Haha, I'm on a roll. Oh, and review replies are slow right now because I don't have much of an internet access. I haven't stopped appreciated the reviews, trust me! I love getting reviews... just a hint for those who haven't reviewed yet haha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

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Chapter Fourty Three:

"Hey you! How are you today?"

Sasuke didn't turn as the door was opened and the familiar voice rang from outside as his friend stepped in. He hadn't turned around to greet him the past... well... however many times he'd visited. Sasuke was beginning to lose track of time in this hospital room with his only permanent companion being out of commission.

Kiba came around pretty much every day, if not more than once a day. His best friend was here for him... he was here ever since Tsunade let him use the phone on the third day that he was trapped within the hospital. It took Sasuke a while to snap out of the initial shock and realize that his over-protective best friend was probably worried about him after potentially calling his home fifty million times. As Sasuke predicted, as soon as Sasuke said hello to Kiba from the other end of the phone line, Kiba snapped at him; asking where he'd been and why hadn't he called and the like. Sasuke tried to sum as much about the situation up as much as he could before telling Kiba to just come to the hospital so he could finish telling him what had happened without the receptionist breathing down his neck.

Kiba was completely shocked by the current and past circumstances but he immediately kicked into supportive, hopeful best friend mode and assured Sasuke it would be all right and that he would be here for him. And that Kiba had been, he was Sasuke's only source for fresh clothing. Not to mention, once or twice Kiba dragged him out of the hospital for dinner or to shower at Kiba's house.

Sasuke couldn't go back to his house still. So much had happened there that Sasuke was scared of all the memories that would plow him over as soon as he stepped foot in the doorway.

"How's our blondie doing today?"

This issued no response from Sasuke so Kiba just sighed, pulling a chair up beside Sasuke at Naruto's bedside.

The blonde's condition never changed. Every day Kiba would ask him that question and every day Naruto would be in a coma. He was completely unresponsive to the world around him... and most of all, to Sasuke. Sasuke had cried to try and get him to respond, he talked and attempted to joke and laugh, he even kissed him and that proved useless. Nothing Sasuke or these doctors did made Naruto any better. And now he couldn't even blame the doctors for not wanting to wake the "Uzukmaki boy" from a coma because Tsunade was, of course, in charge of his case. He could trust Tsunade despite her outward disdain for Sasuke.

"Come on Naruto, you're torturing your man. Can't you just come back?" Kiba spoke this while leaning over to Naruto's bed, glancing up at Sasuke with a hint of a smile.

He was a humorous friend and always tried to cheer Sasuke up. Despite how funny or entertaining Kiba proved to be, however, Sasuke couldn't just be happy or cheerful for a moment with Naruto like this. He wanted his lover back with him and that's all he cared about. He no longer cared about hygiene, about eating, about taking care of himself at all anymore.

"Sasuke man, you gotta get out of this hospital room. It's been two and a half weeks already."

"I can't leave him..."

"If he wakes up, Tsunade will contact you right away. You won't be missing anything if you go home and get a hold of yourself."

Kiba had a very good point, he always did when he tried to urge Sasuke to leave the hospital grounds for at least a couple hours. However, Sasuke wasn't about to be thinking clearly.

"I'm not going to abandon him, Kiba. He saved my life... if it weren't for me Naruto would-"

"Naruto would either still be abused by his aunt, abused by the Sabaku siblings or abused by the Aka-ta-su-kimi? Whatever, if it weren't for you, Naruto's life would be royally screwed over because he would have had no one to turn to for help. Don't feel so guilty. This was all Itachi's and that gang's fault, not yours."

Kiba had been getting good at cutting Sasuke off from his rants of self-loathing. It almost pissed Sasuke off if it weren't for the fact that Kiba was doing it for Sasuke's own benefit. However that didn't make it easier for Sasuke to respond positively after Kiba cut him off like this and beat the bloody truth into him. It wasn't as though Sasuke could just idly say, "Oh yes, of course, you're totally right about that. It isn't my fault at all." No, Sasuke thought not. It wasn't something he was able to blame someone else for right now.

