Ping Pong

Epilogue

Sasuke's POV

Did I fall asleep? Looking around, all I can see is nothing. It's like I'm standing in an empty void. Is this a dream? Everywhere is white. Even when I walk, I can't really tell if I'm actually moving. If this is some strange dream, I wish someone would wake me up. Actually never mind. That's right. I remember everything now. My life, I was living a nightmare. I remember what happened. I was trapped in that room with Itachi and father. They were going to kill me. Did they succeed? If so, then this must be my time of dying. I sighed.

The very last thing I remembered was seeing the smile on Naruto's face. After that, it was all a mystery. I stopped wandering around seeing as it was getting me nowhere. I decided to examine myself. I still had my physical body, clothes, and all. So what happens now? I'm I dead? If not, then will I die? Naruto, Temari, Kakashi, Yondaime, my friends. One by one their faces flooded into my head. Everyone, I will not die, I'll wait here for you.

Something shifted in front of; I glanced up and noticed something dark in the midst of the whiteness.

"Who's there?" I called out. No answer, it vanished, but I'm sure I saw something. There was something lurking in this strange phenomenon. I started walking again towards the direction where I was sure I saw something. Again I spotted it.

"Hey!" I began running. This time it remained, and as I neared it, I was able to distinguish its features as a human figure. "Hey!" I called again. It turned, revealing its face and I froze. "N-no way…"

Her lips curled up in a familiar smile.

"Sorry," she said, "you hate me now, don't you Sasuke?"

"Hate you?" Tears were already sliding down my face, "why would I hate you? I could never hate you…mom, I would never hate you!"

She opened her arms and I ran into them crying.

"I will never, never, ever, hate you!"

She rested her chin over my head.

"I see...I'm glad," she held me tighter, "I'm so happy to be able to hold you like this once more."

"Now that I'm here, you can always hold me like this, don't ever let me go."

"Unfortunately that's not possible Sasuke," said a voice from behind me.

I opened my eyes wide and looked behind me.

"Karin!"

"Yo," she smiled, "long time no see!"

I froze, feeling completely dumbstruck.

"Hey, what have I always told you?" She placed her hands on her hips sternly, "if you always keep an expression like that then your face will get stuck like that."

"You're here!" I exclaimed.

"Yup!" she nodded, "I wish I could say in the flesh, but unfortunately that's not possible either!"

"W-where are we?"

"Right on the border line of life and death," my mom answered. The smile on her face made me feel so warm inside.

"Your mom and I decided to come meet you before you have to back." said Karin.

"Go back?" I repeated, slightly confused.

"Sasuke," my mom hugged me from behind, "It's not your time yet. Go, everyone is waiting for you."

"What?" I turned around to face her, "but, I want to stay with you!"

"You're stubborn aren't you?" Karin grabbed me by my shirt collar from behind and pulled me away from my mom. "Now, hug for me to!" I had all the wind knocked from me as she embraced me in a spine breaking hug. "You have friends and love ones waiting for you," she whispered in my ear.

Once again, everyone's face flooded through my head.

"Goodbye Sasuke…"

"Hun?"

Karin released me and gave me a hard push. I felt myself fall through whiteness and into blackness.

"We'll meet again someday, that's a promise!" I heard Karin yell before every last trace of whiteness vanished.

I'm falling! I realised, I'm falling!

I opened my eyes. Again whiteness, but wait! I blinked a couple times. This whiteness was that of a room.

Beep…beep…beep…

My head turned towards the sound. Close to me was a black screen with weird green zigzag lines that beeped every time they moved. It didn't take long for me to figure out it was monitoring the beating of my own heart.

I tried moving, but it was painful. Of course, I'm in the real world, so I feel pain again. I realized that my arm that had been broken by Itachi had been placed in a cast and other parts of my body had been bandaged up.

"You've awakened."

"Hun?"

I turned my head to the right. Kakashi was seated in a chair beside me.

"Kakashi?"

The table next to him caught my attention. It was full of coffee cups and other food containers.

"Kakashi, how long have you been there." I looked at him in the face. His face wasn't its usual color, there were plenty of bags under his eyes, and it seemed like he hadn't shaved I who knows how long.

"Long enough," he answered while getting up.

Since he was up I was able to see that next to all the garbage on the table was a small, blue, vase with flowers surrounded by a small stack of gifts.

"You know what happens now right?"

"Hun?" I looked back at Kakashi who was already standing by the door.

"Right now they're behind bars; you know who I'm talking about."

I stared down, "mhm…"

"You will need to be placed in a foster home."

My eyes went wide, and I stared back up at him, but his back was turned to me.

"So you know," he continued, "I was thinking-" He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, "-you know…since well…you already probably look at Naruto as a brother…I thought that maybe…that is if it's ok with you…"

It finally snapped in my head exactly what it was Kakashi was trying to ask. I smiled and interrupted him.

