Summary: Shikamaru, Chōji, Neji, Kiba, and Naruto all have a near death experience, and they and their familes start to think about everything they never really ever wanted to. "I was this close to being erased. To being forgotten." "My entire existence would have been entirely useless up to that point. But what scares me the most is the fact that I'm not sure if it even matters, or if it ever will."
Ring, ring.
He stayed where he was, eyes closed, arm stretched over the back of the couch, and sock clad feet kicked up on the coffee table, empty plate and used fork sitting next to it.
Ring, ring.
'It only has four more rings left, Shikaku. You can wait it out.'
Ring, ring.
'S'not like you haven't done it before.'
Ring, ring.
'Obviously, it's something important. Maybe I should pick up.'
Ring, ring.
'What if it's Kaa-san? Or Yoshino?' A shudder rippled down his spine at the thought of their wrath if either of them found out they were being ignored.
Ring, ring.
'Well, too late now,' he thought to himself with a bored one armed shrug. 'Whoever it was is gone now, and even if I wanted to get the phone before it stopped ringing, it's not like I'd ever make it in time –'
Ring, ring.
A black eyebrow twitched, as thin lips drew into a hard line.
Ring, ring.
A moment of silence that was cherished for as long as it could be –
Ring, ring.
"Mendokusai . . ." Shikaku grumbled as he heaved himself off the couch, and immediately falling into a slouch, shuffled tiredly towards the ringing phone.
Ring, ring.
Shikaku stared at it, at the small black contraption sitting innocently on the small table, shrill as a banshee and irritating as could be.
Ring, ring.
With a long suffering sigh, Shikaku prepared himself for the inevitable.
Ring, ri-
" . . . Moshi moshi?"
"Yabun osokuni sumimasen. Is Nara Shikaku-san there?"
"Hai. And who's calling?"
"Gomen nasai, my name is Yamada Izuru. I was told that I could contact Nara Shikaku here..."
". . ."
"A-anou, I have some, well, bad news. Your son, Nara Shikamaru-san, has been checked into Konoha General Hospital."
". . ."
"He was in a car accident along with four other individuals, and is just now coming to. He told us his name and your number, and well, yeah. . . A-anou, Nara-san? Moshi moshi?"
"Room number."
"Ah, 207."
Shikaku dropped the phone into the cradle and stared at it for a moment, before he turned, grabbed his keys and his mobile, shrugged on his jacket, slipped his boots back on, and walked out. The night air had a sharp bite that stung the tips of his ears and nose as he locked the door, and chased him as he strode off the porch. He sat down in the car, and stared at his clenched knuckles on the steering wheel, but his growing panic was interrupted as his phone rang. He blinked blearily for a moment, before taking a deep breath, and calmly answering the phone.
" . . . Moshi moshi?"
"Shikaku!" Inoichi voice bellowed from the other side of the line. Shikaku could distinctly hear car horns blaring, and knew that his good friend was most likely careening through traffic as they spoke. "Have you heard the news? Shikamaru -"
"I've heard," he said solemnly as he pulled out of his driveway, and maneuvered his way toward the main road. "And stop driving so fast, baka. That was probably what caused the accident in the first place." Shikaku said, voice laced heavily with disappointment.
"Of course, of course." As the honking died down from Inoichi's side, a shrill voice replaced it.
"Tou-san! Why are we slowing down?!" Shikaku couldn't make out Inoichi's mutterings as he tried to console his daughter, but Shikaku didn't really care, either.
"Have you contacted Chōza, yet?"
"He called me! Chōji was part of the accident, too!"
Shikaku's frown only deepened. "Who else was there? The man that called me mentioned four others."
"Yes, yes, they were Inuzuka Kiba, Hyūga Neji, and Uzumaki Naruto. Chōza told me their parents are all on their way down as well. Tsume was there when they were rushed in, and she called Hana, who called Hinata. Tsunade would have told us all herself, but she was the main doctor on the case. Sakura was in the middle of training when they came in, and she called Minato, apparently, who then called Chōza – Ino wait for us!" Shikaku could here Inoichi's car screech to a halt as a door was slammed shut. "Kuso – We've arrived. Shikaku –"
"Wakatta. Ja ne." He hung up and shoved the phone into his pocket as he took a turn, then another, trying to figure out how the accident happened, and why. 'Were they speeding? Was it a drunk driver?' His hands clenched even harder. 'Were they drunk?' As situation after situation plagued him, he finally came into view of the hospital, and only grew tenser as he finally pulled into the lot. After spotting Chōza's huge truck, he parked near it, and after a moment of quiet, he hopped out and hurried inside.
