Hnnnng~~~~ I have recently learned that I have mock exams next week so I won't be able to write *never studies so she has to cram* I'll post as soon as I can =_=
Lucky this one isn't a big cliffhanger or anything ;P Don't kill me for the filleryness. Thanks to everyone who reviews! You make my day.
Enjoy! Till next time,
In his dream, Naruto was standing by the river that Sasuke had carried him dripping wet and heavy across on his back. By the bank there was black bunny with small flecks of white on its chest and around its muzzle. Naruto and the rabbit watched each other for a while and then he took a step forward. The bunny didn't bolt, rather it took one little hop forward but Naruto noticed its hop was a bit sad and slow.
"What's wrong with you little guy?" asked Naruto as he dropped to his haunches. The rabbit looked up at him when he reached out and touched its strangely pink nose with the tip of his finger.
"I'm sick," replied the bunny and for some odd reason it was perfectly fine for this animal to be speaking human language. Naruto cocked his head to the side and considered the creature, his eyes touching the white speckles with his gaze. The bunny weakly lifted a foot and scratched its ear with its long slender limb. Naruto hummed questioningly.
"What kind of sick?"
"Love sick."
"Isn't that a good kind of sick?" inquired Naruto. To this the rabbit sat up on its hind legs, its tiny little front paws tucked tight up against his fluffy chest only to sway slightly and have to come back to its four legged position.
"Shouldn't being lovesick mean you've fallen in love, shouldn't that make you happy? Isn't that a good thing?" Asked Naruto.
"Not at all..." replied the bunny distantly. Naruto patted the top of his ears, wondering how he had come across such a politely spoken animal just sitting by the riverside. There was a long moment where neither of them spoke. Naruto and the rabbit sat in the quiet listening to the river bubble.
"Here being lovesick is just how it sounds; sick because of love," said the bunny suddenly making Naruto start as it broke the silence. "And I have become lovesick..." The boy looked to the tiny ball of black fur, his face expressing his concern. Sick because of love?
"That's terrible."
"Isn't it just. She is so beautiful and I love her so but now we have both become lovesick, we've both become weak... Is there someone you love, Boy?" Naruto bit his lip as Sasuke jumped to his mind, his dark eyes invading the blonde's head. Was it the same thing? The rabbit was talking about a girl rabbit right? Did his very unsure feelings for Sasuke count the same? Were feelings from a boy towards another boy the same as those from a boy to a girl or vice versa? There was no one else around so it was fine to not deny anything in his head. He had feelings for Sasuke. Probably. Briefly, he turned the idea of his semi easy acceptance of this being down to the fact he had so little life experience. Naruto thought his response over slowly before answering.
"There is. A little." The little rabbit moved out from under Naruto's hand and hopped close to his human companion.
"Let me tell you something before you come to love that person so much you can't bear to part from them." He hopped onto his hind legs and Naruto put a large hand behind his back so that he wouldn't fall again, his thumb coming around to support his small furry front. The bunny nodded his thanks and Naruto frowned at how he could feel his straightened spine against his fingers. He really was sick.
"For two beings who love each other... being together does not always bring the greatest happiness... Be careful with what you choose..."
The dream ended there and Naruto slipped into consciousness.
His eyelids were nearly too heavy to lift. The sun was warm on his face and the bed was so comfortable. He didn't want to move.
"... fine mind from what I hear too." The voice was that of someone trying to make conversation. Naruto opened his eyes and let the daylight flood his vision as he drank in the hospital scene. Sakura was there by the window, her fingertips at the stems of a bunch of daffodils. Tsunade was there too, standing next to her as she looked out the window. Her crème bur lee eyes moved to Sakura's hands as the pink haired girl arranged the flowers somewhat timidly.
"Steady hands too."
"Ah... Thank you..." replied Sakura and Naruto took the silence that followed as his cue to speak up.
"Haruno san, Baa chan, good morning." Both females turned to him and Sakura's face broke into a relieved smile as he hurried to his side.
"Naruto, how are you?" she bubbled to him, her hand near his as she leant over his lying down form. She seemed eager for something. Naruto couldn't think what.
