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CHAPTER TWENTY SIX ________________________ THEY SAY PEOPLE NEVER REALLY FORGET the things they want to. Not if you truly, deeply in your heart want to remember one certain thing in a memory, at least. And when you see that certain thing, it's as if the gears in your brain start to function all over again and all your feelings come flooding back all in one movement. It's a blessing and a curse, different to specific people.
All NARUTO UZUMAKI felt when he glanced over at the person in the hospital bed next to him was guilt. All he could think was; I wasn't fast enough. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move from his position in his chair. His hair was mess. His face was full of cuts. He wouldn't let anyone try and help heal them, especially Sakura. Not even Kakashi could convince him to clean himself up. And since he couldn't, Katsuo insisted he stay with his Big Brother and his Mother. The more he sat there, leaning backwards into the chair a nurse provided for him, the more he kept replaying what happened in his head, and the more people tried to get him out of his head.
"Naruto?"
The yellow-haired boy inhaled sharply, but never wavered from his spot. He didn't turn his head, or acknowledge the presence of whoever was speaking to him.
"Naruto." Sakura appeared in front of him, and his eyes kept themselves trained on the floor. Her tone was soft, caring. Something he'd been hearing for a while now.
But, he still never responded.
"Any news?" Katsuo's voice came from the far side of the room where another hospital bed was set up. Sakura ordered the nurses to let him and his father sleep in them. If her family away from home was going to stay there, she'd make then as comfortable as possible.
The pink-haired teen shook her head sadly.
"Guess I don't have to wake Dad up, then." The kid murmured.
"Why don't you go to the cafeteria and eat with Sasuke?" Sakura suggested, gesturing towards the stairs that were in his view point. "While I talk to your Brother, at least."
Katsuo raised his eyebrow, his honey brown eyes peering into her emerald green ones. "Come on, Nee-san. Can't I eat with anybody else? He hates me!"
"No he doesn't." Sakura gave him an amused smile. "You just won't give him a chance. Go."
The boy muttered things under his breath all the way out the door, and the medical nin's smile dropped as soon as he left. She turned back to Naruto.
She reached out to check his bandages on his bad arm, but he instantly flinched and leaned the opposite way, finally making eye contact with the girl.
"You can't keep doing this." Sakura hissed, crossing her arms. She had finally lost her patience. "I'm not going to keep coming back every hour to check up on you, Naruto. You're driving yourself into a point where you won't be able to come back if you don't stop."
Naruto blinked at her.
"You know what, I get it. I really do. I wish I could've been there to help her, too—"
"That's the thing, Sakura. You don't get it!" Naruto snapped. He had lost his patience, too. He couldn't not speak anymore. "My mother promised me she was going to protect all of my friends, and she came through. All of you are alive, but she broke her other promise of being fine by doing that. She stood there at the gate that day and told me she was going to be fine because she had a son who gave her hope and a belief system, but that all was broken by the fact that I didn't get up from the ground when she was standing in front of me. You couldn't have helped her. I could have. And that's what you don't get. That's why I'm sitting here by her bedside, refusing to let you help me because I couldn't help her!"
Sakura stood in there with the softest expression. He was standing up now, towering over her by just a bit. She knew his words were effective. But she also knew just the thing that would get him to understand what she was trying to say.
"Would Hana like it if her hope and belief system didn't have the ability to be repaired ever if he died?"
Naruto's eyes widened at her words. He sat back down slowly, digesting what was said to him. She was right. She was always right.
"Naruto." A familiar voice spoke, and the two teens turned to find the blonde they were talking about awake. Her eyes were peering at her son worriedly. She held out her hand, wincing slightly at the pain that came with the movement.
"Mom." The latter uttered, tears falling from his eyes as he smiled at her. He took her hand in his, his cries growing louder as Sakura rubbed his shoulder, trying to soothe him.
"I'm okay, sweetheart." She smiled back at him, squeezing his hand faintly. "I love you, okay?"
"I love you too. So much."
NOTES this is the last part! i didn't want to bore you guys with the details of the battle, but long story short hana almost died protecting neji and hana and naruto. this isnt the end of the book, however. more chapters to come!
