Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 24: Wasted Words

Letting him go was not a well received decision by the others. Yuki had to reason with them for a long time before they could somewhat understand why she did what she did. She was praying that Sasuke would be mature and wise enough to follow her words. Part of her feared that he wouldn't. At the same time, she knew that, regardless of whether she allowed him to seek out Itachi or not, that day would eventually come. Knowing that he would most likely come across Itachi when one of the legendary Sannins would be present, it ensured Sasuke's safety.

The next day, Yuki sat by the window in Lee's room quietly, looking out into the hospital's yard. Lee wasn't in his bed. He was in the yard, trying to stand up on his two feet. Gai was by his side, encouraging him and giving him all the hope that he needed to keep on trying. They were loud enough that, with the windows closed, Yuki could hear most of their conversation. It was sunny outside. The rays of sun caressed Yuki's cheeks through the glass. They also put her to sleep. She slowly felt her lids becoming heavier and heavier. Her body felt calm and relaxed. It slowly fell asleep. Her head tilted to the side. Slowly, she felt herself falling. Her head then hit a surface. It wasn't the ground.

"You must really be tired to not have felt me coming into the room."

"Neji..."

Her head was resting against his shoulder. She quickly straightened her neck. She stood up abruptly and stretched her arms and back awkwardly.

"Visiting Lee?" she then asked.

"And Hinata."

"How is she?"

"She just got discharged."

"That's good to hear."

"How are your injuries?"

"They were just minor injuries."

"Is that why they are still all wrapped up?" he asked as he grabbed onto her wrist.

Yuki quickly pulled her hand away. She pouted. Her arms were, indeed, still feeling the pain from the blades that entered her flesh. For a reason or another, they didn't quite heal properly. She blamed it on the fact that she did not tend to her wounds immediately or on the fact that weapon in question sucked out her chakra at those locations.

"Wounds take time to heal, you know..." she said.

Neji chuckled. Yuki always acted so mature for a age. Sometimes, he forgot that she was younger than him and was still, after all, just a child. He sat down on Lee's hospital bed and signaled her to come take a seat next to him. At first, Yuki was a little reluctant. Something about the atmosphere was a little awkward. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong. However, she had no reason to refuse and, so, she sat down next to him. Both facing the window, they sat there quietly and witnessed the beautiful sunset that was taking place in front of their eyes.

Although such a majestic and peaceful scene was present in front of Yuki, she, all of the sudden, felt uneasy. Her heart started pounding through her chest and her breathing became irregular. As she brought her hand to her chest to massage her heart, Neji saw the agony in her eyes. His worry for her grew. He went out to seek a medic to help. As he swung the door open, a bed was passing by in the corridor.

"Yuki. Can you stand? You might want to be here." Neji said as calmly as possible to not add on to Yuki's sudden increase of heart rate.

Yuki rushed outside of the room. Sasuke was being rolled away on a bed. As she felt her legs going numb, she grabbed on the Neji's arm and leaned on him.

"I thought he understood..." she murmured.

"Don't worry too much. He's alive. His chakra flow is intact." said Neji.

"He is in the same state as Kakashi." said a voice from across the hall. It was Gai. "I talked to the medics and confirmed it. I guess he did meet Itachi. Apart from a few scratches here and there, he is physically fine. He will eventually wake up."

"I shouldn't have let him go after his brother." said Yuki as she still was blaming her inadequate response to the situation.

"You tried. Nobody knew what to do." Gai said, trying to comfort her.

Yuki shook her head and she finally regained control of her body. She thanked Neji for allowing her to use him as support. She slowly took a deep breathe and regained control of its rhythm. She followed the medics to the room next door where Sasuke would be resting. Neji just watched her disappear into the room. His arm still stiff from allowing her to grab onto him. He lingered in the moment as she had now moved on to care for another, at least in his eyes. He looked at Gai who had noticed that something was different about the Neji standing next to him.

"I won't say much, nor assume that I know what's going on here, but it's not what you are thinking, Neji."

"Sensei... what are you insinuating?"

"Do you want to me to say it out loud?"

"What..."

"You like her, don't you? More than just a friend, that is."

"I..."

"Neji. I might be a little aloof at times, if not most of the time. However, I know my students well. I know you wouldn't look at someone with that expression if you didn't care."

"Sensei..."

Gai got closer to Neji's ear and whispered:

"Trust me, she doesn't like Sasuke in that way. Don't be jealous."

"I'm not!" Neji said loudly before stopping himself in shock.

"Let's just say I said too much then." Gai said with a smirk on his face as he waved goodbye and headed over to Kakashi's room to update him.

Inside, Yuki was too concerned with Sasuke's situation to hear anything that was being said in the corridor. As the medics gave her a rundown of his current state, Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and glared at Yuki. The glare was, however, weak. His eyes were glassy and had even less life than his usual self. The medics tried to get responses from him, but he couldn't really speak. He was stuck between a state of sleepiness and awakening. Yuki took a quick look at his medical charts. She was then surprised by the sudden entrance of Sakura who had tears in eyes. Sakura saw nothing in her way and just collapsed onto Sasuke's bed.

"He is just asleep. He will be fine."

"How is he fine? I can clearly see that he isn't!" Sakura said angrily. "Why are you here anyways? I heard you were supposed to stop him, but instead, you let him face a fatal danger. You allowed him to confront someone who wants his life!"

"You need to calm down..." began Yuki.

"Calm down?! How can I?!"

"Nobody could've..."

"Everybody knew it was a bad idea except for you! Oh, but wait... it's not like you care! You are not our friend. We don't even know you! So stop acting like you are!"

Yuki suddenly felt her blood boiling at those comments. Didn't care?! If someone cared, it would be Yuki. She, despite her young age, did everything in her ability to allow Sasuke to have a comfortable life. That decision, even though at the moment she did blame herself, was inevitable at the moment. She cared to believe that Sasuke would come to his senses, understand the danger that he would put himself in. Didn't care, she said.

"Right... I'm not your friend. I must have wasted my time and words on Sasuke then. You stay here with him them. Make sure her doesn't run away. CARE for him." said Yuki as she stormed out the room.

Didn't care. Those words kept resonating in her head. Perhaps, it wasn't that she didn't care. It was rather that she cared too much. She cared to the point where she said things that shouldn't have been said. She sighed deeply. Maybe it was time for her to stop. Maybe it was time for her to take her distances and to stop acting like a friend to someone who never wanted a friend in the first place. Will not care.

End of Chapter 24

Thank you for reading this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed.

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xox

Krystal