All I Wanted

by xLilim

AU: Hatsue and Naruto always had that awkward thing going on since he humiliated her in front of their junior class over a misunderstanding, but things are different when they run into each other in an unlikely place under strange circumstances. They are drawn to each other and it seems everyone knows the reason it's so natural except for Hatsue. NarutoOC - ON INDEFINITE HIATUS -

2. The Facility

xl note: I want to point out the "Supernatural" tag in this story and say that everything that happened in this chapter is because of it. At least, you're getting some answers as to why everyone acting all weird with her being around and she might not be as crazy as she thinks. Any block of text in italics is the honest truth, you'll see what I mean.

I also want to add that I'm never guessing how long it'll take for a short series to end, so enjoy the ride.

My humblest thanks to: unknow69, kotkas24, Aries01xD, StellarAbyss, littleauror, YamiKitsuneKami, Beira, and Fitz-Catsby for reviewing the previous chapter. This one might not be as great, but I appreciate all of you for giving this a shot! Thank you for the favorites/alerts as well! :)

Enjoy.

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All I Wanted – The Facility

"I bit my tongue in the awkward conversation,
I met you once and I'd fallen for your notions,
Do you believe that there's treasure in the ocean?

I don't know why, I don't know why.

Girl, you make me wanna feel
The things I've never felt before."

- Angus & Julia Stone, "Lonely Hands"

---

( Part I )

---

Kikushita Hatsue doubted there would be anything in the world that could end the despair that plagued her. She had already been dreading the opening ceremony enough without the addition of Uzumaki Naruto or the howl of laughter following his unwarranted accusations. She'd never understood the notion of being so embarrassed you could die until that moment.

Right then and there, she'd wanted lightning to zap her out of her misery. Sadly, fate was as cruel a mistress as she was a bitch and the bitch let her leave the stage crying after she successfully hit Naruto where it hurt. She gave him a sliver of the humiliation that would haunt her for years and even though the action brought forth a strangely sadistic satisfaction, it only lasted an hour before she received the worst of the news.

They had detention together.

Detention she might have avoided if she had not decided to end the possibility of him reproducing.

Detention she would endure with a proud smile on her face because she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of having won anything. Whatever war he started on that stage would end in detention, she attested to it.

"Quit staring at me, I already apologized!" complained Naruto.

God, she hated the sound of his stupid, grating voice. "Shut up. I can do whatever I want."

He took that as a challenge and fixed his determined blue stare with hers. "Fine!"

"Why are you staring at me?" she demanded, insides twisting in discomfort.

"I can do whatever I want too."

Touché.

She refused to lose to him.

The stare off went on in complete silence. They were occasionally treated to the shuffle of clumsy feet moving through the hallway, the voices of club students taking care of their duties, and the activity of the baseball team gathering for a friendly match.

As their first of several detentions neared closing, Naruto did something she didn't expect. He made a face, sticking his tongue out and tugging his mouth wide open with both of his forefingers.

The initial shock merely widened her eyes.

He took her reaction as an invitation. Making one stupid face after the last until she finally gave in to the fit of laughter she'd struggled for many minutes to bite back.

Hatsue lost herself in the hysterics, unable to compose herself long enough to redeem herself. He pulled his eyelids back and rolled his eyes while groaning her name in a dramatic voice.

"Kiiiiiiiiiiiikuuuuuuuuuuuush hhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiitttttttttta!"

Her stomach cramped up, voice growing horse from the non-stop laughter. She cried mercy with tears in her eyes.

Naruto laughed, leaning into his folded arms to rest his chin atop a forearm.

Hatsue wiped the tears from her eyes and finally looked at him. His steady gaze reached hers, the smile on his lips lighting his eyes. A strange feeling washed over her, covered every inch of her insides, and her heart skipped a beat.

Something in her head clicked.

He arched an eyebrow. "Kikushita, were your eyes always so green?"

She couldn't speak.

---

Home used to be expansive. Too big for a family of four. There were too many rooms, too many corridors that mapped into a maze complete with Kikushita history, and so much stifling silence that could drown a person. Her time there was scarce. One day she lived indulging in the pleasantries of overabundance and the next she started experiencing the exact opposite. Selling the property won the Kikushita enough money to live a comfortable life when Hatsue and Tomo were the only daughters. Private school was affordable then, but her parents hadn't accounted for Aya and Saiko—appearances were important. Eventually, Hatsue did by sparing her parents the trouble of paying her tuition. That was the first memory she had of stepping into her actual hometown to live with her grandmother, having lived in its outskirts all her life where they were closer to the next town over yet their property settled in another's.

She had hated it. The gossipy, know-it-all town, and the fact that everyone knew everyone to some personal degree, whether by sheer coincidence or some humiliating story you wanted to run away from, maybe someone was talking ill things and another person overheard and spread it around to your parents. It was a perfectly boring town with an affinity for overly curious residents or bored housewives that deprived themselves of productive hobbies.

However, she didn't seem to hate it anymore.

When Kikushita Hatsue opened her eyes, the vaulted ceiling and the shade of night complimented by the scent of cinnamon reminded her of home. It brought warmth into her body that scared away the thoughts in her head. She had questions. More than she could process. There weren't enough excuses in her mind to justify waking in a strangely familiar room on a foreign bed, but she needed a proper reason to stay calm. The fact that it felt as though she had been there long enough to consider it a home was not enough.

She sat up, the springs in the bed creaked under the shift in her weight. She touched her arms, her legs, pressed a hand to her chest, to her neck. She made sure she could wiggle her toes. She clenched and unclenched her hands. She felt perfectly normal, despite an erratic heartbeat and a killer headache that was like driving a nail into her skull.

Hatsue realized her bed was one of three others once her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The opposite wall was covered in tall windows shielded by heavy drapes. The only door was on the other side of the room, up four steps and the leveled portion of the room where she counted two loveseats, a long couch and an armchair in a semi-circle around a sleek television hung from the wall.

It was then she noticed she wasn't alone in the room. A figure sat on the bed nearest to the steps, back to the headboard. She probably should have greeted the person, but she considered lying down to sleep off her confusion, at least until it morning. She could worry about the details later. Her body was perfectly intact and for some reason that was all that mattered.

"I told you to watch the road."

She startled, recognizing the mocking tone in that male voice. Holy shit was her initial thought, followed by her awareness of how dry her throat was when she finally uttered his name. "Uchiha Sasuke?" The shock lingered in her tone. She thought about being friendly. "Is that you? I haven't seen you since high school."

"Great. You're brain dead." He clicked his tongue, dropped into bed and twisted around so his back faced her.

She could take a sign when presented with one and Uchiha Sasuke wanted to ignore her, which was nothing different than what he had done in years of high school. It affected her the same way it had then—she shrugged it off. Except, a part of her was curious about the room and why they were in it together and she considered asking the question, but he was too busy ignoring her to care.

More importantly, Uchiha Sasuke had fallen off the face of the planet after graduation and nobody, not even their town of nosy nobodies knew where he had gone or if he had gone off to some far off university. The only talk that did happen was that the same thing occurred to his older brother, who everyone now thought dead given the circumstances surrounding Sasuke's living arrangements.

God, I sure miss that graveyard. Waking up there was more a question of how drunk she had been the previous night and not a blank page in her head.

---

Morning arrived in the form of two uniformed nurses pushing open the heavy curtains. The flood of sunlight slapped her across the face, stirring her out of the light sleep she accomplished last night after hours of answering a thousand questions in her mind with hopeful, impossible responses. Staying positive proved difficult in her current situation because although the gargantuan room looked foreign, it felt familiar—the smells, the feel of air, the way the sunlight tumbled into her bed, and even the swaying trees in the distance.

Hatsue rubbed the somnolence from her eyes, blinking wearily and squinting under the harsh rays.

"Breakfast is at 7, on the dot," one of the nurses announced.

She searched the walls for a clock. "Do we have a clock?"

"It's 6:15," the other nurse answered. "Please follow the schedule laid out for you." She stood closest to her bedside, gesturing to the nightstand on her right and the sheet of laminated paper sitting under a mug of something steaming. "We will return to escort you to the breakfast hall in 50 minutes."

The nurses walked up the steps hurriedly.

"Why don't we have a clock?" asked Hatsue after hearing the doors slam shut.

"We're not allowed to have clocks."

Uchiha Sasuke rose out of bed dressed in a plain white t-shirt and grey cotton pants looking as grumpy as she felt. He followed the aisle between the beds, walking past hers, and reached a door off to the corner she didn't notice last night. He left it wide open. From her vantage point she spotted white tiled floors complimented by white walls and the corner of the sink—a bathroom.

"What's the point of having schedules if we don't know what time it is?"

Hatsue reached to the laminated paper and read down the list.

6:15am – Wake-Up Call

6:20am – Hygiene

6:25am – Shower

6:30am – Check-Up

7:00am – Breakfast

Sasuke reemerged from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his hand. "Listen, stupid, keep to the schedule," he ordered. "You're already behind. Hurry up."

