Note: Hi all, thanks for waiting! Thankfully, it didn't take me another 18 months to update! Come find me on tumblr at chortling-dingo if you want to chat!

Chapter 20

Naruto clutched her hand and huddled by the door, at a loss of what to do. She didn't think that Sasuke had been aware that he was hurting her. He would have immediately tended to her hand, and been stricken with guilt, had he known. She should have spoken up, or pulled her hand from his grip, but she hadn't wanted to interrupt his story. He had clearly needed to talk about the massacre with someone, and part of her was thrilled that he had trusted her enough to tell her.

She waited until the pain in her hand didn't make her faint anymore, and then pushed back to her feet. It would be days until the bones were fully healed, maybe even a full week, but she hoped desperately that it would be useable by the time they got to the border for their mission. Naruto would just have to act normal tomorrow. If Sakura noticed her hand, she would never forgive Sasuke. They barely tolerated each other as it was. And Naruto couldn't talk to Sakura about him anyway. He hadn't wanted her to know.

But Kakashi knew, she realized.

Of course Kakashi knew. He had been ANBU when Sasuke's family was murdered. He might have even been one of the responders.

Kakashi would know what to do. She was sure of it.

Kakashi looked up in surprise at the hesitant knocking on his door. He glanced at the clock and raised an eyebrow at the late hour. He hadn't been sleeping, of course. He didn't really sleep much anymore. But he wasn't accustomed to visitors at this time of night. While Kakashi was friendly with most of his agemates, he wouldn't consider any of them to be on late-night-visit terms.

He set down his book and crossed the small apartment to the door.

Naruto was hunched herself, her left hand cradled against her chest, and distress clear on her face.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Kakashi asked, ushering her inside and into a seat. He snagged an ice pack from the freezer and gently pulled her hand away from her body. With a quick glance, he determined that she hadn't done it to herself, and then he wrapped the ice pack around the worst of the swelling.

She winced at both the temperature of the ice pack and the painful pressure against her throbbing hand, and gave a half-hearted shrug. "I don't really know," she said, looking a little lost. "Sasuke came over because he wanted to show that he trusted me. Like in return for me trusting him and Sakura with the kyuubi."

Naruto trembled, and her eyes were huge in her too-pale face. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

Kakashi cautiously put an arm around her shoulders. Naruto froze stiffly, but just when Kakashi was about to withdraw, she relaxed and slumped against him.

"Did he do this to your hand?" Kakashi asked, sounding much calmer than he felt.

"He didn't mean to," Naruto said miserably. "It was like he didn't know where he was. By the time he came back to himself, he wasn't holding on to me anymore. I don't think he even realized that it happened."

Kakashi pulled away the ice and gently palpitated her hand. The swelling still ballooned her hand out of shape, but he could clearly feel that two of the fragile bones were broken. "How did this happen?"

"He told me about what happened to his family," Naruto confessed, still overwhelmed with the horror of Sasuke's words. "He wanted to tell me why his goal was to kill his brother, and he said he hadn't talked to anyone about what happened before. He started kind of… shutting down, so I touched his arm. To be comforting, you know?"

Kakashi nodded encouragingly and settled the ice back around Naruto's hand.

"When he started talking about… about what his brother did, he grabbed on to me and just started squeezing. Like it was the only thing keeping him from going crazy. He was scary," she confided.

Kakashi knew that drowning feeling very well, and he also knew somewhat of what Sasuke had experienced. While he had been able to piece together the events of the massacre, and even knew that Sasuke had suffered from a powerful genjutsu, Kakashi had never heard the details. As Naruto said, Sasuke had never spoken to it before. Not even to the best mind healers in the hospital. Kakashi sympathized with him, but he couldn't permit his students to seriously hurt one another.

"I'll talk to him. This sort of thing isn't okay," he said. "You'll need to see Hyuuga-sensei in the morning."

"What? No," Naruto protested, pulling away from his sheltering arm. "It'll heal on its own in a few days, and you can't tell Sasuke that I told you what he said. He'd never forgive me."

"Naruto, I can bring up your hand without telling him that I know the topic of your conversation," Kakashi said, looking Naruto in the eye. "But it is important that he knows not to hurt his teammates. He needs to be more aware of what he is doing, even in times of distress. If you were anyone else, he could have crippled your hand for life."

Naruto flinched and hunched into herself again. "You're right. I didn't think about that. I'm a little nervous to see him tomorrow," she confessed, leaning cautiously back into Kakashi's shoulder. "It wasn't just how he hurt my hand, but his eyes were… really terrifying. He looked like he wanted to die."

Kakashi sighed and replaced his arm around Naruto. He wished that he could keep his kids safe and innocent from the darkest parts of the world, but shinobi led dangerous lives. And Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were considered adults in the shinobi world. Even if Konoha sheltered them with gentle missions a little longer than the other villages.

