Chapter 9

"What do you think will happen now?" asked Sai.

Shikamaru turned to him. They were still in the alley where Naruto got assualted and where Naruto's dog conveniently saved him. Sakura, even though she was a medical examiner, demanded Lee's atrocious green shirt and used that as a bandage until the ambulance came. The ambulance had just left a minute ago with Naruto to take him to the hospital. The dog didn't even attempt to get in the ambulance, but had stayed close and followed the parametics to the vehicle. Now he sat at the entrance of the alley and seemed to be watching them.

It was kind of eerie.

They had just finished giving their statements to the officers and went to their cars to follow Naruto to the hospital. Kiba was talking to Shino and Choji on who was riding with whom to the hospital. Sakura had already gone since she had medical expertise, and it made the group feel better that she was with him.

"What do you mean," he asked.

"To Kurogane," said Sai. "He drew blood. Doesn't that mean they have to put him down?"

"Most situations, yes," said Shikamaru. "But this one will be a tough call. He's a trained police dog, and he was defending his partner. They might let him go."

"I hope so too."

"Hey, just what do you think you're doing?"

Both turned to see Hinata standing between Kurogane and a dog handler. By the catchpole in his hand, it was obviously why he was there. It was uncommon to see Hinata confront someone since she disliked violence, but when she does, it was always for the right reason.

"I was ordered the catch a blood thirsty dog," said the dog catcher. "Now move, lady."

"Bloody thirsty?" said Hinata angrily."This dog is a s blood thirsty as a radish!"

Behind her, the dog coughed and for a moment, Kiba was sure that he was laughing.

"Move it, or I'll make you," saud the dog catcher.

That immediately caught Kiba's attention he quickly joined his wife's side.

"What was that?" he said glaring at the man.

"I got a call from the police that a savage dog attacked a man. I'm here to take it away."

"This dog is not savage, and he belongs to a very good friend of ours," said Shkamaru walking up. "Now leave, before I arrest you."

"For what?"

"Assault. Leave."

the dog catcher glared at him before leaving. The group watched him leave with humorous smiles.

"You're a technical analyst," said Choji. "Can you arrest someone?"

"He didn't know that," said Shikamaru with a smirk. He turned to look at the dog who was watching them with interest.

Eerie.

"What are we going to do with him?" asked TenTen looking at the dog.

"Take him back to Naruto's," said Kiba. "Find out how he got out and check on Naruto at the hospital."

"Amazing, there's actually a thought in there," said Shikamaru. The dog coughed again.

"I'll take him," said Kiba. "Come, Kurogane."

The dog followed Kiba and Hinata to their car and got into the back. Hinata and Kiba got in the front and drove away.

"It is weird though," said Sai. "According to Naruto, the dog hardly let Naruto touch him. Only during baths. Now, the dog somehow got out of the house and followed Naruto here and defended Naruto? Why?"

"You'll have to ask Kiba," said Shikamaru. "I'm not much of a dog expert. Let's go."

The walked to their cars and drove to the hospital. As they knew, the hospital had been busy with people hurt. They walked up the the reception and spoke tot he nurse on call.

"Can we get some information on a patient that was brought in twenty minutes ago?" asked Neji. "Naruto Uzumaki?"

The nurse typed in the computer.

"He's still in surgery," she said before looking back up at them. "Relation?"

"We're his best friends and co-workers," said Choji.

"If you wait in the waiting room, the doctor will be with you as soon as she's able," said the nurse and went back to her computer.

They had no other choice but to sit down and wait. Sai excused himself for a few minutes to make a phone call, but other than that, they sat in mostly silence. The were too worried about thie r friend to speak.

XXXXX

Naruto groaned as he came to conciousness. His whole body ached, like a truck had rammed into him and broke every bone in his body, especially his chest. It was a struggle to get his eyes open and when he did, he saw Sakura standing by the edge of his bed reading his chart from the clipboard.

"Sakura-chan," he said, but his voice sounded sluggish. It was weird coming from him. She still turned to him and smiled when she saw him away.

"Naruto, thank God you're awake!" she said rushing to his side, and then punched him in the arm. Naruto cried out in pain as his whole arm flared up like fire had coursed through his arm.

"Argh! Sakura-chan! That hurt!" he said trying to grab his arm, but his movements were still sluggish and he managed to put his hand on his arm.

"That's what you get for scarying the shit out of us!" she yelled.

"What happened," he asked when he could get his mind working a bit.

"That's what we'd like to know," said Sakura. "Someone saw your fight and yelled to call the police. When we ran out, Kurogane had his fangs in that man's arm and you were bleeding on the ground."

"Am I in the hospital?"

"Yeah," said Sakura. "The doctor patched you up pretty good. You had to have thirty stitches for that cut on your chest and you're bruised up pretty bad. The doctor wants you to stay here for a couple days for observation."

