Howling Love
Chapter Twenty xx Optimism
The Uchiha sneezed quietly into the crook of is elbow, grumbling unintelligibly before flipping onto his stomach, his face now buried within a large stash of pillows. His hand, which was hanging of the side of the sofa he lay on, sluggishly reached out across the floor and began fumbling around blindly for the tissue box that lay just beyond his reach. He snagged it finally, only to discover lamely that the thing was empty. He groaned dully into the pillow again before casting the object out across the carpet again.
The pinkette glanced up from the small stacks of paperwork piled about her desk and eyed the Uchiha as he grumbled before letting a light grin spread softly about her cheeks. She then pushed back her chair before moving her hands carefully down to one of the pullout drawers built into her workspace, her delicate fingers fishing around within to pull out a fresh box of tissues that had been stashed there.
"Sasuke?" she inquired softly, her beryl eyes observing his still form carefully as she brought the new box out onto her desk.
"Hn." His grunt was slightly muffled through the pillow, but the annoyance that licked at its edges came across clear enough. So instead of asking for him to turn around, she proceeded to toss it right at him, forced to stifle a fit of giggles when it hit its target - the Uchiha's head - right on the mark. Her enjoyment, however, was not fit to last, for his whole body suddenly went rigid, and he made no move to take the box that had was now resting a few centimeters from his outstretched hand.
He turned slowly towards her, and the depth of bitter resentment and malice in his dark scowl was pure poetry. She grinned smugly before taking up her pen again to move into the report she'd been working on previously. A few moments later she glanced up again, only to find him staring off into space numbly, tissue box in hand.
It was hard to believe it had only been two weeks since that day in the rain. Two weeks since their sprinkled arguments, two weeks since their first real moment...
Not to mention is had been two whole weeks since the two of them had both contracted equally annoying colds, though Sakura had managed to get over hers after a few days rather than Sasuke, who'd been grumpy, irritable, and confined to a life of sneezes, coughs, and tissue boxes for the duration. She supposed his body was getting overloaded with first healing his back and now fighting the virus, hence why it was lasting so long.
Regardless to what was causing it, he was practically a ray of sunshine.
Sakura grimaced dryly, for the two of them being sick surely was not the only low point of the last few weeks…. Truth be told, she hadn't really known what to expect after their day in the rain, but it definitely hadn't been this. Sasuke was more-or-less the same as he'd been before; always brooding and incapable of holding a normal conversation. If they talked at all, it was one-sided, for the only answers Sakura could get out of him were one-worded ones, thus the conversations were really nothing more than endless rounds of twenty-questions.
She supposed that was his character, but oh did she enjoy the moments when he broke away from it. Like the rare occasions where she would tangle her hand through his, and he would smile down at her warmly. Like the even scarcer moments where he would let her wrap her arms around his neck and then wrap his own arms around her waist.
She remembered a day where he'd been abnormally unresponsive, and after a quiet inquiry was told that it had been his mother's birthday. So she'd curled against his side and for once let him do the talking.
He told her things that she doubted he'd ever told anyone before. They were things about his old family, of his long-dead childhood, of the thoughts and feelings that he'd left behind. It left Sakura feeling that much closer to him, and he to her.
Afterwards had been the only point where they'd really kissed since the garden. After that he was back to himself, unfortunately.
She'd been hoping that after he deemed fit to walk he'd brighten up a bit more, but that fluttering wish was soon stilled, for he seemed to talk even less after that. She could only guess at what the reasons behind that were, but most if not all were futile. She'd grown accustomed to making often attempts to get into the prodigy's mind, to try to guess what he was thinking, but she never quite got the hang of it.
He managed to surprise her still, with small actions and comments that seemed at first insignificant, but after a bit of thought seemed surprisingly sweet and gentle. Like the first time he came down to her office on the first floor, a few days after she'd been allowed to return home and work hospital shifts again. She still wondered how he'd been able to find it in the myriad of rooms and offices, just as she'd wondered countless of times how he'd managed to get down the garden on that fateful day.
