Chapter 11

Normally in these situations it was the beeping of a heart monitor that woke the injured in their bed but this was not the case for young Naruto. The blond was shocked awake by a slap to the face and a female scream, "You idiot!" He felt the sting on his cheek and fought to gain control of his still immobile body enough to open his eyes.

"Don't hit him you bitch!" A masculine voice growled. Someone wrapped an arm around his shoulder as if protecting him from the world.

"Why are you even here you monster?" A new voice snarled followed with more voices murmuring in agreement.

"I should be asking you the same dog-breath!" The voice next to him boomed back.

Naruto's slow brain was beginning to place voices in the room and he pulled on Kuruma's power to sense each presence before revealing he was awake. The most immediate presence he felt was Sasuke who had his arm around his shoulders. Naruto fought to not spring from the bed and tackle the man to the bed and continued feeling out the room. Standing in front of him of Sakura, 'she must have been the one to slap my face', Naruto mused. Also in the room was Kiba, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, and Tsunade. Naruto bet Kiba was the one to snap back at Sasuke's comment. Naruto ruled out being dead because his heaven surely wouldn't consist of hospitals rooms and screaming matches.

"Tsunade asked Neji to check on Naruto using his powers." Gaara explained tersely.

"What are you doing in here? Going to kill him in his sleep?" Kiba interrupted angrily.

Naruto could feel Sasuke's body tense and waves of anger and guilt roll off his body. The blond decided to make known to the room his state of consciousness before an all out brawl ensued.

"Shut up." Naruto eloquently groaned out squinting open his tired eyes.

He felt the people in the room freeze more than he saw them. The tension in the room growing before dying down. Sighs of relief echoed around the room. The arm around his shoulders disappeared and a pair of warm hands cradled his face.

"Naruto." Sasuke gasped out. The blond lifted an arm with difficulty and placed it on his love's forearm reassuringly, "Hey."

"'Hey?' You almost die in my arms a week ago and the first thing you say to me is 'HEY'!?" Sasuke escalated, Naruto smiled at the familiar man above.

"You're right." Naruto moved his body to a more upright position with difficulty, looking directly into the dark eyes he loved before amending his previous greeting, "Hey bastard." The blond smirked evilly and watched Sasuke immediately glare making the blond laugh out loud.

The spell was broken as Tsunade forced her way over pushing Sasuke off the bed.

"Brat." The medic said affectionately before examining his body.

"You scared us last week." Tsunade spoke attempting to keep the emotion out of her voice, "almost lost you both." She cut herself off allowing a tear to fall. Naruto knew she loved Jiraiya even if she always swatted away at his advances. She coughed clearing her throat before continuing her examination, "You're lucky Sakura was there to keep you alive long enough to get back here."

Naruto looked over the fuming pinkette apologetically, scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously, "Sorry Sakura. Thanks." Said woman stomped over to Naruto's bed, he was preparing himself for another smack when she wrapped her arms around him tightly instead, "Never scare me like that again Naruto." The blond nodded surprised with the turn of events.

"Sorry for scaring everyone." Naruto decided to address the room before any more awkward situations happened.

"You're almost completely healed." Tsunade interrupted while stepping back from his bed, "you're healing a little slower than when you received the chidori through your chest but that week of sleep definitely helped. You can leave the medic ward today even. No strenuous activities, " She looked pointedly over his shoulder to Sasuke, "and you must stay within headquarters for another week. No exceptions." She finished with finality, cutting off any argument Naruto would make.

Sasuke sat in the corner completely full of self loathing hearing his old injury Sasuke had caused. If his friends hadn't arrived Sasuke would have killed him for sure.

"Okay okay Granny. Sheesh." Naruto waved her off from his bed while moving to stand up. Sasuke rushed to his side to steady his blond and help him to his feet. Naruto sent him a bright smile and leaned on him for help.

Naruto shared moments with everyone in the room before he finally escaped with Sasuke in tow, much to the distaste of several occupants of the room.

Hobbling down the long corridor the blond asked what was on his mind, "Sooo…you're at the League's headquarters with me…. Care to fill me in on the details of what happened after I…um…passed out?"

Sasuke looked disgruntled at the casual way Naruto referred to his near death experience before grunting and explaining, "After you 'passed out' as you put it I uh," Sasuke looked away flushed, "let's just say the others noticed and Sakura came over and started working on you. I didn't want to let anyone near you at first but I saw she was trying to heal you and she was crying too so I moved a little. After your friends arrived some tried to send me away, a few tried to attack me, but in the end it was Gaara who defended me. They let me stay by your side, not that they could keep me away of course." Sasuke paused before continuing, "I may have broken someone's arm when they tried to take you to a different room when we arrived here." Sasuke looked away embarrassed remembering his emotional reaction, "A lot of the people here don't trust me but Gaara, Ino, and Shikamaru have defended me so far. I consented to interrogation which helped in some ways and made it worse in others. Now the Kage League knows all the horrible things I've done and planned on doing…but they also acknowledged how I feel about you and my help during the final battle."

"Basically I'm on a sort of probation period until they can trust me. I don't care what they think as long as I can be by your side." Sasuke squeezed Naruto's shoulders possessively as he finished.

Naruto continued walking, taking everything Sasuke had said in, "Hmmm… so you're like…a 'good' guy now?" Naruto winked.

"Hn."

Naruto laughed before becoming serious, "You know one day we're going to have to have a serious conversation about what you've done Sasuke. You tried to destroy millions of lives. Lives I've vowed to protect." Naruto stopped, taking his arm off the man's shoulders. Sasuke looked to his feet and nodded.

"But for now," Naruto continued, "I'm just happy to be with you." Sasuke looked up into the blue eyes that saved his soul and gave the warmest smile he could manage.

"Thank you…Fox." Sasuke spoke softly while leaning in for a tender kiss from the love of his life, his enemy, and his reason for life.

Thanks for sticking to the end! Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing it! I left the story pretty open for future development in case I ever decide to add on or make a sequel. Let me know what y'all think.

Peace out bitches!