"Why do we only get a 5 minute shower?" she demanded. "I can't shower in 5 minutes!"

"You get a 30 minute bath in the evening. So stop complaining." Sasuke disappeared behind the door, the sound of the brush working his teeth sounding in the silence that followed.

Hatsue kicked the itchy white sheets off her body and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She wore the same grey cotton pants and white t-shirt combination Sasuke had, underneath it she was missing a bra and she had granny panties on. Whoever decided on the dress code either had no sense of fashion or an unnecessary sense of humor because it wouldn't have killed them to let her keep her undergarments.

The room walls were paneled at the bottom and decorated with plain peach colored wallpaper. The space between the four beds in the room seemed larger, as did the size of them. She thought she had slept in a twin-sized bed, but it was bigger than that, probably full-sized. The sheets were wide and she was given only two pillows.

She ignored the urge to explore and headed into the bathroom, which was larger than she expected. There was a row of four sinks aligned to the wall with a large rectangular mirror above them. Behind them stood a half wall separating them from the four adjacent shower stalls, before it a long bench, and a short corridor to a door that led into the toilet. She went there first before exploring the rest of the room.

The last stall in the row of showers was running with its curtain drawn shut.

Hatsue glanced at the bench in front of the half wall and the two sets of neatly folded clothes. One for her and another for Sasuke. She faced the sinks, finding hers next to Sasuke's, only because above it she found her name written on a silver plaque stuck to the wall. She washed her face and brushed her teeth in a rush trying hard to stay sane.

Behind the half wall she found a row of towels sitting on shelf. She took one into an empty stall and drew the curtain. She left it on the shelf leveled with the showerhead and threw her clothes out as she removed them. She tested the water. It was quick to warm and as she let it wash over her, she noticed all the essentials were sitting within her reach.

The shampoo smelled of vanilla and coconut, but the bar of soap was scentless. She wanted to complain about it when she heard the water shut off in the neighboring stall. She took it as a warning sign and went through washing her body haphazardly, barely able to get the foam out of her hair when she heard Sasuke on the other side of the half wall getting dressed.

Hatsue suspected there was still soap in her hair when she got out, but she didn't care. She was running behind schedule and that made her panicked. She towel dried her body and dressed as quickly as possible. She found deodorant at her sink and used it, though she hated its powdery smell, and rushed into the room, hair dripping. She left a mess inside, but didn't care to fix it.

Sasuke sat at the edge of his bed, feet on the ground. He regarded her with annoyance. "They'll get angry about the mess you left."

"Since when do you care about making people angry?" she blurted. She couldn't stop herself before it happened.

"You really are brain dead. How did you get back here?"

"Back?" she asked skeptically. "You mean I've been here before?"

It seemed that was the wrong question to ask because Sasuke looked downright livid, but not to the point that he wouldn't talk to her. He was willing to explain by the sudden change in his steeled black gaze.

"Where were you before you woke up?" he asked in as calm a tone as he could muster. "What is the last thing you remember doing?"

"Eating a sandwich, or else I think it was a sandwich," she answered easily, picturing the events in her mind's eye. "I went out to lunch with Yue, my friend, and we were talking about how our grandparents—you know, it was a stupid conversation. Then, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura walked in, you know, from high school—"

"I know who they are," he snapped. "Did they say anything to you?"

"Not exactly, but I eavesdropped on their conversation on the way to the bathroom. They were talking about Uzumaki Naruto and his girlfriend or something weird like that." When she tried remembering the conversation completely, she met with black spots in her memory. "They were talking about something strange and it made me leave the restaurant. I just remember walking fast before turning around to see them all arguing about something. I never thought Yue knew them and if she did, I never noticed until then."

"You walked into the street without looking," he finished, sounding quite sure of his conclusion.

Hatsue narrowed her gaze. Everything beyond seeing the three women arguing like they knew each other was a chunk of darkness separating her from her gossipy hometown and this room. "How are you so sure?"

Sasuke shut his mouth when the doors opened, heralding the next step in their morning routine: check-ups. Two men in lab coats entered wearing tags with their names and pictures on them and bags carrying their medical tools.

The youngest of the two approached her with a friendly smile. She read the name on his tag, Yakushi Kabuto, and looked back up into his face confused about what the whole check-up ensued until it happened.

It turned out to be an ordinary physical that required little conversation except when the doctor asked her to do something. He promised to return tomorrow morning after packing his things with an eerie new smile that set off all sorts of alarms in her head.

Once the two doctors left, she relaxed.

"Daily check-ups?" she asked suspiciously.

"This was the first of three," he answered. "This is to make sure last night's medicine had no visible side effects."

"That sounds boring." Hatsue reclined on her bed, pulling a pillow under her head. She turned towards Sasuke. "What's the medicine for?"

Sasuke shrugged absently. "To keep us normal."

"Normal?"

Again, he rolled his shoulders in response.

Hatsue didn't press the subject. She looked into the ceiling and thought about wanting to see a familiar face, one whose name she didn't want to mention. His name floated around in her head, complete with the last conversation they shared and the wall of awkward that separated them after she found that picture of them together dated three years ago.

"Was I here three years ago?" she asked, hoisting her body onto her elbows.

"You were here up until a week ago."

That didn't sound right. She had a planner at home full of promoting nights dating back from the start of the year. It sounded impossible to have been in this room for who knows how long until last week where she clearly spent her days at home making plans and having fun. She even celebrated her birthday, but she also remembered everyone's reaction to her appearance. Even when she woke up in the graveyard and ran into Naruto, he sounded dubious when he uttered her name, as if he had not expected to see her. Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuga Hinata in the apartment building looking as though they had seen a ghost and what about Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura whispering cryptic things in their booth at the restaurant. The townspeople were the same, gossiping about her in a way she expected one would about someone that had been away for a long time. Everyone stared at her strangely, suspiciously, and while she was immune to it, now she realized it wasn't normal.

She talked to her parents two weeks ago, she remembered that, and they were talking about souvenirs from Cancun, but had she been in this room when it happened. There were no phones in sight. Perhaps, it was somewhere else.

She eyed the empty beds. "Do we have roommates?"

"Had," he corrected. "They checked out."

"Checked out? So is this like a crazy house?" she asked, determined for answers.

"No. It's a facility."

"How do we get out?"

"When we're done with the treatment."

"Oh, I get it," Hatsue announced. "We're like in rehab."

"It won't help to be a blind optimist," he shot back. "You won't check out a third time."

"I don't understand," she admitted, stomach twisting. "When did I check in? What sort of treatment are we supposed to finish?"

Sasuke turned to the door just as the nurses reentered, gesturing for them. She followed close behind Sasuke, stepping out into the cold corridor with a hammering heart. Nobody else walked the same wide corridor. The walls were made of sleek wood and cold marble tiles. There were several rooms in that same floor, but everything except their room was occupied, else there would have been other people walking to the breakfast hall.

The breakfast hall was located to the left at the end of the corridor, to the right was a staircase going up. The interior looked more like a cafeteria should. The entire floor was scattered with round tables, each with four chairs, and there was a kitchen in an adjacent room. It was visible through a wide window with a single squared opening in the corner where the nurses gestured them to stand like a pair of students getting ready to receive their portions for the day.

Hatsue watched a single woman arrange two trays of identical food, drawing them off the counter and onto the one in front of the closed little window. She walked across the kitchen to the fully stocked refrigerator and pulled out two bottled waters. She set one on each tray, regarded Hatsue with a smile, and pushed up the tiny window. She slid the first tray out.

Hatsue took it and walked to the nearest table. The nurses had taken a seat in a different table where they were prattling on quietly. She observed them and they knew she was looking.

"Don't look at them." Sasuke dropped his tray over the table, taking the chair next to her. "They're snitches."

"So are you going to tell me what's going on or are we going to keep brushing the subject? I'm brain dead, I get it, but seriously, I was on the street one moment and the next I woke up here."

"Not now," he murmured, leaning over. "Don't drink the water if the seal is broken. Don't touch the food unless it's packaged."

She stared at her tray dumbly. "That leaves the Jell-O and a bottle of water." She found some packaged crackers. "And some crackers. What do I do with the rest?"

"Move it around so it looks like you ate some of it." Sasuke busied himself doing that, tearing pieces off bread and making it seem like he was about to eat them whenever a nurse glanced over or cutting the fruit into smaller pieces he could mix together with the scrambled eggs.

Everything in her tray smelled delicious enough to make her mouth water, but she decided it was best to listen to Sasuke since he seemed so knowledgeable about the facility and her memory was having an episode.

"Explanation?"

"Drugs."

"So we get drugged in this facility as well?" she asked humorously. "It's practically a five-star hotel. We get free drugs."

"They're aphrodisiacs."

She stabbed open her Jell-O with her fork and dug in. "Sounds painful." She stuffed a spoonful of it in her mouth and let it melt on her tongue. She swallowed, turning to Sasuke slowly. "Wait. You said aphrodisiacs."

