Disclaimer: I think it's pretty obvious I don't own Naruto.
I seriously have a lot of stuffed animals. Whenever I move to and from dorm rooms in college, I have at LEAST two boxes full of them. My bed is a mountain of my stuffed animals, and I even have them decorating my desk, dresser, TV, and any surface I can. I was also cleaning my room at home, and have unearthed another full box worth's of stuffed animals. I have no regrets, and I definitely plan on expanding my collection throughout my life.
Onwards with the chapter!
Kakashi was silent as he escorted Sasuke back to the lobby. It was useless to try to entice Uchihas to converse when they did not want to; and even if he tried, Sasuke would only try to make Kakashi talk about his older brother.
The psychiatrist had merely wanted to agree with the younger brother that Itachi was not perfect like most people praised. He had recognized early on that Sasuke was rather resentful of the repeated reminders of his elder brother's accomplishments, and had sought to side with the younger brother on the subject to create a connection with his patient. After all, people bond faster over mutual dislikes than mutual interests.
Unfortunately, though, the youngest Uchiha was too perceptive. Itachi's last phone call still weighed heavily on the psychiatrist's mind, to the point where he could not think of the elder Uchiha without remembering what they had discussed, and Sasuke had noticed that. Damn perceptive kid.
Then, of course, Sasuke had stuck to it, and demanded to know why Kakashi agreed with him. The psychiatrist had wished in that moment that he was dealing with the elder Uchiha rather than the younger Uchiha. Sasuke was stubborn, even more so than anyone else in his family. That was something Sasuke could rightfully claim and be undisputed. While Itachi—and their father Fugaku—was obstinate as well, the elder brother also understood patience, and would let things simmer until the most opportune moment arose for Itachi to manipulate.
But Kakashi was stuck with the younger Uchiha as a patient. While that may have been a blessing for the long run, at the moment it was a curse since he was sure that Sasuke would pester him until his curiosity was satisfied.
Kakashi opened the door to the little locker room for Sasuke, waving pleasantly at the nurse at reception as he did so. She smiled back, and continued to organize the papers before her.
"Ah, paperwork. The bane of our otherwise happy existence," Kakashi started up small talk with the nurse.
She giggle pleasantly, "I know, right?" she replied.
Kakashi saw Sasuke slightly shake his head at them to himself.
"If only it was legal to hire a receptionist to take care of this tedious monstrosity. The key to locker seven, please," said Kakashi, the request sounding like an afterthought.
The nurse had to search a bit, but she found the little key and handed it to Kakashi. "They seriously should hire some receptionist! I feel like two thirds of my job is keeping track of papers!"
Kakashi nodded sagely as he said, "Don't we all?"
The nurse nodded, apparently very happy that Kakashi agreed with her, and began describing how much she hated it when a successful friend of hers describes the nurse's job as a 'glorified secretary'. Kakashi nodded along, occasionally making noises of sympathy or agreement when prompted. He was not really paying attention, but that did not truly matter. The nurse just wanted to vent to someone who knew her job was important, or to someone who did not know this 'friend' of hers; Kakashi did not bother to read any more into her rant than he already had.
Instead of paying attention to the nurse, Kakashi was more focused on observing Sasuke. The moody teenager had his back pressed against the lockers to help him balance as he lifted a leg to attach his little chains back on them. Kakashi could tell from the kid's expression—through the standard Uchiha uncaring demeanor—that Sasuke thought the adults were 'lame' for talking about paperwork.
Kakashi almost grinned to himself. Oh, how much the boy needed to learn about the adult world. The youngest Uchiha was more likely than not—even if he was going through his whiny emo stage now— going to work at Uchiha Corp, and would soon learn the horror that is paperwork.
When Sasuke straightened up after crisscrossing his little chain accessories, he glanced at Kakashi before opening the door to the waiting room outside.
Kakashi did grin to himself at the gesture, small as it was, for it spoke volumes to the psychiatrist. All the other sessions ended with the kid practically storming away, eager to leave and—if it were up to Sasuke—never return again.
The small glimpse had shown Kakashi that he was getting through to the boy, and that Sasuke was beginning to open up to him. It did not mean that the kid would come in Monday, realizing he error of his ways, and start talking openly with the psychiatrist and take the sessions seriously. Far from it. Rather, Kakashi would continue to work slowly, letting Sasuke dictate how the session goes.
The door was opened all the way to let another nurse inside, and Kakashi saw Itachi getting up from sitting in the comfy chair directly across the doors. When their eyes met, Kakashi's grin instantly dropped.
Kakashi may not have been as proficient as Uchihas were in glaring, but that did not mean that his was lacking in malice or intensity in any way.
Itachi did not glare back, nor did he look away. The eldest Uchiha brother nodded his head seriously once in Kakashi's direction to show that he had acknowledged and accepted Kakashi's dirty look as well as the ill feelings behind it.
Then Itachi broke the eye contact as he turned to leave with his younger brother. When they were walking besides each other, Itachi nudged Sasuke lightly on the arm, causing Sasuke to retaliate with a small shove of his own. The two continued to discreetly push each other as they walked out of sight.
Kakashi supposed that he should respect Itachi for not backing down from Kakashi's glare and for taking his advice on teasing his little brother like he used to before their parents' death. But Kakashi did not want to admire and of Itachi's finer qualities at the moment; he wanted to focus on the man's terrible deeds.
The psychiatrist turned around and motioned for the nurse to open the doors for both himself and the other nurse so they could go inside.
Wanting to rid himself of his Itachi-centered bad mood, Kakashi asked the new nurse besides him, "Isn't it a bit early for a shift change?" By his calculations, the majority of nurses in the ward changed shifts in an hour.
The door buzzed, signaling that it was ready to be opened. Kakashi pushed on the handle and moved aside to let the girl inside first.
She thanked him and answered, "I'm here early as a favor to Sakura. She has a date later and was worried that she wouldn't have enough time to get ready, so I volunteered to come an hour early."
Kakashi nodded and said, "Well that's nice of you. So is her date in an hour then?"
The nurse shook her head and said, "No, it's at nine thirty."
"Is the place far then?" Kakashi asked, though not to pry. He could not imagine someone traveling for over three hours for a date seeing as it was a little past five now.
The nurse shook her head again, "No, it's at some local restaurant."
"Then why does she need to leave early? Three hours is more than enough time," said Kakashi.
The nurse stopped and gaped at him for a moment. Then she composed herself and shook her head, "Oh, Dr. Hatake, there is so much you don't know. Four hours is barely enough time."
