TRIGGER WARNING for anorexia etc.
Just a reminder that we're dealing with serious mental health issues here, and I do hope that if anyone thinks it might upset them too much, they reconsider reading it.
There will be one more chapter of this coming out next week, and then I'll be going on writing hiatus until the end of semester. But this is a looooong chapter, and the next one is a special one, from Sasuke's POV! So I hope y'll like it ^_^.
On the one hand, Sasuke had told him to stop being a creep. On the other hand, he'd said they would hang out "another time". …but, on the other, other hand, Sasuke seemed to think that Naruto had some kind of fetish for freakishly skinny people.
He groaned and laid his head down on the table. That was too many hands.
"I think our relationship's over before it even began," he spoke into the table-top, his voice coming out muffled.
"At least he realises that they don't actually have a relationship," Ino said to Sakura over his head.
Naruto scowled, but didn't look up. "Hey, I'm not delusional! Just…optimistic."
"And look where it's gotten you," Ino said to that. "You're miserable."
Well, yes, he was miserable. Snap out of it, he kept telling himself, but he was just feeling- hopeless. He was pretty sure he'd screwed up any chance of even being friends with Sasuke, let alone anything else. It was over.
"He's like a puppy that's gotten scolded by his owner," Sakura commented, and when Naruto turned his face slightly so he could see her, she gave him a gentle, comforting smile. That was nice. Sakura was nice. He was glad Ino was having a million times better luck with her love-life than he was with his.
"That's a great comparison," Ino said. "See, he's spent all his time running around in crazy circles wagging his tail, and now he's all tired out, too exhausted to even move."
"I'm not a puppy," Naruto whined. "And if you guys are so clever, what should I have done with Sasuke? How do you even get through to someone like him? He's so…hostile…"
Ino and Sakura exchanged a glance, and then they both shrugged.
"Maybe you should have taken it slower," Sakura said. A valid point, yes, he'd take that into consideration.
"You definitely shouldn't have kept waiting for him outside of class," Ino added. Yeah okay, that had been creepy and stalker-ish, absolutely, he could see that now.
-but where else would Naruto have been able to see him?! Sasuke was smart, really smart, so they didn't have any classes together at all. And he guessed that Sasuke wasn't involved in any after-school stuff, not that that would have helped, since Naruto wasn't either.
Ugh, the whole thing had been doomed from the start, that was clear now. And it was a shame; now he would never find out what happened in that book.
Lunch ended, and he dragged himself from classroom to classroom until finally the day was over, and then he slumped against a wall outside of school to rest for a moment before heading home. It wasn't even the weekend yet, and it had been a long week. He couldn't wait to just sleep for 48 hours straight, and maybe clear his head a little.
Of course usually he'd seek out a little entertainment for Friday night and the weekend, maybe run through the contacts on his phone or head out to find someone new, but that thought just didn't appeal to him at all now- like, at all.
It's like he'd been cursed, from the moment he laid eyes on that dark-haired boy, to not be interested in anyone but him. And even worse than that, Naruto honestly wasn't sure if sex with Sasuke was what he wanted. He just wanted to…talk, at first, and maybe Sasuke could read to him again. And then, after that, well. Maybe.
Is that what dating is? he asked himself. It kinda sounded like what Ino had described.
Well, it didn't matter now.
"Oi," came a voice, breaking through Naruto's dark cloud, and he looked up- and was more than a little surprised to find that dark-haired boy himself staring at him. "What's wrong with you?"
"…Sasuke?" Naruto asked, wondering how long he'd been standing there. "Oh, um, hi?" He pushed himself up from the ground and leant against the wall.
"You're not still upset about the book, are you?" Sasuke asked with a frown, arms folded across his chest, looking grumpy.
The book…? Oh, right. Naruto shook his head. "No, I mean, I'm just…" Just what? He didn't actually know. Quick, make something up. "It's silly to be upset over something like that, isn't it?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe if I'd actually read it to you from the beginning, you wouldn't have been so surprised," he said, still frowning. "I guess maybe you didn't see it coming."
Naruto blinked. Was that…an apology? If you squinted, it might pass for one. This was…new. "Well, maybe I'll just have to get you to start again," he said. "From the beginning."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Good luck with that," he said back.
