Okay I know it's been forever, but what can I say I'm lazy and unfocused.
Anyway here is an update finally. This is also the first time I just typed it out instead of writing it on paper first so, yeah there is that.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I don't have a beta, so sorry.
Please read and leave a review.
Sorry it's not actually a new chapter, I just revised the first part. I had forgotten that I had actually already started writing before I typed it out.
"Dad, how long do I have to stay here, I need to be out there helping to look for Iruka?" Naruto asked.
"Fighting, Naruto, really is that what Iruka would have wanted, for you and Sasuke to end up on the floor fighting, and I already told you that your grounded for the next two weeks, and there is nothing you can do out there anyway. The authorities are doing everything they can to find Iruka, you being out there wouldn't help anyone." Minato responded to his distraught son, he didn't want to be so hard on the boy, but he was afraid of Naruto's state of mind at the moment. The more days went by without news about Iruka the more distraught and uncontrollable Naruto became, Minato feared that Naruto would break if Iruka wasn't found.
"But dad, the fight wasn't entirely my fault, and I'm sure nobody is grounding the teme," Naruto protested.
"Enough Naruto, two weeks and when you return to school after your suspension I will give Sai strict orders that you are to go from your classes straight back to your dorm room, until your punishment is up." Minato stated with finality.
"That's not fair!" Naruto yelled as he stomped off in a huff up to his room slamming the door.
"Stupid teme, this is all his fault," Naruto mumbled to himself as he paced the length of his room. "I just can't stay here, Iruka needs me." Naruto resolved as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the window. It won't be the first time he climbed out the window and down the giant oak tree that loomed next to his room. He decided that the only way to really help Iruka was to find out what the hell was really going on, Sasuke had hinted to something but had stopped short of actually telling him, and Naruto could only think of one person who would be able to tell him what the hell was really going on. Decision made, Naruto climbed out his window and down the tree quietly headed for Shikamaru's place.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"How long are you going to sulk around?" Kakashi asked the raven haired boy with a smirk.
"I'm not sulking, I just think it was unfair that we both had to get suspended, clearly the only one at fault was the dobe." Sasuke retorted.
"Clearly, it was all Naruto's fault, that boy is too emotional," Kakashi began stopping when the young raven sat up a little straighter, "however, you knowing how emotional your friend is, should have known better than to demand that he accept that the person he sees as his older brother is as good as dead." Kakashi scolded the boy. He wasn't really upset that the raven had gotten suspended, and he and Itachi had both agreed that the punishment was warranted even though Sasuke had not actually hit the blonde. What had upset both of the older men was that the boy had shown absolutely no common sense in dealing with the blonde, it had been cruel to try to take the blonde boy's hope. Kakashi was sure it had not been Sasuke's intention to hurt the blonde but the damage had been done, and Kakashi had had to deal with a very angry Minato demanding that Sasuke fix his broken son.
"Why? Why was it wrong to tell Naruto the truth? He would have found out, it's already been over 30 days and they are no closer to finding Iruka than they were with Rin, so why not prepare him, instead of having him hold on to a hope that will only lead to more pain?" Sasuke asked quietly, thinking about how he had held on to a small sliver of hope that Rin would be found.
"Because it wasn't your place to take that hope away, I know Rin's death was hard on you, and I should have done more to prepare all of us for the possibility that it wouldn't be a happy ending, but I was to stubborn to acknowledge that I might actually fail." Kakashi confessed to his young ward.
"You didn't fail, you did everything humanly possible to find her, and I'm positive that she knew you were looking for her," Sasuke tried to reassure the silver haired man. "However I do think it was wise to prepare for the worst case scenario, which both Itachi and myself did, but Naruto won't even contemplate that possibility and it is going to destroy him when Iruka's body is actually found, he needs to be prepared, but he refuses to listen to reason."
"Sasuke I know you're worried about your friend, but your pushing him too hard, and he is going to pull away from you completely, wouldn't it be better to just let him be and then be there if and when the worst actually happens?" Kakashi inquired putting his hand on the raven's shoulder.