Before Kakashi could defend himself or ask any more questions, he was interrupted by Sakura herself approaching them.
She power walked—for there was no running in the hospital—to the nurse besides Kakashi and pulled her in a giant hug.
"Ohhhh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" Sakura exclaimed, still squeezing the other nurse, "I seriously owe you!"
They separated and the nurse said, "You are buying the next round of lattes and I expect full details!"
The two girls giggled at each other, making Kakashi very confused. He excelled at many portions of his job as a psychiatrist, but he would never claim to understand how a female's brain worked.
Then the nurse went off to the nurses' station so she could check what her duties were for the evening. After she left, Sakura turned to Kakashi.
"I don't have much time, so I'll make this quick," she said.
Kakashi nodded, while at the same time wondering just why would it take over three hours to get ready for some date. Granted, it had been a long while since Kakashi had last gone on a date himself—the last time was last year at the insistence of Gai, and he had only gone along since he lost their weekly challenge—but the only thing to 'get ready' was changing from work clothes to casual clothes.
"And I dropped Naruto's chart by the nurses' station so you can look at it yourself later," Sakura continued to say, completely oblivious to Kakashi's wandering thoughts. Though, at the mention of his favorite patient's name, he paid more attention. "I asked him about how the Ambien was working, and it is certainly doing the job. He's sleeping properly again, and isn't feeling any negative side effects besides feeling loopy before he falls asleep."
"Well, that's to be expected," Kakashi commented. The pill was prescription strength, so it would be unusual if Naruto wasn't feeling a bit loopy before sleeping.
"That's what I told him," said Sakura, "And he can't remember any of his dreams. So I'd say that the pill is a success."
Kakashi nodded. It was a little strange that Naruto did not remember any of his dreams, since the pill would make dreams more vivid, but it was not unheard of to forget them after waking up. Gaara had told Kakashi once that Naruto was a heavy sleeper, and the fact was reinforced by nurses telling him the same thing whenever they tried to wake the blonde up, so the pill would have returned him to that state of sleep.
"Okay! Well, now that I've said my piece, I'll be off then! Ugh, if only I could have gotten off an hour ago! THEN I might have enough time to get ready! It's going to be tough, but maybe if I go fast enough it won't matter!" said Sakura, mumbling the last bit to herself.
She then abruptly power walked to the exit without pausing or saying goodbye.
Kakashi shook his head to himself. He would never understand women, and he made his peace with that fact.
He stuck his hands in his pants pockets and continued to walk down the hallway to Naruto's room.
When he reached his destination, he tapped lightly on the door before opening it.
Hey, kiddo," Kakashi greeted upon entering the room.
"Hey, Kakashi," Naruto greeted from his bed.
"So did you have fun today?" Kakashi asked, knowing full well that Naruto was going to complain to him about Sasuke's visit earlier.
"It WAS a nice day, 'til that bastard ruined it!" Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms and scowling. The action reminded Kakashi of a child pouting, making him smile.
"What 'bastard'?" Kakashi asked, pretending to be ignorant.
Naruto frowned him, "SASUKE! THAT'S WHO!"
"Why is he a bastard then?" asked Kakashi.
Naruto's eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Why is he a bastard? Because he is! That's why!" Naruto gestured wildly with his arms to emphasize his point. "I TOLD you that he'd make fun of Mini-Kakashi! And he did! He called me a baby and everything! That's bastard material right there!"
Kakashi chuckled. He had seen Naruto be energetic before, when he was granted permission to play outside for an hour under Kakashi's supervision, but never like this. Other times, Naruto seemed to be holding himself back, as if afraid of consequences should he be too loud or rowdy. But now the boy was cutting loose; gesturing wildly, speaking loudly, and letting his opinions about a certain 'bastard' be known.
"It's not funny!" Naruto defended himself loudly.
"No, no, of course not," Kakashi agreed, "That kid is certainly a 'bastard' as you say."
Naruto squinted up at Kakashi for a moment, probably debating on whether or not the psychiatrist was being sarcastic with him. After a moment the blonde gave up.
While Naruto contented himself with going further into detail about how much of a bastard Sasuke was, Kakashi's own thoughts ran back to how Sasuke and Naruto were bickering earlier.
Sasuke seemed unusually interested in wanting to know what had frightened Naruto when he had screamed. The curiosity seemed to be different than the interest in why Kakashi said that Itachi was not perfect for the latter was rooted in his stubborn side.
Kakashi could not place the reason behind Sasuke's curiosity about Naruto's fears. For now, he would keep an eye out in case the reasoning was of the malicious nature. If he had to guess right then and there, Kakashi would say that Sasuke was trying to define Naruto since he had a skewed understanding of what makes someone need to be a resident patient at the hospital.
What was more fascinating, though, was how well Naruto reacted to Sasuke; that he reacted at all.
Whenever Naruto had encountered strangers before during his time in the hospital, he would shy away and constantly question whether they knew THEM or not.
But when he interacted with Sasuke, Naruto did more than openly speak with Sasuke, but he bantered with him, insulted him back, and was downright energetic around the other. And most remarkable of all: Naruto had actually revealed that he had a nightmare AND one of his fears to Sasuke within the second day they talked with each other.
It had taken Kakashi at least a month of near daily therapy to get Naruto to admit that he had a nightmare, and he wouldn't even admit it to Kakashi; he had told Gaara who had to relay it to the psychiatrist.
"Are you even listening to me?" Naruto shouted, interrupting Kakashi's thoughts.
"Of course," Kakashi replied, even though they both knew that he was not.
"Then what was I saying?" Naruto asked with the smug expression of someone who had caught another in a lie.
"You were about to tell me when you wanted to tell me about your fear of the dark," Kakashi said to the other, in a very serious tone.
Naruto's expression fell as he paled, "Wh-what?" he stuttered. He seemed completely thrown off by the question.
Kakashi sat at the edge of Naruto's bed. "You have never told me that you had a fear of the dark."
"It never came up," Naruto mumbled, looking away.
They both knew that was a lie. Kakashi had often times asked about Naruto's fears so the hospital could take measures to help him. The blonde used to have an aversion towards scalpels, or any kind of blade, so Kakashi had made sure that no other doctors or nurses even so much as mentioned sharp objects.
The psychiatrist gently said, "I usually take weekends off, but if you want, I can come in to talk about it any time you want tomorrow or the day after."
Naruto immediately shook his head; not that Kakashi had expected anything else. The blonde absolutely hated burdening others, even though no one would consider his asking for help a burden at all.
Kakashi continued to say, "We can talk about it in Monday's session if you want, or later if that is most comfortable for you. But I do want to talk about it soon."
