Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto . . . I'd have enough power to rule the world.
Author's Note: Woohoo, short Author's Note this time.
You know how some stories have a lot of climaxes rather than just one? Well, this is that kind of story.
Ladies and gentlement, welcome to the first climax of Falling Up to Heaven!
On the important side, readers should really take in every detail, every event in the first half of this chapter, because it might answer a few questions in the second half, as well as with the rest of the story.
I Dare You to enjoy. =) Lame joke. I'm full of those this week.
Chapter 14
…:::I Dare You:::…
Shinedown
This was it.
This was the day.
Sasuke woke up at ten, almost getting a full twelve hours of sleep. He threw the covers from his body, wide awake, and used the crutches to enter the bathroom.
After a long shower, a good stretch, and the fixation of his prosthetic leg, Sasuke finally walked into the living room of Kakashi's apartment. Itachi and Kakashi were oddly on the floor, bent over Kakashi's coffee table.
Walking behind them, Sasuke saw something that caused him to back away slowly into the kitchen.
Itachi and Kakashi were playing Battleship®.
"Good morning to you, too, Sasuke," Itachi said before Sasuke could vanish completely from the living room.
"Are you ready?" asked Kakashi. "B5."
"Miss."
Sasuke didn't grace the man with an answer. It wasn't like Kakashi cared for one anyway. He was having trouble trying to take down one of Itachi's ships.
"Kakashi cheats, by the way," Sasuke called out nonchalantly as he took a banana for breakfast once more.
Itachi's eyebrows rose. "Is that so?"
"I have no idea what he's talking about!"
Kakashi then turned to Sasuke and mouthed "You're dead!"
"Itachi, Kakashi's threatening to kill me. Make him stop!" Sasuke pretended to whine.
"Stop."
"Thank you, dear brother. You're such a help."
"I try."
Sasuke let out a short laugh in his high mood as he helped himself to some of Kakashi's cereal that was lined atop of the refrigerator. He chose a box of Lucky Shuriken® and pulled out a porcelain bowl.
"B12."
"Miss."
Holding his bowl of cereal and sliced bananas, Sasuke walked to the two adults. He stood behind Kakashi. "I didn't think you guys would ever play this together."
"This is a game of strategy, Sasuke. You wouldn't understand," said Kakashi, waving the Uchiha away without even looking at him.
"Is that so?"
Sasuke stared at Kakashi's battle field, turned to Itachi, and mouthed D14.
"D14," said Itachi.
"Hit! That was my best ship!"
Realization suddenly dawned onto Kakashi. He threw a stray piece at Sasuke. It landed in the bowl of cereal.
"Go play with Pakkun or something."
Sasuke flicked the drenched piece back at Kakashi. "That's okay. I'm fine where I am." He smirked and sat on the couch, away from the game board. He was completely hyped up, ready for the tournament.
"So how's the tournament going to be?" asked Itachi. "E4."
"Hit! Damn it!"
Sasuke chewed on a spoonful of marshmallows and bananas. "It's like one of those Olympic tournaments you see, except it doesn't involve swimming or biking. We're going to be running all around Konoha on a set trail."
"Competition?"
"The Suna School or something like that." Sasuke shrugged. "They say this kid named Gaara is going to take home the gold."
Kakashi smirked. "I'd love to see him try that against you."
"Don't jinx me!"
"What are you going to do? Spray salt around yourself and dance?"
"I'm thinking about it," Sasuke said around a mouthful of cereal.
He turned around and entered the kitchen once more to sit down at the dining table, staring at Kakashi and Itachi from over the bar. He was about to raise his free hand to give Itachi a letter and number when Kakashi, without even looking up from the table, said, "Don't even think about it."
"I wasn't doing anything!" Sasuke quickly countered.
Ding dong!
Sasuke was quick to open the door before Kakashi had the chance to move. His eyebrows rose when Naruto smiled at him and waved enthusiastically, a duffle bag hanging from one shoulder.
"Ah, Naruto," said Kakashi from where he sat. "Good morning."
Naruto was already dressed for the tournament. He wore an orange tank top, white Bermuda shorts, and neon-orange sneakers. Sasuke moved aside to let him in and closed the door.
"Granny dropped me off while she went to work," the blond said as he set his bag by the door and took off his shoes.
Sasuke went back to his cereal. Kakashi and Itachi went back to their game. Naruto entered the kitchen.
