Chapter 9
Shikamaru entered his home just after ten o'clock at night. He had been coming home later and later as the last fifteen days went on. Shikamaru really wanted to be there for Sasuke when he woke up. Now that Sasuke had woken up Shikamaru felt relieved, but he was still worried about Sasuke. Shikamaru didn't hear his parents still up and Shikamaru didn't know what to do. He wanted to talk about what happened, but he didn't know if he should wake his dad up for this. He knew that his dad had been worried about Sasuke and he would want to know how he was doing. Shikamaru needed to talk about this. Sasuke was so scared and confused and Shikamaru felt bad for leaving him. Shikamaru needed to talk about this, but he really didn't want to wake his father up if he was tired and asleep. Shikamaru knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep if he didn't talk about this though. Shikamaru went up the stairs to his parents' bedroom and he slowly opened the door. His parents were asleep in bed and Shikamaru thought about leaving them be, but he knew he had to talk about this.
"Dad" Shikamaru softly whispered.
His parents stirred in bed and Shikamaru knew they were awake.
"Are you okay?" Shikaku asked.
"Ya I'm sorry to wake you, but I just really need to talk."
"How is Sasuke sweetie?" Yoshino asked.
"He woke up."
They both sat up in bed and Yoshino patted the bed for Shikamaru to come and sit down. Shikamaru made his way over to the bed and sat down at the end. Shikaku turned the bedside light on so they could see each other.
"I'm sorry to wake you both up."
"Don't be ridiculous. We are your parents if you can't wake us up to talk then we are not doing our job right. Now how was Sasuke?" Yoshino asked.
"He woke up just before I was about to leave. He was so scared and confused. He didn't know where he was and he couldn't really understand what was going on. We tried to comfort him, but you could tell he was so scared."
"He must have been so confused. The last thing he would have remembered was being in pain and those men. Waking up in a strange bright place would have been scary for anyone." Yoshino said.
"Did he say anything?" Shikaku asked.
"He said it was so dark and so cold. He was in a lot of pain."
"Dark and cold was he talking about the hospital room?" Shikaku asked.
"No he was talking about where he was being held. He didn't say anything else about it, but you could tell from the tone in his voice. Tsunade came in and checked him out. His eyes are a little damaged. His pupils were very uneven so the skull fracture is worse than Tsunade thought. His eyes were also slightly yellow from the lack of sun. Tsunade said he had a vitamin D deficiency but that it was easy to correct."
"He got that from just the nine days in that room?" Yoshino asked.
"Tsunade said that that would have pushed the deficiency into the next level. She said that Sasuke had been training at night and sleeping during the day so he hadn't been outside much in the last few weeks. She said it was easy to fix with just taking vitamins."
"Well that's good that it can be corrected. How was his brain?" Shikaku asked.
"He was confused really easily, but he was able to answer simple questions about math and colors. Tsunade said that was a good sign. He couldn't talk about what happened; his mind couldn't focus on that. Tsunade said that he might be sick tonight from the skull fracture. She's hoping he doesn't, because it can make him dehydrated and that can be dangerous. She has one of her best nurse stationed by Sasuke's room just in case he is sick tonight."
"Skull fractures tend to make people really sick for a few days." Shikaku said.
"That poor boy we should go and see him tomorrow and make sure he is okay." Yoshino said.
"We will definitely do that. Kakashi is with him tonight?" Shikaku asked.
"He is. I offered to stay, but he told me to go home and get some sleep. Sasuke was asleep when I left."
"We can go and see him in the morning once we get some breakfast into you. How are you doing with all of this?" Shikaku asked.
"I feel better now that he has woken up. I know he has a long road ahead of him, but at least he can start it now. Before he woke up Kakashi and me were talking. Kakashi said that I had to make the adult decision on if I am going to be there for Sasuke through all of it or if not at all. He doesn't want me to give Sasuke false hope. He said it would be better if I wasn't there for him then leaving part way through. Kakashi said that he would understand if I couldn't handle doing this. He said he wouldn't hold it against me if I left. I told him I wasn't going to leave Sasuke. I know it will be hard for me, but it's going to be ten times harder on Sasuke. He was so scared when he woke up. How can I just abandon him with all of this? What kind of person would that make me if I just walked away? I can't do that to him."
