Butterflies and Hurricanes

Scene I: Sasuke Awakens

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Nekozuka Sango's bobbed hair was in a ruffled heap on her head by the time she reached the infirm Uchiha's room. She'd only heard about the accident ten minutes before she left--and the Neko had only just woken up. Her ginger cat, Asagiko, struggling hard to maintain balance on her shoulder, she entered her the Uchiha's room gingerly, so as not to worsen his coma-tose state. The door creaked, announcing her arrival. Sango's tail twitched uneasily; she sat down beside the pink-haired kunoichi and forced a smile.

"...You okay?" Sakura nodded, not removing her eyes from her boyfriend. Asagiko pounced onto her owner's lap and curled into a ball, purring merrily. Sango stroked the kitten behind her ears. She decided to speak again.

"How long's he supposed to stay like this, Saku-chan?"

"About two days, or so." Sakura answered dismally, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"I assume Naruto had something to do with this?" Maybe her unholy wrath towards Naruto would assuage her grief...

"...I don't know." She sighed. "Probably, knowing him." No? Sango concluded that it couldn't. She continued to no avail.

"...What about Kiba? Do you think he did it?" No, that was out of her own personal vendetta for the Inu.

Sakura wasn't even paying attention to her. Sasuke's crainial injury weighed too heavily on her mind. What if he was never to be the same again? What if...his brain was so damaged that she could have to care for him for the rest of her life? Would her Sasuke be a *vegetable*? Such thoughts destroyed her. In her mind, Sakura was screaming and shouting and beating her fists against the floor, down to the last ounce of her sanity.

Sango wasn't sure why her teammate was so upset; Sasuke would be back to normal in a few days. So why all the tears? Pink-haired chick sure liked to overreact. The Neko remembered Sasuke's first run-in with Rock Lee during the Chunin exams, and how surprised Sakura was when her beloved angst-whore was beaten by such a FREAK. Two freaks, actually--Eien Ryuu, Lee's lover, had demolished, if not, humiliated Sasuke in their match. Sasu-kun was a genius, but Ryuu...was in an entirely different class altogether. Demons were like that. Ryuu was a son of a bitch.

Asagiko let out a soft mew and yawned before climbing onto Sakura's shoulders. The kitten loved her. She loved all of her friends. Her sudden act of kindness raised the pink-haired girl's spirits a little; a smile slowly crawled across her face as she allowed it to rest on her lap, its purring bringing warmth to her body.

---

With overwhelming reluctance, Naruto, strolled through the halls of the hospital, walking slowly to try and delay whatever time he had to see Sasuke. Bringing the teme flowers after getting the perfect revenge was not only insult to injury, but a big bruise to the ego as well. But whatever. He would only have to visit the little bastard for so long: enough to deliver the flowers, say "Hi" to Sakura and maybe Sango, and spit out whatever the hell apology he'd planned to give.

The Kitsune had always disliked hospitals. He wasn't sure whether it was the stagnant aroma of iodine or how sinister the place had felt. A lot of people died in hospitals. It could be haunted for all he knew. For those reasons, Naruto did his best to stay healthy and avoid injury during missions.

At last, he had reached Sasuke's room. Prepared for whatever cruel diatribe awaited him, Naruto opened the door with a creak. Shit. He *really* wished it hadn't creaked...Once he entered with the black-eyed Susans in tow, he realized there were three pairs of angry eyes leering at him. Sakura clenched her fists and immediately rose from her chair, her eyes narrowed in fury. (Asagiko had since climbed onto Sasuke's bed and was sitting on his belly.)

"Naruto...You fucking BAKA..."

'Oh, shit.' He almost said aloud.

If it weren't for the two of them being on opposite sides of the bed, Sakura would have lunged at at the Kitsune head-on. Instead, her voice exploded into the room, shouting whatever wrathful things were on her mind.

"I can't believe you!! Do you realize he could be a VEGETABLE for the rest of his fucking LIFE??! How could you even THINK of doing such a thing, you ASSHOLE!!?"

Being accumstomed to such outbursts, Naruto remained calm and simply ignored her. That was definately the best road to take. Don't respond. Just let it wash over you like water. That's what Ryuu taught him. The kitsune's shoulders slumped in a sigh as he laid the flowers down on his teammates's nightstand. There. Done! He then turned to the two Kunoichi.

"Look...I can acknowllege that what I did was wrong--"

"--And stupid." Sango added.

"Whatever. But, I'm sorry, okay? He was supposed to throw a smaller rock."

"A SMALLER rock?! That's all you can say!!?" Sakura roared.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

Deciding that the entire trip was a wastec of time, Naruto turned to leave. If all Sakura was going to do was bitch, then he didn't want anything to do with her. He'd even brought flowers for Hell's sake! As the Kitsune opened that irritatingly creaky door, he was stopped by a familiar voice:

"Naruto-kun. Thank you for the flowers...they're very pretty."

All eyes were transferred to the center of the room: Sasuke had awoken, and appeared quite normal. Sitting up in his bed, the raven-haired Uchiha was stroking the kitten that sat on his belly. Naruto's blinked twice out of pure confusion.

"S-Sasuke-teme?!" His teammate replied with a kind smile.

"Well, hello, Naruto-kun! It's good to see you again. Thank you for visiting me."

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