"Ready, Uchiha?" the blond asked, leaning over the counter.
Sasuke smirked around his spoon. Naruto gave him a quick once-over. The Uchiha wore a plain white t-shirt and loose track pants with his usual worn sneakers.
"Don't worry, Uzumaki," said Sasuke after he'd chewed. "I'll set up camp after I pass the finish line and wait for you."
"Hilarious," Naruto said dryly.
"I know."
Sasuke smirked and went to wash his bowl, leaving behind a darkly-muttering Naruto.
o.o.O.O.o.o
The boys had spent their morning peacefully without any rigorous movements. All four males had sat in Kakashi's living room, spending an hour on simple chatting and a variety of card games. At twelve, Kakashi suggested for Sasuke and Naruto to walk around the town and have lunch at a café until the competition came at three.
And so Sasuke now stood in front of the Chalk O' Lit Café with Naruto at his side, pushing the door to hear the sweet chime that marked their entry. Temari looked up from the counter, smiled, and waved.
"I didn't expect to see you guys out here," she said as she wiped her hands on her apron. The café was mildly empty.
"I didn't expect to see this place still open," replied Naruto. He and Sasuke took seats by the window. "You're watching the competition, aren't you?"
"All of Konoha is going to be watching the competition, Naruto. As soon as two o'clock hits, I'm closing down this joint and heading to the starting flags. What'll it be, boys?"
They ordered their lunches and made light conversation (or little, on Sasuke's behalf) with Temari before another group of teenagers walked in and Temari left to take their orders.
"Nervous, Uchiha?" asked Naruto, seeing Sasuke's hand shake as the boy stirred his green tea.
Sasuke shook his head, smirking, and set down the spoon. "I'm excited," he said. "Really excited."
"Me too," Naruto admitted. He leaned back into the couch and sighed. "We're two and a half hours from kicking butt."
"Don't you mean I'm two and a half hours from kicking butt? All you'll be doing then is biting my dust."
"Oh, bring it on, Uchiha. You just wait and see."
"I'm starting to think I should buy a tent . . ."
"Oi!"
Naruto threw a french-fry at Sasuke, to which the Uchiha happily caught and ate, muttering a sarcastic thanks. Naruto glared darkly and averted his attention to his hamburger. Sasuke stared, lost in thought, before he was finally broken out of his trance by coughing coming from behind him. Thinking it to be someone trying to get his attention, he turned, but the person had already left for the bathroom.
Sasuke turned back to Naruto.
"Isn't that a little bad to eat before a competition?"
Naruto, in turn, eyed Sasuke's tuna salad. "I've done this before a dozen times and nothing happened."
"Out of those dozen times, how many did you win?"
"Shut it."
Sasuke smirked outwardly, but couldn't keep his hand from shaking as he tried to fork his salad. He was extremely excited. He could almost taste the victory with every bite of lettuce, corn, and tuna.
Three thousand five hundred dollars . . .
Itachi's young, laughing face came into his mind.
Three thousand five hundred dollars . . .
He had to win. For the sake of Itachi.
He had to win.
o.o.O.O.o.o
At two o'clock, Naruto and Sasuke had paid for their lunches, said goodbye to Temari, and headed off on their way to the starting point. Sasuke's head whirled with thoughts. Naruto was grinning, his mood high as the clouds were above their heads.
"Thank you for the weather!" the blond shouted to the skies.
Sasuke shook his head in mock pity, continuing to walk. The starting point was at the start of Konoha; there was a road leading from the other countries with a sign that said Welcome to Konoha! The race would end at Konoha's other side, where another sign said Welcome to Konoha!
Those who were going to watch the event (which was practically the entire town) would come to the starting point and then drive to the ending point, where they would wait for possibly several hours. Drinks and food would be served by umbrellas and plastic chairs.
Along the trail of the tournament would be security to make sure no one took any shortcuts, cheated, or did anything against the rules.
Naruto and Sasuke arrived at the starting line. They were an hour early, but several of the competitors were already there. Some of them had even begun to warm up. Sasuke recognized Neji, Lee, and Kiba, as well as a few of the other students from the track team. TenTen, Ino, Hinata, and Sakura stood around the boys, all of them in a single conversation.
"There they are!" Ino suddenly exclaimed, pointing to where Sasuke and Naruto were walking towards them.
