edited 11/25/12
During bursts of consciousness Naruto would occasionally recognize the moan of an engine and the fighting of tires before relapsing into sleep.
In one short bout of awareness, Naruto's head bounced to the side and he glimpsed a tall monument standing alone in the blizzard. A brilliant light flashed before dying, and his shoulder tingled. He slept again.
Hours or seconds later, Naruto's mind registered human voices.
"-know," a voice muttered. "Nearly took out the Guard by himself."
"Nearly," another one shot back. Darker, lower, and not amused. "Everyone gets lucky once in a while."
Naruto didn't care enough to struggle against exhaustion.
Much later there was pressure on his shoulder, then a sting, and then mind shattering pain. The blinding white angry spikes then dulled into a mute red almost instantly, now only tingling irritably. Naruto's back was stiff and every part of him seemed to be sore, but his brain urged him to identify his surroundings before his hurts.
Keeping his eyes closed and his breathing regular, Naruto listed intently to understand his situation. Sharp footsteps echoed away, paused, and the creak of a door was heard before the footsteps were cut off with a click.
Nothing but the beeping of machines kept him company in this cold room, and the silence made him remember.
Naruto's eyes snapped open, much to his instant regret. Once the vivid colors in his vision faded away and his retinas seemed ready for round two, he opened them again much slower. The bright lights above him lit up the whole white room, giving him the instant impression of being immersed in a glacier.
He was in some kind of medical examination room. It was decently small, only large enough to fit his impersonal bed and a long table against the wall with a few things in between. There sat a laptop, a box of kim wipes, and more odds and ends that were a staple in most hospital rooms. There was an instrument stand beside his bed with other various bits. Looking down he found Holter monitor patches clinging to him, the myriad of cables leading to a machine nearby. He ripped them off his chest.
Naruto checked his shoulder, pushing back a pad of taped-on gauze. His skin was freshly sewn into an angry red line overlapped with separate black wires tying his skin together. It looked disgusting in its deformed, molded state, and Naruto could clearly see how it dipped inwards. Obviously his lost flesh was irreplaceable. Though the muted jabs of pain were still there, he found he could ignore it if his attention was properly occupied. The rest of him thrummed unpleasantly, but was still triumphantly working.
Taking stock of the rest of his injuries, Naruto found he was alright to sit up.
I'm still alive, he thought, and let that sink in like the cold of the tile underneath his feet. How, though… his mind went rampant. He must be in a hospital. How had they found him? Who had saved him? How could he explain the monster responsible for all this? He was going to be questioned, and held back, and sent back to…
Naruto shuddered. He didn't want to stay here. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, his calves hitting the metal frame. They were bitterly cold, like the rest of him. The flimsy hospital gown he was wearing didn't help much. Rubbing his freezing fingers, Naruto set his first quest: to find his clothes, damn it.
He checked the cabinets and cupboards around the room but did not expect much. They were filled with various jars and materials and instruments, while there were no charts or notes lying about to help clue Naruto in. With a soft sigh Naruto padded towards the only door in the room, bare of any window. He tried the handle – it was unlocked. Hesitating, he thought things through. Shouldn't he stay here?
Oh, what the hell. Things couldn't get much weirder. He opened the door and squeezed out.
He was expecting a long white hall like in those movies he saw of mental hospitals, and he was not disappointed - save the colour of the walls was beige. Door after door went on down the hall.
Clothes could be kept in a storage room, a recovery room, or, if they were courteous enough, a laundry room. He had no idea of the locations of these places, obviously, nor did he have a clue as to the size of this establishment. On the lookout for any possibilities, Naruto checked each door he came across. None had windows but all had plaques beside them; they read M03, M05, M07, and so on. Sometimes Naruto heard movement behind the doors and rushed by, and luckily no one emerged into the hallway.
Fueled by curiosity and discomfort he continued until he reached the end of the hall, which diverged into two opposite directions at a forty-five degree angle. He quirked an eyebrow at the architecture but was preoccupied by where the hell was he. This did not resemble any hospital.