Naruto took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling.
He exhaled after a moment and asked, "Can we get it over with now?"
"Of course," Kakashi answered immediately, his tone remaining calm and collected, masking how surprised he was. Usually Naruto would avoid discussing any real topics about what Kakashi now knew was the period when the blonde was kidnapped and held captive for over two years.
Their sessions usually consisted of Naruto getting used to people again, and describing his childhood, though the blonde usually had trouble with that portion as he would rarely speak about his parents or his godfather.
Kakashi was impressed that Naruto was willing to speak about his fear of the dark so soon after revealing it, and he was proud of him as well.
Naruto was silent for a few moments. He stared at the stuffed Kakashi in his hands intently, most likely trying to control his thoughts so he would not get overemotional; Naruto hated getting overemotional since he viewed it as a personal weakness.
Kakashi waited in silence.
Finally, while still staring at the stuffed doll in his hands, Naruto said quietly, "I didn't used to be afraid of the dark. Well, I was, but it was the usual little kid being scared of the monsters under the bed kinda thing, y'know?" Naruto glanced up at Kakashi, who nodded his understanding.
Naruto looked back down at the mini-Kakashi and continued, "I got over it after a while because my da—" he faltered a bit, then continued, "my dad told me that if I growled at the monsters, then they would be too scared to do anything but run. Because if I showed them that I wasn't afraid, then they would know I'm scarier than them and they would leave me alone."
Kakashi nodded again, even though Naruto was not looking up.
The blonde cleared his throat and started talking again, "But when…when THEY had me…things were different… I… I was fine for, for most of the time I was… I was THERE… And I would show them that I was NOT afraid of… of THEM and fight back… THEY didn't… THEY didn't like that so THEY would…"
Naruto hugged the mini-Kakashi close to himself and said, "THEY would punish me by locking me somewhere dark, like pitch-black DARK. Sometimes… sometimes if I was really acting up THEY... THEY would have someone in there waiting for me, and would hurt me, and I didn't know where they were, or where they would attack me next…"
The blonde took some deep breaths to calm himself down, hunching in on himself and squeezing the plush doll tighter.
Kakashi remained silent while Naruto was doing this. He was not sure if that was the end of his explanation—it seemed like it, but he could not be sure—but he was certain that Naruto would not appreciate being touched at the moment. The boy would not be able to distinguish between a comforting touch from an attack. Kakashi was keeping an eye on him to make sure that Naruto was not about to go through a panic attack, and was pleased that the blonde was keeping himself so calm.
Slowly, Naruto uncurled himself from the little ball he was forming until he slumped against the pillows on his bed.
When he did not say anything, Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and said, "I'm proud of you, Naruto."
Naruto snorted, "For what? For being so scared?"
"For being so brave," Kakashi corrected.
Naruto looked up at him with confusion and a bit of pride at the complement.
"Not many people can admit to their fears the way you did today," Kakashi started to explain, "And what's more, you not only admit to them, but you fight against them."
Naruto dipped his head a little in embarrassment. The boy was seemingly unused to being complimented, or simply didn't know what to do with himself when people spoke of his achievements.
"You wouldn't let them get to you. You're a fighter, Naruto, a true warrior. And do you want to know what else?" Kakashi asked, still smiling.
"What?" Naruto asked, his own expression considerably brighter.
"You didn't have any panic attack when you were explaining everything to me," Kakashi told him, his voice was full of pride. Every other time he had been able to coax Naruto to talk about anything involving THEM, the Akatsuki, the conversation and session had to be ended shortly after due to Naruto having a panic attack.
"I didn't?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi could practically see the boy in front of him going through what had just happened in his mind. Naruto's grin spread wider and wider as he realized that Kakashi was telling the truth.
"I didn't!" he exclaimed, obviously very proud of himself. The blonde was smiling and his blue eyes were lit with excitement.
Kakashi smiled with Naruto behind his mask. He pat Naruto on the back—noting that Naruto did not flinch away even though he had spoken about his time with THEM, who Kakashi now knew were the Akatsuki, just a few minutes ago—and said, "I'm proud of you."
Naruto swelled at the compliment, and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away, his face flushed.
The boy was unused to being praised; another consequence from his time spent with those murderous, vile excuses for human beings. Though, by comparison, this effect was of little concern; and Naruto was completely oblivious to it.
"Now," Kakashi said, "would you like to watch a movie?"
Naruto's head snapped back to face Kakashi, blue eyes wide, and his mouth gaping.
"Do you—Do you seriously mean it?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi nodded as he continued smiling. This kid was amusing, and Kakashi always got a kick out of surprising him. "Special treat," he said, "We can count this as a session, so you can watch a movie like you normally would."
Naruto was smiling so widely that Kakashi could barely see the scars on his cheeks.
"But first," Kakashi said as he raised a finger. Naruto's smile fell a little, but it was by no means gone. Instead, an expression of expectation adorned Naruto's face as he waited for Kakashi to continue, "You should go send Gaara in here so you can watch it together. Then you can go to my office and get a DVD from there."
"And I can choose anything I want, right?" Naruto asked, probably trying to make sure Kakashi didn't have a trick up his sleeve.
"Anything you want," Kakashi confirmed.
"And the drawer won't be locked?" Naruto asked, eyeing Kakashi suspiciously.
"Only the drawers with my files and my books," Kakashi answered.
"YOU KEEP THOSE BOOKS AT WORK?" Naruto shouted, pointing accusingly at his doctor as he gaped at him in disbelief.
"Of course," Kakashi answered calmly, "I can't risk leaving any of my books in the car on my commute to and from work. Then I would have nothing to do at work or at home."
"You could always do you job," Naruto said.
Kakashi smiled deviously, "My job is to make patients like you spill your most guarded secrets to me. So, Naruto, would you rather I start focusing my full attention to my job?"
The psychiatrist's smile grew as he watched Naruto dramatically gulp. Kakashi was merely jesting, as whenever he was with his patients, he did focus his full attention on them; the tedious paperwork and meetings, not so much.
"So are you going to pick up your movie?" Kakashi asked, reminding Naruto of what they had just been discussing.
"Oh, right!" Naruto exclaimed, tossing the mini-Kakashi to the real Kakashi and bounding out of bed.
"Don't forget to send Gaara here," Kakashi called out after him.
"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto shouted in response.
