Healing – A Village Mourns

Sasuke had never been so glad to see the gates of Konoha at the end of a mission as he was this time. As the trek had gone on, it seemed that Naruto had grown heavier and heavier and Sakura had stumbled more and more, almost pulling him over in his efforts to support her. It had seemed like his body was nothing but a collection of aches, kept moving by his will and stubbornness, that were both already taxed in keeping the cursed seal from escaping. Making it past the gates had been an effort in itself, but as soon as he had reached the interior of Konoha-proper there had been helping hands that were all too eager to take his weight from him. The chuunins that had been guarding the gates had seen him stagger in and, upon seeing him as one of their fellow Konoha ninjas, had gently guided Sakura away, taking her weight from Sasuke's tired shoulders.

Sasuke had not missed the brief, glared argument between them before one had stepped forwards and taken Naruto into his arms.

Together, they had made a strange procession to the hospital, where the two chuunins left them in the non-critical care section. There, Sasuke had to report their names and retrieve the medical files for himself and his team-mates from a harried-looking member of the administration staff. They were then pointed to the end of a row of chairs filled with other people, both ninja and civilian, who to Sasuke's eyes all had superficial wounds. He sat stiffly in between Sakura and Naruto, who both leaned against him, resting. Sasuke carefully moved his hand to his holster and withdrew one of his last shuriken, and placed it into the palm of his injured hand. Any time he felt like he might be joining his team-mates in sleep he tightened his hand slightly, jabbing the points of the shuriken into his already abused palm to wake himself again.

After ten minutes or so of observation, Sasuke realised that this section of the hospital had only four members of staff present, including the one manning the desk. It seemed that a doctor and two nurses were all that could be spared from the main triage going on further in the hospital, and that they were frequently called back there for various emergencies. Every so often the doctor would call out a name and someone else would acknowledge. This then resulted in a flurry of activity as the doctor checked them over then set one of the nurses to work on whatever was needed.

It seemed to Sasuke an eternity before he heard the name 'Haruno Sakura' called. Carefully he rose his hand, trying not to shake Sakura more than needed, and glad that it was Naruto trapping his injured arm. "She's over here."Although he did not say it, it was clear from his tone that he felt she should have been seen earlier.

The doctor hurried over, and gave a weary smile. "You don't look much like a Sakura, young man." His smile shook slightly as Sasuke glared at him with as much venom as he could spare. "I take it that she's your team-mate?" He waited for a nod from Sasuke, then bent to start to examine her. "Why did you bring her?"

"Standard protocol," replied Sasuke, stating the fact that the village policy was that any ninja who had been injured in action was to report to the hospital for treatment. "I think she got concussed in the fight. She lost consciousness, when she regained it she complained of lack of balance, and she was sleepy." Which should be self-evident by the fact that she's asleep on my shoulder.

The doctor nodded. "Can you give me her file, and then wake her, please?"

Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes. Obviously a civilian doctor. Probably the best place for them is here where they won't be having to deal with any ninja-type injuries or poisons. Sasuke held out the file, which the doctor took from him, then reached out and shook Sakura gently, being careful not to wake Naruto with the same motion. "Oi, Sakura. Wake up. The doctor's here to see you."

"Mmm?" Sakura's eyes opened slowly, and she yawned. "Sasuke-kun? Did I fall asleep?"

Sasuke repressed a sigh. "Yes, Sakura." He pointed towards the doctor. "Think you're awake enough to talk to him?"

Sakura blushed a little, which went unnoticed by the doctor who was busy reading. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

Sasuke grunted slightly. You think I really care about that? As long as you didn't drool on me, I was happy to let you. You really did get knocked about.

The doctor closed the file and knelt in front of Sakura. "Okay, Haruno-san. I'm going to check you for concussion then, if nothing's wrong, send you home." Sakura nodded patiently, being familiar with the checks for concussion. The doctor went through the checks with a practiced motion, born from the many repetitions that being a medic in a ninja village required. Once he completed them, he nodded and stood again. "Your team-mate is an excellent diagnostician. You've got mild concussion. Best thing is to go home and sleep it off. If you're not better in a day or two, come back in and we'll check for other injuries." He opened Sakura's file and noted something in it as he walked off.

