-1To Live is So Much Harder…
Chapter 11
"Are you sure you're ready to take another go at Naruto's mind?" Tsunade asked, concern for her adopted grandson clearly evident in her voice. Inochi's heart went out to the Hokage, knowing full well how close lady Tsunade was to the Toad Sage. "I don't want to lose you if the Fox gets out of hand!"
"I'm sure, Lady Hokage," Inochi reassured as his mind wondered back to the day he had dove into Naruto's mind, and of all the things he had learned about the young shinobi. His heart still ached when he thought about what had happened to his daughter, right under his nose, and how Naruto had shown her enough love and friendship to pull her through those tough times. "I feel that the sooner we can get to the heart of the matter, the better his chances are. The longer he stays in this coma, the worse the odds are of him coming back without some significant damage."
"He's been damaged for a long time, Inochi," Tsunade whispered as she took a sudden interest in the tiles of the floor that they were walking on. The head of the Yamanaka clan nodded his head in agreement.
"Longer than you think, Lady Hokage. Some of the things I saw…well, you have my report. I'm surprised that something like this hasn't happened before," he replied, trying to keep the images from the tortured youth's past from flooding his mind once more. Tsunade nodded her head sadly. She opened her mouth to respond when a commotion further down the hall drew her attention.
"What the hell is going on?" she muttered as she and her subordinate began to barrel down the hallway, realizing that the ruckus seemed to be coming from the direction of Naruto's room. As they drew up to the door, they saw Iruka's wife, Ayame, standing outside, holding on to Sakura's baby as well as watching over little Ruto. "Ayame! What's going on?!"
"I don't know, Lady Hokage! Iruka just took the Haruno and the Uchiha in there, then all…heck… broke loose! " she replied, doing her best to calm the crying baby, as well as keeping her own child from wondering off.
"Wait a second! You mean Sakura and Sasuke are in there right now? With Naruto?" Tsunade barked, her eyes wide. Suddenly, a loud shout caused Inochi to bolt through the door into the room…
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…"You fucking slut!" Ino bellowed, her eyes wild as Iruka held her pinned against the furthest wall of Naruto's room. Inochi stopped short when he saw this, then turned to see Sasuke doubled over in pain and Sakura crumpled on the floor, holding her rapidly bruising cheek. Ino's special kunai was buried in the wall just above Sakura's head. "You goddamn whore! I'm gonna kill you! Let me go, Iruka!!"
"No way, Ino!" Iruka said through gritted teeth, doing his best to secure her hands and avoid her dangerous knees. If he wasn't so busy trying to keep the young kunoichi from making a grave mistake, he would have been laughing his ass off at how easily the Uchiha had fallen to Ino's Killer Knees. As it was, he was just barely able to divert the path of Ino's kunai. If he hadn't, Sakura would have had a splitting headache, literally. "I'm not going to let you do something stupid! Think about Naruto! Do you think that he would want you in trouble for avenging him?"
"You don't understand, Iruka! You don't know had badly those two….two…. assholes have hurt Naruto!" Ino screeched as she continued to fight to get past her former teacher. She watched as Sakura slowly struggled to get back on her feet.
"Just what is your problem, Ino?!" Sakura moaned as she finally regained her feet, though her lover was still doubled over and turning a very interesting shade of green. "I came here to talk to my husband and to see if we can work this mess out!"
"WHAT?!" Ino bellowed, redoubling her effort to get at her former friend. "He's not your husband anymore, bitch! You gave that up when you spread your legs for that bastard!" Sakura was about to respond when Inochi flew across the room and grabbed Ino from Iruka's grasp. Gripping her head in his hands, Inochi forced his daughter to looking him in the eyes.
"Ino! INO!" Inochi shouted as he stared into the wild eyes of his only daughter. The rage and madness within was hauntingly familiar to him. "Ino! You didn't, did you?"
Sakura grunted as she shook her head and went to look after her lover.
"Of course she did! She attacked us out of the blue! She actually attacked fellow Leaf nin! Lady Tsunade is going to have her arrested when she finds out!" Sakura growled as she formed healing chakra around her hands and applied it to Sasuke's nether regions.
"Wanna bet, Sakura?" Tsunade responded quietly as she stood within the doorway, having heard what the pink-haired kunoichi had said. Sakura jumped at the sound of her masters voice.
"Lady Tsunade! Look what Ino did! She attacked us for no reason!" Sakura whined as she continued to heal Sasuke. Tsunade glared at her apprentice as she clinched her fist so tight that he knuckles cracked, causing Sakura to go pale and visibly gulp.
