(This is WAY too Déjà vu of the land of waves arc. I'm sorry for stealing that whole concept. Of course there's differences.)

"Aaarrgh!"

It only took a split second for me to figure out what had happened, and then to react.

Too much happened at once around me to take in. Sakura screamed, the sound dude said something, Kakashi came. He had obviously gotten the sound ninja away from me. But my vision was blurry and my mind was clouded to everything but Sasuke.

He wrapped his arms around his torso. He tried to keep his stature, but slowly went to his knees. I dropped beside him. "Sasuke…"

"Rrrghh! Argh!" He clutched tighter, and growled and screamed from pain. The wound was extremely, extremely deep and bleeding freely, but miraculously hadn't hit any vital organs. He had no problems breathing, and he wasn't blacking out.

Yet.

I unzipped and ripped off my jacket, then wrapped it around as much of the rip as I could.

"Sasuke, just…" I knew it wouldn't make much difference talking.

"Argh! Rrr…It hurts!" He screamed.

I pulled my jacket tighter, trying to stop the blood. "Calm…D-"

He was still growling and gripping at his chest, but his eyes were closing. He was forcing his consciousness, and he couldn't hold it much more. He had lost way too much blood.

"Sasuke! Stay with me!" I yelled.

"Rrr…" His eyes closed completely, and he slipped off his knees and on to his side.

For a second, I was upset. I panicked. Then all at once, I was angry. I was still oblivious to the world around me. My anger quickly hit Kyubbi's switch, and that was it. I felt my sub-consciousness lose control, and Kyubbi take over. My chakra strengthened, my nails grew, and my senses intensified.

But damn, Kakashi was good.

I don't now how he found a break in whatever he was doing, or what had happened to the sound ninja, but he got to me. He grabbed me by the back of my shirt. I snarled and thrashed with my newly clawed hands, but he ignored it.

With a swift, hard punch in my temple, I blacked out.

Wake up.

Uhn…

I said wake up, kit.

Kyubbi?

We got knocked out.

I know…Kakashi obviously didn't want me out of contro- Hey! What happened to Sasuke?!

You think I know?

He saved me, Kyubbi!

He was bleeding! He might die!

Why don't you just go back to sleep? Your body will be unconscious for awhile. There isn't anything you can do.

But…Sasuke…

There's nothing for you to do.

Whatever, Kyubbi. I wanted to yell at him some more, but decided he was right, and it wouldn't help anyway.

Sasuke might be dead, Sakura and Kakashi might be killed, and anything could be happening to my body.

It felt like minutes in my sub-consciousness, but it could have been days for all I knew, when I finally woke up. Body and all.

It was bright, so I definitely wasn't in the swampy like woods anymore. I woke up to…

A ceiling.

I was warm, covered in blankets. I sat up, and looked around.

I was in someone's house. There was a window to my left, and a door in front of me. There was a bedside table to my right.

Duh. I was in Iruka's house.

How the HELL did I get to IRUKA'S house?

The door knob of the door in front of me turned, and I jumped, grabbing at one of the blankets. It was Iruka. He blinked for a second then said, "So, you're finally awake. Kakashi must have hit you hard." He smiled.

"How…did I get here?" I asked, still in shock.

"Kakashi told me as much of the story as he could. He brought you back here. He carried you, along with Sasuke and Sakura back. He let the Sound ninja get away." He explained.

"Sasuke! Where's Sasuke!?" I asked, panicked.

"Calm down," He smiled at my anxiety. It must have meant Sasuke was alright. "Sasuke's in the hospital. He'll be let out tomorrow. You were out for a day and a half."

I sighed. Iruka's face got more serious. "How did that happen? Kakashi left that out. He said he didn't see."

'How' wasn't what I was thinking about. I was wondering 'why.' "Oh…he saved me. It might have been me."

"I guess I shouldn't go into details, then." Iruka mumbled. "How are things going with him?"

"Good. Can I go see him?" I changed the subject because I did NOT want to talk about my feelings right now.

"Sure, sure. Sakura's probably there, anyway." He answered.

Minutes later, after going through a head check, I was on my way to Konoha's hospital.

What do you say? What do you say to someone after they save you from what may have been certain death, had you not had the most amazing sensei in the world?