Kakashi chuckled at the boy's antics and placed the doll version of himself at the head of the bed. He remembered when he was first introduced to it. Sakura had been visiting Naruto more frequently, on her own time and during the official visiting hours, and other nurses—and the two murses—would oftentimes join in. Kakashi hadn't thought much of it at the time other than silently praising his patient for being so open and talkative with the employees. The little get-togethers had lasted for about two weeks' worth of time over that month. The reason had been kept a secret from Kakashi, though he did not do much to find out what was going on other than asking once. The final product was revealed to him by Naruto and Sakura during a weekly physical.
He was touched to say the least. He knew that the doll—and the making of it—was partially an apology from Sakura for acting like a prissy snob when she first started working at the hospital. But he also foresaw a deeper meaning than what was intended for the doll.
It was supposed to be merely a joke of sorts; the only reason Kakashi was chosen to be miniaturized as a doll was because it would be amusing to see the comparison, and because his face was easiest to stitch as he only ever revealed a third of it to the general public. Even though the reasoning behind making him into a doll were frivolous, Kakashi saw a hidden truth that extended beyond laughing whenever Kakashi held the small doll.
The deeper meaning that was hidden to most was that the doll would help Naruto learn to trust Kakashi more, and to be able to rely on the psychiatrist. Much like a stuffed bear to a child, the doll would be able to comfort Naruto in ways other people could not. The blonde would be able to find solace when he did not want to show reveal to others whenever he felt weak. It was like Kakashi was protecting him without being there in person. And through the doll, Naruto would link that protective feeling to the real Kakashi.
Plus, it really was fun to carry around a mini-him. It never failed to make people laugh whenever they saw Kakashi with it, so sometimes he would borrow the doll from Naruto to bring with him during rounds.
It was quite rude of Sasuke to scoff at it. Kakashi thought that it looked rather handsome. The quality was the best the psychiatrist had ever seen for a homemade doll. Some of the finer points were made by Sakura's grandmother, and sometimes by the nurses who were quite adept at stitching and other crafts. Such work was a masterpiece of art, and should be treated as such.
A slight knock on the door snapped Kakashi out of his reverie.
He looked up and saw Gaara at the doorway.
"Ah, Gaara, come in," Kakashi greeted.
Gaara walked in, and stood by the side of the bed. He would not sit in it unless Naruto was there since he took the instructions to generally avoid beds unless he intended to sleep very seriously for his insomnia. Watching movies with Naruto did not count, though. When asked why, Gaara simply responded that it just didn't.
"Do you know where Naruto is?" Kakashi asked the other.
"Choosing a movie," Gaara replied softly.
"Good. That will give us enough time then," said Kakashi as he stood up from the bed.
Gaara stared at him, silently demanding for an elaboration.
"Today Naruto revealed to me that he is afraid of the dark," Kakashi informed Gaara, who did not respond, "And he also told me the reason why."
Gaara's eyes widened minutely. The action was not much, and would be overlooked by most, but Kakashi was waiting for it and knew that Gaara was surprised by what he just heard.
"How much did he say?" Gaara questioned.
"He said that he would be locked in the dark whenever he acted against THEM and was physically punished as well as psychologically once inside," Kakashi answered. Normally, he would keep this information to himself had been talking to anyone else, but this was Gaara, Naruto's best friend. Both Kakashi and Gaara had an understanding, Kakashi would update the other on how Naruto was fairing, and in return, Gaara would tell the psychiatrist some backstories or place things in context whenever Naruto would try to evade the truth or could not explain things properly.
There was a limit to how much would be shared between the two. Gaara refused to say who THEY were, or where THERE was, and would not say what he and the others endured except for confirming or denying specific things on occasion; like when it became apparent that Naruto feared blades. Gaara had nodded yes, that blades were used against them, though he would not say anything else. Similarly, Kakashi would not reveal his methods to the other patient, or how he intended to get Naruto to open up to him. The psychiatrist would also not reveal just how much he knew about their situation and what had happened to them. He also had no intention to disclose his sources or even that he had gotten a phone call from Itachi explaining everything.
This was not one of the things the two would keep to themselves, though. They would freely tell each other what Naruto was—or would be—going through. They both would know of Naruto's latest nightmares and they would also both tell each other if they felt like something would either help relieve or start new fears.
Naruto had given them permission to speak with each other about him when he first began therapy with Kakashi so that the red head would be allowed to occasionally sit in on a session whenever Naruto did not want to—or could not—speak about THEM.
Gaara had told Kakashi that Naruto had been separated from the rest of the group during the last part of their time with THEM, and had promised to tell the psychiatrist anything he learned about that time from Naruto. And now Kakashi was telling Gaara what Naruto had just told him about his fear of the dark.
"He had gotten through explaining his fear, and the reason why, rather well, and did not have any panic attack" Kakashi told Gaara.
Gaara's eyes widened again. He looked at the bed, and the doll on it, and said, "I am glad he has progressed this far."
Kakashi nodded in agreement, but said, "Even though he did not have a terrible reaction to telling me about his fear of the dark, I worry that it will be on his mind tonight."
"You want me to stay with him in case he has any nightmares," Gaara concluded. He had been asked this before by Kakashi whenever he and Naruto had discussed anything big involving THEM.
"And to basically remind him that he is not alone," Kakashi added. It would have been ideal to have the two be roommates, especially since that would have been the normal protocol for taking in a new resident patient, but the rules have been bent for these two, along with the others who had been kidnapped by the Akatsuki. The hospital had offered them all personal rooms due to the sensitive nature of what had happened to them—plus the high profile family members not wanting their loved ones to be exposed to the public in case someone they roomed with went to the press after being released and spoke about the 'inside scoop' of the high profile case—and all of them had accepted the offer.
Gaara wanted a room for himself because he didn't like people and because of his insomnia. He was up hours past curfew, and he did not want to be stuck in a dark room staring out the window in silence so someone else could sleep. Utakata wanted a room to himself because he was also an antisocial person by nature. Plus, his fiancé had a habit of showing how much she missed him by demonstrating how she never wanted them to be apart for so long in a very physical way. The hospital staff thought it best that he have a private room whenever she visited. Killer B didn't seem to mind either way if he had a private room or not, but his older brother did care. The staff and other patients soon learned to be thankful that his brother had insisted on a private room, since that was where Killer B wrote and practiced his new 'music'. Naruto needed the private room at first because of the extra medical equipment his injuries required. Then it became a matter of Tsunade's exposure therapy to doctors like herself and Kakashi. They had decided to keep the room private when it became apparent that Naruto had a fear—or at least a great suspicion—of all strangers, and not just doctors.
