Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

38. I LIIIVVVEEEEEEEEEEE!

Waking up is quite possibly the worst mistake I have ever made, second only to mouthing off to a trained assassin.

"I see you've woken up." A pretty woman around my mother's age peers down at me from where she is knelt by my side.

"Unfortunately," I groan, "who're you?"

"I'm Tsunami, Tasuna's daughter. You gave us all quite the scare there."

"Yeah..." I say slowly, remembering that dream I had.

"You look troubled."

"Mm... While I was asleep - how long was I asleep, by the way?"

"Four days."

"Jesus. Well, I had this really weird dream."

"Oh? What about?" She asks politely as she wrings out a small towel to put on my forehead. I relay the dream to her in as much detail as possible, and a frown grows deeper between her eyebrows.

"Are you certain?" She asks me urgently.

"Well, yeah, it wasn't that long ago. I woke up right after."

"Then that wasn't a dream - " she's about to explain when the door bursts open and someone bolts inside in a blur of yellow and orange.

"You're alive!" Naruto cries dramatically, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and hugging me tight.

"I won't be if you keep trying to squeeze the air out of me. Let go!" I laugh and gently push him off me. He sits cross-legged by the side of my futon and grins widely at me.

"Is Maya awake?" I hear Sakura call before she too runs at me and almost tackles me to the ground, squealing happily.

"Man, I got pushed away..." Naruto grouches, pouting until I fling out an arm and drag him into the hug too.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Sakura cries, clinging tightly to me.

"So, you woke up, huh?" I hear Sasuke from the doorway, and peer at him through the small gap beside Sakura's ear and below Naruto's chin.

"Yeah!" I grin.

"Didn't think you would."

"It's all thanks to you. Spite is a truly powerful thing." I laugh, and he rolls his eyes, though his snort sounds more amused than frustrated this time.

"Good to see you've finally woken up." Kakashi comes up behind Sasuke and smiles at me, eye crinkling.

"What're you talking like that for, Kakashi-sensei? You only woke up yesterday yourself!" Sakura sits up and frowns at him.

"In fact, you should still be in bed," Tsunami scolds, "and you two, how is she supposed to recover with you hanging off of her like that? Go down and fetch her some dinner if you really want to help." Naruto scrambles to his feet and rushes out of the door, barging past Sasuke at high speed. Sakura lets me go, but only moves so far as my bedside. Tsunami huffs but doesn't push it.

"Well, this house won't run itself. Sakura, I'll trust you to take care of her for now. Make sure she eats, and gets some rest." Tsunami's gaze lingers on me for a moment before she leaves, and I wonder again what she was going to tell me before.

"... I really thought you were going to die, you know." Sakura says softly. Her head is bowed so her hair falls forwards and obscures her face, and she fiddles with her hands in her lap.

"You went really cold, and pale, like... Like you had already gone." Her voice gets choked, and I can see her fighting off the tears.

"And-and then your heart st-stopped and Kakashi-sensei collapsed and-and we were still so far away from here-" the tears come any way, running down her cheeks to drip off of her chin. She presses her hands together tightly, lacing her fingers, almost like she's praying.

"I thought you'd both g-gone. T-tasuna he, he had to get some men fro-from the village to c-carry you both back, and you just laid there, like-like-like-" she breaks down, sobbing into her hands. My arms come up around her on impulse and I hold her close, pressing her face into my shoulder as her own shake. I'm struck by how close this was to when she carried me, bleeding and crying, away from the battle. She must be, too, because her sobs come harder and her fingers grip tighter to what must be a borrowed kimono.

When Naruto returns with a small plate of food, he pauses in the doorway, looking freaked. I use my free hand to gesture for him to wait a moment, and after a second he nods and backs away.

It's a while before Sakura finally draws back, wiping at her nose and smiling ruefully.

"I'm sorry, that was really selfish of me, crying like that." She gives a little, empty laugh, and I can't stop myself from cupping a hand around the back of her neck and pressing my forehead against hers.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for scaring you like that."

"Hey... Is it okay to come in now?" Naruto calls, and Sakura goes pale, looking totally mortified.

"Did he see?" She asks in a horrified whisper.

"Um... No?" I try, and she groans and buries her face in her hands.

"Is that a no?" Naruto calls again.

"No, it's okay, Naruto, come on in."

"It might be a little cold now, but Tsunami's cooking is really great." He tells me as he sets the platter down beside me.

"That's alright. Thank you." I struggle for a moment with the chopsticks before Sakura settles them in my hands.

It's ridiculously hard to eat, considering I didn't actually do any damage to my arm. But every movement sends pain shooting through the torn muscle in my abdomen, but I power through, more desperate for food than pain relief.

A/N: Full disclosure, I got stuck on this chapter and before I knew it days had passed! Yay! So yeah. Thank you all for voting and commenting!
Ta-ta~