When You're Gone... ch. 15

When Your Gone...
A love story.

_.:=Excuses, Excuses=:._
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“H-hey Naruto?”
“yeah?”
“Why are you back so soon? Why did you need to come to the hospital?”
The blond fell silent. He looked at Sakura, who was lightly smiling up at him. The pain in his ribs were starting to return.
There’s no way I could tell her what happened…at least not yet… he thought.
“Well, a more important question, Sakura,” he said raising an eyebrow, “is why are YOU in the hospital?” The boy had been wondering this ever since he had arrived. When Naruto had returned to Konoha, Kakashi had come to check up on him in his hospital room. Somehow the topic of Sakura came up and Kakashi said that she was in the hospital also. Naruto asked no questions except for what room she was in.
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“Oh, uh…” The pink haired girl had not thought of an excuse to be in the hospital to tell him. “I, uh, I got hurt training and….yeah…I’m just here for a little while!” she smiled.
“Huh…” Naruto said standing, using the wall for balance. “Last time I checked, you got to keep your original clothes for ‘getting hurt training’” he pointed to his shoulder, “I still have my clothes because it was an emergency. But you,” he flicked his finger to point at her, “you’re in the hospital clothes, meaning you have to be here for a while…”
Sakura looked down to see that she wasn’t in her normal clothes; she was wearing a light pink tee-shirt and black sweatpants. She looked up at Naruto again, wincing. She smiled at him.
“Sakura,” the blond said in a stern voice, “Why are you here?”
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“um…I’m…sick?” She didn’t want to say exactly why she was there. She wanted him to either be old or figure it out on his own. She laughed to herself at the thought of Naruto actually figuring it out, so she hoped a nurse would tell him eventually.
“Sakura…” he was about to say something, but suddenly yelped out in pain, clutching his side. He knelt back down to Sakura’s bedside.
“Naruto! Be more careful!” She gave him her hand, which he squeezed to release some of his pain. “You shouldn’t even be out of bed!”
“N-NO!” she shouted. “I’m fine! I’m worried about you!”
“Well you shouldn’t be!”
“But I am anyway!”
~~~
Sakura placed her hand on Naruto’s head, gently stroking his hair. “You’re the second person to say that to me…” the girl thought back to the first morning in her bedroom, when Ino had been looking for her. “I’m fine. People need to stop worrying about me and worry about more important people!”
“It’s always about Sasuke!” Naruto screamed looking up at her. “Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! That’s all I ever hear! I was nearly killed trying to bring him back, trying to keep my promise to you, and all you can say is ‘Oh, Sasuke’s not back yet?’!” Naruto stood and placed his hands on both sides of the girls head, “Why can you only love him!?”
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