Chapter 3: Name
Six in the morning was Sasuke's time to wake up. He was allowed an alarm clock, which was his only belonging from his house. It was such a stupid fuss over each object, in Sasuke's opinion, searching for any danger that could be set up anywhere and trigger at any time. Everybody was being extra cautious for everything that was related to Uchiha that made Sasuke roll his eyes for so many times that he lost count.
He was bored to his wits within each half hour and he decided to take a tour of the hospital for the first time, actually. He never cared about where or what or who was in this hospital and Sasuke only suddenly thought of having to do this because he had a certain person stuck in his mind, bothering him throughout the night.
He didn't know why he found himself so curious about the anonymous blond boy, but his body and mind didn't deny, nor protest enough to hide that curiosity.
But before taking himself a tour, he decided to get some fresh air and slid off the bed.
His feet contacted the cold floor which sent him a small shiver through his body.
"Where are you going, Uchiha-sama?" was heard when Sasuke was about to exit through his room door. He was glad he was able to open his window and not much nurses were there to pull him back to bed which he had been through for the last few years until Sasuke became extremely rebellious against the nurses.
"Out," Sasuke replied shortly.
"I am afraid you are forbidden to go outside of the hospital before the hours of-"
"Not iout/i of the ihospital/i," Sasuke leaned on the words to make himself clear of what he had meant, and had a hint of sarcasm in his voice, treating the nurse like she was not so bright in the head. Sasuke saw hurt in the nurse's face but he didn't regret it. They needed to learn the fact that Sasuke wasn't a child no more.
I don't need 50 mothers telling me what to do! Sasuke thought grumpily as he walked passed the nurse without a second glance at her.
At the end of the corridor of his floor, he put a hand on the door that lead to the outside, the roof top of the hospital.
Surprisingly, he found that that place was occupied, and by a certain familiar mop of blond.
The blond notices Sasuke's presence, but doesn't turn his face to acknowledge him, in other words, ignoring him.
"…you again," Sasuke said in a sigh-mixed mutter to himself in disbelief at the coincidence he was constantly having in sequence. He lowered himself beside the scrawny blond and that previous muttering Sasuke had breathed out made the other turn his head towards Sasuke, before turning back.
Silence was long carried between them which, funnily enough, wasn't an awkward one but the two just feeling the cool morning breeze.
The blond felt the breeze a little different to the usual morning when having a person beside him because that fact itself was unusual enough for him. That's why he found some courage within himself to speak up, just a little.
"…Uzumaki."
"What?" Sasuke asked, snapping his head towards the sudden voice.
"Uzumaki," said the blond, a little louder.
"A whirling vortex?"
He shook his head in answer.
"So why'd you say 'uzumaki' then?" Sasuke asked, but the blond didn't seem to want to speak. He found that a bit irritating and knew this was going to bother him, but he kept silent.
"...my name," regaining some courage again, the blond tried again.
Sasuke's eyes opened wide and deceived his ears.
"Your...name?" Sasuke repeated in a whisper, and then for the first time that day, Naruto looked up and locked his gaze on Sasuke's.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto."
"...Naruto," Sasuke tried voicing that name slowly, making it sink deep into his memory cells.
"You don't need to remember it," the blond quickly mumbled and looked away. He only mentioned it because of what Sasuke had said to him previously, the day before.
"Hn, too late, dobe. I never forget what I input in my brain," Sasuke replied, gaining back his usual stoic mask he had dropped for a few minutes.
But as usual, receiving no reaction from the said boy, Sasuke wanted to know what was wrong with the blond, and why he was here in the hospital.
He knew that asking such a thing would be far too rude, and so he kept quiet even if it was the first time he had ever felt indulged into another person and felt curious about that person, wanting to know more.
Thinking such things, Sasuke had lost track of time that he realised what the time was when they were disturbed by a nurse.
"Uchiha-sama! There you are! You are late for breakfast," the nurse demanded, strolling over to the pair sitting down on the ground of the roof of the hospital.
The blond boy twitched when he heard his neighbour being addressed, which Sasuke didn't miss.
"Oh, Uchiha-sama. Have you made a fr-?" the nurse stopped in mid-sentence and paused her feet as well when she recognised who Sasuke was sitting with.
"Problem?" Sasuke asked smoothly.
When the nurse replied 'yes' in a quiet voice, Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief and took a glance at the blond, who stared afar with somewhat distanced eyes with no reaction to the nurse's reply.
He's... used to this? Sasuke thought, because that's what it seemed to him.
"Come, Uchiha-sama. Breakfast is ready," the nurse called out and turned her back towards the pair, walking towards the exit door.
Sasuke stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets but didn't make a move to follow the nurse at all.
"No."
The simple word rang within the three clearly as Sasuke voiced out his reply to the nurse who he couldn't forgive, even if he didn't express it with his stoic mask still attached to his face.
The nurse turned back at the owner of that voice in surprise.
"Sorry?" She asked, looking at the piercing black eyes that pinned her movement.
The scrawny blond also looked up at Sasuke, hearing a hint of anger in Sasuke's voice, wondering why that was.
"You said 'yes'. So I said 'no'," Sasuke explained his reply with such a cold tone, that this time, even the nurse found that hint of anger within that voice.
The azure blue eyes slightly widened in surprise as he realised that this 'Uchiha-sama' said person had taken the 'yes' from the nurse, very offensive towards him.
How can a nurse say 'yes' so boldly in front of the actual patient?
Getting to know another person had no rules or limits, and so Sasuke just couldn't understand why the nurse would answer that way, and take that kind of attitude towards this little blond patient whose age wasn't far off from himself.
On the other hand, it wasn't a common thing or this blond to come across a person who he hardly knew of, who suddenly defended him so boldly in front of a nurse, without even knowing the whole story that came with the blond.
No... He's just rebellious against nurses the blond said to himself, to crush any hopes that was starting to slowly well up within him.
He didn't need those lights that were only just going to be snuffed out sooner or later. He didn't want anymore reminders of who he was, and how he was meant to be...