He nodded nonchalantly.

"Why are we the only people in the cafeteria?"

"Because we're the same."

"Same as in same family tree same? Or same as we're the same level of crazy and we're a danger to the other crazies?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered to hers. "What?"

"As in we're part of the same family tree," she tried, the other statement she made sounded self-explanatory.

"Try race."

She drew a circle between them that included the nurses seated two tables away. "That would be the rest of this room."

"Breakfast is only thirty minutes. You've wasted twenty asking stupid questions."

Hatsue took stuffed another spoonful of Jell-O into her mouth to stop herself from saying something insulting. She ate the rest of her pitiful breakfast in silence, thinking up more questions to ask and maybe get an answer as to why she didn't remember being in the facility before last night.

Before today, she and Sasuke had never spoken more than two words to each other since high school. He's had entire conversations with her in a mere hour. She didn't want to jump to conclusions and say it sounded like they were friends if she had, indeed, lived in the facility before, but at some point, she needed to in order to explain his friendliness towards her.

The little information she had of Uchiha Sasuke was that he graduated top of the class, but refused to give a speech and walked out in the middle of the ceremony. Every female in school had a crush on him, going as far as creating a fan club that was really a shrine to his existence. Sakura and Ino had a terrible high school friendship because they both liked him and neither one of them was woman enough to drop him, so that had been amusing to watch.

Naruto also came to mind. He spent all high school heckling Sasuke into random rivalry stunts to prove himself the better person…at anything really. It developed into some strange friendship no person on earth or god in heaven understood. They could be at each other's throats one minute and having a normal conversation the next. It was probably safe to say that Naruto was the only person Sasuke had lengthy exchanges with at school. Otherwise, he was either quiet or snarky, both, and most times haughty. If someone thought they were better than the rest of the students, more than she, it was Uchiha Sasuke. He came from old money as well and he had been slated to inherit all his family's assets since his older brother went missing, but in the end, it seemed he didn't. Why else would he be in the facility?

Hatsue drank the entire bottle of water at Sasuke's insistence before the nurses appeared to remove the trays from them. Neither one of them bothered to acknowledge the mess they made of the unpackaged portion of the food and simply returned the uneaten portions to the lady in the kitchen, who disposed of it.

Once more the nurses escorted them back to their room. This time, Hatsue heard the click of a lock. She tried turning the handle when their footsteps disappeared down the hall but it didn't budge.

She stepped down the short staircase and peered out the nearest window. Outside, lit by sunlight, were rows of swaying peach trees, manicured lawns that stretched far beyond her eyes reach, and a courtyard teeming with bulky uniformed men carrying firearms.

"Tough security, eh?" she asked. "Is the Prime Minister here or something?"

Sasuke pulled her away from the window. "Not too close."

Hatsue frowned and for the first time reached to touch her neck. It was gone. The rose diamond, Kikushita heirloom worth millions, and the realization left her winded for several minutes.

"Stroke?" asked Sasuke.

"My necklace is gone," she breathed, a minute away from hyperventilating.

"You'll get it back once you check out."

"No because they can take away my sexy underwear, they can leave me braless, but they cannot take away my necklace!" she announced, crossing a line never to be crossed. "Where do I check out?"

"You need permission to check out."

"Where do I find this permission?"

"Give up now. You won't be checking out again."

"Give up?" She sank into the nearest bed, his to be precise, and noticed someone had been in the room to fix it. Giving up on leaving sounded easy. It gave her a welcoming pull, but her neck felt naked without the slight weight of jewelry. "I can do that." She met his gaze. "Is this where you've been?"

"Yeah."

"Do they just get you in the middle of the street? Black van, shady kidnappers and all?"

"They knock on your door with permission to extricate you from your home," he explained, ignoring the cliché.

"Organized evil?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Why don't I remember anything?"

"Before you check out, you leave with a few alterations."

"So, someone perused the contents of my brain?" she asked suspiciously, not sure she believed it all. At that point, her blind optimism needed something to believe in and if that something sounded like something out of bad novel, she would take it. "Took what they wanted, left what's convenient?"

Sasuke glowered. "You don't believe me."

"Not really," she admitted. "Maybe you've been here for too long, maybe they don't let you take enough sunshine—get the pale joke?—or maybe you're just crazy. I don't know. Following a schedule, being escorted to and from rooms, getting three check-ups in one day, aphrodisiacs in the food, permission to remove you from home—honestly, it sounds stupid."

Calling him crazy was probably the worst thing she could have done. "Yesterday afternoon, you were hit by a car. The impact wrecked your body, took you to the brink of death, and yet late last night, you were okay, perfectly healthy. There isn't a single scratch on you. Want me to explain that?"

"So this facility has advanced medical knowledge it's stashed away from the rest of society, who am I to question it? I'm alive." She refused all reason, plain and simple. She drew the line. Too much was too much. "Besides, I don't remember a car. I just remember crossing the street."

"Course you don't remember a car. The only way you check back into the facility is through death."

"Okay, now we're getting ridiculous," she said loudly. "I'm not dead."

"That's because you can't die."

"Don't be stupid, if I die, I'll stay dead."

Sasuke's hand shot to her neck, grip tightening around it.

Hatsue let out a strangled cry, hands shooting up to claw at his. Every protested died in her throat. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was determined to choke her to death, she saw enough determination in his coal eyes to find that confirmation. He might accomplish it. She kicked her feet, tried to push him away, but he merely forced her back into the mattress using his own body to weigh her down.

She dug her nails into his hand as he begun to squeeze her last breath and watched pain register in his expression as she drew blood from him.

She felt her eyes roll back and the room go black.

Life snuffed out of her.

---

( Part II )

---

"Maybe you should get more detention," Naruto suggested, leaning close enough to share his body heat.

Hatsue ignored the knotting in her stomach and continued scribbling down formulas into her notebook for an upcoming exam. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you're not as snobby as I thought you were," he admitted with a wide grin. "You're pretty great, Kikushita."

She reached the end of her detention, which meant she could go back to participating in the Science Club, but Naruto still had another week to go. It meant he would spend the rest of his time alone and completely bored out of his mind, which was something he liked to avoid. She wanted her freedom a lot more than she wanted to spend time with Naruto.

"We have class together," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but you never want to talk to me during school."

"Letting you talk to me implies I like being talked to," she answered casually. "I don't want everyone else to use you as an excuse to humanize me. I like being a snob."

Naruto frowned childishly. "Really, Kikushita? I think you're worse than Sasuke."

She turned to him; the proximity between their faces reddened his cheeks. "Uzumaki, can you get out of my light?"

He settled back into his seat clumsily. "Sorry," he murmured, picking up his pencil and scanning his empty math worksheet. "Oi, Kikushita, help me out with these problems. I don't understand them at all."

Hatsue glimpsed at the sheet of paper and analyzed the group of problems he referred to, quick to think of explanations for each. She carefully went over each, deconstructing every step as best as she was able, but at the end he looked a tad more dismayed than he was at the start.

"Uzumaki? Do you get it?"

He grinned. "Can you repeat that?"

He moved closer to the table, chair screeching noisily in the sudden silence, so when he leaned over their joint desks, his elbow lightly brushed her forearm. Her heart fluttered. He quickly turned to apologize, putting his hand over the area he was certain he hit.

She froze.

The heat from his body slipped into hers from the slight contact.

Naruto jerked his hand away as if he had been electrocuted.

Every inch of her tingled with his warmth, it surged through her—breathing life into her. She wanted to run away, quickly, as far as her legs would carry her. She wanted to rush to the nearest bathroom and splash cold water on herself because she felt her skin was on fire.

She jumped out of her seat and turned toward the door with a hammering heart.

His hand caught her wrist. He was cold.

"Kikushita," he called easily. "Where're you going?"

"Toilet."

She couldn't look at him.

---

Hatsue stared at the fading bruises on her neck in the bathroom mirror the following morning. She should have been angrier with Sasuke for literally chocking her to death, but she woke up fine, with a rush of oxygen into her lungs that startled her. She had taken her first breath in hours. She sensed the difference in her body—her nearly undetectable pulse as it slowly fell into its usual drum and the weightlessness of her body as she teetered toward the bathroom on awkward feet. There was clarity in her mind, signs of a headache, and a throbbing in her mouth.

She recalled the impact that brought her to the facility, how quickly it had happened and how easily her body had been hurled into the air to land in a broken heap over the asphalt. The pain should have been excruciating, but it had been absent, all she felt was something like a bee sting.

She rubbed the area wondrously feeling no discomfort.

"Someone called an ambulance," she said lowly.

"Paramedics would have pronounced you dead and you'd probably wake up in a morgue," Sasuke answered, seated on the bench with his arms crossed.

"Who are they? The owners of the facility or what?" she asked, remembering one of the three woman swarming her making a constant mention of them while she remained conscious.

"Most likely."

She gingerly traced the purplish outline his fingers left behind. "Will the bruises go away?"

