By now, everybody knows the drill... -smiles-

To Lazeee an demented: Thanks for pointing out the error.

And woah there are a lot of unsigned reviewers than usual and I wish all of you left your email address so I can thank you privately. Guys, thank you for the reviews. It made my being stranded in Chiba two days ago less vexing.

Pastel colors of purple, pink and orange stained the blue sky as the sun cast its last rays for the day and the normal silence in the hospital was broken with a piercing scream coming from Sasuke's room. The two hokage ANBU guards who were stationed at the hallway and the one who was posted outside burst into the room. They looked a bit lost when they found their hokage kneeling on the bed cradling an almost purple Sasuke who was having seizures, blood trickling on the side of his lips and his eyes were open, empty and bloodshot.

Why won't death leave us especially you alone? Why must I always be the one who should be in this situation of losing someone?

Chapter 59: When he returns

One guard managed to snap out and run to fetch a nurse. Luckily, Hinata and Sakura were already on their way to Sasuke's room the moment they heard the ear-splitting scream.

Without warning, Sakura pulled Naruto off the bed while Hinata ran her byakugan on Sasuke and quickly closed a lot of the man's chakra points.

Sakura painfully gripped her friend's shoulders to grab his attention. "Naruto, calm down," she said.

"I am," he replied. But his trembling form and darting eyes said other eyes. He was hysterical but it was reasonable because he had just left the bed to pee and when he returned he found Sasuke like that.

The pink-haired medic-nin slapped both of his cheeks. "Naruto, look at me," she ordered.

The blonde did.

"We'll take him to the examination room and see what is wrong with him," she said just as three medic-nins transferred his spouse to a wheeled bed. Sakura wanted to assure Naruto that he won't lose his husband but she refrained to do so. As a friend and Sasuke's doctor she didn't want to give her blond friend an empty promise. But she swore to herself that she'd do anything to keep her two closest male friends happy. She squeezed his shoulder, nodded to the guards and followed her colleagues.

"Naruto-sama?"

The blonde took a deep breath before saying, "please bring my kids here."

One ANBU guard nodded and left. The other remained to watch the rokudaime just in case while the last of the three left to get the blonde his coffee or anything to calm him down.

-SasuNaru is love-

"Tell Akemi and the others to wait on the lobby. I'll tell them what happened after my talk with Sakura," Naruto told his two remaining guards the moment he regained his composure. Luckily the blond caught Sakura in the hallway just out examination room three.

"Sakura, how is he?"

"Hinata and her team is examining him right now His condition is stable."

At this, Naruto was slightly relieved. Dropping his voice to a whisper and making sure no one was around the hallway except the two of them, he confessed a bit bashfully with his head downcast. "Few hours ago...I... Sasuke and I did it pretty roughly..."

A blush tinted Sakura's cheeks but she had known it when she grabbed Naruto and saw the marks littering his neck. And by now, Hinata's team had also come to that conclusion.

"I know we shouldn't but its impossible to stop. I-I was thinking that because of that he became like that."

"Although..." her blushed darkened. They were like teenagers who knew nothing of sex and thought of it and anything related to it as scandalous. "Although that is strenuous, I can assure you its not the cause."

"Really?"

Sakura nodded positively. "C'mon, let's wait for Hinata at the meeting room."

-SasuNaru is love-

Hinata smiled a bit as she entered the room where Sasuke's family and Sakura waited.

"Sasuke is now being transferred to ICU although he's stable," she informed them as she took a seat.

"Then why the ICU?" Miki immediately asked.

"Ask later, Miki," Akemi told her softly so the Hyuuga mistress could explain their father's condition.

"Sasuke's chakra was leaking out causing an upset within him," she started. "His tentative result in the exam should have given us a clue with his damaged chakra pathways but it didn't. My explanation of this was that his chakra hadn't reached the capacity to leak until awhile ago."

It wasn't uncommon that some ninjas out of desperation would use their last ounce of chakra causing external and internal damage. Sakura knew that too well so she asked, "Then the damage was due to his forcefully extracting his already critically low chakra to perform jutsus during his battle?" She had witnessed the grotesque scene Sasuke had caused as well as the damages and she could tell that, that required a lot of chakra.

Hinata shook her head gently. "That had been my team's assumption but I had ruled that out after comparing his chakra pathways with those that resulted from forced production and extraction of chakra." She then took a deep breath before she continued, "Sasuke's pathways are worse than that. Sixty-four percent of his chakra system is ruptured."