"NO REASON?!" bellowed Ino as she tried to get past her father who continued to hold her pinned to the wall. "You fucking bitch! You two are the reason he's in the hospital! I'm gonna fucking kill you!!"
"Inochi, what's wrong with Ino?" Tsunade asked as she stood between the two blondes and the injured couple behind her. She was concerned for the young kunoichi, she knew that Ino could be hotheaded at times, but she never thought that the young Yamanaka would ever attack her former friend.
"I'm not sure, Lady Hokage!" he explained as he turned back to his daughter. "Ino, look at me! What happened? Did you do what I think you did?" His daughter looked back at him with horror in her eyes.
"Daddy, I saw it! I saw IT!" she whispered as the memories of her mind walk began to overwhelm her once more. "What they did to him...it wasn't right! They hurt him so badly…God, they hurt him so badly! They took his whole world away from him, and they don't seem to understand that! Just look at the fuckers! They just walked in like they owned the place!"
"Oh God," Inochi muttered as he shook his head, causing his long ponytail to flail behind him. "You did it. You actually did it!"
"Inochi…" Tsunade began, only to be cut of by the shinobi.
"She dove into his mind, Lady Hokage!" he replied as his eyes began to glow slightly, locking onto Ino's, which started to glow as well. After a few tense seconds, the glow dissipated as Ino visibly relaxed and slumped into her father's arms. Inochi gently guided her over to the chair next to Naruto's bed and had her sit there. "She was overwhelmed by the intensity of Naruto's memories and emotions. She must have dove really, really deep!"
"What the hell does that mean?" Sasuke gasped as the color slowly began to return to his face. Sakura finished her job and then stood back up and turned a hard glare toward the blonde slumped over in the chair.
"That means, Uchiha, that Ino wasn't in control of her actions," Tsunade replied as she stepped forward and checked up on Ino and Naruto both. Tsunade was more than pleased to see that Ino was alright after her escapade within Naruto's mind as well as her tirade against the adulterous pair. It was her checkup on Naruto that really caused her heart to soar.
"Hey Grandma," the blonde in the bed croaked as he opened his eyes slightly and looked on the worried face of his adopted Grandmother. Tsunade felt her heart beat harder as bright blue eyes stared back up at her.
"Naruto?" she whispered, not hoping to believe that her child had finally come out of his self-induced slumber. She didn't want the heartache of knowing that this was just some sort of cruel dream. All doubts faded as he tried his best to plaster his foxy smile on his face. Tsunade smirked as she felt a small stinging begin behind her eyes, but being the tough Hokage that she was, she suppressed the desire to weep. "About time you woke up, brat!"
"Yeah, well, I kinda had a boo-boo," he whispered hoarsely before he began to cough again. This quickly stirred Ino from her stupor as she snapped back to reality and quickly stood and helped the stricken Sage with some more water. Once he calmed back down, he gave the young woman a warm smile. Ino felt her cheeks go warm as she placed the cup back on the side table and took her seat next to Naruto. Sakura wasn't too pleased to see how the two were interacting.
"Naruto, just what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you in the hospital?" Sakura barked as she took several steps toward her ex-husband, before Iruka and Tsunade turned and stepped between the two. Sakura's face contorted with annoyance at being stopped. "We really need to talk, as a family!"
"He's here because of you, bitch!" Ino seethed as she felt the anger begin to build back up within her.
"Shut up, Pig! This is between me and my husband, you have no say in the matter!" The pink-haired adulteress spat back. "Just what the hell are you doing here, anyway?"
"She's the one who woke your ex-husband from his coma," Inochi replied through gritted teeth. It was bad enough that his daughter had gone behind his back and pieced her friend's mind back together, but to hear the Haruno insult his daughter for helping Naruto was enough to ignite his own slow-burning temper. "I think that should make you happy, Ms. Haruno!"
"Coma?" Sasuke grunted, wondering what had happened to his one-time best friend. All this time, he had figured that Naruto had gone off somewhere to sulk. He was really beginning to feel like an ass for thinking so. Sakura, on the other hand, was still rather upset.
"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that the Fox heals Naruto up so quickly that he never falls into a coma!" Sakura barked back. She was angry and was going to let everyone know about. The emotional rollercoaster she had been on these past weeks was caused directly by Naruto and she wanted answers. "Whatever happened, I'm sure he's been in here just faking! He's always wanted attention and it just seems that this is another way to get it!"