Naruto laughed a little. Figures. "Yeah, thanks." He picked up his bag, waved at Sasuke, and started to leave.
"Naruto," Sasuke called out, walking behind him. Huh? What's this? Is he following me?
"…yeah?" Naruto asked, turning his head around, surprised. Wait, he found me this time; he started talking to me. How had he not realised that?!
"What were you going to say yesterday?" Sasuke continued. "Before we left school?"
Naruto thought hard. When was that? Yesterday was so long ago. Hmm, so before the book, before the hospital, they'd been walking out of school and he'd been about to suggest they-
"Oh, right," Naruto said, remembering, and his mood brightened just a little, thinking of how ridiculous his idea had been. "I was gonna say that you should come over and play video games."
"Video games?" Sasuke repeated, with a doubtful expression on his face. As expected.
"Yeah!" Naruto said, brightening further, as the two of them continued to walk away from school- together. He's still following me! "Sai got me a PS4 for Christmas last year, so I thought, well, it might be fun!"
"Who's Sai?" Sasuke asked.
"He's my roommate," Naruto answered. They reached the school boundary and Naruto started taking his usual shortcut.
"You live with a roommate?" Sasuke said, still walking beside him. He actually looked- well, not interested, but this was probably the closest to that emotion that Naruto had ever seen from him.
How annoying that he'd be interested in this part of his life. But hey, Sasuke was talking to him of his own free will, and he was still walking beside him. "Yep," Naruto said, cautiously, trying not to make any sudden movements to spook Sasuke into realising what he was doing.
"Is that- how is that- allowed…?" Sasuke asked with a small frown.
Allowed? "Oh, um. Well, technically I'm over eighteen, so. And, I don't know, I leave all that legal stuff to other people," Naruto said with a shrug, feeling uncomfortable with where this was going.
"You're already eighteen?" Sasuke asked. "Me too."
He was? That was…interesting. But Naruto had better change the subject, this line of conversation couldn't go anywhere good…he fidgeted as the two of them walked down the street, getting closer to Naruto's apartment now.
"Naruto," Sasuke went on, his face all serious and intent. Naruto felt nervous. "What's a PS4?"
Naruto blinked, and tripped over his feet a little. Really?! "Uh, Sasuke," he began. "You don't know what a PS4 is?"
"Should I?" Sasuke said back, looking mildly offended at Naruto's tone.
"Do you at least know what a PlayStation is?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Something to do with TV's…?"
Well, this was a surprising twist! Could it be that Sasuke had never actually played video games before?
He grinned. "Sasuke," he said. "Just you wait. I'm going to introduce you to an amazing game called Mortal Kombat. You're going to love it."
Sasuke was one of those guys who just gave off a vibe you know, like you could tell just by looking at him that he was super smart and super good at everything he did.
…well, when it came to video games, that definitely wasn't true, because Sasuke was awful. And Naruto loved it.
"No, look, you have to press the triangle-" Naruto said, leaning over to rearrange Sasuke's hands over the controller again. The boy had no idea what he was doing. "There, like that, okay? Wow, this really is your first time huh?"
Sasuke scowled at him, his cheeks slightly pink at that comment. "Well if you'd just stop beating me up so insistently, maybe I could figure out how this damn thing works!"
"I can't help it," Naruto said with a laugh. "You're just very, very easy to beat!"
Sasuke reached over and snatched Naruto's controller out of his hands. "Don't touch it. Just give me a few moments to figure this out."
Naruto let the controller fall into his lap and then held up both his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! It's all yours. I won't do anything."
Sasuke glared at him and then turned back to the screen, staring intently as he started carefully, methodically, pressing each of the buttons one at a time and watching what happened.
"You have to use combos-" Naruto began, but quickly shut up when the other boy shot him a fiery look.
"I'm working on it, okay?" he growled, and went back to his experimenting.
Naruto leaned back on the couch to watch him. He couldn't believe that Sasuke had actually followed him all the way to his apartment, come inside, and was now sitting next to him playing video games. All this, only a few hours after Naruto had pretty much given up hope. Was that what it took? Telling the universe, hey, I'm done?
