To my faithful reviewers – you may ask, why is this chapter late? Because, among all you reviewers, someone had kindly offered to beta-ed this for me! Let's all give Ravenshaelo a big hug, applause, and lots of nice things (chocolates, flowers, sodas etc). Not only is she me beta-ed-er (how do I say that??!!), but she's also a loyal reader and reviewer (hugs). Thank her everyone!
Now, onto to the story. This is slightly longer than the other chappies!
WHY NOT 16
Kakashi carried the young man in his arms and
moved as fast as he could toward the hospital in the middle of the village.
"Hokage! Get me the HOKAGE!" He said sharply. In a blink of an eye, a stretcher
and nurses came wheeling out of the emergency room, the doctor with them.
"Place him here." The elderly man said, and then
an oxygen mask was placed over the bloody face and an IV fluid attached to his
arm. "Emergency room twelve. Tsunade-sama is waiting." The doctor said and left
Kakashi in the middle of the waiting room, staring at the swinging doors of the
ER. Kakashi felt his heart beating wildly and a sheen of perspiration coating
his temples. He was shaking all over, Naruto's blood on his hands and clothes.
He shakily leaned against the wall, single eye staring blankly at the little
round window on the doors that led to the emergency rooms. Naruto – he might
die!
The thought made his mind whirl in all
directions so that his vision – for a moment, dimmed. His feet suddenly became
like jelly.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke called out, seeing the
Jounin a bit shaky on his feet at other end of the small hall. "Oi!"
But Kakashi could not hear him. He was so
wrapped up in the shock and fear of losing Naruto that for the first time in
his life he fainted in public (technically, it was the village's hospital), and
into Sasuke's quick arms.
Three hours later, Kakashi was in a small white
room, Tsunade giving him a peculiar look – a mixture of the 'oh dear' and the
'you actually fainted?' type of looks. Kakashi bolted up from the bed he was on
and looked around. "Naruto –"
"Is fine." Tsunade said, stretching. "Took a
while, nearly lost him, but he's fine."
"Nearly LOST HIM?" Kakashi asked, seething. What
did she mean by that? How – How could she?!
"I didn't, Kakashi-sensei!" Tsunade then placed
a hand on his bloodstained shoulder (from Naruto). "He's asleep now." Tsunade's
eyes softened with sorrow and guilt and she brought a hand to her face. "If he
didn't have Kyuubi in him – I could have lost him." She closed her eyes then.
"Or he would have died on that mission and never made it back." Kakashi
swallowed at the could-have-been-possibility of that particular thought. "But
he didn't." She turned, picked up a towel and tossed it at Kakashi. "Clean up.
I'll bet you want to see him. I'll be in room one-four-six."
In fifteen minutes flat, Kakashi had changed,
washed the blood off and was entering the room Naruto was in. Tsunade was
conducting a check-up on him. Naruto looked – horrible! Pale, thin, limp hair,
circles under his eyes, nearly all the veins visible – HORRIBLE! But he was
alive – and the steady beeping of the monitor beside him proved that. Tsunade
patted his shoulder, whispered 'fifteen minutes' into his ear and left him and
Naruto alone. Kakashi gently brushed a lock of hair out his face and sighed,
pulling his mask down.
"Oh Naruto." He whispered and just continued to
watch him breath slowly and steadily through the pipes, tubes and
heaven-knows-what-else attached to him. "If only you knew how much I love you."
He placed a hand over Naruto's chest, felt his steady heartbeat and finally
placed a kiss on one side of his cut and dry lips. "Maybe I'll tell you soon,
hmm?" He smiled, dimmed the lights and left Naruto to rest.
It had been a long night.
*
The next day, all of the former rookies were in
the hospital. Word had spread that Naruto was now an ANBU. All remaining eight
rookies kept it to themselves. The person having the toughest time digesting
this little fact was Sasuke. He couldn't seem to comprehend that Naruto was a
far better ninja than he was. He was an ANBU for crying out loud.
The girls were quite happy for Naruto –
especially Hinata. They had even brought flowers with them for the blonde boy.
But much to their dismay, Naruto was not allowed any visitors and they were
shooed away from the ward by the nurse (with Tsunade's orders of course).
Neji and Shikamaru were conversing silently,
while the rest of the rookies were ahead of them. Sasuke had been pissed, sad,
jealous and everything in between. Sakura had kept him in line, along with
Shikamaru. Shikamaru himself was surprised when he heard the news that Naruto
was an ANBU. He never had the chance to speak to the young man himself, since
he too was busy completing missions and helping out at the academy.
"He's changed a lot, Shikamaru. When I saw him
last night, I felt he deserved more than what this place has given him." Neji
said, a small smile on his lips at the fond memories of the brief times he and
Naruto had after the Orochimaru-incident years ago.