The room went silent as Killer Intent flooded the confined space, all of it directed squarely at Naruto's former wife. Had Sasuke been a lesser man, he would have taken several steps back and placed as much room between he and his lover as possible. However, the Uchiha swallowed past the lump in his throat, stepped forward and stood side-by-side with Sakura. Iruka, Tsunade, and Inochi glared daggers into the pair and bit back what they really wanted to say. The youngest Yamanaka had no qualms about speaking her mind, however.
"Faking?! You actually think he was faking it, you stupid whore?! You really don't know what happened to him, do you? I was there, Sakura! I was the one who pulled him out of the house, I was the one who saw him covered in b-blood, m-me and Shikamaru w-were the one's who got him to the hospital in time! Tsunade worked her ass off to keep him from d-dying! Try to think how hard it was for her to have to work on somebody she considers family when she knew what had happened! Faking?!" Ino bellowed as tears began to fall once more as the memories of that night tore at her heart. Naruto closed his eyes and felt horrible, not knowing how much crap he had put his friends and family through.
"Just what are you talking about, Ino?" Sakura asked, getting a little worried and confused. Ino wasn't one to make up stories, but she still wasn't making any sense. She and Sasuke looked at Tsunade expectantly, and were shocked to see tears in the Hokage's eyes.
"Naruto tried to kill himself the night after you had your baby, Sakura," Tsunade explained softly, causing Sakura and Sasuke to go deathly pale.
"The two of you took away his only reasons for living, Forehead! He was hurting so much…he was in so much pain…he stabbed…he….he…," Ino began to sob, until a calloused hand reached out from under the covers and gently took her own.
"I'm sorry, Ino," Naruto muttered softly, doing what he could to ease the pain he had caused his friend. Ino looked back down on him and gave him a small smile as she reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Across the room, Sakura and Sasuke froze as all the color drained from their faces.
"He...he what?" Sakura gasped as she felt her heart drop from her chest and straight to the ground. Despite all that had happened, she and Naruto had been married for five years and she still cared very deeply for him. She couldn't believe what she had just been told, but the small nod she got from both Iruka and Tsunade confirmed it for her.
"That's a load of bullshit, right?" Sasuke asked, his onyx eyes wide in shock. "I mean, come on! Naruto never gives up! It….it…it had to be a training accident, right? That's it! He just over did his training like he always does…right?" Naruto's eyes were downcast and refused to look at anyone within the room. Ino gently rubbed his hand, letting know that everything was alright.
"It's not bullshit, Uchiha!" Tsunade snarled as her knuckles continued to crack. "I repaired just under twenty self-inflicted knife wounds that night! I hope you two are happy at the damage you caused!" Tears began to run down Sakura's face as a loud sob escaped her lips.
If there was any doubt as to where her true affections lie, they were quickly put to rest when, instead of running over to her ex-husband and begging for forgiveness, she turned instead to her lover and buried her face in his chest. Sasuke turned even more pale and began to shake as he wrapped his arms around his lady. He had never meant to cause his best friend so much pain.
Sakura's sob tore at Naruto's heart, and as he glanced up, his heart shattered once more. He watched as the woman he loved found comfort in the arms of another man. He might have divorced her for her adultery, but he still loved her with all his heart. At least, until now. He closed his eyes tightly, turning his head so that no one in the room could se his pain and his shame. Tears rolled down whiskered cheeks as the pain rolled over him once again, fresh and new.
Unknown to him, a small flair of chakra flew between the seal on his belly and connected to the small one on Ino's, causing the young kunoichi to gasp in surprise. She felt the sudden surge of heartache and pain coming from the Toad Sage, and quickly rushed to comfort him. She leapt up, still holding his hand, and placed her other hand on cheek and turned his head so he would face her. The pain she saw in those once bright blue eyes nearly killed her, so deep that it was.
"Shh, it's okay Naruto, it's okay," she soothed as she watched him fight a losing battle with the overwhelming despair his former wife had thrust upon him. Her tears matching his own, she placed their entwined hands upon her chest, clutching his hand tightly in a desperate attempt to send all of her strength to him. He gave her a grateful smile, which Sakura didn't fail to notice.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Ino? Get your hands off of my husband!" Sakura barked, her sorrow quickly overshadowed by anger at the sight of her best friend comforting her ex-husband.
"He's not your husband anymore, Sakura, you know that," Tsunade replied, not being able to believe the way her apprentice was behaving. " I approved the divorce on grounds of adultery, which you have proven time and time again! You need to get over it, you can't have your EX-husband and you lover at the same time!" Sakura bit back a retort, knowing that it wasn't wise to pick a fight with her master. She would lose, and lose badly. Instead, she chose another tact.
