I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.

Survivors

Ryuu's eyes slowly creaked open, the light from the window briefly making them burn and blinding him before they adjusted. He looked around slowly. He was in a sterile, almost painfully white room. To his left was a heart monitor and oxygen tank with a hose going to his nose, stopping at his nostrils. He looked to the other side and saw a single, once again all white, chair, though it was empty. For a moment, he wondered why his family wasn't there, until the memory of what had happened to him came flooding back. He lifted the sheets and looked at his torso, finding that he was already healed, a single scar running across his lower chest. It had probably just missed any vital points.

"Oh my god!" a feminine voice gasped off to the side.

His head snapped around toward it to see a nurse disappear out the door.

"Migaki, come quick!" the nurse was shouting as she ran down the hallway.

After a moment, the sound of feet pounding back down the hallway reached his ears and the nurse plus a man in a similar uniform burst into the room, freezing.

"Well I'll be," the man breathed before smiling. "You really are one hell of a fighter."

"Who are you?" Ryuu asked.

"I'm Migaki, I was put in charge of you while you were in your coma," the man said. "You're a hell of a fighter, son. You were brought in and stabilized, but you were left comatose from blood loss."

"What?" Ryuu asked, confused.

"You lost so much blood you couldn't wake up," Migaki explained, receiving a nod. "Anyway, after a couple days, your body seemed to just...give up. You died. We managed to get your heart to beat again, but-"

"Who survived?" Ryuu interrupted.

Migaki and the nurse exchanged knowing looks before sighing.

"Only you and Sasuke," Migaki said.

Ryuu's heart fell into his stomach but he nodded. "Please, continue. What happened next?"

"As I said, we got your heart pumping again, but your brain wasn't working," Migaki said. "You were, what we call, brain dead. Everything was working except your brain. We were going to turn off your life support systems but Sasuke put up a huge fuss, begging Lord Hokage to allow you to stay on life support. He claimed you'd wake up eventually. No one believed it, but Lord Hokage finally agreed. He ordered us to keep you hooked up for as long as we could afford to. But, you've been in asleep for a very long time. Lord Hokage finally ordered us to turn the machines off. But then, just as your nurse was walking in to turn them off, she came sprinting out of there like a bat out of hell, screaming for me to get in here. For a minute, I thought maybe someone had slit your throat. But when I got in there, there was brain activity. And you were keeping yourself alive. We unhooked the machines because you didn't need them, but you weren't expected to wake up for a long time yet. If at all. But then she came screaming again and look what I found this time."

"So...You were going to kill me?" Ryuu asked.

"Ryuu, you were already dead," Migaki said. "You've been dead for a year. Your heart was beating because of a machine, but you weren't alive."

Ryuu nodded slowly before looking around again. "Do I have any clothes here?"

"No, but I'm sure Sasuke will be more than happy to get you some," Migaki said. "I'll send word to have him brought here right away."

He hurried out of the room and the nurse took Ryuu's vitals. After about twenty minutes, the door burst open, Sasuke standing in the doorway. Ryuu smiled, lifting an arm. Within seconds, Sasuke had sprinted across the room, hugging him.

"I knew you'd wake up," Sasuke said. "I'll go and get you some of my clothes. They'll be loose on you, but they'll fit better than your old ones."

Ryuu nodded and Sasuke hugged him again before sprinting out of the room. Ryuu looked down at his body, for the first time, actually paying attention to what he looked like. He was skinny. Very skinny.

"Well well, you really are awake," a voice said, Ryuu looking up at the door again, seeing the hokage standing there.

"Lord Hokage!" Ryuu gasped.

"I'm glad you finally woke up," Hiruzen smiled. "You'll need rehab, but I think you can probably resume the academy from where you left off in another few weeks or so."

"From there?" Ryuu asked. "I won't be with Sasuke?"

"I'm afraid not," Hiruzen sighed.

"What if I could learn everything I missed during my rehab?" Ryuu asked. "What's rehab?"

"Basically, you'll be getting your body back to a healthy physical condition," Hiruzen said before thinking. "Well...if you could learn everything...I could allow you into your class again."

"Thank you so much Lord Hokage!" Ryuu beamed.

Hiruzen chuckled. "It won't be easy. I'll have someone be placed in charge of your rehab soon, and I'm sure some of your classmates will be more than happy to help teach you everything."

Ryuu nodded, smiling as Sasuke returned, carrying an outfit for Ryuu. "If I can learn everything I missed, I get to be in your class again when I get out. Can you go see if anyone else will help me learn?"

Sasuke nodded once and dropped the clothes on the bed, running out the door again. Ryuu pushed himself up, finding it difficult to stand, but possible. Hiruzen left to give him privacy and Ryuu dressed himself. Just as he finished, the nurse walked back in, seeing him standing.

"Lord Hokage signed your discharge paperwork," the nurse informed him. "You'll be staying with Sasuke while you go through rehabilitation...rehab. This is the person put in charge of it." She stepped out of the way and a ninja with a sleeveless, high-collared, purple shirt, purple pants, a grey short-sleeved shirt under the purple one, purple gloves reaching up his forearms, and large, round-rimmed glasses walked in. "This is Kabuto Yakushi. He's training to be a Medical Ninja, and he's very skilled. He volunteered to help you."

