Blub…
Blub blub…
Blub blub blub…
Though strange, the simple act of listening to the small pockets of air that remained inside him pass through his lips, float to the top of the water, and pop once they broke the surface was as therapeutic a task that Naruto could find. Were he older and a bit more introspective, he'd have found it funny that something as simple as lying at the bottom of tub and blowing bubbles would help numb his mind to the events of the past two days more than speaking to a therapist or friend. Sometimes he would open his eyes and try and see through the murky waters of the bath to watch the bursts of air travel up and disappear. It was like watching the tiny bits of flame that would break off from the head of a fire and vanish into the ether in less than a second.
Sometimes he would keep his eyes open without blinking and do nothing but stare up at the ceiling through the muck that would momentarily clear as bits of natural light came through and shone in the form of little beams, like tiny skewers stabbing into the water. It was during this time that he was able to become more aware of his movements. His ears, though submerged within vile water, could pick up everything that went on in the tub. He'd bend his finger, and the sound of the bones scraping with the joints that held them would echo through the tub.
This made having even a moment of peace complicated as he found it impossible to remain still long enough for any silence to be had. It was a growing irritation that waned on his limited patience. All he wanted right now was to be left alone in silence, but his body wouldn't stop making noise he didn't know it capable of.
Tum tum tum!
That didn't sound like moving joints and bone at all. It sounded more like a thunderous thumping was coming from outside the bath. Naruto brought his head up out of the water to see what had intruded on his bath, shivering as he broke the surface and met the freezing air. He was somewhat surprised to see Doctor Tetsuda at the bathroom door. Naruto readjusted himself to better meet the doctor. "Tetsuda-san," he greeted. "Why are you in here?"
The doctor smiled and held out his hands. "I just wanted to bring you these," he said. In his left hand was a set of red and white striped pajamas, and in his right were a pair of orange slippers. "I know you don't like putting your bare feet on the floor, so I snagged these from storage as well. I figured you'd rather move around yourself rather than using a wheelchair."
Naruto gave the doctor a genuine smile as he looked at the new clothing and nodded his head. "Thank you very much. I like the color of the slippers."
"I thought you might," he replied humorously. "I'll just leave your pajamas on the rack here with the towels and your slippers at the bath, alright?" He went about doing as he said when he received a nod. "So, how're you feeling now? You've been in here for a few hours now."
The boy slid further into the tub to let his chin touch the cold surface. "Better, I guess," he mumbled. "I don't hurt anymore and I'm all clean, but I'm really hungry."
Tetsuda nodded and gave the boy a reassuring smile. "I figured you'd be hungry. Normally we don't allow patients to eat outside food, especially ramen," he saw Naruto slump further into the tub and had to refrain from laughing. "But, considering the Hokage has requested it, I'll let one bowl slide. I just sent someone out to get a bowl from that stall you really like."
Immediately Naruto's mood changed and he had to keep himself from hopping out of the bath with joy. It had been too long since he had been able to enjoy a bowl of his favorite food. An entire day! It would be nice to have something he could actually enjoy after the recent events. He really needed something to look forward to. He wanted to get out right then just so he could eat, though it would be embarrassing for him with the doctor standing there. "Um… I think I'll get out now," he said, hoping Tetsuda would understand that he wanted some privacy.
The doctor thankfully caught on fast and nodded, heading straight for the door to leave the boy in peace. He stopped halfway through the door, however, and turned to face Naruto one more time. "Ah, one last thing, one of your classmates came by with homework for you. It was placed on the table next to the bed with a sheet of instructions from your teacher."
Naruto grumbled and sunk deeper into the tub until bubbles started coming out of his mouth. He had forgotten about school, and the homework that came with it. It was just like Iruka to send homework to someone, even if they were in the hospital. "Ok," he managed to say with his face partially submerged. The doctor nodded and closed the door shut, leaving Naruto in peace.
