Story: Melancholia, Chapter 22, Part 1/2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: I know I said I would reply to reviews in this one, but I might be going away from home for a while so I don't have the chance. I just wanted to upload what I do have of this.

...

First thing Sakura knew when she woke up the next morning was that bruises were covering her body. She clutched at her head as she sat up. "Ugh my head is pounding. How did I even fall asleep in the first place after all that…?"

Upon thinking back over the previous night and looking at herself over in the mirror, Sakura felt irritation well up in her chest at both her mother and father, but also a sense of fear. She had never seen Mibuki get that angry before. Even still, she refused to apologize for calling Naruto her friend and defending him. That was something she would never take back.

She got up, sighing, once again, looking at her reflection. "I should probably do something to cover up these wounds so it's not as noticeable… I'd rather not worry everybody..."

Ignoring the wave of nausea that suddenly passed over her due to how little she had eaten, Sakura reached into her dresser and pulled out a concealer. She winced at the pain as she began to apply it, quickly finding herself frustrated when it only covered up so much. Well at least most of it didn't look nearly as bad, but some of the swelling was too obvious to truly hide and she wasn't an expert on this sort of thing, so she tried her best to tell herself that it was good enough to pass off as a simple accident, and could only hope nobody would bother questioning it.

After she started getting around to leave, she briefly wondered if she should do the same thing she did last time and leave from the window, but in the end decided to go ahead and face her parents, knowing the backlash would probably end up being twice as bad next time.

However when she got to the kitchen, she was relieved to find that Mibuki was gone. Then again, her dad was there which wasn't much better.

"I'm going off on another mission... I plan to be back some time this evening…" She said, lying about her reason for leaving. If Kizashi heard that she was going off to see Naruto at the hospital, then there was a chance he'd try to stop her from going.

Maybe if she was lucky he wouldn't try to talk much.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

"Sakura, about last night…" He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to instinctively grow tense due to the fear that he might try to hurt her like Mibuki had. Despite that, she stood her ground.

"What about it...?" She murmured.

"...Please, try not to be so mad at your mother. She did get a little carried away, but I promise she just wants what's best for you. She's just worried about you." He said, after a moment of hesitance. Sakura felt bile rising in her throat, tears welling up in her eyes.

She turned back and glared at him, causing him to pull back a bit.

"You really call that worried? Do you even know how much pain I'm in right now because of her? Why do you always defend the way she treats me, Tou-san?! If you truly cared about me, you would actually stand up to her, but instead you blindly excuse everything she does! Worse, you even side with her!" She snapped at him.

"Sakura-" he started to say, but Sakura quickly cut him off.

"No, just stop it, already! I'm done, okay?" She turned on her heel towards the door, wiping her eyes. "...I'll be back later..."

In truth, she still loved her mother, she really did, just as she loved her father, so she wanted to trust and forgive them both, no matter how much either one of them had hurt her. After all, they were her parents, and that was exactly why it frustrated her so much.

It was exactly why she so adamantly pushed away Ino's concerns like she had. A part of her wanted to defend Mibuki just as Kizashi had, despite knowing that it was wrong.

In any case, it was her problem and she could take it. There was no reason to get anybody else involved.

As she walked off, she began to feel a bit light headed, her body telling her she needed to eat, but she scolded herself, shooting down any desires to stuff her face. She had to stay in shape.

...

When Sakura reached the hospital, which was a little after 11, Sasuke was already in the waiting room. She sat down beside him, giving a small smile.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah." Sasuke barely acknowledged it. Not that she really expected any different. He never was one for small talk.

It was then that Sasuke looked over at her, one of her bruises catching his attention.

"What happened to your face?" He asked with a surprising amount of concern. Sakura grew tense at the mention, but forced a grin.

"Huh? Oh, this? It's nothing, I kind of had an accident earlier and fell is all, but I'm totally fine now. It doesn't even hurt anymore." Sakura lied, waving off his concerns.