What Naruto had said about Sasuke was concerning, though. Kakashi had been watching him closely, but he would have to pay more attention to what the boy was doing in his own time. There weren't many options for trauma counseling for shinobi, due to the classified nature of their work. The hospital employed a few mind healers, but they focused more on the physical, rather than psychological. Civilian therapists couldn't understand the stress of the job, and often came out of sessions more traumatized than the shinobi seeking help.

But Kakashi knew a few people who might be able to help, and he would convince Sasuke to take advantage of them of his own free will. Something had to be done, and Kakashi would admit Sasuke into the hospital if he had to.

After Naruto had started drowsing against him, Kakashi gently woke her and walked her home, extracting a promise that she would see the doctor in the morning.

"You're not going to cancel the mission, are you?" she asked warily.

"Come see me after you see what Hyuuga-sensei has to say," Kakashi replied. The answer was, of course he was canceling the mission. Naruto healed at a ridiculous rate, but Kakashi couldn't, in good conscience, allow her to leave the village with a broken hand.

Naruto looked disappointed, as if she knew that Kakashi wasn't saying, but she nodded before disappearing into her apartment.

Kakashi waited until he heard the locks engaging, and then started back toward his own home. Thank goodness for the Uzumaki healing ability, he thought wryly. Without it, Naruto would have been out of commission for months, if not permanently disabled. And Kakashi's discussion with Sasuke would have been very different. Not that he was going to let him off easy, of course.

While Sasuke had formed a strange, nearly hostile rivalry with Sakura—and Kakashi need to work on whatever had happened there—he did seem to geninuinely care about Naruto. As much as he was able, anyway. He knew that Sasuke would probably be horrified to know that he had broken Naruto's hand, and Kakashi wasn't above using it as blackmail to get the kid the help he clearly needed.

Naruto slept badly because of the pain in her hand, and when she showed up at the hospital, Suzume was visibly alarmed. The swelling had gone down, but Naruto's skin was bruised black and two of her fingers jutted at odd angles.

"I can't in good conscience allow you to go on a mission today," Suzume said, easing the bones back in place with gentle green chakra. "Even if, as you say, the bones will heal within the week, you could easily aggravate the injury on a mission. You could cause nerve damage to your hand, and you might even prove a liability to your teammates."

Naruto's protests died away. She couldn't risk causing trouble to her team. She hated the idea of being a burden. "When do you think I'll be ready to go on a mission?"

Suzume hummed thoughtfully. "It's hard to say. Obviously, if the bones have mended, you'll be cleared for active duty. Usually, with regular applications of healing chakra, I would say two to three weeks. However, for you, it might be a week."

Naruto sighed and watched quietly as Suzume bound her hand into a lightweight cast.

"Here," Suzume said, offering a small bottle of capsules. "These are for pain. Don't take more than one every four hours, but otherwise, take them as you need them. Come back every morning for a healing session, and I'll take another x-ray in a few days."

"Thank you, sensei," Naruto said, stuffing the bottle into her hip pouch. She looked morosely at the cast.

"Naruto, I know that you're disappointed, but you must take care of your health," Suzume said.

"I know, and I will," Naruto said with a smile. "I'm going to see Kakashi-sensei right now."

"Eat a good breakfast and get some good sleep too. It'll help speed the healing process."

"I will, thank you," Naruto said, bidding her farewell and heading back to the front desk.

After checking out, she went straight to Kakashi's apartment. He must have been watching for her, because the door swung open before she could knock.

"It's like you thought, sensei," Naruto said, waving her cast at him. "Suzume-sensei thinks that it'll be at least a week before she'll clear me for active duty again. I'm supposed to go back every day for healing sessions, and then she'll do an x-ray in a few days."

"That's about what I expected," Kakashi said, setting a cup of tea out for her. "I've already been to the hokage and arranged for another team to take over our missions. I was waiting for you to come by before going to inform Sakura and have a talk with Sasuke."

Naruto sighed into her tea. "Sakura is going to be furious."

"Yes, we can take this extra time to resolve some issues between them," Kakashi said, rubbing the side of his jaw. "I'm concerned with how hostile they are to each other."

"Me too. I think they must argue all the time when we're not around."

"I don't know about that," Kakashi said. "I have the feeling that some things were said on both sides that each found to be unforgivable. But don't worry about it too much. They may never be true friends, but they need to be able to set aside their differences and work together for as long as you three are a team."

"But I want them to be friends," Naruto said. "They're both my friends, and it's hard to hear them be so nasty to each other."

"Well, then," Kakashi said, smiling at her. "I'll get them to resolve their problems, and you can work on getting them to be friends. What do you say?"

"Do you really think I can?" Naruto asked, skeptical.

"I have utter faith in you."

Naruto blushed at the warm certainty in his voice. "I think I'll go home and get some rest. I didn't sleep much last night, and Suzume-sensei said that it was important to get enough good food and sleep so I can heal faster. And I've got some pain medication, too."

"That sounds like a good plan. I'll handle Sakura and Sasuke today. Do you need me to pick up anything for you at the store?"