"Thank you," called Sakura after him, wanting to show that she had good manners. She then tried to stand, wobbling slightly.

Sasuke watched her carefully. "You don't look so steady, Sakura. Will you be alright to get back home?"

Sakura nodded. "I don't live far from the hospital, remember?" She smiled. "You're going to stay with Naruto, huh?"

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. "Well, the idiot seems convinced I'm a pillow anyway, and I still need to get checked out." He looked up at her. "Go home, Sakura. You need the rest and your parents will be frantic. We'll all catch up in a day or two. We'll both be fine without you until then." Plus, I'm not leaving Naruto alone here. From how the chuunin acted, I don't think he's well liked when chaos is around.

Sakura nodded, then stopped and held her head painfully. "Okay, Sasuke-kun. You get yourself seen to soon, okay? And make sure they see to Naruto." She yawned. "I really need some sleep. I'll see you soon." She smiled at him then started to weave an unsteady path through the people in the hospital, heading home.

Sasuke watched her carefully until she left his field of vision then sighed. At least she'll be okay. She got knocked out of the fight so early that she's nowhere near as exhausted as me and Naruto. He tilted his head to look at his team-mate who was still slumped in deep sleep against him. Naruto's hair falling over his face reminded Sasuke that Naruto had lost his forehead protector in the fight. I hope Pakkun finds it. I can't understand why it means so much to Naruto, but if he risked his life against a jounin to get it back it obviously means a lot to him. He noticed that his eyes were drifting shut, so he jammed the shuriken into his hand again. What am I going to do about all this? What I saw? It's crazy, totally crazy. Naruto's just the same idiot he always was. He can't be a monster like Gaara.

"Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed and raised his hand. "Here." He watched the doctor come over and handed over his file. He noticed the doctor look interestedly at his eyes, before he opened the file and started to read.

"And why are you here, Uchiha-san? Concussion, like your team-mates?"

Sasuke scowled back at the man. Do I look incompetent? "Small scratches, exhaustion. I'm only here to get myself cleared."

The doctor raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Fine. You're free to go. You find out that you got hurt worse, come back."

Translation, he doesn't have time to argue with me, even though he wants to, there are too many other patients to see. Sasuke nodded, then settled himself to wait.

The doctor stepped away, then paused. "You're not leaving, Uchiha-san?"

Sasuke glared back. "Not until my team is seen. My whole team." The doctor sighed, then moved on again. Sasuke kept glaring at his back. I'm not moving from here until someone checks out the sleeping princess here. He kept looking around, his eyes starting to droop again. As a consequence, he was unsure if Kakashi's sudden appearance was his sensei's usual stealth, or an indication that he had fallen asleep for a moment.

"Good job, Sasuke." Kakashi's one visible eye twinkled tiredly at Sasuke. "Although I can't understand why you'd want to sleep on one of these chairs instead of a nice bed."

Sasuke grunted and nodded towards Naruto who, from the damp Sasuke could feel on his shoulder, had been drooling in his sleep. I'm going to make him pay for that, thought Sasuke sleepily.

Kakashi shook his head. "Why don't you go home, Sasuke? I'll stay here with Naruto."

Sasuke felt a clench of fear in his gut, then relaxed. There's no way that Kakashi doesn't know about Naruto. He is our jounin sensei after all, and I've never seen him treat Naruto like those chuunin that helped us to the hospital did. Just wish I knew whether I was afraid for Naruto, or of him. He shook his head to clear it, then nodded. "Fine. You watch the idiot." Hope he drools all over you. He waited for Kakashi to sit before gently shoving Naruto to lean against him.

Kakashi smiled down at the dozing Naruto, then fished about in a pocket. "You'll be glad to know that Pakkun found this, Sasuke." He pulled out a battered forehead protector and pressed it into Naruto's grip. Instantly Naruto's hand tightened around it, and he smiled in his sleep.

