FI-NA-LLY. Life has been getting in the way, and I have not been able to update in so long! Hope everyone enjoys chapter 8, thank you so much for your patience and reviews. Truly means a lot. Truly keeps me going. Sorry if its a long one. -_- Everything I do is lol.
Chapter 8: Heal
My cloudy vision became clear, and I realized I was in my childhood bedroom. I looked over at my bed and see my former childhood self sitting on it. I only had to be about 5 years old then. She jumps off the bed and runs past me as if I weren't even there. I watched her run out into the hallway and down the stairs. I slowly followed behind. She ran into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around a woman's legs. I looked up at her face and inhaled sadly with nostalgia.
"Mom…" I said. I walked closer to her and reached my hand out to touch her, but when I did it went right through her as if I were a ghost. Then my younger self ran right through me and out the front door. I turned around and jogged to catch up with her. When I got outside I had seen her leaning down looking under a bush. She pulled out a white rabbit that seemed to be injured.
"Mommy!" She screamed. Seconds later by mother was out the front door and right next to her.
"Mommy she's hurt. What's wrong with her?" My mother kneeled down and looked under the bush.
"It seems as if she just gave birth. See?" My younger self looked under the bush, and then looked back down at the mother rabbit.
"But [sniff] but…she can't take care of them like this!" She screamed in tears. My mother had the saddest look on her face. I could only imagine having to teach a child about life and death for the first time.
"Yeah it seems as if her body couldn't handle it. Put her back under the bush sweetheart and come back inside. I'll have Daddy take care of it later. There's nothing that we can do."
"That's not fair! Why can't we try!?" I see a man walk over to them. My mother looked over her shoulder and smiled. She stood up and embraced him. I looked harder and realized he was my father. My mother grabbed his hand and walked him a few feet away from my younger self so they could talk more privately. I walked over to them so I could hear.
"What's going on?"
"Ugh Kizashi I'm glad you're home. She found an almost dead rabbit that gave birth to a litter under our bush. Can you please put them out of their misery?" He nodded and they both walked back over to her. I followed behind. When I stepped through them to look at my younger self I had seen a green light glowing around her hands. I looked closer and seen that she had them placed on top of the rabbit.
*What the…?*
"Sakura what are you doing!?" My mother pulled her hands from the rabbit. When she did the rabbit opened its eyes and blinked twice. Then it stood to its feet and hopped out of my younger self's lap and back under the bush.
"Oh my God…Kizashi did you see that!?" My mother was smiling so happily. But my father had an extremely worried look on his face. He walked over to my younger self and grabbed her by the wrist. He lifted her up into the air aggressively and stood her to her feet.
"Where did you learn how to do that!?" Tears poured from her eyes. She looked so innocent. I was so angry he was screaming at her like that.
"Daddy I –"
"I SAID where did you learn that!?"
"Kizashi STOP! What's gotten into you?"
"You say out of this Mebuki!" My father threw his hand back. My younger self was just crying in confusion to his random outburst.
"I don't know!" She screamed.
"What do you MEAN you don't know!?"
"I just wanted to save the bunny really badly! So I thought about it really hard and it just happened! I'm so sorry Daddy."
"Don't you ever do something like that again! YOU HEAR ME!?" My father dropped her wrist and she ran into the house. My mother furiously stomped inside and my father quickly followed behind. They walked into the living room and my mother turned around. She had an enraged look on her face.
"How could you yell at her like that!? She obviously got that ability from her own FATHER because I sure as hell can't do that!" My father sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"You think I don't know that babe? I'm just so surprised she was able heal like that…especially so young…."
"Well what's wrong with that? She's a prodigy like you. And like the generations of your family before you. How could you even be surprised by that?"
"I don't care what she is! She's not getting into my line of work. It's too dangerous! I can't risk losing her. No, she will never become what I am. Never."
"Kizashi how could you stop her from living to her full potential! She IS what you are!"