It took him another fifteen minutes to finally get out of the tub. He was thankful Tetsuda had placed the slippers near the tub for him to step into. He wasn't so thankful for the feeling of sliding his rotted, wet flesh into the soft material which made a spine shivering, 'squish!' "Eww," he whispered, placing his other foot in the last slipper and cringing at the sound once more. The slippers were soft, and now squishy. It was a nice contrast to the ice cold floor or the filth stained sheets he had kept his feet in for the last two days. Naruto moved to the sink where his clothing and a fresh towel waited for him, although the towel was strangely draped over the mirror for some reason. He shrugged and gave a tug on the towel, and was instantly met with an unpleasant surprise. He knew he probably looked like the thing that attacked him, and though he looked different in many ways, it was still a good match. No more was his tuff of deep yellow hair. Instead, he had a lumpy, red, hairless scalp littered in several cuts and what appeared to be boils. His eyes were no longer bright blue, but black with tiny red irises. Naruto's ears were pointed and a bit jagged; one even had a hole in it! Thankfully, he was not as thin framed or as fetid as his attacker, nor was his body as gangrenous looking as the creature's. His teeth were also coming in nicely, although they seemed to be taking on sharp points that barely jutted out of his gums.
He sighed dejectedly, trying to keep what Sarutobi had said in mind. There was a way around everything, no matter how impossible it may seem.
Naruto turned away from his reflection to continue drying himself off. Even if there was a way around it, somehow, he still didn't want to look at himself. Of course, the leftover grime that held on came off and stained the nice white hospital towels gray, something that made him want to retch at when he realized the gunk was everywhere on his body. Thankfully, the towels took most if not all of it off. The pajamas went on easily enough, though he never got the buttons to match up right.
The door swung open with an infuriatingly loud, 'CREAK!' that made Naruto wince. "Why is everything here so loud!?" he screeched.
As if Kami hated him, a loud thumping came from the door, followed by the voice of Inu asking, "Naruto, is everything ok in there?"
The boy covered his ears and shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the noise. "Yeah, I'm ok," he called back as he made his way to his bed. "Just… don't knock on the door anymore. It's too loud!"
There was a silence on the other end, followed by a confused, "O…k?"
Naruto grunted at the man, climbing back onto his newly cleaned bed. He noticed that someone had placed a wooden board in front of his window, something he was immensely thankful for. He was less thankful for the book and paper that sat next to his bed with a note reading, 'Naruto, hand in your work after your stay at the hospital ~ Iruka.'
"Why does Iruka-sensei have to give me homework now of all times?" He picked the book up and looked it over. "Konoha History," he read. "Sounds boring… eh, I'll do it later." He tossed the book back on the table and leaned back in his bed. It was too early for him to try and nap, and with him looking the way he did, wandering around the hospital was out of the question. There was no way he'd try and look out the window for a distraction, not at the risk of frying himself into the hospital floor. All he could do was lay in wait for his ramen to arrive. It was good that he had spent more time in the bath, because his waiting time was short.
"Naruto," the voice of Inu spoke through the door. Said boy was grateful that the ninja had remembered no to knock this time. "I'm coming in with your food, alright?"
Naruto pulled the covers over him to hide as much of his skin as possible before replying. "Ok, you can come in now!"
The door swung open, loudly creaking much to Naruto's dissatisfaction, as Inu entered with a large plastic bowl and a set of chopsticks. He closed the door behind him and approached slowly. "Necko wishes me to inform you that she is sorry for what happened earlier, and that she made sure to retrieve the largest, fullest bowl they had at the stall for you."
The boy thought back to what Inu was talking about, and he remembered a female ANBU opening the blinds on him by accident. He had completely forgotten who had brought in the sunlight, and from what he could recall, she didn't mean any harm. "It's ok," he said as he pulled a small table close to his bed. "She didn't mean to hurt me… I forgive her."
Inu placed the bowl on the table and nodded. "I will be sure to inform her. Is there anything else you need?" Naruto shook his head and Inu bowed. "Alright, we'll be outside if you need us, alright?"
"Alright," Naruto nodded, breaking the chopsticks. "Thank you for the meal!" As soon as the door shut and he was left alone, Naruto tore the plastic lid off the bowl and dug in with wild abandon. He brought as many noodles and meat chunks to his face that his chopsticks could hold and gobbled them down without so much as chewing. With his teeth still coming in, he had little use for them other than breaking up the occasional strip of noodles that passed through his lips. They weren't tough enough to really get through the meat. To his delight, Inu had not been kidding when he said Necko had fetched the fullest bowl available. The container was filled to the brim with eggs, ham, beef, veggies and even naruto!