The Inuzuka merely shook his head like he always did when Sasuke refused to respond to him and turned back to the unconscious blonde. It was always this way, when Sasuke went into brooding mode, Kiba would take the time to have his own one-way conversation with Naruto. Sasuke would keep his eyes looking down at his lap as though he was yelling at himself, but he really did listen sincerely to what Kiba had repeated nearly every day to the blonde.

"Hey Naruto, I'm really sorry for how I treated you. You know that right? I want you to come back so I can apologize properly. Then maybe get to know you for both yours and your angsty emo boyfriend's sake."

And of course, how could Kiba make it through one sentence without a joke or a shot at Sasuke.

"You know... I've thought a lot about yours and Sasuke's relationship over the past couple weeks."

Sasuke's eyes were immediately drawn to Kiba but he didn't look up. That sentence was new. Normally Kiba would make jokes and apologize for different times that he'd picked on Naruto. It was like he was confessing to Sasuke of all the times he'd made Naruto's life more miserable than it had to be while also making sure Naruto was firmly aware that Kiba was sorry for each and every bad moment. However, now... he was going into relationship details which he never ventured more than just saying the word "boyfriend" before.

"It's weird... for me to accept. Trying to get over my best friend suddenly becoming gay, learning that he's in love with the boy I've been raised to hate, having to see you as an actual person who doesn't deserve what this village has done to you, I've had to deal with all of this at once. The closet I've ever come to being exposed to a gay person is Lee."

Sasuke involuntarily let out a confused laugh. Rock Lee was quite the eccentric character so there had been questioning among their group of friends, so Sasuke had heard. He couldn't help but find this humorous and Kiba's flash of a smile that Sasuke caught out of the corner of his eye proved that Kiba was happy he did laugh.

"So..." Kiba continued seriously, "it's more than a leap for me to take in order to really, truly accept and understand this. But... I've thought about it. I've come to terms with this and no matter how I think about it. Sasuke will always be my best friend and even if he's with a guy... what he does in his bed is his own business. It's not my concern what you two are doing behind closed doors... or open doors, if you guys like it that way."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he side-glanced at his friend. He was crossing too far into Sasuke's privacy for his own liking, but he chose to remain silent for now because he knew Kiba wasn't being serious.

"The fact that he's with you... and well, you being who I thought you were... is a little harder for me to handle but I've also had a great deal of time to think about that as well. Naruto... you never fought back. You were always quiet and injured and I never thought anything by it before because I was raised to think of you as a clone of your mother. Most of us in the village were taught to believe that you were going to become a murderous traitor like your mother but... now... now I know to think differently."

Kiba smiled and reached over to rub his leg since Naruto's hand was permanently occupied by his boyfriend. "If you're willing to risk your life to save my best friend, if you are willing to take more than one bullet for Sasuke here... then I think I can trust you to be the kind, caring, innocent person that Sasuke assures me you are." Kiba offered one small laugh, "Hell even Tsunade sees you as docile as a lamb."

Over the past two weeks, Kiba had gotten well acquainted with Tsunade as well. Though she hadn't taken a liking to him either. She thought, or rather she bluntly said to his face, that he is a childish, annoying brat who needed to shut his idiotic mouth or she would have it surgically sown shut. Such a pleasant character Tsunade was towards a jokester teenager who flirted with the cute nurses and made jokes left, right and center in the hallways of her hospital.

----

"A lot has happened during these weeks, Naruto." Sasuke spoke softly to his boyfriend well after Kiba had left, saying he would be back again tomorrow after school. Which meant Sasuke was missing even more school. He was perfectly fine with that however.

