea!" I trailed after him and leaned on the counter. "Suppose I'll go ask Kiba." I bent down and scooped Milk up into my arms and cuddle him to my chest. "Say goodbye Milk."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at me. "You're leaving?" He asked a tad disappointed.

He didn't have guests often and as much as he would hate to admit it, he liked having me around.

I shrugged. "Yeah. I need someone to watch Milk for me plus I have work in the morning." With that said, I left the kitchen.

"Alright." He sighed. "Give me a call and let me know how it goes with that girl?" He called after me.

I smiled a bit. No matter how much of an ass he is, he does care.

Just a little bit.

"Sure." I opened the front door and stepped out into the early afternoon sun.

Distance Distance

"Hey Kiba!" I yelled as I walked through the front doors of the animal hospital and came face to face with a highly annoyed Temari filing some paperwork. "Hi Temari." I greeted and picked up one of Milk's paws to wave at her.

"Don't hi me." She glared. "You know what, I'm not even going to waste my breath. He's in his office." She eyed Milk as though he were the ugliest thing she ever laid eyes on. "He better not shit on my floor."

I snorted. "I thought this was Kiba's floor." I muttered but went on in my search for Kiba. As they say, a woman scorned or…whatever.

So I walked down the familiar path to Kiba's office with Milk in my hands yipping happily. I barged into his office; the door was half open anyways. "Hey Kiba." I greeted and set Milk down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. "What's going on?"

"I should be asking you that." He snorted as he came around to slap me on the back. "How are you man? Temari told me about Deidara? What's going on?"

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "A lot. Too much to talk about right now. But I do need a favor from you."

He leaned back and squinted at me. "It's not anything weird is it…"

"Nah…just need you to watch Milk for awhile." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Milk carefully leap off of the chair and tumbled onto the ground. He then rolled onto his back, laid there for a minute stunned, then rolled onto his stomach.

"Why?"

"I…" I heaved a heavy sigh. "Look its nothing illegal. I'll tell you about it later. I promise man."

Kiba snorted at me in disappointment. "Okay okay I'll watch Milk for you."

We stood there for a few seconds, just taking in the silence before I broke it. "Hey Kiba…I just noticed but why doesn't he have a tail?" I asked, staring at Milk's butt as he leaped from in front of me to the spot in front of Kiba.

"Oh, he's a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. They're born without them." With that said, he stooped down and picked up Milk. "Well you better get going man. After four hours I'm going to start charging you."

I nodded and turned to face his door. "Oh by the way, Sasuke doesn't approve of me having Milk so if he stops by asking to…I don't know…but Milk is mine. Got it?"

He chuckled before nodding. "Got it."

Distance Distance

When I arrived at the hospital, it was just after two in the afternoon. The place wasn't all that busy and I only got lost twice on the way to Sakura's room. I didn't stop to ask directions, for fear of being recognized by any of the staff.

So once again, I stood staring at the door that divided Sakura and me.

Despite all of the pep talks I had on the way over, my heart still pounded and my ears still rung.

To say the least, I was nervous.

After about thirty seconds of debating with myself, I opened the door and walked in. Inside, lying on the bed sat Sakura; staring back at me with confusion, relief, and something I couldn't name.

"Naruto?" She spoke wearily.

I just stood there and nodded.

"Are you okay? Come in and shut the door. Have a seat?" She shifted until her back rested against the pile of pillows then looked at me expectantly.

I cleared my throat, closed the door and walked until I was at the foot of her bed. "Hi Sakura." I mumbled nervously. In hindsight I should have brought her something.

Like flowers.

Or a stuffed bear.

Anything.

Awkwardly, I shoved my hands in my pockets and chewed on my lower lip. "I'm sorry…I didn't think to bring anything…like a card or…balloons…or something…" At this point my eyes were glued to the outline of her feet under the white sheets.

She laughed softly and the sound seemed too much for her. I looked up at her to see her shoulders shook and she turned a pale color.

"Are you okay?" I nearly dove for the door but kept my ground.

"I'm fine." She raised a shaky, pale hand at me. "Its fine, don't worry about it…why are you here?"

I tilted my head and glanced out the window in a pathetic attempt to look cool. "Your boyfriend Deidara told me." I stated, trying to look nonchalant about it. "I decided I should come and see you. You know, since you're in the hospital and…in the hospital."

I was about to say 'because you have Leukemia' but I thought I should play it like I knew nothing.

I wanted to know if it were up to her, would she tell me herself.

I knew that we only just met.

And I also knew that something like that was personal.

But despite all of that, deep down I wanted to know that she saw me as someone important enough to know that she had cancer.

Distance Distance

L.

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