He must have been wandering for a good twenty minutes! And no one had even had the decency to pop up and detain him, or something. He couldn't make a dash for it when he was practically naked. The storm would freeze his junk off. Sighing he decided to go right because eh, why not, and continued to look for whatever seemed like a good idea. Then the new hall ended and gave him another choice between right or left. The walls were still beige and the plaques still numbered with an M in front.
Naruto stopped short. Damn it all, this place was an ice cube and he couldn't feel his toes and he was seriously lost, what kind of drunk architect designed this place? It was just a mess of hallways, seemingly branching off indefinitely.
I should just set the place on fire, Naruto thought angrily, and set off to search again. The pat-pat-pat of his thinly-socked feet (hospitals were not known for their comfortable clothing lines) accompanied him.
Another hallway intersection. The walls changed color. Naruto blinked, looking about. They were light blue now, and the plaques read -
A double door opened ahead and someone saw him immediately, stopping short. Naruto decided to jump in first.
"Alright, where the hell are my pants?"
He stood defiant and practically naked in front of several individuals.
"Um," said someone.
LATER
Naruto happily wiggled his toes in the provided boots, cushioned by wool socks.
The tall man didn't look over at him, just peered sleepily at the book open in front of him. He was slouched forward slightly, and one hand had disappeared in his pocket after handing over some garments. Behind a changing screen Naruto had adorned black pants and a long sleeved black shirt with a scoop neck. He was considerably warmer.
The man before him had been part of the group that had, er, accosted him and led him to a supply room of sorts after Naruto's insistence. Many shifty glances between them were had, and none of his questions answered. How they managed to not get lost in this maze, he didn't know. Actually, he had a lot more questions. He turned to the man who was wholly engrossed in his book.
"So, who are you? And where am I?"
The man's eye flickered up to him. Eye, singular, because the other was hidden behind an eyepatch. His mouth, too, was covered by a surgical mask. He had crazy long silver hair that defied gravity in places and his posture was terrible.
"Hmmmm," said the man, and continued to slouch over his book.
Waiting for something more substantial, Naruto scowled. "What kind of answer is that? Oh, wait, are you some top secret agent? You don't have clearance to tell me all your secret plots, right? And this is the secret facility where you'll pat me on the back and secretly release me. Right?"
Because this was certainly not a hospital.
The man seemed to be smiling, which was quite something. The motion of his lips curling was invisible but his cheeks rose and his eye was almost completely closed.
The door flew open and a blonde woman strode through while followed by a young woman with pink hair. The blonde's attention immediately fell on Naruto, and he looked back at her squarely. This was a harder feat than expected, she had a gigantic chest that Naruto really didn't know how he avoided staring at.
She stomped over with shoulders squared and her back straight. Her authority practically oozed off her and dripped to the floor. Long blonde hair was tied into two low pigtails. There was an odd blue diamond marking on her forehead and a necklace dangling from her slender neck, resting contently on her great chest - only partially covered by her strange black and green fold-over shirt. She forcibly turned him around and pushed down the cloth of his shirt. She appraised his shoulder momentarily, and tugged the clothing over it again.
"How do you feel?"
His head had started to throb unpleasantly and he was still cold. A certain sickness was only kept away by Naruto's firm dismissal of it.
"Could be better." He cocked his head.
The woman checked his pulse and Naruto stared back at his… what, saviors? "What am I doing here? What's happening?"
The pink haired woman shifted on her feet and glanced at the older woman then back at him. "We took you in to care for your injuries. Once we have assured your identity and your safe transport, you will be escorted back home."
"Trans-" Naruto froze, eyes wide. "Oh my god my car!"
The woman winced. "Ah, yes. Then we will see what we can do to have another one provided for you."
"Another one? You mean… please tell me it's not just sitting around collecting snow back there… all my stuff…"
The woman looked at him almost pityingly. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid Kakashi was too busy trying to rush you to safety to bother with relocating your car."
Startled, Naruto turned to the still silent man. His one eye rose to meet Naruto's. He hesitated and softly said, "Thank you."