It took him less than three minutes to finish the bowl, and even then he was still licking the inside for the very last drops of miso. When he was sure he had gotten every last morsel from the bowl, he tossed it back onto the table and laid back, letting the satisfying feeling of being mostly full wash over him. He sighed contently and pulled the blankets over him, nuzzling deep into the pillow and closing his eye. Perhaps he could get a bit more sleep now that he had eaten.
The Hokage's Office
Sarutobi slumped back in his seat, nursing his sore wrist after writing the several pages of notes he had taken over the course of the last five hours. The most writing he usually did in a day was placing his signature on several hundred papers he had to read through. Across from him, Lauren sat comfortably with a cup of red tea resting in her free hands. "This… is a lot to take in," Sarutobi said. He looked over the stack of papers before him, each of them holding precious, and even dangerous, information about Naruto's condition and what to expect in the near future. From what he had gathered, it was going to a rough and very grim ride for the boy.
"I told you it would be hard to swallow," Lauren said. She took a long sip of her tea and stretched out as best she could in the seat. It had been a long day for her as well, and her body was starting to ache from sitting for several hours. "Do you have any more questions?"
The Hokage leaned forward to flip through the papers, pulling out one of the bottom sheets and reading it over. "Yes, I have a few more." He noticed Lauren slump dejectedly in her chair. "Earlier, you told me that he wouldn't be able to eat regular food. Does that mean he won't have an appetite for it, or is he simply incapable of consuming it?"
"Oh, he can eat normal food," she corrected. "He just won't be able to keep it down. If he were to, say, eat a rice ball, it would only be a few minutes before his stomach would try to get rid of it. When that happens, he'll lose any blood he's consumed recently, and become very hungry."
"That reminds me," he took out another sheet and skimmed through it for the information he was looking for. "You said he needs to drink human blood? What if he tried something else?"
"What, you mean like the blood of an animal?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Would that work as an acceptable substitute?"
Lauren leaned back and stared at the ceiling, as if her answers were above her. "Well… it doesn't fill most of us up like mortal blood, and we can only stand so much of it before vomiting, but Bertram claimed he could live off rats and stray animals if he needed to, so it might work for Naruto considering he's the same as him."
That was good news, though he would try and get the boy on a diet of deer rather than rats. "Good, I'll see to it he's fed a steady diet of animal blood. There are plenty of butcher's in Konoha."
"I said Bertram claimed it was possible, I never said he proved it."
The Hokage ignored her as he dug through the papers once more and produced another page. "You said there was a way around his sunlight problem, yet you didn't specify."
"In my defense, you were asking too many questions for me to give proper answers to." She received a scowl from the old man and sighed. "But you are correct. There is a way around it. We've found that sunlight does not affect clothed areas, so if you can cover him head to toe in something, he should be fine. Obviously that doesn't mean he's going to be one hundred percent safe, even the slightest bit of exposed skin will burn."
Sarutobi nodded and quickly scribbled the bit of information on a blank spot on the paper. "Anything else?" he asked.
"Sunglasses seem to work as eye protection," she added. "And he can never have the use of chakra."
The Hokage nearly fell out of his seat at that. "I'm sorry," he said, pressing himself further into his seat "Could you repeat that?"
"He can never use chakra," she repeated. "As I said, he's essentially a cadaver. Once he died, his chakra systems shut down. I suppose this will be a problem, considering he's an academe student."
"It will," Sarutobi said forlornly. This would indeed be a serious problem for Naruto, considering he so desperately wanted to be a ninja. Without the use of chakra, the task was nearly impossible… but not completely unheard of. He knew of one man, a strange man, who rarely used chakra at all. He'd have to see about getting him to give Naruto some help, and with any luck, Naruto would do well enough in class and on the written portion of the final exam to just pass. "But I may have a way around it," he finished.
"Oh?" Lauren sat up and leaned forward. "And how is that? I'm interested in hearing how you plan to make a ninja out of a boy incapable of performing ninjutsu and genjutsu."
Sarutobi smiled. Kami, it had been far too long since he could actually give a smile. The last time had to have been earlier in the day when he left Naruto with his bath. "I have my ways."
"Ooh, mysterious." She copied his smile, though it lasted only a second as a grim thought entered her mind. "You have him well secured, right?"
"What?" Sarutobi asked. "Of course, there are three of my best ninja outside his door."
Lauren's eyes widened and she nearly jumped out of her chair. "You're telling me you've left a creature with a nearly insatiable hunger for blood unsecured in a hospital!? Three ninja won't be enough to keep him from going wild with hunger!"
