...Wow...I never expected such a response. I can't express how happy and excited I am by this. Thank you, every one! : ) I will try to keep up the 'good work' as some of you put it. I hope this second chapter lives up to expectations. This was written and proofed in one setting, so I apologize for any mistakes. I know my chapters are not that long so far, but I hope to increase the length as I go along. I would like to say that a few characters might be a bit OC. Naruto is the main one, but Sasuke might be like that when I get around to bringing him into the story. I think I should state that there will be eventual yaoi, SasuNaru sweetness, etc.
Please enjoy!
Getting to school was more difficult than usual. His vision swam about every 100 steps and the pain was almost too much. The beatings had been bad before, but his father had only ever broken a couple of bones once. Naruto quickly pushed thoughts of that beating out of his mind before he threw up. The pain he was in now was nothing compared to what he had to endure then, but somehow he felt ten times worse. Gingerly touching his bruising face, Naruto winced. He wondered how bad he looked. He had not gotten the chance to glance in a mirror to check the state of facial damage. By the way his face felt, he figured he at least had a black eye and some major bruising around the jaw and cheek bones. Any bruising beyond that was hidden beneath his orange hooded sweatshirt, orange t-shirt, and dark blue-jeans.
As if to answer his question about how bad he appeared, a woman stopped walking to her car and stared at him in shock. Naruto kept on walking, even as the woman came out of her stupor and shouted after him worriedly. Eventually she would give up and decide he was just another idiotic teenager that had gotten into a fight. The woman's shouts ceased and he was relieved by the quiet. Though, as he approached the school, his quiet was quickly shattered.
His eyes widened as he watched a few students walk into the school. Horror washed over him when he looked at the clock hanging on the school. He was not as early as usual. In fact, he was almost on time. The buses would start arriving in a matter of minutes. Quickly brushing his bangs in front of his face to try and hide the bruising, though he did not know the placement of the darkening skin, Naruto cursed inwardly. Pulling his hood as far over his head as he could, Naruto walked onto school grounds. He wanted to hurry, but was afraid that if he walked any faster, he would black out.
His nervous tongue flicked out and caressed his now fat lip before it darted back inside his mouth. He ignored the strange looks he received from the other students he passed as he walked through the halls and towards Iruka-sensei's classroom. He paused beside the door and stole a look inside, feeling like a child for doing so. His eyes found the brown-haired teacher standing by his desk, tapping the wood nervously. Naruto swallowed hard at the worried expression his teacher wore. The man was glancing between the clock, Naruto's desk, and the door. Naruto felt guilty as he slide into view and walked inside, keeping his eyes trained to the floor.
There was a pregnant pause before he heard Iruka-sensei's relieved exclamation, "Naruto, there you are!" The man started to talk rapidly as he walked towards Naruto, "Where have you been? I have been worried about you! Normally you are here early, and well, you have rarely broken that pattern..." Another pause, this time it was awkward. "Naruto...Are you alright? You seem..."
Naruto lifted his head and grinned at his teacher, "Sorry about that, Iruka-sensei! I fell out of bed today, literally, and then, being the klutz that I am, fell down the steps. My mom was super worried about me and was fussing over me, so that's why I wasn't here at the normal time." He rubbed the back of his head and his smile grew sheepish.
Iruka raised an eyebrow and then relaxed, smiling in return. "Ah, well, I am glad that you are alright. Now get to your seat before the others come. Hurry, hurry." He chuckled softly as he sat down behind his desk.
Naruto turned away and walked to his own desk, but did not hurry as requested. He forced himself to keep his mask on as he slid into his chair. He resisted the urge to clutch his chest and groan. He wanted to take some pain medicine, but knew better than to do so in front of someone. He took a small breath, not wanting to cause his injury to hurt more by taking a deep one, and pulled out his book. Opening it to page 138, Naruto tried to read, but found it hard to focus on the small print. He pretended to read, however, so he would not raise suspicion. Being late was one thing, changing his entire routine was another. The routine was what protected him and he needed to keep it intact.
When students filed into the room, Naruto put the book away and folded his hands on his desk. His gaze was focused on Iruka-sensei, but his attention was on trying to keep his vision from swimming, which was a losing battle. He tried to pay more attention to what his teacher was saying, but found it hard to focus on the words pouring from the man's lips. He started to zone out, his vision graying at the edges. His eyelids lowered as the world blurred slightly.
"Uzumaki?" His eyes widened and his vision sharpened rapidly. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him and he smiled, rubbing the back of his head again. "Sorry, here." He replied, acting sheepish. It was quiet for a moment before Iruka called the next student. For the rest of home-room Naruto swore he could feel someone watching him from the back of classroom, but he refused to search for the owner of the gaze, in fear of drawing more attention to himself than he already had.