"If everyone will excuse us, Naruto and I need to have a family discussion," the pink-haired medic announced, still holding onto Sasuke so that he would stay behind. Tsunade and Iruka had murder in their eyes, but before either could do anything, a raspy voice called out.
"It's alright, Grandma, Iruka-sensei, Mr. Yamanaka. I guess we do need to talk some," Naruto wheezed. His wounds were healing much faster now, but he was still incredibly weak. The three older shinobi looked at him questioningly before nodding their heads and turning to leave, shooting the pair of lovers death glares as they went. Ino turned to leave as well, but Naruto's hand refused to leave hers.
"Please stay," he whispered softly, his eyes pleading with her. Biting her lip, she nodded her head and sat back down beside him. Sakura wasn't pleased at all.
"Why is she staying?" Sakura grumped, pointing a finger at the blonde kunoichi who sat next to Naruto. Naruto sighed as he gripped Ino's hand for support.
"What do you want, Sakura?" Naruto asked, his voice lacking any signs of life. It hurt Ino badly to hear the once lively knucklehead sound so dead. Sakura seemed a bit taken aback by it, and as she debated on what to say next, she went for an obvious delaying tactic.
"Please, Naruto," Sakura began, her face somewhat flush with embarrassment, "Does she really have to be here? This really is a private matter!" The pink-haired kunoichi was hoping beyond hope that Naruto would dismiss their friend. She just knew that if she could get Naruto alone, then she could get him to do whatever she wanted, just like in the past.
"Then why is he staying?" Naruto coughed, prompting Ino to pat his chest and give him some more water. Sakura blushed even more before she answered.
"Well, you know…he's involved, too," she replied, causing the two blondes to roll their eyes. Sasuke was trying to look as invisible as possible.
"Then Ino is staying as well," her ex-husband answered back. Sakura grimaced and realized that she faced a desperate, uphill battle.
"But…" Sakura began, just to be cut off.
"What do you want, Sakura?" Naruto asked once more. His ex-wife glanced around the room for a few seconds, doing her best to choose her words carefully. Finally, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"I want you to quit acting this way! I want things to go back to the way that they were before all this happened! I want to come home! I'm sorry that we hurt you, but you threw me and the baby out in the street…" Naruto cut her off once more.
"No, I didn't," he replied weakly, wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and rest. "I would never do that! I left you two a house and more than enough cash for the two of you to live comfortably for the rest of your lives. I sent all your stuff over to the bastard's house, where I knew you would run the first chance you got!"
"Naruto, you need to stop acting so selfish! Please, I want to come back home, can't we work this out?" Sakura asked, her green eyes doing their best to enchant the blonde Sage. It didn't work.
"Tell me, Sakura, have you moved into the place I gave you, or are you sharing the Uchiha's bed?" Naruto asked in reply, only to have the blush on his ex-wife's face tell him the truth. "You no longer have a home with me, Sakura! Obviously, your home is with the bastard!"
"Enough of this, Naruto! I want you to go to Lady Tsunade and tell her you made a mistake and that you want the divorce decree thrown out! You're my husband, damn it, and I plan on moving back into the estate starting tomorrow! Do you understand me?!" Sakura barked, surprising Sasuke. However, Sakura knew that she went too far from the glares she received from the pair of blondes.
"Don't you dare talk to him like that, bitch!" Ino yelled as she leapt to her feet to inflict further damage on her former best friend. The only thing that stopped her was the grip Naruto had on her hand.
"Shut up, Ino!! This is none of your business!" Sakura yelled back, being restrained from attacking Ino by Sasuke. This started a shouting match for several minutes that was only halted by a horrible coughing from the Toad Sage.
"Tell me, Sakura, do you love me? Or are you just upset that you got caught and were thrown out?" Naruto wheezed. He was losing strength, fast.
"Yes, I still love you, despite all this foolishness! You're my husband, after all!" she replied curtly. Ino's eyes narrowed at Sakura's tone.
"More than him? Would you be willing to be faithful to me, as my wife, and give up on the Uchiha?" Naruto asked. Sakura flinched and then looked down at the floor, refusing to meet his eyes. Naruto sighed. "I see. You've made your choice. Live with it."
"Please, Naruto," the medic begged, " I want us to be together! I want us to be a family again…"
"I don't have a family," Naruto muttered, wishing he had a kunai in his hand so he could stop the pain he was feeling. "You two took that from me."