It was pandemonium. Complete and utter pandemonium, but from the snippets of conversation, he could tell it was all controlled chaos. His tensed shoulders relaxed a bit, and then a lot more as he spotted his old colleague, who spotted him a split second after.
"Shikaku! I'm glad to see you here, though it doesn't do much," Minato said grimly as he strode over. "Shikamaru and Kiba are both fine," he said in a low voice. "They have some minor cuts and bruises, and Akamaru had to have his left front leg set, but they're all fine. It's the other three who don't look good." Minato's face looked drawn and tense, normally bright blue eyes almost navy in color, without a glimmer of his old easy humor to be seen. "Chōji went into cardiac arrest and his sugar levels dropped exponentially, but Tsunade is in charge of him. And, Neji had large pieces of glass and plastic debris lodged into him, but Shizune is working over him as we speak. And, Naruto . . ." Minato's voice faltered as his eyes grew impossibly empty. "He won't wake up. He –" Minato was interrupted and left in shock as a huge bear paw of a hand landed on top of his long golden crown of hair.
"Naruto is going to be just fine." Both fathers looked up to see Jiraiya staring at them with hard determination in his strong black eyes. With his shoulders set, and his back straight, he gave a firm nod. "My god son will be just fine. When we heard the news, Tsunade contacted Orochimaru just before she started on Chōji. With Orochimaru looking after him, Naruto will be fine, just as the rest of them will." Jiraiya then formed a huge a grin, as he put a hand on his hip, and ruffled Minato's hair. "You're the one that raised him, aren't you? You think something like this is gonna take him out?"
Jiraiya then snorted and slammed his hand down on Minato's head, who made a face, and stepped away from his teacher. Kushina stepped up to him then, and put a hand on his arm, and then on Shukaku's. Just as she was about to start speaking, the door burst open, and in flew Nara Yoshino, and Akimichi Kiyono. Yoshino spotted her husband, and darted towards him, tears dripping down her cheeks and murder in her eyes. Shikaku automatically opened his arms for her as she tumbled into his chest. "How are they? Have you heard anything yet? When I get my hands on whoever did this-!" It seemed that the madder she got, the faster her tears flowed.
"Oh, Yoshino." Ino's mother stepped over, along with Chōji's, as they tried to all console each other, Kushina joining in. Chōza stepped over to Shikaku and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, Inoichi staring solemnly at them. "They will be fine, Shikaku. We have to have faith in our healers, and in our sons."
The doors flew open again, this time blowing in Hyūga Hiashi, Hinata, and Hinabi, the latter of the three looking dazed and confused, as the former looked ready to kill as he strode over. He relinquished Hinabi's hand as the young girl was engulfed by the worried mothers.
"He's being treated as we speak," Minato hurriedly began. "Shizune is heading the procedure. There was debri lodged in him when he was found. They're doing their best for them – Neji, Kiba, and Naruto – but it doesn't look good. The best we can do now is to wait," he said as he squeezed Hiashi's arm.
Hiashi pinched the bridge of his nose as he took in a sharp breath. "Well, that still doesn't explain what and who caused this, and why our underage children were out at 2'Oclock in the morning on the highway," he said through gritted teeth.
"They were chasing after Sasuke." Everyone turned as Tsume, clad in a ratty shirt and sweat pants walked out of the main doors and toward them. Now that Shikaku thought about it, they were all dressed in some degree of pajamas, with Hiashi in a casual shirt and sweats, and Minato not even having on a shirt.
"They were doing what?" Ino's mother said in disbelief.
"He was kidnapped by someone. Well, some people. They plan on holding him for ransom. And, considering the fact that he's the son of one of the most powerful men in all of Fire Country, they know what they're getting themselves into." She said as she crossed her arms.
"But why wouldn't they call any of us?" Minato said in disbelief, looking around at everyone as if trying to find support. "Why would they just go after them themselves?"
Tsume's hand clenched her bicep as her face went grim. "I asked the same thing, and Kiba said they'd kill Sasuke if they found out that the boys told before they themselves announced they had the Uchiha in captivity."
Yoshino exploded. "Who they?! Who would do such a heinous thing, and to a child nonetheless?" There were still tears in her eyes, but they could have only been from her unrepentant rage, because there was not a trace of grief in her eyes, only pain and the burning need for vengeance.
"The Sound Four." There were gut wrenching gasps as the room fell silent. Kushina's eyes went impossibly wide.
"How did they survive? The Sound Four are notorious for never sparing those that get in their way, intentional or otherwise."
"Well, we saw the kid get taken, and we followed them." Many jumped as three new comers joined the group. The tallest of the three had purple face paint and a black beanie with what resembled cat ears. The only girl of them had dirty blonde hair pulled into four pony tails, and the last was short with charcoal rimmed jade eyes, and a head of red hair.
