Silence

49. Guilt and Sly Bastards.

Third person's P.O.V.

It's been a week. A week since Shizukana's heart stopped for three and a half minutes. And it's been a week since she last was conscious.

It was quite visible the impact Shizukana had on everyone around her. Kakashi spent most of his time at the hospital, lingering at Naruto and Shizukana's bedside. He knew he had to keep his responsibility as a Jonin so he had to attend missions now and then.

Sakura constantly kept coming to check up on their vitals. Always monitoring Shizukana's health and being on guard if the serum acts up.

Even though Lady Shizune and Lady Tsunade extracted the serum, they suspect that some of it may be embedded in Shizukana's chakra system.

All of the nurses and doctors in charge of Shizukana have to be on alert at all times.

The person most affected by Shizukana's presence was Shikamaru. It took the doctors, a very concerned Shikaku Nara and persuasive Tsunade to convinced the Nara heir to leave the hospital to get some rest.

He stayed by her side for three days straight without getting a wink of sleep. Deep inside, he felt guilty for what had happened and felt that he had abandoned Shizukana.

The rest of team 10 visited and team 8 accompanied them. Hinata was another frequent visitor who visited both Naruto and Shizukana.

It came as quite a shock that Sasuke had done such a thing. But many knew that he was capable of doing so.

At the moment, Kakashi was seated in Shizukana's room. The steady sound of the heart monitor and the calm breathing of Shizukana's oxygen mask was the only things audible in the room. Except for the occasional ruffle of a page-turning as Kakashi read his book.

He had just discarded the wilted flowers from the vase on the bedstand. Ino kept bringing fresh flowers every day. She kept saying they bring colour to the room.

Kakashi closed his eyes from exhaustion as he snapped his book shut. He stood up in a panic when the door was blasted open.

It was a flustered Sakura. Kakashi glanced at Shizukana before rushing to Sakura. "What's wrong?" He asked as terrible thoughts flooded his mind.

"Naruto's awake." She said as she urged Kakashi to follow her.

The Jonin was feeling two different feelings. He was feeling delighted that Naruto was okay and up but then the other was that he was gonna have to explain Shizukana's condition.

He hesitated as he watched Sakura walk into Naruto's room. He wrung his hands in frustration before walking in.

Lady Tsunade and Lady Shizune were in with Master Jiraiya. A bunch of nurses and doctors were surrounding them as Lady Shizune was trying to conduct a check-up but Naruto kept fidgeting.

"Why aren't you guys answering my question? Where Kakashi Sensei?" Naruto said as looked around impatiently. "There you are!" He said the second he laid his eyes on the silver-haired Jonin.

"Naruto." Kakashi greeted. Everyone could sense the hesitancy in his voice. "How are you feeling?" Kakashi spoke calmly while talking silent steps towards the Blond.

"I'm okay. I guess." He said stretching his hand. The only injury visible was the bandage that was wrapped around his left wrist.

The doctors and nurses left the room leaving only Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya and Sakura with Kakashi and Naruto.

There was an awkward silence that was laced with tension. Naruto broke that silence by clearing his throat. He wasn't exactly sure how to approach the question.