Stupid Sensei
サスケ & ナルコ

If someone had told Sasuke that the only Kunoichi on his Genin team was his future wife, he would have scoffed at them for even thinking something so ridiculous. It was just his bad luck that said Kunoichi was Naruko Namikaze; SasuFemNaru, possible strange side pairings.

- - Chapter Fourteen - -
Interlude ~ Part I

'If I don't say this now I will surely break,as I'm leaving the one I want to take. Forgive the urgency,
but hurry up and wait; my heart has started to separate. Baby, baby, I'll look after you.'

The matter of taking Naruko to the hospital did not occur, or if it had, it had been too brief for Sasuke to remember.

Having heard his description of her initial state of mind, Tsunade had quickly ordered Sai to take Naruko to her own room. Sasuke agreed wholeheartedly; the last thing Naruko needed was waking up in another hospital room.

Something more familiar would be better. If that was Tsunade's advice, he would be stupid to argue with her. And so, after Sai had landed them on the roof of the Hokage mansion, Sasuke carried Naruko down through the halls behind Tsunade to the door with the bright door sign, proclaiming her ownership of the room beyond it.

Naruko's room was a bright one; yellow walls and full of plants in on corner. One, a small recently potted plant with violet flowers, he knew to be used in poisons. In one of the walls was a glass tank - empty for the moment, but clearly for some kind of animal.

The bookcase was chock-a-block with scrolls and books on dealings and wind techniques and other basic ninja techniques, and stood beside an overflowing supply cabinet of kunai, shuriken, trap wire, and other necessities.

Right alongside the window was her bed, stuffed with blankets an pillows and stuffed toy frogs. At one end against the opposite wall beside the plants, was a desk and chair. After depositing Naruko into Tsunade's hands again, Sasuke sank onto the floor.

Now that he had a moment to stop thinking of getting Naruko put, home, or simply finding her, or calming her down, he was exhausted from all the worry and concern. Sakura had sent a summon on the journey to report what had happened in the Raikage's office, and he didn't know how to take it.

That little bitch had tortured Naruko just because she might get an easy promotion out of it. A promotion. Naruko would be lucky if she was still sane, lucky if she could trust anyone again, all because that little bint wanted a promotion.

He felt sick with rage, but took comfort in that fact that, one way or another, the redhead would get what she deserved; a slow, painful, tortured death.

"Sasuke, come here for a moment. I need your help with something..."

Sasuke was on his feet and beside her a before she had finished her sentence; she had changed Naruko into her pyjamas, a yellow t-shirt and shorts with frogs and cartoon flies printed on them, a larger one on the shirt. Some of her wounds had been healed, though some had simply been wrapped up - those were probably the infected ones or the worst of the burns.

She looked a lot calmer back in casual clothing. If he hadn't seen it, Sasuke would have thought she was just curled up for a decent night's sleep after a mission.

"I need you to take a look at her eyes Sasuke, and tell me again what she was like when you found her" Tsunade instructed quietly.

He repeated everything he'd told her, and after a thoughtful frown from the woman, she nodded for him to continue.

Kneeling down, Sasuke slowly peeled back one of Naruko's eyelids, and took a look at one of her eyes with his Sharingan (it was the only reason Tsunade would ask him to look) and frowned when her pupil didn't react. Even in a deep sleep, there should have been a reaction.

"There's no reaction from her pupils at all, and there's only the least amount of chakra going to them..." he muttered.

"I don't suppose you know what her relationship with the Kyuubi is, do you?" Tsunade asked.

"As far as I've seen? It seems to be 'you ignore me and I'll ignore you' for the most part" he shrugged.

"That's strange... I would have thought it was a bit better than that - are you really sure they don't talk?" she asked again; Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"She doesn't really talk about it much. It's not exactly a topic to bring up in conversation, what with the villagers... Why?" he asked

"Because I've seen something like this before, with my grandmother, Naruto's mother too. When my grandmother knew she was dying, she prolonged her life by... It was almost like being in a coma, but she could pull out of it when she needed to. But she didn't have the body function to maintain it herself, even with the Uzumaki bloodline..."

