ImmediatelyWriting's One Shots

#57. Naruto) It All Ends With Red... and blue, green and yellow

Summary: The story of how a family-friendly game of Uno ends with blood and violence. You know, a normal afternoon for Team 7.

Fandom: Naruto
Ship: None
Genre: Found family, Fluff

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Slowly, very slowly, the time creeps by. The cork board that hangs from the pale blue walls of Kakashi-sensei's hospital room is filled with pamphlets on how to fight safely and make a proper recovery from various wounds. Ironically, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were here all evening yesterday, waiting for the nurses to determine that Kakashi-sensei had, indeed, broken his femur in that afternoon's battle. In that time, Naruto had managed to read the covers of every single pamphlet with time to spare.

He expected that, when they left Kakashi-sensei here for the night, the next morning would be normal again. After that dreadful evening, he'd dreamt of epic training followed by a well-deserved battle against strong villains. But nothing could be less true.

With Kakashi-sensei's leg bone split in half it's going to take time to heal, even with the use of the Leaf's strong medical jutsu. Kakashi-sensei's going to be stuck here for an entire other day. And so is his team, as there are no other teachers to fill in for Kakashi-sensei and apparently Team 7's teacher being out of commission for the day isn't considered a good reason to give the kids an entire day off.

So, despite the fact that all three of the kids, especially Naruto, protested against the idea, here they are. They're all scattered around the room, sitting on chairs or lying on the empty beds, in total silence. Kakashi-sensei might be the most silent of them all; beside a murmured "hello" when his team walked into his hospital room this morning, he hasn't said anything. Which is probably for the best, because last night, Kakashi-sensei's meds had made him really weird – even weirder than usual. Now, he just seems sleepy.

Naruto used to think of Kakashi-sensei as a fairly interesting teacher, but he gets hurt or drained of chakra so quickly that they're spending more time waiting for him to recuperate than doing actual training. And the thing about Kakashi-sensei is that he's especially boring when he's hurt.

He just sits in bed, glaring down at the same book in total silence. Sure, every once in a while he makes a soft "hm" or "oh?" sound before turning a page. It gets Naruto's hopes up every time, like maybe Kakashi-sensei will eventually say "oh? I remember, I have a great idea for your training" or something. But that's never the case. This makes the days at the hospital even more annoying.

Naruto glances at the clock. Every part of him hopes that it's suddenly evening, and the hospital's visiting hours are over, even though the burning sun that comes in through the window makes it clear that they're not even nearing the evening. They've been here for barely half an hour.

A sigh releases from Naruto's mouth as he drops himself onto the mattress. I might as well take a nap.

"So-" Sakura's voice breaks the silence that's been going on for ages. "I was thinking, maybe there's something fun we can do?" Even though she tries her best to be perky, it's clear that she has to struggle not to use the word "boring" when she adds, "Not that I'm complaining, but it's very, er- silent."

"Hm." It's not coming from Kakashi-sensei this time, and is actually followed by an intelligent statement. "I agree with Sakura. If we're just going to sit around all day, it'd be more useful to train by myself."

"Yes!" Naruto chimes in from where he's lying. In hopes that it'll change Kakashi-sensei's mind about them needing to be here, he adds, "Couldn't agree with you more, Sasuke. How about we all go home?"