After quick greetings, Sasuke sat on the grass, absentmindedly stretching forwards. Neji took a seat next to him.
"That's him," the quiet Hyuuga said in his monotonous voice. His eyes stared into the distance. Sasuke turned to stare in the same direction.
A boy sat at the base of a tree, silent, with his pale arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were closed and seemed to have black war paint accentuating them. What Sasuke found rather eye-catching was the boy's hair: tousled, bright red hair.
However, Sasuke's eyebrows rose when he recognized Kankuro. The man knelt beside the redhead with a can of red liquid.
"What's Kankuro doing there?" asked Sasuke in surprise.
Neji smirked. "He's Gaara's brother."
Two things occurred to Sasuke at that moment:
"He's Gaara's brother?" soon followed by, "That's Gaara?"
Neji's eyes were filled with mirth, but his mouth stayed in a smirk. "Yes, that's Gaara," he said patiently. "Kankuro's painting the traditional kanji for love onto his forehead. They do it for every tournament as a sign of good luck and so far, it's worked pretty well."
"And the eye paint?"
"He does that himself."
Sasuke was reminded of Kankuro's purple face paint, which the man wore always, and wondered what it was with the Sabaku family members and marking their faces.
Neji stayed silent for a while, watching as Kankuro finished up the kanji. He cradled his knees to his chest. "He doesn't play dirty," the Hyuuga said later. "But he's still some pretty amazing competition."
"What's this?" Sasuke smirked and raised an eyebrow. "The Great Hyuuga Neji compliments someone other than himself?"
"Watch it, Uchiha. I might not let you take a picture with my trophy."
"I wouldn't want a picture with the last place trophy anyway. Thanks, though."
When the others had come over after finishing their conversation, they saw both the Hyuuga and the Uchiha smirking, both staring at the sky.
"What are you two smirking about?" asked Chouji. He, Shikamaru, Sai, and Shino had recently joined the rest.
"Malice," replied Sasuke.
"Malevolence," added Neji.
The group decided they didn't want to know.
With thirty minutes left to the start of the tournament, Lee gathered their entire team together to begin an easy warm-up. Jogging lightly in place, Sasuke spotted Itachi and Kakashi speaking to Genma by the sidelines.
A group of students lined in twos was making its way around the outside of the area. The students' feet hit the ground in synchronized order, creating a sort of low, rumbling drum roll as they continued, intimidating, towards the end of the field. A man watched them intensely from the sides. Gaara led the ground expressionlessly.
Suna.
"Thirty minutes," Kiba said dreamily, interrupting Sasuke's thoughts. "Can you believe it? It's just thirty minutes away!"
"Don't get too excited, Kiba. You don't want your heart racing too early," warned Naruto.
"Alright, kiddies, this is it!"
Genma suddenly appeared and clapped an unsuspecting team member on the shoulder. The poor girl jumped high. Genma quickly apologized.
Kakashi and Itachi came up right behind the hyper man. Itachi stood by Sasuke's side.
"This is the moment we've all been waiting for!" exclaimed Genma. He began handing out numbers, having already checked that they were registered.
"The big one," continued Sakura.
"The beauty of all treasures," added Kiba.
Sasuke leaned over to whisper to Naruto as he took his number. "You've all memorized his speech?"
"Nah," replied the blond, grinning widely. "Genma never prepares a speech. He just starts us off and lets us make up one as we go along."
Sasuke nodded, starting to pin his number up as he listened. It said: Uchiha – 77.
Lucky Number Seven, huh?
"This is the day we show Suna who's boss!"
"Our moment to shine!"
"We've trained too hard to let this go to waste!"
At the end of the speech, Genma pretended to wipe away a false tear. "That was, by far, the best speech we've ever given in a while."
"All racers to the starting line in five minutes!" a loud voice over a megaphone suddenly shouted.
"Hurry, coach!"
"Alright, alright!" Genma said hurriedly. He briefly glanced at the Suna coach from the corners of his eyes. "There shouldn't really be much competition, except for that Gaara kid, but even if he takes the gold, there's always silver and bronze, got it? And either way, win or lose, you know what we're going to do on Monday."
Sasuke was slightly startled at the sudden exclamation of "Party!"
"Now get your asses over to that starting line and start thinking about the goodies you're going to bring to the party, got it?"
