Alright! So here's the "official" last chapter of this series. Be warned though: some of the medical terms used you might not know them, but they'll be explained at the end of the chapter in my A/N. I really liked writing this chapter mainly because I get to be a total medical nerd and use some of the information I've gotten from my mother since she's a family physician.

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How Could This Have Happened?

III

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Where… where I am?

He opened his eyes, the clean white light blinding his vision. Catheters were stuck in his arms, allowing IV fluid and medication to drip into his body. A monitor beeped, monitoring his heart rate, blood pressure, and occasionally injecting morphine into his system. The familiar smell of a hospital wafted into his nose, bringing back the memories of what had happened.

Sasuke!

-

He couldn't move, his body in too much pain. He cried into the ground, worthless with trying to save his friend. He stopped crying, listening to the sudden silence where not even the birds sang or the wind whistle through the trees. A sickening, strangled cough wheezed from where Sakura and Yamato were. Without pause, Sakura's voice rose into a wail and Yamato calmly said something to her. Naruto could feel the pain briefly numb as he looked ahead of him, watching, waiting for any sign of life. Yamato looked over to Naruto, seeing the look on his face and knew immediately what Sasuke's fate was. Suddenly, exhaustion from fighting and numbness from shock began to wear off. Blackness enveloped him in a dreamless sleep.

-

Sitting up, alarms went off in the machines, only causing his ears to ache and to feel the noise shake his broken and bruised body. Suddenly light-headed, he heard the shouts of the nurse who had walked in to respond to the alarms on the machines. He was helped to lie down again, too nauseous to protest loudly and struggle.

I hope Sasuke's okay.

He watched the nurse turn off the alarms, writing down something on a clipboard before glancing at him with a warning look before leaving, saying something under her breath too low for him to hear. The door slide closed, allowing him to try and sit upright again. The second time didn't set off the alarms or cause his head to spin yet the ache in his body still remained. Looking around, he squinted out the window to his right, looking at the village illuminated by the sun; not a single cloud was in the sky it seemed. One window was open to let in a warm breeze to blow across his face, settling some of his frayed nerves and bringing up new questions.

I wonder if Sakura hates me.

He thought of Sakura and how she acted when she had first seen Sasuke after their fight. He bitterly remembered her expression and loathed himself for causing her that horrible pain of having to come to terms with knowing her love possibly being dead. He had no idea what happened after passing out but splintered memories of being asked questions and pricks of needles jabbing into his sides and arms brought some vague picture of what had happened; a medical team probably came from the village and transported them back here where they could monitor them and prepared for the worst case scenario with both of them.

"We had to put you both in a drug-induced coma for a week to stabilize your conditions." He stared, jerking his head with sore neck muscles to look back at the door where Tsunade stood; lips pursed and arms crossed over her chest.

How did she get in here without me noticing?

"You wouldn't believe how much tramadol and other analgesics we had to use for both you and Sasuke to keep you from feeling pain from your injuries before putting you into comas." She said, chuckling to herself. "I might even have to take out a chunk of your mission money you received from this mission to help pay the hospital to help pay for restocking."

Gee, thanks Granny Tsunade. I can see that you're worried about me.

"Wait, does that mean Sasuke is awake?" He asked. Straightening his back and gripping the sheets, nearly ready to jump out of bed regardless of the amount of tubes taped to his arms. Tsunade frowned, taking a step over to him; enough incentive to make him stay still.

Please don't hit me, please don't hit me, please don't hit me…

"Uzumaki Naruto, in case you forgot, you have healing abilities that are at least twice as fast as any normal shinobi because of you housing the kyuubi. Sasuke is still in a coma while we work on healing all of the injuries he sustained from fighting you. A quarter of his lower rib cage was crushed, two of his limbs were twisted out of their sockets, and he was close to being diagnosed with hypoxemia. It'll be at least another week before I even vaguely consider taking him off life support and let him out of the coma."