Thank you wasn't enough.

I got to the hospital and reached the lobby.

"Hi there!" The lady at the front desk perked up when she saw me come in.

"Which room is Sasuke Uchiha in?" I asked, pulling off a smile.

"102, Sweetie. To the very end of this hall, and the one on the right." She motioned with one hand down the hall.

"Thanks," She stopped me before I could turn.

"Is this yours?"

I turned to see her holding my orange and blue jacket, folded and cleaned. The blood was gone. "Yeah," I took it from her. "Thanks."

"Sorry about what happened." She said softer as I walked away.

I pulled my jacket back on as I walked down towards the end of the hall. The walls were an off white color, and the concrete made clomping sounds as I walked on it.

"104, 103, 102." I stopped, and hesitantly opened the door. "Hello?"

"Naruto! You're finally awake!" Sakura's semi-cheerful voice was the last thing I thought about.

I was really paying attention to Sasuke, in the bed closest to the door. The other side of the room was curtained off, but vacant.

"Sasuke's sleeping, too." She said, and I swallowed my sigh. I sat down next to her on the bench my Sasuke's bed.

"What happened to him, exactly?" I asked.

She brushed down her dress and took a deep breath. "After Kakashi-Sensei knocked you out, he did some jutsu and made the four of us transport away. He carried Sasuke and you, and I ran. He carried me whenever I slowed down, because he said it was important. He got Sasuke to regain consciousness, too," She changed the tone in her voice, it sounded a bit sadder. "He stopped most of the bleeding, and when we got very close to Konoha, Sasuke started saying he could hardly breathe. Then he couldn't breathe at all. Later, when we got him to the hospital, we found out he got a tiny rip in his lung tissue. In his poor condition, it got worse quickly. But he's fine now!" Her voice perked up at the end. "Can I ask you a favor?" She said suddenly.

"Sure, anything." But my gaze at the sleeping Sasuke never faltered.

"I'm going to go get some lunch, I haven't eaten today. Will you stay with Sasuke? Be sure to tell him I'll be right back!" She added.

Like he cares, I thought. "Sure."

"Thanks, Naruto!" She stood up and dashed out.

Now that she was gone, I could concentrate on Sasuke.

His eyes were closed and he was sweating slightly. His face-framing hair stuck to his cheeks. He looked even paler then he normally did. Underneath the sheets, he had pants on, and his chest was bare, but wrapped in bandages.

"Idiot…Saving me like that," I mumbled. I took one of his hands, the one closest to me, and held it with both of mine, squeezing softly. "I wish you would wake up."

"I guess…I could."

I dropped his hand immediately. "Were you faking it!?" I growled.

"Yeah…" He shifted slightly, pushing his body into sitting it up. "But only because of Sakura."

I sighed, "Why did you do that?"

He looked surprised. "Do what?"

"Save me, stupid." I whispered.

He was quiet for a second. Then finally after he noticed my fidgeting, "You're mad?"

"No! I'm not mad," I started. "But just, why?"

"I didn't want to see you get hurt. You're precious to me."

If my heart was an ocean, and my denial was a bridge I had been building over the ocean, it had just collapsed, and all the people in the cars fell in and drowned. Then the denial bridge broke off one end of the valley, and hit the bottom of my stomach. (I just wanted to say, that's my favorite paragraph. ;))

I bit my lip and shivered. "I have to go." In just that one moment, I think I snapped.

"Hn?" He looked up at me, surprised.

I stood up. "Sorry, I think I forgot something." I started to leave as quickly as I could. I couldn't bear to look him in the face.

I got out before he could say anything, and on my way out, I saw a very surprised and confused Sakura.

Time went very slowly in my mind as I headed back towards Iruka. I couldn't deny or get away from my feelings anymore. I needed to tell someone the truth.

"'Ruka!" I called, bursting back through his door.

"Hm? Naruto, what's the matter?" He looked more concerned then he should, so my expression must have been worse then I thought.

"Iruka, I can't take it anymore!" I cried. He came closer and rested his hands on my shoulders. I was close to breaking down.

"Calm down, what's wrong?"

"I'm in love with Sasuke!"

Dun, Dun, DUN! :D Please review :) If any of you asked, (Cause I know someone did) NOW he's admitting it :)