What the New Year Brings

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having a good 2009 so far!

Just wanted to start the year off by saying thanks to everyone who continues to read and review this story! I really appreciate it! ^_^

Chapter 47-The First of Many Things Yet To Come

"I'll get him a cot. It can't be comfortable for him sleeping like that."

"Was he here all night again?"

"All day, all night...He never leaves! He hasn't set foot outside that door since they brought her in! He says he wants to be here when she wakes up."

"Really..."

"Yes, he won't even go down to the cafeteria to eat. We started to get so worried about him that the other nurses and I just started to bring food up to him, but even then he barely touches it."

"I see. He...really cares for her, doesn't he?"

"Well, let me just put it this way, sir: Hatake Kakashi isn't the kind of man who likes to show how he feels, but with her, with your daughter...I know it may not be the most conventional of relationships, but it's certainly not the worst either, especially when you see them together...like this."

"Yes, I see what you mean. Thank you..."

"Fujo."

"Fujo. You've been a tremendous help in more ways than one."

"You're welcome, sir, and if there's anything else you need, just push the call button by her bed and either I or another nurse will -- Sir, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, but I thought I just saw-"

"Oh my God! I saw it, too! Stay right here, sir, I'm going to get a doctor..."

"Sakura? Sweetheart? Can you hear me? It's Daddy. If you can hear me, honey, try to move your finger again, okay?"

...

"Oh my God!"

"...What's going on?"

"Kakashi, wake up! I just saw her move!"

"WHAT?! When?!"

"Just now!"

"Sakura, can you hear me? It's me, Kakashi."

"Ask her to move her finger."

"Sakura, if you can hear me, try to move -- Oh my God! Did you just see that?!"

"Yes, I did!"

"We need to get a doctor!"

"The nurse is already getting one."

...Warm. My entire body feels warm.

My arms...feel like someone has placed them neatly at my sides.

Pitch black darkness.

Eyes...opening up on their own, as if they know it's time to wake up.

Blurry. Colors...all in a haze.

Edges...getting sharper.

Shapes...taking form.

People...standing around my bed.

Black mask...one eye...creased up in a smile...

Kakashi.

Glasses...all wet and fogged up...

Daddy.

"Oh, Sakura! Thank God you're awake! We thought we'd lost you!" my dad says.

"I came here as fast as I could!" says a pig-tailed blond who rushes into the room.

"Tsunade-sama!" Kakashi and my dad say in unified surprise.

"Is it true? Fujo said that she just saw Sakura move her -- Oh my God! You're awake!" Shishou exclaims.

I blink my eyes. Of course I'm awake! Why is everyone making such a big deal about it?

"Sakura, don't you ever, ever scare us like that again!" Shishou admonishes me. "Do you have any idea what you put us all through making us worry over you like that?!"

"...how?" I stop, shocked by how weak and raspy my voice just came out. I was meaning to ask how the heck I scared everyone, but "How?" seems to be all my vocal chords can manage at the moment. I touch my hand to my throat and look around at everyone in confusion.

"Sakura, don't you remember what happened to you?" my dad asks.

I start to shake my head "No," but a pounding headache rips through my forehead, temples, and right between my eyes, causing me to stop immediately and hold my head in my hands instead.

"Easy, easy!" Shishou warns me.

"Is she going to be alright? What happened? Why can't she remember?" my dad asks Shishou in concern, but Shishou ignores him and focuses all her attention on me instead.

"Sakura, just hold your head still. I'm going to do a couple of tests, okay?"

First, Shishou takes out a small flashlight from the inside pocket of her green coat and swings it back and forth quickly in front of my eyes. Then, she asks me to follow the movement of her finger as she traces the path of an imaginary letter "H" in the air.

"Do you remember who I am?" she asks.

"Shishou." I say, my voice still raspy and weak.

"And who is he?"

"Daddy."

"Yes, sweetie," dad says, squeezing my hand tight and smiling down at me.

"And him?"

How could I ever forget?

"Kakashi." I smile up at him, and even with his mask on I know that he's smiling back.

"Well," Shishou says, "Her eyes are responding fine and she remembers who we all are, so there doesn't seem to be any neurological damage, but I'll order a CT scan just to be on the safe side. Don't worry, Mr. Haruno. It's normal for there to be a bit of short term amnesia, especially after a trauma."

"Trauma?" I ask.

Shishou, Daddy, and Kakashi all pass each other a look, but it's Kakashi who speaks up.

"We were in the middle of a mission, Sakura. We were almost home when the convoy we were protecting was attacked. It all happened so fast. I tried to get to you, to protect you, but you were just too far away. One of the enemies, she singled you out and-" Kakashi stops abruptly and covers his face with both of his hands.