Sasuke stood, concentrating on not swaying from exhaustion too much. "What do I care? It's just a piece of metal that the idiot has decided has some value. It's not like he couldn't requisition another if he lost it." He tossed Naruto's file to Kakashi, then stalked out with as much grace as he could muster, ignoring the stinging in his neck and Kakashi's curious look. If he wants to know what happened out there, he can damn well debrief me after I've gotten some sleep. He let his feet guide him through Konoha without his conscious intervention, trying to stop his mind going back to the image of Kyuubi looming through the forest. Like hell I'm going to sort out what I feel about all this right now. I don't think I could focus enough to walk on water, I'm so tired. He disabled the traps around the door to his apartment, then shoved the door open. He ignored checking on his other security to see if there had been any intrusion into his apartment, instead favouring to go straight into his bedroom and collapsing onto the bed, not even bothering to remove his weapon pouches.

He was asleep in an instant, still covered in the sweat and grime from his battle, his exhaustion carrying him into deep and dreamless sleep.

Sakura was unsure what part of her headache was worse. The dull throb caused by the remains of the day old concussion was bad enough, but the shooting pains caused by her mother's worrying and nagging added enough variety that Sakura had decided to flee the house as soon as possible. She knew she could not blame her mother for worrying, seeing as how the fight and the concussion together had conspired to make her sleep until almost midday the following day.

Fortunately, the Haruno household had been on the side of Konoha furthest from the invasion, in an area mostly populated by civilian families. As a result, much of the immediate area was intact and the homes all had functioning electricity and water. In the end, Sakura had used the very fact that both Sasuke and Naruto lived in areas badly hit in the invasion to escape from her mother's grasp.

Upon explaining to her mother that she wanted to go check up on her team-mates, Sakura had quickly found her arms laden with lunch and other supplies to take with her to give to 'those brave boys who protected her no matter what'. That sentiment amused Sakura to no end, as she knew that they very well could have run away and hid for all she knew. She doubted that was the case but she had to admit the possibility, however slim, that one or both of what she had started to think of as 'her boys' might have realised that what they were facing was too great and retreated.

As if! Naruto would be too pigheaded to leave, and Sasuke-kun won't back down to anyone, even when it's pointless to continue. Sakura kept walking, noting that as she approached Naruto's apartment block that the day's reconstruction work was starting to slow as lunchtime approached. Everyone is so quiet, though. We must have lost greater numbers of shinobi than we needed to.

As she turned up the stairs leading to Naruto's apartment, she almost ran into Iruka. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Iruka-sensei! I wasn't watching where I was going and…"

Iruka waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Sakura-kun." He looked down at the bundles of food in her arms and his expression softened. "Are you going to see Naruto?"

Sakura nodded, readjusting the load. "When I heard that the power was out in this part of town, I figured he could do with someone bringing him some food. Plus, I kinda promised him that if he did well, I'd bring him some of my mother's onigiri." She looked back up at Iruka and was surprised to see him look worried. "Is something wrong, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka sighed. "I just went to tell Naruto the news. I thought it would be better coming from me than him just hearing it off the streets through the rumour mill, but I didn't think it would affect him that much." He tilted his head as he saw Sakura's curious look. "… Have you not heard either? Haven't you reported in yet for where you're being assigned in the rebuilding?"

Sakura shook her head. "Kakashi-sensei left word that we were to meet tomorrow and that we had today off to recover from the battle yesterday." She started to worry. "Why? What's happened?" What could possibly affect the great goofball that is Naruto?

Iruka sighed. "The Hokage was assassinated during the attack. The Village Council is managing to keep things together, but it's a huge blow to Konoha."

