Chidori

Chapter 25 – Together

His throat felt so dry. His eyelids were so heavy, but he was waking up, and surely he would have to open them soon. But he was scared of doing so. There was light, and that would hurt. Why couldn't he just go back to darkness? Comfortable, simple, painless good old darkness. But there was this warm hand holding his own cold hand. A gentle, familiar hand, squeezing ever so slightly as if begging for a reaction. A name came to mind, Naruto…

He heard a gasp, not loud, just a whisper, "I'm right here, Sasuke."

Naruto's voice. Had he spoken his name out loud? Probably… He opened his eyes, but immediately he blinked and frowned. Damn light…

"Sasuke!" Naruto leaned closer, "Sasuke…"

"Ya that's my name…"

His voice sounded rasp and strangled, and his throat burned.

"Here." Naruto offered a glass of water, voice full of contained emotion.

His first reflex was to try to move his right arm. Bad idea. His second reflex was to try to sit. Very bad idea. He let out a pained moan, and immediately Naruto put the glass down and sat on the hospital bed next to him.

"Shit, sorry, let me help you," he said, putting one hand on Sasuke's left arm and the other behind his back.

With Naruto's help he managed to somewhat move to a sitting position, but he almost fell unconscious again because the pain was too much to endure. But he fought to stay awake. After drinking some water – using his left hand and trying not to freak out too much about the fact that he couldn't use the other one – he felt a little better. And his eyes were finally able to focus on Naruto's face.

He looked tired. Really tired. He had dark circles under his reddish blue eyes. He had cried; there were marks showing the tracks of tears on his cheeks. But it didn't matter. He was beautiful, he was perfect, and he was here…

Sasuke quickly remembered everything. Haku, the two gun shots, security arresting him, his band mates trying to reassure him, everyone in the theatre panicking… The Montreal show, he remembered, Shizune had probably cancelled and rescheduled it… What about the other shows? He thought about all that very quickly, worried about the consequences for their tour…

He shook his head slightly; he had to calm down. There was no need to freak out now. Glancing around the room, he saw some flowers on the desk, the machines and tubes plugged to his body, the dull white paint on the walls, all in all it looked like a pretty normal hospital room, and very clean, at least. Still, Sasuke hated it. He really hoped he wouldn't have to stay there long…

"How are you feeling?" Naruto asked.

He was still sitting on the hospital bed, his hand holding Sasuke's left hand again with his thumb rubbing circles in his palm soothingly.

"Like I've been shot twice." He answered, his voice sounding a little better.

Naruto chuckled. "You're being a wiseass, now of all times?"

"I guess… So… what's the…" He glanced down at his right arm, which was in a cast. "I mean, how long do you think I'll have to stay here? How long has it been already?" He asked, locking eyes with Naruto again.

"Five days," he answered, "but they said you'll be fine. He got you in the stomach but no vital organs are damaged, and in the arm but with physiotherapy you'll be able to use it again soon," he explained.

"I guess I'm lucky Haku doesn't know how to aim properly with a gun." He said, half-teasing.

"He was still close." Naruto whispered, and Sasuke felt his hand tremble in his.

Tears formed in his blue eyes, and Sasuke frowned slightly. "Hey," he whispered, "don't cry…"

"I'm so glad you're okay," he breathed, and very carefully he wrapped his arms around Sasuke.

He held him back with one arm, breathing in his scent, feeling the warm tears on his exposed neck.

"I should probably call a nurse," Naruto said, pulling away.

"Wait," he replied, "stay a little longer…"

"I'm not going anywhere," he smiled.

Sasuke's heart squeezed in his chest, overwhelmed by his intense feelings for Naruto. He had come all the way from Tokyo…

"But… the movie, your interviews?"

His sentence didn't make much sense, but Naruto understood anyway.

"You're more important," he said simply, "Itachi's here too, I mean, he's at the hotel right now. With the rest of the band."

Sasuke realized just now Naruto was wearing some of Kiba's clothes; red t-shirt and black jeans. Sasuke himself was in a hospital gown of course. How sexy.

