Blinded...by love? (A SasuNaruGaara fanfic)

Ch. 23

Recap:

"Tell you what Naruto, I'll buy you as much ramen as you want, AFTER you get out of the hospital, ok?" Iruka-sensei told me. As I thought about it, I eventually gave in to his words.

"Fine, but don't go whining to me when I've emptied your wallet there Iruka-sensei. You did say you'd buy me as much ramen as I wanted, and you know how big my appetite can be..." I smiled up at Iruka-sensei, chuckling in the process.

"Ok Naruto, I get your point. Now go lay back down on the hospital bed, or that promise to you will be going down the drain, got it??" Iruka-sensei nudged me back towards my bed, since we were inside my designated hospital room by now.

"Ok, I'll stay and eat the gross hospital food, but be warned. I won't let you slip away when it comes to getting my ramen after I get discharged from here." I looked over to Iruka-sensei, making sure he got my warning loud and clear. Sure enough, he did. Iruka-sensei sighed and just nodded his head before going to leave the room. Throughout the remainder of the day, I got the occasional nurses and doctors checking up on me and my recovery, plus a couple of my friends from school came and visited me while I waited out my time at the hospital. Even Kurama popped up in my head every now and then to have a conversation with me and a few of my friends, due to them hearing about the new found secret with me and the nine tails Kurama being best buddies now.

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Couple days later:
It was finally time for me to be discharged from the hospital. Team 7 Sakura and Sai, team 8 Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata, team 10 Shikamaru and Ino, and all of team Guy: Neji, TenTen, and RockLee were all there for my discharge. The only ones not there were Sasuke, Shino, Gaara and Choji. 'I can see why for Shino and Choji, especially Choji but why isn't Sasuke and Gaara here?' I questioned mentally. Everyone knew that I was looking for two people in particular.

"Sasuke had prior commitments to deal with, and I don't know about Gaara. Sorry Naruto." Sakura was the only one to speak up about the two missing people.

"Thank you for letting me know Sakura." I smiled at her.

"Welcome." Sakura smiled at me. I could tell that she felt sorry for me.

"Sakura?" I called out her name questioningly.

"Yeah Naruto?" Saukra answered back.

"Don't feel sorry for me please. I'm okay with it." I told her reassuringly. Sakura stayed quiet after I said that to her. At that time, I heard another voice speak out.

"Who's up for Ramen? I did promise a certain someone that I'd treat him to some ramen once he got out of the hospital and if he behaved himself..." The familiar voice said out loud.

"Iruka-sensei!" I shouted happily.

"Hey Naruto, how you feeling today?" Iruka-Sensei asked me.

"I'm alright, about ready to scream if I don't get my ramen." I grumbled, and so did my stomach. "I rest my case." Everybody laughed at me.

"Alright, alright. Let's go get some ramen." Iruka-Sensei chuckled and started walking towards the door of the hospital entrance.

I grinned my toothy grin, and followed Iruka-Sensei to Ichiraku's Ramen stand.

*****
~Few hours later~
"I'm full!!!" Stretching out after eating my 18th bowl of ramen, I look towards Iruka-Sensei and smiled. "Thanks for the ramen Iruka-Sensei."

Iruka smiled at me, and gave me a pat on the head. "No problem Naruto, a promise is a promise. You behaved the remainder of the time in the hospital, so this is your reward."

Right then, I felt my phone go off. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that I had a few missed calls and 30 text messages. Some from a few of my other friends from neighboring villages saying congratulations on getting out of the hospital, I sent them back a Thank You message. I'm pretty sure that some of my friends here in Konohagakure posted online on my progress in the hospital. A few more were from Jiraiya, but the ones that got me on standby was from Sasuke, Gaara and an unknown number.

Sasukes Text: Hey dobe, sorry I didn't make it for your release, I had a previous engagement that I needed to take care off. Hope you can forgive me. I'll be by later to check on you if you're still awake.

I sent him a quick message saying that it's ok, and that I forgive him, but I was still unsure if I wanted him to come by and see if I'm doing alright. Ehh, whatever he already knows how to get into my place anyways, so it's not like I can stop him when I'm sleeping.

Gaara's Text: Hey Naruto, sorry I wasn't able to make it to your release today. I had kazekage duties to attend to. Hope your doing alright. Temari and Kankuro are certainly giving me a hard time. Well got to go. Temari's yelling at me in the background. See you soon hopefully.

I sent him a text message saying that I'm doing fine, that it was okay, everybody was there, to tell Temari and Kankuro hi for me and to not give him so much hassle before he starts getting grey hairs on his head. Now onto this unknown number...

Unknown Number: Hey there Naruto, I'm sorry I missed your release at the hospital. I just didn't want to get caught by the higher ups. I miss you. I miss your screams of agony and your writhing trembling body. Oh what music it was to my ears...I hope to hear them again soon. Have a nice night Naruto.

I was frozen upon reading the message. I didn't know what to think. A little after reading the message my whole body started to shake uncontrollably in fear. Oh god, no. Not again! I must tell someone.
Before I could send anything to anyone though a message from the same number popped up.
U/N: oh and don't think about letting anyone know about these messages. In fact, delete these 2 messages. That way, you won't have proof of any contact with me. Alright??! I have ears and eyes watching your every step, so don't think you can get away from me so easily. Well ta-ta for now Naruto. Until we see each other next time.