"Hn.." the raven replied thinking that the older man might be right.
"I have work to do, so I'm headed to the office, think about what I said and try to stay out of trouble. Kiba will be back tomorrow morning, apparently his mother had to talk to him today." Kakashi stated wincing, feeling sorry for the young guard.
"It wasn't his fault, I made it clear he was not to touch Naruto." Sasuke stated calmly.
"I figured as much." Kakashi grinned as he headed out the door.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Kiba, what is your job?" Tsume asked her son angrily.
"Mom, I know my job, and if Sai had jumped in I would have taken Sai, but it was just Naruto, and Sasuke would kill me if I actually laid a finger on the blonde." Kiba defended once again, his head hurting from the yelling he had already experienced.
"Don't be ridiculous, I'm sure Sasuke didn't want to be beaten by that kid." Tsume fumed.
"Mom, you weren't there, Sasuke could have beaten Naruto anytime he wanted, but he refused to even defend himself for fear of hurting his blonde, get it mom "his blonde". Kiba emphasized.
"Huh, are you saying Sasuke, the stoic, brooding Uchiha actually likes someone?" Tsume asked skeptically.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." Kiba huffed out.
"Well that is interesting, however that doesn't excuse your performance, you could have been gentle when pulling the other boy off Sasuke." Tsume continued.
"Are you crazy, Sasuke growls at me when I even mention that Naruto looks cute in his uniform, if I actually touch him Sasuke is liable to bite me or something." Kiba shuddered at the thought.
"Fine, but you're still in trouble for getting suspended, so you are on kennel duty for the next month." Tsume stated cheerily as her son paled.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shikamaru was pacing the library floor; Genma had been unable to find anything useful. The kidnapper had left nothing behind that would help them find Iruka, and Shikamaru was painfully aware that time was ticking by and the longer they took finding anything the slimmer the chance they had of getting Iruka back alive. Frustration and anger warred inside Shikamaru, he was smarter than this, he should be able to figure something out, and he should be able to find something that could help his friend. Shikamaru growled as he threw the crystal paper weight across the room, shattering it against the wall.
"Dammit, there has to be something I missed." Shikamaru whispered as he sank down onto the chair.
"Shikamaru?" a voice asked quietly.
"Naruto?" Shikamaru questioned, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I need to know what is going on, and no one will tell me." Naruto stated as he walked into the library glancing at the shattered glass.
"I thought you were grounded for fighting with Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked watching his blonde friend cautiously.
"I am, but I needed to know, so I snuck out." Naurto admitted sheepishly.
"By yourself, what about Sai, with everything that is going on, how could you have left without your guard, which is foolish Naruto, even for you." Shikamaru reprimanded.
"I know, okay, but no one will tell me what the hell is going on, and it's already been 33 days. 33 days of not knowing what that monster is doing to Iruka, 33 days of not being able to sleep without seeing Iruka's face as I laughed off his concerns about by followed as him being paranoid. I need to know, it's my fault Iruka was taken, I should have been more concerned with his safety than with beating Sasuke." Naurto cried quietly, tears flowing down his cheek.
"Naruto, listen I'm sorry, okay but this isn't your fault. We would all have probably told Iruka the same thing that he was being paranoid after what happened with his ex, but it does not make the fact that some demented person took him your fault. Now I don't know what you think I can tell you, but why don't I have Anko drive you home." Shikamaru replied without thinking, wanting to avoid any actually discussion, he couldn't tell the blonde what was really going on.
"Anko? Doesn't she work for Sasuke's guardian, why is she here at your place?" Naruto questioned as the information sank in.
"Oh, she's a friend of my mom's" Shikamaru replied trying to evade the question.
"Shika, you've been my friend since we were kids, please don't lie to me, I've have enough people keeping things from me, the last thing I need is for my friends to do the same." Naruto pleaded as he looked at his long time friend.
"Look Naruto, you know how much your friendship means to me and you know how much I care about both you and Iruka, but I can't, I don't have all the information and the bits and pieces I do have will do you no good, just please Naruto trust me and let me take you home, your dad is probably already worried about you." Shikamaru tried to reason with the blonde.