"They're all okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, you're the only one who got hurt. Haku's been arrested. He's gonna be judged in court back in Japan, I guess… I'm gonna call Jamie and ask him a few questions," Naruto muttered more to himself, and Sasuke remembered something about that Jamie guy being a criminal law student, "I wanna know how it works. And I really want Haku to rot in jail for the rest of his life."

"Don't worry about that," Sasuke said softly.

"Of course I'm worried," Naruto's gaze drifted to him again, "I don't want you to be hurt again."

Sasuke made a little smile and he glanced away; arguing with Naruto now wouldn't be of any use. Suddenly pain struck him. As if his body had been slow in waking up completely, but now it realized that, hey, it was severely injured so it had to hurt like hell… Great.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"I…" the words didn't come out. His face had probably paled all of a sudden, because he felt nauseous and his arm and stomach were hurting so damn much, he couldn't even move anymore…

Naruto stormed out of the room, and a few seconds later he came back with a nurse. She had probably already been on her way, because she had the necessary medication to give him.

"Giving me drugs, huh?" He looked up at Naruto as the nurse adjusted his injections, probably morphine. "Well damn, after all my efforts to stop…"

"Idiot, that's not funny." Naruto said, but he was smiling.

The nurse kindly explained him everything from the state of his injuries to the medication they'd given him, but Sasuke felt really dizzy and only half-listened. She seemed to realize this because soon she stopped talking and instead with Naruto they helped him to lie down on the bed again.

"I wanna get out of here." He whispered when she was gone.

Naruto smiled sadly as he brushed his hair softly.

"I know. You will soon."

"I wanna… be with you."

"Do you know how strong a dose she just gave you?" He chuckled as he looked down at him fondly.

"I…" he closed his eyes, but forced them to open again even though everything was so blurry, "Naru..?"

"I'm right here."

"I love you…"

Naruto's lips parted, but nothing came out; Sasuke was already sleeping. He let out a deep breath as he caressed the raven hair softly.

He had to call the others, let them know Sasuke had woken up. Especially Itachi, he had been so worried.

So he got out of the hospital – cell phones weren't allowed in – for the first time in three straight hours and immediately dialled Sasuke's older brother's number.

"Naruto? I'm on my way. Any news?"

He smiled. "Yeah he woke up."

"Oh thank God…"

"But he's asleep again," he added quickly. "They gave him some drugs for the pain…"

"Did he make some smart ass comment about that?"

Naruto laughed. "You know him too well."

"I guess I do. Anyway, like I said I'm on my way. I'll meet you in his room."

"Okay," he hung up and returned inside.

Itachi had been visiting Sasuke every day, just like Naruto. He often brought his laptop with him to keep in touch with the guys replacing him at the company in Tokyo.

A few minutes later Naruto saw him arrive in the hallway, elegant as always in a black suit, laptop case in his hand. Itachi, never one to worry about money, had asked his cleaning lady to pack him some things and send it by special service by plane. There was only one thing different today, he was smiling.

Without a word, Naruto and Itachi walked together to Sasuke's hospital room. The older Uchiha looked down at him for a moment. There was no difference in his appearance, but just knowing that he'd been awake a few moments earlier was probably a great relief.

"Did you call your parents?" Naruto asked softly.

Itachi sighed and took place on the chair in which Naruto had been sitting previously. The blond sat on the bed, careful not to bother Sasuke in his sleep. Fugaku and Mikoto were currently in a one month vacation in the Caribbean islands. Itachi had decided not to alarm them too much, and he only told them Sasuke was at the hospital but that he was fine and would be back on his feet in no time, and that it wasn't necessary for them to come. Of course Naruto had been shocked by this at first, but then Itachi had explained further, saying that it wasn't a good idea for his mother to see Sasuke like this; she'd probably have a heart attack. As for Fugaku, it really wasn't a good idea for him and Sasuke to see each other in these circumstances, it would be extremely awkward and besides, Itachi wasn't sure his father could handle it…

"I left them a message saying he was doing better… But I hadn't told them he was in a coma in the first place, so…"

Naruto nodded slowly, "I get it…"

"If he wants to see them, I'll tell them to come."

