Child of the Leaf
Chapter Eighteen
by operadeglace
Naruto had taken a nap on the small table near Sakura's bed and was aroused from his slumber by a loud commotion outside in the hospital hall way.
He checked to see if the noise had awoken the blossom haired woman in the bed and once he found her to be sound asleep, he smoothed her hair to the side and kissed her forehead before quickly rushed to the door to shut the sounds out.
"What happened?"
"She was caught in an explosion outside of the gates."
"She needs blood… she's lost too much for us to perform the healing jutsu properly…"
"Can't it be done without a blood transfusion?"
"None of us have enough chakra reserves to recreate blood…"
Naruto heard Shikamaru's voice in the hallway and burst through the door as he heard what he had said.
"E-explosion!? Was anyone hurt?" He blurts out worriedly as he suddenly appears in front of Shikamaru and the medic nin. The medic bows in respect as Shikamaru raises an eyebrow at him and folds his arms.
"So… this is where you skipped work to be..? I should have known." The ponytailed man grunts as he glares at him. Naruto gulps.
"Aheheh… I'd gladly give you the seat of Hokage so that I could solve my family problems…" The seventh grins nervously, to which Shikamaru shakes his head vehemently.
"I'd rather not suffer through such a bothersome job." He says, rather annoyed, then starts to walk into the neighboring room with Naruto in tow. The blonde man notices a red haired girl being treated by medics, her limp body drained of color. She didn't look like she'd last very long…
"What are YOU doing here?" He hears his son's voice and turns quickly to find him brooding in the corner, his arms full of strange girl's dolls.
Bolt was crying.
Naruto's face contorted in pain. He hated to see his children crying. Before Naruto could speak, Shikamaru chimes in.
"He is here to save your Ayaka's life."
Two pairs of blue eyes widen as the Uzumaki patriarch is grabbed by the arm and sat in a chair near the bed. Before he could react, Naruto's arm was stabbed by a needle which extracted his blood. Once enough was taken, it was administered to the girl, along with a healing jutsu.
The medic nin sighed as the girl started to breathe normally under the green glow of their hands.
Everything is calm in the room… until the red haired girl wakes up.
"YOU WON'T TAKE ME ALIVE! YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE!" She screeches as she flails around with renewed strength. Apparently, she thought that he had been attacked and taken prisoner. Naruto holds his hands up defensively, making 'calm down' motions with his hands.
"Aya-ka. is it? Calm down. We're not going to hurt you." He says gently, smiling at her. She stares at him curiously, wondering if she had ever seen the whiskered man before. Bolt rises to his feet and willingly joins his father's side.
"Ayaka-chan! It's me, Bolt! You saved my life, remember!" Bolt cries for joy as he smiles at her. "This is my dad! He saved your life just now! It's okay!"
Naruto sighs in relief as his son speaks about him in a sort of proud manner. Shikamaru probably anticipated that this would happen once he volunteered him for the blood transfusion...
Hearing the voice of the young boy, the red head falls back onto her bed weakly, medic nin groaning in pain on the floor around her, strewn among the scattered medical equipment that she had destroyed when she awoke. Bolt rushes to her side and grabs her hand.
"I-I'm here to find someone." She says to him as she feels her limbs become heavy as the sedation starts to kick in.
"Naruto. Take Bolt home. I'm sure Hinata is worried about him." Shikamaru says quickly as he grabs the boy.
"H-hey! What the he-"Before the boy can respond, the genius shoves both of the Uzumaki out of the room. He locked the door so that the two wouldn't try to come back into the room.
Truthfully, Shikamaru wanted to help his friend patch up his broken family, and he feared that whatever the girl said next would not help him do so. He spoke to her gently as soon as the pounding on the door subsided.
"Are you here to find Shinachiku?" His deep voice asked in a very soothing manner.
"Yes." She replies with a fading voice.
He was right.
But, while Shikamaru had saved Naruto from a disappointed son, he could not predict that by sending the two Uzumaki away, he would set into motion a chain of events that would make things infinitely worse…
Moments after Naruto had escorted a kicking and screaming Bolt from the premises, Hinata appeared at the hospital, panicked.
While she was sulking, Bolt had gone missing.
After complaining to Hanabi about her situation with her husband, she had gathered enough strength to carry on and check on her son. Once she reached his room, she found him gone. Bolt's disappearances were commonplace in their household, so she calmly walked outside of the Hyuuga compound gates in search of him. Then she overheard two villagers talking about the exciting events of that morning… there was a kid that was injured by mysterious explosions outside of the gates.
She needed to know if her son was there. She needed to know if he was alright.
Desperately she sought out the injured child, and was relieved when Shikamaru reassured her that Bolt was fine, indicating that the red haired teen in the bed was, in fact, not her son. She appreciated his kindness.
He also reassured her that Naruto loved her.
"Your children need their mother and father, Hinata. Think wisely about your actions, or else you will find you and your loved ones in a lot of pain…" Her husband's assistant counsels her in a warning tone.
Hinata bows gratefully to him and starts to leave.
In her heart, she was finding it difficult to heed the wise Nara's cautionary words. She felt so betrayed. So angry. So hurt. So bitter. So jealous.
These were feelings she had never felt before.
Or, rather, these were feelings she hadn't felt in a while.
Honestly, when Naruto expressed his interest in her years back, she couldn't believe her luck. Even when Sasuke came back into town, the deep bond between Sakura and Naruto was undeniable.
In the first years of their marriage, Naruto would have little fights with Hinata and the first person he would run to was his former team mate.
He promised her that nothing had been going on between them, but deep within her, she felt a bitterness take hold of her heart. Although she knew that they were loyal to their respective partners, she couldn't help but be jealous of how close the two were.
At gatherings, they were always together. When Sasuke was gone, he would stop by her place in the mornings to check up on her. It was like her husband always found reasons to be close the the strongest kunoichi in the village…
And what he said to Bolt had confirmed her suspicions.
He was still in love with Sakura.
"No. He's married to you. He loves you. You have children together…" She whispers to herself, trying to stay positive. Her eyes shift to the side to see Sakura's room.
She was itching to check if he was in there.
"No. He's married to you, not her."
He hand slithered around the door knob as her heart fought her body.
"He supports you and your family. I need to leave this place and forgive him… we need to go back home."
The door opens easily as she pushes it and walks in. The fear in her heart subsides as Naruto is nowhere in sight with only Sakura slumbering on her hospital bed.
"Everything can go back to normal…" She whispers to herself reassuringly, then her world stops as she sees was is draped carefully across the sleeping woman's torso.
It was a familiar white coat, owned by the venerated Hokage. In his haste, Naruto had left his coat behind.
Her heart then sank to a place in which she was unable to retrieve it.
Hinata knew that she needed to leave.
Before exiting the hospital, she left a note with Shikamaru to give to her sister. The dark haired man was alarmed as he accepted the note from the weeping woman, so he broke her confidence after her retreat, and read the note.
What he read threw his mind into overdrive.
'I'm leaving Naruto. I need to have some time to myself to think about what my purpose in life is without him in it. Take care of my children. Don't worry about me. I love you.'
-The end of chapter 18.
-Story by ODG
Two chapters in a day because of exam month! Please let me know if you like it so far. :) Check out the new fan art section for CotL on my tumblr account! Thank you, artists, for the thoughtful art! I love it!
Special thanks to all those who reviewed! I appreciate it!