Sakura looked down. The Hokage… Dead? She shook her head, remembering the old man who had come by so many classes in the Academy, who had always had a kind word to say to every child. Even Naruto… When everyone else laughed at him and called him names, even Iruka-sensei, the Hokage was the only one to give him a kind word. Oh Naruto, I can see why you must be upset. She looked up again. "Who'd want to hurt such a kind old man, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka shook his head. "I know what the rumours are saying, but it's best to wait for official word." He reached out and squeezed her shoulder gently. "The funeral for him and the rest of our fallen is at noon the day after tomorrow. Try to get Naruto to come to it. It would have meant a lot to the Hokage."

Sakura nodded, then let Iruka push past her. That would be why the village is so quiet, even with all the construction going on. Until we mourn, life can't go on as normal. She started up the stairs again, climbing up to Naruto's apartment and banging on the door. "Naruto?"

She expected a bright 'Come on in, Sakura-chan' in response, but instead heard only silence. She tried to knock again, and then caught it. A faintly muttered response.

"Go 'way."

I could do what he wants, thought Sakura, but then, I want to see that he's okay. "Uzumaki Naruto, you open this door right now!"

"I said, go away!" came Naruto's reply, almost snarled.

Like hell I will, thought Sakura to herself, shoving the door open while reasoning that if Naruto really did not want visitors, he would have locked his door. She was surprised to find that Naruto's apartment was not as untidy as she had expected, but instead looked well cared for, even if the furniture had obviously seen better days. "Naruto?" She toed her sandals off by the door and padded quietly from the main room of the apartment into the bedroom, where she found Naruto curled on his bed still wearing his ripped and dirty tracksuit, back firmly pointed in her direction. "Naruto? Are you okay?"

Naruto stiffened slightly at her voice, then curled further in on himself. "I said, go away, Sakura-chan. I don't want to talk to you right now."

To Sakura's ears he sounded tired and devoid of his usual cheerful outlook. Probably not surprising. The Hokage must've been the closest thing Naruto had to family outside of our team. She lifted her head, deciding to ignore Naruto's feeble protest, and walked back into the kitchen.

As she had suspected, the kitchen cupboards were bare other than packets of dehydrated ramen, and when she tried the lights it was clear that there was no electricity in the apartment with which to heat water. She set down her bundles of food and quickly unpacked Naruto's share. "I just brought you some food, Naruto. Onigiri like I promised, and some other things that you can eat until your power comes back on." She grew worried at the silence that followed. Usually, Naruto and food equalled undying loyalty in her mind, not this heavy, oppressive silence. She quickly retied her bundle and moved back around the dividing wall, wanting to check once more on Naruto before leaving.

Naruto still refused to look away from the wall, which worried Sakura. "Thank you for the food, Sakura-chan. Now please, go away?"

Sakura sighed. Obviously, me hanging around won't let him grieve like he wants to. Poor Naruto. "Okay, Naruto, you win. Just make sure you eat what I brought you, okay? I'll come back tomorrow to check up on you." As she turned away, she saw Naruto raise a hand and give her a weak wave. Shaking her head, she went back to the kitchen and picked up her bundle, before retreating out of Naruto's apartment and heading for Sasuke's.

Approaching it, she came to a realisation. The whole apartment block seemed set up for one or maybe two person apartments, rather than the family-sized complexes she was expecting. Her suspicions were confirmed when the apartment manager finally let her in to Sasuke's apartment, revealing to her a well-furnished, obviously expensive apartment that was clearly meant for one person. All these times I've asked about his family and he's shrugged me off. This must be why. He's on his own, just like Naruto is. She shivered. It's a wonder that he hasn't beaten me to a bloody pulp over some of the things I've said. She moved carefully through the apartment, being sure to make enough noise so she would not seem like an intruder. "Sasuke-kun?"

She found him sprawled out on his bed, still in his sweat-stained clothes. The smell in the room caused her to raise a hand to her nose in disgust. Ugh. He really needs a change of clothes. And maybe fumigating. She drew closer and saw blood staining in patches on the tattered-looking bandages on his left arm. Must be from him using that 'chidori' of his again while fighting Gaara. It didn't look this bad when I couldn't think clearly. Moving to what she considered to be a respectful distance, Sakura decided to try to wake him. After all, he'll feel better for being clean and fed, even if he then goes back to sleep for a while longer. "Sasuke-kun?" she called softly.