Shikamaru sighed. "Well, that's something nice,
coming from you. Maybe you'll give him more respect now, huh?"
"He's had my respect since the chuunin exam."
Neji said, and it was true.
"Yeah well. He had mine long before any one else
had it." Shikamaru said. He hid his respect for Naruto behind his laziness, but
it was there and he, perhaps better than any of the other former-rookies,
understood Naruto's capabilities and strengths. After that incident with Sasuke
taking Orochimaru's side, he and Naruto had hung out a lot, despite him being a
chuunin. Naruto proved to be a great companion and good listener. It even
amazed him once when Naruto gave a rather scientific talk about jutsus. "Naruto
isn't a loser like everyone thinks he is. He's smart Neji, otherwise, if he
wasn't, he would have died in one of those neck-risking incidents we faced,
that as genins or chuunins, we weren't supposed to."
Neji nodded. "You're right. I'm a fool. Along
with many here." He looked at everyone ahead of him.
Ino and Sakura thought that he was an idiot, no
change there. Kiba and Chouji liked Naruto as a friend and someone to hang out
with. But Kiba still underestimated Naruto somewhat. Hinata liked him, no
questions there, though she was already dating Kiba. There was that childhood
fascination still sparkling in her whenever she saw Naruto. Lee liked him as a
good fellow comrade and friend and was sad when he left so suddenly. Sasuke –
Sasuke was something else. Neji himself felt annoyed whenever he saw Sasuke
looking at Naruto with well-hidden anger. It was stupid!
Fools. That's what most of them were when it
came to Naruto, except maybe Shikamaru.
"Yeah. Fools." Shikamaru said and smiled a bit.
"You know, Naruto likes playing Go?"
"Oh?" Neji asked, mildly surprised. Go was a
BORING game. Naruto liked to play Go? "Seriously?"
"Yeah. He beat me once." Shikamaru admitted.
"Long time ago. Pure luck, I'd say. He wasn't even sure which piece he'd move
forward, then bam! He won! Asuma had the laugh of his life! He couldn't even
beat me at –"
The door to Naruto's room slammed open loudly
and everyone who had been shooed away turned and found the blonde, clad in a
robe and bandages, heading for the room next to his, limping and having a hard
time breathing.
*
Naruto was wide-awake, his head in a bandages,
along with a little part of his right cheek. His chest and shoulders were in
heavy bandages because he had received a stab wound, along with his thigh and
forearm. The wound had been critical, but because of the Kyuubi's chakra, he
was able to survive it.
The sudden beeping noise in the next room made
him jump up and race towards it. Raiko, the ANBU leader, was in the next room,
and that shrill beeping noise was the heart monitor showing a deadline.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!" He cursed and flung his door
open and limped his way to the room next door. "Get off him!" He yelled,
pushing the doctor away. He stared at Raiko, half his head in bandages and his
entire body covered in white. He was pale and his lips were a tinge of blue in
color. "You can't leave just yet." He whispered and grabbed the little fruit
knife on the table and sliced open the palm of his hand. Blood oozed out, and
he quickly placed it on Raiko's forehead and did a few seals with one hand.
The doctors and nurses stepped back. A bright
red light glowed from Naruto's palm and it began to envelope Raiko's body.
Sweat began to form on Naruto's temples and the bandages he wore were beginning
to soak through in red, whereas Raiko's body was returning to its normal color.
The glow disappeared and the heart monitor beeped steadily with life, the
zigzagging lines now high and clear. He took a couple steps back and
began to heave in heavy breaths. The doctors approached Raiko and checked his
vital signs.
"He's alive." The doctor announced and all eyes
fell on Naruto.
Naruto smiled. "That's good." He then coughed,
blood spilling out of his mouth and then he fainted, dropping on the ground, a
pool of blood soaking him and his gown.
*
When Naruto opened his eyes, the sight of
bouquets of flowers greeted him, along with several colorful get well cards,
little stuffed animals and boxes of chocolates and cookies. Every single
item came from his former genin-group-'friends'. He tried to move and
winced, a groan escaping his lips.
"Don't move a lot."
He turned his eyes and found Kakashi sitting
next to him, single eye filled with worry. "Iruka just left. He had a mission
to do. He was here the whole time you were sleeping."
"R-Raiko?"
"He's fine. Still sleeping though." Kakashi
said. "What you did was amazing."
Naruto absently placed a hand on the maple-leaf
mark on the left hand side of his chest. "He's alive then." He then smiled and
closed his eyes. "That's good." He then turned his head so that he was facing
Kakashi. "How long have you been here?"
"All day."
"Why?" Naruto asked, face etched with confusion.
"Because I was so worried about you."
For the first time, Naruto blushed beet red in
front of his former teacher.
TBC...
Oh! Well – all of us are suckers for romance. Bwah! Tune in next time! :P