Telling Eyes

Well, I went over the old reviews and got inspired again. I’d stopped this mostly because the real storyline deviated so much from my plan but then, I reread it and realized, that’s the point of fanfics. Oh well. I can almost guarantee there will be large gaps in updates like all my stories. Sorry, but I’m lazy and real life takes precedence over a story very few people care about, let alone review. Wow. That’s pessimistic. Oh well. Life’s frustrations taint me well.
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Sakura stood at Naruto’s grave site, her wrists bandaged from her failed attempt at joining him. It pained her more than anything that she’d failed to keep her promise, but she knew she had time. She just had to be more thorough next time. Now, surrounded as she was by dark garments and the people they covered, she felt the sadness overwhelm her. Today his body was being laid to rest along with his dreams. Sakura too saw her dreams covered by the dark soil, buried too soon. Later, they would all go to the marker of the village’s heroes to watch as Naruto’s name was added but she would stay here. She wasn’t going to leave him. Once everyone was gone, she’d have a little privacy to do what she needed.

After the procession of mourners had all paid their respects, the crowd dwindled to a select few still milling about. Tsunade stood at the back of the crowd the entire time wearing the mask of a responsible leader. Sakura wasn’t at all fooled though. She could see right past the Hokage’s hardended façade to the wailing anguish. The woman’s eyes told it all. Shizune, however, took a much more visible approach. She let the tears run down her face and sniffled from time to time. The rest of the rookie nine lingered there, along with Neji’s team, all paying their respects in their own way. They had each laid gifts at the altar that held a deep meaning to them and them alone.

Ino, whom had probably known Naruto the least, set a beautiful arrangement of flowers before his smiling photograph. Chouji had come next, leaving a bag of barbeque potato chips for, as he put it, “Just in case heaven doesn’t have enough ramen.” That had made a few of his friends smile. Shikamaru, still muttering about troublesome things had left a single piece from his first shougi set.

Neji’s team came next; Tenten the first to pay her repects. Though she knew Naruto about as well as Ino, she held a deep respect for the blonde haired boy after seeing him defeat Neji. Neji was next, laying his hitai-ate before Naruto’s visage and allowing his cursed seal to be on full display. Lee was last, and though Sakura expected him to be blubbering like a baby, she was surprised by how collected and focused he seemed as he placed a set of training weights before his rival.

Hinata’s team was the hardest to watch. Kiba looked about as shaken as everyone else but it was Akamaru that had bayed at Naruto’s picture like a pup that had just lost its best friend. Kiba set two soldier pills on the growing pile and stepped aside for Shino to take his turn. He was as unreadable as usual and quietly set a flower next to Ino’s. Finally, Hinata approached, trembling like a leaf and stepping forward only through sheer force of will. Once she was standing before the altar, she collapsed and wailed in anguish. If she’d said anything, no one could have understood it through her cries. It wasn’t until her teammates had led her away that the cries died down.

The few adults in Naruto’s life had also come to pay their respects as well, but they were somewhat used to this by now. Iruka, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, and even the owner of Ichiraku had all been to more memorial services than they could count and mourned in quiet respect for the young boy who had touched the lives of their students and even themselves.
After everyone had left to the memorial, Sakura stayed behind and stared at Naruto’s picture, tears leaking down her cheeks, “Look, Naruto. Look how many people cared about you. You achieved that dream at least.” He smiled sadly and knelt before the altar, “I know I haven’t left you anything yet but that’s just because I want to give it to you in person.”

From the sleeve of her dress, she pulled a knife with an ivory handle, “You know, my mother would kill me if she knew I took this, but it’s the only thing I could conceal in this dress. Tsunade’s been watching me like a hawk.” Staring up at his picture, Sakura’s tears came more fiercely than ever. “I can’t do this without you, Naruto. When Sasuke left, it hurt, but with you gone, it’s like I’ve lost the sun. I’ve lost the light in my life. I can’t go on without light. I’ll see you soon.” With that, she pressed the blade to her throat and pressed forward.