"No, whatever it is you know or you suspect I need to know, I have a right to know, Iruka wasn't just my friend, he's like my big brother and I need to know how I can help him, if there is anything that you know that will help find him then please tell me." Naruto begged.
"There isn't much I can tell you Naruto, and I don't know what Sasuke said to you to set you off, but I really think it's best for you to just go home, and let the authorities do their job, please Naruto, just let this go for now." Shikamaru pleaded.
"You do know something; Sasuke said I should be prepared, that more than likely there wouldn't be a happy ending, and that I should be ready for the worst. Why would he say something like that unless he knew something, unless they all know something they aren't telling me? Is there something that makes Sasuke positive that I won't get Iruka back?" Naruto asked refusing to back down.
"Look Naruto, whatever Sasuke said to you, I don't think it was said to upset you, but to prepare you for the worst, keep in mind that Sasuke has lived through this, I'm sure they all held on to the hope that Rin would be found alive and it must have been heartbreaking when that wasn't the case, I'm sure Sasuke just wants you to be prepared for whatever the final result might be." Shikamaru answered calming, even though inside he was a nerves wreak, he needed to get Naruto home, before he said something that he couldn't take back.
"Please Shika, just tell me what you know, and don't give me that crap that you don't know anything, you're the smartest person I've ever met and if anyone was able to find out anything it would have been you, besides neither you nor Shino have returned to school since you started investigating on your own, so I know you found something and it was big enough for both of your parents to allow you to miss school." Naruto countered, he knew Shika was holding out on him.
"Alright Naruto, but you have to promise to stay calm and after I've told you want I can, I will be taking you back home and you have to promise to stay there, no matter what I tell you." Shikamaru demanded.
"Fine, I promise." Naruto agreed, the knots in his stomach twisting even more as he thought about what Shika could possibly tell him.
"I think the reason Sasuke told you to prepare for the worst is because even if we were to find Iruka, there is no guarantee that we will be able to save his life; after some investigation and analysis of the other bodies we, Shino and I discovered that the kidnapper is injecting his victims with a very potent poison and the chances of the authorities getting to him in time to counter the effects of the poison are slim at best." Shikamaru informed his friend, disregarding the look of horror that had come over the tan face, it was best to just get it over with, like pulling off a Band-Aid maybe now Naruto would start to prepare for the worst case scenario.
"Do his parents know, why has no one mentioned this poison before, you're lying, why would you lie to me Shika?" Naruto demanded grasping at any hope he could.
"I'm not lying Naruto and I'm pretty sure the authorities haven't told Iruka's parents or Jiraiya for that matter, and it wasn't made public because the medical examiners couldn't identify the poison." Shikamaru stated calming, hoping to calm his friend who looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown.
"No, you're lying, I know you are, Iruka is going to be fine, the Feds will find him and he'll be okay, you're just like Sasuke, why are you hating me now, I thought we were friends why would you tell me this lies." Naruto cried irrationally.
"Naruto, listen to yourself, your not making sense, which is why we didn't want to tell you, how can you even think I would make something like this up?" Shika asked quietly trying to get the blonde to calm down.
"NO! YOU'RE LYING" Naruto yelled as he stormed out of the library.
"NARUTO!" Shikamaru yelled as he tried to stop his friend from running out of the house.
"Dammit Naruto, where the hell are you going in that state, this is so troublesome?" Shikamaru stated out loud as he pulled out his cell phone, Sasuke was going to kill him if anything happened to Naruto.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The tears were falling freely as the swing moved back and forth, the blonde occupant not even acknowledging the movement. It had to be a lie; he would not accept that Iruka wouldn't be coming back alive. More tears spilled as a sob escaped the blonde, and then a gasp as the movement of the swing suddenly stopped.
"So this is where your hiding baka, you have Shikamaru worried out of his mind about you." Sasuke stated as he stopped the swing. There had been a moment's panic when Shikamaru had called to tell him what had happened; he had been worried about his blonde. Now the panic was ebbing away to irritation, how could Naruto have been so reckless as to wonder off in his state of mind?