"And Naruto's mother?" Sasuke asked, curiously.

"It was after her first four-tailed transformation. She controlled it well, but she killed a lot of people, couldn't handle the emotional side. After a couple of days she collapsed, and woke up a week later with a much better handle of things..." Tsunade replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed and pulling the covers over the blonde girl.

Well, usually blonde girl; the runny black colour in her hair was evidence of either a cover up or a failed escape attempt. Some of it seemed to have faded after the treatment she'd endured.

Sasuke paid more attention to the pattern that was being raised however.

"Are you saying this is the same thing? That the Kyuubi is actually helping her?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

He struggled to wrap his mind around that; as far as he remembered from his ancestor's meddling in Naruto's birth, the Kyuubi was a very, very, very angry demon. The thought of it helping it's prison guard, for whatever reason, was absolutely... It was... Strange. Very strange.

"I think only for the sake of self preservation, but yes. To be honest, when I got to her, the Kyuubi had already started healing most of the damage, since the chakra seals had been removed. What was left would have been enough to drive her insane, but if she recognised you when you found her..." Tsunade said with another frown of hard thought.

Sasuke hadn't thought of that. Had her injuries had been that bad when he found her? He hoped to gods that Karui would get her just deserts. If Naruko couldn't think of anything, he'd gladly give her some suggestions.

He remembered Ibiki's methods for giving him and his team-mates an iron stomach - namely making them watch as many of the more gruesome tortures in the T&I department until they could do so without vomiting (Ibiki had been fond of 'practical teaching'). There was one that involved the intestines that felt particularly fitting for the little slag...

But this Kyuubi theory was very intriguing. If a little disturbing.

"...I think it has something to do with the Uzumaki bloodline. The Kyuubi is much closer to his hosts than the other biju hosts I've seen. They heal their hosts, but the Kyuubi can protect the mind of his hosts, whereas the others. I can't be sure though, because the Kyuubi has always been inside an Uzumaki, and their sealing was always much more proficient than other countries. It may simply be that..." Tsunade finished, healing one of the burns on Naruko's cheek.

Sasuke considered the idea, bit didn't get very far with it; before he could, Naruto's father burst through the door. Sasuke quickly moved out of his way and watched as he near collapsed, examining her sleeping face carefully.

"Tsunade, how is sh-"

"Minato, calm down - she's asleep for the moment. Most of the wounds have already been healed by the Kyuubi, the bad ones, but I think that's all it could manage... I did most of the work myself. She has a infection, I need to get the medicine from the hospital but..."

Sasuke left the room - he'd come back some other time. He didn't want to intrude on such a personal moment.

"You called sir?" Sasuke asked, entering through the main door of the Hokage mansion.

It was three in the morning, and he'd had to run over the rooftops in his boxer shorts, black vest and the purple zip-up shirt he wore when he was wandering around is flat or off duty. He'd fallen asleep on the sofa every night this first week back, just in case something happened.

"I did... Naruko woke up an hour ago but... Well, she's exactly as you said she was when you first found her. It's only the seals on the house that are keeping her in her room... I wouldn't ask but..."

Minato frowned over his words, struggling to get them out. Sasuke felt a great deal of sympathy for the man. The only reason he could think of for being present would be that Naruko didn't recognise him. Her own father. Sasuke would have thought she would have recognised him at least...

"You don't have to sir - she's my student. I'll help however I can" he said quietly; Minato gave him a worn, grateful smile, and led him up the stairs to Naruko's room.

Tsunade was talking outside with Inoichi Yamanaka, who was stubbornly shaking his head at her suggestions.

"...can't just wander into her mind Tsunade-sama! As she is, her mind is too fragile to stand direct external chakra intruding on it. She'll snap before I even get a chance to find out what needs fixing!"

