Call Me Mr. Knight

Chapter 25

I opened my eyes and squinted when the light coming from the window momentarily blinded me. I couldn't help but groan a little when I felt my whole body aching. What the hell just happened? I felt like I was punched all over.

When I finally managed to scan the room I was in, I realized that I was once again in the school infirmary.

"Naruto?" My attention was caught by a voice followed by Sasuke's face. He immediately sat on the side of the bed when he realized that I was already awake.

"Hey." I greeted, finding his exhausted form and worried gaze quite heartwarming. Or rather, it would have been outright funny if only he wouldn't punch me if I were to tell him that. And in my present condition, I wouldn't risk it.

Or maybe... just maybe, I might just be a little too overwhelmed by the intense emotion swimming in those black orbs of his. He looked so sick with worry and I thought there were unshed tears in the corner of his eyes too.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me in his usual cool voice.

I let out a grin. "...Like crap." His expression considerably lightened at that, just as he let out a small laugh. I noticed that his tightly-fisted hands loosened a bit too. But then his expression turned into a rather scary scowl when he was pushed to the side quite hard by none other than aniki who most likely did it on purpose. I didn't even notice him before since Sasuke occupied all of my attention. Sorry, aniki.

I couldn't help but sigh as he sat on the bed where Sasuke was sitting earlier, effectively pushing the raven to the side. Sasuke immediately glared at him but then he shrugged and let aniki talk to me. He looked far worse than Sasuke. It was probably the reason why the raven didn't retaliate at all.

This time I commented on it. "You look worse than me."

"You idiot!!" I flinched at the intensity of his voice. It was only now that I noticed he was actually trembling. "Deidara's technique is capable of killing even a grown-up man!! What were you thinking, not even trying to dodge it!? Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" His eyes were almost flaring in silent anger and worry that I thought he would seriously attack me. Thank goodness he simply clenched his fists tighter as he glared at me while waiting for my answer.

I couldn't help but sigh again. Any alibi wouldn't matter now because I knew for sure he would still get angry.

"I won't get killed by that..." I answered quietly as I averted my gaze to the window. Everything seemed so quiet now. I could see the sunset from afar and I knew for sure now that I'd slept for quite a long time.

Aniki looked like he was about to say something again so I added, "...because I'm a Namikaze." That one made him stop. It's true though. As I've said before, there's something in the Namikaze blood that allowed us to heal much faster than normal humans did. It might actually be the only reason why I found myself only in the infirmary instead of the hospital. Even now, I could feel my whole body getting lighter and lighter with each passing second, the wounds closing at such a quick pace. It seemed I was lucky I was a Namikaze.

I knew aniki and Sasuke were worried about me this entire time. So... I knew it wouldn't hurt to say more. "Sorry for worrying you both... and also for being reckless." I made sure to look at them in the eyes this time, if only to assure them that I was sincere. Sasuke simply smirked at that while aniki looked surprised. It was seldom that I would admit my own mistake and he knew that. After a while, he let out his own warm smile.

Now that I thought about it, I couldn't see Tsunade anywhere in the room. She was usually loitering here while drinking her booze. Not only was she absent, only aniki and Sasuke were in the room with me. I now tried to imagine how they tried to talk to one another while I was unconscious, or if they even did.