To my surprise, my dad carefully places one comforting hand on Kakashi's back and tells him gently, "You brought her home. She's safe now, Kakashi."

I look up at Shishou expecting her to be as surprised as I am by the kind gesture, but she doesn't seem fazed at all.

Geez! How much did I miss while I was asleep?! I wonder.

"You've been in a coma for three days." Shishou answers my unspoken question. "The enemy you were fighting, the one Kakashi killed, was an S-class Sound nin. In the bingo books, she can be found under the name Neko."

Neko...Cat.

Like bits and pieces of a dream I remember a Cheshire smile, a piercing noise cutting through the forest, bowing down and covering my ears with my hands, and an enemy with too fluid movements circling me and-

"Madam Shijimi!" I suddenly remember. "Is she-" I ask, a wave of panic overwhelming me.

"She's fine, Sakura, don't worry!" Shishou tries to calm me. "You did your job well. Madam Shijimi and all her servants made it back to the castle safe and sound. Naruto and Yamato made sure of that while Kakashi brought you back here to Konoha."

"How?" I ask, because as fast as Kakashi is, there's no way he could've leapt the tree branches fast enough to get me back to Konoha in time, and even though his Shadow Clones can easily poof from one location to another, the real Kakashi can't simply take me into his arms and poof us both back to Konoha either. That's why we have to go through the trouble of actually journeying to our destinations rather than simply poofing ourselves there like a genie.

"Naruto summoned Gamabunta for you and Kakashi to ride on," Shishou explains. "And since you were already close to home, it was literally only a couple of frog leaps for him to get you straight to Konoha Hospital. It wasn't long before I heard what had happened to you, and ever since then Shizune, Ino, and I have been taking turns healing you."

"How bad?" I ask with a grimace, both wanting and not wanting to know.

"Well, you were stabbed in four separate locations in the abdomen, and to be honest, I was afraid you weren't going to make it." Shishou shakes her head solemnly. "As it is, it's a miracle you're still alive."

"How am I still alive?" I ask confused. Some people barely make it out alive with a single stab wound and yet somehow I made it through with four!

"You're not going to believe this." Kakashi laughs, shaking his head as if he still can't believe it himself.

"If you had been stabbed a quarter of an inch in either direction," Shishou says, "It wouldn't have mattered how long and hard we poured our chakra into you, it wouldn't have made any difference, but to answer your question, the first stab wound took out your appendix."

"My appendix?!"

"Hold on, it gets even better." Kakashi says.

"It really does," my dad agrees, and somehow I feel like everyone is in on a joke except me!

Shishou glares at the two men for having interrupted her, and having experienced that particular irritated glare myself, I know that either of them will dare interrupt her again.

"The second stab wound took out one of your kidneys," Shishou continues on, "But as you know, you can survive with only one. The third stab wound took out a chunk of your liver, but fortunately the liver regenerates on its own anyway, and the fourth stab wound caused some damage to your intestines, so we essentially had to give you gastric bypass surgery, but since it wasn't a full on one, don't think that you can eat whatever you want and not get fat!"

"I don't believe it." I say in shock, because of all the places I could've been stabbed, I was hit in all the least lethal places! Then again, Shishou did say she didn't think I'd make it and we all know how bad she is with her bets...

"You're a very, very lucky young woman," Shishou states, "But what happened to you isn't without consequence. Although those stab wounds didn't kill you, it did take quite a toll on your body, so don't think that you'll be out and about anytime soon. And when you do finally leave here, you're going to need help with the simplest of things: dressing, bathing, going to the bathroom...So you're going to have to stay with someone or have someone stay with you until I say that you're back to one hundred percent or as close to it as possible considering all the injuries you've suffered."

"You can come back home and stay with me and your mom. We've missed having you around anyway," dad says brightly, gently rubbing my blanket covered leg.

I simply smile back at him and say nothing because as much as I love my parents, coming back home is the last thing I want to do. Leaving home was my sign of independence and moving back in would be like a step backwards. Not only that, I know that Mom and Dad will fuss over me the entire time, and unlike Madam Shijimi, they haven't quite learned the difference between "smother" and "mother" yet.

"Ino has also offered to take you back in as her roommate or she can move in with you and act as a full-time medic at your own apartment." Shishou says.

Although slightly better, it's again not one of the best offers I've heard so far. I love Ino and she's my best friend, but she can also really get on my nerves. That's why we barely spent one year as roommates before I decided to just find a place of my own.