"It is your choice on if you walk away or not. Whatever you decide we will support you. You just have to make sure you don't regret your decision. I agree with Kakashi it will be harder on Sasuke if you walk away part way through this. If you wish to be there for Sasuke than we will support you and do what we can to help." Shikaku said.
"I'm not walking away from him. He was so scared and confused. I can't just leave him like that. I won't do that to him."
"Then you won't and we will be there to help him. Sasuke has a very long road ahead of him and he is going to need all the support he can get. That poor boy is all alone in this world and we cannot let that continue. He has Kakashi and now he has the three of us. So tomorrow we will go and see him and if he is sick I have a few old remedies to help." Yoshino said.
"Thanks mom."
"Anytime sweetie."
"And anytime you want to talk do not be afraid to come in here. You may be thirteen, but you are still our son. We are here for you for anytime you need us. This isn't going to be easy for you either. Anytime you need a hug or to talk just come and get one or both of us. We will get through this as a family." Shikaku said.
"Thanks dad and I will. I feel better now that I talked about it. I'm gonna go to bed and try and sleep."
"Okay if you can't and you want some company just come and get me." Shikaku said.
"I will thank-you."
"You never have to thank us for being your parents sweetie." Yoshino said.
"I love you both."
"We love you. Now get some sleep we have a long day tomorrow." Shikaku said.
"Good night." Shikamaru said.
"Good night sweetie." Yoshino said.
Shikamaru got up and headed out of his parents' bedroom and down the hall to his own room.
"Oh that poor boy. He's been through so much in his life already and now all of this." Yoshino said to her husband.
"I know, but he is not alone in this. He's important to Shikamaru and that makes him important to me. We'll do everything we can to help. In the morning we can go and see him and hopefully tonight went well."
"I can't imagine what it would be like to be his age and have no parents. Kakashi is doing everything he can to fill the void of a father figure, but he's not his father. Even now at my age when I am sick I want a hug from my mother. I remember at that age there was nothing better than a hug from mom when you don't feel good."
"I know. Every time I got sick growing up I could go to my mother and she would be there. Just by her being there with me made me feel better. Sasuke hasn't known that since he was seven. Comfort is so foreign to him now and that is sad. No child should have to go through that."
"Sasuke is important to Shikamaru. Our son cares very much for that boy and we need to be there for the both of them. This is not going to be easy for them even when Sasuke is healed. They both have to know that this home is a safe place for them. I don't care if our son likes boys or girls all I want is for him to be happy. If Sasuke makes him happy then so be it, but the village and Sasuke's enemies might not see it that way. Sasuke needs to know that when he needs a safe place to be he can always come here."
"I completely agree. When Sasuke is in a better mindset and he is able to have a serious conversation we will talk to him about it. For now let's try and get some sleep tomorrow might be a long day if Sasuke is sick."
"I hope that poor boy isn't sick and he gets a break for a change."
"I hope so to."
"I must say you have handled this very well. Most fathers wouldn't be happy about their only son liking another boy. Most fathers would be angry and upset about it."
"They would be, but all I want is for Shikamaru to be happy. If Sasuke makes him happy than I am happy. He might be gay or he might change his mind once he tries it out. We don't know, he is still young and has lots of time to figure it out. I don't like that Sasuke has enemies, but that is not his fault. He got them when he was born an Uchiha. I can't fault him for that. As far as potential suitors go Sasuke is a very good choice. He comes from a strong Clan, he is intelligent, powerful, and has good genes. He is a very good choice for anyone to make. You are handling this well for someone who might never get a grandchild."
"Oh there is more than one way to skin a cat. Shikamaru could adopt or do it clinically. I want our son to be happy and I think there is more to Sasuke than he lets people see. I think all he needs is a mother's love and comfort to really come out of his shell. I just hope he can get past all of this. It would be a shame for him to be even more traumatized than he already is."
"Do you think he is traumatized still from his family's death?"