Another round of exclamations of approval had Sasuke raising a slender eyebrow. And then suddenly, everyone was running in a hyper frenzy towards the starting line, itching to begin and turning heads everywhere. Parents and onlookers cheered.
Itachi clapped Sasuke on the shoulder, smirking.
"I shouldn't have to wait long at the finish line, should I?" he asked casually.
"Make sure you step on the gas when you're going to it," replied Sasuke, "or you might miss my big finish."
"Touché."
Sasuke advanced to the starting line, adrenaline already pumping through his veins.
"Sasuke."
He stopped, turned. Itachi was still smirking.
"Charge, check?"
Sasuke mimicked his brother's smirk when he realized it was the same thing they did when they were younger. "Check," he replied.
"Breathing alright, check?"
"Check." Pause. "Hey, Boogeyman-repellant head gear, check?"
Itachi paused, reached into his vest, and pulled out a flattened orange hat. He fixed it properly and placed it atop his hair, looking absolutely ridiculous and not caring in the least.
"Check."
Sasuke didn't smirk. He smiled. He smiled, gave a thumbs-up to Itachi, and finally turned to the starting line.
"Good luck, Sasuke." Itachi turned around as well. "I'll be waiting."
"All racers to the starting line!"
Sasuke stood between Naruto and Neji.
"Hyuuga," a silky, monotonous voice whispered. Gaara suddenly appeared beside Neji, eyes facing the trail.
"Hey, Sabaku," Neji said casually.
Sasuke watched the two exchange minimum conversation, neither staring at each other. He assumed that the boys knew each other well. After all, no one had said anything about Gaara being hated, or evil.
"Uchiha."
The same voice called for Sasuke. Startled, Sasuke turned to meet sea foam green eyes lined with paint. Had Sasuke been anyone else, he would have run away at the sight of the piercing gaze.
"I've heard about you," Gaara continued. He turned to stare at the trail again. "I'm looking forward to calling you competition."
Naruto, having been listening, chuckled lightly and said to Sasuke, "That's Gaara's way of complimenting you."
". . . Right." He turned to Gaara. "Good luck to you, too, I guess."
Neji smirked.
Sasuke had just realized the extent of the crowd's shouting. It had been drowned out by his thoughts, but the sudden silence in his mind brought in the noise from the dozens of people that stood at the sidelines, screaming names and luck and calling out to their friends, their lovers, or their children.
"Racers to your marks!"
"Here we go!" Naruto called excitedly.
"May the youth be with each and every one of you!" Lee shouted.
There was not a single head that wasn't turned towards the bowl-haired boy.
Lee was oblivious.
As always.
"Get set!"
BANG!
The pistol was fired and Sasuke suddenly felt himself moving forward. It felt like a dream. It felt like his legs were controlling him rather than the other way around, forcing himself to a quick, set pace. He watched amateurs immediately run off, knowing they'd regret it later.
No, slow and steady was the way to go, with a final stride at the end.
He saw Gaara take up the same quick pace next to him. Naruto, Neji, and Lee were mere steps behind, as it always had been during track practices.
Bring it on, Sabaku.
o.o.O.O.o.o
Sasuke recalculated his position half an hour after the race had begun. He always recalculated his position every half hour. He had been following the winding trail of gravel and cement marked by hundreds of tiny, colorful flags, the scenery of Konoha changing around him with every twist and turn. He and Gaara, still side-by-side, were ahead of everyone.
Everyone.
There was no one behind them for several meters as they began to near a distant post office. When Sasuke turned around, the trail showed no signs of anyone except the neon-clad patrolmen.
An hour later, coming up behind the market place, Sasuke could see no one.
Not even Gaara.
He was ahead.
He didn't know what to feel. He felt unbelievably happy, sensing that yes, he was going to win this competition, but he told himself not to get too cocky. Even though he couldn't see Gaara, it was probably only because the trail sharply turned, lined with towering bushes so that Sasuke couldn't see anyone that hadn't made the turn.
But still . . .
I actually have a chance of winning! he thought to himself. As long as Gaara doesn't pick up his pace, I can actually win this thing!
Sasuke soon met a sign: Halfway there! A large stand was stationed beneath it on the grass beside the trail with several members of the PTA sitting in chairs.