"I know," Naruto smiled, "but he probably won't want that."

"Yeah," Itachi chuckled, looking at his brother, "he'll probably tell us it was stupid to come all the way here. He hates the attention. Which is kind of ironic since he's an international superstar…"

Naruto shrugged slightly, "I think he was glad I was here…"

"That's probably the effect of the drugs. His barriers are down."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "but I think it's good for you Uchiha people to let your vulnerable side show sometimes."

"What vulnerable side?" He feigned to be offended.

Naruto laughed, "All right I'll let you work," he pointed his laptop, "I'll go back to the hotel to tell everyone the good news."

"Okay," Itachi made a little smile, "I'll call you if he wakes up again."

"Thanks!"

- Chidori -

Everyone was in the hospital room the next day. Well, everyone except Itachi, he'd had a long talk alone with Sasuke, and then he had returned to Tokyo. Naruto didn't know any more details. But Naruto himself had decided to stay a little longer. Karin kept calling him, and she wanted to kill him. Ariane was also a little pissed; she had to do the promoting pretty much on her own, but of course she understood.

The small room was way too crowded, but it didn't matter; it was obvious that Sasuke was glad to see them all. He was mostly very eager to get out of the hospital, though.

"Don't worry man, you'll be out in no time." Deidara tried to cheer him up.

Hiroshi, standing right next to his boyfriend, nodded. "The nurse told us, you're healing super fast. You're like superman."

"No," Kiba objected. "If he'd be like superman he wouldn't have been hurt in the first place!"

"Shut up Kiba," Suigetsu snapped.

The silver-haired guy was sitting on Sasuke's right side. He had been one of the most affected by Sasuke's coma the past few days, and he had visited him just as often as Naruto and Itachi. Now everyone could see how relieved he was that his best friend was fine.

"There you go!" Suigetsu exclaimed. "I'm the first to sign on it!" He admired his work of art on Sasuke's cast.

"You're aware they're changing it tomorrow, right?" He raised a delicate black eyebrow as he looked at his friend.

"I know. You wouldn't have let me do it otherwise." He laughed.

Naruto smiled. He was being pretty much silent, sitting on Sasuke's left side and holding his hand. Once in a while Sasuke stopped listening to their idiotic friends just to glance at him, silently thanking him for being there, for acting as if they were together again, even though they weren't… Yet, Naruto thought.

Their young agent stepped closer to Sasuke's bed. "So when do you think we'll be able to go back on tour with this super fast healing of yours?" She asked, half-teasing.

"I don't know," the raven sighed, glancing down, "I wish I could go back right now but…"

"Don't worry about it, we've already rescheduled the remaining shows in Canada and the States next month, and they can be rescheduled again if needed!" She smiled.

He shook his head. "Next month will be fine, that's for sure."

"I hope so!" She said.

"We all do." Yahiko entered the conversation, "I really like being on stage even if I know it's not me they want to see," he shrugged and smiled, "It's you so, I hope you get better soon."

"We'll be just as famous as them one day, I'm sure of it." Hidan said.

Hiroshi snorted. "Stop putting so much energy into your religion and actually practice the songs and that would help already…"

"Oh shut up," Hidan snapped.

At least this made Sasuke laugh.

"Actually this is giving me some more time to work on songs for our third album," Takumi, who was sitting beside Suigetsu on the bed, also entered the conversation.

"You're already preparing your third album?" Deidara exclaimed, "Wow!"

"I'm so proud," Shizune said enthusiastically.

"I can't wait to see it," Sasuke smiled at Takumi.

Naruto's heart sank a little at seeing the particular relationship those two had again. He knew they all wanted him back in the band, but would it be the same as before if he came back? Or had Takumi taken his place for good? Maybe there was no place for a fifth member…

"Visit time is over," a passing by nurse told them. "Sorry…"

Suigetsu, Takumi and Naruto were the last ones to leave, staying by Sasuke's side just a little longer than it was allowed. Actually Naruto was a little annoyed that the other two weren't leaving to give them some privacy, but he supposed he was just being selfish… Sasuke wasn't his boyfriend.