"Kiba gave us his blessing in a way... so that means you have one more person on your side to add to Tsunade and I. Isn't that a good thing? Don't you want to come back so you can actually experience everything instead of hearing about it afterwards? I think you'd have a great laugh while watching Tsunade chase Kiba down the hall with a... well she randomly changes whatever surgical instrument she threatens him with."

Sasuke bit his lower lip when he still received no response. Not even a bat of the eyelash or a twitch of the finger... it frustrated him intensely, but there was nothing he could do.

"Please Naruto... please. I'm begging you to come back. I need you here... come back to me please!" Just as he kissed his blonde lover on the forehead, the door opened and Sasuke glanced back to see the head doctor strut in.

As usual she offered no words to Sasuke at first. She merely walked in with her clipboard in hand and took Naruto's statistics. "Uzumaki can you please wake up so I can move you out of my hospital. You keep coming here and taking up space."

Sasuke wished he could snap at her for being so insensitive but her muttering those words to the unconscious blonde were a true sign that she cared about him and wanted him to come out of a coma... or at least that's what Sasuke figured to be her true intention deep down... deep, deep down.

"You too, Uchiha." Sasuke jumped as her voice was directed to him sharply. "Get out of my hospital."

He glared at her words that were shot at him as she made her way back to the door with the information on Naruto's condition written on her clipboard. He almost snapped back at her but she mumbled words that cut him off.

"Your sanity is being jeopardized. It's not good for either of you."

With that she left. Sasuke stared down at his lap and then back to his blonde lover. He knew she was right, but Sasuke could never forgive himself if something bad happened if Naruto was out of his immediate sight. Which is why he never left the hospital for long when Kiba did drag him out. However, he really was starting to lose it. He couldn't keep track of the time, he didn't shower much anymore, he barely ate, this wasn't good for him.

The door reopened suddenly and Sasuke turned to see Tsunade peeked her head in. "If I gave you a pager and promised to inform you immediately of any change in his condition, would you leave then?"

He thought about it. That really was a logical decision. "Well... I guess I should-"

"Good. Kiba's waiting for you down in the lobby."

She tossed a small black box at him which his reflexes immediately urged him to catch in his hands. He looked down at what was now his pager.

"But Kiba left a while ago..."

"It was only ten minutes. I stopped him before he left and told him."

Ten minutes... he really did need to get out of this place, he thought Kiba had been gone for at least half an hour.

Sasuke stood up, squeezing Naruto's hand which seemed like it had molded into his own. "I'll be back, I promise." He leaned over, kissing the blonde's forehead. "I love you," He whispered, and then retracted his hand from his lover's and followed Tsunade out the door, glancing back one last time at his slumbering blonde before the door closed.

He looked so peaceful, so calm, so still... it pained him to see this and Sasuke wondered at that moment how he had managed to stay as long as he had.

----

Kiba was waiting in the lobby, just as Tsunade had said. They had parted ways at the elevator and he could have sworn Tsunade flashed a smile at him as the doors closed.

"Hey. You good?" Kiba spoke sincerely, not a hint of sarcasm or a trace of a joke.

Sasuke gazed into his best friend's eyes, who had immediately stood up from one of the benches as soon as he caught sight of Sasuke.

"Yeah... Kiba. I think... I'm good..."

"Should I... bring you home?" This question was asked in a cautious voice. Kiba was well aware that Sasuke didn't enjoy memories and that they tended to flood back in a rush because Sasuke would bottle them up and cut them off from his conscious mind, allowing them to build up and overwhelm him. It was a horrible way of coping but that's the only way Sasuke knew how.

"Home..." The idea scared Sasuke beyond words but he had to face this sometime... best to get it over with and out of the way so Sasuke actually had a place to call home. "I guess so..."

Kiba nodded as Sasuke stepped forward and they walked together to the doors that would lead them out of the hospital and into the parking lot. As the air rushed in when the automatic doors opened, Sasuke breathed the fresh air in deeply. It felt refreshing to be out of the this old building that smelled of anti-sceptic, old people, and disease. Now he could return to his house which smelled like good cooking, febreeze, and dried blood.

