As Iruka sat beside Naruto, watching the young teen fight to live. He couldn't help but wonder if his words had really pushed Naruto that far. In class and most of the time at home, he was super loud, and laughed a lot. Did that mean the saying that those who laugh the loudest hurt the most was true? It broke Iruka's heart thinking about it, he knew that Naruto had grown up in foster care and had moved so much that it was hard for the boy to form any kind of relationship with anyone, it was a miracle that he had Kiba as a friend. Close his eyes, Iruka tightened his grip on Naruto's hand as he thought back to the moments that he had found out what Naruto had done.
Iruka had been in the middle of explaining the process of solving an equation when the door had burst open and Genma had rushed through the door. Iruka had thought that maybe something had happened to Sasuke Uchiha's brother, since Iruka had known that Itachi and Genma were friends. He didn't think anything could have possibly been wrong with Naruto, even though the boy was supposed to be in this class at the time. Iruka had just figured that Naruto was upset over moving again and gone to talk to the counselor, he was certain that Naruto would come running through the door at 90 miles an hour, boasting about how he planned on beating the Uchiha at math. However, Iruka noticed that Sasuke wasn't in the classroom either, which meant whatever news Genma had, probably didn't have anything to do with the dark haired teen.
"What's wrong Genma?" Iruka asked taking note of the worried look in the health teachers eyes. Ignoring the class, Genma approached Iruka and proceeded to whisper what had happened.
"Naruto hung himself out on the football field, I don't know much but it doesn't look good right now. Sasuke spotted him right after Naruto jumped and called for help." Genma told him lowly so that the other students wouldn't hear. Iruka froze, before dropping the clipboard that he held in his hand, the sound interrupting the silence in the room. Iruka can only stare at Genma in shock, he hadn't expected news like this. Naruto was always so happy, why would he try to kill himself? Did Iruka's harsh words have anything to do with what happened? He knew that Naruto longed for a place to call home, and a family that would love him.
"Watch my class please." Iruka whispered as tears threatened to fall, "I have to go to him."
"I'll take care of your class, and someone else will take over when its time for my next one" Genma assured Iruka, hating the wild eyed panicked look in the other man's eyes. He didn't know what had happened between Naruto and Iruka but it had to be something serious for the man to be this upset.
Which is how Iruka ended up where he was sitting beside Naruto, keeping a death grip on the teen's hand. Iruka hated himself for the part he had played in Naruto making this decision. He just hoped that he would get the chance to make it right.
"Please keep fighting." Iruka pleaded softly, as his tears dropped down on the mattress that Naruto was lying on. "Don't give up on life because I was an idiot."
"I don't think you are entirely at fault here." Sasuke said softly, watching Iruka plead with the unconscious Naruto. "I think he's had good practice at hiding how he really feels."
"Why would he hide his depression?" Iruka asked "if he had come to me I could have gotten help for him."
"He didn't come to you because he didn't trust you, I don't think he really trusts anybody." Sasuke replied "if he's moved as much as you say he has, I can see where it would be hard for him to trust anyone." Iruka heaved a heavy sigh, Sasuke had a point. Naruto couldn't have had an easy time forming any kind of bond with people, as far as Iruka knew, Kiba was the only bond Naruto had really formed at Konoha else tended to get annoyed with the loud blonde. Just thinking about how much Naruto was disliked, hurt Iruka's heart, he wished people could see just how good hearted Naruto was. They didn't realize just how much they hurt him with their rude comments, although apparently the idea was on Sasuke's mind. Iruka turned and looked at the dark haired boy, a sorrowful look on his face.
"I wonder if I had treated him better if he still would have done this?" Sasuke said. Naruto's current situation made Sasuke think about his past actions, he had treated Naruto pretty badly, not liking being around the energetic boy. Not to mention that because of who his parents were he believed that he was better than pretty much everyone, especially Naruto. In reality Naruto was probably better than anyone else, he never treated people the way he was treated. He always gave them the respect that they didn't deserve.
"There is no way of knowing what was going through his mind unless he wakes up." Iruka said softly, wishing that he could have seen this coming. The two remained in silence for the next several minutes, each thinking about what they could have done differently to have prevented this from happening.
"How is he?" a voice asked from the doorway, and Iruka looked up to find Kakashi standing in the doorway.
"Not good" Iruka replied turning back to Naruto. The boy's skin was still pale, his lips still blue, he looked quite sick.
"This wasn't your fault" Kakashi told Iruka as he entered the room. "No one saw this coming."
"Maybe we should have" Iruka replied "how many times has he been forced to move from a family that he had just gotten comfortable with? It's not fair to him to keep making that happen, especially for a woman that abandoned him at birth. She doesn't deserve to get to know what kind of teen Naruto is."