It was definitely a stroke of luck. Sasuke was way out of his league, but something must have sparked his interest…or maybe he was just bored. Or maybe he felt sorry for Naruto and was just throwing him a bone. Who knew.
Oh, but he was so cute, sitting there biting his bottom lip, staring at the screen so hard, trying to figure out how the game worked. It was adorable. Well, this had certainly pulled Naruto out of his dark mood! Suddenly his mind was full of delightfully sparkly images of Sasuke again.
Calm down, you loser, he told himself. Don't start all that again!
"Okay, I'm ready," Sasuke said, interrupting Naruto's happy daydream of playing video games with Sasuke every day after school.
Naruto stared back at him, feeling a little dazed. "Oh," he said. "Right! Okay, just one more thing though. Can I pick up my controller again? I'll show you."
"Go ahead," Sasuke said, giving him permission.
Naruto grinned, then held the controller up in front of him. "Okay, watch what happens when I press these buttons at the same time. Oh but, you can't use this move all the time okay? You have to wait for your guy to be ready."
"Okay," Sasuke said, looking doubtful, and turning back to the TV.
Naruto pressed the button, and his previously-motionless character on the screen jolted back to life, jumping across to the other fighter and slamming his fist through his stomach to his spine; and then, in gloriously violent detail, he snapped the spine in two and pulled it out through the wound.
Naruto sighed it happiness. "Isn't it awesome?" he proclaimed.
Sasuke glanced at him. "It's certainly…graphic," he said, his tone of voice not giving much away.
Oh, he loves it, surely, Naruto thought. "Okay, let's play! I'm not gonna go easy on you any more, Sasuke!"
And then over the next two hours, Naruto sat in stunned disbelief as this hopeless video-game virgin gradually became some kind of demonic genius with every round. What the hell, Naruto thought to himself as he pounded the controller furiously, snapping back to full attention and having to fight for all he was worth just to maintain his dignity.
"Sasuke, are you serious?" Naruto whined, when he'd once again demolished all of Naruto's best moves like they were nothing. Each time Naruto set them up with new characters it would take Sasuke a moment to find his groove again, but those precious few minutes weren't nearly long enough for Naruto to take proper advantage of. "Why didn't you tell me you were this good?"
"Is this good?" Sasuke said, not looking at him, keeping his full attention on the screen as he calmly, yet rapidly, hit the buttons on his controller.
Naruto threw his own controller down when Sasuke once again won the round. "This just isn't fair!" he groaned. "How can you be this talented after only a few hours!"
"Has it been hours?" Sasuke asked him, carefully placing his controller down and stretching. He reached down to his bag and pulled out his phone. "Oh, it's on silent. Look at all these missed calls…" He frowned.
Naruto looked out the window and noticed it was dark. Wow- they'd spent the whole afternoon together! If Sasuke stayed just a little longer, then Sai would come home and he could introduce them. Sai would see for himself just how gorgeous Naruto's 'dream boy' was. …well, maybe the two of them meeting wasn't the best idea.
Sasuke's phone started ringing and he sighed audibly before answering. "Hello…yes, I know, I just saw the time- no, it's fine- no, I-" he sighed again, and narrowed his eyes.
Must be his parents. Was Sasuke in trouble? That was interesting.
"I'm just at a friend's house, it's no big- yeah, okay, I get it-" Sasuke stopped talking and looked over at Naruto. "What's the address of this place? He says he's coming to pick me up."
Naruto told him, and Sasuke parroted it back into the phone as Naruto slumped back on the couch and pouted. Was he leaving? Oh well. This had been a whole lot more than he'd been expecting, that was for sure! And then he had a thought, and quickly grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it.
Sasuke finally hung up his phone and stared at it in disgust. "He's so annoying," he growled.
"Here," Naruto said, leaning over and shoving the paper into his hand. "This is for you."
"What is it?" Sasuke said, unfolding it and gazing at it in suspicion. "Your phone number?"
"Yes. Can I have yours now?" he asked, feeling hopeful despite knowing exactly what Sasuke would say to that.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you can call me at all hours of the night? I don't think so. You haven't earned it, yet."