"I can't see how he wouldn't be. His whole family was killed. At the young age of seven he had to bury his whole family. I don't see how he couldn't be traumatized still. I know I would be."
"Sometimes it feels like Konoha dropped the ball with Sasuke. As far as I know there wasn't anyone assigned to Sasuke's welfare once his family was killed. Sasuke is very introverted and part of that is because of Konoha. As the adults we should have stepped up and done something. We should have checked in on him, we should have kept an eye on him. That is the point of a village everyone looks out for each other. The adults look out for the children and keep them safe. With Sasuke we didn't do that we let him down. Maybe if we had he wouldn't have been in this situation."
"There's no changing the past all we can do is work on changing the future. Orochimaru would have been after Sasuke even if someone had looked after him. Maybe the village wouldn't have split and went after him the way that it did, but we don't know that. If we focus on the past the future will escape us. All we can do is what is in our power to do; and that is to be there for Sasuke."
"I completely agree. We need to be there for him and he needs to know we are on his side and accept him."
"And that is what we will start to do tomorrow. Now we need to sleep so we are awake for tomorrow."
"Yes we do. I love you."
"I love you to sweetheart."
Yoshino kissed Shikaku before they laid down and tried to get some sleep with their busy minds.
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It was just past eight in the morning when the Nara family walked into the hospital. All of them had tried to sleep, but they were all too worried about Sasuke to truly get any sleep. They had all been up by six in the morning and they finally gave up. They got showered, and ate breakfast before they headed out. Shikaku didn't see the point in them sitting around wondering how Sasuke was when they could just go and see him for themselves. They walked over to Sasuke's room to find Kakashi standing outside leaning against the wall. He looked horrible like he hadn't slept all night. He looked completely exhausted on more than one level. They walked over to him and Kakashi looked up at them.
"You look exhausted." Shikaku said.
"It was a bad night." Kakashi sounded so exhausted and rundown. He needed a break and that was very clear.
"What happened?" Shikamaru asked.
"Is Sasuke okay?" Yoshino asked.
"He was asleep for maybe two hours at most before it started. He's sick, he's really sick. He's been throwing up all night. The head nurses are in a meeting right now trying to figure out what to do. He's really pale, shaky and his fever is back. It's been slowly climbing all night now it's 103. The head nurse gave him a shot to help calm the nausea and it was supposed to make him stop throwing up, but it made him sicker. Then around four this morning the pain was really bad so she gave him a dose of morphine and that made him sicker. He's in a lot of pain right now and he's so confused. He keeps asking why he can't move his legs and every time I try to explain he doesn't understand. Not only that he doesn't even remember he asked an hour later so he keeps asking me. He doesn't remember what happened and he doesn't understand why he is even in the hospital. He doesn't understand why he's feeling like this. He's terrified and I don't know what to tell him anymore. I should be in there with him right now, but I just needed a minute. He's always been so guarded and for the first time I'm actually seeing him for him. He's not a ninja or an Uchiha; he's just a traumatized thirteen year old who doesn't understand why he's sick and in pain. I always knew he was guarded what I didn't know was how he truly was when all of those walls come down. He's completely opposite than what he shows people. Which is a problem all in itself."
"He needs to have therapy to get over what happened to him growing up. That poor boy has been through a lot in his life. He was all alone from the time he was seven. He's had to build these walls to keep himself going and protected. The problem is the walls are false and when they come down he's just that scared boy still." Yoshino said.
"What about Tsunade is she doing something?" Shikamaru asked.
"One of the nurses went to get her. Something needs to be done. He's getting sicker and they don't know why. He hasn't thrown up in the last two hours though, so that's an improvement, but he's still getting sicker. They have been trying to keep him hydrated, but they can't keep up with it."
"I'm sure Tsunade will come up with a plan to help Sasuke. Do they know why his fever is back? I thought the infection was gone." Shikaku said.
"It is gone. They ran his blood part way through the night there isn't an infection. He's getting a fever for a reason, but they don't know what from. The skull fracture wouldn't cause it."
"Could he maybe just have the flu somehow?" Yoshino asked.
