Out of Harm's Way: Chapter Four

THE NEXT DAY

Kakashi walked up to the front desk of the hospital, and asked the nurse what room Naruto was in. Once he had that information, he headed to floor three, room twelve. He ran into Sakura on their way there, as she and Sai were going to see Naruto. Even though the visiting hours had only started ten minutes ago, Iruka was already there, sitting next to Naruto. He no longer had the iv, blood or heart monitor, but he still needed the morphine, now going into his right arm with enough morphine for his arm and his leg, and breathing mask. He was under the blanket, with a bulge where his left leg's cast was. His right arm was also in a cast, but lay on top of the blanket. His breathing was labored, and showed the need of a breathing mask.

Iruka glanced up at them, looking worried. Naruto was like a son to him, and to be this hurt, it killed him. Sakura took Iruka and Sai to the cafeteria, seeing that Kakashi would need to talk to Naruto when he woke up.

About ten minutes later, Naruto did wake up. Kakashi was sitting with his head in his hands. His head shot up when he heard Naruto talk.

"Kakashi-sensei…" he said, slightly muffeled by the mask, which he knew not to take off.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to yell at you. I just feel bad about what happened."

"Kaka-sensei, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, Naruto."

"Don't blame yourself for things that just happen."

"But Naruto, It was all my fault, I shouldn't have-"

He was interrupted by Sakura, Sai, and Iruka coming back in. Naruto turned his head to the door, and gave them a weak smile.

"Hey guys!" he said, trying to raise his arm in a wave. That arm happened to be his right arm, and he raised it only a few inches before crying out and putting it down.

"ow! …shit!" he said, putting his arm down.

"NARUTO! YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED!" said Iruka.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei! My Bad!" said Naruto.

"Sakura-chan, when do I get out of here?"

"YOU DUMMY! You have to use a freaking breathing mask! How long do you THINK you have to stay here for?"

"Not much longer?" he said with a smile.

They all started laughing, but stopped when Naruto started coughing. It only lasted about a minute, but it still worried them.

"Naruto…" said Iruka

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine!"

"Naruto… I'm going to need everyone to leave, I have to check on his injuries." Said Sakura.

"Okay, see ya Naruto!" said Iruka.

"Bye, Naruto" said Sai.

"See you later, Naruto" said Kakashi.

They all left, leaving Sakura with Naruto. Although Kakashi wanted to hear how bad it is, so he leaned against the door.

INSIDE THE ROOM

"Alright Naruto, I've known you for a long time, and I know you were hiding how much it hurt back there." Said Sakura.

"I know, it's just *cough* Kaka-sensei blames *cough* himself for *cough* what happened, and *cough* I know that *cough* feeling, I didn't want *cough* him to feel *cough* bad." Naruto said.

"Naruto… Tell me, how bad do you really feel? As a nurse, you have to tell me the truth."

"I feel like *cough* shit, attacked by *cough* shuriken, run over by *cough* a bus, and set on *cough* fire." He said.

"Naruto, to be honest, I think that it's probably going to stay that way for a while. We had to seal off the Kyuubi, because it was healing your bones before they were properly set. I can't give you any more painkillers that could cause an overdose. You're just going to have to bear through it."

"…sh…it…" Naruto said, as he passed out.

Sakura left, leaving Naruto to sleep, was the pain really enough to cause him to pass out every time he actually woke up? She walked out of the door, to find Kakashi sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.

"Kaka-sensei? You heard everything, didn't you?"

"…yeah… kami… it's that bad?"

"Looks like it. Kakashi-sensei, he's always going to feel some pain in that arm. He probably won't even be able to do many jutsus with that arm. But I know Naruto, and not only will that never stop him, but I also know that he would never tell you that it hurts." She said sadly.

"So does he just have to wait until his leg heals before he can walk around again?"

"Yeah, once that heals, I'm pretty sure he'll be sent home, but he'll have to come back every day so he can get his arm checked."

"Right, so we just have to wait it out with him."

"Yeah, pretty much… well, I gotta go, Kaka-sensei, see you later!"

"see ya."

Naruto, I'm sorry.