Chapter 16- A warm welcome?

Tsunade came out of the emergency room, wiping the sweat off her brow.
“They’re fine,” she said. “Sakura really did a great job; it wasn’t that hard to heal their remaining wounds. But their loss of chakra is immense! They’ll need a few weeks at least to recover.”
Kakashi let out a sigh of relief.
Tsunade continued. “They’ll be conscious again soon. You may see them, if you want.”
Ino, Sai and Hinata, who had been waiting with Kakashi since Gai’s team left, entered the room after him. There were four beds, two on each side. Sakura and Sasuke lay next to each other, Naruto was facing them. They were all asleep.
Hinata immediately went to Naruto’s bed. He seemed all right, at least he was snoring loudly. She sat down next to him and simply watched. Kakashi looked at the blond boy for a moment, decided he was okay and went to the other side of the room.
Ino couldn’t decide who to visit first, her friend or her old crush. She knew Sakura was strong, and she hadn’t seen Sasuke since she was a Genin, so her curiosity got the upper hand. Sai joined her at Sasuke’s bed.
“He hasn’t changed that much...” Ino said. Sai looked at her, and she smiled at him. “No, I’m the one that changed.”
Kakashi stood at Sakura’s bed. His student lay perfectly still, unusually pale. Things sure weren’t easy for her, and her pregnancy was only making it worse. In a few weeks she would give birth to Sasuke’s child, and who knew how he would react to that?
Sakura’s eyes slowly opened.
“Hey, Kakashi-sensei...”
“Yo!” he greeted.
“Good to see you’re okay.” She sat up straight. “What did you do to that fish guy?”
“Ah, him. Well, Gai and his team came to help me, and after I sent his sword to another dimension and Neji blocked a lot of his chakra, it wasn’t that hard to take him out. What matters now is your situation.”
She shook her head. “Where are Sasuke and Naruto?” she asked.
Kakashi smiled again. Those who don’t care about their comrades are considered even greater scum...
“Sasuke is here right next to you,” he said, “and Naruto over there.”
“How are they?”
“Fine. Tsunade said you did a great job.”
Sakura let herself fall backwards on the bed again, and sighed.
“Good.”
Ino turned around and smiled.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” Sakura answered.
“It’s good to see you’re okay. And that Sasuke’s back too.”
“You don’t feel...” Ino shook her head.
“No. I’m happy for you. And you know, I’m not really interested in Sasuke anymore...”
Sakura sent a questioning look to Sai (who was now standing at Naruto’s bed), and smiled when she saw Ino blush.
“Do you think I can leave the hospital already?” she asked.
Ino said: “I’ll ask Tsunade-sama.”
She turned around, but stopped when she heard Sakura.
“Ino?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
Ino smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Sakura was allowed to leave the hospital. She, Ino and Hinata went to a restaurant together to discuss important things, and Sai and Kakashi returned to their training after thanking the Hokage once more. So when Naruto woke up, he thought at first he was alone.
A window was opened, he could see the thin fabric of the curtains swinging in the light breeze.
The feeling was familiar. He had woken up alone in a hospital so many times before. Yes, he knew the feeling of a failed mission all too well.
Naruto sat upright and looked around. Then he noticed the black-haired boy in the bed in front of him.
“Yo, dobe,” the young man said. “Finally awake?”
Naruto swallowed. Could it really be...?
“Sasuke...”
The next moment, he jumped out of his bed, ran towards his friend and threw his arms around him.
“Sasuke! I can’t believe it!”
“Hey, wait! Naruto, you total idiot! Stop that immediately! I said stop!"
On the training ground next to the hospital, Kakashi looked up.
“Ah,” he smiled, “I guess they woke up.”