"Kakashi, are you saying that you want to adopt me?"

He half turned his head, making me able to see that some color had returned to his face. The color red. His eyes had also become a bit teary.

"Would you like that?"

"Kakashi…" I took my time asking my last question, "can I call you dad?"

A short silence passed between us.

"Yes," he answered finally, "you may."

I smiled, "Thank you."

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, slamming open the door.

"Hey!" I smiled shyly.

"You're ok!" He ran to my side and took the seat where Kakashi had been a while ago. "You've been in a coma for nearly two weeks! Eleven days to be more precise."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! Wait didn't Kakashi tell you anything?"

"No not exactly, before he left he said that you'd want to tell me everything, but did you know? He wants to adopt me!"

"WHAT?" Naruto yelled.

"You should be more quiet, we are in a hospital you know."

"No way, Kakashi didn't even tell me that! So that must be what he wanted to talk to my dad about…they're both downstairs, they'll be up in a bit. You know? This means you and I will be brothers!"

"Yeah."

"I'm so happy…"

He said this, but tears began sliding down his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, alarmed.

"It's just that…we were so sure you had died."

I didn't say anything. I waited till he was ready to tell me everything.

"After you collapsed like that," Naruto started, "we couldn't detect a heartbeat and called for an ambulance. When they took you away my father told everyone the news."

"Wait, so everyone thinks I'm dead?" I asked.

"Not exactly," he continued, "Later while Kakashi and I were at our hotel, we received a phone call from my dad. I hadn't answered because I was afraid of the news. Kakashi picked up and then came and told me that they identified the poison. You were poisoned by KCN, Potassium cyanide. It's identical to sugar and can be easily dissolved in water, it's also highly toxic. It prevented your body from using the oxygen in your blood. However, it takes at least two hours for the poison to actually kill someone. When Kakashi phoned the hospital, they said they were already aware of the of poison. Apparently while you were in the ambulance you started developing a red complexion which is a caused reaction from KCN. The doctors were able to recognise it because there have been a lot of suicide cases evolving that poison. So when you arrived at the hospital they immediately treated you with an antidote. They also monitored you're heart rate to make sure things were ok. The nurses said the reason why the poison had a quicker effect on you was because your body is abnormally weak, and I blame your father for not feeding you properly. They were starving you weren't they?"

Naruto paused, waiting for me to answer.

"Oh…yeah…."

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't drink the whole vial, because then with your body condition, it would've killed you. You need to eat more and develop some good antibodies because you're a very weak target for viruses."

"Gee thanks…" I muttered sarcastically.

"It's the truth!" Naruto argued, "that KCN had a really nasty effect! It slowed down your breathing almost to a stop, as well as your heart rate! The nurse said it's because I preformed CPR on you all the time that you were able to keep breathing!"

"What you gave me CPR?"

"Why do you sound disgusted? It's not like we haven't been mouth to mouth before!"

"That never happened remember?"

We glared at each other.

I sighed, "Sorry…"

"Hm? What are you apologising for?"

"It seems I made everyone worry."

"Don't worry about it, nothing else matters your alive. If you want to know something, Kakashi never once left your side while you were in your little coma. He, he was really worried about you, even after the nurse told us that you'd be fine, and wake up in a couple days. When we thought you had left us and he told me to accept what had happened…I have a feeling that he was really telling himself that. I thought he sounded a bit harsh….Kakashi, I've known him for a long time. I know he's not the type to show his feelings. Still, there's one feeling he can't hide."

"What's that?" I asked.

"His love for you," Naruto looked up and me and smiled, "I know he'll love you like a son."

I smiled back and nodded, "Yeah…and it's great to have someone to call a dad."

Temari's POV

"How is he?" I asked Naruto right before he allowed me in the room.

"He's asleep right now. Do you want me to leave you two alone for a while?"

"If you don't mind."

"It's no problem. I'll be back to check up on you guys later."

"Alright thanks!" I waited till Naruto disappeared in the elevator before closing the door. Steadily, I made my way over to Sasuke, and towered over him.

There was so much, so much about him that I didn't know that I wanted to know. Naruto hadn't told me a lot, but it was enough to know that he had been badly abused all his life. Poor guy. I rubbed my hand gently against his cheek. I wished somehow that there was more I could do for him.

"Nnn..." He stirred.

"I'm sorry!" I gasped and retracted my hand, "did I wake you?"

"Temari?"

His eyes snapped open so fast, it nearly scared me. He tried to sit up, but pulled back in agony.

"How you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

Beep…beep….beep…

"You're face is red!"

beep, beep, beep, beep, beep

"I'm fine!"

"And you're heart rate is getting faster! Should I call for a nurse?"

"No! I'm telling I'm fine!"