"END OF DISCUSSION." My father walked out of the house slamming the door behind him and my mother walked into the kitchen. She sat down at the table and stared at the wall lost in thought. I heard a sniffle and looked to my right. I had seen my childhood self looking through the bars of the railing on the stairs. She had been secretly listening the whole time. Suddenly the entire room becomes blurry then fades away. The world around me faded away and what was left was nothing. Everything around me was white, everything besides my mother. She stood up and walked over to me. She had such a sweet smile on her face. She put her hand on my cheek and looked into my eyes. I stared back with wide eyes.
"Now's your time Sakura."
"Sakura." I heard my name again right after my mother said it.
*That sounded like…* I turned around and seen Sasuke staring at me from a distance. He looked like he used to. His perfection made my heart race. He had his hand on his hip and a determined smile on his face. I blushed and then looked behind me to see that my mother had disappeared. When I looked forward again Sasuke was right in front of me. He slowly lifted his hand and put it on my cheek. I couldn't do anything but blush. Not to mention my body was trembling. I looked into his eyes. He closed his eyes for a few moments. When he opened them back up they were red from his Sharingan. He put his forehead against mine with a serious look in his face. My heart skipped.
"We are one now." He stood straight and backed away a few steps.
"Sasuke!" I threw myself into him and wrapped my arms around him.
"Oh Sasuke I thought I'd never see you like this again!" To my surprise he didn't push me away. He just closed his eyes and rested his forehead onto my shoulder, almost as if he were resting on me. I was breathless.
"Sakura I… I can't hold on much longer. Hurry!" I heard him say this. But it sounded like it was from a distance. Not from the Sasuke I was holding. He lifted his head and looked into my eyes. How badly I wanted to kiss him right then and there. How intoxicating his scent was. I didn't know why. All of my senses were higher. He placed his hand on my cheek once more.
"Wake up Sakura…you need to hurry." His voice was so serious, but also sounded like it had worry in it. Suddenly my vision became distorted. My entire body jerked and threw myself up so I was sitting. I put my hand on my chest and felt my heart pounding. I caught my breath and put my hand on my forehead. My eyes were wide.
*I can't believe I didn't remember that!* I looked over at my alarm to see that it was 5:00pm. Then I looked over at the couch to only see a blanket and pillow messily placed on it. I heard something squeak and looked over at my bathroom door. I could see steam coming from the cracks. Shortly after the door opened and I had seen Naruto walk out. He was barely holding a towel with his hand around his waist. My heart skipped a beat. My face contorted.
"…WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" Naruto bent down to grab his back pack and looked over at me.
"I forgot my clothes…?" I grabbed something off of my night stand and threw it at him. He ducked and it flew over his head.
"HEY WHAT THE HELL SAKURA!?"
"GET BACK IN THE BATHROOM YOU FREAK! YOU CAN'T JUST RUN AROUND HERE HALF-NAKED YA KNOW SO DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE!" I grabbed something else and threw it at him. He ran back into the bathroom with his back pack. I fell back against my pillow and blushed.
*I dream about Sasuke, and then I wake up to a half-naked Naruto! What's a girl to do?* I smacked myself in the forehead and laughed comically. I knew Naruto was immaculate himself from his muscular body to his tan skin. He also had such caring eyes I could get lost in. And when I had seen him in nothing but a towel my mind may have went straight to the gutter. I mean, that towel was barely on him. But even so, I knew he loved Hinata. I knew he was my friend. And I knew that…well I didn't really know how I felt about Sasuke. I just knew he made me nervous. I just knew that I wanted to make him happy. I wanted to get to know him, mentally and physically. I kept telling myself that maybe one day it'll happen. That's what drove me.
"Hey Sakura I'm sorry about that. I figured you would still be sleeping." Naruto had startled me from my inner thoughts. I looked over at him to see he was in his scrubs. I quickly looked back up at the ceiling. The image of him dripping wet with nothing but a towel on shot a surge all the way down there.