"Naruto, how are you?" echoed Tsunade but somehow it seemed more clinical coming from her as she came close to the bed.
"Fine," replied Naruto smiling nervously at her as she picked up his chart and flicked through it.
"So it seems," said Tsunade shortly and then felt his forehead, her fingers gently moving his fringe off his face, her long red painted nails trailing in a way that was almost soothing across his skin.
"Is he alright to go home Tsunade sama?" The question came from Sakura and the way she talked so formally to the older woman made Naruto think of the bunny from his dream...
"Not yet. He can stay in here and rest for the day then he can go. I'll get you some breakfast brought in." Naruto smiled a little as Tsunade straightened up and headed for the door with a small bow to both him and Sakura. He inclined his head in return and Sakura bowed, bending at the waist and remaining there until the woman had left and the clack of her heels dampened as the door clicked closed.
"Do you remember what happened yesterday?" asked Sakura as she cast around for a chair and dragged it closer to the bed so she could sit. Naruto opened his mouth to reply but a nurse with an unnaturally tall table came wheeling in the door. Both teens watched her as she pushed it up over the bed until it came to rest in front of the boy in bed. They waited until she had finished unpacking his breakfast to talk again.
"Yesterday..." started Naruto as he split his chopsticks. "Yesterday we went swimming and then you slept and I went for a walk and then..." he paused with a chopstick in each hand and then laughed breathily. "Actually that's all I remember. Why am I in the hospital Haruno san?" How odd. It hadn't even occurred to him. How had he got here? He looked to the girl beside him. Her face was knotted loosely into a frown, a soft look of disappointment water washing her sea foam eyes. She smiled when she caught him watching.
"You uh... collapsed at the river. Kakashi sensei brought you here." She was hiding something but Naruto didn't push it because what she said next invoked a very strange feeling.
"Sasuke kun was really worried I think"
Warmth seeped through Naruto. Like weak sunlight. He couldn't decide if it was happy or sad. All of a sudden Sasuke's name was... warm and nostalgic. Warm like affection but somehow it held an underlying sadness. But still the light flutter of understanding something that he couldn't remember made him drop the chopsticks all of a sudden. It was different to the normal warmth he had with Sasuke related matters. It was still safe but this time... more. Like he had remembered only a feeling. A feeling from a time he forgot, found and lost...
Sasuke was... Sasuke is... his name, any thought of him was warm and so soft that Naruto could nearly cry.
"Haruno san."
"What is it? Are you alright?" He lifted his face to her, his clear summer blue eyes searching her with unusual intensity for a moment and then easing off.
"Nothing... Was he? I see." Naruto crossed his legs and picked up his first mouth full, feeling self conscious as Sakura kept watching him. He chewed as slowly as he could; trying to eat politely. When he was done he placed the chopsticks and bowl to one side and turned to her. He had been thinking.
"Haruno san?" He said again.
"Yeah?" She turned to him and smiled. He smiled back.
"Why did I collapse yesterday." She tensed.
"You can tell me. I don't feel any different from yesterday so it's ok to tell me something that changed nothing." Well, almost nothing. Nothing to do with her or anyone else for that matter. Just him and Sasuke. Well, just him. Sasuke wasn't... he didn't also...
Sakura came to the foot of the bed and Naruto backed up again as she climbed onto the end and sat across the table from him. She was serious all of a sudden. It was slightly unnerving. But she couldn't hold it for long because as he watched she looked down to her hands and smiled sadly.
"You were standing up on the hill and Sasuke kun was on the dock and you were watching each other and... you just sort of... fell." She looked up to see whether he understood. Which he didn't. How frustrating. He tried not to frown.
"Why?" he asked feeling pushy. She blinked.
"Honestly... I thought you looked like you were in the middle of remembering something." Naruto's eyes went wide.
"That's...that's..." He voice caught in his throat because it was becoming slowly clear why he felt different.
"I know," replied Sakura.
"Haruno san."
"Yeah."
"I did remember something." She was still and she stared.
"Wha..." He put his hands up to stop her.