Although Miki was the only one among the Uchihas who completely understood the implications, all of them paled. The three male Uchihas could tell that that Sasuke's case was way beyond serious.

"That is the reason I had to close eighty-two percent of chakra points. He's now being supported by machines." The chakra running through the man was just a trickle to let his internal organs function together with life-support machines.

"Sasuke," Naruto began, "he told me that he was able to kill his captors with a chakra that gave him a euphoric feeling of being unstoppable and invincible."

"Then it's chakra overload," Sakura stated. Hinata nodded in agreement.

"So what are we going to do?" Kisho whispered almost fearfully.

"Chakra overload is a very, very rare case but there must be some operation," Hinata answered. She had conveniently forgotten that most cases of chakra overload led to death. But Sasuke had survived with ruptures so in a way it had attested to his strength and endurance. There was still hope for him. "After all, if anything created by chakra could be destroyed by it then anything damage by chakra could be cured by it as well."

"What if there isn't?" Akemi asked.

"Then we'll have to do it without any guides. Either way it is very risky."

The Uchihas shared a look before Naruto said, "then do it." He was fairly certain that Sasuke would undergo any treatment regardless how risky it was.

"We'll inform you if we found anything and a day before operation starts," Hinata said. "You can go and see Sasuke."

When it was just Hinata and her, Sakura asked what she had been thinking, "It couldn't be his cursed seal, right? No matter how menacing it was, it would never hurt Sasuke. Besides, it disappeared when Orochimaru died."

"I'm thinking about what Sandaime-sama had said about strength," the dark-haired kunoichi said.

Shinobis true skills are shown when he protects his important persons.

Sakura sighed. If it was true skills then why was their friend got hurt? She shook her head unable to understand Sasuke's situation. Perhaps, that would remain a mystery.

"I'll join my team in their research now," the other kunoichi told pink-haired before leaving. She had decided to map out her patient's damaged chakra system when his family had already left his ICU.

-SasuNaru is love-

Having dismissed her team few hours ago, Hinata was now alone in the small library annexed to the main hospital building. She occupied one long table where books, scrolls and papers were almost neatly scattered. She leaned back on her chair and massaged her closed eyes.

"Hinata," a voice called out so suddenly that she almost jumped out from her skin. She opened her eyes and saw her husband across the table. Seeing him made her looked at the wall clock.

9:56

Her pale eyes widened as she remembered that she and Kiba had agreed to meet outside the hospital by nine-fifteen.

"Kiba, I'm so sorry. I got so caught up with things that I didn't realize the time."

That was so obvious to the Hyuuga leader as he took in the appearance of the desk. Books were haphazardly piled one after another like some old bricks. Scrolls were scattered everywhere. Some papers were pinned on the varnished wood while others were peeking from envelopes and folders. He could read notes written in his wife's neat handwriting and in different ink color. The notes were cramped and looked gibberish just like the figures that appeared once in awhile but he could tell they were all significant. His eyes landed on sheets of twenty-eight by fourteen illustration paper carefully set aside. All sheets contained the same diagram of chakra system. He read the characters carefully written on the upper part of each sheet.

U-chi-ha Sa-su-ke.

"Isn't Sasuke better now?" he asked curiously.

"Late afternoon, complications arose-"

"And now you're stuck here?" he stated half-seriously.

Hinata looked guilty and embarrassed that her husband had to laugh.

"It's okay," he assured because he understood her passion and commitment. "But let's get some dinner first. I don't want you to starve." His wife looked so hesitant that he added quickly, "it will be quick."

His wife relented.

-SasuNaru is love-

Around five in the morning, Hinata sighed in relief and satisfaction as she finally completed her research. She pressed her forehead against the cold surface of the table and without meaning to, fell in a dreamless sleep.

When she woke up, it was already almost ten in the morning. She hurriedly returned all references to their places, gathered and tucked her notes in her folders then ran towards the staff room where she knew Sakura usually was during her break.

Sakura paused in drinking her coffee when she saw a rare sight- the elegant Hinata looking disheveled. She replaced her cup on the table and watched as her colleague at the same time friend sat on the seat across from hers.

"I found an old record about an operation made on ruptured chakra pathways," she explained. "But the problem is that it was a small operation with just one ruptured area and not as severely damaged as our patient's so," here she paused to hand her notes to Sakura, "I improvised."