*Oh thank God he's dressed.* I sat up and hugged my knees while blushing.
"I-It's okay Naruto."
*JUST LOOK AT HIM!* I shook my head back and forth and looked over at him again. He was putting on deodorant. After he finished applying it he placed it in his back pack and looked up at me.
"You okay?" I didn't realize how intensely I was staring at him. I jumped and rubbed the back of my head and smiled. A large sweat drop appeared.
"W-What me? Yeah! I'm fine! I'm going to go get a shower." I got out of bed and Naruto quickly walked over and put his hands on my shoulders to sit me back down on it. I blushed.
*Since when did Naruto make me nervous…*
"No, you're going to stay here."
"Naruto stop I need to get ready for work." I pushed his hands away and tried stand up but he stopped me.
"Sakura wait, just listen to me. Stay here for a while, and then come into work. Call Iruka; tell him you aren't feeling well. Say you are going to wait it out a while to see if you feel any better. If so, then you will come into work."
"What? Why?"
"Study. Study those books I gave you. Tonight's going to be the night." He was staring at me so seriously. His eyes, they had a light in them. They took my breath away. I've never seen him so…so determined. Finally breaking free of my minor trance I shook my head back and forth and frantically stood up.
"Wait what! TONIGHT? Naruto there's no way! There's just no way!"
"Sakura just listen to me trust me. It'll give you a few hours before you come into…work…" Naruto shuddered at the word. The thought of' taking care' of his 'mentally handicapped patients' angered him.
"Naruto there is no way I can teach myself this in only a few hours!" I said that, but then I immediately thought of my own intelligence level. I knew if I put my mind to anything, I could teach myself it. Confidence hit me.
"I mean well…well why so sudden? I want Sasuke back as much as you do. But we haven't even given this a full days thought. We haven't sat down and discussed this thoroughly."
"Sakura…all I know is I've got tonight figured out. Leave everything up to me. There is no time to think anything out. We just need to get Sasuke back and go from there. You need to learn how to use your chakra. You've been through medical school, you've got this."
*Learn how to use my chakra…* I thought back to my dream.
"Naruto I…apparently I have been able to use my chakra to heal this whole time!"
"Sakura…what?" Naruto seemed genuinely confused by my random outburst.
"I can remember it clearly now…" The memories from my childhood came flowing. Remembering that day when I first tapped into my chakra.
"Remember what Sakura?" Naruto separated me from the thoughts of my memories.
"…I had a dream last night about my childhood. The first time I had ever healed with my chakra. I was like a ghost as I watched the events unfold. No, it wasn't just a dream. It was a perfect replay of the past. I healed a dying mother rabbit when I was 5."
"S-Sakura…are, are you sure?" Naruto's eyes were wide in disbelief, but hope.
"Positive. My Father freaked out on me about it even though he possessed the ability himself. He was too afraid of me becoming a ninja, too afraid of my well-being. My Mother completely disagreed with him, but his say was always final. I remember how badly his anger scared me. I tried to force myself to forget. But I tapped into it one more time after that when I was 8. I healed our family dog after he broke his leg. My father freaked out twice as bad as the first time when I was 5. Since then I forced myself to forget I even possessed the ability. Like I was wrong for it. Slowly but surely the knowledge, the memory, the thought…faded." Naruto stood there frozen. I sighed.
"Can I tell you something else about my dream?" Naruto nodded.
"I saw Sasuke…" He gasped.
"Me too! I-I mean Sasuke came to me in a dream too!"
"Came to you…what?" Naruto was almost jumping up and down in joy.
