Is it weird that I get really nervous when I post a chapter?

Chapter 6: Freedom

"Iruka what time is it!?" Comically the papers he was focused on all flew into the air and he nearly fell out of his chair. Eyes wide he slowly turned his head to look at me.

"For – the– last– time…STOP BURSTING INTO MY OFFICE LIKE THAT!" Iruka was waving his arms around with smoke coming out of his ears. Then he turned back to normal and rubbed his forehead. He breathed hard and looked over at the monitors on the wall.

"Oh thank fucking God it's 11:00pm. Now go." Iruka shooed me away with his hands and pushed me out of the door way.

"Not my fault no one's watch will work in here!" I stuck my tongue out at him and he slammed the door. I had been bursting into his office almost every hour to check the time. Those long 5 hours had finally passed. My patience, or well, sort-of patience finally paid off because that meant I could finally see him. My heart rate instantly increased well beyond its normal resting rate. I power walked down the hallway. As I desperately approached Sasuke's hallway I passed by Naruto. He was mopping the floor. When I walked by he gave me an amusingly weird look because I was walking so frantically. I knew I was.

"Sakura wait! Do you want me to come with –"

"NO." I comically said. Sorry but no, absolutely not Naruto…this was something I had to do by myself. I quickly turned the corner. Once I did I immediately stopped. I was finally staring at the end of his hallway. I took a deep breath and basically dragged my feet how slow I was walking. But no matter how calm I tried to be, my heart wouldn't stop pounding. My mind wouldn't let the image of his flawless face leave my eyes. I held my hand up in front of me just to see how badly I was shaking. All the classic symptoms, I was so nervous. My mystery boy whom I dreamt of so many times, the mystery boy who made me weak to my knees, the one who took my breath away…I would finally be able to see again.

*Sheesh why am I so nervous? C'mon Sakura!* I uneasily laughed and looked down at the floor. I counted the tiles as they passed by. Then I looked up and swallowed my spit once I realized I was only merely steps away from his room. I picked up my speed and pulled out my remote to open his room. There wasn't going to be any of me standing outside of his room and staring. I wanted to get in there immediately before my nerves changed my mind. Swiftly I turned the corner and stepped inside. When I did I gasped and dropped my remote onto the floor. My courageous burst of speed came to a dead stop. There lie Sasuke, completely wrapped head to toe in what were once white, dark yellow bandages. Did I forget what Asuma told me? He completely burnt himself from head to toe. Somehow that information left my mind within the last 5 hours of waiting to see him. Instead my thoughts were deferred from reality with the mental imagery of his perfection.

*How could you let your mind go astray? This patient didn't exactly like you to begin with. Not to mention, he will never…look like that again.* My eyes began to water. I sniffled and shook my head back and forth before my angry inner self scolded me for my childish feelings some more. I took a deep breath and got into my nursing state of mind. I looked to my left to see a table full of already prepared bandages. On the second lower shelf was a box full of black trash bags. I pulled off a bag from the roll and shook it out. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I turned around and walked over to Sasuke's bed sitting the bag down on the floor next to me. I leaned over and slowly began to undress his bandages, starting at his feet. Underneath was entirely burnt skin. It was a dark color with a mixture of black, purple, and maroon. His body was no longer covered in the lovely pale skin I was first introduced to. I couldn't help but to sob harder and harder as I made my way further up his body.

"Sasuke…" Is all I could keep saying through my tears in absolute pity as I kept unwrapping his body further and further. I stopped once I reached the top of his neck. I knew unveiling his face would be next. Something I wasn't sure I would be able to handle. I swallowed my spit and my fingers twitched.

"Just do it Sakura." I jumped and turned around to see Naruto standing in the doorway. He was looking at me with watery eyes. His fragile image threw me over the edge.