Oh yeah, I forgot.

He felt his mouth open to say something while Tsunade stared at him with annoyed eyes. He finally noticed the shadowy bags under her eyes that make-up was trying to hide from anyone who she talked to. A thought of how long she might have stayed up to keep both him and Sasuke alive and without pain crossed his mind; suddenly his necklace seemed to burn against his chest and neck for no real reason.

I at least want to see how he's doing.

"Though, I have allowed certain people to visit him," she seemed to have heard his thoughts, "but for no longer then five minutes. Only Sakura, the nurses, and myself may stay longer then that in order to keep an eye on his condition."

"Can I?"He asked, ready to jump out of bed once more despite Tsunade's disapproving look. She remained silent for a breath, thinking.

"I suppose you could, but only after we finish monitoring you for an hour or so to make sure you won't suddenly suffer from any complications that result in you being conscious."

You mean I have to stay here a whole hour? You can't be serious!

"Fifteen minutes, -ttebayo." He countered, crossing his arms. He swore he saw a vein in Tsunade's forehead bulge.

"Uzumaki Naruto, there are no negotiations with how long we're going to watch you!" She shouted at him; he frowned as he stared at her.

Come on! Think Naruto, there's got to be a time she'll agree to that's less than an hour!

"Half-hour!" He exclaimed.

"No Naruto!"

"Forty five minutes?"

"For the last time, no!"

"Come on baa-chan! I don't want to sit around for an hour! How about fifty minutes?"

"It's still no, Naruto."

"Fifty three minutes?"

"I'm not afraid to give you morphine to shut you up!"

Come on, there's got to be a time!

"SEVENTY FIVE!" He shouted. Tsunade stared at him, slightly confused. She smiled and turned her back to him and started heading for the door.

"Okay then, Naruto. Hour and fifteen minutes sounds like a good time to me. I'll go check up on Sakura to see how she's managing Sasuke's vitals."

"W-wait, ttebayo! That's not what I…!"

Slam.

"…Meant." He stared at the door of his hospital room, listening to Tsunade's fading footsteps.

Damn it!

"GAH!!" He pressed his hands against the side of his head, feeling utterly stupid. He meant to say fifty-five, but seventy accidentally came out instead. Now he had to stay in the hospital room for an extra fifteen minutes before he could see his friend. He slumped his head, depressed. He stared at the sheets of the hospital bed for a few minutes before noticing a device with a large red button on it. He grabbed it with one of his hands and examined it, finding the word morphine written on it.

Morphine… want.

He pushed the button and something on one of the machines buzzed before he felt a pricking sensation in his right hand where a tube was attached. He waited to feel light headed or just plain happy. Nothing other than the light pricking around his right hand occurred. He narrowed his eyes at the button and pushed it again- nothing. No buzzing came from the monitors beside him and his hand didn't tingle.

Are you kidding me? I can't get anymore?

He took both his mounting frustration and need for revenge because of not being given more morphine on the device by repetitively pushing the button until he heard the machine buzz once again and he received the light pricking sensation once again.

Is this thing timed or something?

Becoming curious, he investigated how it worked by repetitively pushing the button until it buzzed thirteen more times. By the fifteenth time he tried it, he figured out it allowed him to have some morphine every five minutes.

This thing is weird, ttebayo…

"Naruto," the door opened and Tsunade appeared, "it's been an hour and fifteen minutes. Seeing that none of the nurses reported seeing any kind of complications with you being awake, I've deemed you well enough to see Sasuke."

Hell yes!

"YATTA!" He screamed. Jerking his arms up in the air caused all of the machines attached to him go off with the various alarms. He smiled meekly at Tsunade while she busied herself with turning various alarms off and pulling some needles out of him. Eventually, she pulled enough out that the only one left was his IV drip.

I get to get the out of this room!

"Naruto, you're going to put you in a wheelchair so you won't be exhausted by the time we reach his room. Understand?"