"Once you adjust." Sasuke stood and approached her to show her his hands. Tiny crescents adorned the skin where she had stabbed her fingernails in mid-panic and long red streaks where she scratched the skin off to draw blood. The deep cuts came together without scabbing, but looked tender. "They'll be gone in a few minutes."

"How long was I out?"

"The rest of the day."

"So I can't die?"

"No, you die. You come back to life."

"So I'm practically immortal."

"And immune to pain."

Hatsue faced him. "And you're the same?"

"Yes."

"It bothers me that you chocked me to death to prove a point," she admitted, frowning deeply. "If that's how we're going to do things around here, I'll tell you now, we're not going to get along at all."

"Next time believe me and I won't have to kill you."

Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom. Hatsue followed him out after a final glance at the bruising. They had twenty minutes left between the second check-up of the day that consisted of blood tests, x-rays, and brain scans. He warned her that things would be particularly difficult for her because she had checked in for the fourth time in too short amount of time between her last check out.

"I don't remember leaving," she said, taking a seat in the armchair of the living area. "Do we get good TV here?"

"Only news channels," he answered evenly. "It hasn't been too long since you left."

"Did they do something to my head?"

"Rearranged things mostly, as you said, and implanted fabricated memories. It's what they do when you check out. Nobody needs to learn about facility's inner function and the ex-patient needs to believe they led a perfectly normal life."

"Will I remember?"

"Once you adjust."

"I checked-out three years ago, too."

"On temporary leave," he corrected. "That crazy grandmother of yours made use of her old connections to give you two days, but you ran off with Naruto."

Hatsue watched the screen as Sasuke switched from one channel to the next. The photograph she found sticking out of Naruto's drawer where they stood comfortably in each other's arms was dated three years back and he shouted at her when she asked him about it. He called her a drunk. The emotion that flashed in his eyes made her stomach sink, as though she had forgotten something important, something she shouldn't have, something she couldn't help but forget because of this strange facility.

Things added up. She was at her grandmother's house attending her party and Naruto did call. She met him. The elation that overpowered her the minute she saw him waiting on the other side of the street, she had never experienced it before. She ran to him, she remembered the cold wind rushing against her body. The night chilled her to the bone. The coat barely warmed her, but something else did.

She blinked skeptically, head throbbing. Arms wrapped around her that day and lips pressed against her skin. They tangled into one as desperate words fell from their mouths.

"I tried to run off with Uzumaki Naruto," she said slowly. "I think I was…happy."

Happiness slipped straight through her fingertips. One couldn't hold water in cupped hands no matter how hard they tried; she felt the same about happiness.

She couldn't have it because she couldn't hold it. The facility seemed to be the most probable reason.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be near Uzumaki?"

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

"Two reasons."

She waited patiently for answers that didn't come. "Do you plan to elaborate?"

"One, he is human, and two, you belong here."

"Here where they run strange tests on us and try to drug us?" she questioned, a bit of demand in her tone. "Here where we are locked in a room all day and are only allowed out with someone escorting us, where we are the only ones in the entire floor? I want to be optimistic, but everyone outside treated me like some pariah, like I was a ghost, like I didn't belong with them. Ino and Sakura had a doomsday conversation over me, they think I pose some sort of danger to them when the only harm I've done is probably woken up in a graveyard. I appreciate that you're willing to help, especially after we ignored each other throughout high school, but the only thing that makes sense is that I want to get out. I want to go home and see my family. I want to talk about stupid things with Yue and promote nights at Asuka's club. I want to get drunk off my rocker and dance under flashing lights. I want to—"

"I want to see Naruto," he finished for her, meeting her gaze. "You said the same thing before you checked out."

Hatsue shrank further in her seat. The words appeared in her mind but she had no intention of speaking them because it made her heart ache for reasons she couldn't understand. A memory full of holes, where only glimpses of the past were available to her as though someone went through it all to edit it before releasing it to her, talked to her in rhymes.

"And if I wanted to see him…what would happen?"

"You just might be the death of him."

---

Hatsue returned home in time for dinner, but upon entering, she realized it would only be herself and her mother.

"Your father will be late from work. The girls decided to drop by your aunt's. They might stay overnight, so it'll be just you and me." The woman smiled brightly. She smiled like she had a secret and it unnerved her to see that she did. "I made all your favorites today. Should I serve dinner now? Or, do you want a bath first?"

A white envelope sat on the kitchen counter with a strange seal on it.

"Did you hear about that cosplayer that killed some of his coworkers?" asked Hatsue.

Her mother startled. "That sounds terrible. Was this recent?"

"No. It happened two months ago," she replied uneasily. "They say he was dressed like a demon. He glued horns to his scalp."

"Did he?"

"A fanatic they called him."

Her mother fidgeted. "I think I might have heard him mentioned in the news," she finally admitted. "Did something happen?"

"No. I just heard about it in school the other day during the blood drive. I was just curious if you ever heard anything about it." Hatsue set her school bag in a chair. "I think I want to eat first."

"Oh, before I forget, a boy called earlier."

"For which one of the girls?" she asked suspiciously. She wanted to put the blame on Tomo; she seemed popular with the opposite sex, though she didn't notice it. "Tomo?"

"No, it was for you," her mother answered, a playful smile on her lips. "An Uzumaki Naruto. Should I be worried?"

A chill ran through her at the mere mention of his name. Her body acted of its own accord when he came around. She didn't feel like herself lately, not since orientation. She thought she might have some semblance of normality since he seemed too preoccupied in trying not to fail the next exam to attempt at a conversation with her. She ignored him so many times she thought he finally got a clue because she didn't like what happened when he was around.

"No," she said evenly. "You shouldn't."

"He sounded eager to talk to you. I think he wanted to invite you out."

"Oh."

She felt nothing.

---

Sasuke supplied fewer answers whenever she started to bombard him with questions, but she learned enough to assume she never took that trip abroad to New York and that most memories from after graduation were doctored. She lived a different person's life through her memories when she'd spent the last ten years with Uchiha Sasuke in the same room, under the same circumstances. The only difference between them was that her family had had enough connections to grant her temporary leave, all of which ended disastrously and put in danger at least one civilian.

As Sasuke said, she needed to adjust to remember. She did—to the crappy schedules, the unnecessary two hours of daily exercise, the indifferent nurses, the hulking brutes walking around the facility, the strange medication injected into her bloodstream, and the hours she spent locked in the room with Sasuke. She readjusted to familiar ground.

She found the hidden security cameras and made it a ritual to wave at them whenever she faced their direction. She discovered the treasures she stashed in a shoebox behind one of the wall panels, most of the contents composed of photographs and the Polaroid camera that took them. She found notes dated ten years ago, months before graduation, depicting numerous conversations she shared with Naruto during history. There was a collection of newspaper clippings too, ripped haphazardly, all about required blood tests around the world in search of "special" beings.

'…are in possession of a dormant gene that enhances certain attributes, distinguishing them from humanity…'

'…They are not human and if left alone, they will overrun the world with destruction.'

'The first Facility has opened its doors to patients. Recent high school graduates, Uchiha Sasuke, 17, and Kikushita Hatsue, 18, are the first species with similar DNA structures. Scientists believe they are the unique among the rest, suspecting the others are mere mutations.'

'…Scientists confirm that the dormant gene awakens between ages of 16 thru 18. All high school students are required to have random blood tests until they reach the cut-off age. By law, parents must relinquish their rights to their children if they are in possession of the gene…'

'…Breakthrough! Scientists believe to have found a cure…!'

'Kikushita Hatsue, 23, was released to her family this morning. She is said to be in the process of readjusting to society. The cure has worked!'

Hatsue returned the newspaper clippings to the corner of her box, carefully tucking them under a tiny leather book. Reading through each, she came to a single conclusion when she lifted her eyes to Sasuke. "We're lab rats, aren't we?" she asked quietly, feeling a steady throbbing inside her mouth. Her teeth had been hurting for the past few days. "It's not a cure they're trying to find. They're trying to replicate our DNA to make it possible for others to become like us."

"We're not susceptible to poison, we're physically stronger, faster, smarter, and immortal," he said in a way that sounded like he was reading off his check list. "Instilling fear into society is the only way they can condone the experiments they put us through, saying it's for the good of the world and that they are trying to remove our power to make us human. The only thing they accomplished in a decade is suppressing our abilities. They can't make a drug out of what we are because it will kill them."

"Why did they send me back home?"

"As a beacon of hope. Civilization won't end catastrophically if a cure is possible and you had everyone fooled until you wound back in here."

"Why?"

"Naruto."

"Naruto, again?"

"You chose him. He's your problem."

"Chose him?"

"During mating season," he said coolly.

She sputtered. "Wait. Wait. Wait. We have a mating season? Okay, I'm shutting my brain off. That's crossing some line I didn't want to cross. I liked to think we were like superheroes, but superheroes don't have mating seasons so all the hope I had just got flushed down the toilet with whatever remained of my dignity."