"Well kind of. What I mean is that I think I remembered a feeling that might match with a memory or something like that..." Naruto trailed off, realizing he wasn't making much sense.
"That's crazy."
"Yeah."
"Do you really think that?" she asked. Naruto was self conscious again. That was a bit direct. He drew himself into his shoulders as he "Mhhmmed" a reply, hoping that if that was wrong and just completely stupid Sakura wouldn't hear him.
"Its just you said I was looking at Sasuke when I was remembering and suddenly... when I think about him and when I hear his name I feel... sort of... warm. I feel like there is something stronger in our bond..."
"Naruto."
"Hm?"
"What do you think of Sasuke kun?" There is was again, that warm watery nostalgic affection seeping through him. It was almost like being what he imagined homesickness would feel like.
"What do I think of him? He's..." Sakura watched him.
"He's... my... we're..." Naruto's breath escaped, brushing through his lips. What was with this feeling? It was something like happiness, no doubt. But somehow, it made him long and ache. For what he wasn't sure. For Sasuke? For something he and Sasuke were? For his past? What was Sasuke to him...? The person that he... His... The only...
"Do you like him?"
"Huh?"
"Do you like Sasuke kun?"
"Of course I do. He's my best friend isn't he?"
"I see." They sat in quiet. And then more quiet.
"Is there someone you love?" Sakura's voice came quietly across the table.
That was direct again. And sort of unsettling. Her voice was the same as the black and white bunny from his dream. Kind of... wary. Maybe not the same wary though. She seemed to be anxious about his reaction.
"I don't know... Is there some one that you love Haruno san." Naruto understood now why she had spoken quite nervously, quietly. It was something to be careful with; this question.
'Who is it you love the most?'
Sakura smiled and it put him at ease. After all, she knew him better and appeared more comfortable with him than he, who had such little experience with her, was in return to her.
"You could say that."
"That's nice."
"Yeah... It is." The girl's eyes filled with light as she sat with her face in her palms, leaning on the table and Naruto wanted to tell her how she pretty she looked. A smile, a true smile. Maybe the first he had seen from Haruno Sakura. However, her happiness only made him think of how confused he was and how much it was starting to hurt; not knowing what to do with himself... Surely, it wasn't like the bunny had said? That was just a dream.
"For two beings who love each other... being together does not always bring the greatest happiness..."
Was it impossible? The feelings that he had for Sasuke...? Would nothing come from the fascination he had with the other boy?
Naruto shook his head and then dropped it into the nest his arms made on the surface in front of him, pushing his nose into the nothing scent of his own skin.
"Naruto?" Sakura's voice floated light and smooth and the sun was soft like a blanket on his back. She sounded concerned. He wanted to sleep. If only his heart would stop beginning to race as a thought crossed his mind again.
"Ne, Haruno san... Do you think... that boy for boy feelings are the same as girl for boy or boy for girl feelings?" Naruto asked with his head down, embarrassment burning his ears. He heard her tense.
"I think... it's the same. It's still love right? Boy and boy or girl and girl or boy and girl... It's the person that you like, not the gender."
"Mmmm... Won't he think it's gross; me thinking of him like that?" Both knew who Naruto was referring to. Sakura put her hand on his head and ruffled his thick tresses fondly.
"There's nothing gross about you." He kept his head down as Sakura rubbed her fingers in his hair.
"You know, Sasuke kun has a lot of admirers and he's heard "I like you" so many times that it must be just annoying now... But. He always looks different when he's with you and always looks kind of offended whenever anyone else touches you." Slowly Naruto lifted one side of his head and watched the girl in front of him as she looked out the window again, her hand still on his head.
That's right. That first day when he and Sasuke had met Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata on the street Kiba had been so friendly and touched Naruto easily. For the most part, Naruto had just basked in the feeling of having someone drape his arm over him in such a "we're mates" manner. He liked Kiba a lot. However, at one point Naruto had looked back for the briefest of moments and Sasuke had this look on his face like some one had said or done something very rude to him. His mouth was pulled down at the corners, his eyes on the ground. He had been scowling something terrible. Naruto remembered that face making him very curious, but only for a second before Kiba poked his cheek, drawing his attention back.
