Imperfectly Perfect (Naruto FanFic)

Chapter Twenty Nine

I walked down the street, steps heavy as I dully watch the people around me. I had been excused from all ninja duties until the Hokage figured out what he would do. But he was taking so long to do that. It felt like years since that mission...

My team had fallen apart. Daisuke was dead. Shun was crippled. Sensei... I didn't know. I hadn't seen him much--he had been in the hospital as they desperately stitched his stomach back together, trying to keep him alive. Then he'd been so busy with paperwork and explanations and a dead student and grief and I'd just never seen him.

Almost every night I was sleeping at Sakura's. She was a true friend through everything. She didn't prod, but she was open to talk. My sister tried her best, but between my parents and her missions she didn't have much time.

My team had  fallen apart, and now they were probably trying to figure out what to do with me.

I look up, and my eyes widen as I suddenly see the shock of white hair.

"Sensei...?" I breathe. He was far down the street, walking towards me. His head was hanging, hair shielding his eyes as he walked through the busy and happy street. His steps were trudging, shoulders slumped, so different from the strong shinobi I'd come to know.

It hit me hard. He was strong, brave around us, around everyone, hiding his pain as he was being torn apart from the inside. I'd never realized before just how much he must constantly hurt.

I put a small smile on my face and take a step forwards, ready to call out and greet him.

Suddenly he stops walking, people streaming around him as he stands there, dead to the world. I hesitate, hand still slightly raised in a wave that he had yet to see.

He clutches at his stomach before dropping to his knees, hair brushing the ground as he doubles over in pain in the middle of the crowded street.

My eyes widen as my breath catches in the back of my throat. "Sen...sei?"

People slowly began to gather around him, ask him of he's alright, how they could help, what was going on. He didn't answer, just stayed crumpled on the ground.

Broken.

Everyone had been thinking of Daisuke. Of his parents. Of his teammates, of Shun and me. But no one had taken a moment to think about the seventeen year old boy who'd lost a student. Who now had one dead student and one crippled student. The boy who felt as though he'd failed, the boy who couldn't afford to show his weakness. The boy who was losing everything and everyone all over again.

No one had taken the time to think about Sensei.

***

I stood up as a doctor walks towards me. "Is he okay?" I ask nervously. "Is it his stomach, did it not heal properly?"

The doctor looks at me, weary. These doctors at this hospital...they must be so tired of taking care of dying and broken children.

"There's nothing physically wrong with him," the doctor smiled sadly, "But he's just...not responding."

I hesitate, unsure whether to feel relief or concern. The door slides open, and I turn as I hear the now familiar thud of Shun's cane.