"Uh well, basically Sasuke has the ability to tap into people's dreams that he is connected with. So far he's only ever been able to do this with me. He falls asleep with his Sharingan activated. When he is completely asleep he astral projects out of his body and uses his Sharingan to follow an unseen to the naked eye chakra trail. He said he could only ever see mine so that would be the one he followed. He would then follow it to my sleeping body where he could enter inside my mind. Thus he could contact me via the dream realm. Something he is still mastering. He must've tried it again last night but also seen a different chakra trail leading to you. I can't believe he is able to do this with you as well. What did he say?"
"Wait, so you mean to tell me that was really him!?"
"Yes now what did he say!"
"O-Oh uh…he told me to…hurry?"
"He said the same thing to me. Quick Sakura!" Naruto suddenly pulled out a kunai knife from his pocket and cut a deep gash into his hand.
"AH NARUTO WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I ran over to him and placed my hands over his hand to apply pressure to the wound.
"Naruto are you crazy! This is no time for games!" I was cut off by Naruto placing a finger over my lips with his other hand.
"FOCUS." He screamed. I jumped and stared at him in shock for a moment. Then I nodded my head in determination. I closed my eyes and focused internally. Focused back to the way I felt when I healed those animals successfully. After a few moments I opened them. My hands were glowing green and the gash on his hand was slowly sealing. Naruto stood there smiling in awe. Once the cut was completely healed I threw my hands up and covered my mouth in disbelief. Naruto stared at his hand and threw it in my face.
"Like nothing ever happened! Believe it!" Naruto's eyes were closed with a huge smile on his face. He laughed.
"I knew you could do it Sakura. But unfortunately, that was nothing. Only a small amount of focused chakra was needed. Healing Sasuke's entire body, his entire physical being…that is a whole different level." I nodded in agreement.
"Right. I will study. I will learn how to channel my chakra in large amounts without overwhelming my body. I'll be ready for tonight."
"Great. Shit! What time is it?" Naruto looked past me at my alarm clock.
"Fuck it's already 6:00pm. Hurry and call Iruka." I ran over to my house phone and dialed his number.
"Hey it's Iruka."
"Iruka…ugh this is Sakura."
"Hey Sakura, you don't sound so good. Everything okay?"
"No, I've been sick all day I'm not sure if I will be able to make it or not. I am starting to feel a little better now but I don't want to risk it."
"Damn sorry to hear that girl. Look stay home, but if you do feel better enough to come in tonight then please do. We need your help but if you can't make it I completely understand."
"Ugh, thank you Iruka. I'll wait a few hours. I'll come in later on if I feel up to it alright?"
"Sure thing. Get some rest." Iruka hung up. I hung up the house phone and looked back at Naruto. He was biting his nails in nervousness.
"Did he buy it?"
"Seems like it."
"Oh good." Naruto comically leaned forward with his arms hanging in relief.
"Alright Sakura I'm going to head out now. I need to pick up a few things before I get to work. But listen to me when I say this, you need to be there by…say midnight? That'll give you almost a full 6 hours to study."
"Midnight got it."
"No Sakura, I'm talking 12:00am. Not a minute later."
"Okay Naruto I've got it."
"Good." Naruto walked over and surprisingly pulled me into a tight embrace. I jumped and my eyes grew wide. Of course I was blushing.
"Be careful." I said. I returned his hug. He only held me tighter. I knew why he was doing this. We were in this together. And tonight was now or never. He stepped back looked into my eyes.
"See you soon." He grabbed his back pack and left. I went into the kitchen and made myself a strong cup of coffee and some brain food. Then I walked over to my bed and grabbed the stack of books next to it. I sat down in the middle of the floor and surrounded the books around me.
NARUTO'S POV (THIRD PERSON)
Naruto walked into a drug store and went straight to an associate.
"Excuse me lady." He tapped her shoulder and she turned around and smiled.
"Yes how can I help you?"
"Could you help me find something?" After her assistance he walks up to the register, pays for his purchase, and leaves to continue his walk to work. When he gets there he proceeds as normal. Using his badge to open the gate and then the door to the tunnel. Shows it to the guards to enter the elevator. Exits the elevator and walks to his sector accordingly. When he arrives he walks straight to Iruka's office.