"Oh, come on," Naruto said. "It's not fair that I don't have your number when you have mine!"
"You can take it back!" Sasuke said, standing up and shoving all his things in his bag, and putting the paper back down on the couch. "He'll be here in a minute."
And sure enough, there was a knock at the door the very next instant.
…damn.
Sasuke moved away from the couch and Naruto followed him, reaching the front door first and opening it.
"Hi doc!" he said, smiling brightly. He'd been expecting to see Sasuke's father; he was curious to know if he also looked just like these two demon-eyed boys. Oh well.
"…Naruto," Itachi said, eyes narrowing before he turned to look at Sasuke. "This is your friend?"
Sasuke shrugged. "We were just playing video games," he said.
"Video games?" his brother repeated, looking sceptical. "You missed your appointment."
Oh, Naruto thought with a sudden pang of guilt. It hadn't occurred to him that Sasuke might have had other plans. But then, he was the one who basically invited himself over this afternoon, so- but still.
Well, it had been a fantastic afternoon anyway, and Naruto was more than a little disappointed that it was ending.
Sasuke shrugged again. "Whatever. Let's get going."
"Wait in the car," Itachi said. "I'll be down in the moment."
Sasuke frowned. "Itachi-"
"Sasuke," his brother said back in a low tone.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I guess I'll be going then," he said to Naruto.
Naruto could feel his happy mood slipping away. Itachi watched Sasuke walk down the hall and then he turned back to Naruto, a grim expression on his face.
Naruto continued to smile. "So what's up?" he asked.
"You and I need to have a conversation," Itachi said. "If you intend to keep spending time with my brother."
"That's really between the two of us, isn't it?" Naruto said.
"It is not," Itachi said back. "Where Sasuke is concerned, my opinion of things is all that matters."
Well, that was disturbing. Naruto felt his smile falter a little, but he did his best to keep it up. After all, Sasuke was eighteen; they were both adults, technically. What could Itachi really do to stop them from seeing each other?
Itachi reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, quickly jotting something down on it.
"Come and see me at the hospital soon. Here are some times that Sasuke shouldn't be around."
"Hey, um, you're not serious are you, because-"
"I am very serious," Itachi interrupted, and all of a sudden Naruto was being glared at, full force.
He took a step back and stopped smiling. That was freaky!
"Yeah, okay, if you say so!" Naruto quickly said, having no real intention to actually follow through on this, but saying whatever he had to, just to get this terrifying guy gone!
"Good," Itachi said with a small nod. "Goodbye, Mr. Uzumaki."
He turned and left, and Naruto just stood there for a few minutes, trembling slightly. Not cool, dude, he told himself. He's just Sasuke's brother, why are you so freaked out?
That question was all Naruto could think about for the rest of the night and into the next day. Sasuke's brother was…intense. Now, to be fair, Naruto had zero experience with brothers (or with sisters, or any kind of family, really), but based on what he'd seen on TV, Itachi's behaviour around Sasuke was- unusual. And Sasuke just did as he was told…?
Maybe it had something to do with Sasuke being, well, like he was. Itachi was a doctor, after all, so maybe it made sense for him to feel protective.
But whether it made sense or not, it was a sudden, unexpected barrier that Naruto had no idea how to handle. He really didn't want to actually go and see him in the hospital! Definitely not.
Friday went by a little faster than usual, and Naruto couldn't wait to get out of here for a whole weekend. He stood outside school at the end of the day with Ino and Sakura, and wondered- not for the first time- if Sasuke had really gotten in trouble for missing whatever appointment he'd had yesterday. He still felt a little bit guilty about that.
"Got any plans?" Ino was asking him.
He shook his head. "Sleeping! And maybe some more sleeping after that."
"Oh look, it's him," Sakura said, nudging Ino's side.
Naruto looked over and saw Sasuke walking across the lawn.
Ino turned and waved to him. "Sasuke!" she called, with a bright grin.
"Ino!" Naruto shrieked, turning bright red. He grabbed her arm and pulled it down. "What are you doing?!"
"Hey, I'm his classmate," Ino said. "I'm allowed."
Naruto sighed, and looked over to see Sasuke standing still a little away from them, staring at them.