"I don't think so. He just woke up it's too much of a coincidence that he gets the flu after just being awake for two hours. It's from what happened to him, they just can't figure out how. I should get back in there."
"Why don't you take a few more minutes we can go in there and be with him?" Shikaku said.
"He's scared and confused I shouldn't be out here now. He's been alone for five minutes roughly now and he really shouldn't be alone. I just needed a minute to breathe."
"Let's go back in then and see if we can do something." Yoshino said.
The four of them entered the room and Sasuke was lying on the bed with the back of the bed raised up. He was shaking and very pale. They couldn't believe how sick he looked. Something was truly wrong with Sasuke and they needed to figure out what very soon. Kakashi went back over to Sasuke and began stroking Sasuke's hair.
"What's wrong with me?" Sasuke said shakily.
"I don't know, but Tsunade will be here very soon and she is going to figure it out. I wish I knew how to make it better."
Shikamaru went over to the bed and he held onto Sasuke's hand. Sasuke looked over at him.
"Hey Sasuke. It's going to be okay. I know you're confused, but you remember it's going to be okay."
"You look tired." Sasuke said.
"You should see what you look like." Shikamaru lightly joked like Sasuke had done when he was in the hospital.
Yoshino went over to the sink and ran a cloth under cold water. She wrung it out before she went over to Sasuke.
"Hey Sasuke I'm Shikamaru's mom. I'm going to place this cold cloth on your forehead it's an old trick to help when someone is sick. Hopefully this will help you feel a little better." Yoshino said with a sweet smile on her face.
Sasuke gave a small nod and Yoshino placed the cold cloth against Sasuke's hot forehead. Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to will sleep to come. He felt absolutely horrible and the pain was getting worse. He just wanted an escape, but he knew one wouldn't come. He tried to focus on Kakashi's hand going through his hair. He remembered how Itachi had done that once when he we very sick growing up. It was comforting and that in itself was foreign to Sasuke. Comfort wasn't something that he had really received as a child. Comforting and loving was not two words associated with Uchihas; so Sasuke grew up without it except for the odd time Itachi was there.
"Just try and sleep Sasuke. I know it's hard, but you can do it. Relax your body and your brain and just try and sleep." Kakashi said softly.
"It hurts." Sasuke said weakly.
"I know it does. I wish I could take your pain away. I wish I could make you better. We are going to figure this out though. Hopefully by the end of the day you will feel better." Kakashi said.
It was a shaky fifteen minutes of silence. They all knew that Sasuke was trying to sleep so they didn't talk. They wanted to get Sasuke to sleep so he could escape the pain and the sickness. After fifteen minutes Sasuke let out a groan and grabbed his stomach.
"Sasuke are you okay?" Kakashi asked.
"It hurts."
Sasuke sat up and continued to grab his stomach.
"How bad?" Kakashi asked.
"Nine"
"Just try and breathe through it. This happened last night remember and then it past after a few minutes." Kakashi said softly.
"It didn't hurt this much last night."
"I know just breathe through it. It will pass." Kakashi said.
Sasuke tried breathing for a few minutes, but Kakashi was wrong it wasn't passing it was only getting worse.
"I don't feel good."
"Are you going to be sick do you think?" Kakashi asked.
"I don't know." Sasuke said through clenched teeth.
Yoshino grabbed the bucket that was beside the bed on the bedside table and placed it so if Sasuke was sick he would be sick in the bucket. What they didn't expect was for Sasuke to throw up blood. Yoshino held the hospital bucket while Sasuke continued to throw up blood. Kakashi grabbed the emergency cord and pulled it from the wall. It was there for an emergency so an alarm would go off throughout the entire hospital. Shikaku held Shikamaru back so he wouldn't be in the way or over crowd Sasuke. Sasuke was still throwing up blood and a lot of it. Kakashi was rubbing Sasuke's back trying his best to comfort him.
"It's okay just breathe help is on the way."
Kakashi tried his best to sound reassuring, but the problem was he was freaking out on the inside. Sasuke was throwing up pure solid blood and a lot of it. Something was seriously wrong, something they missed and that something was huge. The door to the hospital room was thrown open and in ran Tsunade and five nurses behind her. Tsunade ran over to Sasuke and everyone could see the shock on her face.
