Terribly sorry for the long wait, I wanted to make sure that this chapter was right... I'm still not quite sure I like it, but I suppose it's better than what I started with. I hope that you enjoy this FINAL chapter, and please leave one last review! That's right, this is the LAST chapter of Toxicity!

Chapter 5

Bip…………bip……………beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-

"SASUKE!"

Naruto leapt to Sasuke's side, attempting to find a way to help him, but he knew that there was nothing he could do as he stared at Sasuke's pale still face. He felt his heart pounding in panic, and then the door flew open and hands grabbed at his arms, pulling him backwards.

"No! Let me stay with him! HE NEEDS ME!" Naruto screamed, fighting the strong grip on him, trying to get back to his best friend's side.

"Naruto, come on, you have to let them help him!"

Sakura's voice somehow snapped Naruto out of his panic and his muscles relaxed, allowing the girl to drag him backwards out of the way. He saw Tsunade rush forward to place her hands against Sasuke's chest, but then he was pulled out of the room.

"Hey… Sakura! Let me back there!" Naruto protested, pulling again, but Sakura yanked on him harder.

"It's better that we're out of the way, there's nothing that we can do for him now but let the medics bring him back." Sakura said firmly, her seafoam eyes serious as she looked at her friend. "Understand?"

Naruto nodded reluctantly, allowing Sakura to drag him away from the room where Sasuke lay. He could still feel his heart beating in his throat, and while his every sense screamed for him to return to his friend, he knew that Sakura was right. He would only be in the way, and could do nothing more than remove himself from the situation.

He sat with Sakura in the cafeteria for some time, Sakura eventually bringing him some food when he made no motion to do anything else. She deposited a bowl of ramen in front of him, a stern look on her face. "I have no idea how long it's been when you ate, you need something in you, even if it's just ramen. Eat."

The blond stared at it for a moment, and then his eyes traveled up to meet Sakura's. She frowned and motioned toward the bowl and Naruto sighed, picking up the chopsticks and slurping up the treat, though he did so with no enthusiasm. His mind was still on Sasuke, not on food.

As soon as he finished the bowl he pushed himself to his feet, intending to head back to the room. Sakura followed him silently, not impeding him at all, a serious look on her own face.

Naruto came to the door to find that it was open slightly, and he peeked inside to see Tsunade standing over Sasuke, a glowing hand held over the Uchiha's forehead and her eyes closed in concentration. Sasuke was breathing steadily now, his heartbeat steady for the first time in nearly 6 weeks.

Naruto felt hope spike. This had to be a good sign, there was no way that Sasuke could not be getting better with that change.

He didn't speak as he entered the room, not wanting to destroy Tsunade's concentration, and eventually Sakura leaned down to murmur in his ear, having obviously figured out what was going on.

"She's trying to draw him out. Something must have changed for the better after they revived him." Sakura murmured quietly. "His chakra is up, that's a good sign."

Naruto nodded slightly to show that he'd heard, but did nothing else, hoping and praying that Sasuke would be okay. Tsunade's brows twitched together slightly, and then the chakra glow around her hand vanished and she opened her eyes.

As her honey colored eyes moved up to his Naruto couldn't help it, he spoke into the silence. "Well? Is he okay?"

Tsunade's only response was to look back down at the Uchiha lying on the hospital bed. Naruto stared for a moment, and then followed her gaze apprehensively.

Sasuke's obsidian eyes were open. They were dazed and rather unfocused, but for the first time in 8 weeks they were open, and Sasuke was awake. Naruto dashed forward, dropping into his customary chair beside Sasuke's bed. "Sasuke?"

The black eyes slowly traveled over to his face, blinking sluggishly. Recognition dawned and Sasuke smirked weakly. "Hey… dobe…"

Naruto felt tears gather in his eyes. "Sasuke… Thank the Fourth you're okay…"

Tsunade's voice broke the following silence. "Well, things look to be okay. His heartbeat is stable, though still a little shaky, and his breathing and chakra levels are finally back to normal. Be glad that he's so stubborn, he might not have pulled through."

Naruto chuckled, the sound a little watery. "He's an Uchiha, baachan, what did you expect him to be?"

The woman nodded, a laugh on her lips. "Too true. I'll be back later to check on him, just talk to him for a bit, see what he remembers, things like that. Keep him awake if you can, but if he needs to sleep go ahead and let him."

The blond jounin nodded, watching as the Hokage left the room, leaving Team 7 in there alone. Sakura collapsed into the spare chair, relief flooding over her face and through her body. 'He's okay… he's really okay…'

Sasuke looked back and forth between his two team members, a slightly confused look on his face. "What happened?"

Sakura shook herself back to reality, her medic side kicking in. "First tell us what you remember, Sasuke, that's important so we can tell if your mind is still working properly."

Sasuke blinked at that, but obediently recited what he remembered. "Naruto and I were out on a mission, and we got attacked by some enemy nin. I was attacked with the Dokugiri jutsu, and we started back towards the village. From there on it gets… fuzzy."

The pink-haired girl nodded to herself. "Sounds good, according to Naruto that's about when you started acting funny, so it's likely that your memories would be shaky. Do you know where you are?"

"The hospital. I hate hospitals."

Naruto snorted. "We know, Sasuke, but at this point it's important that you're here. You almost died, you know."

Sasuke's black eyebrows twitched together. "I almost died? What happened?"

"You've been in a coma for 8 weeks; you just barely came out of it after going into cardiac arrest. Tsunade managed to pull your consciousness out of the coma right after she revived you." Sakura informed him, a small smile on her face as she was once again flooding with the relief that her teammate was alright.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Eight weeks?.!" He ran a hand through his bangs. "No wonder my body feels so weighted down…"

Naruto grinned. "The important thing is that you're alright now, but you have to promise me one thing."

Sasuke blinked. "What's that, dobe?"

"LISTEN TO ME NEXT TIME!"

The explosion made Sasuke shrink back a little, but he smirked slightly after the initial shock. "I can do that."

Naruto grinned. "Good."