"Look, Naruto, you're my husband, and you can be an idiot, so I don't think you understand. What Sasuke and I do is none of your concern. It's what I chose to do on my time with my time! It's my time, can't you understand? It's something I do for me, and not for anyone else! It's not family time, it's something that I do for myself! The life of a shinobi can be too damn short to not do the things that you want to do! Now, if you're too damn selfish to understand that, then you're beyond reason!" The two blondes in the room just stared at her like she had just grown a second head right before their eyes.
"Okay then, Sakura, let's use your argument, shall we? Let's say that I found someone who caught my eye. Someone like, I don't know…Hinata, for instance," Naruto wheezed, a little startled from the sudden cough from Ino. "If I wanted to have an affair with her, it would be okay because it's on my time, and because the life of a shinobi is too damn short, right?"
"WRONG!" Sakura barked as her anger flared, " I would kill the bitch! You're my husband, and your time is MY time! Why, do you want to fuck the little whore?!"
"Too late," Ino thought to herself as she kept her eyes locked on the floor tiles. Somewhere off in the distance, she could swear she heard the Kyuubi laughing.
"It's just an example, Sakura! Listen to what you just said! You keep calling me selfish, but you keep calling me your husband, but you flinch when I call you my wife! You say that you're going to do what you want to do with your time, but I can't because my time is your time! You don't have more rights than your partner does in a marriage! God, and you call me selfish!" replied Naruto before coughing hoarsely, feeling weaker by the second.
"You just don't understand, Naruto," she responded softly, shaking her head sadly. Ino looked like she wanted to beat the crap out of her former friend.
"No, I understand really well, Sakura," Naruto gasped, "You want the security of a marriage and husband, and the thrill of a secret lover. You can't have both, Sakura! Life just doesn't work that way!"
"Naruto…" Sakura murmured, but the Sage cut her off.
"No, it's over, Sakura. I do want to know something though. That night, on my birthday when you made that cake for him and left me alone all night long…did you two…?" Naruto asked, dreading the answer when the two lovers blushed.
"Uh…yeah, it was our first time together," Sasuke answered. Ino felt the icy pit form in Naruto's stomach as his heart took another hit.
"Ah…I see," Naruto bit his lower lip to try to control his emotions. He felt the Kyuubi's anger beginning to build within him, which was doing nothing but making him feel weaker. Ino felt it too, and imagined a rolled-up newspaper smacking the Fox on his nose. The feelings quickly subsided. "Well, you keep saying I'm selfish, but I divorced you so that you and the baby were free to start a new life with Sasuke. I set you free, Sakura, it's my last gift to you."
"Naruto? Please?" Sakura begged one more time, only to be answered by a shake of Naruto's head. Tears and sobs exploded from the medic as she sought comfort in Sasuke's arms. He wrapped himself around her and began to speak softly to her.
"It's okay, my little blossom, it's okay." Naruto's eyes grew wide, as did those of the kunoichi beside him. The two of them remembered how, after making love for the very first time, Naruto had called Sakura by that nickname. She had giggled and told him that he was the only one allowed to call her that.
"Sorry about that, it's just something she asked me to call her when we first started…uh…seeing each other," Sasuke apologized when he saw the startled looks on both blondes' faces. He and Sakura turned to leave when Naruto called out one more time.
"The baby? How is he doing?" he asked softly. Sakura turned her head to answer back over her shoulder.
"He's okay. A little fussy most of the time, but he's doing well. He just turned six weeks old yesterday," she replied as the two left the room, leaving a heartbroken Naruto.
"Six weeks?" he murmured, turning to Ino to get confirmation. She nodded her head sadly and watched as he turned his face away from her. She grew concerned when after several seconds, she noticed his chest heaving badly. Reaching out, she touched his cheeks and pulled her hand back. It was coated in tears.
"Naruto? Baby, are you okay?" she asked as she stood up from her chair and went around the bed to check up on him since he refused to answer. Her heart broke at the sight of his damp face, tears rolling down his cheeks one after another. Her tears began to match his.
"I'm not crying! Men aren't supposed to cry! Shinobi aren't allowed to cry! I'm not supposed to cry!" he kept muttering to himself before the dam burst and great sobs escaped from deep within his being. He hadn't been awake for more than a few minutes when his ex-wife came in and ripped his heart to shreds once again. The Fox within him, synched up with his emotions once more, began to howl in sorrow, his great beastly heart tearing in two. It was more than any being could take.
"Oh, Naruto," Ino sighed as she gently crawled into the bed behind the great Sage and held him gently as he poured out all his pain and sorrow. After all the times he had held her after some jerk had broken her heart, it was the least she could do. Eventually, the sobs died down as Naruto fell into a deep sleep. Ino soon joined him and that was how Tsunade found them the next morning, curled up in one another's arms.