"Everyone move out of the way." Tsunade ordered.
Tsunade took Kakashi's place and a nurse took over for Yoshino. The other four nurses moved around the bed pushing the others back in the room. Shikaku still had his hands on Shikamaru's shoulders. They didn't know what was going on, but something bad was happening inside of Sasuke right now. In the less than two minutes Sasuke had easily loss two pints of blood. He was getting paler and paler by the second and they could tell Sasuke was barely conscious. Tsunade had her hands on Sasuke's stomach and her face held nothing, but concern. After less than a minute she spoke.
"He needs surgery right now he's bleeding internally. Let's go." Tsunade said in a hurry.
The nurses went to work on unlocking the bed wheels and before anyone could say anything Tsunade, four nurses and Sasuke were out the door. One nurse was left behind to explain to the others what was going on.
"I don't know what is going on or what has happened. You heard Tsunade-Sama, Sasuke is bleeding internally. For there to be that much blood this has been happening for a while now. I don't have many answers, but the best guess I have is that something happened when he was held for those nine days. The damage done to his internal organs is clearly more severe than we thought. When Tsunade-Sama did her check of Sasuke when he was first brought in there were so many problems that some things could have been over looked. The internally bruising could have hid another problem. Once he was healed we didn't check Sasuke out for any more injuries. We all thought he was healed. Our main concern was then the skull fracture and the infection. Tsunade-Sama will have more answers once she is able to see the true problem. It could be something small and simple as a deep cut that has been slowly bleeding for the last fifteen days. Or it could be something major. For now it's best to think positively and remember that Sasuke is in the best hands." The nurse said.
"There was so much blood though." Shikamaru said.
"If he has been bleeding internally, from the looks of it, it would have been a slow bleed. As he bled his body would have been making more. So it does look like a lot, but the blood loss wouldn't be that high. If anything it could just make him slightly light headed. There was a lot of blood, but it would have been building up for fifteen days or so." The nurse answered.
"What if he hasn't been bleeding for that long?" Kakashi asked.
"I really don't see any good in giving you the worst case scenario." The nurse replied.
"The worst case scenario is Sasuke dying. This is just answering questions that are very much a possibility. So please." Kakashi said.
"If he hasn't been bleeding for the fifteen days then something happened while he was unconscious. It does happen when a person's body goes through a trauma like Sasuke's has. Sometimes organs start to bleed, sometimes for a lack of a better word they explode. If that is the case it could be why he woke up. The added stress to his body could have made him wake up. If that is what happened then the blood loss is a serious problem and Tsunade-Sama and the nurses will need to work quickly to repair the damage and get the blood back into Sasuke."
"So he could do die." Shikamaru said lightly.
"Sasuke is in the best hands that he could possibly be. For now you can stay in the waiting room and when we know something someone will come and inform you."
"Thank-you." Kakashi said.
The nurse left the room to go and join the others in the operating room.
"This can't be happening." Shikamaru said.
"It's going to be okay son." Shikaku said.
"Sasuke is strong sweetie. He's survived all of this and he can survive the surgery. It's probably just a slow bleed like the nurse said. Sasuke was seriously injured its common for doctors to miss something. Sasuke was very seriously injured its normal for bruising to hide other injuries. I'm sure it's nothing serious." Yoshino said.
"What if it is?" Shikamaru asked.
"Then we will figure it out. Sasuke is tough he doesn't know how to give up and die. If this is something serious we will figure out how to deal with it. For now let's just go into the waiting room and wait for an update." Kakashi said.
"Kakashi is right we shouldn't be thinking the worst. Come on son let's go and wait for Tsunade-Sama to give us an update. Everything will be fine." Shikaku said.
They all made their way into the waiting room to wait for word from Tsunade about Sasuke's condition. It was a good five hours before Tsunade entered the room. They all stood up and went over to her before she barely got in the door.
"How is he?" Shikamaru asked.
"He's alive. It was touch and go for a little while there, but he pulled through."
"What happened?" Kakashi asked.