"Oh, honey!" one of them called as he neared, gesturing him over with a free hand. "Congratulations!" She held out a cup of water for him to take as he ran. Sasuke thanked her, bowing his head, and headed off again. He downed the cup slowly so he wouldn't irritate his stomach. The hydration renewed his vigor.
He was almost there.
Almost there.
Sasuke picked up his pace by the slightest speed. He thought about nothing but the money that would await him, nothing but the smile that would appear on Itachi's face when he would hold it up to his brother.
Sasuke smiled, too.
Another half hour later, arriving by the hospital, Sasuke was beginning to pant harshly. He hadn't stopped at all, worrying that he wouldn't be able to continue at the same pace. Turning around briefly, Gaara, nor anyone else, was in sight.
Almost there, he willed himself.
But something was happening.
The air around him began to feel colder as he jogged. The temperature plummeted. He rubbed his arms briefly in attempt to bring warmth to them, but even his own hands were chilly against his skin.
Sasuke wished it had stopped at that, but no. His heart began to race when he felt his prosthesis begin to resist his movements. Every now and then, his knee would need force to bend, or his leg would buckle slightly when it hit the ground.
Sasuke began to sweat with worry. He didn't dare stop to inspect it. He was absolutely positive he'd switched his leg into its second mode (he had checked it every minute before the competition began).
So what was wrong?
And why the hell does it happen now?!
Maybe it had something to do with the charger? His leg had never completely run out of battery power before. Perhaps it was a side effect, he thought. Perhaps he had done something wrong, like there was something he needed to do if it ever ran out of power.
Turning around, a head of scarlet appeared, getting closer and closer. Sasuke cursed inwardly and closed his eyes briefly, sweat pouring down his face. Gaara was coming closer, as was the finish line, which had yet to come into vision.
One More Mile!
It was a neon-green sign that had told him that as he passed it.
One more mile.
About eight more minutes.
He willed his leg to stay with him for eight more minutes. Just eight more minutes.
Gaara was now only a few meters behind him, looking calm, collected, and barely a sweat broken out on his pallid skin. Sasuke cursed once more when his leg almost buckled.
"Uchiha, you aren't looking well."
Sea foam green eyes had turned to inspect him from his side. Gaara, after seeing the Uchiha's leg almost buckle, had briefly gone into a sprint to inspect the boy from his side.
Sasuke ignored him, not wanting to be rude, but having no choice. If he spoke, he'd lose his breath, unlike the perfectly-calm Gaara.
"You're pale and sweating too much to be normal," Gaara continued. He was falling behind in step. Sasuke still continued on, wiping his sweat away from his eyes with the back of his hand. He was always a little pale. Why should he care this time around?
"Really, Uchiha. I think you've got a fever."
Fever.
Fever?
Is that why it's so cold? Sasuke asked himself as he forced his knee to bend for the next step. He laughed humorlessly on the inside. I have a fever! Isn't that great? A fucking fever during the biggest tournament of my life! And my leg hates me! This is great! Isn't this great? Just great! As if it possibly couldn't get any worse!
Sasuke thought his number must have been thirteen, not seventy-seven; he had no luck with him that day. None at all. But he was glad Gaara couldn't keep with his pace and had fallen back two meters.
Suddenly, he stumbled.
He stumbled.
Sasuke's mind had gone black in a sudden flash and all reality had slipped from him in a millisecond, losing control of his body in that swift amount of time to force him to almost fall, but he'd caught himself just in time and forced himself on.
"This competition isn't worth dying over, Uchiha," came Gaara's quiet voice from behind him. It didn't sound like he wanted the Uchiha out so he could win. It sounded like Gaara's way of worrying.
Yes it is, Sasuke replied in his mind. It is worth dying over.
Just when the world's temperature seemed to have dropped below freezing, just when Sasuke's mind spun and his eyesight blurred, he saw it. He turned the corner of the trail and saw it.
The finish line.
The second the crowd had seen him, they began to cheer him on. They were a good two hundred meters away, but Sasuke could still make them out. They were lined at the barriers, leaning over the fencing, with the sunset shimmering behind them. Sasuke could make out a news reporter talking to her posse of cameramen, as well as several professional photographers.
"Go Uchiha!" half the crowd called. The other half called for Gaara to hurry. He was a meter behind Sasuke.
Sasuke was a hundred meters away from the finish line now. Someone shouted "Look! The others are coming!" but he didn't dare turn around to look. All he could see in his blurring vision was the black-and-white checkered flag, the red ribbon that was calling him to pass through. He saw Itachi all the way at the end, watching him.