Suigetsu was Sasuke's best friend, but he was bisexual, and they'd had sex together once. And Takumi… he was still hard to read for Naruto, but with Sasuke they seemed to understand each other, to be relaying on each other a lot, for songs, for advice concerning life, and love… Naruto was a little jealous that he wasn't the only one for Sasuke any more. But again, he blamed himself for being so selfish.

Unfortunately it was time to go, but they promised Sasuke to be there the next day as well.

- Chidori -

Sasuke was let out a few days later, on April 5th. The Montreal show was rescheduled for the 24th, and the other shows would follow, but he still had a lot of time to get better. Naruto, Suigetsu and Takumi brought him back to the hotel by taxi. They were like the three musketeers, always together – always by Sasuke's side. It was a little bit ridiculous actually; he didn't need three people to help him all the time. His stomach was still bandaged tightly, but the wound was healed, it was mostly to prevent him from moving too much. He couldn't walk too fast, he couldn't bend, he couldn't do quick movements, or it would risk reopening it. But he could walk if he was careful. His arm was also fine, and the cast had been replaced by a simpler orthopaedic arm support.

Basically, they were going back to the hotel just to get his stuff, and afterwards they were taking the plane to Tokyo. The others had already left a few days ago; hotel fees were starting to be really expensive for Sound Records. Naruto, Takumi and Suigetsu had been paying the fees themselves to be able to stay with Sasuke.

Their plane tickets had been paid by Sound Records at least, except Naruto's, but he told Sasuke he was fine because the movie would come out soon and he'd receive a nice pay check.

At the hotel room the three guys were getting ready to go. Sasuke's suitcase was as neat as ever, so he didn't need to do much. He was just sitting on the bed watching them, but there was something he wanted to do. He just felt kind of shy to say it…

"I need to take a shower…"

There, he'd said it. One of the assistant nurses had helped him wash his hair, and in the past few days he'd been able to clean himself in the bathroom connecting to his hospital room at least. But he just really fucking needed a real shower. Problem was, these three paranoid idiots didn't even let him walk on his own, so they'd freak out if he dared going in the bathroom alone…

"I'll help you," Takumi and Suigetsu said at the same time, already stepping closer.

"No! I'll help him." Naruto's voice said a little angrily.

Sasuke had to repress a smile as the blond walked past them and took his left arm, putting it around his strong shoulders, and helped him to the bathroom. Then he let go of his arm to lock the door. For a moment they just stood in front of each other a little awkwardly.

Sasuke removed his arm support and tried to remove his t-shirt, but winced because of the pain. It had been a little embarrassing, but in the morning a nurse had helped him get dressed even though he was wearing simple sweat pants – the skin tight jeans weren't such a good idea with his stomach wound.

Immediately Naruto's hands were on him, helping him take off his shirt carefully. He did the same with the pants. It was kind of awkward, really. He was left in just his boxers, and Naruto turned on the water and waited for it to be warm enough. Sasuke frowned slightly as Naruto quickly undressed himself completely.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing," Sasuke chuckled.

He removed the bandage around his stomach with his left hand, but it wasn't easy. Naruto pushed his hand away softly and did the work himself.

"They gave me some clean ones so I can make you another one after," he said.

For a moment his fingers caressed the skin around the red mark on his otherwise pale stomach.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, looking up.

"A little," he whispered.

Naruto put the bandage away and helped him take off his boxers. They stepped in the bath and under the shower, and it felt so good for Sasuke to be under the water. He shivered slightly though, it wasn't warm enough. He didn't even need to say anything, Naruto immediately reached to adjust it.

"You know I would've been okay from there, I just needed help for the clothes," he said in a low voice.

Naruto bit his bottom lip slightly, and picked up a clean washcloth and soap.

"I want to help," he shrugged, "but if you don't want me to you should've just said it…"

He swallowed hard, why did Naruto sound so hurt?

"Turn around," Naruto said softly.

