L.

Distance

Chapter 14 Gut

The next day I didn't even bother going to work; I went immediately to the hospital.

I wanted to talk to Deidara.

I needed to.

I left Milk at Sasuke's house for the day and drove to the hospital and soon enough, found myself standing outside Deidara's hospital room.

The door was closed, as per usual and the hallway was relatively clear.

I took a few deep, bracing breaths and knocked then entered without waiting for an answer.

"I should have known it'd be you." He greeted disdainfully. He sat on his bed eating a large healthy breakfast.

"Morning." I greeted and slipped inside.

"You should learn to knock and wait for an answer." He advised, sipping his box of orange juice. After a few silent seconds, he nodded to the chair beside his bed.

I took a seat.

"How are you?" I asked stiffly. I knew he wasn't going to kick me out, but I wasn't too sure how we stood.

He shrugged and picked up a seedless grape and popped it in his mouth. "To be honest-not good."

I looked at him.

I mean really looked at him.

He was even paler than yesterday, his hands shook when he reached for the grapes, his blonde, straggly hair was tangled, clumpy, and an overall mess. He had a sheen of sweat all over his face that dripped down his chin, neck and into his standard white hospital gown.

In short, he looked worse than shit.

He looked like he was at deaths door.

Not exactly something I was happy to observe mind you.

"I broke out with a fever last night." He stated as though he were talking about the fucking weather. "Doctors say I'm too weak to fight it on my own. They're currently trying to find some medication that I can actually hold down."

"Hold down?"

"Yeah. I keep throwing back up everything I take." He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "I wouldn't sit so close if I were you."

I took that as serious advice and pushed my chair back a bit.

"And if they can't find something?" I voiced the question I knew the answer to.

"I die."

The conversation ended there.

He said nothing further and I asked nothing.

There was a strange feeling after awhile, like a natural calm and quite fell over us.

We had an unspoken understanding that no matter what happened, we had settled our differences.

He respected me and I respected him.

That was that.

I stayed with him, just sitting and keeping him company for about three hours before the doctor came in to do a check up and I was asked to leave.

Distance Distance

I decided to wander around the hospital for awhile and clear my head of Deidara before I went to see Sakura. I walked down several patient occupied hallways until I made my way back down to the bottom floor; there I wandered into the absurdly expensive gift shop.

I suppose this is the hospitals way of making you feel bad about not thinking to buy something thoughtful before you came.

It worked.

The snarky bastards.

I walked down the small aisles till I stopped in front of the teddy bear shelves.

They had the standard brown bears with hears and balloons.

I didn't like any of them, I was about to walk back out when a pink thing caught my eye. There, tucked behind a huge, fat bear was a medium sized pink bear holding a tiny get well soon card. It was dressed in a white and yellow dress and a white bonnet. I took it up and stared at it for a bit before deciding to buy it for Sakura.

It looked like something she might like.

It cost twenty-three dollars.

Don't ask me how a fucking bear could cost that much.

Probably the hospitals way of punishing you for not thinking ahead and making you feel like a piece of shit.

I took a pen off of the counter, much to the cashier's annoyance and scribbled my name on the tiny card before leaving.

I didn't bother with gift wrapping or anything, just took the bear as is and made my way up to Sakura.

Distance Distance

I knocked on Sakura's door and waited until she said it was okay. I had to admit, Deidara was right about me barging into people rooms, it was rude.

And obnoxious.

After a few seconds, she answered. "Come in."

I opened the door to see her sitting up in bed flipping through a magazine.

"Naruto!" She smiled at me, surprise and what I hope was happiness on her face.

I looked at her, she looked better than the last time I saw her.

Her pale cheeks had a nice flush to it; her skin had a healthier glow, and her emerald eyes held a lively sparkle. "Hi Sakura." I greeted and held out the pink bear to her. "How are you feeling?" I asked as I approached her bed.

Her face lit up at the sight of the bear and she happily took it from my outstretched hand. "I'm doing alright." Her long, slender fingers picked at the bears ears. "How are you? Have a seat."