"Oh Naruto!" I ran over to him and buried my face into his chest gripping his shirt with my fists. Surprised by my outburst he took two steps back to keep his balance when I threw myself into him. He looked down at me sadly and put his hand on my back. Minutes go by as I continued to scream into his chest in tears. He just stood there firmly. I could feel how tense his body was slowly becoming. Somehow my running to him for condolence fueled this. He was pissed…

"N-Naruto?" I looked up into his eyes. Those gentle and captivating blue eyes that were once filled with tears moments ago were now filled with pure rage, and nothing else. His eyes were an orange-red color. It was like I wasn't even there as he furiously stared at what once was Sasuke.

"You know more about this medical shit than I do…he's never going to come back is he…" His voice…I mean…his voice. That's all I could think. It didn't feel like Naruto was even the one speaking anymore, but someone, or something else. It made my heart skip a beat. Such raw power in that voice. The animalistic growl behind that enraged voice. I was breathless. I looked away from his eyes and laid the side of my face against the chest. He needed to calm down and I knew it.

"What do you mean, he's right behind us." A stupid question, because I knew what he meant all along.

"HE'S NEVER GOING TO LOOK THE WAY HE DID BEFORE IS HE!?" I squeezed my eyes shut in fear.

"WELL!?" I felt a sharp burning pain in my back. Once a hand placed there for my comfort were now nails ripping through my clothes and into my skin. I winced in pain as tears fell from my eyes. I felt my warm blood slowly travel down the curve of my spine.

"No."

"Then it's not worth him LIVING!" Naruto threw me aside and furiously marched towards Sasuke. I fell onto the floor and looked over at the bed. There was an orange energy angrily flowing around Naruto in a wild uneven motion.

"NARUTO NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I stumbled over to him and grabbed his arms. He kept throwing me off of them with ease. My mind kept racing with thoughts on what I should do.

*It's going to have to come down to this!* With no time to think it through I darted in front if Naruto and threw myself on top of Sasuke. I sat on the edge of the bed and leaned back holding my arms out to protect Sasuke. Naruto had his hand lifted into the air with a blue and orange ball of what almost seemed to be lightening surrounding it.

"Get out of the way Sakura! This needs to be done!" His voice cracked when he screamed this. I looked into his eyes and seen tears flowing from them.

"He's my friend! I can't let him live like this!" His voice cracked again.

"Friend…?" I couldn't believe what I just heard. I thought back to our conversation. How he said he felt like he had a connection with Sasuke. How he said Sasuke was very nice to him and he didn't know why. I finally understood. I came back to reality and kicked Naruto in his stomach as hard as I could. He flew back and slammed into the table with the prepared bandages on it. I jumped to my feet and Naruto looked up at me. The look in his eyes…the look of despondency, like he had been fighting a never ending battle. That split second where there was no rage in them quickly vanished and it resumed. I heard a door shut.

"Oh shit, that's Iruka! Naruto you NEED to calm down!"

"Not until I put him out if his misery!"

"Shhh Naruto please!" I ran over and kneeled down in front of him on the floor. He started to stand up but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Let go of me…"

"No Naruto! Please, just CALM down!" He kept trying to stand up but I kept pulling on his arms.

*Ugh this is no use! What do I do? How can I calm him down!?* Pulling at his arms was not enough anymore. He was pissed and was going to completely stand to his feet this time. So I crawled into his lap and pulled his head into my chest. I laid my head on top of his and laced his soft blonde hair between my fingers.

"Please Naruto, don't get up…just calm down. We can save Sasuke, but not like this. Give me time to figure something out!" I cried. He sat limp. I could feel his anger subsiding.

*It's working!* I see Naruto's orange energy return to back within him. I put my hands on his cheeks and lean back to look into his eyes.

"N-Naruto? Naruto?" His eyes were closed. I shook his head back and forth. When I let go his chin fell into his chest.

"Ah great, you've got to be kidding me." I said comically. I heard Iruka's footsteps. I knew he was on his way to check on me. I jumped to my feet.

"Shit Naruto wake up!" I put my hands on his shoulders and shook him but only his head bobbled around amusingly.

"Ugh it's no use!" I frantically put my hands on my head so my hair was laced between my fingers.