"As you all know Sasuke's body went through a lot of trauma in those nine days. Sometimes with trauma that severe things that appear to be fine can actually be seriously damaged. When I healed Sasuke I checked everything and some of his organs had bruising on them, but they were functioning and appeared to be fine. It does happen that something important can be missed, due to all of the trauma. It's very easy for the bruising to hide a serious problem that can be over looked. Two of Sasuke's organs were more damaged that I had originally thought. His spleen and his right kidney were very bruised and would have been very painful. Now his spleen helps with clouting your blood. With his spleen not working properly his blood would have thinned out and making it very easy for internal bleeding to happen. His right kidney was also starting to fail. We didn't notice it, because his left kidney was working properly and Sasuke was asleep. He couldn't tell us if there was any new or worsen pain. The reason why he woke up when he did was, because of the added pain and stress on his body. His body sent a signal to his brain and made his brain start working on waking him up. Our body is very smart and it knows when it needs help. By sending out that signal for Sasuke to wake up we were able to catch this before it was too late. If Sasuke hadn't woken up he would have kept bleeding internally until he bled out."
"So that's why there was so much blood, because his spleen wasn't working?" Shikamaru asked.
"No. His spleen wasn't working so his blood would have been thinner and it would have accounted for some of the blood. The majority of the blood came from his kidney. When the peak of the pain hit right before he started to vomit blood Sasuke's right kidney erupted. It completely ripped in half. That was why there was so much blood and combined with his spleen not working his blood was very thin and it would have been very easy for him to bleed out. Thankfully we got him into surgery and I was able to repair the damage. I had to remove his spleen and his right kidney. He will need to take a prescription for the rest of his life to help with clouting his blood now that his spleen is not there. He will also need to be careful for when he returns to duty with having only one kidney."
"He can be a ninja with just one kidney?" Yoshino asked.
"I do have ninja right now with one kidney or another organ missing. One kidney makes me a little nervous especially at Sasuke's age and being a ninja. It's very easy to damage the remaining one; however, he can still be a ninja he just needs to be careful. If his kidney starts to fail he will need to be placed on the transplant list and kept off duty until he gets a new kidney. So any pain that he gets on his left said will be important to have checked out just in case."
"Are there other signs to watch out for?" Kakashi asked.
"The most common and noticeable would be blood in a person's urine. That is the most definitive symptom. Unfortunately kidney failure can go on for a while before any symptoms appear. That is why every six months I will have Sasuke come in for tests to monitor his kidney."
"But he's going to be okay?" Shikamaru asked.
"He's going to make a full recovery. He's back in the room now and is asleep. I had to give him anaesthesia for the surgery and he should be awake within the next six hours. If he is not awake don't worry about it. His body has been through a lot and it will need the extra rest. It won't be fifteen days again though he'll be up before tomorrow morning. He probably won't be awake for long and he will be like that for the next week. He'll be awake for five to ten minutes and then back to sleep for a few hours. His body is trying to heal and sleep is best for that."
"The important thing is that he will be waking up and making a full recovery." Shikaku said.
"That poor boy just doesn't quit." Yoshino said.
"Sasuke is a fighter and he won't give up that easily. He's been through a lot and hopefully we won't get any more surprises. You can go and sit with him if you'd like. I am going to have a nurse check in on him every hour just to be safe. I don't expect anything to happen, but he did have an infection for a good week after being rescued. I don't want another infection from the surgery. So she is just going to monitor his vitals and take a blood sample every three hours just to be safe."
"Do you expect him to get another infection?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm not sure. The nurses said he was getting a fever overnight. It could have been from the internal bleeding or it could be an infection. He doesn't have a fever right now so I'm leaning more towards the bleeding that caused the fever. I just want to make sure I am right and stay on top of it."
"Why don't we go and sit with Sasuke and keep him company." Yoshino said.
"I think that is a good idea." Shikaku said.
The four of them headed out to Sasuke's hospital room and sat down with him. He was asleep in the bed and they knew they would be in for a long wait, but they didn't mind. Sasuke was safe once again and they were all hoping that this would be the last time they had to worry for his life.