"I agree" Kakashi said, hating that his young charge was in this kind of condition and that no one had even noticed. This situation could have been avoided if someone had taken the time to see the signs that Naruto was giving off. No one could honestly be perfectly okay after being forced to move homes again, and then finding out the mother that had abandoned you at birth finally wanted something to do with you hadn't been easy either. Being forced to have to give up his home and his friends for her sake, clearly hadn't been something that Naruto had wanted to do. Kakashi couldn't blame him, his birth mother didn't have a good history, and Naruto had finally found someone he could trust in Kiba.
"If he recovers" Iruka said "I will not allow him to be moved. Not after this. Whose to say he won't try to kill himself again, who is going to be there to stop him next time?"
"The government might have something to say about that" Kakashi pointed out, "after all the goal is to reunite the kids with their families."
"Why reunite Naruto and his mother, as far as I can tell she gave up all rights to him when she left him out in the street without any food. Who knows what could have happened to him, or where he would have ended up." Iruka said as he reached out the hand that wasn't holding Naruto's and brushed the hair out of his eyes. Iruka couldn't help but wonder if Naruto had ever experienced any kind of affection from the people he stayed with. If he had, he might not have made this decision."
"I think its a bad decision to have her anywhere near him" Kakashi said "But no one is going to listen to me."
"Oh my god" the occupants turn to see a brown haired teen with red tattoos on his face. "What the hell did you do to yourself?" Kiba entered the room, shock written all over his face. He had heard rumors about someone that hung themselves on the football field bleachers, but it wasn't until after school that he had found out that it had been Naruto. So of course, Kiba had Hana drive him straight to the hospital. The sight of his best friend lying on life support was enough to make him sick. Tears formed in the teen's eyes, and he slowly approached the bed, wanting to be nearer to his best friend.
"Why didn't you come talk to me you idiot." Kiba cried "why did you have to do this to yourself? I would have found someway to help you, I wouldn't have let you keep struggling in the dark." finally after several seconds, Kiba struggled to stop the tears. Facing Iruka, he finally asked the question that had been burning in the back of his mind.
"Is he going to make it?" he asked, fearing the answer.
"No one knows right now" Iruka replied gently, knowing how hard it was for Kiba to see Naruto like this. "even if he does live, he might never walk again."
"I'm going to kill him if he pulls through" Kiba said, turning away from Naruto. He couldn't keep seeing his friend like that, it was too painful. The longer Kiba remained in the room, the guiltier he felt for not recognizing that Naruto needed help. No one could be as happy as Naruto pretended to be, it just wasn't possible.
"If you die" Kiba said softly turning back to Naruto, though he was barely able to look at his friend. "You will be killing me. I can't imagine my life without you in it. You make my world so much more colorful and less boring. I only wish that you had trusted me to help you, because I would have made sure you had better options. I would have died to help before you committed to doing this. I will still do anything for you, so you just hang in there and come back to us!" Kiba finished breaking the hearts of those in the room with his soft plea for his best friend to live.
"We are going to do our best to make sure he lives." a kind voice said from the doorway, and everyone turned to see a blonde haired doctor standing in the doorway. "Naruto still has brain activity so that's a good sign that he didn't go without oxygen for too long." she informed them.
"Will he have to stay on the respirator?" Iruka asked, hating that Naruto had to have it in order to breathe.
"If he starts breathing on his own, we can wean him off of it" Tsunade replied as she took note of Naruto's vital statistics.
"If only he could see the kind of support he has" she murmured "maybe then he wouldn't have felt the need to do this, he wouldn't have felt so alone."
"That's not the only reason he done this" Iruka said "he just found out he was going to be moved to Suna to be closer to the mother that abandoned him."
"That's not fair to him" Kiba exclaimed, Naruto had told him about what his mother had done when Kiba had accidentally found out that Naruto was in Foster care. "That bitch doesn't deserve any second chances from Naruto, the government shouldn't force him to be around her."
"Your not the only one who thinks that." Kakashi told Kiba "however no one is going to listen to me. Not when the goal is to eventually send kids home to their families."
"What family?" Kiba muttered "families don't abandon you because they don't want you. Families stick by your side through thick and then, they love you through whatever hell you are going through. Make no mistake Naruto will die if he ends up back with her, you can't convince me that the bitch loves him."
"I agree" Iruka said softly not surprised that Kiba had such a strong opinion about Naruto's mother. "I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that that doesn't happen."
"Sounds to me like he has his family surrounding him now." Tsunade said after she finished adjusting Naruto's oxygen and feeding tubes. "I bet he can feel you with him right now. Don't give up on him yet, he just might surprise you." glancing at her watch, she took note of the time.
