A/N: You guys… Have two and a half more reviews left before I cut this off! For eternity! Why two and a half, you ask? Well, one of the reviews told me to "continue soon" but not to "update soon" so there's a half. This is what happens when people don't read the Author's Note, y'know. Two and a half more! Remember this. If by chance, some people still tell me to "update soon" two and a half times more, and I halt this, only the following people will get to read the last chapter: Lunar Chasmodai, mangafilipina, and Chikin-ass-hair Uchiha because they were the only ones who didn't annoy the heck out of me (well, mangafilipina did, but she'll probably pester me to death if I don't let her read the ending) and they actually gave me nice reviews, darn it! XD Yeah, yeah. Cross your fingers and hope that no one urges me to "Update Soon!" anymore…
In short: Two and a half more review before I kill this! And no, PMing me like crazy will not make me send you the last chapter of this unless your name was mentioned above. And no if I cut this off, I won't ever put this up on the net. I'll email the three people the chapter, but I won't let the general public read the last chapter!
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"Sakura-chan! Sai! Sasuke! Come on guys! Hurry up!" Naruto was standing on top of a hill, looking down at them. He was yelling at them to walk faster than the crawl they were currently at.
Sakura sighed. "He still has that energy…"
"Is it worst? Now that he's a seven year old?" Sai asked. "I mean, when he was sixteen, at least he knew when to be serious."
All three of them laughed together as they climbed up the hill slowly. They were in no rush anyway. They smiled at Naruto when he waved at them enthusiastically. His fever was completely gone now. Kyuubi was definitely useful in situations like that.
Sasuke trailed after the other two with a basket behind his back. Sakura had packed another one for them. He breathed in deeply. Spring was nice this year. The sun wasn't strong enough to fry his skin and make it peel. That, for one, was nice.
"Haha, slowpokes!" Naruto teased as he jumped around them in circles, grinning widely. "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! What did you make this time?" he asked, starting to pester Sasuke, since he had the basket in possession.
"Calm down, dobe, or I'll starve you," Sasuke said in mock annoyance.
Naruto poked him a few times before prancing off to mess with Sai, who had just sat down. Sakura walked over to Sasuke and began to set out everything in the shade. It was Sai's job to keep the hyper blonde out of their hair while they cleared the area.
"Did you draw anything new, Sai?" Naruto inquired the boy as he leaned back on a tree. Sai shook his head before pointing at the sky in an attempt to make Naruto calm down. The blonde stared at the passing clouds for a few minutes before going insane again.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun, did you hear about the new construction? It's been going on for a couple of months now, but I haven't heard of it until recently because of our missions and stuff…" Sakura informed as she smoothed out the edges of the blanket.
Sasuke shook his head. "New information as well. I don't go around looking for news that often," he said dully. He began to take out the contents of the basket. A vein twitched on Sasuke's forehead as Naruto began to yell loudly for no apparent reason.
"Huh? Construction? Can we go see it?" the blonde had obviously ditched Sai and had scrambled over at the mention of something new. His eyes shone with curiosity.
"It might be dangerous, Naruto," Sai called over from his resting spot, rather relieved that Naruto left him alone for the moment.
"Aw, but maybe it'll be cool!" Naruto whined, wringing his hands together.
"What do you think, Sasuke?" the pink haired kunoichi looked at him.
"Hn," was his only reply.
"Eh, who cares about what Sasuke-teme thinks? Yay, we're going!" Naruto concluded by himself.
Sakura and Sai could merely laugh at the boy. Sai picked himself up and strolled over to them where he sat down. Everyone received a handmade sandwich and some juice to go with it.
Naruto plopped down by Sasuke. Awfully near to Sasuke. Sai and Sakura exchanged glances but politely said nothing about it. They chewed on their sandwiches quietly.
"Sasuke-teme! Look! Look how pretty that butterfly is! Oh, and those flowers! I really like flowers when they're just blooming like that," the blonde cheerfully gushed to his friend. "And the trees are finally getting green again!" he pointed at the trees and spoke through a mouthful of bread. "It's so lovely… I like spring, Sasuke…"
"Hn…" Sasuke watched him out of the corner of his eye, carefully chewing and swallowing his sandwich.
---
"Hey, hey! What do you think they're going to make?" Naruto asked the three of them as they strolled around the work area. No one really seemed to mind them. All of the workers were too busy with their own stuff anyway.
"Hm… I'm not sure, but I hope it's a new clothing store!" Sakura giggled. Her green eyes looked around at all the workers who were cutting up plywood and hammering them down.
"Maybe it'll be a new ramen shop… But I'll always stay loyal to Ichiraku's!" the blonde exclaimed.
"… It looks like they're building a plaza or something," Sasuke pointed out. The work area was rather large, after all.
Naruto began to complain about Sasuke's "weird logic" and jumped around, twirling a few times, and stomped the ground.
"Still hyper… You wonder when it'll ever run out, huh, Sasuke?" Sai said quietly as the two of them slowly followed them. He had a faint smile on as they carefully maneuvered around the area, careful not to knock anything over or cause any disruption.
The Uchiha nodded solemnly. Why am I the one still holding onto the basket? He thought to himself absentmindedly.
"Uwah, look at the Sakura-chan! Isn't it cool how they carry up that giant stick of wood?"
"Er… That isn't a stick of wood, Naruto…" Sakura laughed at him.