Emerald eyes carefully scanned the sheets full of not only text but numbers and diagrams. Everything was detailed and noted. Hinata had calculated not only the risk, the amount of chakra to be applied but as well as time interval and duration. Her work was impressive and Sakura praised her for it.

"They're all assumptions based on the facts given and observations made," the Hyuuga mistress said humbly.

A pink eyebrow rose when something caught her attention. "Perform simultaneously?"

"If we take care of one leak at a time Sasuke would be in more danger because for every closed leak, we have to decrease his supply of chakra. Whereas in simultaneous operation, we can maintain the amount of chakra flowing through him at this moment."

"I see."

"And since, Sasuke's case is severe, direct chakra application is more appropriate."

"And for that, a number of medic-nin is needed," Sakura concluded.

"Exactly. My team and yours are sufficient," her colleague said. "I need three days to orient you all and get us ready."

Sakura nodded. "I'll fill-up the request forms. Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'll leave the rest to you," Hinata replied.

"Thanks for you hard work."

After that, Sakura immediately took care of all forms before she left to inform Naruto about the operation.

-SasuNaru is love-

Time seemed to run so fast for the next few days then was torturously dragging on Sasuke's operation day. His family had visited him an hour before his schedule and watched as he was being wheeled into the operation room. When the doors were shut close, Naruto, Akemi, Miki, Kisho went their separate ways and did their respective tasks to divert their mind from the long wait ahead.

Akemi was training with his team; Miki doing a mission inside the village together with her team; Kisho attending his classes and Naruto was doing desk job.

This time, the blonde hokage wasn't scared. Worried? Yes but not scared and all because he was wearing Sasuke's wedding ring Hinata had removed and handed it to him an hour ago.

He looked at the two identical platinum rings he had on his left hand, amazed that such tiny object managed to capture his spouse's warmth and was now emitting it. He fingered both rings which were bearing light scratches here and there. But despite that, in the blonde's opinion, they were as beautiful as his and Sasuke's relationship.

-SasuNaru is love-

With her byakugan activated, Hinata observed the whole proceeding as was her role was and so far her colleagues had maintained the amount of chakra they needed to apply. In addition, Sasuke's condition was good enough for her not to close few chakra points to reduce the amount.

But she had thought too early because past an hour later, Sasuke's feet started getting purple causing her to order Sakura's team to increase their chakra by ten percent and her team decrease theirs by six while she closed two more chakra points.

For the next few hours until the completion, chakra adjustment, closure and opening of various chakra points were frequent making the whole thing twice difficult. The rate of unpredictability had doubled when trouble arose one after another but both teams had risen to the challenge and cope splendidly. All of them were happy and relieved when the surgical treatment was declared a success.

The next 24 hours had Sasuke in heavy observation because this period was considered the most critical. Much to their relief, his state had improved and batch by batch for the next six days, Hinata opened his chakra points.

Later on when he was conscious, Sakura and Hinata had admitted him to a rehabilitation program so his stay in the hospital was prolonged and he hated every moment of it.

The Uchiha leader never liked hospitals. The building reminded him too much of his clan's death; of Orochimaru's seal and of when Itachi had used the mangekyou sharingan on him. The white walls seemed to mock him of his helplessness and weakness on those times. The only time he lightened up and forgot where he was, was when his family would visit him almost daily. Those were the moments he looked forward to. He enjoyed their conversations and hated it when visitation hours came to an end. He didn't want to be alone in the dark where loneliness bounced off from the white pristine walls of his room.

-SasuNaru is love-

Like a caged bird having its first taste of freedom, Sasuke wanted nothing more than to feel the fresh wind caressing his face, see the blue skies and looked at the greenery but Naruto insisted to thank all the medical staff that had look after him for his five-month stay. He didn't mind the thanking but his blonde was doing it in what he thought was slower than showing gratitude should be.

After what was like eternity, both of them were finally out and Sasuke couldn't help the soft smile that tainted his usually emotionless face nor could he help the light fluttering of his heart. He was finally free and going home.

As they wove their way to their residence, they held each other's hand causing the young couples to chuckle in amusement and disgust while older people whispered at their public display. But all the villagers knew that everything was back to normal again as far as the Uchiha family was concerned.