Hatsue removed herself from the foot of her bed and instead of waving at the security camera on the way to the bathroom, she flashed it the bird. She heard Sasuke snort behind his book and call her an idiot. She slammed the door shut.

She ran the cold water at the sink and splashed her face with it until she felt satisfied.

A knock at the bathroom door disrupted her. Sasuke never knocked. He opened doors without prior announcement because this room was as much his as it was hers. They had been sheltered there together for nearly ten years together despite her previous check-outs.

She reached for the handle and pulled it open. Her nurse stood with a blank look on her face. "You have a visitor."

Hatsue glanced at Sasuke, who regarded her with a shrug. She didn't need his permission, so why look at him?

"Who is it?"

"Follow me."

The nurses seldom uttered one word to them unless it was to chastise them or it was necessary. Two days ago, his nurse shouted at her for purposely throwing her milk carton at the back of Sasuke's head because she asked the lady in the kitchen to spare some cooking wine if she didn't have any liquor and he called her a drunk. It seemed to be in their best interest to keep them from fighting, which she learned that Sasuke's nurse warned him about a possible separation if he put his hands on her again. At the time, it made her less angry at him because he had gotten in trouble, but it didn't make sense how they knew about it and that eventually led to her discovery of the security cameras.

Her own nurse handed her a pamphlet about alcoholism yesterday with a knowing smile and a snarky comment written in marker. The nurses didn't like them much and they didn't need a neon sign above their heads to confirm it.

Hatsue followed the nurse out of the room, down the corridor to the staircase leading to the floor below. They walked several tense minutes, listening to the scratchy sound of the nurse's footsteps and the slap of her bare feet on the cold floor resonating in the corridor.

The nurse opened a door at the end of the hallway for her and as soon as Hatsue spotted the back of her sister's dark head, her heart soared.

Tomo turned when the heavy door closed and hurriedly met her halfway for a bone-crushing embrace. Hatsue apologized as soon as her sister let out a squeak of complaint and cupped her face, feeling a strong urge to cry.

Tomo beat her to it, her wide hazel eyes were starting to water as her fingers found the tangles in Hatsue's hair. "God, you must hate it here," she uttered, hurt. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. Mom and dad tried, so did grandma, Aya and Saika too, but you know the policy, no visits until after the first week."

Hatsue shook her head. She needed to seem strong, despite looking a mess in cotton clothes. She wiped the tears from her sister's eyes with the sleeve of her gray standard issue buttoned sweater. "It's fine. It's the same as always. Nothing hurts. And Sasuke's around. He's not much of a talker and he ignores me most of the time, but at least I'm not alone."

"That's great." Tomo gave her a watery smile and took her by the hand, leading her to a table where they sat opposite of each other. "I didn't think they would bring you back here, but Yamanaka-san said it couldn't be helped."

"What happened to the driver?" Hatsue asked, remembering the panicked older man who exited his car shouting all about not seeing her step into the street.

"It was a good thing Haruno-san called the ambulance because he nearly had a heart attack when you were confirmed dead," answered Tomo with a shaky voice. "He received no charges, the facility paid for the repairs on his car and his medical bill. I think it scared him more to know you were a patient." Her sister held her hands tightly, blinking up her teary eyes. "Are you adjusting okay?"

"Yeah. Except Sasuke just informed me that I have a mating season and I was in the middle of a mini-freak out in the bathroom—did you know they make us share a bathroom? We have absolutely no privacy! I've seen him in the flesh, Tomo. He changes right in front of me, it's like he doesn't care whether I see or not."

"…Do we have to talk about naked men, Hatsue?" she asked tentatively, cheeks burning in embarrassment. "Maybe he doesn't care."

"I care," Hatsue said strongly. "My female sensibilities care. It's scandalous. Anyway, did you know I have a mating season? I don't know what happens during it, well, except the obvious implications—the sex, you know."

"Yes, I know about it!" Tomo said with a squeak. She contained her voice. "The need for one goes away once you've copulated with someone opposite of you."

Hatsue leaned into the table on her elbows. She grinned. "You whispered copulated. Honey, you're almost twenty-six, do I have to talk to you about sex?"

"No," she sputtered. "No. It's fine."

"So this person opposite of me is Uzumaki Naruto? How is he doing?"

"You know about him?"

"Sasuke told me all about it. Says I chose Naruto, I take it that's what you meant by someone opposite of me. I also remember trying to run away with him three years ago. Can you pass along a message for me? I'm aware of the restraining order and the fact that he's not allowed anywhere near the facility, not that I expected him to visit—"

"No, he wants to. He would if he could, but well, you already said it. You can't be anywhere near a hundred feet of him and he can't sneak into the facility in risk of being shot on sight."

"I suspect we had one powerful romance going on if they're that determined to keep us away."

Tomo made a face. "Right," she said slowly. "You're still adjusting."

"It'll be a while."

"What message do you want me to give him?"

"Tell him Sasuke needs his best friend back and that he should be a better friend and visit him. They'll only kill him if he's here for me. Loophole."

"Don't you want to say anything to him?" Tomo asked, concerned.

Hatsue shook her head. "No. I'm good." She smiled innocently. "Tell me about mom and dad, gran, and our sisters. Tell me all about them."

"Saiko misses you like crazy. She hates when you go away, you know that. You jumped straight into work from the minute you were released. She was looking forward to this week."

"I want to see her. Have her cleared for a visit. I miss her."

Tomo nodded. "I will. Aya isn't it taking it as we wanted. I think she misses you the most. Mom and dad don't know how to deal with her. She's been coming home late lately and even my aunt can't talk sense into her."

"Tell her I'll find a way to make her just like me so that we can be attached at the hip from here on out. Tell them I love them and that I'll be at their next birthdays. Just get gran on the job. She can get me out temporarily."

Tomo laughed. "Mom and dad, they just want the best for you."

"I won't be fine until I leave this place and never come back, but don't say that to them. It'll worry them. Say I suggested they go visit India, it's a beautiful country and I'm sure they'll enjoy it."

Hatsue talked to her sister for nearly an hour before the nurse returned to the room, calling her back. As she hugged Tomo goodbye she asked her to get Yue to visit. They had a pending conversation and if anyone was going to give her answers, it'd be her best friend.

When Hatsue was returned to her room, she clambered onto the edge of Sasuke's bed. He looked up from his book. "Do we have some form of classification?"

"Other than not human?"

"Other than not human."

"For a while they called us demons, but that's what they call the mutations. They don't know what to call us."

Relief washed over her. "Oh good god, I dreaded the V-word."

"V-word?"

"I imagined we were pale enough to pass as vampires and for the last few days I've had a lot of mouth pain to go with the sharper canines, but I also noticed I wasn't hypersensitive to sunlight and I had a piece of the garlic bread during lunch. We haven't turned to ashes yet, but this is sounding like a great idea for a Halloween costume." She paused for breath. "I was wondering if the aphrodisiacs were for what I thought they were."

"What do you think they're for?" he asked, slamming his book shut. She single-handedly disturbed his quiet time and though willing to indulge her, he looked unpleasant.

"Considering we're the same race and everyone else is a mutated version of us and we're here because they're trying to make a drug out of our condition and we're obviously not producing the best results and the aphrodisiac is a—"

"Stop talking."

"—it's a sexual stimulant and they never let me have a boyfriend of my choice, same could be said about you, of course. Is it safe to assume we're in the same room being drugged with that kind of drug so we get down to some dirty business under the sheets? Thus successfully ending the mating nonsense and my eyeing someone else and the possibility of a pregnancy that may result in a little one capable of aiding in the mystery of our DNA and how to turn it into a chemical to make a horde of other superhumans like us?"

"You're not my type."

"That's fantastic, 'cause you're not mine either. I'm sure being the right type is important."

"As it is important to keep you from interbreeding with a human nobody," he added.

"Is that any way to talk about your best friend?" she chastised. "You were very snarky."

Sasuke reopened his book. "Do something productive."

"I am readjusting to my surroundings and welcoming different levels of headaches as the fabrications start going away. Asking unnecessary questions help and I know deep down inside you like having the company."

She almost heard the chirp of crickets in the background. She sighed, dropping fully onto his bed with her hands folded over her stomach. She felt disturbed, used and confused, but above all, disturbed.

"Why is it that we live in a perfectly normal society when demons exist?"

"It's uncommon. One has to inherit it from an ancestor and it usually skips a generation or two. The idea is that our kind existed for as long as humans have, but remained hidden amongst them until the anthropologist discovered old demon bones in different sites all around the world making it a possibility that horned beings once walked among them."

"Let me guess, some idiot decided to reveal a whole generation of clueless demon spawn?"

"Some idiot grew horns in the middle of work and went into a rage that killed at least ten co-workers and critically wounded seven," he corrected. "But you are right on one account. Our generation was clueless. At this moment, we're the oldest demons in existence, unless there are others and just decided to stay quiet to avoid exposure."

