Chapter 9 - Sannin's Return!!!!

Sasuke was getting better all the time. He could walk, sort of. He needed assistance, but at least he could walk a bit.
His fever was lifting, and he slept more peacefully. Everything was fine. At least for Sasuke. But Naruto was feeling
really bad. He couldn't help but count off the days that Sasuke had stayed in the hospital, all because of him. He tried
not to think about it. He knew that Sasuke had forgiven him already, but still, his conscience kept weighing down
heavily on his soul. Then one day, when Sasuke woke up, and the nurses came in to check him, they said he was ready
to go out of the hospital. Naruto felt glad, but not overly excited and hyper, like the Naruto he was before the
epidemic.

As they walked out of the white hospital double doors, with Naruto supporting Sasuke, Naruto felt pang after pang of
regret and guilt. He knew Sasuke couldn't feel it, but he sure did. And with every glance at his teammate, which he
often did to make sure that Sasuke was actually walking beside him, the pangs just got stronger and stronger. Just
when it reached it's climax, he bit his lip to keep from crying out. Eventually, the sharp teeth dug through the soft
flesh of his lip and drew blood. Sasuke glanced up at Naruto and noticed the blood. He said, "Hey Naruto...stop biting
your lip. It's not good for you." But at that point Naruto didn't care anymore. And when he heard Sasuke's gentle yet
warning voice, it didn't make the pain go away. It just made the pain get worse and worse and worse. He felt as though
his heart was being torn apart and his body being cut open with kunai knives and shuriken. Worst of all, every time he
looked at Sasuke, Sasuke didn't appear to be the Sasuke he had known before the epidemic. This Sasuke was
different. The previous Sasuke had been stronger and wasn't just flesh and bone. This Sasuke was almost a skeleton,
and he was weak. This made Naruto feel even more guilty.

At last he couldn't take it any more. He just dropped Sasuke and ran off all the while having an internal battle between
what he knew was right and what was wrong. He knew it had been wrong to leave Sasuke there, but he really needed
to get this guilt out of his system. He ran home, pulled off his clothes, and jumped in a cold shower. It took a little
while to warm up, but Naruto didn't care. He didn't care about anything right now. As he sat in the shower, letting
the warm water soothe his pain, Naruto licked his lips. There was something wrong about that water. It was salty, not
sweet like his shower water usually was. They were tears. In the meantime...

Sasuke had collapsed face down on the road. He couldn't really walk without assistance. But he did manage to crawl
his way over to the shade of a big ash tree. He lay down in the shade of the leaves, feeling the gentle wind caress his
raven locks and the soft grass tickling his cheek. He looked at his arm, and the usual sleeve that was there was gone.
He seriously wondered whether the hospital had discarded them. Upon taking a closer look at his arm, he noticed that
it was also thinner than usual. Maybe it had slipped off. He glanced at the road. No, there it was, lying in the middle
of the dusty lane. He made no effort to retrieve it, seeing as he didn't have any chakra at all. And then a hand snaked
out from the other side of the tree trunk and started to wrap itself around his neck, choking him. Sasuke looked down.
He knew that hand. A hiss was heard from the other side of the tree. "You haven't used the seal yet, Uchiha." He then
felt a searing pain as a pair of razor sharp fangs was dug into his neck. Every muscle in his body cramped up, then
everything went black for the second time in 2 weeks.

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