He rose an eyebrow at her strange behavior. She was clearly hiding something, but in the end he decided not to press it.

"...You seem to get hurt a lot… You should try to be more careful." He deadpanned, turning away.

"I know…" Sakura feigned sulking, slumping over in her chair. "So are they still not letting visitors back yet?"

"No. They said we might end up having to wait another hour." Sasuke told her.

"Oh, I see. Well, at least it's better than having to wait another day again, right…? We just have to be patient..." Sakura offered the best re-assurance that she could. Despite her statement, inside she was nothing but a ball of nerves.

Her stomach started cramping up, yet again screaming for her to eat something, and although she put a hand to her stomach, she internally cursed herself for not being stronger.

All until a closed white tray was shoved in front of her.

"Here." Sasuke's voice caught her attention.

"Huh? What's this?" Sakura looked to see what Sasuke was holding out.

"Dumplings. They're for you." He said, turning his face away a bit. "I thought you might want some, so I picked them up since I was already in town."

"N-No, Sasuke-kun, you really didn't have to, I..." Sakura said nervously, feeling sick at the thought of eating such fattening food.

"It's fine, just take them." Sasuke said simply.

"Alright…" She hesitantly did as offered. However, she still couldn't bring herself to touch the food itself. "Thanks, but I'll have to eat them later."

Sasuke once again wanted to ask why she was pushing herself so far because she was obviously hungry and pale too. But in the end, he decided against it. It wasn't like he could force her to eat.

Maybe he should tell Kakashi, if he didn't already know.

"Um... excuse me, you're Uzumaki Naruto's teammates, right?" A woman's voice snapped them out of their thoughts.

"Yes, that's right. So is Naruto alright? Can we go back and see him yet?" Sakura got up, with hope in her eyes.

"Well, yes.. But right we can only allow one visitor at a time, if that's okay…" The woman said hesitantly.

"O-oh… Of course..." Sakura started to look back at Sasuke to see if he wanted to go back first, because it had been the longest for him since he saw Naruto. "Sasuke-ku-"

However, Sasuke cut her off. "You go first. I'll wait out here."

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying in the waiting room for a little while."

"No, it's fine. I can tell you want to see him." Sasuke smirked a bit, looking up at her.

It took Sakura a brief moment to realize what he was implying, feeling her face heat up beyond her control. "Sasuke-kun, that isn't what this is about…! He-"

"I know. Just go talk to him already. Knowing him, Naruto's probably dying from impatience because he misses you." Sasuke said. Sakura couldn't even tell if he was joking this time. Quite frankly, it was probably true because it was Naruto they were talking about and patience had never been his strong suit.

"Naruto said he's really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow."

Kakashi's voice suddenly echoed in her head, bringing a warmth to her chest. It was then that she caved. "Well, if you insist, I guess it doesn't really matter which one of us sees him first. I'll be back in a little while, okay?"

Sasuke regarded her with a low grunt.

...

"Uzumaki-san, you have a visitor."

Naruto looked up, immediately grinning when he saw Sakura walk in next to a nurse.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, excitedly as the Sakura thanked the woman. Iruka noticed the swelling on Sakura's face but didn't say anything.

"You sure look more life-like than you did yesterday." Sakura noted with a smirk.

"Yeah, well, I had some time to cool my head a bit, so I'm alright now. Sorry for worrying you…" Naruto said sheepishly.

"It's alright. More importantly, I just want you to focus on getting better, okay?" Sakura smiled softly after taking a moment to console him. She sat down in another chair which happened to be on the other side of his stretcher. "So how are you doing, I mean really…? Have you… had anymore urges…?"

"...Yeah, a few here and there I guess, but Iruka-sensei helped me through them, so it's nothing I wasn't able to handle, ya know?" Naruto said, grinning lightly.

"Good, I'm glad." Sakura said. Her face heated up when her teammate moved closer to examine her.

"Woah, what happened to your face? Did somebody hurt you? " Naruto inquired with concern, noticing the same thing Iruka had. "Alright, that does it! Just tell me who it was and I'll kick their ass!"