"Kurogane? What about him?"

"Kiba and Hinata took him back to your house. They bandaged his leg and gave him a pain killer. They offered to take care of him and Kyuubi until you've recovered."

Well, they should know that Kurogane doesn't eat dog food. Never have. His favorite is roast chicken with fried tomatoes."

"A dog that doesn't eat dog food?" asked Sakura, shocked.

Naruto shrugged.

"Don't ask me. I've tried everything, but he wouldn't eat it."

"I don't doubt it. That dog is something. Wouldn't even leave your side when the paramedics arrived."

Sakura picked up a syringe and vial and inserted the needle through the rubber top.

"Really?" said Naruto in surprise.

"Yeah. That dog is weird. It's like he knows what we're saying or doing."

Naruto had to agree. Sometimes, it was like Kurogane knew what Naruto was saying or would intepret what Naruto wanted him to do. Naruto had gotten so used to it, he didn't think about it anymore.

Sakura inserted the needle into Naruto's IV.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Sedative," she said. "You're too wired to rest, and that's what you need. Without this, within ten minutes' you'll be running the place."

"Just my luck, I get the mean nurse."

Sakura laughed. A knock on the door pulled them away from thier conversation and Sakura opened it to show the rest of the gang waiting to be let in.

"Really, guy, you know the rules," said Sakura. Nine identical looks turned toward her and she sighed. "Come in. But only for a little while. I just gave him his sedative."

The group walked in and went to Naruto's bedside.

"Naruto-kun, how are you feeling," asked Hinata softly.

"Fine, but Nurse Stalin won't let me leave," said Naruto nodding his head to Sakura.

"Be lucky you have me," said Sakura, "because I'm one of a two people in this hospital that'll put up with you."

"Kiba, I need you to take care of my dogs," said Naruto, already feeling the effects of the sedative.

"Of course, man," said Kiba. "Kyuubi and the mutt will be there when you get home."

Naruto was having trouble keeping his eyes open, but he need to tell Kiba about Kurogane's feeding habits.

"Kuro...Kurogane..."

"I'll tell him, Naruto," said Sakura.

Naruto smiled appreciatively before going to sleep. Kiba chuckled.

"That guy," he said. "He'd lose his head if it wasn't attatched."

The others laughed softly. Although matured, Naruto was always the most reckless of the group. He always ran into a raid before anyone else. It was also what made Naruto such a pure person.

He was also the reason they were all friends. Somehow he had found ten people with diverse backgrounds and majors and made them all friends. Some of them had never even met until they met Naruto. He had a way of getting people together and getting them to get along.

"All right, let's go, guys," said Sakura softly. "Quietly now."

The group walked out of the room and Sakura silently closed the door to allow the room's occupant to sleep.

XXXXXX

Sasuke watched the door, his tail thumping the floor anxiously. He admitted he was. After the mutt and his wife brought Sasuke back to Naruto's house, Hinata bandaged his leg and left him and Kyuubi enough food to last a while, not that Sasuke would eat it. They left not long afterwards to the hospital to check on Naruto, and that had been hours ago. Since then, Kyuubi had not left his spot on Sasuke's bed.

Since his return, Sasuke couldn't stop thinking about Naruto's assualt. Why did he track Naruto?

Why did he save him? He didn't even think. He just ran at the man and attacked. He hadn't been close to Naruto no matter how much time they had spent together in the recent months.

Sasuke didn't know when or how, but he knew he was changing. The cut on his leg was proof of that. A year ago, whenever he had gotten hurt he would heal in a matter of hours or days. After the dobe hit him, it had taken him months to heal. He would have left as soon as he had healed, but he stuck around longer, and when he tried to leave that night, he unconciously tracked down Naruto and helped him during an assualt.

Not for the first time, he thought about why he was turned into a dog. From his point of view, dogs were annoying creatures that constantly begged for attention. Any loyalty they displayed was because of training. They responded to their owner's command just for a bit of attention and treat. He also doubt they knew anything about compassion or honesty or unselfishness.

He briefly thought about leaving again, but Hinata's words repeated in his mind. After she had bandaged him, she had hugged him. Normally, Sasuke wouldn't have allowed the contact, years of being homeless and later as a fighting dog made him suspicious of any physical contact, but he held still as the blue eyed raven hugged him.

"Thank you for saving him," she said before letting go and walked out with her husband.

The scene had shocked him. He couldn't remember the last time anyone thanked him past childhood. Probably because he never gave them a reason too. Not even his parents or Itachi thanked him for anything.

He was getting too close. He could feel it. Soft. It was a weakness he exploited from his opponents on the soccer field. It was what made him a good player, but now it was making him question his way of life. What was he supposed to do now?

Who was he now?

Sasuke walked to his bed and curled up around Kyuubi. The red labrador shifted to make room and both went to sleep and waited for the dobe's return.

TBC