Intermezzo: Chapter Three

In all honesty, despite her assurances Naruto hadn't really thought that Sakura would be able to convince her parents to let him stay, thought he had greatly appreciated the thought. Therefore he had an elaborate plan ready for when Sakura came back, having changed her mind, that would allow him to escape from the hospital that night and hide out at his apartment. Of course, the sticking point to his plan was that that would be the first place anyone would look for him, and he didn't have any other place to stay.

He was still contemplating the problem as he picked at his lunch (blech! hospital food! where was ramen when you really needed it?) when, to his great surprise, Sakura came waltzing into his room.

"Well, why aren't you packed yet? Get moving!" she said.

He couldn't help but gape at her. "You mean, your parents said yes?"

"Of course they did! I promised, didn't I? And I don't break my promises any more than you do," she said.

His grin must have stretched from ear to ear, because Sakura was looking at him like he was crazy. "Yay!" he cheered, and tried to dive out of bed to gather up his stuff. Except his body still wasn't responding properly and all he managed to do was land in an undignified heap on the floor.

"Owowow," he muttered. Sakura was laughing at him behind her hand, he could tell, and so he was grateful when she turned and headed for the door, saying over her shoulder, "I'll go talk to Shizune-san and ask her for the paperwork so we can get you out of here. I'm sure you can pack up by yourself, right?"

He blushed and nodded as she left, the door swinging shut behind her.

It was harder to get up off the floor than he had expected; he'd never healed this slowly before in his life, and he wasn't enjoying the experience at all. If this was what it was like for normal people than he could almost be grateful to the Kyuubi, despite all the other problems it had caused by its presence.

Once off the floor, he heading for the closet in the corner where his few possessions had been stored. Carefully shucking off his hospital-issued kimono, he grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt Iruka-sensei had brought him from his apartment and pulled them on. Into a plastic shopping bag went his orange suit-- he'd be wearing it instead, except for the blood stains and the giant hole through the right shoulder that he tried quite hard not to think about. He debated putting Sasuke's forehead protector (another thing he wasn't ready to think about yet) in the plastic bag as well, but somehow couldn't quite bring himself to do so. Instead he stuck it in his left pocket, and his own forehead protector went in his right. Somehow the symmetry comforted him. That, plus a toothbrush the hospital had provided, was the sum total of the belongings he had here, and it took only seconds to pack. He sat back down on his bed to wait.

It was several minutes before Sakura returned, long enough that Naruto started imagining all the worst case scenarios. What if Shizune refused to let him out, even though he had a place to go now?

He shuddered. It didn't even bear thinking about-- he was going to get out, whether Shizune approved or not. He couldn't stand hospitals. They were too cold, too sterile, and he couldn't help but imagine all the people who must have died there over the years. He'd kept himself up last night wondering what the place had been like after the Kyuubi had attacked-- the quiet shattered by screams, blood staining the pristine floors as the nurses and doctors worked franticly to save lives. He wondered if this was where Iruka-sensei's parents had died.

He wondered if this was where his own parents had died.

He was snapped out of his reverie by Sakura throwing open the door, grinning and waving a sheaf of papers at him in one hand. In his other she held a paper bag which he assumed held his medicine.

Instantly his mood improved. He was really getting out! It wasn't someone's awful idea of a joke, it was real!

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sakura said, making shooing motions with her hand.

"Coming!" he grinned, fox-wide, and, jumping off the bed, followed her out through the hospital hallways and into the sunshine.

"""""""""""""""

First off, I apologize for how short these past three chapters have been; they were originally one long chapter, but ff. net didn't want to recognize the format I use for scene changes and I got tired of screwing around with alternate styles, so I just broke it up. The next chapter ought to be longer. I think.

A couple questions I guess need answering:

Is this going to be AU?

Well, yes and no. It's set during the three month break between chapters 237 and 238, and really, anything could have happened in that much time. No, this probably isn't what Kishimoto had in mind, but I'm going to try as hard as I can to make it fit with the information he has revealed about it; thus, Sakura will begin her training with Tsunade during the course of this fic, and at the end Naruto will go off to train with Jiraiya.

Is this NaruSaku?

Uh, I thought I already made that clear in the authors notes in the first chapter—more than likely, no, it won't be NaruSaku. In fact, I'm pretty sure there won't be any romance in this fic at all. I mean, they're thirteen years old. I'd want them more mature before I did anything. Sorry if this disappoints you.