Something clicked in the Hokages mind, bringing back a specific memory. He had asked Tetsuda to look into getting Naruto some food, something that, according to Laruen, would only make his hunger worse. 'Idiot!' he cursed himself. He stood up immediately, his chair clattering to the floor. Several ANBU entered the room in time to hear him say, "Cuff her to the chair until I return!" before he vanished in a swirl of wind.
Konoha Hospital, Naruto's room
Naruto groaned as he turned in his bed, his arms wrapped tightly around his upper abdomen. The satisfying feeling of fullness had left him minutes after consuming his food, replaced with pain and dizziness. His stomach wouldn't stop grumbling, and he dared not open his eyes when dizziness and loss of balance threatened to rear their ugly heads once more. He squeezed tighter on his stomach as he felt it churn and rumble. "Oh Kami… I don't… I don't…" he leaned over the bed, his breathing picking up in speed.
"I… I ca-" he felt drool pool in the pocked under the tip of his tongue, which was usually a warning of vomiting. Naruto took a gamble and opened his eyes, only to immediately regret it. The floor looked so far away, but then it would come closer and closer, bobbing up and down like a yoyo. The pocket of droll reached his lips and dribbled out his mouth and onto the floor.
That was it. That was all he needed to see before the floodgates opened and he finally let it all out. The soup, the noodles, all the toppings and even the blood he took from the Hokage came pouring out and splashed over the floor. There was a loud thumping in his head, or at the door, he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. "Wai…don-" his words were cut off by another gurgling upchuck that left the floor and sheets cherry red.
"Naruto-san!" Someone was shouting at him, he couldn't tell who, the pounding sound had become too loud and his vision blurred into an incoherent mess. He could feel something touching his shoulder. It felt like hand, a hand that reeked of dog fur. The powerful scent made him cough and retch. "Naruto-san…" again they shouted, but again the rest of what they said was drowned out by that damned pounding.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
"I… wa…" He couldn't understand what he was trying to say, or why he was saying it. "I wan…" Naruto turned his head to meet the owner of the offending hand that intruded on his senses. The person was tall and gangly with dark clothing and a bone white face. He had no idea what this thing that grabbed at him and shouted his name was, or why it knew his name, but from what he could tell, it was the source of the noise that plagued him.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
The pounding grew in intensity; it was hammering in his skull and in his ears. "Naruto…" The creature was still talking to him, yet its words seemed foreign, and only his name seemed to stick out. It reached out with its other spindly black arm to grab him. Naruto flailed his arms about in hopes to combat the offender.
Apparently it worked, as the attacker seemed to back away a few feet from the bed. Naruto turned around to meet the person head on, only to immediately regret it as he clutched his abdomen once more from pain. Now that his stomach had been emptied, he was starved, with no food in sight. Unless…
Thump thump.
That pounding… there was no doubt about it.
Thump thump.
Blood…
Thump thump.
Fresh blood, pumping through arteries and tiny veins, contained in a still standing being.
Thump thump.
That savory metallic liquid was but a stone's throw from his bed.
Thump thump.
He wanted it.
Thump thump.
He needed it.
"Hungry…" he hissed out. His stomach felt like it was on fire, and every second he want without filling it was pure agony. "So…hungry…" Naruto crept closer to the person, legs brought up into a crouching position and ready to pounce as he readied himself at the foot of his bed. His prey's heart rate picked up and they seemed to be say something, but its voice was just background noise coupled with the dull crash of that oh so noisy organ. "Give it to me!" He leapt from the bed with strength he never knew he had and tackled the intruder to the ground. His hands searched frantically for a patch of exposed flesh that he could sink his teeth into. Even if his teeth were barely passed the gums, he'd find a way to break the skin and drink al; that he could.
"N-Naruto!" The intruder managed to gain his bearings and lifted the boy off of him, holding him up by his arms. But Naruto showed no signs of stopping his assault as he thrashed about, arms swinging and digging at the attacker's cloths to find flesh and his legs kicking about. The intruder seemed to scream something to its side. What it was, Naruto did not know nor care, but it seemed to attract two more dark figures.