The effect was electric. Sasuke was awake in an instant, kunai in hand and sharingan blazing. Sakura stood still and tried not to sigh. Having been on enough missions with Sasuke, she knew that waking him was often a task best accomplished from a distance if the wakeup call was unexpected. Slowly, the red faded from Sasuke's eyes and he folded the kunai away back under his pillow.

"What are you doing here, Sakura? This is my apartment."

Sakura started forwards slightly, confident that Sasuke would not attack now he was awake, and steadfastly ignoring the icy glare that Sasuke was giving her. "I wanted to check up on you. With the power out in your complex, I thought you could use some food."

"Whatever." Sasuke scrubbed at his face tiredly.

Sakura put her hands on her hips. "And this is no way to treat yourself after all you've been through. Sprawled out still in your gear." She moved over to the large sliding window in front of the balcony and threw it open, ignoring Sasuke's protest. "So you're going to have a shower, get cleaned up, and fix that arm of yours before it gets infected or something. You're then going to put some clean clothes on and come into the kitchen and eat some of what I've brought."

Sasuke shook his head. "I can look after myself, Sakura. As you can tell." He rose slowly off the bed, almost losing his footing and cursed at himself. Gaara wasn't so tough. I shouldn't be hurting this badly, even with this stupid seal. He shot Sakura a glare, then made a tactical relocation to the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, Sasuke had to admit he looked like he'd seen better days. Dirt, bloodshot eyes, some blood, and rings around my eyes that could put Gaara to shame. Peeling out of his clothes, Sasuke decided that it had to be almost twenty-four hours since the third exam started, judging by the colours of the many bruises on his chest and back. I look like I got mugged by those stupid trees. Stretching slowly, Sasuke turned his head to check that the cursed seal was still dormant on his neck. It had quickly become part of his daily morning routine, along with cursing the fact that it was still there. Sasuke sighed and started the shower, then yelped at the cold water. Damn. Power must be out again. He tried to ignore the cold and the extra cramps it was putting in his already abused muscles as he washed the layers of sweat and dirt off his skin, paying careful attention to his hurt arm. Once he was clean, he did not linger as he usually would to enjoy the hot water, but towelled off quickly before looking cautiously back into his room. From his small kitchen area he could hear quiet humming from Sakura, designed to be just loud enough for him to know where she was. Sasuke pulled some clothes on quickly, and padded barefoot into the kitchen to join her. "Still here, then?"

Sakura gave him what she hoped was a winning smile and set down a bowl of cold rice and vegetables on the table. "Still here, Sasuke-kun. I'm not leaving until I've seen you eat something." She watched him sit, then turned back to emptying out her bundle of food. "I'm glad that your arm is looking better. Those are some nasty scratches."

Sasuke remained silent, not wanting to tell her that his arm was only unbound because he did not want to spend the time binding it until she was gone from his apartment. Why did she even bother to turn up? Don't tell me she's relapsing back into that stalker-mode just because I helped her out in that battle.

Sakura finished making a neat pile of containers on Sasuke's counter, then sat with him, noting the thin layer of dust on the stool. Obviously he doesn't have company round much. "You know, Sasuke-kun, I'm sorry I never realised you live alone like this."

Sasuke grunted. "Yeah well. You girls were always too busy chattering away to ever notice. Funny how something like this could escape notice." He kept eating, not looking up. And I don't want pity for this. You don't pity Naruto for living alone, why should I be any different?

Sakura knew better than to press for detail as to why Sasuke lived alone. After all, Konoha was a ninja village, where many of the population were either on active service or related to someone who was. "I guess you've been asleep since you got home from the hospital. You won't have heard what happened." She paused and waited for a nod from Sasuke before continuing. "You know that the Sound and Sand villages attacked us at the third exam, and that they attacked the Hokage on his balcony?" She looked down. "They succeeded. The Hokage was assassinated while we were in the forest fighting that demon Sand ninja."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Orochimaru?"