"You're so embarrassing," he hissed to Ino, and he picked up his bag and rushed over to Sasuke to apologise for his hideous friend.
"I'm so sorry," he said to Sasuke. "She's just trying to embarrass me."
Sasuke shrugged, and looked at him, an odd expression on his face. "That's the girl in my calculus class, right?" he asked.
Naruto blinked, a little surprised that Sasuke didn't sound so sure about that. "Uh, yeah. Oh hey, anyway! I spent hours practicing last night, and I'm sure I can beat you now! Wanna come over again?"
Sasuke stared back at him, silent for a moment, and then he frowned. "Oh, you mean that game. Today? Um, no, I've got- plans."
Naruto's face fell. Plans, huh? Okay then. "Alright, never mind then," he said, trying not to look too disappointed.
"It's just that, Itachi was really mad last night," Sasuke went on. "We kinda had a fight."
Oh wait, so maybe he actually was in real trouble? "What's that like?" Naruto found himself asking out of the blue. "Fighting with your family?"
Sasuke looked confused. "Um…I don't know. I mean, I don't know what it would be like with a normal family. With Itachi, we just yell at each other and then ignore each other, but then there's the guilt."
"The guilt?" Naruto repeated.
"…yeah. So, I said I'd hang out with him this afternoon to make up for it."
"Oh," Naruto said. He felt slightly happier; it seemed he had legitimate plans after all. "Well, that's nice! What are you doing?"
Sasuke looked down, and Naruto noticed his cheeks had gone slightly pink. …so cute!
"Not something you'd be interested in. There's this second-hand bookshop near our apartment. They have these sales sometimes."
A bookshop, huh? "So your brother's a bookworm like you are?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sasuke said. "And these sales are- intense. He loves them. He makes me go with him to carry all the books he gets. And the medical books are heavy," he added with a pout.
Somehow, all Naruto could imagine was a glaring Sasuke piled in books, staring out at the world with resentment. Hmm.
"Well, I'm sure you'll have fun," he said with a smile.
Sasuke shrugged. "Mm. Maybe. Anyway, I've gotta go." He shifted his bag on his back, and nodded to Naruto before starting to walk off.
Naruto made sure to keep smiling as he waved. "Yeah, okay, bye!"
He watched Sasuke go, feeling slightly stunned; the two of them had just had what seemed like a normal conversation. And if Sasuke hadn't have had plans, would he have actually said yes to Naruto?! No, no, it wasn't possible…but what if it was?!
Naruto's Friday night was pretty boring, after that. He sighed, and after an uneventful evening he went to bed and tried to go to sleep. Tomorrow was a new day, after all. If only Sasuke had given him his phone number, maybe he could have invited him over for another time. And maybe Sasuke would even have said yes.
And then his phone vibrated beside him, and he reached out to grab it, squinting at the bright light.
Itachi bought 16 books, the message simply read, from an unknown number.
Naruto's heart started beating wildly in his chest. It had to be Sasuke! No way, Sasuke was texting him?! Wait, wait, how was Sasuke texting him? He didn't even take Naruto's number- it was still on the couch!
He quickly typed out a reply. Did you sneak into my apartment and get my number off the couch? he typed, and hit send.
Then he waited. And waited. And after what seemed like an eternity, his phone finally buzzed again and he snatched it up. No, I just had it memorised, it read.
Naruto grinned. Sasuke had texted him back! But hang on… You only saw it for like ten seconds, he typed.
…I've got an eidetic memory. I don't need that long to memorise something, his phone buzzed again.
A what? Naruto thought, opening up a webpage on his phone and googling it.
Seriously? he asked Sasuke. That's amazing! Is that how you got so good at that game?
A few minutes passed, seeming like an eternity to Naruto, whose heart was pounding in his chest the whole time. He couldn't believe this!
According to the internet, my scores weren't that good. Your scores were just very bad, Sasuke texted him.
Naruto grinned until his face hurt; they were texting! This was amazing. He gleefully added Sasuke's number to his contacts list, adding it to his favourites list.
I'm going to bed, his phone buzzed. Don't you dare call me in the middle of the night.
Naruto's grin widened. Whatever you say Sas. 'Night!
