Echoing Footsteps

CagedRaven

I do not own Naruto or its characters, I have only used them in the story.

A/n: excuse the small use of Japanese words like Sensei, I had to use it or else it just sounded odd for me. Also, I just want to let everyone know that I don't condone Naruto's actions within my story. It was written just to be a story.

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Chapter 1

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"There's something sad about the rain," the pink haired girl muttered as she and her three man team waited for their instructor. Both the girl with pink locks and the boy with black stood under the available tree branches, staying dry save for their open feet. The third group member lied in an open space between two trees, letting the rain drops fall upon his tanned skin as it may and made no attempt to move.

"It just washes everything away."

The only female hoped her crush heard her statement, if she predicted correctly he would look up at the gray sky and nod in agreement- maybe even start a conversation. But the raven hair boy did no such thing, much to her disappointment. His dark eyes stayed ahead of him, watching the blonde lie in what she thought was turning into mud.

"That's kinda gross, how long do you think he's going to stay there - should I wake him up?" She waited, her green eyes glazing between her two team mates.

Her crush didn't answer, nor return her look. It was a sign he didn't want to be friendly today. She took it to heart but didn't want to ruin their friendship so she learned to cope with his mood swings.

In the wet, open field the blonde continued to be rained upon, the water drops were starting to go through his layers and his thick hair looked as if it was becoming dyed with the mud. He didn't open his large blue eyes but let his ears take in the sounds around him. He agreed with his teammate, the rain did wash away everything.

'Hopefully it'll work on me too.'

A popping sound signaled their teacher had arrived - only three hours late.

"Yo," he saluted the dry ones with two fingers. "Sorry I'm late, there was this cat hanging from my gutter this morning and-"

"Stop lying!" the pink hair girl screamed, crossing her arms over her flat chest as she huffed.

The teacher gave a weak laugh and smiled under his mask. "Okay, lets see I have some important news for you Sasuke, Sakura, and" his index finger pointed to the empty pace a blonde would normally stand.

"He's over there, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura mumbled, pointing over his shoulder. The older man looked over to where the girl showed, his only visible eye grew smaller then it naturally was. Signing softly he walked over, signaling the other two to stay put. In five large steps he was already towering over the blonde, hands in his pockets as he waited for acknowledgement.

Sensing he wouldn't leave, the youth tilted his head and opened his blue orbs toward the teacher.

"Naruto," his tone was light with underline curiosity and worry. But of course it would be; he had been the one to find him first the last time the blonde had went too deep.

"Kakashi-sensei." He returned, sighing softly as he sat up ignoring the wet earth that clung to his backside, his wet, dirty locks covering his bows. After a moment the blonde stood, never lifting his eyes from the moist earth.

"I'm gonna go home, take a bath. I'll be back to train." He started to walk away from the silver haired man, hearing the way his feet made sloppy noises with each step.

"Naruto," said boy paused in his next step, he knew what was coming. "I'll give you ten minutes."

Naruto didn't retaliate like he had done in the past, 'It takes ten minutes to get to my house let alone do what I have to!' He knew what Kakashi-sensei would just answer with. 'Then you'd better run.'

The youth continued to walk and the silence between the three remaining members of team seven followed through as they watched until his mud coated blonde locks couldn't be seen anymore.

"What was that all about?" Sakura wondered aloud. Sasuke too wondered but remained silent.

Kakashi walked back to the black and pink haired children and continued his forgotten conversation as if there had never been an interruption. In the back of his mind he counted down the clock he'd mentally set.

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Naruto opened his front door, breathing heavily after his fast paced sprint to get back home with enough time. He tried to fight his lungs, order them to calm down and stop being so greedy but they continued to suck in large gulps of air and through it back out. The continuous labored breathing was making his throat raw.

He peeked at the clock on his stove, it took him less time then before, he still had seven minutes. Without a second thought he stripped on his way into the shower, letting the hard water hit his skin just as the rain had been doing. The dirt came off pretty easily but his hair seemed to have become tangled and matted. He combed through it quickly, ignoring the pain as it pulled out the mud along with strands of his golden hair.