Sasuke grimaced when Naruto stopped so suddenly that he felt like his arm had been pulled out from its socket. He was about to scold the blonde when he noticed that those intense blue eyes were focused on something in the trees. He followed his gaze and saw the objects that captivated his spouse's attention - the greenish lights emitted by the fireflies as they gathered together in group. The fireflies in the distant, the lake softly flowing beneath the small and narrow bridge they were standing and the twilight blended perfectly to make a romantic scene or at least that was what Sasuke thought making him tighten his hold on the tanned hand.

With a sigh, he took Naruto's chin so their eyes would meet. Smirking, he asked, "Don't tell me you're procrastinating from keeping your promise?"

When you're completely healed, we can do it anytime and as many times as you want.

Blue eyes widened. "Bastard, don't tell me you…"

The dark-haired man just grinned at him. He won't deny the accusation written in those orbs because it was true. He had used that promise as an inspiration to get healed as early as possible. It was because of that, that his improvement had impressed the medical staff.

"Pervert," he heard Naruto murmur.

"But weren't you the one who promise such thing?" he countered while dragging his companion to their destination.

­-SasuNaru is love-

"We're home," Naruto shouted as they stepped into the genkan.

A second later, there was a squeal before Miki and Kisho rushed to their otousan and threw themselves at him. Sasuke ignored the pain as he fell on his butt as his two children tackled him.

"Sheesh, go easy on the recuperating man, will ya?" Akemi told his two siblings in a light reprimanding voice. The two pouted but pulled themselves away.

Sasuke arched his brow when Akemi offered a hand to help him stand. With a shrugged, he took it.

"Welcome home, otousan," the dark-haired boy said.

Sasuke nodded, "thanks."

A grinning Naruto then announced, "I'll start cooking." And what planned to be simple meal turned out as a feast. At least to the Uchihas.

-SasuNaru is love-

Sasuke who was sitting on the edge of the bed, closed the book softly as he heard the bathroom door being slid shut and looked up. The scene in front of him immediately made his pants painfully tight.

Naruto, who was fresh from the shower and whose towel was hanging dangerously low on his hips, was leaning against the door. Obsidian eyes followed the water drops trailing downward. He told himself not to be jealous because soon he would be trailing his tongue over that tanned skin and unlike those drops, his won't be linear. It would be anything but that.

"Did I make you wait?" Naruto asked softly like a gentle wind caressing the curtains. He threaded his hand through his wet hair as he looked at his spouse's direction.

The pale man fingered the book which was nothing compared to that hard body he wanted to grope for all he was worth. "No, you didn't".

What I had been impatiently waiting for…

The blonde grinned because he knew the other man was lying. And the latter knew that the former knew that he was lying. "Sorry for making you wait," he said huskily before he dropped the towel revealing himself. "Your feast is ready."

What I had been fervently longing for…

Inky orbs dilated as he saw the glorious body naked and ready for his devouring. A soft groan came past his lips as he let his eyes ran over the object of his desire, lust and love.

What I have been selfishly wanting…

Naruto found it hard to breath as pleasure coursed through him. God! If this is how it was when Sasuke was just looking at him appreciatively, how much more if the latter would start touching him?

"Come here, dobe," the dark-haired man ordered, his voice as rich and tantalizing as caramel. Obediently and quietly, Naruto obeyed. But in retaliation for the name, he took a fistful of black hair and tugged them backward causing the other man to grimace.

I finally have it and…

"Stop calling me that, bastard!"

Sasuke smirked almost in sinister. "'When you're completely healed, we can do it anytime and as many times as you want.' So technically, it means everything is about me and my wants," he stated selfishly.

Naruto shivered at that voice and those fingers that ghosted over his skin. Instinctively, he leaned forward, wanting more of the touch while Sasuke chuckled deeply as drew the blonde closer between his legs. The blonde wasn't scared of how selfish his husband sounded. He knew that Sasuke's wants was also his and vice-versa because they were one.

"Then, do whatever you like with me," he said as his perched his left knee on one pale thigh. Although submissive, there was power behind his tone and words… power that conquered and humbled the conqueror as strong as Sasuke.

…and I don't have the strength to let go…

"Of course," his husband said. His voice was still possessive but it was now laced with reverence.

Nor the sanity to do so.

TBC

I was supposed to continue this lemon scene but I wanted this ending more. And with Naruto keeping his promise with Sasuke, they would do it over and over again until their libidos are satiated which is impossible so... they'll stop as soon as they are too tired to move even their pinkies.

Yep, everything is okay between our beloved couple... for now. Kukukukuku.