"Teme, what do you want, I'm already crying, what could you possibly want now?" Naruto sniffled as he tried to wipe the tears from his face.
"What are you talking about baka, I never wanted to make you cry?" Sasuke asked.
"You and Shikamaru must think I'm stupid, I know Shika wouldn't lie to me about something this serious but I can't accept it, Sasuke I just can't accept that no matter what we do, we still won't be able to help Iruka." Naruto sobbed as he leaned into Sasuke's warmth. He was chilled to the bone, even though the air outside was warm; Naruto was cold deep down, where the rational part of him was debating with the emotional part.
"Shh..baka, I know it's hard to accept but it might just be that there is no happy ending for us, I know how much you love him, but you need to be able to let him go, if things don't turn out how we hope, I don't want to lose you too." Sasuke whispered as he turned Naruto's face up to. Staring into those deep blue eyes that shone with tears and sorrow, Sasuke lowered his head and gently pressed his lips to the blonde's; there was nothing he wanted more than to take his sorrow, but he couldn't it was Naruto's burden to carry.
"Teme?" Naruto asked when Sasuke backed away. "Why did you kiss me?"
"Why do you think baka, no let's get you home before Minato decides to ground you until next century." Sasuke replied as he led Naruto out of the park that the blonde and Iruka used to spend their afternoons feeding the birds and watching the people walk by. He needed to be stronger, he knew the days were ticking by, and he knew no matter what he did Iruka's death would break his blonde, and he had to be there to put Naruto back together however long that took.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Iruka keep hearing her voice, after awhile he remembered her, the girl that was here when the bastard first brought him in, she had told him something, had asked him to do something if he got out, and he was working on remembering what that was. It also gave him something to concentrate on besides the pain that radiated throughout his body.
Surprisingly his back wasn't hurting as much as the rest of his body, it had apparently become numb from the abuse, either that or there was really no more pain left for him to feel back there.
As the days were passing by, Iruka keep his count regardless of how hard it was to stay awake at time, the loss of blood was making him weak and he was pretty sure the bastard had introduced some form of toxin into his body that was slowly killing him. Not to mention he was probably suffering from Vitamin D deficiency, he really missed the sunlight.
Iruka sometimes wonders if this is all that is left of his life, this darkness and the pain, if maybe he should just give up, because it's been an eternity since he has heard anything other than that bastard and the screams inside his own mind. Depression and self-pity are very dangerous when one is fighting to survive and sometimes, just sometimes Iruka thinks of giving up, but then he mentally slaps himself. "Fuck that bastard; I'm not giving him the satisfaction of breaking me." And sometimes when his own voice isn't enough the other voice in his head chimes in, the voice of the girl whose face and name he can't remember when he's awake.
A piece of ceiling hitting his shoulder wakes him from his mental pep talk, and he pulls on the chain holding him up feeling it give way a little bit more, he knows it's small this progress he's made, but it's progress none the less and after listening and observing closely with all his senses the last time the bastard came in to taunt and torment him, he knows that the room isn't a windowless dungeon like he had first believed, it's only encased in darkness because that's the way that bastard wants it, but he knows there is a window somewhere, why else the need for a blindfold every time the light is turned on, and if he concentrates and blocks out the pain he can sometimes feel the gently breeze caressing his wounds, almost soothing them . So when the chain breaks, not if, but when for he cannot afford to think in terms of if, but when it breaks he has a means of escape.
Most importantly as the door creaks open once again announcing the beginning of another trip to hell for Iruka, he has finally calculated precisely how long the bastard waits between visits, it has taken him days to get it accurately, but now he knows how long his window of escape is, how long he has before the bastard figures out that he has escaped 28,800 Mississippi's, that's how long he has to find his freedom.
Thanks for reading, please leave a review.
I don't know if it will make anyone feel better to know that I actually have the entire story already outlined, I'm just such a procrastinator and I get distracted by so, so many other things.
Love,
Tearful
