The Power to Heal and Destroy by Phoenixsun

Chapter 31: Where You Must Return To

Never before in his life Naruto had considered that a person's eyelids could be as heavy as his felt right now. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was currently lying on what had to be the world's softest bed, or that for once the room he was in smelled clean unlike his unkempt apartment, or maybe because he had used all of his chakra fighting a S Rank criminal while trying to save his friend. Either or.

Remembering everything that had happened, the blond felt all weariness leave him and his eyes snapped open. Blinded by the sudden intrusion of light, the spiky haired boy tried to sit up, but his whole body immediately protested against it.

"Take it easy... You're in no shape to stand up yet." A vaguely familiar voice was heard from somewhere in the white void that surrounded the young man.

As his eyes became used to the light, Naruto was able to see the person sitting at the side of his bed. "You... You're Gaara's sister..." He said, forcing his eyes to focus on the girl's face. "Temari." He added once he was able to zero in on the kunoichi's face. "What are you doing here...?"

A scoff escaped the young woman. "Don't flatter yourself, I was drafted into staying." She responded. "Gaara had to leave and he didn't want you to be left along, with your friends going back and forth between your room and the others'... Well lets you say that Kankuro was faster in excusing himself." She added with just the faintest hint on condescension.

Ignoring the small jab at his expenses, Naruto tried to sit up again. "Sasuke and the others...! Are the alright?!" The spiky haired boy hurriedly asked.

"I told you not get up!" Temari said as she was forced to push the other blond back down onto his bed. "Your friends are alright, calm down." She said, trying to get the younger ninja to calm down. "The Hyuuga is still under observation, but they already said the worse has already passed." She added.

Naruto finally relaxed and let his head rest back down. "How long have I been out?"

Seeing that the boy was not trying to do something stupid anymore, Temari was able to lean back on her chair. "It's being three days since the whole debacle." She informed the other blond. "The Inuzuka has already regained consciousness, while the Uchiha and the Nara have been in and out since yesterday." The kunoichi added. Gaara had made it perfectly clear that he wanted her to stay up to date on the status of the other Leaf nin for when Naruto finally awoke.

The Jinchuuriki let out a sigh of relief. There have been several times during the mission when the Uzumaki feared that not all of them would make it back. The young man had to watch his friends fall one by one and he himself had to stare death in the face, but now, after all their efforts, it was finally over. The young man let out yet another sigh. "Thanks..." The Sharingan user finally said. "Now, tell me about how you're using this whole situation as an excuse because you can't stop thinking about that kiss." Naruto said, retaliating at the shot that the Sand kunoichi had taken at him earlier.

A blush immediately spread on Temari's face as she struggled to find words to counter the spiky haired boy's claim.

"Naruto!" A shout was heard before the Suna ninja could compose herself.

Looking at the door, the pair of blondes saw as Sakura and Hinata hurried into the room.

"Naruto, you're awake!" The pink haired repeated as she rushed at her teammate's bedside and threw herself over his body, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You idiot! I know, you promise to bring Sasuke-kun back, but that didn't mean you had to go and get yourself almost killed like that!" The kunoichi shouted with her face buried on the blonde's shoulder.

The spiky haired boy could feel the Haruno's tears starting to come out. "It's alright... We're all made it back and we're fine." He pointed out, awkwardly patting his teammate in the head in an attempt to calm her down.