Melancholia

Chapter 13

When they reached the village gates, Sasuke quickly excused himself, saying there was something he needed to take care of, and everybody else was tired from the long journey.

Despite that, Naruto was rather quick to excitedly proclaim his hunger. "Oh, man, am I starved...! First stop is Ichiraku!"

"Hold it, Naruto. You're not going anywhere." Kakashi said, stopping him right as he was about to walk off. "You and I still have some unfinished business to discuss with the Godaime."

The mention of Tsunade sent a pang of guilt into the boy's chest, and he looked up at Kakashi with a desperate look in his eyes, having been trying to avoid thinking about this possibility.

"What? Why? Can't it wait until later or something? I already told you guys I'm fine! If I need to talk to somebody, I have people I can trust now, ya know? I can go to Sakura-chan or even Sasuke or you if I have to! Just please, you absolutely can't tell her...!" He said, desperately trying to convince Kakashi to not get Tsunade involved. He would no doubt be stopped from going on missions for quite some time if she found out at the very least if she found out.

For a moment, Sakura and Kakashi were uncertain how to react by Naruto's sudden change in demeanor, and in all honestly, Kakashi wished more than anything he could listen to him, believe him, but this just wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't my call to make." Kakashi said in a soft voice, trying to reason with him, but also making his stance clear. "I'm only following mandatory procedure and doing what is required of me as your teacher. If she says you're fine, then you'll be free to go. Otherwise, just try to cooperate, alright...?"

Chances were Tsunade would probably insist that Naruto was put under suicide watch for at least fourty eight hours, most likely more, and Naruto might hate him for it, but his student's safety was all that mattered to him right now.

Then again, he realized grimly, what did hospitals ever do about this kind of thing except delay the inevitable...? It's not like they really had any kind of plan in place to encourage people against those kinds of behaviors...

As Naruto started to grumble, Kakashi noticed that Sakura had stopped walking and was lingering behind.

"Sakura, what's wrong...?" Kakashi asked, expressing his concern regarding her depressive behavior. At hearing his question, Naruto turned to observe her as well.

"Huh? Oh, no, it's nothing. I'm just getting a little tired is all. I should probably head home and let my parents know I'm back..." Sakura said, waving he hand dismissively. In truth, she actually didn't want to go home right now, her anxiety about what Mibuki was going to say, or do, once she got back, yet again getting the best of her, but she didn't want to worry them.

However, Kakashi was no fool and he could tell that she was trying to cover up her feelings.

"Hold on, before you do that, why don't you come with us?" Kakashi suddenly suggested, catching her attention. For one, he didn't really feel good leaving her by herself as she was, but also having Sakura along might not be such a bad idea. "I think Naruto would do good to have somebody he's more comfortable with right now anyway."

Naruto, however, was stunned by the suggestion. Normally, he would have accepted such an idea without hesitation as Sakura's company was always welcome to him, but for some reason he was afraid. What if he let something slip out and she hated him for it? There were all kinds of possibilities of things that could go wrong. He immediately jumped to speaking up before Sakura could. "What? No way, Sakura-chan, you really don't have to put yourself through that for me!"