"Hey Naruto how are you?" Naruto sighs in relief that Iruka is still acting normal. He clocks himself in at 6:45pm.
"Hey Iruka, can't complain."
"Good. Looks like it may be just me and you tonight. Sakura's sick."
"Ah man, with what?"
"Didn't say, but did say she will try to come in later tonight if she was feeling better. If not I will have another nurse handle Sasuke's bandage changes/skin removal okay?"
"Good was hoping you would say that. I have no idea what I am doing with that." Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Alrighty well I am going to start showers now."
"SEE YA." Iruka said comically. Naruto smiled and left his office. Once the door shut he grinded his teeth and clenched his fists in disgust.
*Not sure how long I will be able to fake this bullshit.*
12:00AM - SAKURA'S POV (NORMAL)
The steel doors opened and I entered. Naruto jogged down the hallway up to me with a smile on his face.
"Hey what's up?" I said happily with a laugh in my voice. Naruto held his finger up to tell me to wait. Then he put his hand behind his ear and looked up. I focused to listen better. I could hear Iruka vomiting in the background.
"Naruto! …What did you do?" I said quietly while leaning down. He leaned down with me and pulled a bottle out of his pocket.
"Heeheee." He laughed evilly. When I read the bottle it said 'Syrup of Ipecac'.
"But Naruto why—"
"Quick he's coming!" I stood up nervously with Naruto and watched Iruka slowly walk down the hallway. He was holding his stomach and his face was pale. He stopped in front of us.
"Oh no Iruka, are you ok?"
"Ugh no, I think I got whatever you had Sakura." I was taken back, but then put two and two together.
*I can't believe Naruto was able to come up with this! I mean, I would've had to call out of work and said I was 'sick' regardless in order to study. But this just made it all the more convincing! Not to mention got rid of Iruka! CHA!*
"Oh man Iruka I am so sorry. I still feel pretty queasy myself."
"Thanks for coming in…I don't know if I should stay or not." Naruto and I basically jumped out of our skin.
"Oh no Iruka I wouldn't. Shit had me going for hours. You need to go home and lay down. You can't work like this."
"Yeah Iruka, no worries we've got this!" Iruka just stared at us and then heaved like he was going to vomit once more. He swallowed his spit and put his hand over his mouth.
"Oh ugh…ew, okay, thanks guys. See you tomorrow. Call Asuma tonight if you need anything. I'll let him know I am leaving."
"Okay bye Iruka!" Naruto said.
"Yeah Iruka feel better! Sorry again!" I said. He slowly walked out of the sector. Once the steel doors closed Naruto and I jumped into the air and high fived each other.
"Dude that was GENIUS!"
"Nothing like good ol' ipecac to stir up the stomach!" We both begin to walk down the hallway together. As we were walking we both stopped in front of Sasuke's hallway and stared down it.
"You think you're ready?"
"I know I am." Naruto looked at me and smiled.
"Great. Go clock in real quick and let's get started." We walked to Iruka's office and I clocked in at 12:15am. He looked over at the monitors.
"Think we should take down Sasuke's camera?"
"It would be suspicious if any of them were tampered with though. Especially if were only Sasuke's. He obviously can't break it like he used to. Eh, he never reviews the tapes anyway. We'll be fine." We both left the office and headed for Sasuke's room. Once we reached his hallway we started to walk faster. We make it to his room and Naruto used his remote to open it. We slowly walked in. Nothing out of the ordinary. The cart with all of the supplies was still in there. Sasuke was still wrapped head to toe in bandages besides his eyes and mouth. Naruto walked over and kneeled down in front of him as did I. I looked into his eyes. He looked so tired. He slowly looked up into my eyes and immediately used his Sharingan. He looked so intensely focused.
