The Accident

Chapter 2

"Naruto, what happened?" Iruka cried as he knelt down beside the badly injured teen.

"Sasuke kicked me out." Naruto stuttered, his voice shivering with the cold. "after that I'm not sure what happened." Naruto was barely conscious, he could feel feel blood coming from various wounds, he knew that he would be lucky to get through this.

"He done what?" Iruka asked surprised. What had made Sasuke do such a thing? The two of them had been inseparable for as long as Iruka could remember, so why would the raven haired man do something as dangerous as kick Naruto out of their apartment without a jacket and shoes in ten degree weather. "Why would he do such a thing?" Iruka wondered. He didn't think Sasuke was heartless, but this made Iruka wonder. Sasuke should have known that it was dangerous to send anyone outside without the proper gear. Iruka looked Naruto over, he could tell that Naruto likely had some broken ribs, and definitively a concussion (maybe worse) and when Iruka's gaze landed on Naruto's feet, he grimaced. Naruto's feet were already bloody and swollen from his journey from his apartment.

Scowling, Iruka pulled his jacket off and lay it over the barely conscious Naruto. Pulling out his cell phone, he proceeded to call for an ambulance, from Naruto's condition, and the condition of the weather if the paramedics didn't hurry Naruto would die on the streets. Iruka briefly wondered how Sasuke would take that?

"Hang on kiddo." Iruka murmured after he got off the phone, Naruto was now completely unconscious, and that made the older man more worried.

"What happened here?" Iruka heard someone ask and he looked up to find Itachi standing over them.

"You're brother was a little bit of a dick and he kicked Naruto out of their apartment. Minus a jacket and shoes." Iruka explained. "after that I'm not sure, but it looks like he got hit by a drunk driver, and that driver just left him hear and drove on."

"Have you called for an ambulance?" Itachi asked, deciding that he would deal with his little brother later, Naruto's life was on the line right now.

Iruka nodded. He hated watching as Naruto struggled to breathe, struggled to live. Naruto was a kind hearted kid,he didn't deserve to be left out on the street to die, neither did he deserve to be kicked out in the cold either.

"Man, he's going to be lucky if he's able to keep his feet after this." Itachi said grimacing at the bloody, swollen mess that was Naruto's mess. "I'm starting to wonder if he wouldn't be better off with us taking him to the hospital." Itachi commented.

"He shouldn't be moved because we don't know if he has a spinal injury or not." Iruka said. "if he does, we risk making it worse."

"Being out in this cold isn't helping his injuries either." Itachi said, he hated seeing Naruto like this. It made him furious that the driver would just leave him out here to die, and not even care about the lives they just messed up.

"How could they just leave him out here?" Iruka echoed Itachi's thoughts. Reaching out, he touched Naruto's bloody face, would Naruto come out of this okay? Or would he be completely changed? He couldn't help but wonder what had made Sasuke push Naruto out of their home without regards to Naruto's safety? Normally Sasuke was furiously protective over the blonde boy after all that Naruto had gone through. Now though Iruka wondered if the time for their friendship to end had come. Iruka hoped not because he knew that Naruto depended on Sasuke more than he let on. Actually Iruka wondered if Naruto didn't have some feelings for the Uchiha that he was afraid to talk about much less event think about.

"I don't know." Itachi answered Iruka's question, wishing that he could do something more than just stand around and watch as Naruto's condition only got worse. "He can't stay out here much longer though, the medics are going to have to hurry up or we will have no choice but to move him."

"I don't want to risk making him worse." Iruka said, brushing the blood stained hair out of Naruto's face.

"Well, leaving him in this weather is guaranteed to make him worse." Itachi replied, hearing the sound of sirens speeding towards them. When the medics got there, Iruka tried explaining what he knew about the situation. He had found Naruto like this, he figured that a drunk driver had hit him.

"We need to get him warmed up, he's been out here much too long." A red haired medic whose name tag said Rin told her partner. Iruka watched as they carefully slid a backboard underneath him, and strapped him tightly to it before placing a neck brace around his neck and moving him to the gurney. Rin didn't say anything, but she knew the blond boy had about a thirty percent chance of surviving, he'd been left in the cold too long and probably had some pretty serious internal injuries to deal with, and from what she could tell when she had shifted Naruto to get a backboard underneath him, he likely had a broken back as well. She wasn't going to tell that to the two gentleman that obviously cared a great deal about him, because the news would be just as devastating to them as it would be to the injured party.

Placing an oxygen mask around his face, as she helped her partner Obito load the unconscious young man into the ambulance.

