Pink Fox [Sakura's Brother: A Naruto Fan Fiction]

Chapter 12: Black Out

A/N: picrew.me/image_maker/1349935

The next time Javen had woken up from slowly suffocating, he was welcomed by a light green light over his chest. Part of him wanted to panic, but the other part had been in this position so many times he knew that he had to be in the hospital with a nurse healing him.

He moved to speak. He needed to ask many questions about his sister, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Hiruzen, and everyone. The pain, however, was unbearable this time, and he felt himself almost blacking out a second time. Then, he felt a slight tap on his shoulder and saw the nurse scamper away to be replaced with a white-haired man.

"Javen, relax, please." Kakashi moved to sit on the side of Javen's bed, "You broke all your ribs thanks to your stunt to protect Sakura. I'll catch you up."

Javen nodded thanks and relaxed against the bed.

"I have good and bad news. First, it's been a few days. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto are making good recoveries. The rest of the village hasn't been so lucky, though. We don't have any reported deaths of genin, but we have lost quite a bit of chunin and jonin and well..."

Javen heard the 'well..' and thought briefly about what Kakashi could be talking about. His first thought was Hiruzen, and Kakashi only confirmed his worries.

"Lord Third lost against Orochimaru."

Once the waterworks started, Javen couldn't stop it, and he let the tears stream down his face into the pillow under his head. Kakashi moved to lay next to Javen, bringing the pink-haired man's face into his chest, rubbing his back softly, "I'm so sorry. We've all waited to give him a funeral until you woke up. We knew he would want you there."

Of course, Javen's tears didn't just stop, but the cuddles Kakashi provided did help a little bit. They lay there for hours before Javen got checked up and was allowed to be discharged. The broken ribs had been healed over the few days he was out, so there was just major bruising left.

They didn't hold the Hokage's funeral until the village elders could hold a meeting to discuss the budget and until Javen was mainly healed and could walk. The latter coming before the elders, had decided anything. Finally, when it did happen, though, Javen left his room all in black; the only color he was wearing was his ANBU mask. He knew he would cry; he might as well conceal it from everyone else. He left the headband that Hiruzen had gifted him in his room. He knew it had been Hiruzen's old jonin headband, and he couldn't bear to wear it anymore; it felt wrong. He was an ANBU, Hiruzen's personal one, even if he thought he had done his job wrong by not being by Hiruzen's side during the exam. The only thing stopping him from relinquishing his title as ANBU was Hiruzens words.

'Don't come back until you've hit him across the head for me for stalling the exam.'

He imagined how proud the man must have been that Javen had found love, which wasn't allowed in the ANBU. Javen had always been an exception to Hiruzen, though.

Javen was the only ANBU that he fully trusted. The only ANBU that called him Hiruzen. The only ANBU that actively showed his face around the Hokage. He was the only ANBU that was allowed to return to his family.

Javen stood in the hall, hesitating to leave the house. He didn't want to go. It would feel all too real if he did. Sakura had met him in the hall, though. Her hand moved to his shoulder, and he sighed, writing on his notepad.

'They asked me to make a speech for him.'

Sakura looked at him with slight pity, knowing Javen couldn't.

"I could read your speech for you."

Javen looked up at his sister and smiled, shaking his head.

'It's okay. Thank you, though. Hiruzen would probably find it boring anyways.'