It was not uncommon for Gaara to spend the night in Naruto's room, though; especially on nights when the possibility of Naruto getting a nightmare were high. Gaara would also spend the night in Naruto's room when he himself was feeling restless or agitated. Those two boys had a way of calming each other down.
Gaara nodded his understanding of what Kakashi was asking.
"I'M BACK!" Naruto announced, popping his head in through the doorway.
The two in the room turned to face Naruto.
"What movie did you pick?" Kakashi asked lightly as he walked over to the small television and DVD player.
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" Naruto exclaimed, displaying the case in his hand so that the others could see that it was the movie he had chosen.
"I should have guessed," Kakashi smiled. Naruto loved the movies Kakashi had that he had originally bought for children to watch in his office whenever wealthy parents would take their kids to see him because of his prestigious reputation.
These parents felt entitled to have their children evaluated by 'the best' because of their own prestige as wealthy people of high status, never minding that Kakashi's specialty was not in adolescent psychology. The majority of these parents believed their children had Attention Deficit Disorder and wanted 'the best' to write them a prescription that would eventually be abused by the parents wanting more energy to keep up with their delightful social lives. Kakashi allowed—and at times even encouraged—these wealthy parents to keep coming to him from all over so he could evaluate them instead and to tell them off for not recognizing that their children were merely energetic, as all kids were, and were looking for ways to release the pent up energy instead of focusing on quiet, brain stimulating activities like the parents wanted. He would then proceed to mock them for not being proper parents and punting off the task of raising their children to nannies or housekeepers. He did all this while the children watched a movie on a spare laptop. Occasionally, there would be an actual case of a child needing psychiatric attention, so he would help the parents get in touch with a specialist while the child watch the movie.
"Which turtle is your favorite again?" Kakashi asked as the DVD was handed over to him to get everything ready.
"Michelangelo!" Naruto answered immediately as he scrambled onto the bed.
"Oh, that's right!" Kakashi said as if he truly had forgotten Naruto's favorite character.
"Duh!" Naruto laughed, "He's the most fun! Leo and Raph might be more badass in this movie, but Mikey will always be my favorite! PLUS! He has the best color ninja mask!"
"Of course," Kakashi replied, skipping the trailers to the menu.
"I love that he dresses up like a ninja turtle for people's birthdays! It's priceless! He's ALREADY a ninja turtle! His costume is only a mask and a giant zipper thing!" Naruto laughed again.
Kakashi turned around and said, "Everything is set up and I pressed play. Now, if you excuse me, I'll be going off home."
"You're not going to watch with us?" Naruto asked as Gaara took his seat next to the blonde.
Kakashi shook his head, "You know I would love to, but unfortunately for me, I need to go home and pay some bills and do errands."
Naruto stuck out his tongue and squinted at Kakashi, "That sounds way boring!"
"Indeed," Kakashi nodded sagely, "But it is the curse of adulthood."
He opened the door and looked back, "Don't forget to take your sleeping pill after the movie."
"Geeze, Kakashi! I know! I won't forget to take my Amby CPR," said Naruto.
"Ambien CR," Kakashi corrected with a smile.
Naruto's response was to stick his tongue out at Kakashi again before shushing everyone, including himself, since the movie was starting.
Kakashi smiled as Naruto's attention was immediately captured by the movie and closed the door.
HELL
"Do we have any more tape?" Suigetsu shouted from his wall.
"What?! We just gave you a new roll half an hour ago!" Karin shouted back in reply.
"Yea, and I need a new one!" Suigetsu retorted loudly.
"The fuck?! Why the hell would you need a new one so fast? Have you been wasting it?!" Karin yelled in an accusing way, brandishing a finger at Suigetsu across from her.
"SOME of us have been doing WORK instead of FLIRTING WITH SASUKE!" Suigetsu accused her right back.
Sasuke sighed as Karin and Suigetsu started yet another loud argument with each other. The same thing had happened the last time Suigetsu had asked for another roll of tape. Maybe it was a mistake putting Karin in charge of the supplies, even though it had made the most sense since the boys were all given different tasks.
After Sasuke had arrived home last night from his session with Kakashi, he had spent most of his time thinking about what that Naruto kid had said about his fear of the dark. Sasuke had wanted to devote his full and proper attention to translating the fears of a wacked-out-patient onto the stage, but Itachi was acting strange again.
The elder Uchiha had been on edge after picking Sasuke up. He had been normal enough when Sasuke approached him, and told Sasuke to choose something to eat that they could pick up on the way home or Sasuke would have to cook dinner himself, but after he had caught up to Sasuke when the younger brother had started to leave, he was acting strange again. Sure, he had started a nudge war like they used to whenever Mother would lead them around social gatherings to introduce them to other socialites and future business partners, but something was definitely off.
Itachi had been silent—almost brooding—when Sasuke had chosen a frozen pizza for them to cook later. The silence was something most people would overlook since Uchihas, except for Mother, rarely spoke to people when they did not have to, but Sasuke was not most people. He had been around his brother long enough to know the differences between Itachi's silences. Something was troubling his older brother.
Sasuke had tried to follow his brother and snoop around after they got home, but Itachi covered his tracks like a pro, so Sasuke got nowhere.
Itachi had prepared the pizza after a small debate because Sasuke had insisted that he was the one who picked it out at the store and brought it back into the house. It reminded Sasuke of how they would try to get each other to do tedious things. It may have reminded him of past times, but there was a noticeable difference in Itachi's attitude. He used to debate to the point where Sasuke would give up in frustration, and Itachi would smirk smugly in his victory; Sasuke hated it. But today, Itachi gave up way too easily, and seemed distracted.
After some more failed attempts at snooping on his brother, Sasuke disregarded Itachi's weird mood as whatever had happened last week bothering him again.
Then Sasuke retreated to his room and focused his full attention back on translating fear of the dark to on stage.
Naruto may have been some weird druggie freak patient, but he did make good points about the dark. It was unnerving to not be able to see anything. But that was not the source of the true terror. What was really frightening about the dark—complete darkness as that Naruto kid had insisted—was the unknown. Naruto had also mentioned a very real possibility of being attacked in the dark and not being able to defend himself because he did not know what was attacking from where; just that it was out there.
Those were probably the ramblings from nightmares Naruto admitted to having, and Sasuke was willing to bet that nightmares that vivid were the direct result of drug withdrawal of some sort. He seemed too normal to be mentally retarded or have schizophrenia, so it had to be drugs that got Naruto stuck in the mental house with such nightmares.
Sasuke was no expert at psychology—nor did he want to even bother with it—but he did know a thing or two about fear. It was the horrors of the unknown that was the real reason why Naruto had said that he was scared, and Sasuke knew how to make the nightmare into a reality.