When she'd asked him about it, he'd shrugged and hadn't responded. When prodded again, he let slip that Kakashi had something to do with it, but beyond that didn't care to elaborate. So she set it aside, deciding that it would be a topic she could mull over at a different time.
She had a lot to think about, apparently.
"Sakura, you're making a face." His voice was low and distinct as it broke the meanderings of her thoughts, and she blanched as she fought to reconfigure her expression from whatever its previous setting had been. She peeked up at him over her desk, surprised to find him smirking acutely from his position on the sofa.
And then he blinked rapidly before snaking out his hand to snatch up a tissue just in time to let another one of his cute sneezes pass through his clenched teeth and into the paper. He then tossed the tissue into the trashcan conveniently pulled next to him, adding the thing to the constantly-building pile that had amassed within. He groaned irritably, his dark eyes glazed as they surveyed the white ceiling dubiously.
"This sucks," he grumbled hoarsely.
"Try to sleep; it might make you feel better." She watched as his eyes flickered to her face before returning to the ceiling, his immediate irritation lingering in his scowl. She shrugged mildly before picking up her pen once more, knowing full well that his steam would eventually blow out and he'd be able to sleep just fine.
Her eyes skimmed over the paper she'd been in the midst of signing, frowning when she noted that the 'patient's name' line towards the bottom was unfilled. Her eyes skirted up to see if there was any other sort of indication to whose it belonged to when her eyes froze along the name printed along the top.
Uzumaki Naruto.
"Sasuke-kun!" she practically shouted, already up and flitting towards the door. When he didn't respond she furiously rounded on him, only to find that his eyes were closed in sleep. She considered waking him up, but found herself suddenly hesitant when she noted the faint blush forming across his cheeks and the slightly fever that continued to cling to his glossy skin. To her, the Uchiha had always looked heart-breakingly tragic, and his being sick just accented that fact.
She glowered at him suddenly, eyes darting to the door. Uchiha's always had the best of timing, didn't they?
She hurried back to her desk again before snatching out a piece of scratch paper and her pen before hastily scrawling out a short note and sticking it to the front of her desk.
'Checking on a patient. Be back soon.'
And then she was racing towards the door again, pausing only to swing her medic bag over her shoulder before slipping through the exit and into the sterile hallway beyond.
The report had said he wasn't in critical condition, but there wasn't any harm in checking. It took her no more than five minutes to check through the emergency unit rooms, and after finding them empty, went flitting to the second floor to find the recovery rooms. She barged into the first room she came to, her eyes speeding to the bed that lay against the window - she let a relieved grin slide across her lips before shutting the doo quietly behind herself.
It was nice to see that familiar mane of sandy-blond hair after months of living without it. He was her comfort, and being without his constant optimism, broad smiles, and cruddy pick-up lines just didn't work over extended amounts of time.
The Uzumaki lay sprawled sluggishly across the hospital bed, his tanned arms folded beneath his head in complete leisure as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. He wore a tattered ANBU uniform whose arm bracers had been sliced off to make room for the layers of bandages wound around his arms, and his boots had been removed for the same purposes. He had a few bandages wrapped around his forehead as well, to her dismay.
"Naruto, what the hell took you so long?!" she shrieked, finding the first thing she could find - a pillow - and hurling it at his unsuspecting face. He blanched before diving under his blankets, though he quickly resurfaced to show off the broad grin he had plastered across his tired features. The kunoichi smiled largely before moving to his side and sitting on the edge of the bed to move in and give him a warm hug.
"Sorry to make you wait, Sakura-chan." He grinned as she pulled away, his large eyes searching hers warmly.
It had been as if a part of her had been missing during his time away, but his sudden presence made her feel whole again. He was like a sibling to her, like the brother she'd never had, and though it was far from being an intimate relationship, she always missed him when he was gone.
"Are you hurt?" she asked quietly, pulling up his wrapped arm gently, inspecting it before glancing up at his face, surprised to find that his smile had grown.
