The Great Medic

29: Stranded

A/N- Hey, so I would like to immediately apologize for how long this chapter is. I got a little crazy somewhere in there. I surely got possessed, I'm telling you right now! This document ended up being  40 pages long in Google Docs. No, I am not exaggerating. I also think this might be the longest chapter I've posted for The Great Medic of all time. I don't know if that's true for the original version of this story, but I'm going to say it is, and we'll move on.

This chapter was almost done basically a week and some change ago, but my dearest beloved, the AO3 curse, struck again and I, unfortunately, came down with a really bad sinus sickness - dunno what it was, but I was sick for a full week. Bleh! I only recently started feeling better and managed to weasel this chapter into shape a little and do some much needed edits. And now, onto the next part!

I'd like to start this next segment to discuss some comments I received that made me giggle.

Shoutout to TheMightyLog on Fanfiction(.net) who asked if this story was yaoi... on Chapter 28. This is not even the first time I've gotten a comment like this... on a story... that's tagged as Shikamaru X Naruto. You see what I'm getting at, right?

Shoutout to Estragon on from AO3 for their comment. I've already responded to it there if you're curious what I wrote. They ended up being a big inspiration for the Naruto, Yiruma, and Chakochi scene in this chapter. ALSO, IF YOU SEE THAT CHAKOCHI'S NAME IS CHIKAKO IN SOME CHAPTERS, NO, YOU DIDN'T!!! Anyway!

And to the one person on Tumblr (shameless plug, but you can find me on Tumblr at "shykid-writez") who keeps sending me anonymous asks asking who is the top or bottom in my story. I'm going to hold your hand when I tell you this, but they're like thirteen, buddy. Stop asking.

Okay, that's enough comments for now. I have some amusing things to share with you! You'll never guess, but while I was writing Naruto revisiting his apartment, the song "Back to the Old House" by The Smiths played like four times in my shuffled playlist. I guess it was just meant to be! I would also recommend listening to "August 10" by Julie Doiron while reading!

That's all from me now!! Ta-ta! Until next time!

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TW//: Light Dissacociation, Mizuki (as always), Refrence to Naruto's prior trauma, just a generally heavy chapter

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It had been seven days, a week, since Naruto had done it.

The world around him continued its motion all around him while Naruto felt completely and utterly stuck. The week tolled horribly slow, a monotonous week where the days dragged on, where even the nights seemed to linger ,where even the reprieve of the moon and the stars was nowhere to be seen. To someone else, it likely would've just been a boring ol' week where it was common for something to happen. Naruto heard someone call last Sunday a 'lazy one' before he had to scamper away like a dog with their tail tucked between their legs. An old calendar he'd gotten as a gift sometime ago seemed to taunt him with dates, a reminder of the past week where there were no events, not crazy things happening in town, no tales of gossip hidden behind hands and peering eyes to, at the very least, distract him.

For Naruto, it should've been much of the same, but it hadn't. The hospital was surprisingly calm for once, often being sent home earlier as there was no more work for him, leaving him stuck at 'home' with nothing left to do. Training with his team went by as smoothly as possible, no matter what bickering followed after them. Sakura had toned down a bit in her infatuation with Sasuke as the team's closeness allowed her to start a friendship - tentative at best - with the Uchiha heir, and, surprisingly, Sasuke didn't deter her. With how well they were doing in their efforts to get better teamwork, Kakashi rewarded them often, pleased with their progress over the last week, not finding a need to schedule more training on a rather dull week anyway.