The warehouse Hebi used was old, and very shabby. It was to be expected of an abandoned building, and the foundation was solid and there was no chance of it breaking down or have any of the structures—both inside or outside—fall. There were cracks all over, though, and a small number of holes in the wall. It hadn't bothered them since that would provide more natural light during the day so they could conserve energy for their concerts at night. But they needed to be covered for what Sasuke had in mind.
Thus, Suigetsu was using up a lot of duct tape to cover up any and all cracks and holes. He had been instructed to do a thorough job by Sasuke. Apparently, that translated into using copious amounts of tape. Sasuke did not mind, since he used a credit card he 'found' in Itachi's wallet. What he did mind, though, was Suigetsu and Karin arguing loudly over inane, time wasting issues that were inflated figments of their imaginations.
"Will you two shut up?" Sasuke asked into a microphone next to him.
Suigetsu and Karin stopped talking and looked up at the inner balcony where Sasuke was currently working.
Sasuke sighed again and internally rolled his eyes. He was working with morons.
"Karin, just get the idiot his damn tape," Sasuke commanded, irritated that he needed to intervene at all.
"Yes, sir," Karin winked at him. Sasuke did indulge himself with rolling his eyes when she did so. Thankfully, she turned away so she could do as she was told and grab the tape.
Sasuke turned his attention away from the two idiots to Juugo working on the wall opposite of Suigetsu. He was tasked with the job of putting makeshift curtains over the windows. Normally, it was not a problem during concerts. The only lights from outside were the surrounding streetlamps, and those only permeated a light yellow glow that was overpowers by the spotlights inside.
But for Sasuke's plans to work, he needed to block all outside light during the concerts. The cheapest and easiest thing to do would be to paint over the glass, but they still needed the windows for light during the day to conserve energy, so makeshift curtains it was.
Sasuke had placed Juugo in charge of making and hanging up the curtains since he was the only one who knew his way around crafts and was the only one strong enough to do the job alone. Sasuke and Suigetsu would have needed to work together and take twice the amount of time since Suigetsu wouldn't be able to follow orders.
"You got it, Juugo?" Sasuke asked into the microphone. The man in question was lifting a new pole he had already attached a curtain to so all he had to do was carry it up the ladder and attach it to the wall.
Juugo nodded his head and gave a thumbs up to Sasuke before he started to climb the ladder. Sasuke trusted Juugo to do his job so he went back to what he was doing.
With Juugo on the curtains, and Suigetsu on taping the walls, that had left Karin and Sasuke. The plan was originally to have Karin paint over the tape after Suigetsu had moved onto the next hole or crack, but Karin had insisted that she was improperly dressed for painting. Which was true, she was only wearing a black shorts that might as well have been underwear with a purple tank top that might as well have been a bra. Juugo had offered her his shirt to wear over her clothes, but the girl had refused, stating that the only shirt she would consider borrowing was a shirt from Sasuke.
Sasuke may not have been the most enthusiastic about clothing, but he did care enough to refuse the 'offer' that was Karin batting her eyes at Sasuke. That left Karin with next to nothing to do, so Sasuke quickly put her in charge of the supplies. It was her job to organize everything, and to transport what was needed to everyone. It was the perfect setup, except that Karin didn't seem to want to give anything to Suigetsu; only to Juugo and especially to Sasuke.
Sasuke's job was simple in theory, but difficult in execution. He was in charge of creating the unknown.
The idea was to surround the audience with darkness. The human eye took a few minutes to adjust to the dark, so everything would have to be quick.
Sometime during the concert, most likely near the beginning, all the lights will be turned off at once. All outside light will be blocked off, and peoples' phones would not create much light other than blinding the person using it and letting others know who has a phone.
Almost immediately after turning off the lights, Sasuke would play Naruto's scream from his phone. He would only play it for a few seconds, though, just long enough to get others to scream. Then he would play some chick screaming that he had gotten off of an amateur slash movie off the internet.
The plot was stupid; an escaped convict wreaked havoc at a cheerleading camp. But the girls were slutty, sometimes randomly turned lesbian, and there was a pillow fight scene. Plus, they died in ridiculously bloody ways, so the movie had garnered a fair amount of love from the internet. Sasuke could say many critiques about the lame movie, but those girls sure knew how to scream.
Immediately after the two screams, Sasuke would play a sound bite of maniacal laughter he had gotten off the internet as well. He had gone through quite a number of laughing videos, but he had chosen a high pitched male laughter that to him reminded him of a cross between an evil clown and a witch.
After the laughter, the band would start playing again with a new song entitled Can't Escape.
It was a simple idea, but the problem was that in order to truly be effective Sasuke needed the noises to come from different speakers. That way, the audience would not know what to expect, and would automatically fear the noise even more since they would not know what was going on in the dark other than people screaming and something was after them.
The problem was figuring out how to make the sounds come from different locations. Sasuke had already placed some smaller speakers on the balcony next to him, near the exit, and one in the office on the opposite wall from the balcony. Naruto's scream would sound from the balcony, the chick's scream would sound from the office, and the maniacal laughter from the back. Finally, Hebi would start playing in the front.
Normally, Hebi would have everything plugged into the master station Sasuke constructed behind the stage. It was nothing special, but Sasuke was still proud of it. He made a low table out of wood to both organize the cables, and to neutralize any excess electricity, like a horizontal telephone pole. Inside the master station were power strips. He made separate ports for the cables connecting to the speakers, the cables connecting to the instruments, and the cables connecting to the microphones. He also made a small wooden box to connect the cables for the lights above the stage. Both the small wooden box and the table below connected to industrial sized outlets with enough power to handle the three different ports and the one above with enough power to handle all the lights.
Neither of the wooden structures could be moved. So Sasuke was currently connecting the different speakers to extension cords. He had already taped plastic hooks to the wall so after he put the extension cord to the last speaker on the balcony, he would string cords together until they reached the master station. There was one more outlet available, so just have to use that one.
There needed to be a small time space of silence between the screaming for the audience to wonder what was going on and increase tension, so in that time, he would attach a microphone to the different speakers and plug the needed cord into the outlet so only one speaker would sound at a time. Then his job would be done, and he could return to watching from the balcony. At the end of the show, he would play Naruto's scream for its entirety before the encore.
Everything was simple in theory, but difficult in execusion.
"Karin," Sasuke called into the microphone, "I need another extension cord."