Sasuke's POV

Fucking heart monitor, it's not my fault she makes my heart beat faster. It was a while before I was able to convince her I was ok, once my heart recovered….

"You really scared me." She said.

"Sorry…"

"No it's ok."

(Awkward silence)

"Umm…so…did you open any of your gifts yet?" she asked?

"Yeah, thanks for the flowers and the get well card."

"Oh your welcome," she beamed.

"Know what Naruto gave me?"

"What?"

"A tracking device so that the next time I run off some where he'll know exactly where I am."

…

The two of us stared at each other and then laughed.

(Again awkward silence)

"It was you who found me…"

"Hmm?"

"Naruto told me you saw what happened between me and my brother in the woods."

"Oh…yeah…"

"Thank you, and…I'm sorry you had to see that."

(Another Awkward silence…-.-')

"Well," she stood up, "I'm really grateful that you're alive, and also-" she leaned over me, "-I really like you too."

Before I knew it, she leaned over and kissed me! The moment I felt her smooth lips touch mine I felt as though I had just entered another dimension.

"Ah no, your heart rate when up again!"

"I'm fine!"

I kissed a girl! Oh my god I kissed a girl! For the first time ever I kissed a girl!

"NURSE!"

"I TOLD YOU I'M FINE!"

3 days later…..

Naruto's POV

"Sasuke?"

"Sasuke where'd you go?"

"Damn it that idiot!" I cursed, "He only just gets out of the hospital not to long ago and already he disappears!"

"What a pain…" agreed Shikamaru.

Him, Me, Temari, Hinata, Neji, lee, and Kiba followed the path into the woods.

"Are you sure he came this way?" Asked Hinata.

"That's what the tracker says," I showed it to her.

"Why on earth would he come through her?" Asked Temari.

"Beats me," I said, "and he called the tracker a stupid gift."

"Hm? According to the tracker he should be right about here," said Kiba, taking a look over my shoulder.

"I don't see him," said Lee.

"Try looking up!" Came Sasuke's voice.

?

The six of us glanced up to find Sasuke sitting on the platform where we had done our trust falls.

"Idiot!" I yelled at him, "what are you doing up there?"

"Today's the last day of teen camp and everyone is hitting up the arcade!" said Hinata annoyed, "I'd much rather be there than looking for you!"

"You made us worry!" said Temari.

"So get down here so we can go already!" added Kiba.

"If you say so," said Sasuke standing up, and to everyone's surprised, he fell back over the platform.

"You idiot!" I yelled at him alarmed.

The six of us quickly got into a formation and caught him before he hit the ground.

"You trying to wind up back in the hospital?" I yelled, "do something like that again and I'll send you straight back into a comma myself!"

"I wasn't trying to end back up in the hospital," said Sasuke smiling at us, "I trusted you guys would catch me.

For a moment none of us said anything. I exchanged looks with them and they nodded.

"Idiot…" I muttered. The six of us dropped him on the ground.

"Ow! Easy!" He stood up, "I haven't fully recovered from my injuries you know!"

"Yeah that's coming from the person who just jumped off a ten foot high platform."

He grinned.

"Come on," I sighed, "let's go."

Sasuke's POV

I knew they weren't really mad at me, but I suppose I should've told them I wanted to redo my trust fall. Upon arriving at the arcade we were met by Yondaime and Kakashi.

"Oh great you found him!" said Yondaime.

"Of course!" said Naruto, "the tracking device works wonders!"

"Where was he?" Asked Kakashi.

"Committing suicide," answered Hinata.

"What?" Kakashi yelled.

"That's not true!" I said quickly, "I was just at the trust falls!"

"Didn't we have a talk about running away without telling anyone where you're going?"

"Oh, right…Sorry dad."

"Anyway," he sighed, "You kids go have fun at the arcades, our flight leaves tonight to go home."

"Right!"

We ran passed them into the arcade building where the rest of the camp was. We ended up splitting up and I went alone with Temari.

"What you wanna do first?" she asked.

"Hm…" I looked around, "is that a ping pong table?" I pointed.

"Yeah!"

"Want to have a match?"

"Sure ok!" she agreed, "speaking of ping pong, have you ever heard the Ping Pong song? It used to be one of my favourites!"

I smiled, "I've never actually heard it, but I had a friend once who also loved that song."

"What happened to that friend?"

I stared out the entrance of the arcade far off into the distance.

"She moved somewhere far, far, away. I'm sure though that one of these days, we will meet again."

"Awe well that's good!" she smiled, "let's go grab that table before someone else takes it!"

"Alright!"

She ran ahead. I followed behind her, reaching my hand into my pocket only to discover that my pocket watch was no longer there. I smirked.

"Oh well…" I said quietly to myself, "I'll get it back…one of these days when my time comes…"

Final End