"Damn it…think Sakura think!" I looked over at Sasuke and then at the floor under his bed.

"That's it!" I climbed behind Naruto and put my arms under his and dragged him towards the bed. Then I laid him flat on the floor and pulled his feet under the bed as far as I could. Comically I used my feet to push, or more so, kick his upper half completely under the bed. I could hear Iruka's footsteps coming closer and closer. I quickly jumped to my feet and began to put the old bandages from Sasuke into the black trash bag.

"Hey Sakura! How's it going?"

"Oh hey Iruka! I didn't even hear you leave your office. How are you!?" I made sure to keep my back faced away from him so he wouldn't see the marks.

"Uh…why are you so out of breath?"

"Me? Out of breath? Of course not! Don't be silly!"

"…okay?" Iruka walked in and leaned over the bed to look at Sasuke's skin.

"Whoa, he's pretty jacked up ain't he?"

"Yeah, he'll never look the same again. Makes me wish human euthanasia was legal." I said sadly. Iruka nodded his head in agreement and began to write some things down on his clip board. I heard Naruto start to snore and I secretly kicked him. Iruka looked up from his clipboard and I laughed nervously while smiling at him.

"Alright, well, I've gotten what I need for now. Just had to log out what was used on the medical inventory form. Holler if you need anything!" Iruka turned around and began to walk but then stopped at Sasuke's doorway.

"Oh by the way, have you seen Naruto?" I basically jumped out of my skin. I started to sweat a million little drops and my hair stood up comically.

"Uh, wasn't he mopping? Yeah last I seen him he was mopping! You know how he loves to mop!" Iruka laughed and looked back at me.

"Ah, he loves to mop, I'll take note of that. Well if you see him tell him to come to my office."

"Okay, bye now!" I waved and Iruka left Sasuke's room. I waited until I heard him close his office door before I could even breathe again.

"Oh thank God." I said leaning forward with my arms hanging down in relief. Quickly I kneeled down and pulled Naruto out from under the bed. I sat him up against it. Then I balled my fist and punched him in the head as hard as I could.

"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!" Naruto snorted out of his sleep and grabbed the top of his head. There was a big red knot on it. I expected him to ask 'what was that for!?' Or something like that…but instead he just had a confused look in his face.

"Naruto…Naruto are you ok?" He slowly looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Sakura I…I remember everything." Then he slowly turned his head around almost dreadfully and looked at Sasuke. He didn't react as I thought he would, he actually didn't react at all. Instead he just stood up with the same bewildered expression on his face. He looked like a deer caught in head lights.

"Earth to Naruto! HELLO!?" I snapped my fingers in his face. Finally I got him to come out of whatever he was in. He shook his head back and forth.

"Ugh man Naruto finally! What the fuck just happened to you!?"

"Iruka he…I…I'm not under his jutsu anymore! I can feel it. Sakura check the back of my head! Down towards the bottom!" He turned around and pointed at the base of his skull. I leaned in and parted his hair.

"I don't see anything."

"Ah, I can't believe it! The seal is gone! I'm finally free!"

"Naruto what do you mean?"

"Sakura!"

"AH! WHAT?"

"Finish up with Sasuke, I'll be back ok."

"Hey no wait we need to talk about this! What did you mean when you said you weren't under Iruka's little spell or whatever anymore?" Naruto quickly ran over and covered my mouth.

"Sakura shhh, not now, we can't talk about this now." Naruto's voice was almost at a whisper. I took his hand from my mouth and held it in my hands.

"I've had my suspicions about many strange things here and I want to discuss them with you!"

"Shhh, I know, and we will! But I've got to go! Keep quiet and act like this never happened ok? See Iruka, he CAN'T know. He can't know that I am free from his control!" Naruto started to walk backwards.

"W-Wait, but where are you going? Iruka said he needed to talk to you. So get going to his office before you go anywhere else so he doesn't get suspicious!" I finished putting the old bandages into the bag and then walked over to the table that the new ones were on. I started to grab the bandages that fell onto the floor from when Naruto slammed onto it and put them in the bag.