She had expected pain at first but she felt nothing. All she saw was the world going dark as if the sun had suddenly set. Then, there was darkness all around, the only sound a faint, repetitive noise. Straining her hearing as much as she could, she listened intently and was able to make out that it was a beeping sound. She knew that sound, but couldn’t quite place it. The volume increased steadily until it finally clicked. It was the sound of a heart monitor. Being the smart girl she was, she deduced that she must be in the hospital and immediately cursed herself. She must have failed again. Someone probably found her and got her to the hospital in time. She would have to choose her spot better next time.

Soon, the beeping became loud enough that she decided to try opening her eyes. It was a far more difficult task than she’d ever expected, though she supposed it would be hard after nearly dying. At first, she only saw a sliver of light as her eyes slowly opened, then shapes came into view, though too blurry to distinguish. Something was odd though. Instead of seeing the white of the hospital ceiling, she saw a mass of yellow and blue. There was a bit of a pink tint mixed in as well. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what that could be. She blinked once, bringing the image into focus slightly. Seeing as how that had worked, she tried it again, this time greeted by a smiling face. Still, it was blurry so she blinked once more. What she saw made her gasp and sit up abruptly. This, however, had the unfortunate effect of bringing her forehead smack into contact with that of the person who’d been looking down at her. Both fell back, though Sakura’s landing was far more comfortable as she’d only fallen back onto a pillow. The other person had fallen onto the floor.

“Gah! Sakura-chan! That hurt!”

The sound of that voice had pushed all pain to the back of her mind and she sat bolt upright once more to see Naruto slowly getting to his feet. He didn’t make it more than two thirds of the way, however, before he was tackled to the ground by a screaming Sakura, “Naruto!!!”

As much as he enjoyed the feeling of being in Sakura’s arms, he couldn’t quite breathe and the need for air forced him to voice his opinion. “Sakura…can’t…breathe!”

Sakura lightened her grip but couldn’t bring herself to let go entirely. Even if this was a dream, he was here with her and very much alive and if she let go, she just knew she’d wake up. She’d be alone again and she couldn’t handle that. With everything she’d been feeling, just holding him in her arms broke the dam anew and she bawled into his chest. “You came back and you just died! Died! And then, then I knew it! I finally understood! But, but it was too late! You were dead! Don’t ever do that again! I couldn’t take it!”

Everything she said came out in a rush so fast that Naruto couldn’t understand half of it. Not that he understood what he heard either. What did she understand? And wait…he died!? “Woah! What do you mean, I died?”

Finally, she lifted her head and looked at him, “You died. I saw the machine. Your heart stopped and you stopped breathing!”

He looked into her eyes and saw what he could only describe as terror. She was scared. Scared for him. With clarity uncommon to his usual character, Naruto pulled herinto his arms and held her, “It’s ok, Sakura. I’m here. I’m still here.”

After a while, Sakura’s whimpers subsided and her breathing was regular. She had fallen asleep in his arms and that made Naruto’s heart swell just a bit. She felt that safe with him. It made sense. He’d saved her life quite a few times by now. If she didn’t feel safe with him, she’d never feel safe anywhere.

Slowly so as not to wake her, Naruto shifted her petite frame in his arms and managed to carry her over to her bed with only a few stumbles along the way. Gently, he set her on the stiff hospital bed and stared down at her sleeping face. It was stained with tears and puffy from crying but she was still a vision of heaven in his eyes.

As Sakura shifted slightly in her sleep, her arm fell to dangle off the bed. That’s when Naruto first noticed the bandage. “What’s this?” he said to himself as he bent down for a closer look. It was obviously a wound, but how would she have gotten it? Was she attacked? But that didn’t make any sense. If she’d been attacked, she would at least have a few bruises but not cuts like these. He peeked over and noticed a bandage on her other wrist, “How’d those happen?” Since she was still sleeping, he decided to just wait to ask her. Right now, he was just glad he could see her again. If he’d died, he would have been without her for a long time and that didn’t sit well with him at all.

After a few minutes, he decided she wasn’t going to wake up any time soon and wondered what kind of training he could do that wouldn’t wake her up. He felt good as new already, though the doctors had told him not to try to move until tomorrow. Yeah. Right. He grinned to himself at that and set to a few hundred pushups. He’d start off light today. He was supposed to be resting afterall.