The Return (Book 2 of It's Not Forever) COMPLETE

Chapter 9

    I wake up in a hospital bed, curses already leaving my lips. I'm still furious right now. My curses come out as hoarse whispers, but it feels good to let it out. Sadly I quickly realize that I'm not in Suna or the Land of Iron anymore. I'm back in Konoha. I recognize the hospital from my many trips over the years. A group of people are at the sides of my bed staring at me, so I irritably snap at them to stop staring. Ino breaks out of it first, sobbing like a child before throwing her arms around me. I hiss in pain, causing Temari to react and pull her away from me. Besides the two girls, Gaara, Iruka, a nurse, and Choji are standing around. I find myself looking for Shikamaru to find him walking in the room. I look away as his eyes lift toward mine and instead turn to Kakashi, the one I imagine would have more important things to say.
"Why are you here, Iruka?"
"I was sent by the Hokage's assistant to guard you."
"Were you sent to guard me or to guard the village? I know the woman doesn't like me." I counter.
He looks away and I know his answer.
"I'm going to have a word with that woman soon..." I mutter before looking up to Choji.
"Nice to see you Choji." I smile lightly at the man in the corner eating chips.
He smiles back and crosses the room to offer me a chip. I take one for old time's sake, but my throat is so dry I can't eat it.
"Can I have a word with Gaara and Temari please?"
Shikamaru hesitates, but eventually he follows the others out of the room, leaving me with the sand nin.
"So, what happened after I died?"
Gaara tells me that Tobi showed up shortly after and Sasuke and the girl left. Tobi then told them that Sasuke was sent to train the Mangekyo and weaken the kage, but it didn't quite go as planned. Tobi plans on capturing the two remaining tailed beasts to awaken the ten-tails for himself. He declared war on the world before leaving. The kage allied together to form a five country alliance. Word had also gotten back that Kisame was killed by A. I sigh at the news, regretting that though he was part of an evil organization, my closest friend and father figure was killed and I didn't get to say goodbye.
"So, what color are my eyes now?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"Yellow."
I hold up a hand to try to summon the new power and feel a gust of wind whip around the room.
"Awesome. I think that may be all of them now."
"You shouldn't be happy about that Kaida! You died." Temari starts, causing me to look up at her. "I was worried sick! I thought you died for real and I felt so terrible that we let this stupidity drive us apart and that you died without me apologizing to you, and you're happy that you get a new power?! What is wrong with you?"
I can't hold it back any longer and laugh. "What isn't wrong with me Temari? I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I was immortal. I can't die for real. Just dead for a little while. I'm sorry for everything too. I shouldn't have freaked out over you and Shikamaru. I just was stupid and didn't know what to expect when I got back. I'm glad the two of you make each other happy, that's all I want for either of you."
"I'm sorry too. We didn't plan on it to happen, it just kind of did. I wanted to talk to you when you saw us, but you'd left so suddenly I couldn't go after you. Shikamaru was torn up about seeing you and you leaving. He didn't want to hurt you. Whether he'll admit it or not, it took a few weeks to get him to calm down again and stop beating himself up about it. He's been dying to talk to you but with everything going on..." I look over and realize that Gaara had walked out at some point. I shrug it off and pull Temari into the lightest hug possible without hurting myself more than normal. She walks out and I make myself as comfortable as possible with the horrible hospital pillows.
As soon as I feel myself relax, the door opens and Shikamaru walks in looking hesitant. I watch as his eyes stay away from mine and his hand fumbles with the lighter in his hand. I roll my eyes and sigh before giving up and turning away from him. I note the glass of water on the night stand and take a small sip. My hand fumbles as I try to put it back and it falls but a hand reaches out and catches it. I quietly thank him as he places it back on the table, then watch as he sits awkwardly in the chair next to the bed. We sit in silence until it eats at me and I can't take it any longer. I whisper for him to lean closer, then smack my palm against his forehead.
"Stop being stupid. Talk to me or get out please. I can't stand this anymore."
He rubs his forehead and gives me an indignant look.
"Still so troublesome after all these years..." He grumbles before sighing. "K-Kaida, I don't really know what to say. I didn't want to hurt you... I just, I gave up hope after you didn't come back for so long. I didn't want to torture myself waiting for you if you weren't going to come back. Temari started coming back and forth between Suna and Konoha and we started to talk and it just happened. I thought that I could be happy again. I saw you that day outside your apartment and thought I was just seeing wrong and you were just a stranger, then Naruto said your name and my heart stopped. I thought you were dead, and there you were in front of me pretending to not be you. I couldn't let you just leave without saying anything after all this time, so I followed you. I just wanted to talk and explain everything, then you saw Temari and left. I felt so bad about letting you leave like that but I didn't know what to say. I'm sorry."
His eyes are boring into mine while his hands are still fiddling with the lighter. I can see the truth to his words reflected on his face and manage a smile.
"It's alright Shika-kun. I understand. I overreacted to it, I was just panicking about being back again and everything being different, then I saw you and Temari and it was too much. I freaked out and left. I'm sorry for being stupid and troublesome." A lazy smirk crosses his face as I use his favorite word. "So, are we okay now?"
"We're okay."
"Can I have a hug? It's been a rough two years."
He smiles and carefully hugs me before settling back on the chair.
"So, I'm getting up now. I miss my old bed."
I ignore his protests and carefully unhook everything from my body and stand up. In the process the others came in and tried to convince me to stay but I wave them off and carefully test my weight until I can feel my legs fully again. My stomach and chest feel tight, so I lift a hand to find a series of stitches from the hollow of my throat and I figure it ends down at my belly button. I ask to whoever decides to answer how long I'd been out and Temari tells me it'd only been about 4 days. I sigh in annoyance and move to hobble out of the room but Ino hands me a set of crutches and they convince me to use them to make it easier on myself. All of us, with the exception of Iruka, head back to my apartment where they settle around the living room. I inform them of my intentions to take a shower and Ino jumps up and insists on sitting in the bathroom to make sure I don't get hurt and so she can talk to me. I fight it for ten minutes until I tire of it and allow her to come with me. I have her wait outside the bathroom until I've stripped and hidden behind the curtain, then I hear her enter and sit on the counter. Immediately she fires questions at me about my stay in Suna and what happened at the Summit. I fill her in to the best of my ability, sidestepping the questions about Shikamaru and Gaara for the most part. I don't feel like visiting that part of my brain right now. After I clean myself, I have her leave again so I can dress, then have her braid my hair back for me. When we return to the living room, everyone looks at me oddly.
"What?"
"Tsunade woke up from her coma. She wants to see you and Gaara in her office."
"Lovely, I've been waiting to speak to her. Let's go Gaara-kun."

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