Sasuke watched Minato flinch as he opened the door, but turned his attention to the matter he had just been tasked with.

Closing the door behind him, he was unprepared for the quick footed lunge of self defence. Quickly catching the two small fists two the wrists, Sasuke narrowly avoided a kunai in the back.

Naruko glared and hissed and shared and screamed as she struggled to get her hands back; Sasuke quickly pulled the kunai from her fingers, then knelt own to he eye level, still keeping a firm hold of her.

"Naruko, calm down. You're safe, you're back home. You recognise me don't you? I'm Sasuke" he said calmly, slowly slackening his grip as she exchanged outright panic for consideration.

For a moment she looked confused, then she did something odd; she lifted her hands and mixed her fingers through his hair, mussing it up with interest, like she had never done so at least a hundred times before.

It took a great deal of patience to let her run her fingers through it, force it to stick up at odd angles and on one occasion sniff it curiously. Finally, she found whatever she had liked about it before, and slumped over his back burying her face in the back of his head.

"Naruko, do you trust me?" he asked patting on of the hand gripping his shoulders; Naruko paused before giving a stiff nod.

"There are a few of people outside, they want to help you. The lady can get rid of your burns and make you feel better. If I stay with you, will you let them try?" he asked.

He didn't get a nod or a shake of the head, so he took that as uncertainty.

"I won't let them hurt you like the other people did - I promise. I'll stay here so they can't try anything" he reassured.

Finally he got a nod, and with a slow flare of his chakra to signal that it was safe to come in, Tsunade opened the door. She raised an eyebrow at the odd scene, and Sasuke glared at her, daring her to comment on his methods for calming the girl down (or Naruko's as the case was).

She said nothing however, and approached with cautious steps so she didn't alarm the girl and start her off all over again. Naruko poked her eyes out at her, then gripped his shoulder a little tighter.

"Naruko, this is Tsunade. She's a doctor. She can get rid of some of your burns - I won't let her hurt you. I promise" he introduced.

Naruko stepped a little closer to the blonde woman with the introduction, and then the started the slow, agonising process of getting Naruko to drink one of Tsunade's medicines. Finally. After drinking it himself to show it didn't do any harm, she finally took it.

It immediately started soothing her back to sleep, and after handing her over to her father, Sasuke made himself comfortable on the floor beside her bed. He got the feeling he was going to be spending lot of time here till Naruko recovered.

With the overwhelming guilt for making her leave camp, for not being quick enough to notice Karui's irregularities sooner, Sasuke did not complain in the slightest when Naruko woke up screaming two hours later.

Instead, he simply calmed her down again, and hoped to the gods that Inoichi and Tsunade came up with something to help her soon.

When Naruko woke up, she immediately knew she wasn't awake. For one thing, her hair was blonde again, and she was dressed in her normal clothes.

Another prime indicator was the fact that she could move a finger without injuring every muscle in her body, also were the bars and the murky water sloshing around her waist and legs where she sat on the floor.

'I see you are awake again.'

Naruko glanced around, and jerked back in shock at the sight of the large cage behind her. Then she saw the giant fox behind it, and let out an involuntary scream. The fox snorted at her reaction, and with the familiar derision, her nerves settled.

'Kurama?' Naruko asked.

'Obviously' the animal grunted irritably.

He was slumped up against his cage doors, muzzle rested on his paws; he looked thin, and worn. Kind of like Ino when her metabolism had splurged a load of weight on her and she'd trained ten hours straight to try and get rid of it (how she managed it with the same Akimichi metabolism as her mother was still a mystery though).

'Where... How long... What?'

'You are back in Konoha. You have been asleep for four weeks, or rather your conscious mind has. You woke up in a with the mind of a daikon radish quite a few times though. That was certainly an amusing sight, if nothing else' the fox explained, grumbling with terse patience.

