Naruto came to, blinking his eyes several times. He squinted as he tried to adjust to the light as he saw nothing else but blurred vision. Once his senses came back, he noticed the beeping of a machine next to him. Gazing at the white ceiling, he figured he was at a local hospital. Attempting to sit up, he was stopped by a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Don't move around too much" Kakashi gently stated. He had been sitting next to the blond's bed since he was able to.
Naruto fell back on the bed. His body felt incredibly heavy. "What happened.." he asked with a dry, cracked voice.
"What do you remember?"
He thought for a moment before Naruto's eyes shot wide as he abruptly sat up, pain shooting through every nerve in his body. Ignoring the pain, he attempted to throw off the blanket. He grimaced at the movement, fighting back tears.
It happened enough times that he knew he had broken ribs. But that didn't matter. All that mattered right now, was Sasuke.
"Sasuke!" Naruto took a sharp breath, trying to find out where his best friend was, using as few words as possible. He gripped the blanket tighter, his knuckles turning white as he placed his feet on the ground.
Kakashi attempted to stop him, but was met with much resistance. He didn't want to hurt the blond anymore than he already was.
Once on his feet, the weight of his body caused the blond to collapse as he screamed out in pain as the impact of the floor hit him. Nurses were suddenly in the room as they heard the alarm going off, as he had been labeled a fall risk.
"D-don't touch me!" Naruto screamed out as he had several hands trying to help him. He was overwhelmed with emotions, but was mostly scared. The thought of being in physical contact with anyone he didn't know, terrified him. He didn't know who he could trust. Sai's words were still plaguing his mind.
'You know better than anyone what type of connections I have, Naruto. I'll give you one last chance. His life, or yours'
Naruto shuddered at the way he could still hear Sai's voice in his head. Tears streamed down his face as he hugged himself tightly, rocking back and forth slightly, shaking his head.
'No. No. This isn't right. I should be dead.'
Negative thoughts circulated the blonds mind at a nauseating pace. Kakashi and hospital staff stood and watched, as they couldn't help him. The only way they would be able to provide any comfort to the blond, would be to sedate him. Kakashi wanted that to be a last option.
He let out a sigh as he tried his best to analyze the situation. He hadn't told Naruto a single thing about what's happened since that day. Naruto had been out for 3 days since he was air-crafted to the hospital. Although they had landed together, Sasuke holding onto to Naruto to break his fall, they had been separated once they hit the water. The impact had caused Sasuke's grip to loosen and in turn separated the two.
Kakashi knelt down, trying to level with the almost hyperventilating blond. He needed to speak with Naruto about what he remembered and what had happened to him. He reached out a hand, gently, as he attempted to place it on the trembling shoulder of the latter.
Naruto smacked his hand away, looking up with tear filled eyes. Kakashi felt his own heart ache as he looked into those pools of blue that were filled with so much pain and hope.
"Please... tell me he's okay" Naruto whispered through broken breaths.
"Naruto... I'm sorry.. Sasuke-" Kakashi began, but was interrupted as Naruto let out a unsettling scream, grabbing his hair, before he started to try to rip out the IV that was in his arm.
'No no. This can't be happening. This can't be happening'
Kakashi abruptly stood, nodding to the two males behind him. He frowned as he watched Naruto attempt to fight the hands that picked him up and shoved him back onto the bed.
Naruto never stopped for even a second. He was completely inconsolable as he thrashed around. The physical pain he felt was nothing compared to the mental and emotional pain he was going through.
This was his fault.
All of it.
Kakashi frowned as a third, more petite, nurse came over, syringe in hand. 3 more male nurses came into the room as the young petite female one had called for backup. Finally getting ahold of the thrashing blond, after being kicked several times, there was a total of 5 male nurses holding him down. One at each leg, one at each arm, and one that was holding his head to the side. Thankfully, Naruto hadn't tried to bite him, but he was being cautious with his hand placement just in case.
Naruto's cries finally died down as the petite nurse made the injection into the blond's neck. Tears also finally ceased as those blue eyes started to shut. Dried cracked lips let out one last breath before succumbing to the darkness he was forced into.
"S-Sas...."
Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck in frustration as he watched 4 of the 6 nurses leave the room, leaving only two behind. He shook his head as he silently apologized to the unconscious blond. The two male nurses grabbed the restrains and began to strap the blond's body to the bed, along with handcuffing him to the bed rails. They couldn't take any chances.
The officer felt his nerves snap as he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around with an annoyed expression, only to sigh for the millionth time as he was met with a stoic expression from a slightly shorter red head.
"Don't tell me we have an issue with the other one"
**
"Is this really fucking necessary?!" An angry raven yelled at the two officers as they walked into his room.
Kakashi smacked his hand over his face, grumbling something inaudible to himself as he saw the raven was also handcuffed to the bed rail.
Sasuke continued to yank on the cuff, though it did no good. The only thing it did was made him more annoyed.
"Can't either of you behave... FOR 10 DAMN MINUTES?!" Kakashi finally snapped, causing the raven to frown and Gaara to laugh.
"Wh-" before Sasuke could ask, Kakashi continued with his rant.
"Jesus Christ. As SOON as you both wake up, you are nothing but a pain in my ass!" He shouted.
"At least this one didn't need to be sedated" Gaara commented, earning a glare of annoyance from the elder officer.
"Sedated? You mean he's awake?! Where is he? TAKE THIS DAMN HANDCUFF OFF ME!" Sasuke yelled as he tugged on it again, growing increasingly impatient.
"Not until you promise me not to try anything stupid" Kakashi glared, causing Sasuke to flinch.
"I'm not the dobe. I won't do anything stupid" he rolled his eyes.
"Why are you handcuffed to the bed again?" Gaara asked, smirking, as Sasuke scoffed and turned his head.
Sasuke looked over as he heard Kakashi's tone turn serious. "He's in a very fragile state of mind right now, Sasuke. We can't take anything he says or does lightly right now. With the way he reacted when he woke up, he is probably going to be put on a suicide watch for his own benefit"
Sasuke gulped as the severity of the situation sank in. "I-is is that bad?"
"I haven't been able to get anything out of him yet. He had asked about you and when I tried to tell him I didn't know what was going on with you yet, he freaked out."
Sasuke frowned. "To the point you had to sedate him?"
"He attempted to rip his IV out and was screaming, refusing to let anyone touch him. We didn't have much of a choice" Kakashi sighed, yet again. He was seriously feeling the stress today.
"Let me see him." Sasuke demanded more than asked. He was still frowning, but had a look of complete determination.
Kakashi and Gaara glanced at once another before the red head walked over to Sasuke. "Try anything stupid again, and I'll break your other arm" he promised as he unlocked the cuffs.
Sasuke tried to hide his pout as he nodded his head. Glancing at the sling that was wrapped around his neck, holding his arm, he only hoped that Naruto was okay physically. He understood mentally and emotionally was a different story. Naruto had been through a lot for the past few months.
All three of the men made their way out of the room, Sasuke pushing his IV cart next to him as he was still hooked up and slightly unsteady on his feet. He had also been out for 3 days, so adjusting to normal after all of the pain medication and fluids, was going to take some time.
Kakashi leaned over slightly, speaking so only Gaara could hear. "Why was he cuffed to the bed?"
Gaara snickered. "He claims to be more level headed than the blond, but I'll be damned if he didn't attempt to do the same thing. But all I had to do was grab his broken arm and he-"
Gaara paused as he noticed the look of horror on Kakashi's face.
"What? It's already broken. It's not like I damaged him further"
Kakashi shook his head as he rubbed his temples. "I need a fucking vacation"