Kiba gave Sasuke one last look as they opened their doors to Kiba's mother's car simultaneously. The look in his eyes were asking Sasuke if this was truly all right with him. If everything was okay. Sasuke nodded confidently. It was time he got out of that hospital and get some things done before Naruto came back to their world. Kiba nodded back to him, and they got in the car to drive back to the place where it all began... damn if that didn't sound cliché.

----

The door to his home had been locked. He only kept one key now, no spare, and the investigators must have locked it on their way out. That was one thing Sasuke wished he hadn't had to deal with. The officers on this case were well informed about the Akatsuki, that was apparently their main topic of investigation, so they had plenty of questions for Sasuke and Itachi once they realized that it was Itachi involved. They managed to question him before he died but they didn't get anything about the whereabouts of the Akatsuki, the members, or the leader from Itachi. Itachi did, however, tell him why they had been after Naruto. It had been the same thing he had told Sasuke and Naruto, and Sasuke confirmed it when he was questioned.

It was hard talking to them about everything that had passed. He had to explain everything about what his brother was like... though he left out the part that Itachi had said he'd done everything to protect his little brother. Sasuke was still unsure of what that meant and would probably forever be in the dark on this topic. His older brother was a mysterious person and it wouldn't be like him if he hadn't died without one last thing unsolved.

Sasuke reached in his pocket and pulled out the key to his home. His hand shook as he turned the doorknob, once it was unlocked, and pushed it open.

The hallway brought back visions of Naruto, Itachi, and gunfire... not a very pleasant welcoming. Sasuke breathed in hard and nearly jumped when Kiba placed his hand firmly on Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke took his time before walking into the house. Kiba didn't mind or try to push him, instead he followed at a slow pace. Sasuke made it to the kitchen before he thought he would break down. All he could see was his threatening older brother with a gun in his hand.

He stepped forward to hold himself up by the kitchen table only to have different memories flood back to him. Naruto was sitting at the table, eating for the first time. They sat and ate there everyday. The counter caught his attention next and a whole new memory came to his mind, causing him to smirk and bite his lip. Sasuke shook his head and laughed to himself, Naruto really had the ability to extract the pervert in him.

"You're happy all of a sudden," Kiba said with a confused smile. He was happy that Sasuke wasn't brooding as much anymore but that didn't mean he was curious as to what brought this on all of a sudden.

Sasuke smiled sadly before turning back to look at his friend. "I thought there would only be memories that would haunt me in this house when I came back. I forgot how much time I spent with Naruto here... it's like he replaced my horrible past that filled this house to the brim."

Kiba's eyes softened instantly, "He's really had quite the impression on you, that boy."

Sasuke matched his eyes, "Yeah, I suppose he did."

They smiled at each other for a short while before Kiba stormed into the kitchen, heading right for the fridge. "So what you got good to eat?"

Sasuke shook his head and rolled his eyes. What an odd best friend he was lucky to have.

"Hey you wanna cook me up some of this chicken?" Kiba emerged from the fridge with a package of chicken breasts in his hand.

"You know how to cook. Pan is down in that cupboard THERE!" Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as his body suddenly convolged. His hip felt like it was vibrating which had caused him to jump so high.

"Dude... you okay?" Kiba's eyebrows were furrowed in worry as he attempted to refrain from laughing.

"What the hell was that!" Sasuke exclaimed, somewhat frightful of what was going on. He touched his hip to see what was wrong and felt a strange object sitting there. He unclipped the small box shaped item from his jeans and looked down at his hand to see his pager going off. His eyes suddenly widened from terrified anger to terrified anxiety. Nervously he turned around the read the display.

"Sasuke?" Kiba asked cautiously, slowly walking over to him, chicken still in hand.

"We have to go to the hospital. Now!"