The blonde tilted his head at her questioningly but didn't say anything about it. His blue eyes turned to Sasuke and looked at him. "Sasuke-teme," he called out, raising his hand and waving the boy closer.
"Hn?" Sasuke looked up from his deep contemplation.
"Is there anything left in the basket to drink? I'm thirsty…" he complained, standing there with his hands on his hips.
Sakura and Sai passed him as they stood there. They chatted idly as the distance between the two groups became larger and larger. After some rummaging around, Sasuke looked up.
"Sorry, dobe. There's nothing left. If you want, I'll buy something for you to drink. There are some shops behind us," he offered, sticking his thumb behind his back.
Naruto's lips pursed up together into a slight pout. "That'd be nice, teme. Thanks!" he smiled then realized that Sai and Sakura had ditched him. "Come back soon, okay? Sai! Sakura-chan! Wait for me!"
The dark haired boy sighed slightly and turned around. Naruto was such a handful sometimes. He could still hear him yelling at his teammates as he ran. And some distance that would be. Sai and Sakura had walked rather quickly and now there was a long ways off from Naruto.
Tat. Tat. Tat.
Around them, the sounds of the construction filled the air. The men would sometimes yell out orders or other miscellaneous things to each other. Hammer against nail, nail into wood, wood into wood.
Screeeeech. Thunk. Crick, crick, crick.
A pulley was being pulled up by some rope. It was probably the "giant stick of wood" being pulled up to the higher levels of the construction.
Creeeeeaaak. Cruck.
"Hey, what's wrong with the pulley?" Sasuke heard distantly from the area. He was already rather far off from the site when he heard that.
"Watch it! The rope's snapping! Kids! Get out of there!"
Snap.
Sasuke turned around. The rope snapped? His eyes widened. Naruto was still running toward Sai and Sakura. Another pair of dark eyes and a pair of green eyes watched in horror as Naruto ran under the falling wooden beam.
Sakura's mouth opened in a silent scream of terror. Sai's eyes held fear. Sasuke couldn't move. He felt his own mouth part.
It seemed like eternity as the beam fell. Workers who had heard the warning had already scrambled away, not noticing the boy that was running.
Creaak. CRACK. Thud. Thudthudthud.
"Naruto!"
---
That same foreboding atmosphere hung in the air today. It was that same aura that hung in the air when they were informed of Naruto's amnesia. But this time, it was much, much heavier.
The beam had barely hit Naruto's head. But there was so much blood. So much… So red. So bright…
The three of them had reached there quickly. Thankfully, the beam had rolled away after it fell. Naruto's eyes were still open, but they held no light in them. Sakura had located his weak pulse. Sai had ran off to get Tsunade.
It seemed like forever before the Hokage arrived. Her coat whipped in the air as she ran toward them, staring at the dismal situation. Sasuke and Sakura hadn't moved Naruto's still form in fear of hurting him further.
All of the workers had assumed a rough circle around them. Sakura was crying. Sasuke was shocked.
They had brought him to the hospital with little hope for his survival. For hours, the light for the operation room did not turn off. For hours, Sai, Sasuke, and Sakura waited outside, pacing, worrying, and in Sakura's case, crying.
For hours they waited. For hours they stared. For hours they stood outside.
And it was hours before the light went off, and seconds later that Tsunade walked out, looking exhausted. She looked at them with her brown eyes. Her mouth parted, but no sound came out.
She cleared her throat and tried again once more. Her voice was so soft, so soft, that they had to lean in closer to hear her. "… He…" She stopped and examined them with her eyes again. "Miraculously… He's not dead… However…"
Once more, that word. That word that always chained together other words. Words that mean ill fate. Words that bring forth terrible, churning feelings. That one word that followed her hopeful news. Three syllables that made all three of them strain even more to hear.
"However… He is in a vegetative state. He seems aware of his surroundings, but simply cannot respond to it in anyway…"
Why?
"There's… nothing we can do. Except to wait. To wait for him to recover. Once again, there is no set time. It could take years or decades for him to become fully responsive. Or he could never recover…"
Why?
"… He's still fragile right now, but his skull is fine, and all the internal bleeding has stopped. We'll transfer him into a room, and you three can visit him then…"
Why? Please… Please tell me why…
She looked down at the floor. The air sparkled with tears. It filled with the quiet sounds of unsheathed sobs. It shimmered with broken hope, like shards of glass. And it shook along with the shudders of their cries.
Please, please… Kami-sama… Tell me why this keeps happening to Naruto…
"Sasuke," she called out with a wavering tone.
Sasuke's empty eyes looked back at her.
"Since you have already agreed to take Naruto under your name and become his legal guardian, I must ask you once more if this change will affect your decision?" It was terrible to be asking this at a time like this, but something this serious had to be solved immediately.
What did Naruto do to deseve something like this? Why doesn't it happen to me?
"No… It hasn't changed… I'll take care of him…"
I don't understand… Why you must do something like this to him…
Please tell me.
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For those who were too lazy to read my A/N at the beginning of the chapter, you guys only have two and a half more chances before I stop writing this story. This is the second to last chapter too! The following three will have the honor of reading the ending if somebody screws up and didn't read my A/N last chapter: Lunar Chasmodai, mangafilipina, and Chikin-ass-hair Uchiha. That's all. Thank you.