Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, nor do I make any money off this story.

AN: I'm re-posting this, I wanted to make sure I edited out all MA content before putting it back up. The only site you'll find the non-edited version is fictionesque(dot)com under my username Lanies_Kitsune, as I have taken it down on AFF.

Summary: After Naruto is injured on a mission, Sasuke realizes how much he truly loves the blonde. SasuNaru, onesided SaiNaru, KakaIru and Saku? There will be no Sakura bashing in this story, I love her character on Shippuden.

Fixing His Mistake

A commotion near the village gates drew Sasuke's attention. He'd been walking towards one of the training fields nearby when he'd heard shouting and panicked voices. Recognizing Sai's voice, Sasuke rushed to see what was going on, his heart beating wildly in his chest. 'Naruto,' he thought.

The raven knew Naruto and Sai were on a mission with Shikamaru in Wind country. Gaara had requested help from the Leaf village to deal with a rather tough band of rogue nin who had been raiding small towns around the borders of Sand. They'd been gone nearly three weeks on what was supposed to be a week-long mission, and Sasuke had been worried that something bad might have happened to the blonde. Now it seemed his fears were being realized.

Coming upon the scene, Sasuke saw Sai carrying a bloody and unconscious Naruto in his arms. Shikamaru was behind them, giving orders to a guard to inform the Hokage of their return and Naruto's condition. Sasuke normally wouldn't be too concerned as he knew the nine-tailed fox would heal Naruto, but seeing the worry in Shikamaru's eyes and the fear on Sai's face, the raven's blood ran cold.

Sai, who was hurrying to the hospital to find Tsunade, stopped in his tracks when Sasuke blocked his path. When the Uchiha reached to take Naruto from him, Sai jerked back, his anger flaring.

"Don't touch him! You lost any right to even be near him when you rejected him!" the slightly older youth snarled. "Just stay the hell away from him!"

Sasuke felt his own rage surface. How dare Sai say that to him? What went on between him and the blonde was none of his damned business.

"Look, I know I made a mistake, but that's between Naruto and myself. Right now I just want to help him."

Sai opened his mouth to retort, but another voice interrupted him. "Why the hell are you just standing there? Get Naruto to the hospital now!" Tsunade shouted at the two dark-haired teens, annoyance and worry in her tone as she regained her breath from rushing to meet them at the news of Naruto being injured. Anger simmered in her mind at the two shinobi glowering hatefully at one another. To pick a fight with each other while one of their comrades was seriously wounded just plain pissed the blonde woman off. Especially when the one hurt was the boy she considered her adopted little brother.

Once they got Naruto to the hospital, Tsunade and Shizune, who'd been with her, took the unconscious boy into an examination room to check his injuries. Sai and Sasuke stood in the waiting area, still glaring at each other. Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome."

Hearing the lazy ninja's exclamation, Sasuke turned to him.

"What the hell happened to Naruto?" he demanded.

Sighing again, Shikamaru began recalling what he knew of what had occurred. "I didn't see everything that went on. I was busy fighting a few of the ninja we'd been sent to find, as were Sai and Naruto. Apparently they knew who Naruto was and injected him with a chakra suppressor, so when he was wounded Kyuubi couldn't heal him. We managed to finish them off before Naruto collapsed, and then we headed straight here."

Sasuke was really worried now. If the fox's chakra was blocked while Naruto was gravely hurt, then the blonde could possibly die. That thought sent fear and regret directly to the raven't heart. He couldn't lose Naruto now; he had to apologize for the things he'd said, and let Naruto know he hadn't meant any of it and that he loved him.

The Uchiha was jolted from his thoughts when Sakura rushed into the waiting room, followed by Iruka and Kakashi. After a brief explanation from Sai, Sakura went to see if she could be of any assistance, as she was now almost as good a healer as Tsunade.

Kakashi held Iruka close while they waited for news of Naruto. The copy-cat nin knew his lover cared for the blonde boy as a son, and while his feelings weren't quite as deep as Iruka's, Kakashi did care greatly for Naruto as well. He whispered reassurances to the brunette chunin as he held him.

The rest of the rookie 9 showed up, along with their senseis and Gai and his team. Everyone had heard about Naruto being injured and had hurried to see how he was faring. The hospital waiting room was full of Naruto's friends, all looking expectantly at the door to the exam room he was in, anxious for information on his welfare..

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Tsunade emerged with an exhausted Shizune, Sakura in tow.

"Naruto is going to be fine," the Hokage said tiredly. "He'll stay here for a few days so he can rest, then after I make sure he's completely healed he can go home." Tsunade and Shizune then left, both needing rest of their own.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After checking on a sleeping Naruto, they all left him to recuperate, deciding to come back to visit him when he awoke. The only ones remaining were Iruka, Kakashi, Sai and Sasuke. Wanting to make sure the blonde teen really was all right, Iruka sat with him for a couple of minutes before Kakashi convinced him that Naruto was fine and to let him have his rest. The brunette reluctantly went with Kakashi, promising to return in a few hours.

This left Sasuke and Sai alone with Naruto. Sai took Iruka's now vacated seat, glaring hatefully at the Uchiha as he held Naruto's hand.

Walking up to the hospital bed, Sasuke brushed blonde bangs out of Naruto's face, then leaned down to kiss him on the forehead before taking his own leave. He vowed to himself to tell Naruto of his true feelings as soon as he was well and out of the hospital.

Sai watched Sasuke go, clutching Naruto's hand tighter. He'd make sure the Uchiha never hurt the blonde boy again. No matter what.

TBC…