He turned off the water, through on a towel and headed for his room to get dressed. After slipping on a pair of green boxers Naruto pulled on the first set of clothes he saw, an orange jacket with the matching pants and a black shirt to go underneath. His blue eyes looked at the time again, making sure he gave himself at least a minute and a half to run into Kakashi at the market like he usually did. The blonde was about to open the front door when a glass splitting noise entered his ears. He turned toward it and went to investigate.

It was nothing, a mug he had stupidly left on the on the windowsill after the side table top became full. It had been pushed off to its death by the wet wind coming in through the slightly open window.

Time seemed to move slowly as he moved across the room to the shattered glass. It was calling out to him. The razor shape edges that could give him that high wanted to meet his flesh. Who was he to say no?

Naruto held one of the largest pieces in between his fingers, watching it as he weighted his options. He lowered it to his awaiting wrist and begged for all his blood to run.

"Naruto, put it down."

Naruto looked over to the doorway, watching the man that was watching him. The boy let a smile over take his face as his tossed the piece of ceramic glass into the garage bin conveniently behind him.

"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei; I was only throwing away a broken mug." He pouted, "It was my favorite one too."

The jonin's eyes shadowed Naruto's every movement. He did pick up each piece and toss it away but the smile still hung on his lips. A smile Kakashi had once thought was very real until that day.

"I guess you want me to bring this outside too, huh?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Thought so."

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It had become a rule to hardly leave Naruto alone for no more then fifteen minutes - for if he had to go to restroom or something along those lines. Check his wrist every day- just in case- and make sure he ate. During the day, and because of his trainings with him, Kakashi was in charge. During the night Iruka, one of the blonde's old teachers, would keep an eye on him. This whole situation was kept on a need to know bases. No one Naruto's aged needed to know that the blonde was suicidal or some of the other teachers. In fact the only ones that did know were Kakashi, Iruka, and the leader of the village, the old man Hokage.

By Naruto's standers it was three too many. They were making it very hard, practically impossible for him to deal with his stress. They didn't have to live with the dark whispered voices whenever they walked past the villagers, they didn't have to live with a demon sealed inside them unwillingly, they didn't have to live with fact that no matter how hard they tried they were never noticed. He did, but he didn't want to.

His cutting at first started out as a mistake. One of his weapons had gotten to close to him and from then on he had become attracted to the vibrant color against his skin. He had made more cuts as time went, very shallow ones that uplifted him on his worst days. But then one day he wondered if just a drop had made him happy what if he saw more? With that in mind he started to dig deeper into his skin. Letting more of the red liquid run free from its cage. Seeing the dancing blood did more than make him happy, it relaxed him. Forcing him into a state of lightheadedness and exhaustion. He remembered his heart beating loudly in his chest, knocking against his ribcage almost painfully. He closed his eyes and was greeted by darkness.

He woke up later in the day; his cut had stopped bleeding and was starting the beginning stages of forming a scab. Though his body felt heavy and his movements as he walked from the living room into his bedroom were sluggish, his brain was on cloud nine. He had found his escape.

Naruto had done the same thing a few more times in the same month, enjoying every minute of it as he felt his body grow heavy and his lids feel like a ton of bricks were weighing them down. The blood would always stop flowing, like a sink that had been turned off and a scab would always form. He was sure that all was okay and that the fox demon inside him had something to do with it.

He remembered that day wasn't that bad but like a drug addict Naruto needed his fix. He took a pair of scissors he used to snip his hair if he thought it was getting too long from the medicine cabinet and sat in the tub after reopening the same wound again. He could feel it almost instantly. The wave of peace rushing over his body. This was his total bliss.

The darkness covered his eyes again, like it normally would after the first few minutes. Naruto didn't fight it off; he welcomed it just like always. As the beating of his heart grew faster and faster the darkness seemed to become thicker and more solid. Suddenly the situation was turning into one he had never thought it would. Was he going to die?

For a moment, Naruto felt an infinite distance between him and the world. He felt like everything in front of him was already behind him, or in the past. He really was dieing wasn't he?

Somehow through the numbness Naruto had felt his lips tugging up into a weak smile.

'A prefect ending to my horrible story of a demon container.' He thought, letting himself be consumed in the shadows for what he thought was the last time.