"Yeah, whatever." He mumbled, closing his eyes upon hearing something being wheeled into his room.

I get with me being tired, but being wheeled around seems kind of gay.

He opened his eyes and saw the wheeled… thing waiting for him to sit in. Sighing, he slid out of his hospital bed on the side where his IV was to prevent having the thing being ripped out of his arm and reluctantly sat down in the chair. He watched as Tsunade moved the IV bag onto a holder on the wheelchair itself. Tsunade grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and pushed him to the door before stopping for some odd reason.

CCCHHHHEEEAAARRRGGGGEEEE!

With a sudden energetic burst, he grabbed the wheels of the chair and wheeled out into the hallway, turning right and wheeling down to the end of the hall. Suddenly, the wheelchair lurched right and he hit smack into the wall. He found himself unable to back away from the wall.

I can't get my wheelchair to move!

"Are you done trying to wheel around now?" Tsunade appeared beside him, looking down at him.

"Maybeh." He responded, grinning.

"Were you planning on trying to visit Sasuke?"

"Maybeh."

"I know you have no idea where his room is."

"Well, maybe I can tap into unseen forces and find out where he is!" He defended.

Damn… she has a point.

Tsunade quietly took back control of the wheelchair, wheeling him through the deserted halls. They eventually reached a place in the hospital so vague that even he wondered if Tsunade ever got disoriented. She stopped in front of a door, softly knocking on the door. The door opened without any obvious physical means to allow them entrance. The room was rather cheer with how many windows there were, letting them see a rather nice view of outside Konohagakure. The room was entirely bare except for a hospital bed and a single chair; both the chair and hospital bed were occupied.

"Sakura." He found his voice dry and cracked. The kunoichi's gaze shifted from the hospital bed to him. Her eyes widened and could see her mouth his name, but nothing came out of her mouth.

Sakura looks horrible.

He saw how paper white her skin was in the sunlight pouring through the window; her eyes slightly glazed and bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep. Her cheeks seemed partly hollowed, perhaps from not eating enough. He could tell she hadn't spent a lot of time away from Sasuke's side. He stood up from his wheelchair and, remembering to grab his IV bag, managed to stumble over to the hospital bed to better see Sasuke's face.

Oh my God…

He was hooked up with so many tubes that he was almost unrecognizable to him. Sasuke had life support on him with the breathing machine's loud noise filling in the silence between the three of them. A heart monitor beeped slowly to indicate Sasuke's heart rate and monitored his blood pressure. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a machine labeled 'electro encephalography' and vaguely wondered what that was used for. Sasuke's eyes were covered in a kind of medical wrap and sensors placed under it while more were running across his chest to monition various other parts of his vitals. IV fluid and other bags dripped fluid into Sasuke's system to keep him hydrated and well medicated. Compared to just having an IV drip, Sasuke seemed a lot worse off than he did; he knew that he wouldn't get to see Sasuke wake up for a while. For a moment he clenched his fist with a sickening thought of Sasuke not going to pull through.

It's my entire fault…

"It's alright Naruto," Sakura whispered, "Sasuke's going to pull though. Just wait and see…"

-End-

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Rawr. Done. It's the "official" end for this series, but stick around for the separate Author Notes chapter that I'll post ASAP. I might also make a major edit to the previous chapter since I remembered something that Naruto was supposed to brood about like a good emo wannabe (no offense to emo people)… And yes, I will soon post a fourth chapter to this with the alternate ending to the second chapter of this for your guys's entertainment :3 Rating and reviews are loved!

MEDICAL DICTIONARY TIME… THING

Tramadol- type of medication; similar to morphine

Analgesic- general term used to describe any type of medication that alleviates pain without the loss of consciousness

Electro encephalography- takes a picture of the brain's electric signals to monitor if the brain is active or not

Hypoxemia- inadequate oxygen in the blood

R & R