"That's right Sasuke. She's stronger than ever. We're bringing you back now." Naruto's voice was so low and serious. He was crying. Sasuke looked over at him.
"Naruto…" I said.
"Oh right." He stood up and backed away. I moved over but stayed on my knees. Sasuke looked up at the ceiling, and then closed his eyes as I did mine.
*Okay Sakura. Remember your chakra flow, keep a feel on it. You know this, you've done this before, you've got this. Stay focused, stay ready, stay strong. It's now or never. This is for Naruto, for the freedom of his fellow ninja, his friends. But most importantly, this is for you…Sasuke.* I focused internally. Visually mapping out the flow of my chakra within my body. All knew all of the points, I medically and scientifically understood how it worked with my body. I concentrated as I established an even flow down to the palms of my hands. Then I envisioned the healing process of Sasuke's body and skin. The process of it healing flew through my mind like an overload of information. Like someone was hitting fast forward. Just as it did when I was a child. An understanding I was never taught, but I was born with.
*This is it!* I opened my eyes and a sudden burst of light green chakra came from underneath my hands. Its energy was circling around me in an angry sphere. My hair was blowing back from the wind it was producing. The whole room was lit up. I could not see if it was working for Sasuke's bandages were still on. But I could feel that it was. The more focused and concentrated, the closer I came to finishing, the more aggressive the charge got. I could hear things blowing around the room. Then a loud [crash!]. I looked behind me and seen that the cart with all of the supplies flipped off the ground and slammed into the wall. Then I see Naruto stumble around to keep his balance but fall onto the floor. He had his arm over his head to try and shield his eyes from the light and wind. I looked back down at Sasuke and closed my eyes once more, finalizing the personal features that made him him. The curve of his nose, the shape of his lips, he was almost complete.
"Please…let this be right." I whispered. The light dimmed, the energy calmed, the wind stopped. I was finally finished. I opened my eyes to see my hands. My veins were no longer protruding out of my skin. I lifted them off of Sasuke and they fell into my lap like they weighed a ton. I felt very weak, drained. And was afraid if I moved it would make it worse. So I stayed there. I was slightly swaying back and forth. I looked over at Sasuke's face. Trying to focus my vision, but it was kind of blurry. I heard Naruto jump to his feet. He ran over to Sasuke's bed and jumped behind his head. Then he put his hands under his shoulders and lifted him to a sitting position. He grabbed a piece of the bandage and ripped it with his teeth. Then he comically began to unwrap Sasuke's head has fast as he could. Once his face was completely unveiled Naruto stopped unwrapping. Everyone just stared at each other.
"Uhh…" Naruto was at a loss for words. Then we heard a [pop!] and Sasuke's hair went from flat against his head to big and spiked out like it originally was.
"SASUKEEEE!" Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke and began rubbing his face against his.
"Ew Naruto get off me! Stop!"
"Oh Sasuke I missed you so much I never thought you would look the same again." Naruto was still comically rubbing against his face with tears coming from his eyes. Internally I was so happy. Internally I was screaming. Internally I would've been doing the same thing to Sasuke. But I was so weak, I knew couldn't stand up. Sasuke was looking over at Naruto in annoyance, but then made eye contact with me.
"Sakura…" He said. Naruto stopped and blinked twice.
"Huh? Ok right, Sakura!" Naruto got off of Sasuke's bed and kneeled down next to me.
"Sakura are you okay?" He put his arm behind my back and tried to help me stand up. I winced in pain from how weak my muscles were.
"Naruto don't. Don't make her stand up. If anything she needs to lie down. Come finish unwrapping me."
"Oh uh, right!" Naruto ran over to Sasuke and started to unwrap the rest of his body.
*I can't believe it worked! Sasuke still looks…he looks like he did before! He still looks just as breath taking. His skin is just as flawless. He is healed.* I smiled and stared down at my lap deep in thought. Thinking of how happy and grateful I was that I was actually able to pull through for everyone…for Sasuke.