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Sasuke's eyes opened slowly to reveal a hospital room that was becoming all too familiar. He struggled to sit up. It felt like his body weighed a thousand pounds. Each movement was a struggle. Until a pair of strong arms reached out to help him that was.

"Naruto," he whispered.

"Hey," Naruto breathed back, detached. Sasuke frowned. What was wrong?

"What's going on, dobe?" Sasuke struggled to get some response from Naruto. "Is everything okay? Please talk to me," he added in a quieter voice.

The door banged open. "That's what we're here to ask you, Uchiha." Tsunade entered the room quickly and business-like. To Sasuke's disappointment, Naruto pulled away from him. "Any pain or difficulty moving?"

"No pain," Sasuke muttered, "But I feel really heavy. I can barely move."

Tsunade nodded seriously. "That's to be expected. I seal your chakra system off so we could check the function of your chakra pathways, minus one chakra point. It's only natural that your body wouldn't be used to operating with the absence of chakra."

Sasuke nodded slowly. "What kinds of tests are needed?"

He had been looking at Naruto but Tsunade answered him. "We just need to make sure your chakra system works normally and the chakra skips over the inactive point in your shoulder and can still be fed through to your left hand."

Sasuke stared at the blond man in the room bewildered and hurt. What happened to him? This certainly wasn't Naruto! "Hn. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, I'm going to unseal your chakra system and then you're going to make sure you can still run chakra through to your hand. That's all."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Hn." Tsunade made quick work of unsealing the chakra and Sasuke shuddered at the feeling. He nervously ran chakra through his arm and sighed in relief. "It's fine. Just will take some getting used to."

Tsunade nodded. "You'll have time to get used to it when you're out with Jiraya. We've decided that the rest of the tests aren't necessary. We've seen enough to reinstate you at Jounin." With that said, she briskly left the room.

Sasuke's eyes fixated themselves on the blond remaining in the room. "Naruto?"

"You're okay?" Naruto asked in a thick voice. Sasuke nodded, struck dumb. Naruto's eyes met his. They were swirling with suppressed emotion and relief. "Thank Kami-sama," he whispered. He reached out hesitantly to hug Sasuke. "You didn't wake up when I called you like you did before," he whispered. "I thought I'd hurt you."

Sasuke slowly returned his hug. "I'm okay thanks to you. You didn't hurt me. And the pain of the sealing was worth it."

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered into his shoulder.

'Tell him,' a voice in Sasuke's head whispered. 'Tell him how much you want him.'

"Naruto I. . ." Unfortunately the door chose that moment to bang open.

"Sasuke-kun," a voice screeched. Naruto pulled away as if he had been electrocuted. Both pairs of eyes turned to see Ino in the doorway; onyx eyes annoyed and cerulean eyes embarrassed. "I'm going to be the nurse that checks you out of the hospital. Isn't that great!!!" Somehow both men in the room knew that wasn't a question.

"I-I didn't know you were a nurse Ino," Sasuke mumbled, still irritated.

"Of course! You didn't think I'd be useless forever, did you?" Ino said cheerfully. Ino began the necessary paperwork to discharge Sasuke. Naruto moved away from the bed and towards the door to give Ino access to Sasuke. "All the paperwork is in order, courtesy of my sensei Tsunade-sama herself, so you just need to sign here."

"Hn." Sasuke rapidly put his signature on the paper, eager to get away from Ino. He didn't have the energy for this right now.

Ino leaned in closer than necessary to take the clipboard back. "I became strong for you Sasuke-kun," she whispered lowly before claiming his lips.

Sasuke was too stunned to move. Ino pulled back with a deluded version of a satisfied smirk on her face. "Everything's in order, Sasuke-kun. You're free to go." She disappeared from the room.

When Sasuke came out or his stupor, Naruto was not in the room. Sasuke's eyes widened. Where did he go? "Wait," he whispered much, much too late. "I wanted to tell you. . . Naruto. . ."

Sasuke stood up unsteadily, hands gripping onto the side of the bed until he was sure he wouldn't fall over. He had never felt more alone then in that moment. He had been so close . . .

His clothes were laid out on a chair next to his bed. He changed mechanically and left the hospital. By the time he got to his apartment, he shook it off and became his usual stoic self. After all, he would have an unprecedented amount of time with Naruto when they left for training.

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I know that this took too long. Even I hate myself for this. So sorry.