"Its like only he is allowed to say anything to you. Even if its bad stuff. He always looks like he might jump in and protest if someone other than him is scolding you. I think that it's true that Sasuke is sick of confessions but... "Sakura turned to him, a serious look on her cute face. "If it's from you, I think he would be happy to hear how you feel. It's better to live your life out loud, especially when you're a ninja. Somehow you'll be better off. You should let him know. I don't think he will push you away. "
Naruto smiled gratefully. His body was slightly lighter with relief.
Sasuke san...
"Thanks Haruno san. Maybe I will."
…
Kakashi spent the whole day at briefing. His mission preparation had been held early since Naruto had been in the hospital all day so Sasuke couldn't do anything. The Hokage had called him in and told him that the last day left before he set out would be used for his own preparation, whatever that may be. It was the jounin's first high rank mission in quite some time and he'd be accompanying a few ANBU too that he had met today.
It had been somewhat awkward. They regarded him with their masks on and their chins raised like they were so much better, unaware of the name "Hatake Kakashi" meaning anything more than a particularly skilled jounin. Stupid code names. It made him angry to be thought lowly of but he had smiled a bit to himself. Both looked fairly young as far as he could see. If he had still been part of the ANBU they would have been his juniors and more respectful; he'd show them.
Right now it was late at night and Kakashi was taking a walk. Once again, even though when he became a team leader he swore he wouldn't become too attached, that he would only do what he could in the field of shinobi training, he was walking past Sakura's house to check her bedroom light was off. And once again he was turning down the all too familiar road that lead into the Uchiha compound and stood at the edge of the area, wondering what Sasuke was doing; sleeping peacefully or having another nightmare. Or maybe not asleep at all. All were possible. Kakashi walked to Naruto's house too and saw the light on. Uneasiness bubbled somewhere at the base of the silver haired man's throat. Was Naruto still unsettled inside the apartment? All alone...
Damn.
This is what he hadn't wanted when he took on Team 7. To worry, to care how they were when they weren't together. To know things other than the exact style of their fighting, every jutsu they knew, the accuracy of their kunai and shuriken, how fast they could set a trap. Of course he did know that too.
Naruto was, no, had been a clumsy fighter but he was strong which bought him time to think of the next move while his opponent was falling from a strong punch or a sturdy kick. He wasn't great with shuriken but decent with kunai which he preferred to use because of that. His specialty was the kage bushin no jutsu and he had next to no idea how to set a well hidden, effective trap without help.
Sasuke was a brilliant fighter who could think fast and deliver well placed clean attacks which is where his power branched from rather than pure brute strength alone. Brute strength he had plenty of too but he didn't have the chakra Naruto had to keep thrashing until something landed. He was smart; a genius and his shuriken accuracy was perfect. His kunai use was the same. He favoured fire jutsu like most of the Uchiha clan but his best skill was no doubt the sharingan. His trap work wasn't bad but sometimes it was a bit messy from a jounin's point of view.
Sakura was weak. She was quick because of her precise chakra control but had next to nothing on a bigger, stronger, opponent. However, lately she was improving with her taijutsu and she also had budding genjutsu skill to rely on when in trouble. Her weapon use was accurate and nearly perfect. Her trapping was the best of the three and highly sophisticated because of the head on her shoulders. Tactics was also one of her strong points.
Kakashi knew all this but he also knew other things.
Naruto loves ramen more than anything in the whole world and hates reading.
Sasuke always has his rice plain and doesn't like hot springs much. He's always out first.
Sakura refuses to wear black ninja shoes while wearing a blue forehead protector and has a soft spot for dango.
Damnit. He hadn't wanted this but now he had it and now... he was going to miss them a bit while on his mission. He was going to worry.
Tomorrow Kakashi would spend the day at home with his Icha Icha Paradise; maybe keep Pakkun for a bit of quiet company. And then he would leave the next day, show those juniors what he was made of... and try not too worry, praying no one did anything stupid while he was away.
Sasuke especially.