I feel a hand gently squeeze mine and when I turn my head, I see Kakashi smiling down at me. Without saying a word to each other (because of current company present) I smile back at him and silently agree to the best offer I've received yet...Kakashi will just have to move in with me or me with him.

"Of course you don't have to worry about all this right now." Shishou goes on. "It'll be awhile before I sign your release papers, so for now just concentrate on getting plenty of rest and getting better, you hear me?"

"Yes, Shishou." I say obediently and almost immediately start to close my eyes again. I feel tired already...

"We should all go." I hear Shishou say quietly. "This is a lot to take in all at once and she really needs to get as much rest as she can."

I hear shuffling, then a pause.

"Kakashi, you heard what I said." I hear Shishou say sternly.

"It's okay, he can stay," a voice not my own speaks up, although speaking the very words I had intended to say myself.

I open up my eyes in time to see the shocked looked in both Shishou's and Kakashi's eyes and the pleading one in my father's.

"I mean, I know it's not my decision to make, it's yours," my dad says apologetically to Shishou, "But Kakashi's been waiting all this time just for her to wake up and now that she finally has I think we owe it to him to let him stay, don't you?"

Shishou looks flabbergasted. She doesn't like to be contradicted, but slowly the hard look in her eyes softens.

"Okay, Mr. Haruno, have it your way. He can stay," she relents.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," my dad says. "And don't worry, Kakashi. The nurse said she's going to bring you up a cot so you don't have to sleep in that uncomfortable chair anymore."

"Thank you, Mr. Haruno." Kakashi says genuinely grateful.

My dad simply smiles and nods his head, and after politely waving for Shishou to exit before him, quietly closes the door behind them both.

When Kakashi turns back to face me, his eye creased up in a smile, I widen my eyes and spread my hands in front of me, palms up, in a "What the f*** was that?!" manner.

"Your dad likes me." Kakashi says with an offhanded shrug of his shoulders. "And so does your mom. She even brought me a piece of cake," he says, pointing to a small paper plate covered with chocolate cake crumbs and an abandoned plastic fork on a nearby rollaway table. "She said something about not liking to see me waste away while I kept my vigil."

"When did this all happen? How did this all happen?" I ask in confusion because up until this point my greatest fear (Besides dying) had been my parents' reaction to my relationship to Kakashi, and yet they've apparently accepted him with open arms.

Kakashi sits back down in his chair which is scooted close to my bed, takes my hand in both of his, and pillows his head on top of our clasped hands so that he's looking up at me and I'm looking down at him. From the ease in which he does all this, I can pretty much figure out how he's been sleeping in that chair for the past three days and three nights.

"The first night of your coma, your parents came in and found me sleeping by your bedside like this," Kakashi begins. "I woke up and they were just standing there looking down at me in shock. I was really embarrassed and started to get up to leave, but they told me to stay because they wanted to talk to me anyway."

"Ooo...That doesn't sound good." I say scrunching up my face.

"I didn't think so either," Kakashi says, "But then they told me that they had heard what happened out on the field and wanted to thank me for saving your life and for bringing you back home to them. When I told them that the last thing they should be doing is thanking me, that it was my fault that you were in a coma in the first place, they told me that I needed to stop blaming myself because none of it was my fault and that I did the best that I could. They told me to stop torturing myself and just go home and rest, but I told them that I wasn't doing what I was doing because I was trying to punish myself. I was doing it because I wanted to be here for you."

"Thank you...for doing that." I say quietly and squeeze his hand tight.

"You're welcome," he says, squeezing my hand back.

"So what happened then?"

"Well, they said that they had heard rumors about that, too, about us being together, and had every intention of trying to separate us the second we set foot back in Konoha, but then all this happened. They said that it was kind of like a blessing in disguise because it made them realize that not all of the rumors were true, at least not the bad ones."

"What bad ones?" I ask, horrified at what my parents might've heard.

"Well, one said that I was having a mid-life crisis and trying to overcompensate by being with a younger woman, and the others were just variations of me trying to take advantage of you."

"But none of that is true!" I protest.

"And that's exactly what your parents said. They said that if any of that was true, then it completely went against what they've seen with their own eyes: That for as long as they've known me, I've done nothing but try to protect and comfort you. They admitted that it was a bit awkward that they knew this because I used to be your teacher, but they also said they knew I have more years as your friend than I ever did as your sensei. And as your friend, one that they know truly cares for you and loves you, they have no reason to judge and stand in the way of us being together."

I look at Kakashi dumbfounded.

