To Hear Your Voice

Chapter 4

Once Iruka and Naruto's teammates left after visiting hours were over. Naruto lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling, he didn't feel like sleeping. He had so much on his mind, like what had been Orochimaru's purpose in leaving him like this? He had known that Naruto's career would become null and void. Why did Orochimaru want that taken from him? Why put him through all that torture? Did he have some kind of plan for Konoha? Was he going to attack and since Naruto couldn't be used as a weapon then Konoha wouldn't be as strong as before. Was that why Naruto had been taken?

Naruto didn't like the idea of being used as a weapon, but neither he did he like the idea of not being able to protect his village. Why didn't Orochimaru just kill him, did he want Naruto to suffer even more, make his depression worse until Naruto had no choice but to take his own life? Naruto couldn't see Orochimaru actually wanting that to happen, no Orochimaru wanted him alive for some reason. A reason that Naruto didn't think he would be able to figure out.

A wave of pain crashed through Naruto's body causing him to wince. He didn't know what kind of drug that Kabuto used on him, but he really didn't like it, since he was still feeling the effects of it 24 hours later. Naruto wondered if the drug would actually cause his heart to explode. He hadn't heard of anything like that happening before but then Naruto wasn't exactly a genius when it came to medical care. He brought his hand up to his chest, rubbing at his heart. If Orochimaru's end game was the death of him and the destruction of Konoha, then Naruto hoped he would die before he could see the destruction of his village. He didn't like feeling like he was useless, nor did he want to be used to destroy the village.

Naruto sighed, his head was hurting whether it was just a headache or from the surgery that he had undergone he didn't know. He figured he should probably stop wondering about what had happened and start thinking about where he went from here. How did he let his dreams go and live like a normal citizen? How would he take care of himself? Without the money from the missions coming in, Naruto wouldn't have money to pay his rent and he doubted any store owner would hire him. He would end up homeless before the end of the year because his landlord would be sure to jack up his rent after finding out about Naruto's recent encounter with Orochimaru, despite the fact that wasn't even his fault. He supposed he could Sasuke or Iruka if he could move in with either of them. He didn't know if he would be able to handle Sasuke's grumpiness all the time, and Naruto certainly didn't want to watch Sasuke together anymore than he already did. He supposed Iruka was really the only choice he had, if he wanted a roof over his head. Naruto wasn't thrilled about having to live with anyone, but he knew his landlord would state something or the other about Naruto being unable to live there anymore because he was deaf or some shit like that. He knew that was discrimination against him, but the village had been getting by with doing that since Naruto was young.

Naruto jumped his heart racing in his chest, when he felt a hand on his head. Startled Naruto found Sasuke staring down at him with concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked, holding up the clip board he had earlier. Naruto shrugged when he read it. How could he be okay after finding out that the world has he knew it was going to be completely different.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. "Visiting hours are over."

"I didn't feel like leaving you here alone." Sasuke quickly wrote and showed Naruto.

"I'm okay, you know." Naruto mumbled. "At least I sort of am anyways. Isn't Sakura going to be mad that your here?"

"Probably." Sasuke wrote "but I don't really care at the moment. I'm more concerned with my teammate that went missing unexpectedly and was returned completely different."

"I'll be okay. I'm used to being alone you know." Naruto mumbled. "been alone most of my life, so why is now any different."

"I'm still not leaving." Sasuke wrote sitting down in the chair beside Naruto's bed. "Besides I want to know what happened to you."

"You don't need to know because it's not going to make any difference. You won't be able to stop what's coming and neither will I." Naruto answered looking down at the sheets.

"What's going to happen?" Sasuke wrote quickly. "And who is coming? Will there be another attack on you?"

"Not on me, on Konoha." Naruto replied, looking back up at Sasuke. "And I think it's my fault."

"Why would it be your fault and who is going to come and attack?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know what I'm talking about." Naruto grumbled when he felt the pain in his chest spike again as he started to spill Orochimaru's name. He closed his eyes, hoping that the pain would pass quickly.

"This is serious." Sasuke said shaking Naruto, whom he had believed had gone to sleep. "Who is going to attack?" He held up the clipboard for Naruto to see.

"I don't know." Naruto moaned, his eyes closing in pain again. He had the feeling that Orochimaru had somehow come up with a way to make sure that Naruto couldn't discuss it. "My heart hurts." Naruto cried as shooting pains shot through his chest. "help me please!" Naruto begged as he leaned over and vomited into Sasuke's lap. Naruto was in too much pain to be mortified that he had just barfed in his crushes lap.

"Hang on." Sasuke wrote quickly, worry filling his heart as he watched Naruto writhe on the bed. He didn't know what was going on, but it wasn't anything good. He stood up and rushed out of the room. He had to get a nurse quickly, or Sasuke feared that Naruto wouldn't be able to withstand that kind of pain for long.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki." Sasuke said stopping at the nurses desk. "I think he's having a panic attack or something. But he's in a lot of pain." Sasuke told the red haired nurse that was behind the desk.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked standing up, and following Sasuke back into the room, a sedative in her hand. "Visiting hours are over."

"I needed to talk to him." Sasuke replied. "And I didn't want him to be left alone."

"He needs peace and quiet to recover." The nurse told Sasuke firmly. Upon seeing Naruto's pale, sweaty face, the nurse knew that what Naruto was going through was much worse than a panic attack.

I couldn't resist stopping here! Anyone want to guess what happened? Thanks for reading and reviewing! Liz