Chapter 25: A Little Trip to the Hospital

When Negi and Sakura finally made it to the hospital, they were shocked to find that Naruto had actually been checked in. Apparently, not only had Ryouga actually made it to the hospital, he had beaten them there. After getting Naruto's room number from a nurse, the two rushed to the room of their teammate.

When they arrived, they found Naruto still unconscious on a bed. And only Naruto. Ryouga was nowhere to be found. Which, while frustrating, was almost expected at this point. Which is too bad, thought Sakura. I've got some words for our streaking sensei. Like 'WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING NAKED IN ICHIRAKU RAMEN DURING THE LUNCH RUSH!?' Unfortunately, said streaking sensei was missing, Naruto was still unconscious, and Negi was too focused on Naruto to be in any condition to respond to her advances. For the time being, she would have to wait for the situation to change. Well, I suppose I could just leave, but that might alienate me with Negi. I should at least find out Naruto's condition before leaving.

After several minutes of awkward silence, the sound of something breaking through drywall drew Negi and Sakura's attention to the closet. Before either of the two had the chance to investigate further, the closet's sliding door smashed outwards, revealing their wayward sensei, clad in a hospital gown, legs clenched together, and a strained look on his face. "Where the heck's the bathroom!"

"There you are!" accused Sakura.

Ryouga looked at her, apparently only now noticing her. "Ah! You made it! Unless I'm not in the hospital anymore."

"This is the hospital," Negi confirmed.

"Good," replied Ryouga. "Naruto's in a room somewhere around here. It shouldn't be too hard to find him. I think he's in room 414. I'll join you in a moment."

Sakura gave him a flat look, then pointed at the bed containing the still unconscious Naruto.

"Right! Good job!" acknowledged Ryouga. "I'll be right back!" Before either of his students could stop him, Ryouga, bolted through the wall, leaving a second Ryouga-sized hole in the room.

"Wait!" yelled Negi, moving to follow Ryouga, only to abruptly stop. Turning, he faced Sakura. "Please stay with Naruto in case he wakes up. I'll go catch our sensei before he leaves the building."

Ack! thought Inner Sakura. I should be the doing that! You should stay here! You actually give a damn about Naruto! I don't! "Sure thing," replied Sakura, grinning.

"Thank you," Negi called back as he took off after Ryouga, boosting his speed with wind magic as soon as he left the room.

0o0o0

Sakura waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. Despite the wait, Sakura showed no signs of impatience. Externally, anyways.

This is so boring, moaned Inner Sakura. How am I supposed to pass the time? There aren't any books or magazines or anything! All there is in here is a bed, a folder of medical documents (which I'm probably not allowed to touch), and Naruto. And Naruto isn't even conscious!

Sakura's eyes scanned the room. Nope. She hadn't missed anything with her initial scan. Slowly, her eyes drifted over to the documents. Hmm... it doesn't look sealed. Are those Naruto's medical records?

0o0o0

"Ugh," groaned Naruto, slowly rising from his prone position on the bed. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he had not been able to come up with a better solution than continuing to use clones. Which, admittedly, he wasn't against. He just didn't want to get into trouble using them.

A yelp of surprise drew his attention to his left, where a vaguely attractive pink-haired girl was throwing a manilla folder onto a nearby counter like it had caught fire. "Naruto! You're awake!" said the girl, attempting to look innocent and failing horribly.

Great, thought Naruto. A nosy nurse. Oh well. Better start playing dumb. At least I don't have to fake being in pain. "Ow, my head," groaned Naruto, raising a hand to his head. "What happened?"

"Beats me," replied the nurse. "Apparently you suddenly collapsed at Ichiraku Ramen."

"Er, you don't know?" asked Naruto, more than a little surprised. "Nobody know why I collapsed?"

The pink-haired nurse shrugged in response. "How would I know? I don't work here, and I haven't seen any hospital attendants since I arrived. I wasn't even there when you dropped."

That set off all kinds of alarm bells in his head. Someone who didn't work at the hospital had entered his room and was looking through medical documents. Was this girl a spy?! Naruto's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who are you?" he asked, hopping out of his bed and taking a basic academy stance (and actually succeeding at it, he belatedly realized).

The pink-haired girl stared at him in wide-eyed surprise, only to glare at him a moment later. "Not funny, Naruto."

"I'm not trying to be," he responded. "Who are you, and why were you looking through those medical thingies?"

"It's me, stupid," replied the girl. "And I have no idea what you're talking about," she finished unconvincingly.

"Alright, Stupid. What exactly are you doing in my room?"

Sakura tensed, but didn't move. She would not beat the crap out of Naruto for calling her stupid. Even if Inner Sakura was calling for his blood. He could be suffering some sort of brain injury, and pounding his head into the floor could exacerbate the injury. "I'm watching you while Negi finds Ryouga," she replied.

"If you don't work here, then why are you watching me?" asked Naruto flatly.

"Because Negi told me to," the pink-haired girl replied.

"And why would Negi get you to watch me?"

"Because we're teammates," said Sakura.

Naruto stared at her in confusion, flabbergasted by her response. "No we're not!" he exclaimed, pointing at the mystery girl. "I've never seen you before in my life!"