"Um, that actually would be good. I didn't go shopping yesterday since we were supposed to be going on a mission," Naruto admitted.

Kakashi glanced at the clock. "I'll drop by after noon, so you can have a few good hours of rest."

"That sounds good, sensei, thank you."

Kakashi walked her part of the way home, until he needed to veer off toward Sakura's house. Naruto's energy was flagging by the time she got home, and the anesthesia Suzume had used on her hand had worn off. She swallowed one of the pain pills and curled into her bed.

She had never taken any kind of pain medication before, so she wasn't sure what to expect, or how long it would take to become effective. Thankfully, the pain in her hand faded within half an hour, and she drifted off to sleep.

Naruto slept deeply for a few hours, and woke feeling much better. Her hand was still painful, but it was manageable, and her stomach growled demandingly. She had completely forgotten to eat breakfast.

She rolled out of bed and shuffled into the kitchen. Her cabinets were surprisingly full, and she remembered that Kakashi was going to come by with groceries. He must have not wanted to wake her.

Even though her cabinets were full of food, Naruto didn't exactly feel like cooking. She sighed and headed into the bathroom to splash some water on her face and run a brush through her hair. She left it flowing loosely around her shoulders. It was hard to style hair with only one hand.

Naruto locked up and headed toward Ichiraku, feeling the need for some comfort food. To her surprise, Sakura was slumped over the counter, playing with a half-full bowl of ramen.

"Sakura, hello," Naruto said, ducking under the dark blue noren.

"Naruto," Sakura exclaimed, leaping off her stool and sweeping Naruto into a hug. "Sensei told me what happened, are you okay?"

She gently inspected the cast on Naruto's hand, and Naruto couldn't help the rush of affection as Sakura fussed over her.

"I'm fine," she insisted. "The doctor said that I'll probably be good as new within the week."

"Oh, I could have strangled Sasuke when sensei told me," Sakura said, tugging Naruto over to the stool next to hers. She lowered her voice. "I went to his house to give him a piece of my mind, but sensei was there. Sasuke looked terrible, so I came here instead."

"I bet he was pretty upset," Naruto said. "I don't think he knew what he was doing."

"Dissociating," Sakura murmured.

"What does that mean?"

"It's where someone disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, or memories," Sakura said. "Sasuke was telling you something that upset him?"

Naruto nodded. "It was like he was there. Sensei said that he was going to make sure Sasuke got some help."

"It sounds like he needs it," Sakura said, sighing. "Honestly, I do feel badly for him. I can't imagine the kind of trauma the massacre inflicted on him. But he needs to learn how to process it in a healthier way, so he doesn't hurt people."

"I want him to be able to be happy again, too," Naruto said.

"If he really starts getting help, I'll give him another chance," Sakura said. "I know it upsets you when we fight, and I'd like us to get along better too. We'll be a better team for it."

Teuchi emerged from the back of the stall and greeted Naruto with a smile. "My favorite customer! You want your usual?
"Can you throw in some extra veggies for me?" Naruto asked. "I'm supposed to be eating a more balanced diet."

"Not a problem. I'm glad you're taking care of yourself," Teuchi said.

"I'm really glad that you're giving Sasuke another chance," Naruto said, turning back to Sakura. "I think he really is good, under the bad memories and prickly attitude."

"That's a lot to get past, you know," Sakura replied. She sipped at the remaining broth in her bowl. "The crazy thing" she said, her voice lowered," is that now that my head is straight, I can see that he's always been this way. I can't believe that I didn't see it before."

"Thanks, oji-san," Naruto said as Teuchi placed a bowl of miso ramen in front of her. "I wouldn't say always," she said to Sakura. "Mostly since the massacre."

"You're right, that wasn't fair of me," Sakura conceded. "To be honest, I don't remember what he was like before. I had only just joined the academy."

Naruto smiled at the memory of how Sasuke used to be. "I wasn't friends with him then. He was the son of the Uchiha clan head, and I was, you know, me. This might sound kind of creepy, but I used to watch him," she admitted. "He was so happy and cheerful, and very kind. I wanted him to notice me, but I was too afraid of how he might react."

"I can hardly imagine a cheerful Sasuke," Sakura said, stunned.

"Oh, he was pretty adorable, I can say that much," Naruto said, grinning. "Always trailing after this other…" she trailed off, realizing with horror who that happy Sasuke must have been following.

She shook herself. "Anyway, he was like a completely different person. But sometimes, I can still see it in him, even if he has it buried pretty deeply."

Sakura eyed her suspiciously, but didn't press the issue. "Do you want to have a girls' day with me?"

Naruto swallowed a mouthful of noodles. "What's a girls' day?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't have had one before," Sakura said. "I'll keep it a surprise then, but I promise you'll have fun!"

Naruto had been planning to just go back to bed, but she felt like she hadn't gotten to hang out with Sakura alone very much. "Sure, I didn't have anything planned today."

Sakura grinned and clapped her hands with glee, making Naruto a little nervous about what she had just committed to.