"Give me it!" Naruto screamed again, his next swing managing to hit the attacker's elbow, making it drop the boy. He took that moment to grab at the intruder's exposed wrist. "I need it!" He tried to clamp his mouth onto the bundle of veins, but the owner of the hand managed to wrench it away before he could dig in. Naruto glared at the offender and let out a feral snarl. "Hungry!" he jumped at the intruder again, but was lifted up out of the air while in mid leap and tossed onto the bed. The two new intruders held his thrashing body down as they tied his hands to the bed posts. For some reason, they had the insane idea that they could hold him down with bits of rope. He would prove them wrong.
Naruto barely had to put any effort into breaking from his bonds and took another leap; though this time he aimed for the intruder closest to him. He managed to wrap his legs around their chest and dig his fingernails into their shoulders. The sharp, metallic scent of blood entered his nose and he inhaled it deeply, reveling in the sharp aroma that sent chills up his spine. Before he could so much as taste the coveted liquid, he was pried off from his prey once more and held to his bed by all three intruders, and as strong as he was, he could not fight off their combined weight holding him down. Still, he lashed out as best he could despite his inability to free himself. "Let go!" He screamed and hollered for blood, for torn flesh, and for split veins.
He continued to howl and thrash about until two other intruders entered the room. One wore a white lab coat while the other wore robes of a similar shade with hints of red. This one smelled of tobacco, earth, and tar. It was a strangely familiar scent that reminded Naruto of someone he knew, though whom it was escaped him. The intruder approached the bedside quickly, holding out a small red bag. It seemed to say something to the other intruders, something that made them move out its way. "Naruto," it spoke. The voice was more familiar than the scent, even warming. It moved to his side where it placed its hand on Naruto's head, an act that sent the boy into wilder hysterics as a patch of exposed flesh barely concealing a bundle of blue veins appeared near his eyes. "Naruto," it spoke again, voice stern and calm. "Please calm down. It pains me to see you this way."
"Hungry," he whimpered pathetically. Naruto couldn't understand why he was starting to feel a strange pain in his chest as he looked up at the white figure, or why his eyes became clouded with some kind of murky substance. "So hungry… it hurts."
"I know," the person said in an understanding tone. "I know it hurts, and I'm sorry that I've allowed you to be placed in this state, but I need you to calm yourself, please."
It was odd. Naruto wanted nothing more than to thrash about until he was free of his restrainers so he could eat, but somehow, this person made things seem less hazy. Naruto didn't feel the need to lash out anymore and relaxed into the mattress. His sight became completely clouded in near pitch darkness, and something was trickling down his face. Was he… crying? Why? What was so heart wrenching that he felt it necessary to tear up? He blinked the tears out of his eyes and whimpered. The figure came into focus and he shrunk further into the sheets from shame. "I'm sorry, Jiji," he whined. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."
"I know," Sarutobi said reassuringly, placing a hand on Naruto's forehead. "I'm sorry I let things get like this. I promise I'll do better so you never have to go through this again." He lifted the small red bag over Naruto's head. "Open your mouth, Naruto."
"W-what is that?"
"It's… this is blood Naruto, and it's what you'll need to drink from now on instead of food." He knew something like this would be hard to swallow, no put intended, but the boy needed to know these things if he was going to get through this.
Naruto shuddered at the thought of drinking someone else's bodily fluid like some sort of fairytale monster, but he trusted the Hokage to do what was best for him. And so, with great hesitation, he complied and opened his jaws. The taste? It was nothing like he had ever had, save perhaps for Sarutobi's, but his was warm. This was chilled and less salty than his previous consumption. Hints of pork fat and jelly splashed his taste buds. His whole body seemed to go limp as he simply let the foreign, yet oddly pleasant taste wash over him. It was so relaxing in fact, that just as the last bit dribbled from the bag, he pulled off to sleep. It had been a long and exhausting day, and with his gullet finally full, he could rest peacefully.
Sarutobi sighed and handed the bag to Inu. "I've got some explaining to do," he said resignedly. "But first, I need to see to it that Naruto is kept out of sunlight."
"I think I have a solution to that," said Tetsuda, holding up several rolls of bandages.
Holy SHIT! This took me way too long, and it's not even that long. The reason? I was dissatisfied with the first one I wrote, so I completely redid it. Even then, I found this chapter strangely hard to write for. Anyway, this should hopefully be the last time it takes TWO FUCKING MONTHS to update a story, even though I'm still not satisfied with the finished product. I'll start working on FMR before tackling the next chapter of this. If you see anything wrong, and you probably will considering I have the writing talent of a chimp.