Watching him.
Watching him fall.
Fall.
Sasuke heard it. He heard it in the silence that suddenly pressed against his ears; he heard the crowd's concurrent gasp as his leg buckled and failed. The world seemed to turn into a silent movie. Colors were long gone from his vision. All he could see was the ground that was quickly coming up to meet him. All he could feel was numbness and cold and pounding in his skull.
His leg gave out. Even as he lay, sprawled on the floor, it wouldn't move to help him back up.
No.
It couldn't end like this.
No.
No!
"No!" Sasuke screamed into the ground.
Sound and color came back in a sudden flash, deafening him, roaring, droning through his mind. He heard Kakashi's distant shout of "No! Don't touch him!"
But someone was already hunching over him.
The cold hands were unfamiliar. Sasuke opened his tearing eyes to see two men uniformed in orange. Kakashi's protesting voice came back, muffled through the audience, and Sasuke suddenly saw what was coming, too.
And before he could stop it, one of the paramedics had seized his leg.
Had seized his leg.
And had pulled the leg of his pants from his left ankle.
From his left ankle.
And suddenly, the world was silent again.
Sasuke stood still, shock entering his body, fever shaking his chest and playing at his lungs so his breaths would come out in shortened wheezes. He was sure Gaara had long-since passed the finish line, but no one was cheering.
And suddenly . . .
". . . Oh my God! He's got a prosthetic leg!"
Sound came once more. Gasps and whispers and exclamations and cameras flashing. He could hear the excited gabber of the anchorwoman in the background.
"Sasuke! Sasuke!"
At last, a voice he recognized.
He could finally relax. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp in the paramedic's arms.
Itachi leapt over the fence in a panicked frenzy. The anchorwoman and a cameraman followed him. He roughly pushed the paramedics away, threatening them, before grabbing his brother's limp body.
"Sasuke!" he called. "Sasuke, please! Wake up!"
"Uchiha Itachi, could you please tell us about Sasuke's hidden prosthetic leg?" the anchorwoman said. She thrust the mic into Itachi's face.
Itachi ignored her. He hugged Sasuke's shivering, sweating figure to his chest as cameras flashed, blinding him. The crowd was getting rowdy. The patrolmen from the trail were forced to hold them back as if they were a mob.
"This way."
Kakashi, Genma, and Kisame were at Itachi's side. Genma and Kisame held a blanket up to block reporters and cameras. Kakashi led the way with the aid of other patrolmen.
It felt like Itachi and Sasuke were idols and everyone else was either a bodyguard or paparazzi. Itachi held tightly to his little brother as he was led into the backseat of Kakashi's car, Genma wishing them luck from the outside.
"Uchiha Itachi!"
"Tell us about Sasuke!"
"What happened to his leg?!"
"Drive, man, drive!" Kisame urged Kakashi from the front seat. Kakashi stepped on the gas pedal and the car moved from the side of the road and away from the tournament where cameras still flashed after them.
"The hospital, Kakashi," Itachi whispered, not looking up. "Sasuke's coming down with something serious." He gripped his brother's shirt so tightly that his knuckles whitened.
The car was silent, far from the uproar that had been caused at the tournament. The streetlights were beginning to come on as the sun blinked from existence.
After a long moment of the intense silence, Itachi said, "It's going to be all over the news, isn't it?"
Kisame groaned and put one hand over his eyes, leaning on to the window. Kakashi sighed.
"Yeah," he whispered. "It was a live broadcast. No doubt you'll make front page news tomorrow."
Itachi hugged his brother tighter. ". . . This isn't going to be good for his mental health, is it?"
Kakashi hadn't thought that far ahead, but now that it came up, he wondered how violent of a reaction Sasuke would have towards what had happened. They'd have to keep sedatives close by and watch him at all times.
No one spoke for the rest of the quiet ride to the hospital. Itachi unpinned Sasuke's number from his shirt and wrapped his own vest around his brother's shaking body.
Tsunade was waiting for them when they entered through the sliding doors. She led the three men to an empty, private room.
"I was watching the news," she said grimly. "I can't stop the news from spreading to the papers. Freedom of press."
She had Itachi gently place Sasuke on the bed before she put the heart monitor clip on him. As she checked over his pulse, the calm and collected Itachi punched a nearby wall.
