Flower Petals on the Wind

5

A short while later, the doctor walked back in with a wheelchair. Shikamaru brightened when he saw it, and quickly hopped in. His mother pushed the wheelchair as Shikamaru found himself shaking slightly, not looking forward to seeing Naruto hooked up to so many different machines keeping him alive.

Shikamaru closed his eyes as he neared the blond's room, not wanting to see at first. He felt the wheelchair turn around before stopping somewhere. He heard a heart monitor beeping slowly, a ventilator moving air. He knew he was in the blond's hospital room, and he couldn't help but feel himself begin to cry despite trying his hardest not to. He'd done this to his blond. It was his fault Naruto was lying in that bed unable to breathe on his own. It was his fault—

"Shikamaru, please open your eyes. You said you wanted to talk to him. Now is your chance to tell him. This way he won't be able to respond to your confession. You can simply say your peace and then leave if you want to." The brunette heard his mother's voice, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts. He slowly opened his eyes, only to gasp in agony when he caught sight of the blond lying on the bed motionless, beautiful blue eyes closed with no idea whether they would ever open again.

It wasn't until he looked behind him that he realized his mother had stepped out of the room while he was examining the blond. He turned back to face the limp blond and forced himself to stand up. He used the bed as support and moved to a chair in the room, pulling it closer to the bed. He sat down and began running his fingers through the blond's hair like he'd done before. He couldn't hold back a choked sob when his thoughts turned to the idea of never being able to see the blond smile at him again. Never being able to just hang out and do stupid shit with his best friend.

"Oh Naru," he started sadly. "I'm sorry... this is all my fault. If I had just told you how I felt I wouldn't have gotten so bad, and you wouldn't be lying in this bed struggling to survive." He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes to rid himself of tears. "When I first met you all those years ago, I thought you were annoying and loud." He laughed slightly. "Somehow, you stuck with me no matter how much I called you troublesome. You made me laugh when nothing else could. You pulled so many different emotions out of me, including a strange butterfly feeling whenever I was with you, or thought about you. When we were together, my heart started racing. I'm not even sure when it started, but it happened. Soon, I realized I was in love with you, but I figured it wouldn't work out, because you were always going on about liking Sakura of all people. I didn't think I had a chance. Then I got sick and I didn't know what to do.

"When I went to your house, I went because my mother urged me to go. She learned about my illness and knew it was because I was in love with you. She told me I had to grow a pair and just tell you already. I was going to, until I saw your trash, the bloody tissues and the flower petals. I assumed you had the same illness as me, but didn't even imagine it was because you felt the same thing for me. Seeing the trash made the plant bloom faster and began to suffocate me. If it wasn't for you telling me you loved me before you called the ambulance, I probably wouldn't even be talking to you right now. It's because of you that I've recovered as well as I have. I need you to wake up and tell me to my face how you feel. If we don't do that, neither of us will be able to get over this illness. I love you, Naruto, and I need to see your gorgeous blue eyes again and hear your voice." When he was finally done speaking, he found the water pitcher and poured himself a cup of water to sooth his sore throat. He laid his head on the blond's bed, moving his hand from blond hair to the boy's hand, falling asleep like that.

~

Naruto's POV

Darkness. Pain. I can't breathe. Nothing feels right. What's going on?

Why does it feel like something is touching my head? What's that beeping sound?

"It's my fault... knew it was because I was in love with you..."

Who's voice is that? It sounds so familiar but so far away. Where am I?

"...seeing the trash made the plant bloom faster and began to suffocate me." Why does that voice soothe me? Why does it make the pain disappear whenever I hear it?

"...I need you to wake up... I love you, Naruto... see your gorgeous blue eyes..." I feel myself moving closer to the voice. The pain is beginning to vanish completely. Does this person truly love me? Is this the person I was waiting for? Who is it?

I feel a weight on my hand. I try to move it to find out what the weight is.

~

Third person POV

The brunette woke with a jolt when he felt a twitch coming from the hand in his own. He stared with wide eyes when he noticed the hand twitch again. He moved his eyes to the blond's face, only to notice his eyelids twitching, trying to open. He quickly pressed the nurse button on the remote hanging by the bed. It had only been a few hours since Shikamaru had arrived in the room and started talking.

"Is something wrong?" The nurse's voice was concerned.

"He's waking up!" Shikamaru replied. There was silence on the other side as the nurse had to call one of the doctors.

"Doctor will be in the room in just a minute." Shikamaru agreed and put the remote down.

"Naruto? Are you coming back to me? Please fight, love. Please. Come back to me. I can't live without you." He caressed the blond's hair and watched as blue eyes began to emerge behind drowsy lids.

The doctor walked in the room just as his eyes were beginning to open. With a startled gasp, the doctor quickly called a nurse in the room to help him. When he arrived, he walked over to the blond's bedside. He began shining his flashlight in blue eyes to see how they reacted to direct light. Noticing the speed for pupil contraction to dilation was normal, he asked the nurse to help him remove the vent.

"Mr. Uzumaki, can you hear me? If you can hear my voice I need you to give me two blinks," the doctor said. Naruto blinked twice. "Good, now I need you to squeeze my fingers." The doctor placed his first fingers in each of the blond's hands, looking for signs he could move his hands. Feeling a squeeze he praised the blond once gain. He then turned to the nurse and asked him to remove the breathing tube. "I'm having the nurse remove your breathing tube. When he tells you to, I want you to take a deep breath in and blow it out hard. Blink twice if you think you could handle that." The blond blinked twice and the doctor nodded. He turned to the nurse, who grabbed the vent hose.

"Take a deep breath. Good, now I need you to blow it out slowly. I'm going to pull the tube out on your exhale. Ready? Start. Blow, blow, blow. Great job." The nurse talked him through every step to get the tube out. He set the tube down and poured a glass of water, getting a straw and helping the blond take small sips.

When Naruto was lying in a near-upright position, the nurse nodded to Shikamaru and left the room. It was silent for several minutes as the two friends simply stared at each other and the room around them. Naruto was the first to speak up finally.

"It's not your fault, you know." Shikamaru stared at him for several more seconds. "The look on your face tells me you blame yourself for me being here right now. I am telling you it's not your fault."

"But if I hadn't overreacted, we wouldn't be in this mess." He hung his head, only for Naruto to put his hand under the brunette's chin and make him look up again.

"If you hadn't reacted that way, yes we wouldn't be in the hospital, but we also woudn't be talking, and most likely we would have both died."

"Yeah, but..." Shikamaru shrugged, and Naruto stared at him, before he got a brilliant idea.

"Close your eyes."