I took the seat by her bedside and smiled as I watched her poke at the bears nose and tug at the tiny 'get well' card glued to its hand.

"You look good." I blurted out before I could think.

Sometimes I wish my mouth didn't have any liberty at all.

She smiled at my statement and blushed. "Thanks." She whispered and tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. "I'm getting better. I told Deidara not to worry." She stared down at the bear and let out a light chuckle. "He thinks too much."

The mention of Deidara made my gut wrench.

I paled a bit at the thought of him; lying there alone in bed, in an empty room, his only comfort the sound of the stupid beeping heart machine.

"I think it's good of him to worry about you." I offered weakly and looked out the window.

It was bright out; the sun was shining and happy.

I wanted to punch it.

How dare it be so fucking happy when people were suffering so much?

Deidara was getting worse and Sakura was stuck in the hospital.

Neither able to visit one another.

Well-shit.

What was I doing?

I scowled and hung my head in shame.

Since when did I get so attached to people?

People I hardly even know?

"It's a good and bad thing." She continued on, oblivious to my mini-meltdown. "I mean it's good that he cares…but then he neglects himself…and that's not good for his health."

I looked up at her to see her smiling sadly down at the bear.

"His health isn't very good…" She whispered, caressing the bears face as though it were his. "I'm worried about him Naruto…he hasn't been in to see me…and the last time he was here he looked so…ill…"

I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and bit my tongue to stop myself from blurting out what I knew.

It wasn't my place to tell her that he was in the hospital.

He wanted to keep it a secret.

I knew that.

But part of me sensed that time was quickly running out.

But running out for whom?

Something in my gut told me Deidara wasn't going to make it through the night.

I hope I'm wrong.

Distance Distance

I spent two hours with Sakura, just sitting, talking about happy, light-hearted pointless things before my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Naruto when are you getting back here? Your fucking dog pissed on my goddamn stair again!" Was the wonderful greeting Sasuke gave me.

I rolled my eyes at his drama.

I had more important things on my mind than where Milk decided to relieve himself.

It's funny though, that after all this morbid, seriousness of the day to hear someone complaining about where the dog pissed.

It's like the normal word's problems don't seem as important anymore.

"Then clean it up Sasuke. You know? With a paper towel and disinfectant?"

"Very fucking funny." He derided. "When are you getting here?"

I glanced at Sakura to see her idly flipping through the pages of her magazine and twiddling the top of the bear's bonnet. "I don't know…I-"

"Soon!" He growled into the phone and I heard a door slam before he continued. "You just left your mutt here without asking me!"

"Because I knew you would let me."

"I told you I'm not dog sitting!"

"He's a puppy. And you can deal with him for one night Sasuke."

"You're not coming here till tomorrow?" He asked, all traces of anger vanished from his voice.

I shrugged. "I don't know…some…things are going on."

"Where the hell are you anyway?"

"At the hospital."

"Oh…is it that girl?"

"I'm not going to talk about it."

"She's right there isn't she?"

"Sasuke-"

"If something's gone wrong its best not to stay there Naruto."

"You're just saying that because you want me to come and get Milk." I snorted.

"No. I'm not. I'm saying that because I know you and you'll do something stupid…and probably illegal."

I sighed and groaned. "Order dinner and I'll pick it up. I'm feeling for Chinese." Then I hung up on him and looked up at Sakura. "That was my friend. He's missing me." I smiled at her. "So I've got to go now."

"Alright." She smiled at me. "Thank you for visiting."

"Not a problem." I stood up. "I'll most likely be back tomorrow."

Her eyes lit up at the thought. "You don-"

"It's fine. I want to. Do you need anything? Like a new magazine or something?"

She glanced down at the worn magazine sitting in her lap and blushed.

"I'll get you a new one before I leave." I nudged her leg with my knuckles before I left.

Distance Distance

L.

If you liked this and would like to receive updates on current and future updates/stories check out the link in my profile.

What did you think?

Review with your opinion please.

Continue?

All constructive and unconstructive criticism welcome.