Naruto followed Sasuke's instructions perfectly, and didn't call or text him at all until the next morning, waiting until after 9 am just to be safe. He'd been really nervous texting him, especially when Sasuke didn't respond for fifteen minutes, but after that, they'd texted back and forth for hours before Ino called him.
"He wants me to come see him at the hospital," Naruto whined to Ino over the phone, filling his best friend in on all that had happened in the past few days. "Isn't that crazy?"
He hadn't told her about this yesterday; he'd been really weirded out about it, and he figured he was never actually going to go to the hospital- but now he wasn't so sure.
"Is it?" Ino said back. "It's pretty normal to want to know someone's intentions. You'd know that, if you dated guys our age."
Naruto frowned. It couldn't be normal, the way Itachi stared at him. It was crazy.
"Itachi's just his brother," Naruto went on. "I don't see why it's any of his business what my intentions are. Which are perfectly pure, by the way!"
Ino scoffed at that. Naruto could hear Sakura's voice in the background and he grinned. It sounded like the two of them were having a good Saturday.
"Any sane person would be worried about your intentions, Naruto, especially with a guy like Sasuke. And Sasuke's brother is his guardian, right?"
"His guardian?" Naruto asked. "What do you mean?" He waved to Sai as he spoke on the phone; his roommate had finally emerged from his bedroom- he liked to sleep in.
"I mean, they don't have any parents, right?" Ino said.
Naruto froze. "Um, what?!" he asked. "What do you mean? Of course they do!"
There was a pause on the other end before Ino started talking again. "I don't think they do, Naruto. There were…rumours."
No, that couldn't be true- it couldn't be! Naruto's mind started swirling. Just because Sasuke had never mentioned his parents, and he was always around Itachi, and Itachi seemed to control him-
Where Sasuke is concerned, my opinion of things is all that matters.
…that's what Itachi had said. Wait, so…was he really Sasuke's guardian?!
"Ino," he said, his voice low and troubled. "What- what happened to them?"
"I have no idea," she said back. "It's just what I heard. I'm sorry, sweetie. I assumed you knew."
He didn't know. He'd had no idea. And if it were really true- god, that was awful. Naruto's heart sank. Was that why Sasuke was- sick? Why he was- well, the way he was?
"I didn't know," he said, his voice trembling a little. "…what should I do? Should I ask him about it?"
Ino sighed over the phone. "Maybe you should go speak to his brother," she suggested. "I know it seems weird to you. But you're out of your depth with this one, honey."
Well, that had been true even before this revelation. "Maybe it's not true," he said.
"Maybe," Ino said back. "Like I said, it was just a rumour."
"Maybe I should go and talk to Itachi."
"Maybe you should."
He sighed, and fished the card that Itachi had given him out of the couch cushions. One of the times written on there was today. He should just get it over and done with. He needed to know, soon, before he spoke to Sasuke again and messed everything up by saying something stupid.
I'm such an idiot. He started replaying all his conversations with Sasuke in his mind. What had he said? Had he upset Sasuke in any way? Well, he'd annoyed him, for sure, but Sasuke was still talking to him, he was even texting him now of his own free will. So…maybe it was okay?
Naruto slunk into the hospital, looking around him cautiously. Itachi had said that Sasuke wouldn't be around during these times, but how could he know that for sure? Seeing Sasuke was the last thing he needed right now. God, he was so nervous. He'd never done something like this before.
He wondered around outside the emergency room, and before long Itachi spotted him and nodded to him.
"Naruto," he said, his voice and expression completely neutral. "I didn't think you'd actually come."
"yeah, well," Naruto said back. "…you know." Lame. You're an idiot.
"…right," Itachi said. "There's a private waiting room around the corner. We'll talk there."
"Okay," Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders and hoping he didn't look as freaked out as he felt. He had to keep it together here! Just stay calm and all that.
Itachi ushered him into a room, leaving the door open behind them. Naruto sat, but Itachi didn't; he just leaned on the wall next to the door and stared at him. God, he was so much like Sasuke; it was weird.
"So, um," Naruto began. "I-"
"Why are you interested in my brother?" Itachi interrupted.
