Chapter Nine
Part One
**
ICU - intensive care unit
IV - intravenous
Code - when someone stops breathing or responding
“...was presumed killed almost a week ago when he was hit with a bullet in the chest. Police are still investigating the shooting, which happened at Haruki Jaisumoto Psychiatric Ward in North Tokyo last Tuesday. He was taken to East Tokyo’s district hospital, where he was announced dead on arrival from loss of blood.”
Sickened, Naruto switched off the TV. Didn’t these people have anything better to do than report grisly murders? he wondered as he settled back into the comfortable tan plush chair. The smell of disinfectant was tickling his nose, although not too much to be bothersome, and the humdrum of nurses’ squeaky shoes, phones ringing, and people talking comforted him. He’d never really been in a hospital before, much less a huge one like East Tokyo’s district hospital, and the hallways and mazes made him dizzy, so much so that he had to get a map of the grounds and still, nearly a week later, hadn’t figured out how to get from the parking structure to the seventh floor without help. He’d memorized the route to the ICU immediately, however; he didn’t like it there, with all the mortally sick patients, the pictures of what used to be human beings with IVs dripping from scrawny arms and an occasional code. He always made a beeline for the twelfth bed, where another ghost of a human being lay, pale even against the stark white sheets, IVs dripping from his arms and his small, thin body covered so it barely made an indent.
Naruto picked up a brush with soft bristles off the dresser and began to brush the raven hair gently, running his fingers over the bald area where nearly twenty stitches had to be sown in. Sasuke’s face was almost healed of the bruises, his head nicely healing. He was moved out of ICU a few days after he’d been admitted and, on the third day, regained consciousness for the first time after he’d fainted. After Naruto had shot Gaara.
His blue eyes rested on Sasuke’s pale, sleeping form, nestled in pillows, surrounded by get well soon cards. Smiling tenderly Naruto gently brought the mussed sheet up to Ssauke’s chin and then, to his surprise, the onyx orbs opened as dark slits.
“Naruto?” his beloved murmured, catching his wrist. Naruto bent close, happy to see him awake. “Where am I?”
Naruto’s grin faltered. He’d been told before where he was. He’d been told before what happened. All the nurses knew that it was very well possible the Uchiha could have suffered brain damage, could have lost some memory, maybe even relearn some skills. But that was at its worse, they assured the small, timid man whose only concern was for the broken beauty looking so small and helpless. Only at its worse...
Blinking sudden tears from his eyes, Naruto affectionately squeezed the pale hand. “You’re at the hospital,” he told the detective. “Remember? You’ve been here for about five days now.”
“Oh.” Sasuke fell back against the pillows and closed his eyes. Naruto, thinking he had gone back to sleep, began to softly disengage the Uchiha’s grip but was stopped when it tightened. “I remember,” the raven-haired man mumbled at last. “I remember Gaara... bastard.”
Naruto smiled through his tears. Bastard was right. “He’s dead,” he said sadly. “I shot him, Sasuke.”
“I know.” He let his tensed muscles relax and didn’t open his eyes, but he didn’t loosen on Naruto’s hand either. “You did good,” he murmured to the small blonde man without looking at him. Naruto sniffled, trying like hell not to cry, because it was embarrassing and he didn’t want anyone to see... what the hell. Laying his blonde locks on the Uchiha’s shoulder he let his tears soak through the thin hospital gown, and Sasuke’s arms went around him the best they could, considering an immediate wave of pain excrutiated his left arm as he lifted it, but he managed to put his arms around the small man anyway. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, face pressed into the blonde hair. “I’m sorry I failed you, Naruto.”
Startled, Naruto drew back, wiping away the tears. “Failed?” he echoed. “What do you mean, failed?”
Sasuke didn’t answer. Instead he fixed Naruto with a stern gaze and said: “What the hell were you doing there, Naruto? I thought you were still teaching.”
Naruto flushed and fumbled for words. “Uh, well,” he stammered. “I, uh... I kind of hid in your car. I’m sorry!”
Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled, making the blonde blink at him. “So that’s why your phone was in the car.”
Naruto flushed again and grinned. “Yeah, that was a little bit stupid of me. I was hiding behind the back seats, since your car doesn’t really have a trunk.”
“A little,” Sasuke murmured, and opened his eyes. He grasped the smaller man’s sleeve gently and pulled him close, inhaling the teacher’s scent before softly kissing his startled lover, who made a small sound of protest before kissing him back. A hand slipped behind Naruto’s head to pull the blonde closer.
“Sasuke,” the smaller man murmured when they finally broke away. “They did surgery on your head. You’ve got about twenty stitches.” There was nothing registering on that pale face that was set into a stony blankness, nothing Naruto could read or identify in the blank orbs of darkness. Softly a hand reached up to touch Sasuke’s bare head, to carress the area devoid of soft black locks. “You’re bald here,” he whispered, mentally begging the expressionless Uchiha to speak, to act as though he’d heard Naruto.
Finally Sasuke spoke. “I don’t care,” he said roughly. “Doesn’t matter what happened to me. Were you... did he hurt you, Naruto?”
Relief flooded through the teacher as he realized that Sasuke had only been concerned for him, had frankly not given a crap to know his head had to be partially shaved or that he had twenty stitches or that he could’ve had some memory loss. “No, Sasuke. He didn’t touch me.”
From the way he went limp it was apparent Sasuke was relieved, too. “Good,” he murmured. “Thank Kami.” He raised his eyes to meet cerulean ones. “When am I getting the hell out of here? How bad am I, anyway? Has Kakashi been here at all?”