'An Uzumaki?' Shikaku thought to himself, but he quickly squelched the thought as soon as it came. 'The tone of his red hair isn't bloody enough.'
"And exactly who are you three?" Hiashi said impatiently.
"We are the Subakus. I'm Kankuro, this is my older sister Temari, and my little brother Gaara. Konbanwa, Minato-san, Kushina-san." He added with a half wave. I flicked my eyes at the blonde, who waved back at the boy sheepishly.
"More like Ohayo, now." He looked at all of us, rubbing the back of his head with that sheepish smile of his. "These are the late Kazekage's children, and Gaara there is a good friend of my son's." He then turned back to the three, completely devoid of humor. "But, what are you talking about? Did you see what happened?"
"Like Kankuro said, we saw them snatch him. We were all at a party in West Konoha when it happened. Gaara found us, and brought us over, and we watched as the Four were talking with Sasuke in the woods. Suddenly they grabbed him and knocked him out, and then threw him in this big basket thing." She said as she gestured with her hands. "The big one tied it around himself, and they all booked it. We followed, but then the big one – your son," she said as she pointed to Choza, "Came outta no where and tackled him to the ground. He held him down until the others could come, but the guy was too strong. He threw him off, said something to the five of them, and then they jetted. They all stood there, and then Pineapple Head started saying something, and they all high tailed it to a car, and they took off after them. We decided to tail them in case they needed us."
"Good thing, too," Kankuro said as he shook his head. "Because, the car with those four losers suddenly hit the breaks and slammed into Naruto's. You should've seen it, because I don't even know how to describe it." His eyes were far away, back in time, recalling everything. "We stopped near a copse of trees, than snuck over. Those four guys came out, okay as could be, the others were far from. I could already see blood all over the windows of Naruto's car." Someone in the room let out a sharp gasp, but Shikaku didn't know who.
"Then what?" urged Kushina. "What happened next?"
Temari's eyes were hard. "They walked over, laughing, as they drug them all out of the car. The biggest one, the ginger –"
"Jirōbō," Minato said in a cold voice.
"Jirōbō, then, grabbed your son –" she nodded at Chōza, "And just through him. I mean, he picked him up like he was a ball or something, and just tossed him. The guy with the second head –"
"Sakon and Ukon. Yeah, I know what those temes did my son, and they better hope I don't find them." Tsume snarled.
"Yeah, and next was the girl – Tayuya. The flute player. She went after the Pineapple Head, and tried to rough him up a bit, but he was awake when she tried, and they started fighting." Temari then turned her eyes to Shikaku and cocked an eyebrow. "Your kid's pretty smart, I'll give him that, but his posture was off, and he left himself open a bit much as exhaustion set in. Tell him I said there's no point to being smart if you're dead, ne?"
"And Neji?" Hiashi demanded, looking ready to blow a gasket. Temari shook her head solemnly. "The last guy, the one that looked like a spider –"
"Kidōmaru," Minato spit.
Temari wrinkled her nose. "As if I care to know the name of the trash that I throw away. Anyways, he picked up a part of the door, and wripped a chunk off, twisted it into like, this sort of arrow shape, and hurled it at him." Hiashi was frozen. "He just kept picking random objects, tearin' them up and reforming them, and then throwing them. I mean, Neji was moving around and stuff, but he was still delirious from the crash, I'm guessin'."
"Which was what he wanted them to think," Kankuro said with a grin. The last one that that freak threw, Neji, did something with it in mid air so that it spun around and flew right back at him. It went straight through the guy's chest, and he tumbled into the tree line. Pretty cool, actually," said Kankuro as he idly scratched the back of his head. "But, then he just dropped like a sack of potatoes, and before we could go help him, we had to help the others, first."
"I went for the red head and finished her easy. Kankuro took care of two headed monster, and Gaara handled the surprise visitor that showed up to get Naruto." Both Minato and Kushina stiffened as Temari kept talking. "He just like appeared out of nowhere. There was something . . . wrong with him, you know? He was . . . deformed, I guess you'd call it. But, well . . ." She frowned deeply as her brother took over.
"It was like this; when he appeared, he looked completely normal. Completely human. But when he and Naruto started fighting, his body was moving as if he could move every individual bone in his body. It was crazy, and weird. Really weird, I didn't like it. But, anyways, Gaara handled him and it was all taken care of."
"Not quite." A nurse with chest nut brown hair cropped short and yellow eyes came up to them, brandishing charts and a cup of coffee. "We still need to find these criminals and the boy they stole. The Uchihas have already been notified, and they wish to handle things themselves, unsurprisingly." She then flicked her eyes to the charts, expertly juggling them all in one hand, and calmly drinking her energy from the other.