"Coming right up, Sweetheart!" Karin called back up.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at the nickname, but otherwise did not comment. Karin had it in her mind that if the Uchiha did not say anything about something she called him, that meant that he hated it. While that was true to a large degree, the flip side was that if he did say anything—even if it was definitely negative—that meant that he liked it, so she should call him it whenever she wanted to be especially enticing.
"Here you are! Do you need me to bring it up to you, or can I just toss it up?" Karin asked Sasuke loud enough so she would not have to repeat herself.
"Toss it up," Sasuke told her. He held his hand out so he could catch it.
"Coming right up!" Karin exclaimed. She then backed up a step and threw the extension cord to Sasuke.
He caught it, and gave her a thumbs up in response.
She smiled and asked, "Is there anything else you need?"
Sasuke shook his head and turned back to what he was doing.
"Alright, I'm going to see if Juugo needs help," said Karin as she turned away. She then went off to the wall where Juugo was straightening the pole with the curtain on it.
Sasuke snuck a quick glance at Suigetsu, who was running his hand against the wall. After studying the other for a moment longer, Sasuke realized that Suigetsu was determining how deep the crack was and if he should bother taping it up. Suigetsu then pulled on the tape that he had placed on his arm for convenience and placed a long strip against the crack.
The Uchiha then turned back to his own task, slightly smiling in spite of himself. His friends may be annoying at times, but they have never failed to pull through for each other.
HELL
Itachi studied his office computer screen with interest. Apparently his baby brother had gone on a spending spree with one of Itachi's credit cards.
The credit card company had alerted him earlier in the weekend that there was suspicious activity on the card. Their speed at warning Itachi was not surprising, since the Uchiha were one of their most valued customers. Once they had mentioned that his card had been used at a local music store, Itachi knew who the culprit was, and had promptly told the person on the other line to not worry about it.
Unfortunately for Itachi, though, his Saturdays were not free like they were for his baby brother. No, Itachi's day was full of unofficial meetings. There was a breakfast meeting, a brunch meeting, a lunch meeting, a golf meeting, and a meeting over drinks.
He made sure to leave dinner free. He wanted to spend at least one meal with his baby brother. Dinner turned out to be a culmination of the meals he had been treated to throughout the day with potential business partners. He may not have enjoyed the company, but the food was incredible.
Dinner had been rather eventless. Itachi had asked Sasuke what he had been up to today, and Sasuke had answered "nothing".
Itachi did not know where to go from there, so he suggested that they watch a movie together. Sasuke had asked why, and Itachi had panicked a little. Kakashi had told him after taking Sasuke on as a patient that simply saying that he wanted to spend time with the teenager would be translated into wanting to openly oppress the younger one.
He did let any of his panic show, though, and answered, "Because I've been forced to listen to boring men compare metaphorical penis sizes all day, and I want to see some people just as dumb die in needlessly gory ways."
He had little to no idea why he had chosen the gore genre, but he was instantly glad that he did when he saw Sasuke smirk.
"Really?" his baby brother asked.
Itachi nodded his head in confirmation, while he took a sip of his wine. The last business man had wanted to show off his wealth, and consequently his company's wealth, by buying Itachi a 1996 Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac. It was meant to be preserved—or at least that was what the business man had expected—but the Uchiha wine cellar had wine far older than that, and Itachi did not have to pay so he had no regrets.
"Can I have some wine?" Sasuke had asked. His tone was confident, but Itachi could tell that his baby brother was expecting Itachi to reject the question.
Itachi had paused for a moment, since the wine had a higher alcohol content than what Sasuke would be used to; even if he drank occasionally like Itachi had when he was at that age. Then he had decided why not, they were going to watch a movie together after dinner anyways, so Itachi could keep an eye on him.
"Alright," Itachi had agreed, "but only one glass."
Sasuke's eyes widened minutely, telling Itachi that his baby brother was expecting an outright denial or one sip at most.
Itachi smirked and explained, "This wine has been presented to us as a gesture of friendship by an aforementioned boring man. He wishes that we enjoy having this wine almost as much as we will enjoy him as a potential business partner. It would be a shame to leave a wish unfulfilled."
He stood up to retrieve another wine glass for his baby brother when Sasuke asked, "So it's a bribe?"
Itachi looked back and said, "A feeble attempt at best. Anyone who had the pleasure of sealing a deal with an Uchiha knows that we are Scotch men."
When he had returned, Sasuke had finished his meal and had accepted the wine. Sasuke was holding onto the bowl of the glass like a claw; his fingers gripped around it. Itachi had deemed that utterly disgraceful and inappropriate for an Uchiha, so he spent a moment instructing Sasuke on the correct way to hold a wine glass.
Once Sasuke had achieved holding the bowl of the glass from the bottom with the stem cutting between the middle finger and the ring finger, Itachi had let him drink the wine. Properly drink the wine, since he could not resist instructing Sasuke on how to sip and not gulp like one would with a lesser alcoholic beverage like beer or vodka.
Sasuke had tasted the wine, and had commented on how the taste lingered in his mouth. Itachi had smirked, and said, "That's part of the reason you should take small sips."
Then Itachi had sent Sasuke off with a mission of choosing a good gore movie.
Sasuke had chosen an amateur film about some escaped convict terrorizing a cheerleading camp. It was filmed badly, and it was quite obvious that the kids involved had no idea how to act. But the girls were scantily clad and had pillow fights. Plus, they fell for the most obvious of traps and ignored each and every one of the unofficial survival guide for a scary movie, like taking a shower, making out in the woods, and wandering off alone to investigate noises. In short, it was a hilarious gore movie, and both brothers enjoyed watching it.
But now, Sasuke had retreated to his room and Itachi to his office. He was checking e-mails when he was reminded that Sasuke had helped himself to a little shopping spree provided by one of Itachi's credit cards.
Currently, Itachi was studying the purchases, trying to piece together what his baby brother had been up to. According to the list of purchases, Sasuke had bought three mini stereo speakers at a local music store Itachi knew his baby brother frequented to buy some sheet music to play on his guitar. Sasuke had also bought a dozen rolls of duct tape, a few of curtain rods, cloth, plastic hooks, paint, and extension cords.
The list baffled Itachi. He understood the speakers, and maybe the extension cords, but the rest of the items were seemingly random. But that was just his perception based off of confusion.
After a moment longer, Itachi decided that it did not matter that he had only the vaguest of speculations as to what his younger brother was doing. None of the items were dangerous as far as he could tell, so he would not try to divulge any more information. Kakashi had warned him about what a slippery slope curiosity would lead to, and how the end result would be Sasuke perceiving Itachi as an overzealous parent-wannabe and would want mothering to do with him.