Sakura shrugged. "I haven't even been told this officially yet, but from what I heard before Kakashi-sensei sent me after you, yes. He did it."

Sasuke suppressed a shudder. First he attacks me and gives me this 'present' of his, now he comes to my village and assassinates our leader. He's obviously powerful to have the respect of both the Sand and the Sound, and doubly so to take the Hokage in a fight. He's got some sort of bigger picture going on, so what does he want with me? How does one insignificant genin matter in a scheme that involves two shinobi nations and the assassination of the leader of a third? He moved a hand to rub at his neck tiredly. And what about demons? Why does the Sand have someone with a demon in them? Is he a weapon for invasion? And what does that make Naruto?

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked up to see Sakura watching him worriedly. "What is it, Sakura?"

Her eyes flicked sideways for a moment, and Sasuke assumed she was looking to his hand. "Is the seal okay? You must've worked hard with Naruto to stop whatever that sand-monster was."

Sasuke nodded. "I'm fine, Sakura. It's not a 'bad' neck-ache."

Sakura gave a relieved smile. "You probably just slept on it wrong then." She swiped the empty bowl away from in front of him and started to clean up. "Kakashi-sensei doesn't want to see us until tomorrow at midday, so who knows when we'll get debriefed on all of this." She looked down. "Doesn't really matter in my case. I got knocked out so fast that I didn't really see anything."

Sasuke nodded and tried not to appear grateful. I'm having enough trouble working through what I saw. I don't think that Sakura, however well meaning she is, would give Naruto space after what's happened if she'd seen that Kyuubi-henge. "You did plenty, Sakura. You helped us fight, and you saved Naruto who'd frozen like some idiot straight out of the Academy." And you gave us the motivation to fight as hard as we did. Sasuke tried to smile at her, but ended up yawning instead. Damn. I still need rest after all.

Sakura giggled and started towards the door. "Okay, okay, maybe you need some more sleep without me around to keep you up. I'll see you at the bridge at noon tomorrow, okay?"

Sasuke nodded. "Any guesses about how late Kakashi will be?"

Sakura shook her head as she put her sandals back on. "Probably not urgent, so could be anything up to three hours, I guess. Later, Sasuke-kun." She waved, then vanished out the door, leaving Sasuke alone.

He took a deep breath and sighed, then found it turning into a yawn. Damn. He stretched and walked back to his bedroom, laying down on the bed to stare at the celing. What am I going to do about Naruto? That henge, the red chakra, the image of a fox… He stilled, remembering the second exam. Those red, split-pupil eyes. It would explain so much, why the village looks at us so differently, even though we were both orphans. I always figured it was because he was a prankster, and I was an Uchiha, but what if… He shook his head. Kyuubi was supposed to have died in the battle, not be transformed into a boy.

He mentally reviewed the times he had seen Naruto naked, noting that it had happened more often than he really wanted it to. And I've never seen a seal on him, even though we've shared rooms more than a dozen times on assignment. He shuddered, trying to get rid of the image of Naruto, naked, from his mind and turned onto his side. It would explain why he has such a huge amount of chakra, just like Gaara does. It would explain those scars, maybe, and why they look like whiskers. And it would explain why he's like the Inuzuka clan, but not one of them. He's part fox, not part dog.

He let his eyes drift shut. Maybe he doesn't even know. If no one told us growing up, why would they tell him? Especially with his pride. He would've screamed it from the rooftops just to get some attention from someone. He didn't trust me and Sakura enough to tell us, even though he knows about the sharingan through Kakashi and myself. He sighed again, feeling himself starting to fall into sleep. I'll leave it for now. With the village in the state it is, issues of trust can wait until a better time. Naruto can tell us when he's ready. It's not like it's vital intelligence, and I might be misinterpreting all this. Might. He finally fell back asleep, dreaming of Kyuubi dancing under a sharingan sun that painted the world red.