The bell rang soon after and Naruto rose slowly from his chair. He avoided his teacher and left the classroom quietly. He sought out his friends in the hallway and moved towards them. He stopped short of them, however, when he saw their expressions. Worry was written over all of their faces, though Shikamaru looked more bored than worried. He let out a shaky breath and stepped into their circle, aware of their staring eyes. "What?" He finally questioned, glancing from person to person.
Sakura was the first to speak, "What is wrong?" She asked, her green eyes searching Naruto.
"Yeah man, Iruka called your name twice! You were in your own little world in there. What's up?" Kiba barked, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at the blond.
"We are worried about your youthfulness! The power of youth has lessened in you today, has the sun died?" Lee piped up, gesturing widely as he spoke.
Naruto rolled his eyes and laughed, "I'm fine. I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all. We've got new neighbors next door and they were being so loud! Ugh. Anyways, let's get to class before Yamato-sensei gives us the 'look'. I'd rather not have nightmares about his 'control by fear', thank you very much." He brushed past his friends and walked towards class, only to be stopped by a hand on his elbow. "Why are you wearing your hood up and why is your hair like that?" Sakura asked as her nails dug into his skin beneath the sweatshirt.
"Bad hair day." He pulled himself out of her grasp and continued on his way, his friends following shortly after in silence. Math class was even more difficult to sit through than home-room, but Naruto managed. He sat in his normal seat by the window and attempted to memorize formulas and equations. Yamato's long, drawn-out explanations on Naruto's least favorite subject normally made Naruto's brain explode, but today, his brain was too numb to take in the complicated math that the teacher was spewing out. Whether x minus y, divided by m, multiplied by q was equal to the squared root of z or not meant little to Naruto, especially in the state he was in. Yamato-sensei had asked him to explain a problem and he apparently had not realized it the first two times he was asked to do so. When he had finally realized he was being called on, he had stumbled terribly through the problem, but that had been normal. He was always bad at math.
The bell rang and they were allowed to move to their next class, thankfully. Each class meant he was closer to being able to leave and go to a park where he could rest peacefully for a few hours. Science went by just as math and home-room had, with Naruto finding it hard to not black out and having to be asked to a question several times before he realized someone was speaking to him. When lunch came and Naruto sat at a table with his friends, he was again greeted with worried gazes, and now even Shikamaru and Choji seemed concerned.
"Nothing is wrong. Like I said before, I didn't get much sleep. Let's just eat lunch." He muttered before looking at his food. His mother's simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich sat on a plate beside a pile of macaroni that Sakura had put there. The smell of the cafeteria food had never been very appetizing, but today it made his stomach churn. He swallowed hard and nudged some of the mac 'n cheese on his plate with a fork. On any other day he would have been glad that Sakura had shared some of the school's mac 'n cheese with him, as it was the only thing he liked, but today the smell made him nauseous. He glanced at the others and saw most of them were eating. He watched as food dribbled out of Kiba's mouth and he listened to the gross noises that came from both Kiba and Choji, due to their disgusting eating habits. Naruto suddenly didn't feel hungry any more and he set his fork down. Folding his hand on his lap, he lowered his head and shut his eyes. That was a mistake. The minute his eyes slid shut, his world started spinning. He forced his eyes back open and blinked them rapidly, trying to stop the blurred spinning.
His stomach started churning again while his pain level rose again. He had become numb to it over the past few hours, but the numbness was apparently wearing off. He stood and left the table without a word, not thinking about how the action might spike his friends' worry and curiosity. He left the cafeteria and went into the nearest bathroom, getting safely into a stall before his stomach threatened to empty its self. He did not latch the door before he got on his knees and leaned over the white porcelain basin. As he dry-heaved into the toilet, he noticed that there was a coppery tang amid the disgusting flavor of stomach acid. When the heaving finally stopped, Naruto stared into the basin with horror. There was red swirled throughout the otherwise white-yellow liquid. However, he had little time to think about the blood as searing pain went through his body. An unwanted whimper left his throat and he clutched his chest. Soft whimpered cries of pain escaped his lips before he could muffle them by biting his sore lip.
As his vision started to swim and darken at the edges, Naruto tried to fight against it, but he failed. The upper half of his body went limp and he slumped over the toilet, his legs curled beneath him. He did not hear the bathroom door open, or the calling of his name, or the hurried steps and frantic cries that followed. He did not see the unlatched stall door slam open. He did not feel Kiba gently picking him up and carrying him to the nurse's office. He did not see that Shikamaru glanced into the basin before flushing it and following after the others. He knew nothing beyond his last thought before he faded into unconsciousness, "I hope I don't wake up."
How was it? Please review and give me your thoughts. Any feedback is greatly appreciated and feeds the monster within me that writes these things. I hope to return quickly with Chapter 3.