Daikon Radish? Oh, he meant like she didn't have a brain at all. Ok. That... wasn't good. Her dad was probably freaking out - she hoped he was at any rate. And Ino and Choji. Ino would be stuffing her face and getting weight like crazy, and Choji had probably broken something training. Lee... She didn't quite know what he would be doing.

Sasuke-sensei might be a little worried, but he'd probably be expecting her to be back at training by the end of the month. 'I refuse to have a daikon radish for a student' he was probably saying. Heartless git.

'Why have I been asleep so long?' she asked.

'Because if you hadn't been, you would have been worse than a daikon radish. You should be honoured I stepped in when I did' he muttered, yawning on his last word.

Naruko blinked as she took in the implications of the Kyuubi's sleepy mutters; he'd helped her! She remembered now! He said he was going to protect her mind and he did! She didn't really understand how, or why he had even bothered, but she wasn't stupid.

Her ass had been saved by the fuzzbucket.

Wading through the water, she climbed up one of the bars, then leaned through, and scratched him behind a very large ear; Kurama said nothing, but a noise like a purr in the back of his throat told her the scratching was very much appreciated.

She'd have to stop leaving the deep fried tofu that came with her Ramen for Choji. Foxes were supposed to like it, and she owed him. Maybe he'd be able to eat it if she did. Besides, he was kind of nice, in a bloodthirsty kind of way sometimes, but still. Nobody was that perfect.

'Thanks Kurama' she said quietly.

The Kyuubi grunted, then shuffled closer to the bars so she could scratch his ear better.

'You're welcome. I had wondered how long it would take for you to learn manners. Go away - the black and yellow ones are rather anxious for you to wake up. Besides, I'm sleepy, and you're annoying in large doses.'

Naruko snorted as she blinked; when she opened them again, she was awake.

The first thing Naruto saw upon opening her eyes were the walls of her bedroom; the first thing she felt was being warm. Slowly, she sat up, and found the source of the warmth.

She was mostly snug in a blanket, one of her old ones she put on her bed for when the weather was bad; drastic weather changes were not pleasant for her, something suspected was another Kyuubi side-effect. Rain made her cold, shivery, snappish and altogether unpleasant.

The blanket was not the only thing keeping her warm though.

Slumped on his side, right against he wall and looking rather sleepy even in sleep, was Sasuke. He was out of his Jonin uniform - which she had never seen before - in a pair of green trousers, a black vest and purple collared zip-shirt, and he was slumped against a pillow stuffed into the corner.

It took her a moment to align herself with her surroundings, to remember the fuzziness that was her time in the cells and lab rooms of Kumogakure. She didn't remember much, and to be honest, she was glad she didn't. It just felt strange to be missing such a large chunk of time...

Seeing her teacher so casually slumped on one side of her bed was weird too. He was on top of the covers, but still... Sasuke usually looked half-scary in the Jonin jacket and his katana on his back. She'd never seen him in casual clothing before.

Her slight movement must have jostled him, because his eyes snapped open, and he sat up groggily.

"What's wrong? Are you hungry? Did Tsunade-sama come in again? I know you don't like her but she's nice. She's a doctor. She's helping, honest. I know you not like the needles, but she isn't trying to hurt you deliberately..." he mumbled, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Baa-chan?" Naruko asked, still a little bewildered; her word choice seemed to have had an effect on him though - he was suddenly very alert.

"Baa... Baa-chan? You remember her? Naruko, do you remember Tsunade-sama?" he asked, suddenly very alert; one hand reached up and pulled a set of fingers through the strands of hair that framed her face, in what she guessed was a soothing gesture.

"Sensei? What are you doing? Where's my dad?" she asked, a little confused by the rare show of Genin-affection from her teacher.

Sasuke gawked at her, apparently stunned by something.

"Naruko?" he asked.