"My. Parents. Are. Awesome! If I wasn't tied down to an IV and half a dozen other tubes and wires, I'd probably be jumping up and down in joy right now and literally kill myself from sheer happiness!"

"Don't do that!" Kakashi laughs. "You and I have barely begun. You can't go dying on me just yet!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." I promise. "You and I are going to grow old together." I smile at him.

"We better," he mutters and raises himself up to kiss me softly on the lips.

It's only when we part that we feel Shishou's, Daddy's, and Nurse Fujo's awkward stares on us.

"We, uh, brought the cot." Fujo says, pointing with her eyes to the folded cot she and my dad are carrying between them.

"And I came back to check on your vitals while I'm still here." Shishou says, looking stone-faced.

I feel my face suddenly heat up and from the blush just above his maskline, I know that Kakashi is embarrassed about what we were just caught doing, too.

"We'll just put this here," my dad says, trying his best not to meet my or Kakashi's eyes as he and Fujo carefully set down the cot by my bed.

While they're doing that, Shishou quickly goes about taking my vitals with pursed lips.

In a span of a few minutes, everyone is finished with the particular task they came in to do and getting ready to leave again.

"If you need me, just hit the call button by your bed." Fujo smiles at me before scurrying out.

"Take care, sweetheart," my dad says, then kisses me softly on the forehead before turning to go himself.

About halfway to the door he pauses and turns to Kakashi.

"Please don't make me doubt my current trust and high regard of you," he says simply, then continues out the door.

"The same goes for me." Shishou says sharply. "And I'll know otherwise because I'll have evidence," she says, holding my vitals chart up in the air before dumping it loudly in the slot hanging right outside my door. "I'm warning you, Kakashi, she needs her rest!" Shishou gives him one last warning and a stern look before closing the door behind her.

As soon as we're sure we won't be interrupted again, Kakashi and I look at each other and start laughing.

"What are we? Teenagers?!" I exclaim incredulously. "I'm twenty-two years old!"

"They just want to make sure I don't...Well, you know...and kill you in the process." Kakashi says.

"What makes you think you don't almost kill me when we...you know...even when I'm in good health?!"

Kakashi's eye widens.

"Am I really that-"

"Yes." I quickly answer.

"So when we-"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Kakashi says solemnly.

"Don't apologize!" I laugh. "If I didn't like it, I would've thrown you off me and broken your bones a long time ago!"

A mischievous look comes into Kakashi's eye.

"So when you get out of here and you're all better, of course, we can-"

"Kakashi..." I interrupt, "Do you even have to ask?"

I watch in amusement as a drop of sweat rolls down his temple.

"God, I can't wait until you're all better!" Kakashi exclaims.

"Me, too!" I smile back at him.

Then, we kiss one last time before Kakashi lays down on his cot and reaches his hand out for me to hold while we sleep, but before I doze off, I ponder about all the things that have happened between us already in this first month of January alone, and can't help but wonder what else this new year brings.

To be continued...

~*~*~*~

This chapter is dedicated to Fuyuyume, Darksoul-wolf, michil93, and destinyfulfiller.

To Fuyuyume because even though I always knew that Sakura was going to live, she's the one who suggested that Sakura have a coma. I thought that idea worked really well for this chapter and wish I had come up with it myself, but I didn't, so thank you Fuyuyume!

To Darksoul-wolf and michil93 because they both suggested that Kakashi take care of Sakura for once instead of the other way around because (and I quote) "that would be cute." ^_^

And to destinyfulfiller because she reminded me that Sakura's parents would've already heard rumors about her relationship to Kakashi and it's little details like that which help keep this story as "real" and believable as possible.

Thanks for the suggestions you guys! :P

And I'm not a doctor, so I'm sorry if I got some things wrong, but I did do my research and try to make things as accurate as possible. Here are some links if you want to check out how truth really is stranger than fiction. As for the proximity and location of Sakura's stab wounds, well, if Neko was left handed and hit Sakura's entire right side, it might explain how she hit all those particular organs:

- Liver regeneration:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver#Regeneration

- Can a person survive with only one kidney?

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080414133130AASSCDe

- Appendix, no use for:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiform_appendix#Function

- Gastric bypass surgery (diagram and info):

healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/adult_men/images/ei_2186.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_bypass_surgery

- Internal organs (diagram):

createthebalance.com/media/Images/organs.png

- "Swinging flashlight," "follow my finger," and neurology:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_examination#Pupil_function

- Amnesia, causes of:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia#Types_and_causes_of_amnesia

- Fujo in Japanese means woman/help.

Yes, ShipperTrish apparently loves Wiki (and Google Search, too) and has waaay too much time on her hands! :P