"The others are mutations of us. How come they're considered the mutations and we're the normal ones?"

"We don't get ashy skinned or grow horns, yet we've got the same abilities as them and others unique to us. We're more humanoid than they'll ever be. The scientist in charge thinks it has everything to do with our ancestors consisting predominantly of demons before interbreeding happened with humans. That's why we had grandparents and parents that were completely normal. Great-grandparents too."

"And their demon families started interbreeding with humans early?"

"Supposedly."

"So in vampire terms, we are pureblooded to their common asses?"

"Yes."

"And it can only be one person from the family to get the secret demon gene?"

"Yes, so your sisters are fine."

"If we bite someone…will they turn like us…?"

Sasuke grinned and she noticed his canines were longer than normal. "Why don't you try it?"

"Your nurse or mine?" she asked, mirroring the malevolent grin. She couldn't deny the impulse after he challenged her to try it.

"You take mine, I take yours."

The nurses wouldn't return to the room until later that evening to escort them to the cafeteria for dinner, which meant they were less likely to have anything to eat at all. The food was less likely to be packaged, but at least they were given bottled juice.

"You know what's hilarious?" asked Hatsue suddenly.

"Do I care?"

"Earlier you said we were immune to poisons and yet we're not eating the food because of an aphrodisiac."

"Ever considered said drug was made specifically for us?" he challenged. "Think for once."

"I don't like how much you make me think."

"It wouldn't kill you to try it."

She rolled her eyes. "Can we act our age for a few minutes?"

"How long have you been here?"

"Not long enough."

"Altogether."

"Ten years, on and off. So my clouded memory says."

"That man I told you about, the first case, he happened when we were juniors. What about the bones that have been dug up? Those were under the radar for years before we were announced to the world. How long do you think they've been researching us? Why do you think they can keep us in the facility in the first place, if we were so strong, don't you think we could have killed them all and left?"

"Obviously they would eventually find a way to control us with all the research," Hatsue concluded as sarcastically as possible. "Oh please, don't look so offended, I was—"

He raised a hand to silence her.

She heard the lock click as though it had sounded beside her ear directly. The door opened a crack and one of their nurses appeared, though she didn't have a chance to see whether it was hers or Sasuke's when a gray blur tackled her to the ground.

There was a thud when her body hit the ground followed by unnerving quiet.

Hatsue straightened. "Holy shit! Is she okay?"

She looked to Sasuke to find him missing.

The door squealed open, drawing her attention to her roommate who stood beside the body with blood down his front.

Her first reaction: panic.

She panicked. She scrambled to the edge of the bed until she ran out of mattress and her back crashed into the floor. She shot up immediately.

"Holy shit!" she cried. "Holy shit! It was a joke! I was kidding about the whole biting thing!"

Sasuke tried to clean the blood off his mouth, but only smeared it. He looked downright vicious.

Hatsue stepped around her bed and moved up the set of steps to the doorway, her heart beating a mile a minute. She tiptoed closer, staring down at the frozen expression on her nurse's face.

She shot Sasuke an accusing look. "How could you do this?"

He shrugged.

She found a towel on one of the couches and tossed it at his face. "Clean up!" she stated. "That's what we do first and then we get rid of the body!"

Sasuke used the towel to clean most of the blood off his face and neck, but there was a stain down his shirt. And she felt her body give way to the next wave of panic.

He touched her shoulder with his fingers and pointed at the security camera taping the front door.

She wailed. "We need to hide the evidence!" She grabbed his shirt and started tugging at it. "Hurry and get it off! There's blood on it! I'll get you a clean one. And then I'll drag the body into the bathroom, we'll clean her up—I'll clean her up, you get in the shower. Oh god, this can't get any worse—"

Someone in the hallway screamed.

Hatsue poked her head out into the hallway. Sasuke's nurse was shaking like a leaf, her hands held in front of her mouth. When she lifted her gaze to her, her eyes bugged out of their sockets and instinctively, she turned to run.

"Do something!" she shouted at Sasuke.

"We made a deal," he reminded her.

"I don't want to bite her!"

"Then stop her yourself."

Sasuke shoved her out of the room and slammed the door in her face.

The nurse was nearly out of sight when she glimpsed down the hallway. If she made it to the staircase, she'd get away with telling the world and—

"Come on!" she cried, rushing after her. She could at least stop her. "Hey! I don't remember your name, but please stop! I'm the nice one!"

As if on cue, the nurse tripped and slammed face first into the floor.

"Why do people always trip when I chase them?" Hatsue complained, realizing she was nearly feet away from the nurse. She looked over her shoulder, a whole stretch of hallway lay between where she stood now and where she was before.

The nurse scrambled to her feet, screaming bloody murder.

Hatsue reached her, grabbing her wrist. She gave the woman the gentlest tug towards her, but when she did, she heard something pop.

With a horrified look, the nurse gave a pained scream and Hatsue realized she dislocated the woman's shoulder because it suddenly didn't look right. She didn't know how. She swore she only pulled her slightly.

How did I dislocate her shoulder?

"I'm sorry!" she said quickly. "I can try to put it back!"

"Please don't hurt me," the nurse pleaded, tears dripped down her face. "Let go of me…please."

"Relax woman, I won't!"

"You dislocated my shoulder!" snapped the nurse.

"That was an accident!"

Behind her, the door opened and closed. Sasuke suddenly stood beside her. He shot her an acrimonious look, and then reached forward. He snapped the woman's neck. Just like that.

The nurse's body crumpled on the ground.

Hatsue reached her threshold for witnessing murder. She teetered away, back hitting Sasuke's shoulder.

"I need to lay down."

"Go to the room downstairs, to the visitor's room. You know the way," he said strongly.

"I think I need to lay down," she repeated.

Sasuke shoved her forward for the second time that day. "Go now."

His tone challenged her to disagree, but she knew better. Fine! I won't lay down! She scrambled away from the second woman's body and rushed down the remainder of the hallway. She nearly stumbled down the flight of stairs. She righted herself upon reaching the landing, tugging her gray sweater over her shoulder.

Hatsue slipped into the visitor's room, heart beating anxiously. She stared down both ends of the hallway in the hopes of them staying empty when she closed the door.

"Kikushita?"

There it went. Her heart. Skipping a beat at the sound of his voice.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Turning slowly, she faced him.

"Where's Sasuke?"

As he moved forward, she stepped back until she hit the door. "No."

His eyes grew wide. "Do you…?"

Remember?

"I don't," she answered quickly. "Not everything."

"Hatsu—ah, Kikushita. Sorry."

She didn't understand what sending her down here accomplished, but something deep down told her not to question Sasuke's actions.

"I don't think we should be in the same room," she said slowly, reaching for the doorknob stabbing into her back.

"Oh…right," he said in understanding. "Because you'll kill me."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a certain restraining order. I don't want to be detained."

Naruto unexpectedly grinned. "Have you seen where you are, Kikushita?"

"Five-star hotel," she said aloofly. "We even get free drugs. Not to mention free medical insurance and the fact that we're practically celebrities in this place. Oh, but of course, we get the drugs in our food and they're aphrodisiacs—yeah, I made the same face too—because they want us to procreate. Did you know I have a mating season? I didn't know I had a mating season."

"I see you're freaking out," he said, then gestured at the nearest empty table. "Do you want to sit?"

Hatsue shook her head. "Why do Yamanaka and Haruno think I'm a danger to them?" she asked softly. She wanted to ask Yue the question when she came around to visit, but if she had tried running off with Naruto, they must have shared secrets. "I get why everyone looks so shocked when they see me now, but why do they think I'll hurt them? Why are they scared of me?"

She didn't want to think about how easily she dislocated that nurse's shoulder, afraid that her lack of control was the reason for worry. Except, she had been perfectly normal up until today, she didn't hurt anymore…of course, she hadn't touched anyone either.

"You don't remember?" he asked slowly.

"I wouldn't be asking if I did."

"You nearly killed them all, Kikushita."

---

( Part III )

---

Everything sounded closer.

Everything looked vivid.

Everything smelled stronger.

Hatsue woke that morning to those very thoughts. She wrote them down so she wouldn't be surprised by it later and carried the note in her skirt pocket. The idea remained applicable until she stepped out of her house, from then on she was one step away from succumbing to the urge of assuming the fetal position and demanding good earplugs and her own oxygen tank.

She was literally the first person to know her neighbor's baby pooped itself. Nothing could make up for that.

She settled for earmuffs and a mask. It lessened the experience and gave her the chance to latch onto the possibility that today was a figment of her imagination because she really did have a cold, not a pretend cold.

School turned into a nightmare. As quickly as she made it into her classroom, she realized three things.

One, Sakura wore too much perfume.

Two, so did Ino.

Three, someone forgot to shower yesterday.

Everyone wore a little perfume; she spent the rest of the day sniffing the variations until her heard started to throb in protestation. The difference between Sakura and Ino and the rest of the school was the fact that they wore several different kinds of fragrances meant to complement one another, but really it did the opposite. A war was going on between Ino and Sakura and it wasn't over Sasuke as much as their perfumes warring for supremacy.