"So, Tsume, you're here for Inuzuka Kiba-san, right?" Tsume stepped forward with a firm nod. "Kiba is in good shape, with nothing too serious. Just a cut on his forehead, and we had to set his arm in brace that should be off in a few weeks." The doctor flicked her eyes up from the chart. "And, Hana texted me a couple of minutes ago and let me know that the dog will be fine, too." Tsume nodded, and looked calmer and more collected, but still lethal and ready to strike.
"Next, would be . . ." She paused to put Kiba's chart on the bottom of the pile and take another swig of coffee. "Next would be Akimichi Chōji. He is taking some time to work with, because his body is burning through his stores of calories and sugars too quickly. We're having trouble giving him the correct amount of sustenance and nutrients, because his body just uses it up immediately. To say it frankly, we can't get any meat on his bones. His weight continues to drop, and his blood sugar levels refuse to rise. But, I am not worried because Tsunade herself is handling his case, so I'm sure he'll be okay sometime tomorrow – or, rather, sometime today. . ."
"Well, next is . . . next is Nara Shikamaru. He's completely fine." Yoshino let out a whooshing breath of air as she sagged against Shikaku's large frame. Shikaku wrapped his arms tight around her as his own tense muscles began to relax and his anxiousness began to calm. "I mean, he has some cuts and bruises, and he had a broken finger, and he's completely exhausted, but he's fine nonetheless. Actually . . ." She trailed off as she lifted a couple of papers on Shika's chart and squinted at them. "You can go see him now, if you'd like. The same for you, Inuzuka-san."
"I'd actually like to stay and hear about the rest of them, first." Yoshino and Tsume both nodded their agreement, and the doctor went on.
"Hyūga Neji," She read calmly. Hinata and Hinabi both stepped up next to their father, prepared for the worst. "Yes, his injuries were some of the most gruesome a lot of this staff has seen, and that's including myself, which is saying something," she said idly as she scanned over the various papers making up his chart. "Yes, here we are. You see, in Neji's case, with these debris, bits of it broke off into his body and blood stream, he's wreaking of infection, his temperature is rocketing, and his heart almost failed twice. His left lung was impaled, along with one of his kidneys, the side of his appendix, and a small piece of his large intestine that was nicked. The good thing is, one piece that was probably meant for his heart, was exactly one centimeter away from impaling it." All of the already fair skinned Hyūgas turned a sickly white color. "But, Shizune and her best team members are working on him, and as I said before, though I have the utmost faith in her abilities, you still have a long wait ahead of you."
"And, finally we have . . . Uzumaki Naruto." She lifted her eyes to rest on Minato and Kushina who had both stepped up, clutching each other. "I suppose you're here for him. Well, Naruto's case is a little tricky. You see, he has fallen into a coma. From what we could glean, he was suffering from extreme exhaustion, stress, and lack of proper nutrition, ie, not enough vegetables or daily vitamins, etc. I mean, I doubt it to be the main reason, but it had to count once his body's energy became so depleted, which also led to immune system failure which brings us to his 105 temperature. But, as I continue to say, I have the utmost faith in my superiors – my own Sempai is working on Uzumaki-san, so I'm quite sure he'll be fine. But, I would suggest getting acquainted with the Akimichis and Hyūgas, if you haven't already, because you're all in for a long night together." She then turned to Tsume and Shikaku as she sucked down her last dregs of coffee.
"Inuzuka-san, Nara-san and Nara-san, although they appear fine, we want to keep them overnight for observation to ensure that nothing springs up. You are of course welcome to stay, if you'd like. See the nurses about cots or if you can sleep in the room with your child, though it's one visitor per patient. There's free coffee down the hall, vending machines right next to it, but if you go back home for overnight bags, you are welcome to bring your own food." Looking over her glasses, she fixed them with a hard stare. "But this only because you are all special cases. Please don't turn it into some big ordeal. Right, then, if there aren't any questions, I'll be heading back to Orochimaru-sempai and Uzumaki-san." She paused to meet the eyes of the group, and when no one spoke up, gave a firm nod. "Oyasumi nasai." She fell into a bow that we all mimicked, and then she turned and strode off through the doors.
There was silence as everyone got absorbed into their own thoughts and emotions.
"So," Chōza said calmly, "Who's getting the food? Because, I want something to eat while we devise our plan of action."
Ino's mother cocked an eyebrow. "And just exactly what plan are we talking about here?"
Chōza cocked his eyebrow right back as he reclined in his chair and laced his fingers together over his massive stomach. "Our plan of attack. We cannot just allow those criminals to get away with what they did. Whether you join me or not, I'm going to find them, and I am going to end them myself."