"I hate to do it, but visiting hours are over so I am going to have to ask you guys to leave." Iruka frowned but nodded, Naruto was going to need all the rest he could get so that he could recover.
"Don't stop fighting, Naruto" Iruka murmured "I promise I will be back in the morning. Rest easy for tonight, just remember that there are people here who are pulling for you to make it." closing his eyes, Iruka stood and gently kissed Naruto's forehead before turning and heading towards the door.
"Blondie, you better not think about going somewhere more permanent once we are gone. Because if you do, I will find a way to bring you back and kill you myself. I love you Naruto, your the best friend that anyone could ever hope to have so please come back to us." Kiba murmured before turning and leaving. Leaving Sasuke and Kakashi in the room. Sasuke didn't look like he wanted to leave, he was almost afraid that if he left than Naruto would take that as permission to leave this world and Sasuke didn't want that to happen, he would make sure that it didn't happen.
"I guess I will see you tomorrow" Sasuke murmured, watching as the social worker murmured something in Naruto's ear before exiting. "You better not go anywhere loser." Sasuke muttered as he gave Naruto's hand a gentle squeeze, hoping that wherever Naruto was at that moment that he could feel it.
Sasuke made his way out of the hospital and towards his car, once there he slid into the vehicle and lay his forehead against the steering wheel. He was so emotionally exhausted that he wasn't sure he would be able to make it home. Just remembering how Naruto dangled in the air until Sasuke and Gaara had been able to pull him up, made Sasuke feel sick. Somehow he didn't think that he would escape this day nightmare free.
Starting the car, Sasuke winced at the time, he knew Itachi would probably be going out of his mind with worry right about now since, he didn't exactly let his brother know where he was or what had happened. His parents had died two years ago leaving him in the custody of his older brother. For a long time it made Sasuke feel better to act like he was better than everyone else and that he had it all together, the truth was Sasuke felt like he was barely hanging onto his sanity, Itachi helped him as much as he could but Itachi was still in the military and had to leave every so often for something important. No one at his school knew that his parents were dead, they just thought they were off on some kind of business trip, which is what Sasuke wanted them to believe. If they could easily believe that than they could easily look past Sasuke's own brokenness to someone who knew what they were doing.
Sighing, Sasuke pulled out of the hospital parking lot and headed home. He was dreading the confrontation with Itachi, he didn't want to relive this day, but he was going to have too. Once he pulled into his drive, Sasuke sat in the car for several minutes before finally gathering enough courage to enter the house.
"Where the hell have you been?" Itachi's angry voice echoed in the hall as soon as Sasuke had entered the house. Sasuke's mouth opened but no sound came out and he couldn't stop the tears from falling as he gave into his exhaustion and dropped to his knees.
"Sasuke?" Itachi's voice lowered when he saw his brother just kneeling on the floor. "What's wrong."
"You know the blonde boy who is always bragging that he is going to beat me?" Sasuke asked softly raising his eyes to meet Itachi's eyes. Itachi nodded.
"He hung himself on the football field bleachers." Sasuke said his gaze dropping back to the floor. "I was able to pull him back over the railing but not before he broke his neck, he was so pale, his lips so blue." Sasuke as his stomach turned and he leaned over and vomited on the floor, he heaved until his stomach muscles ached. He could still feel Itachi's shocked eyes on his back. Sasuke talked about Naruto all the time, about how happy the loser always was even when Sasuke kicked his butt at track.
"I've been at the hospital with him." Sasuke said closing his eyes, and swallowing more bile down. "The doctors say that if he even lives, he might never walk again."
"I'm sorry Sasuke" Itachi said softly, hurting for his little brother. Naruto might annoy Sasuke, but Sasuke admired the blonde for always being happy even when he wasn't treated well.
"I don't want him to die" Sasuke said as Itachi helped Sasuke to his feet, ignoring the mess in the floor as he helped Sasuke towards his room. Itachi didn't know what to say to help his brother, he had never expected someone like Naruto would ever try to kill himself.
Once Itachi helped Sasuke get cleaned up, Itachi made him lay down in his bed, his anger over his brother's absence from school long since forgotten with the news of Naruto's suicide attempt.
"Don't leave me" Sasuke said softly as Itachi stood to head towards the door.
"I'll never leave you." Itachi murmured sitting back down on Sasuke's bed, silently listening to his brother cry himself to sleep. Itachi couldn't imagine how it had felt to see someone like Naruto try to kill themselves. It hurt Itachi's heart for both boys, neither deserved to have gone through what had happened today. Placing his hand on Sasuke's quivering shoulder, Itachi squeezed it gently, alerting his brother to his continued presence.
Reviews please! Thanks for reading Liz