The mask did little to save her the trouble of visiting the nurse's office. She must have looked exhausted because the nurse redirected her to one of the beds, but she didn't want to lay on it. The sheets had a particularly suspicious stench on them. She picked a different mattress, one whose sheets had been changed recently, but doing so made it seem as though she were admitting she had super smelling abilities.

Regardless, Hatsue settled under the sheets contently. The nurse's office carried a lemony scent that dulled the rest making it easy for her to slip into a light slumber.

Hatsue opened her eyes to the sound of a conversation nearby and a wave of familiar body heat. She blinked up to see Naruto sitting in the chair next to the bed. She forced her attention away from his natural smell—hours under the hot sun, grass, and something stronger…masculine.

"Stop trying to humanize me, Uzumaki, it's not going to work."

"I just came to ask you a math question," he said quickly, holding a notebook into her view. "Want to hear me out?"

"I have a headache so I want to sleep."

"No problem, you can do it after helping me with math," he pressed.

"Fine," she conceded, though she should have redirected him to Sakura. She should have at least asked why he walked all the way to the nurse's office to consult her about a math equation. "Show it to me."

Naruto flipped open his notebook, searching page after page for the one he needed.

"Kikushita?"

"What?"

"I called your house the other day. I went out with some friends and wanted you to come too," he started. "Today, we're going to karaoke. Do you want to come?"

"No."

"You didn't even think that—"

"No," she reaffirmed.

"Why not?"

"Anything that involves groups and singing are a no go."

"But you haven't lived if you've never gone to karaoke with friends! It's the best!"

"No."

"Come on, even Sasuke's gone!"

"You probably tricked him!" she accused.

Naruto looked very guilty. "I didn't. He agreed to go!"

"Then why do you look so guilty?"

He frowned. "Fine. I take it back, you're not invited."

"Good."

He continued flipping through pages listlessly.

"What if it's just the two of us?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Why would that make it a better situation?" she returned.

"I thought you were shy."

"Do I look shy?"

"No, sorry." He dropped his gaze to a blank page. "I want us to go together…somewhere, wherever."

By the time he finished, his whole face had turned a bright red.

Initially, she didn't understand, merely watched his face go all shades of red and his eyes wandering to and from her blank expression. When she acknowledged the meaning of his words, she swore there was only white noise in her ears and the smell of the sun coming off his skin, wrapping around her neck like a noose.

"Are you asking me out?" she asked slowly. "…Like on a date?"

In waiting for his response, she felt her anxiety build up.

"Uzumaki?"

At the sound of the bell, he burst out laughing, shutting his notebook, and jumping out of his seat. He touched her hand accidentally on his way to the door. "Well class is in the other building, so I should get going now! See you in class Kikushita!"

Hatsue stared at the door for many minutes because she felt the change as soon as it happened.

She couldn't hear anything in a mile radius. She couldn't smell the disgusting sheets on the other bed.

A simple touch stole the discomfort away.

---

Hatsue traded in her seating rights for an explanation.

Naruto dragged a chair in front of her and sat down. "Before anything, I want you to tell me where Sasuke is?"

"Would you believe he's hiding the bodies of our dead nurses?" she told him.

It took a minute for it to sink in.

"Are you serious?" shouted Naruto, searching her face for the assurance her expression gave without her permission. "You are serious! What's his problem? I told him to start behaving."

"Oh right, like he'll listen," she answered sarcastically.

"Those nurses don't like getting killed, you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, taken aback by the comment.

Naruto arched an eyebrow. "You don't think they let regular nurses take care of you, do you?" he questioned. "They're just like you; they'll come back to life."

She scrunched her face up. "Why is it you know more about this place than I do?"

And why did that nurse actually beg and cry for me to spare her? Oh it was getting the AA pamphlet all over again. Those bitches played them. Well, her. Sasuke must have known. Everything he said about trying to leave and not being able to accomplish it suddenly made sense. They couldn't because they were surrounded by mutations that probably didn't get drugged three times a day.

"Because I do visit Sasuke and he does talk to me."

"And here I thought your relationship was totally one-sided." She leaned into her seat, trying to seem more repentant than her tone. "I'm sure the me that will eventually come to terms with this whole fiasco after readjusting will totally take back this apology, but I really think I should apologize. I mean dragging you into this situation, picking you, and really just endangering you left and right—it doesn't feel right. I mean, I could kill you and that never stopped me. I'm sorry."

"You've never apologized," he admitted, completely shocked.

"I'm sorry for being such an asshole."

He chuckled. "You weren't an asshole."

"Don't defend me. I left the snob in high school and graduated into a complete asshole."

"Kikushita, really, you weren't an asshole. Even if you were, ten years in this place justify it."

"Where getting off point?" she reminded him. "You were supposed to tell me about school and why I've got the hens in a tizzy. Even my hen is in one and I want a reason not to worry about her mental health, she's crazy enough on her own without my help."

"I don't think Yue would appreciate you calling her a hen."

"Ah hah, so you're on a first name basis with my lovely hen?" she asked teasingly. "How long have you known her?"

"Do you really want to change the subject? Those nurses might wake up any minute now."

"Okay, okay." She waved her hand between them. "Proceed."

"Well," he started hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's kinda hard to explain 'cause it happened so fast and a lot of the students ended up getting their heads cleared about the incident so I guess it kinda depends on what they remember…"

"I'm sorry, did you say something? You were mumbling just now."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize, mumble at me some more," she teased. "See, now, who's getting off subject?"

"It just happened before anyone realized it; students were dropping where they stood. The air thinned to the point that I was suffocating. I just remember looking up to see everyone scattered on the ground and you standing with Sasuke." Naruto turned away and spoke in a soft tone. "They say you're stronger together than you are apart." He hesitated to meet her eyes. "They built this facility for you in this isolated piece of land where you'd be protected by others just like you."

A gnawing in the pit of her stomach upset the calm that had temporarily washed over her at the sight of him. She heard something in his voice she could have lived years not acknowledging.

She swallowed thickly, gathering her thoughts and thrusting them into the dark recesses of her mind. "So this whole building is just for me and Sasuke…?"

In the distant, she heard the blaring of an alarm. She scrambled out of her seat. "That's my cue to leave and yours to pretend you saw nothing."

"Kikushita—"

He took her by the wrist.

Hatsue stole the heat from his body. Literally. "Oh."

Shouting in the background reached her ears.

He didn't seem to have anything prepared after saying her name. The moment that passed between them lost the awkward quality she expected of all their conversations. She wondered if she stopped feeling it upon learning they had a history, but at the same time imagined that would be more of a reason to remain uncomfortable.

Knowing, not knowing, there was no winning in her situation.

"I should go," she whispered, trying not to tug her wrist free.

"You won't kill me, Kikushita," he said, a determined look in his face. "I'm immune."

His words might as just turned her into to a mass of jelly with a butterfly heart. She said nothing; she couldn't find her voice even if she tried. She ran straight for the door as soon as he dropped her wrist. Outside, someone took her by the arm and hurled her across the hallway.

Her body slammed into the ground hard once before rebounding and shooting straight through a window. Shattered glass cut through the air, singing against the howling winds.

She hit the grass hard, but she barely felt the sting of glass shards stabbing into her back. She expelled a breath, eyes fluttering up to the row of windows facing down and then to the one from which she was expelled, temporarily paralyzed after the impact. She only saw a looming darkness at the window before heavy footfalls alerted her to the arrival of several giant guard men with their weapons.

Hatsue flopped onto her side.

"Don't touch her."

Every guard on the ground stilled, eyes moving to the direction of the authoritative voice. She followed their gazes to Tsunade, the head physician that had dealt with most of her midday medical tests.

As the blond woman stepped closer to her, the crowd of giant men parted. Behind her, her assistant rushed to keep up.

"Can you get up?" asked Tsunade, crouching down at her side. "I'll need to remove the glass from your back. It's best if you stay still."

She stared at the doctor hazily. She remembered hearing Naruto calling out her name as soon as she hit the sleek floor and rebounded.

"Uzumaki…?" she whispered, feeling a prick in her arm. Her eyes wandered to the assistant Shizune, who pulled a syringe from the vein in her arm. "Wait—what was that?"

She reacted to the drug immediately. Every one of her limbs sagged, feeling too heavy to move, and her vision started to break apart into darkness.

"Uzumaki Naruto will be escorted out of the facility," Tsunade explained, soothingly patting the side of her face. "You are a danger to him and what Uchiha Sasuke did was wrong."

Hatsue opened her mouth to say something. Why is it wrong?

---

"Well always have junior orientation."

Hatsue blinked up at Naruto, aghast. "Why would you even bring that up?"

Naruto dropped their school's yearbook on the table and slid it across the table to her. "Have a look."

She twisted the book around and stared skeptically at the year's best of everything. Best Couple went to Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuga Hinata. She didn't understand that at all.