Itachi looked away from the screen. He felt a familiar pang of guilt when he thought about Kakashi.
The man had known the family for years. Kakashi had been best friends with Itachi's cousin Obito, and remained close to the family even after Obito had died, and had gotten especially close with Itachi since Obito had taken it upon himself to look after Itachi's needs for fun since Father was demanding and wanted Itachi to focus on academics.
Kakashi had known about Itachi's rebellious period, and would offer a place to stay to cool down or lay low when needed. Kakashi had also helped Itachi get his act together after his and Sasuke's parents died. And now Kakashi was helping Itachi with his younger brother.
Itachi would freely admit that he had done horrible things when he was a member of the Akatsuki; especially when the gang was kidnapping people close to leaders in government. Itachi and his assigned partner, Kisame, were sent the most frequently to kidnap the targets, and he was the one who would administer psychological torture to keep the hostages in line. It was his idea to administer punishments with classical conditioning to make the pain worse and last longer when it came to discipline. It was also his idea to punish those who were causing trouble by locking them in the dark. And when it became apparent that one of the hostages—none other than Naruto Uzumaki—was not backing down and submitting to their rules any time soon, Itachi had suggested putting him in solitary confinement.
Itachi had used his parents' connections to the business and government worlds to keep tabs on those whose loved ones Akatsuki had kidnapped. Naruto's parents, the Namikazes, were getting close, so Itachi had reported that to the leader of the gang.
Before long, the threat was neutralized.
Naruto had not been in solitary confinement then, and was not informed of his parents' death at Itachi's suggestion. The blonde was already creating ruckuses regularly, so there was no telling what he would do if told.
Everything changed when a rival gang had learned of most of Akatsuki's identities and had arranged for a car crash that would end up fatal for Itachi. They had guessed the wrong Uchiha car, and had killed his parents.
His parents were killed because of his association with Akatsuki, and from that moment, Itachi had focused on destroying the gang from the inside.
Itachi had struck a deal of immunity for his crimes as a member of the gang since he had never physically murdered anyone.
He felt little to no guilt on taking the offer. In his eyes, his crimes were minimal, and nothing to worry about.
But when he had learned that Naruto Uzumaki was a resident patient at the hospital from Sasuke, the guilt hit him like a tsunami. It was the first time that he had thought of any of the hostages ever since he had freed them and took them to the police station.
When he told Kakashi, he felt that same guilt hit him. Itachi had confessed to everything that the Akatsuki had done to Naruto and the other hostages. As soon as he finished his narration, he knew that he had fallen deeper than the Earth's core in Kakashi's eyes.
Itachi glanced over at the phone. He had the urge to call Kakashi and ask how Naruto and the others were doing. The other had hung up on him almost immediately after Itachi had finished confession of what he and the Akatsuki had done.
Uchihas were men of action, so before he could talk himself out of it, Itachi picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial for Kakashi.
The phone rang for a painfully long time. He should have known that Kakashi would not pick up. If the man could be torn away from one of his books to get the phone, he surely would not answer once he saw who it was.
Then suddenly the ringing stopped. Itachi was about to prepare to say a message after the inevitable tone when he heard a rough, "What do you want?"
Itachi paused for a moment. Collecting himself, he said, "To talk."
He heard a sigh from the other line, then, "Make it fast."
Itachi mentally winced at the malice in the usually aloof tone and said, "If you want to stop seeing Sasuke, I would understand." The two brothers were alike enough that Kakashi would surely keep being reminded of Itachi and what he had done.
"I would never abandon a patient simply because of they are related to someone worse than scum," Kakashi answered scathingly.
"I deserved that," Itachi acknowledged.
"And more," Kakashi deadpanned on the other line.
"I would also understand if you don't want Sasuke to see your other patient," Itachi said quietly.
"He hasn't made the connection."
"Really?" Itachi asked.
Kakashi chose to not answer Itachi and instead said, "They are good for each other."
Itachi was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I am glad for that then."
There was more silence. Itachi did not want to break it for he still greatly admired Kakashi. He would not hang up since he wanted to salvage some form of friendship from one of the constants in his life.
Finally, Kakashi said, "I understand why you did what you did. I also know that you are sorry for your actions."
"You do?" Itachi asked. He was surprised, but he suppressed it. He should have known; Kakashi was a renowned psychiatrist after all.
"Yes," Kakashi said with a hard edge in his tone, "You felt suppressed by your father's expectations, so you strove to rebel in any way you could. When you joined in that gang, you quickly rose in rank because you were indoctrinated to exceed the best in everything from a young age. Mob mentality kicked in, as well as your own need to succeed. You inflicted as much pain onto others as a way to relieve the internal pain from the stress you were under."
"That…is correct," Itachi conceded. Kakashi might as well have been a psychic or telekinetic with how easily he could get into someone's mind.
Itachi continued to say, "Is there anything I can do to right my mistakes?"
"No." Kakashi did not hesitate in his response, "The damage has been done."
Itachi was silent. Kakashi was right, and Itachi knew it.
"But," Kakashi started to say, grabbing Itachi's full attention, "You still freed everyone and eliminated the ones they feared the most. You have also told me everything which I will admit took courage. This information will be used so I can right your mistakes."
"I will do everything in my power to assist you whenever you or any of the patients need anything," Itachi promised.
"I will let you know," Kakashi replied, "In the meantime, work with Sasuke."
"Will you still let me know how?" Itachi asked. He had been relying on Kakashi's wisdom the entire time, and he did not know what he would do if Kakashi refused.
"Yes," Kakashi answered in a reserved tone, "For his sake and for Naruto's sake."
Then, without prompt or a goodbye, Kakashi hung up.
Itachi continued to stare at the phone in his hands. He may not have been as perceptive as Kakashi was over the phone, but he was fairly certain that the psychiatrist was telling him that he could help Naruto through Sasuke.
He indulged himself in a sigh. He had never expected the skeletons in his closet to haunt him like this.
And that was the chapter!
Last year, a friend of mine wanted to show off her new wireless printer, so she wrote 'I CAN PRINT' in a large font and sent it to print. She didn't choose to print to the right wireless printer, though, so we spent the next half hour helping her re-set it up properly. After we were finished, my roommate and I visited another friend down the hall, where she told us that she believed her wireless printer was sentient and held up a paper stating 'I CAN PRINT'
Thank you to all that favorite/alerted this story. And an extra super special awesome thank you to those who review! Whenever I'm stuck, like many times during this chapter since it was really hard to write, I check out the reviews and get inspired again!