"Just some scratches... I heal fast, Sakura-chan, don't worry about it." He threw one of his optimistic thumbs-up before he turned pale again and dropped it. She followed his distant gaze to discover that he was staring at the phone behind her like it was a ghost.
"Naruto...?"
"I FORGOT TO CALL HINATA." And then he was diving past her for the phone set on the bedside table before fumbling with the cord as he sought to reel it in to himself. He jabbed at the keys clumsily before pulling it to his ear, expression uncharacteristically flustered.
"Eh, Hinata—" It was almost comical how fast his voice had gone from its loud and high-pitches tone to one so gentle, and Sakura smiled as the blond chuckled to himself at whatever the shy girl on the other line said to him.
"Yeah. Yes. Uh-huh. I'm fine. Room..... Sakura, what room is it? Oh, room 304. It's okay, you don't have to…. Yeah. If they don't, I'll just go out the window. Why not? Sure… Really? Haha, okay. Miss you too. See you tomorrow. Bye." He grinned sheepishly before hanging the instrument up.
"How's Hinata-san?" asked the Haruno quietly, her hand moving subconsciously up to her hair as she tucked a stray strand behind her ear.
"Good, I think..... Anyway, what's been up in Konoha lately?" He must have noticed Sakura turn sheet white, because he frowned at her and raised an inquisitive brow.
"That good?" he joked lamely.
"Naruto…While you were gone, Sasuke's—"
"Wait - is there another lead?! What happened? Where was it? When was it? Who sent it in? Is he okay? Where is he? We have to go after him, right now—" he stopped suddenly, sitting up as he tried to get out from under the sheets.
"No, Naruto let me finish—"
"No, Sakura, that bastard is always getting himself way in over his head. I've got to go take a shower and pack again—" he attempted to swing his legs out from under the sheets, eyes glued like a drone to the door.
"SHUT UP BAKA." She slammed her fist into his chest, knocking him flat onto the bed again. He twitched once and didn't move, his expression dumbfounded.
"If you want to go find him, by all means, go look. Packing up and parading down to the gate might be a little overkill though, he's sleeping downstairs."
He ogled at her for a good five minutes, his eyes wide and mouth held ajar. "What?!"
"Sasuke's back." Her voice was even, quiet. She was fighting desperately to keep her emotion from lacing the words, though the blond seemed not to be paying attention to that at the moment. He was struggling to keep one of his trademark grins spread across his face, but it seemed to be falling at the edges, crumbling until it was nothing more than a partial mask hiding the confused face beneath.
She knew what he was thinking about, what he was bitterly mulling over. She hated herself for overlooking it, hated herself for being so ignorantly excited about telling him. She was supposed to be the realist in the group, the one who always had her head on straight, the one who everyone turned to when they needed help or advice.... Yet now she felt as if she'd horribly miscalculated and was now sinking to the dark pit of pessimism with the Uchiha.
Sasuke had tried to kill him. That kind of action wasn't quite so easy to forgive, by no one's measures. Though Naruto had never really doubted their ability to bring their old teammate back, it was another thing entirely now that the fact was upon them, the kunoichi knew that that action would take more than a little time to heal. What had once been a thick band of trust that had been brutally shredded during the duo's brawl, and now it was entirely up to Sasuke to weave it back together.
"How?" The blond's quiet question broke the thick haze of her thoughts, and her gaze flickered up to his face. She abruptly realized that the blond was staring at her with his large, cerulean hues, still looking a whole stage beyond shock. So as she picked up her teammates calloused hands in hers to trace rippling patterns across his palm, she told him.
About everything.
About the chance encounter in the dark dungeon's of the hideout.
To the Uchiha's decision to follow her.
To being chased through across miles of forest by their enemies.
To the small village and inn they'd stayed at afterwards, and her strange encounter with Yui.
Then to their flight through yet another forest, and the ambush that followed.