Naruto laughed, part to alliviate his nervousness, part because he was just plain happy Sasuke seemed to be getting better. “Well,” he said more soberly, “I don’t really know when you’re getting out of here.” He giggled at Sasuke’s face, which immediately darkened at that. One hospital visit, much less because of Gaara, was more than enough. “Thankfully nothing really really serious happened - he didn’t break anything, but you lost a lot of blood because of the head wound and you were shot in the shoulder, so we did a blood transfusion. But, other than that, you’re fine.” He didn’t mention what the nurses had told him about Sasuke having permanent brain damage. He didn’t want to think about that and besides; Sasuke seemed perfectly fine, didn’t he? “And yeah, your boss - and a lot of other people - came by.” His eyes twinkled as he gestured toward the multitudes of get well soon cards.
Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes at the teacher in thoughtful silence. He remembered everything that happened, sharply, vividly. He could recall every word Gaara had said to his Naruto, had tried to get his Naruto to kill him. He remembered the bang that resonated through his consciousness with the force of an earthquake, he felt more than heard the disgusting thump Gaara’s body made as it came into contact with the ground, groaning, surrounding in a pool of blood. It was then, when Naruto had sank to his knees sobbing and crying, when he felt the blonde’s warm hands on him, telling him that everything was going to be all right, he was going to be fine, it was then he succumbed to the mercifully painless darkness that consumed him, that made his memory fuzzy and hard to speak. Hard to move. But he still remembered. He doubted he would ever forget.
“Naruto,” he said. The teacher glanced at him, noting the serious look in the detective’s eyes and the grim way his mouth was set and he fidgeted. Sasuke grasped his arm gently and again the blonde looked at him. Sasuke, suddenly at a loss of words, finding the strength for what he’d wanted to say being sapped away with frightening suddenness, was silent. Almost nervously, if Naruto didn’t know the detective better, his fingers traced an invisible figure eight pattern on his arm, staring at it as though it held an odd sort of fascination to him. Puzzled, Naruto didn’t withdraw his arm, though the butterfly-light touch on them made his skin crawl with a pleasant ticklish feeling. Having the sudden urge to scratch his arm, he did so, knocking aside Sasuke’s hand with his own as he scratched at it. Sasuke smiled. “Naruto,” he said again. “Everything that’s happened... it makes me want to tell you this. I don’t know you all that well, by any standards anyhow, and I want to know you better.” His smile was soft, a quiet happiness that seemed to permeate the room about them. “I want to know what kinds of food you like, what sort of music you listen to, your likes and dislikes.” His hand tightened around Naruto’s arm. “Naruto. I...” He paused then. “I love you.”
The words seemed to hang in the hospital room for a very long time as they slowly registered in Naruto’s rather blank mind as he stared stupidly at the pale raven-haired man. Naruto. I love you. So much different than Gaara’s love. A new beginning. A new life. A new love, one that loved him for himself and not because of blood or his body. A slow grin spread across his features. “I love you too, Sasuke,” he replied softly, sitting stock still, although he would’ve rather ran about, shouting, perhaps screaming it off the top of the hospital. Instead he sat there, his hand clasped within Sasuke’s, and smiled down at his beloved.
His Sasuke.
There would be no more terror, no more forced sex, no more forced pain from someone he loved and hated with the same fervor. No more guilty pleasure, no more dislike of home. He would enjoy coming home. It would be happy. He’d wanted this for so, so long that now that he had it it seemed too good to be true. But, looking at Sasuke, who was grinning rather tiredly, he knew it was absolutely, completely true and he bent down, softly kissing the detective, who responded in scope.
No more Gaara.
Sasuke closed his eyes as he kissed the blonde beauty above him. Sakura, he thought, you would be so happy for me.
The End ^^
Fun Facts about this fanfic:
- Formatted, this story is 58 pages long and has 39,000 words in it. Which is a lot considering it’s only about the third fanfic I’ve ever fully completed out of fifty or sixty ideas or half-started stories.
- There is more violence centered toward the head and neck than any other body part in this story.
- I did no research on this story, save one regard; I did a lot of research on medical terminology, which I’m learning anyways. So could it really be called research if I already knew it...?
- I started this story because I was bored and I decided to do a SasuNaru. This is my very first Naruto fanfic.
- I have reached my goal of fifty reviews by the end of this story and have currently reached 54.
- My goal on Invincible is to beat the number of reviews Machination got!!!! Yay!
Also, I do have a sequel planned out for this, it's actually nearly finished -- the name is Invincible. It should be posted after Machination is finished, so if you just keep an eye out, you'll see it. Or just look up my name and see if it's there, w/e... or, to make life easier, I'll post the very first chapter the same time I finish Machination. Or whatever. Anyway, I'm so glad to have been able to finish this story, thanks to your wonderful support!!!
I hope you enjoyed it, it was hard work. Thanks to you all!!
SquareBallProduction
My thanks to those who reviewed!!!
Especially A Vampire's Butterfly, whose dilligent reviewing and encouragement fueled me on! (And the 10 reviews). Thanks to Otahri for the constructive criticism, which I am most certainly taking to mind; Akumu_kage for confusing the hell out of me; Snirp for the wonderful praise; Blood and Ink; YasuragiYazukai; Satoyuki; SappySue; bandybunny; littleolme for the questions; Seasosassy for the *ahem* feigned interest; sew123093; JustAnotherSoul; angelgirl555; Safira247; yaoifan 16; narubaby; milliexchan; RamenFox; YaoiLuver; and Wild_Flower!! Don't forget to check out Invincible!!!!
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Chapter notes: THE LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOO!!!! Don't forget to review, and check out Invincible, I'll be updating it along with this one!!!!!!!! Whooo! I'm so happy for you. Lol. Enjoy, and please review!! SbP