Naruto blinked. So they were getting right into it, huh? No preliminaries. Okay then.
He coughed and cleared his throat. "Oh, um, well," he stammered. "Me and Sasuke, you know- well, Sasuke's just so…so…"
"So?" Itachi prompted.
"…smart," Naruto managed to get out. Yeah, that was alright. He was smart.
"I see," Itachi said to that, narrowing his eyes. "But it's not a good idea. You should leave him alone."
Naruto clenched his fists against the armrests. How dare he say something like that! "Hey!" Naruto cried. "What's your problem?! If I like him and he likes me-"
"The situation is very complicated," Itachi said, interrupting him again. "Too complicated for you to handle."
Naruto growled under his breath. "What would you know about what I can handle? And besides, nothing's even happened yet, and I don't see why-"
"Sasuke is very sick, Naruto. You know that, don't you?"
Naruto scowled and looked away. He wasn't stupid; yeah, maybe Ino had needed to point out the exact word for it, but obviously he'd known right away that something wasn't quite- right.
"So what if he is?" Naruto muttered. "That means he can't have any friends? He can't date anyone?"
"Preferably not," Itachi said. "He needs to focus on himself."
"You know, I bet he'd be furious to know you were talking about him like this," Naruto said, glancing back at Itachi, whose face looked just as passive as before- as if they weren't having such an infuriating conversation. What was with this guy?! "And you can't control his life, so-"
"If you cared about him, you'd stay away. He'll be much more hurt, when things go wrong later down the line."
"That's not fair," Naruto said, his whole body tensing up. "I do care about him! I stayed with him that whole time at the nurse's room, and I even researched all that anorexia stuff, so don't-"
"Oh, you researched it, did you?" Itachi said, raising an eyebrow ever-so-slightly.
Naruto was so mad he couldn't see straight. He turned his face away from him and tried to breath, tried to count to ten. Getting into it with Sasuke's brother was obviously just going to prove whatever ideas he had about him. And it didn't even matter what Itachi thought, it only mattered what Sasuke thought.
"I don't think you understand entirely," Itachi went on, in that flat, empty voice of his. "Sasuke has been sick for a very long time, and he's not likely to get better any time soon."
"You shouldn't say things like that," Naruto muttered. "You make it sound like you- like he…" He sighed, and counted to ten again; and then slumped heavily against the back of his chair. There was no point to all this. He shouldn't have even come, but…he needed to know.
He glanced up at Itachi, who was still staring back at him steadily; he hadn't moved the whole time they'd been talking.
"Is…is it true about your parents?" Naruto asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
A flicker of something like surprise flashed over Itachi's face. "That they died? Yes, that's true. Almost three years ago, now."
Naruto sunk further into his chair. Three years. So, Sasuke had been…fifteen? He winced. "Um," he went on. "Is that when he- when he got sick?"
"No," Itachi said. "He was sick long before that. It's been more than six years now."
Six years? Sasuke had been like this since he was- twelve? Naruto stopped breathing for a moment and felt light-headed. Oh, Ino was right; he was way out of his depth here.
"I'm only answering your questions so that you'll do the right thing," Itachi went on. "As you said, Sasuke wouldn't be happy to know I'm telling you all this."
"The right thing," he murmured.
"Stay away from him, Naruto. I'm not saying it to hurt you, or him. But I know what's best for him."
"I don't think that's fair," Naruto went on, stammering. "You don't know me."
"I'm your doctor. I've seen your records."
Naruto stared up at him, eyes opening wide in surprise. Just what was he getting at?! How much did he really know?!
"Things haven't been easy for you, either," Itachi said, and his face softened just a little.
Naruto went rigid, and flushed bright red. Just who the hell did this guy think he was, talking to him like this?!
"I've heard enough," he said, standing up. "Let me through."
Itachi gazed back at him, but eventually he nodded, and stepped aside. "Think about it, Naruto," he said, as Naruto pushed past him and stormed out of the hospital.
A/N: ...a LOT happened in this chapter _ . Be sure to stop by and say hi in the comments, and maybe let me know what you thought! This has become a pretty difficult story for me to write so far, and I feel like I'm taking a lot of risks with it, so I really do appreciate ALL of your feedback!