"Why are Inuzuka and Hyuga best couple? It's awkward just watching them try to talk to each other and they've been together since when? Sophomore year? You'd think they'd get over that."

"I think they're endearing," admitted Ino, perusing her own yearbook. "She's so shy, he's so annoying. It works."

"Like you're one to talk," Hatsue commented.

"Play nice, Hatsue," remarked Sakura, taking the empty seat beside Ino.

Ino grumbled in agreement.

"I'd be a miserable teenager if I didn't take advantage of so many opportunities."

Naruto laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" snapped Sakura. "You're the reason she and Sasuke-kun are so passive aggressive."

"You'd know if I was passive-aggressive, I wouldn't dare keep that from you Sakura," remarked Hatsue, skimming over the shoddy awards in the yearbook.

At that, Sasuke smirked.

"Anti-social?" Ino suggested.

"The fact that you're trying this hard to categorize us means you have way too much time on your hands," Sasuke replied, his bored tone offending their more sensible companions.

"I feel like making you do my history paper, that's how much time I think you have," Hatsue added.

"Hey, leave Sakura-chan alone, it was a joke," Naruto defended.

Hatsue rolled her eyes. Always defending his precious—stupid—Sakura-chan, idiot.

Ino and Sakura suddenly burst out laughing while staring at their yearbook.

"Oh god, I can't believe they actually added this in," said Sakura. "You just said it as a suggestion."

"I didn't think they'd put it in," Ino admitted between laughs. "I guess Chouji listened to me after all."

"Have you seen it? Hatsue, under Best Memory," said the pink-haired girl.

Hatsue had to turn the page before she laid eyes on her biggest shame in photograph format plastered with 'Best Memory' on the bottom. She tossed Naruto his yearbook understanding what he meant earlier.

"This is what you were talking about?" she asked, irritated. She turned to Ino. "Why would you even suggest this? Why would Akimichi even put this in?"

Both girls shrugged. They were more interested in laughing at it than thinking up an explanation.

"Too bad they didn't add when she retaliated."

"Why would you say that? Just thinking about it hurts!" complained Naruto, hands cupped over his groin area protectively. "I seriously thought she'd kill me.

"Don't worry, Naruto, my leg doesn't reach that far from over here."

Sasuke left his seat after one glance at the clock. "Later."

Sakura and Ino complained about Sasuke leaving early and eventually decided they had nothing left to do in the school so they gathered their things to leave. Naruto looked dismayed by the mere thought of the idea.

"But we're leaving you in great company," Ino told him with a wry smile.

Hatsue bit back a cackle.

"You know, you're both kinda endearing," Sakura said suddenly, drawing a line in the air between them. "Like Kiba and Hinata."

"We're not even dating," Naruto commented.

Ino smirked. "Maybe that's the problem. See you next week."

"Bye."

Hatsue waved at them lazily.

"Should we date?"

She shot his reddened face an awkward look. He was fidgeting all over the place. "Ew, no, not if this is your way of expressing affection."

"What do you mean 'ew?'" he snapped. "I'm not ugly!"

"Well you're not drop dead gorgeous either."

Naruto stood, hands on the table, and leaned forward. "What? You think you're good for me?"

Hatsue's heart squeezed. She had a real answer and a fake one for the question. To save herself further embarrassment she picked the latter. "No," she said watching the tension in his face give way to some relief before she finished. "I am too good for you."

She saw the hurt flit through his eyes and she instantly regretted being the cause of it. Why did she want to admit to something that she wasn't too sure of? It all started during the memorable junior orientation, the detention they received because of it brought them together for several days after school where they could do nothing but be around each other. From then on, everything sort of fell together.

One day she rejected all his invitations to a high school social life and the next she was leaving movie theaters with him or strolling malls with his eclectic group of friends. All she knew was that when she was with him, she didn't have to deal with all the strange changes she experienced apart from him—the heightened hearing, the fact that she broke a faucet in the girl's bathroom when she turned it, and all the emotions on high.

There must have been something in the water. She couldn't explain it otherwise.

Naruto stuffed his yearbook in his bag. "I get it," he said, anger in his voice. "I'm leaving first."

Hatsue followed him out of the classroom. "I'm sorry!"

The words escaped her before she stopped herself.

Naruto faced her once more, slowly returning to her.

"Sorry," she repeated assuredly. "I didn't mean that. I'm not too good, in fact, I think you're too good for me because I'm just a terrible person and I'm strange. I feel strange and—"

He stopped before her, reaching to touch her face. Once more, when his fingers brushed against her skin she felt a surge of heat fill her as though she had absorbed it from him.

She didn't get time to expect the moment when his lips touched hers, but her body reacted. Her cheeks burned brightly as her eyes fluttered and her heart started its loud drumming, knocking hard against her ribcage. She even had knots in her stomach.

Hatsue blinked in confusion. His eyes locked on hers.

Surrounded by the silence of an empty corridor infused with the deep tones of sunset, the two stood completely still for several minutes.

Naruto touched his lips against hers a second time. This time her eyes fluttered closed, her hands found his shoulders, and she applied a little more pressure to the kiss. A doze knots formed in the pit of her stomach, her heart couldn't have drummed any louder, she felt lightheaded like a person that just finished doing a handstand after half an hour.

She wanted this moment not to be a teenage cliché, but this kiss felt like it was a long time coming. She was only glad it came.

When he pulled away he let his forehead rest against hers.

The way he smiled helped her heart skip another beat.

"That mean you do like me."

"I—yeah."

He pressed his palm to the side of her neck. His touch was cold. "Hey, you're very warm," he said worried. "Do you feel all right?"

"Just a little dizzy," she admitted.

He planted a kiss on her cheek. "Let's get your bag. I'll walk you home."

Hatsue nodded as if in a trance. She couldn't believe what just happened.

She reentered the classroom to retrieve her things, trying not to give into a sudden wave of tremors. She reached for her bag, whole hand shaking violently.

She didn't feel right at all.

She felt a burn in her throat as though she were about to vomit, but nothing happened.

She tasted nothing.

---

Hatsue opened her eyes to the wall across her bed. Sometime during her last conscious escapade, she had been returned to her joint room with Sasuke and by the looks of it, her back was glass free and healed. She peered off her shoulder to Sasuke's bed and found it empty. She pushed her body off the mattress, heart strumming nervously, and swung her legs off the bed to explore the room.

As soon as she set her bare feet to the cold floor, the room swayed. Whatever drug Shizune injected into her bloodstream remained active and it had a vise grip on her.

She couldn't break away from the grogginess, so she struggled through it as she stumbled her way up the four steps to the door. She felt strange. Her heart aflutter, stomach empty, vision blurred. The things she touched, the air she breathed, the flat taste on her tongue, the black and white quality to her sight, the buzzing in her ear—everything distorted all around her as though it were slowly starting to break apart.

A surge of cold rushed through her from the pit of her stomach to the network of veins and the rest of her body.

Pain. She should have been feeling pain.

Every inch of her felt frozen. Her insides trembled.

Hatsue stumbled straight into the door. She hit the side of her face hard enough to feel her cheekbone bruise. She took several breaths—inhaled, exhaled, held each for as long as it took for her to count to ten, and then repeated.

She reached for the door handle with a shaking hand. She took the sleek gold surface and twisted it hard, expecting it to be locked. It broke off into her hand, a couple of screws rolled onto the floor, and the door creaked open. She laughed weakly, side pressed to the other door as she sunk into a seat. She just laughed while staring at the broken handle and the opened door, trying to stay conscious after making this very obvious discovery.

All this time, she and Sasuke could have broken the door down and left, yet they stayed. She didn't understand why they wouldn't take the first opportunity to leave. She didn't understand why nothing made sense or why it took so long to readjust or why they should be so afraid of their DNA mutations that they wouldn't even consider leaving.

The only memories she vividly recalled were moments in high school she never knew existed. Memories that made her heart skip a beat or assume a foreign rhythm that made her palms sweat and her throat close up. Each one depicted a moment she spent with Uzumaki Naruto literally enjoying his company. She tried to brush it off when she saw him in the facility, not wanting to encourage the behavior she exhibited before her memories had been rearranged.

Nobody wanted them near. Everyone's excuse was the same.

She endangered him. She could kill him.

She didn't understand how.

But her memories did reveal a piece of truth. There were symptoms leading up to her imprisonment in this facility and something about Naruto eased the worst of them.

So if he made her better, if her influence did not work on him…why couldn't they be together?

Hatsue pulled her knees to her chest, letting the door handle clatter to the ground, and covered her face with her hands unable to stop herself from laughing. Every bit of hysteria gave way to gut-wrenching misery, every laugh turned into an unexpected sob, and soon she sat on the floor crying over emotions she felt didn't belong to her.

She experience a heartbreak so great…the loss was unexplainable. She could only feel it—a numbing pain stabbing harder with every tear.

.

.

.

( ...to be continued... )