"Hey, don't worry about it. It was just an accident is all. I kinda fell again, stupid, right?" Sakura nervously pushed him back, cringing as she rubbed her cheek. She waving a hand dismissively, before receiving a worried glance from not only Naruto, but also Iruka, who seemed suspicious who seemed suspicious of her story. "Anyway, I barely feel a thing now, really! Anyway, have you had lunch yet? If not, they should be bringing your food in soon, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Come to think of it you're right. I am pretty hungry…" Naruto mused at the mention. Sakura was grateful that Naruto was pretty easy to fool, but could tell that Iruka hadn't bought it for an instance.

Perhaps it was because he was a teacher and had seen more than his fair share of kids who were victims of abuse, but he wasn't an idiot and that much was obvious. Much to her thanks, however, he didn't push the matter.

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, Sakura listened with a small smile as Naruto prattled on about each and every little thing that came to his mind, whether it be how much he was looking forward to eating Ichiraku ramen once he got out, or his very… wordy opinions on the doctors and nurses at the hospital.

Occasionally, she'd give light remarks like, "Naruto, you shouldn't say stuff like that" but mostly she was just quiet.

Finally, Naruto's tray was brought in, consisting of rice, vegetable soup, steak and a cup of fruit in syrup, before Iruka was also handed a closed white styrofoam plate. Since he had been left in charge of looking after Naruto constantly, only stepping out and leaving other staff in charge of him briefly for bathroom breaks, it only made sense he would have to get food at the hospital as well and Tsunade had ensured that his meals would be covered. It wasn't a traditional allowance at hospitals, but considering the circumstances, Tsunade's word was to be followed.

Sakura inwardly shuttered, trying to imagine the amount of fat and calories all of it contained. That's when she remembered the dumplings Sasuke had got her. She hated the idea of giving his gift to somebody else, but it would be even worse to waste them, right? Maybe Naruto would eat them.

"Hey, Naruto, do you want these?" Sakura held up the box to him.

"What are they?" Naruto asked, looking inside of the bag, surprised when he saw what it was. "Dumplings? But, Sakura-chan, these are your favorite!"

"I know, but I'm on a diet, so I really shouldn't..." Sakura dismissed, a guilty look on her face.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked hesitantly. The idea of taking her favorite desert just felt wrong for some reason.

"Yeah, go ahead, I'd rather not eat them." Sakura insisted.

"Well, if you say so… Here, take my vegetable soup instead, then!" Naruto offered. "It's lunch, so you need to eat something, right?"

It was true that part of him was concerned about Sakura not eating, but in truth he really didn't want to eat it.

"No way, you keep that, Naruto…! I just ate something a little while ago..." Sakura said, lying. "Besides, you need more vegetables in your system as it is! All you do is gorge on ramen, so maybe it's a good thing you have a chance to eat something else for a change."

"But I hate vegetables." Naruto grumbled.

"Naruto, vegetables are good for you. She's right. You really should add other things to your diet." Iruka quipped in. In some ways he understood Naruto's feelings on the matter. As a kid he had always hated vegetables, but over time, he'd grown to appreciate them, at least more than Naruto did currently.

"Not you too, Iruka-sensei…" Naruto pouted, looking more dejected than ever. Sakura and Iruka both couldn't help but laugh a bit. After some time of glaring at the vegetable soup, particularly the little green evil demons known as peas floating in the stock, he breathed in, turning his intense gaze to and pointing at Iruka. "Alright, fine, challenge accepted! But you're gonna owe a hell of a lot of ramen for this!"

"Wait, where did that come from?" Iruka smiled nervously, but was shocked when Naruto actually started eating them.

When Naruto finished off the soup bowl, he struggled to say: "I actually… did it…"

Quickly, however, he moved to start on the steak right after.

No surprise there.

A/N: It could be a while before I upload the next part. I'm so sorry ya'll.