"Hello," Kabuto smiled kindly. "You must be Ryuu."

"Yes," Ryuu nodded.

"It'll be a pleasure to work with you," Kabuto smiled.

Ryuu nodded, carefully walking out of the room and reaching the lobby just as his classmates arrived. Among them were Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Choji, Shino, and Shikamaru. He smiled as he saw them just as his legs wobbled. Before he could even drop more than an inch, Sasuke and Kabuto were at his sides, holding him up with an arm over each of their shoulders.

"Careful idiot," Sasuke said. "You probably shouldn't be trying to walk on your own."

"Shut up Duck butt," Ryuu smiled. "You all came to help?"

"Of course," Hinata smiled. "You're our friend."

"I'll help him get back into shape!" Naruto volunteered, grinning.

"Well, no one's more energetic than Naruto," Sasuke sighed. "Sure. I'll help out too."

"I may be able to help with the physical aspect of his rehab," Kabuto said as he and Sasuke helped him walk out of the hospital and back to Sasuke's house. "My medical ninjutsu isn't as good as other Medical Ninja, but I might be able to help his muscle restore themselves."

"Okay," Sasuke said.

Finally, they reached his house, helping him inside and setting him on the bed. Shikamaru and Sakura began to teach him first, Kabuto trying to regenerate his muscles with Medical Ninjutsu. Ryuu kept up as much as he could, but a full year of information was a lot. And since Kabuto predicted there would only be a week of rehab, they had to do several months at a time. Finally, they took a break from the classes and Naruto and Sasuke helped Ryuu up, beginning to run him through various exercises. Kabuto had actually helped a lot, and Ryuu was able to do better than he thought. He was nowhere near where he should be, but he was better. Finally, they all called it a day and left. Sasuke and Ryuu took turns showering and Sasuke gave Ryuu some clean clothes to wear until they could buy him his own. Then, he pulled out his surprise to Ryuu.

"Hey Ryuu," Sasuke said, holding out Ryuu's necklace, trench knife, and tanto.

"You...you kept them?" Ryuu gaped.

"Of course," Sasuke said. "I know they were presents from your family, so of course I held onto them for you."

Ryuu hugged him, pulling the necklace on and taking the weapons, smiling as he stared at them.

"Anyway, you can use the spare bed to sleep on for now," Sasuke said. "Tomorrow, me and Kabuto are going to help you with the physical stuff while the others are in class and Sakura's going to give me her notes on what I missed."

Ryuu nodded, smiling. "I'm glad I'm not alone."

"So am I," Sasuke smiled.

Ryuu grit his teeth, struggling to remain standing. It wouldn't be a problem after two days, if he wasn't holding Sasuke on his shoulders.

"Just a little longer," Naruto said.

"Under normal circumstances, I would say this is pointless," Ryuu said. "This hurts."

"Bear with it," Sasuke said.

"Alright," Naruto said. "Now run with him."

Ryuu grunted in effort, taking several steps before dropping. Sasuke helped him up as Kabuto walked over.

"You look ready to call it a day," Kabuto said.

"Never," Ryuu said, carefully picking up the weighted vest Sasuke had given him to help his leg strength. He pulled it on and turned to Sasuke, taking a basic stance.

Sasuke did the same and Ryuu nodded. Sasuke darted forward, throwing a slow punch at him and Ryuu blocked it. Sasuke dropped, sweeping his legs out from under him. Ryuu grunted as he hit the ground, struggling back to his feet. After several minutes of equally easy defeats, Ryuu found himself unable to stand.

"Looks like that's it," Kabuto said.

"Not...yet!" Ryuu growled, slowly regaining his feet.

"Why?" Kabuto asked. "You obviously aren't going to win. Why try?"

"Because...I have...to be...stronger!" Ryuu growled.

"Why?" Kabuto asked.

Ryuu swept one of Sasuke's punches aside, using his momentum to pull him to the ground. "I need to find Itachi and ask him why he killed my family."

"I don't care why," Sasuke growled, standing. "I'm just going to kill him."

"No," Ryuu said. "You're not killing him. Not yet. First, he's going to explain everything."

Sasuke nodded and stepped forward, punching at Ryuu again, Ryuu moving to avoid it only for his legs to finally give out altogether.

"Okay. Now it's enough."

Kabuto walked over, kneeling and beginning to heal his legs. "You really don't want to kill him? He killed your entire clan. He killed Shisui."

"I know," Ryuu said. "But Itachi wasn't evil, or cruel. He wasn't a murderer. He must have had a reason."

Kabuto shook his head slowly, smiling as he worked. "You really are one of a kind."

After a few minutes, he stopped, sitting back and wiping some sweat from his forehead.

"Alright," Kabuto said. "That's all I can do for now."

Ryuu nodded, taking the vest off and standing. Then, he and Sasuke headed inside, meeting Shikamaru there to continue the knowledge portion of the rehab.

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