She described how strong their old teammate had been, how he'd defeated so many men without batting a lash. And how she'd been sourly beaten by the blond woman, only to be rescued by the dark-haired prodigy almost immediately afterwards. She told him about the fight with Katsuo, how the Uchiha managed to escape to the sky carrying her unconscious body in his arms.
And then she told him about the fall. And of what happened to his spine and to everything else that pertained to the Uchiha's return.
It was the first time she'd been able to give her account of the entire journey, and it felt strangely relieving to be able to let it all slide. Sure, she'd had to give a report to Tsunade a few weeks prior, but it had been a blunt description of what took place, not of why it happened or had it had made her feel.
At the same time, however, she felt as if she was deceiving the blond, for she was intentionally cutting little details out every here and there. She didn't mention how safe she'd felt wrapped up in his arms, didn't note on how it hadn't been a whim to escape from Katsuo, but him curbing to her desperate plea. She neglected telling him what their teammate had told her during their flight, and said nothing of how she'd screamed and cried her eyes out when his broken body was pulled from her grasp after the tragic fall.
She didn't tell him about how happy she'd felt when she'd held him in her arms. She didn't tell him about how scared she felt when she had to leave.
She didn't tell him about their many conversations in that Konoha Hospital room, or about the long nights she spent thrashing about in sleeplessness from the guilt she felt from his momentous sacrifice.
And that day in the garden; she left that part out too.
The blond pursed his lips for a moment, his brow furrowed in one of his rare moments of concentration. The Haruno studied him quietly before dropping her eyes to her hands, pushing away the urge to fidget.
"Is he going to be able to fight again?" the Kyuubi-contained asked quietly, his deep, cyan eyes skirting up to her face, looking slightly on-edge. Sakura flashed a grin.
"Yeah. Give him a month and he'll be fit for sparring." She beamed at him, happy to be able to provide at least a little good news. The blond grinned in return, though the kunoichi got the distinct feeling that other things were bothering him as well.
"I'm going to beat him to a pulp." He chuckled loudly, and Sakura frowned before rolling her eyes as he moved to continued: "He is going to eat rasengan over and over and over again until he—"
"Naruto…. Please refrain from killing each other, okay? And you're going to need to keep it to Taijutsu for a while, anyway," she scolded him wryly, pursing her lips afterward.
"What? Why?" he parried quickly.
"The spine is connected to your main chakra channel, idiot. Chakra manipulation might take a while." She said it like anyone should know it, but she supposed off-handedly that it was medic knowledge, and that he, being Naruto, wouldn't have known.
"....Has he tried it yet?"
"No."
"He'll get it on the first try, Sakura. This is Sasuke we're talking about." The blond grinned cheekily. She found herself echoing his expression at his apparent optimism.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right."
A/N: End of Chapter Twenty, my friends. My GAWD it's hard to believe that this thing is so long. And it doesn't even seem like much happened. :/ By any means, I feel so, so accomplished to have made it to twenty chapters! :D
Anyway, I believe I stated a while ago that I had a clear end in site for this fic and that it was going to end in the future. At that point, however, I had envisioned the garden scene to be a lot more elaborate, more explanatory, much longer, and much much more fluffy before having a few more entirely-fluff chapters to end the thing. That was my plan, at least. But I've now realized that my mind has no intention of allowing me to end it like that, so it has continually presented me with ideas that would work all to well for coming chapters.
So although I'll hardly have the time anymore for softball season is starting up again, this fic is going to keep on rollin'! So I guess that's good for you guys, but don't cry when updates are a bit slower than usual, m'kay? :D
So yeah.
If a little random, but if anyone is up to date with the current Naruto manga arc, I'd just like to say this comment: I HATE SAGE MODE. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. 'cause I don't think Sasuke-kun could beat it, which makes me want to curl up into a ball and sob. TT___TT
I've got this song stuck in my head: "Love Remains the Same" - Gavin Rossdale.... It's cute, but god is it annoying to have stuck in ones head. T___T;;
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and please, please, please REVIEW! :D
-- xxIndigo