"Where's my dad? I'm... When did... Where's my dad?" she asked again, not really answering his question; who else was she supposed to be anyway?

"He's talking to Tsunade; do you want me to go get him?" Sasuke asked; Naruko nodded vigorously, but before she could say anything else, she was suddenly warm again as Sasuke hugged her.

She was so shocked she forgot to be embarrassed, and instead just returned the gesture, feeling very glad to be home. She didn't know how she got back, or if someone had come to find her after all, but she wasn't too bothered. She was home - that was all that mattered.

Sasuke left, and returned moments later with her father; he was thinner than usual, had bags under his eyes, and looked half dead. The best she could say about his appearance was that at least he was clean.

He approached her a little warily, which she didn't really understand, so she solved that problem herself, getting out of her covers and hugging him with fierce affection when he finally sat down n her bed.

After that his attitude had a complete turn around; Naruko couldn't remember the last time she'd hugged her father, but this one almost made up for it. She could hear him mumbling 'thank the gods' over and over in her ear to himself, and he sounded like he was crying.

"I was so worried, I thought you'd never... Don't ever disappear like that again. I'll drill illusions into your skull once Tsunade let's you start training again, if that's what... No more of this, I promise... Just don't ever... Thank the gods you're safe..." he sobbed, running his fingers through the back of her hair, and kissing her cheek like he used to when she was little.

Her dad was hugging her, he was actually there. Here. In front of her

"Dad-"

"Shh, it alright, we can talk later I promise..." he mumbled, not letting his hold on her slacken at all.

It was apparently contagious, the crying. Years of tears suddenly came out, and she sobbed into his t-shirt (her dad was wearing casual clothes too) like some sort of mixed up hyena, one that cried instead of laughed.

"Dad, I'm sorry I yelled at you before... I didn't..."

The tears welled up again and Naruko was very glad her teacher had left the room by that point. She felt like a stupid, bawling baby, but it didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

"I know you didn't, I know. It's not your fault you got mad, but we can talk about that later, I promise. I mean it this time too. You're home now, that's all I care about. That you're home and safe... That's all I care about. That's all that matters..." her dad replied, snivelling himself.

And he was right; she was home, and that was all that mattered.

Next chapter will have some more recovery for Naruko, and Karui's fate will be revealed. A few other things too. For clarification, Sasuke's casual clothing is his re-design for Road to Ninja. Oh my god I'm stoked for that film! Playboy, flirty, bad-pick-up-line casanova, grinning Sasuke! and Cat Kiba! and Ino and... and Hinata! I could actually like Hinata in this film, and believe me that is saying something.

If any of you follow the KBS Cosplay skits on YouTube, and you've seen the Q&A videos, then you'll know how much I don't like Hinata. And I could actually like RtN Hinata. I'm so shipping SasuHina for that film XD I may even use her for some inspiration for this story. In fact, I think I will! Maybe... *Ponders...*

Anyway, for those who were asking, I don't plan to leave in the matter of stories being deleted. If it happens to me, I'll re-post the stories without the Lemons. Then give you links to the lemons ;)

I've signed up for AO3 (but won't get an account till about October *twitch*), and AdultFanfiction (just can't be bothered uploading there at the moment), so until it happens to me, I won't worry about it. I'd get LiveJournal but... I don't know how the hell to navigate that place, let alone upload anything. is way easier to manage ATM.

I may be changing my Username however. I'm Ncj700 (DA, YouTube, Tumblr, Yahoo Messenger, and a few other places too) everywhere else, except here. I picked my username when I first got into anime, and I cringe whenever I tell people what it is now X( I don't know yet, but its being considered. Just warning you :)

One more question... does anyone know what size the images have to be for the image uploader to load them properly? Are they JPeg format? Am I supposed to size them by pixel of file size? has neglected yo inform us what measurement is being used... *Twitch* *Twitch*

Song is 'Look After You' by The Fray :)

Hope you liked the chapter!
Nat
xxx