It wasn't meant to be though, Kakashi had let himself in, as he normally did, returning Naruto's weapon case that he had left on the training field earlier that day. The teacher would had left it on his students kitchen table and exited just as quickly as he'd entered if it wasn't for the scent of spilt blood all over Naruto's apartment. It was old, he had been sure of it, but some of it was fairly new. Like the one powerful scent coming from behind the closed door. Kakashi moved silently and was fluid on his toes, crossing the room quickly. Not too sure of what to expect the silver haired jonin pulled out a small metal blade and eased the door open.

He was shocked beyond belief at what he saw. Naruto was submerged under the red tinted water of his tub, a pair of blood laced scissors screaming to Kakashi from the tiled floor what his brain didn't seem to understand.

He was at the boy's side in seconds, pulling the blonde's naked body out of the water and pumping his chest to start his heart going again.

Kakashi had managed to bring him back to life, but the small smile his lifeless face had shown disappeared as soon as he realized where he was. It was the first sign to Kakashi of Naruto's unstableness.

From that day forward the blonde always had someone watching him.

The blonde had learned something though; the demon's chakra had a hard time healing the cuts he made when they stayed in water. It was interesting, but most of all useful, information. That one moment when he knew he was going to die, that darkness that over took his mind, it gave him such a good feeling. The only way he could explain it again was like a drug addict again. He had gotten the real drug in him now, the watered down imitation wasn't going to work anymore. The blonde had a feeling he would go through that as well.

Naruto looked down at his bare feet, stepping out the shower. He knew Iruka was in the next room, grading papers looking through text books, but most importantly timing him. His old teacher only gave him five minutes, claiming it to be long enough to clean himself off before bed. The blonde felt like five year old being passed between the two parents who were just divorced.

Towel drying his golden locks and wiping his face off along with the rest of his body Naruto began getting dressed, slipping on his blue pajamas pants and large white shirt.

He sighed, pulling on slippers next to shield his feet from the cold floor. He went into the medicine cabinet, not surprised that his scissors were gone, and took two tablets dry in hopes that his new headache would vanish. As he was putting the plastic bottle back something small and metallic caught his eye.

'What's this?' he thought, picking it up.

It was a small nail filer with a rounded tip to help clean under the nails. The older males must have believed it was safe and he couldn't cause himself any harm with it. Either that or they missed it; the nail filer was pretty small. Naruto had to go with latter.

He eyed it in between his fingers; loving the cool kiss the metal gave his skin. This would help him get his fix. The blonde wondered how much time he had, if it was enough time for him to meet the long awaited darkness. He thought for a while, listening past door to what the brown haired man was doing. Naruto could hear papers turning and maybe even whistling passing through Iruka's lips, he was consumed in whatever task he was doing.

With that in mind and without hesitation the blonde pressed the pointed tip of the nail filer into the flesh around his wrist. He needed to be heavy-handed to draw blood and proceed to move the small metal piece back and forth until it was deep enough for his liking. After completing the first wrist he moved to the second, already feeling his heart banging in his chest as the white tiled floor was beginning to be painted red. Naruto let the bended nail filer fall to the floor along with his dripping red body fluid.

The cuts were made; the crimson coating his tanned arms was something not even the greatest artist could duplicate. Naruto could feel the darkness over taking him but it wasn't like the last time. This blanket of shadows was weak and transparent compared to his last taste of true darkness. The blonde had been right, after Kakashi had saved him on that day Naruto would become a slave for the feeling of coal colored loneliness.

"Water," he whispered, fighting back his heavy breathing. The blonde turned on the sink and waited until it filled to place his hands in it. The water was warm and made the deep cuts sting as they bled out more. He could feel it taking affect immediately, here was the difference he wanted, needed. His eyes drifted closed and his body became too heavy for his legs to support. Naruto found his way to the side of the tub, sitting on it as he leaned his forehead against the cool ceramic sink his hands were still awkwardly in.

He could barely here knocking on the door and Iruka calling his name before he let himself go, enjoying the feeling over taking his body.

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Iruka knocked on the door again, "Naruto?"

The blonde's time was up and he'd usually be out a few seconds before it. The man saw it as a change in the pattern Naruto made. What worried him more were the actions Kakashi had said he'd seen, the scattered mug and one of its pieces in his hand, hovering over his wrist. Naruto must have been trying to kill himself again that afternoon, and now he wasn't answering back.