"He was so happy," the Uchiha whispered ominously into the wall. "He kept saying he was going to win that tournament. He was training for it day and night, passing out for it . . . Damn it . . ."
Kakashi took a seat. Kisame guided Itachi to one.
"It's going to affect him even more emotionally, not just because he's sad he didn't win something he trained his ass off for," whispered Kakashi. "Itachi, do you know what the prize for the tournament is?"
"He won't care about losing one lousy trophy, Kakashi. He's had plenty."
Kakashi shook his head sadly. "There was more to the prize than that. He wanted to keep it a surprise."
"Prize money of three thousand five hundred dollars."
Itachi stared disbelievingly at Tsunade. "He wanted to win the money . . ."
"For you, yes."
Itachi's eyes averted to his brother. Tsunade was removing his prosthetic to run some tests. She had seen his fall on the news and thought she had seen his knee buckle.
Itachi put his head in his hands, sighing heavily. After a short moment of stillness, he stood up and slowly went to Sasuke's bedside, leaning down over his brother's body as Tsunade began to hook an IV drip to him.
"I told you not to think about the money," he whispered. "I told you that I didn't care about the money." He gripped the bed sheets tightly. "I'm not our father."
Sasuke woke from unconsciousness seconds after the IV needle had been inserted, gasping for breath and groping for anything near him. Sweat had begun to drip down his face and tears were gathering in his eyes.
"Tell me it didn't happen," he said through his gasps, eyes staring at the wall ahead of him as he shook violently. "Tell me –"
Kisame saw it coming and ran forwards, grabbing the garbage bin in the room on the way to quickly place it beneath Sasuke's chin. The delirious Uchiha let his stomach's contents into the bin before falling back, panting harshly at the sudden lack of air.
"Alright, alright, just calm down, Sasuke," Tsunade whispered soothingly. "You don't want to get sedated."
"Did I lose?" Sasuke whispered, sinking into his pillow. "The tournament. I fell, didn't I? And everyone saw my leg, didn't they?"
"Sasuke, just rest. You've got a fever right now. We'll talk about everything later," continued Tsunade.
Sasuke's dilated eyes averted to Itachi, who had stayed silent.
"I lost the money, Itachi."
Tears were suddenly mingling with the sweat on his cheeks.
"You were supposed to be happy, Itachi. That money was supposed to pay off our debts. It was supposed to give you a break from work. I just ended up making everything worse."
"I'm still happy, Sasuke," Itachi whispered back.
Sasuke's mouth contorted into a snarl, which only ended up making him look more pitiful with the tears streaming from his bloodshot, dilated eyes. "Don't lie to me!"
"You're sick. Go to sleep."
"I failed, Itachi!"
"Go to sleep, Sasuke."
"Itachi!"
But the older Uchiha was already wordlessly leaving the room. Naruto suddenly opened the door from the other side before Itachi could reach the doorknob.
"Uh, hey, Itachi . . ." Naruto had begun to say softly, but Itachi sidled past him and closed the door behind himself. Naruto, confused, entered the room with unusual silence.
"It's best if you don't say anything, Naruto," Kakashi told him upon entry.
"I wasn't going to in the first place." He took a seat, staring at the delirious Uchiha. "Kiba's mom drove me here."
"Naruto!"
Sasuke suddenly sat upright. Naruto flinched. With a sweaty, shaking hand, Sasuke pointed at the blond. "Did I lose? At the tournament? Answer me!"
Naruto turned to Kakashi for assistance. "Is he . . . alright?"
"Just don't say anything, kid," answered Kisame.
"Naruto!"
Naruto's head snapped back to Sasuke.
"Answer me!" the Uchiha cried desperately, pitifully. "Answer me! Did I lose the race?! Did I lose the money?!"
Naruto's own eyes began to tear and he forced himself to look away, clamping his hands over his ears. His face twisted as he tried not to cry, bending his body forwards in attempt to drown out the scene.
"Naruto!"
"I'm sorry, Kakashi. I just can't work with this."
Several things happened in the next few minutes: Tsunade stuck a needle into Sasuke's arm. Sasuke went into a screaming fit until he passed out from the sedative. The sound of something shattering echoed in the hallways.
And Itachi came back with blood dripping from his fist.
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. . . I'm going to go run away now.