Sasuke leaned on the wall with his left arm and rested his head on it as Naruto proceeded to clean him. It felt so soothing and comforting...

"Maybe you'd preferred Suigetsu or Takumi…" Naruto suddenly said.

He frowned and turned around quickly. A little too quickly, his stomach muscles hurt and he almost lost his balance, but Naruto steadied him, worried.

"No quick movements, remember?"

"Naruto… they're just friends," he said in a pained voice.

Naruto still looked sad, unsure…

"I wouldn't have… let them take a shower with me I mean… I just needed help for my clothes but…" He sighed shakily, why was it so complicated all of a sudden?

They were quiet for a moment, avoiding each other's gaze. But at least it wasn't awkward anymore. It wasn't like they'd never seen each other naked before.

"I'm sorry," Naruto finally said. "I guess I became kind of paranoid these past few days…"

"Paranoid? Why?" He tilted his head slightly, searching Naruto's blue eyes.

"I don't know… That you'd choose one of them over me or something…"

Sasuke's lips twitched into a little smile, "Naruto… the line between friendship and love might be thin, but there is one, okay? And…I love you, no one else."

There was no point in pretending any longer. It was no newsflash anyway. Naruto wasn't that dumb; his songs were already pretty clear about it, he still loved Naruto, he'd never stop loving him, it was that simple. Why should he be afraid to say it? He'd been close enough to death; he didn't want to be scared to tell the truth anymore.

For a moment the sound of the shower and Naruto's breathing was all he could hear. Sasuke was already embarrassed, so he figured, he might as well keep going…

"To be honest I thought they were kind of annoying, these two," he chuckled, "I appreciate their worrying and all but, I kind of wished they'd left us alone sometimes…"

Naruto smiled, and it was the most beautiful thing in the world to Sasuke. He hadn't seen him smile like that since… he couldn't even remember when.

Naruto's hand, which was still resting on his left shoulder, slid up to the back of his neck, and he pulled his face closer to kiss him. At first Sasuke was shocked; he hadn't been expecting it. But he relaxed, closed his eyes, and kissed back softly. He pulled Naruto closer with his non-injured arm, and he moaned as the kiss became more passionate. Naruto's full lips were so familiar, so perfect, and felt so good against his. Sasuke slid his tongue in Naruto's parted lips and now it was the blond's turn to moan. His needy voice sent a hot feeling to Sasuke's gut and injured or not, he hadn't had sex in like, six months… He was hard.

A loud knock on the door interrupted their heated make out session and they both pulled away, a little bit shocked, as if waking up from a dream.

"Romantic reconciliation is really touching and all," Suigetsu's mocking voice said behind the door, "but I'm not sure fucking is an appropriate activity in your condition Sasuke. Sorry to break the fun!" he added, "but I don't want to see you back at the hospital! Besides, we got a flight to catch…"

"Bad timing?" Naruto whispered.

"As I said, sometimes I find them really annoying." Sasuke said, still panting.

"He's right though," the blond said worriedly, his hands still holding Sasuke, "you don't look too good."

Now that the passion was cooled off, his stomach muscles indeed hurt like a bitch.

"I'll be fine." He said.

"You're barely standing." Naruto replied.

He helped him to finish washing himself quickly, and then he turned off the water and handed him a clean towel. Naruto put his clothes back on, and then helped Sasuke with his. They did this in a record time, but Takumi and Suigetsu still had mocking smiles when they got out of the bathroom.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto carefully, to see his reaction. But he seemed okay, he seemed happy actually. Good, Sasuke thought, he had reassured him, and now he knew Takumi and Suigetsu were just really good friends. Actually, Sasuke knew they were both really happy that things were getting better with Naruto. They knew how important he was for him.

"Should I make you a new bandage?" Naruto asked.

"No I'll be fine." He reassured him.

He put his arm support back on though. Takumi picked up both his suitcase and Sasuke's, and they left the hotel to take a taxi again, to the airport this time. They were heading back to Tokyo to stay there a few weeks, and even though it sucked that the shows had been rescheduled, Sasuke was looking forward to spending time with Naruto.

TBC