"Whose coming with us?" Rin asked, and the man with the scar across his nose, came towards them.

"I'll meet you at the hospital." The tall man with dark said, and the other nodded and climbed into the ambulance, and took a seat on one of the bench seats, he reached out and grabbed the unconscious young man's hand.

"How old is he?" Rin asked as she began inserting a needle into the crook of his elbow.

"Eighteen." Iruka answered, and Rin grimaced. It was such a young age for someone to have to go through something so tragic.

"What are his odds of survival?" Iruka asked, knowing that at this rate they couldn't be very good.

"I would say about thirty percent." Rin answered honestly. "his condition is critical, it doesn't help that he was out in that weather for so long."

"I wish I had found him earlier." Iruka whispered. "I feel like maybe his odds would be better if I had found him earlier."

"It's not your fault." Rin assured. "I'm sure there were other people out, that likely completely ignored him."

"How can they see an obviously injured person and ignore him?" Iruka asked. "That makes them as bad as the driver that hit him."

"It does." Rin agreed. "It might as well be murder if he doesn't make it." Iruka swallowed hard and squeezed Naruto's frozen fingers gently. He didn't like the thought of Naruto dying, but if his condition would be worse than what it had been previously then maybe it would be better to let him go.

"What kind of medical history does he have?" Rin asked. "Is he allergic to anything?"

"He was diagnosed with cancer when he was thirteen, and was declared cancer free last year. He still has to go in for checks up every few months to make sure the cancer is still gone. As far as being allergic to anything, I don't believe so." Iruka answered. Naruto had been diagnosed with cancer only a few months after his parents had died, he had been sleeping a lot and eating less, and Mikoto Uchiha had thought that Naruto was depressed and given the situation who could blame him? She had taken him to the doctors where the bruises were in places where bruises shouldn't have been, such as right in the armpits. The doctor had been then asked for tests to be run after Mikoto had described Naruto's lethargy and lack of appetite. It was shortly after that that the cancer diagnosis had been handed to them. Of course, Naruto hadn't handled it well and had attempted suicide, but Sasuke had been the one to find Naruto's unconscious form and had called the paramedics. After that while Naruto was going through chemo, Sasuke had been right by his side, helping Naruto in anyway that he could.

Thinking back to that time, to how protective Sasuke had been over Naruto, it made Iruka wonder why Sasuke hadn't thought about the consequences of shoving Naruto out of their apartment. Did something happen between the two of them? Something that perhaps would have made Naruto ashamed of himself? Iruka didn't like to think about that, but something had obviously gone wrong, he supposed he would either have to wait for Naruto to regain consciousness or he would have to talk with Sasuke to find out.

A few short minutes, (and one near heart attack on Iruka's part, when Naruto flat lined) they arrived at the hospital, and Iruka was directed to the waiting room while Naruto was taken into a trauma room.

Iruka found an irritated Itachi was already there waiting for him, from the look on the younger man's face. Iruka wondered if he should bother approaching him. Taking a deep breath, Iruka headed his way.

"What happened?" Iruka asked quietly.

"I called Sasuke." Itachi replied. "And told him about what happened to Naruto. The little bastard doesn't seem to care that his roommate is currently fighting for his life. In fact he told me that perhaps the little faggot would be better off dead."

"What the hell?" Iruka said. "Why the hell would he say anything like that."

"I guess the two of them got into a fight over Sasuke getting drunk and then being hungover the next morning didn't do anything for Sasuke's temper and one thing led to another and Naruto ended up smashing Sasuke's precious laptop." Itachi said still seething over his little brother's careless words. Why would Sasuke say such things about his own best friend?

"Anything happen on your part?" Itachi asked, turning his gaze from the tiled floor to the man sitting beside him.

"He flat lined." Iruka said. "And the medic seems to think his odds of survival are about thirty percent."

"That little dick might get his wish." Itachi muttered. "And if Naruto does die, I'll find a way to pin his death on him. Sasuke will pay."

"I don't understand how one person can change so much in such a short amount of time." Iruka said. "He was over protective of Naruto when Naruto was on chemo, but now he doesn't even care that Naruto is fighting for his life."

"Perhaps the accident wasn't an accident after all." Iruka said thoughtfully. "I don't like to think that it's possible but perhaps Sasuke called someone after he tossed Naruto out and paid them to hit Naruto and leave him for dead."

"I don't like to think that my brother could be so evil, but maybe you are right." Itachi said grimacing at the thought. If he found out that that's the way things had gone down, he didn't care if he went to prison, he would kill his little brother.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Liz