"Oh my…Sakura…I…"

"Naruto its fine. I know they are new but they fell onto the floor so they are dirty. I'm not putting these on Sasuke it's too risky."

"No Sakura, your back."

*He really does remember.* I immediately stopped putting the bandages into the bag and sat it on the floor. I stood straight up reached my hand around and felt the holes in the back of my uniform from where his nails tore into it. Then I turned around to face Naruto. The pain of it quickly returned. I had almost blocked it out from everything else going on.

"I can't believe I did that to you. Ah man Sakura I'm so sorry! When that happens to me it's hard to control my anger…t-to control my everything."

"Who was that person you became Naruto…? What was that?"

"Please forgive me but I will have to discuss all of that with you later in privacy. Here; take my scrub top so Iruka doesn't ask." I turned around and Naruto took off his shirt. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt under the scrub top that fit over his muscular body tightly. For a split second I thought of how good he looked in it. But what's a girl to do?

"No Naruto its fine. I have an extra outfit in the trunk of my car." I reached into my pocket and handed him my keys.

"Ok good, I'll run out and get it for you." Naruto jogged out of Sasuke's room. I finished grabbing the rest of the fallen bandages and put them in my trash bag. Then sat it to the side. I walked over to Sasuke's bed and look down at his face. That was the only part of his body that was still wrapped. Slowly I grabbed where I left off and finished completely uncovering him. His face looked nothing like his old one. It didn't look a face at all, it didn't look human. But the only thing that stayed the same was his eyes. His eye lids were almost swollen shut. But the little crack that was open, I could see those black orbs. They were staring directly into my eyes. I had to know if he was really in there.

"Sasuke, if you can hear me…or anything…then follow my finger." I lifted my index finger and did slow movements. He followed it the entire time perfectly. I didn't show it, but I was so eternally happy that he was still in there, still alive. He hadn't moved or even groaned since I had been in there. I started to wrap his body up again starting at his feet with the new bandages. Naruto came in with my outfit in his hands. He dropped it along with me keys onto the ground when he looked at Sasuke.

"You unwrapped his face…"

"Yeah, his eyes are the only thing that's weren't affected. I asked him to follow my finger and he did. So he can hear as well." Naruto immediately ran over to the bed and put his hands on both sides of Sasuke's torso so he was towering over top of him. Naruto was looking directly into his eyes, and Sasuke returned his stare.

"Sasuke…Sasuke it's me!" I could hear in his voice that he was crying. I stopped wrapping and looked over in surprise.

"I know what Iruka's been doing! The nine tails came out of me when I seen you like this and it broke right through his seal! He doesn't have control over me anymore. I know all the fucked up shit! I know that you were too strong and your Sharingan would've seen right through his jutsu. I'm so sorry he was able to get ahold of me. And I was too stupid to see it coming. But I'm going to get you out of this. I'm going to find a way to make you you again. I promise! You hear me Sasuke!?" Me and Naruto gasped when we saw Sasuke's eyes start to water. This made Naruto cry even harder.

*Sasuke's crying…?*

"I knew you could hear me! I'm going to get all of us out of this place, just you wait!" Naruto stood up and wiped his eyes. Then he ran out of Sasuke's room. I stood up and leaned over Sasuke. I used a cloth from my pocket to wipe his tears away.

"Just hold back Sasuke, hold them back. I know they burn." As I told him that I was crying myself. I went back down to his feet to finish bandaging him. When I was finished I made sure to leave a gap open for his eyes and mouth. Sasuke stared at me the whole time. I was quietly crying the entire time I dressed him with the bandages. I grabbed a syringe from the table and gently held Sasuke's IV line in my hand.

"Here Sasuke, this is a pain medication that may put you to sleep for a little while. I can only imagine the pain you are in…" I injected the clear liquid into his line and his eyes glazed over. He fell asleep shortly after. I made sure to give him a larger dose than normal.