"We ARE on the same team, Naruto!" growled Sakura through clenched teeth, barely restraining herself from lashing out at her idiot teammate, brain injury or not.

"No we're not."

"Yes we are!"

"No we're not."

"YES WE ARE!"

"No we're not."

The sound of fist meeting skull could be heard throughout the floor.

0o0o0

"What was that?" asked Negi from the hallway outside Naruto's room.

Ryouga, intimately familiar with the sound of angry female inflicted violence, simply grimaced. Hopefully she didn't launch him out of the room. "...We should probably hurry up," he said, deliberately not answering Negi's question. "Which room did you say he was in again?"

"That one," replied Negi, pointing to one of the doors. As he did so, the door opened, and out stomped an angry Sakura. Noticing them, she turned to Negi.

"Tell your friend to quit faking amnesia," Sakura growled, utterly failing to fake a pleasant demeanor for Negi's sake. She then turned and stomped off. She would later kick herself for forgetting to chew out Ryouga for his public indecency at the ramen stand.

Negi quickly rushed into the room, while Ryouga followed at a slightly more sedate pace. "Naruto! Are you okay?"

"Someone tell that fake nurse her bedside manner really sucks," groaned Naruto from the floor, cradling his left cheek with his hands.

Negi paused. "You mean Sakura?" he asked hesitantly.

"Who?" asked Naruto.

Negi gave him a concerned look. Ryouga snickered, earning a glare from Negi.

"Sorry," he replied. "The situation just reminds me of something funny that happened to someone else." Waving it off, he turned back to Naruto. "Naruto, do you know who we are?"

Naruto stared at Ryouga and Negi in confusion as he rose to his feet. "Of course I know who you are. You're the other members of my team."

Ryouga stepped over to Naruto, then grabbed him by the head and lifted him upward.

"Ack! What are you doing?!" yelped Naruto.

Ignoring him, Ryouga examined his hair. Then he turned Naruto's head to examine his face and pried open each of his eyes. Nodding, he dropped the boy. "Looks like you've got a concussion.

"Huh?" replied Naruto.

"A minor brain injury," replied Ryouga. "It'll go away in a bit."

"Are you saying that I know that girl?" asked Naruto.

"Yep," Ryouga replied cheerfully. "Don't worry," he added, clapping a hand onto Naruto's shoulder. "Concussions happen to the best of us. I'm sure it will come back to you eventually."

"Are you sure?" asked Negi. "This seems kind of serious."

"I know what I'm talking about, here. I've had my own share of concussions, you know. I once went two weeks without knowing who Ranma was." Ryouga smiled. "It was the happiest two weeks of my life."

"Who's Ranma?" asked Naruto.

"Exactly," replied Ryouga, as he left the room.

Naruto turned to Negi. "Is Ranma someone I should know?"

"I have no idea," replied Negi.

0o0o0

As soon as he had been released from the hospital, Naruto made a beeline for his apartment. Upon arrival, he went to his bedroom and prepared for a chat with the Kyuubi.

Alright, you bastard fox. What the hell was up with that?

Up with what? the bijuu replied.

Why the hell can't I remember who Sakura is?

Remember how I told you that you just about liquefied your brain? I was not exaggerating.

Naruto had a sudden sinking feeling. ...How much knowledge did I lose?

Actually, you didn't lose that much knowledge. The Kyuubi paused, and waited until Naruto let out a sigh of relief before continuing. It was mostly memories. The Kyuubi sounded immensely amused. Don't worry. You didn't forget anything too important.

Forgetting who one of my teammates was wasn't important?

No, it wasn't, replied the fox with a monstrous grin. Tell me, what do you remember of Sakura?

Not much. I... think she was a med nin? I kind of remember being healed by a pink-haired girl.

And that's exactly what she was. She was a pink-haired girl who you at one point had a crush on, who eventually became a med-nin. And in this world, it appears that none of that even happened yet.

She's still my teammate in this world.

Yes. And what do you know of her history before joining your team?

Nothing! I told you, I can't remember her!

Exactly. And now there's a reason for that.

Naruto stared blankly at the Kyuubi. The demon fox waited for a few moments, before its grin morphed into a scowl as it grew impatient.

You imbecile. This is not your world! You had no idea what your relationship with her was even before losing your memories of her! Now... now you have an excuse for not knowing.

Oh, replied Naruto, comprehension finally dawning on his face. ...Hey. Did you know that I had forgotten who Sakura was before I woke up?

Yes, replied the fox.

Why the hell didn't you tell me I'd forgotten my own teammate?

Would telling you have made any sort of difference? What's gone is gone. Pretending otherwise won't bring it back. Either way, you would have faced her without knowing who she was. By telling you about your lost memories, all that would have been accomplished would have been you reacting in a more artificial manner. The Kyuubi snorted. Keep in mind that we are trying not to be discovered, here.

Naruto snarled. He didn't like it, but he could see why the Kyuubi had neglected to tell him. Are there anymore surprises for me that you haven't told me about.

Hmm... The Kyuubi sprouted a wide grin. I wonder...

Naruto swore.