Kakashi closed his eye in what Naruto somehow understood to be acceptance. "You didn't need much saving. You did just fine."
Turning away, Naruto sighed sadly and thought of his possessions still in there, probably lost in the freak storm. What was he going to say?
"So what happened then? And where is this place?" he directed the question at the smaller woman.
She shrugged. "Not far from where we found you."
Naruto rolled his eyes so hard that his head dipped back. He saw Kakashi and the blonde exchange looks.
"…Okay. Well, I still need to get my stuff from my car. I want to leave as soon as the storm dies down."
The blonde woman grinned, amused at a situation Naruto did not understand. "Of course. Just give us some information and you'll be on your way. We will escort you to your car to scavenge what you can, then get you home."
The pink haired girl walked up with a clipboard. "Name?"
Naruto looked at her again and paused, considering. This seemed to be some military group, or at least some organization with authority. He had definitely come across something he shouldn't have, and they were trying to cover their asses. Maybe he should lie to avoid problems… but then again, they surely had the resources to verify that.
"Naruto Uzumaki," he said eventually.
The pink haired woman jotted it down, asking for him to spell it, but the blonde looked up quickly. "Uzumaki?" she repeated. "As in, the charge of Orochimaru?"
All eyes were on Naruto. He shrugged. "Yeah, my godfather."
The woman considered him. "I know Orochimaru well." She said slowly. "Do you happen to know a Jiraiya?"
Naruto scratched his head. "Oh yeah, that old perv. I know him a bit, I guess. Comes over to talk to Orochimaru and leer at the girls down the street. How do you know-"
She smiled again and interrupted him. "Well, that was a nice coincidence. Please help Sakura with the rest of the information while I arrange your affairs."
She turned and left, with Kakashi following a few moments later. Naruto wondered if this apparent connection would keep Orochimaru from skinning him alive.
The girl – Sakura? How fitting – went back to her instructions. "Occupation?"
"College student."
She smiled at him. "On winter break, right?" Her eyes were a lovely green. Naruto nodded at them.
"Hmm," she said, and jotted it down. "Address?"
ELSEWHERE
"Jiraiya?" Tsunade clutched the receiver.
"Uuugh, hello?" the man on the other line grumbled. It was early.
"Listen. We have a situation." Tsunade clicked her fingernails against her desk. "We found a certain someone here. Someone you know."
"…Go on."
"Naruto Uzumaki."
She heard the man breathe in. "Holy shit. No."
"Holy shit, yes."
"I knew he was off somewhere because his communications were silent, but how in the hell did he end up- where you are?"
"Drove through the storm, ended up -"
"How? It doesn't reach far enough to hit a road!"
Tsunade clicked her nails again. "Who knows. He must have been pulled."
"So how'd you find him?"
"A Guard found him first." Before Jiraiya could interrupt with surprise she went on. "He practically killed the thing himself with a ski pole before Kakashi's patrol neutralized it."
Heavy breathing on the other line. "There's – that's – what a hell of a coincidence."
"I want to keep him."
She heard a yelp. "What? Listen, Orochimaru will flip if he finds out Naruto had anything to do with this. He was never supposed to even know about you. Just send him home. At least with Orochimaru he's safer than with you."
Tsunady grimaced. "Dammit man, you know what's at stake here! He's got what we need. We can train him. He has potential, it's obvious."
Jiraiya moaned. "And dangerous. …Look, after all that's happened, letting Naruto near there..." he sighed. "Not to mention Orochimaru won't be happy. He'll pull every trick he knows to have Naruto back."
"Worried about his safety, I'm sure," Tsunade laughed scornfully. "Your foolish trust aside - I know, but this cannot be avoided. He stays here." She took a breath. "And I demand your presence here in a week's time. We'll be watching for you."
His curses were cut off abruptly as she hung up. The leather chair crinkled as she sat back, massaging her brow. Stillness settled.
"I won't let your sacrifices go to waste," she whispered to the empty office. "But I need him."
Notes:
Holter monitor: a portable heart monitor and recording device, used to detect heart rhythms over the course of 24 to 48 hours. Usually sent home with the patient.