'What if...?' Iruka paled, his eyes glued to the door and ears open, awaiting any sound to enter them - a sound that would tell him he was wrong.

He tested the knob for the third time still finding it locked and thought in the future to get rid of it. Iruka called out to his old student once more, praying he'd answer him. The brunette had had enough. He pounded down on the door handle once, breaking it into pieces and kicked open the door.

Naruto was so pale. All over the floor were large groups of blood and even the water that had started to spill over from the sink the blonde had his hands in. Near his feet laid the small nail filer Iruka believed to be Naruto's chose of weapon - maybe even his only.

All sorts of emotions flooded the man's brain as he rushed toward Naruto. Worry, anger, sadness, but his strongest emotion was fear. What if he was too late to save his favorite student? What if Naruto really did succeed in killing himself, what would life be like without him?

"Hang on, Naruto! Don't die!" Iruka yelled to deaf ears as he laid the boy down on the crimson coated floor. He grabbed towels and rags to help stop the bleeding; tying some of the fabric he'd ripped tightly around the boy's arms like a tourniquet. He must have been doing something right; the bleeding did seem like it was slowing down but Naruto's pulse was still beating too quickly. He had lost a lot of blood.

Pressing down with almost all his weight onto the bloody towels Iruka eyed the doorway, down the hall and in the kitchen was the telephone that he could use to call Kakashi and the third Hokage. His brown eyes looked back down at the unnaturally pale boy; or he could just throw Naruto over his shoulder and take him to the hospital - contact the other two when the boy was there.

With the situation of Naruto's continued bleeding and heart racing Iruka agreed to follow through with his second plan of action. He took the blonde in his arms carefully, fearful that one wrong move might break him into pieces, and left through the front door running as fast as he could to the Konoha hospital.

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'What is this?' he wondered, squinting into the powerful light. It was too bright; he wanted darkness to stay for a little longer. He tried to roll over and bury his head under the sheets but found he couldn't move. He guessed it wouldn't have mattered, the darkness wouldn't had been the same.

"Naruto?" now he had to open his eyes and face whoever was waiting for him to do so. From the sounds of it, it was Iruka.

The blonde fluttered his eye lashes a couple of times, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the bright space he believed could only be a hospital, the white walls screamed it and the scent in the air. He looked at Iruka, unaware that his skin's new hue made his eyes have more of a contrast. He offered a fake, weak smile to the older man.

"My time was up, huh? For the shower I mean."

"...Yeah."

Naruto saw Kakashi come around the curtain; maybe before he had woken up he was speaking to the other person in the room? It kind of made the blonde curious, who was on the other side of the hanging fabric?

"This is not a joke, Naruto." He said sternly, then let his voice drop in volume so the blonde's roommate wouldn't overhear. "Why did you do this again?"

Naruto wanted to pull his hands through his hair - a nervous habit of sorts - and tell them to forget it, they wouldn't understand. He couldn't though; they obviously didn't trust him, having tied him down to the bed with some weird medical stuff that ate his chakra.

"I can't explain it," Naruto muttered. "You just wouldn't get it."

"That's too bad," Kakashi said as he turned to leave, Iruka right behind him. "You better think of a way to make me 'get it' by tomorrow, then. That goes for you too," Kakashi threw back the pale colored curtain. "Sasuke."

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TBC...
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There it is; my first (well written) Naruto fanfic. By well written I mean an actual plot was thought out, unlike my other one… maybe I should just delete that one off the site…

Anyhow, I know all my Blood's Broth readers are most likely pissed off that I started yet another story when that one is completed - along with the other version to Elegant Nightmares. All I can say is, please forgive me! I had to write this one, it sounded so cool in my head and it was going to be the death of me if I didn't get it down on paper. Besides I wrote it for my sister who, sadly, doesn't have anything to read at the moment.

Also, I don't have a beta for this story so if you should find anything that isn't right (spelling, etc.) please let me know. Or if you're interested in helping me out with my chapters please let me know. I just reread it for the third time and wow there were a lot of mistakes, so if you're rereading it and notice somethings that weren't there before it's because I fixed it up a little.

Um, yeah…

Review please!