For a second, I thought I should name this chapter Turds in the Sky or Stupid Prick or Fluffy Raccoon, then I remembered that this chapter already has a name.
Chapter XXXVI
– Day 2 –
Now that he was looking at the sky like this, calm, with a relaxed mind and comfortably lying on a nice bed of slightly moist grass, Naruto suddenly found it quite interesting to look at. He couldn't see any specific shapes in the clouds, since the fluffy white puffs floating in the all-encompassing sky all seemed to have the same vague shape. They all looked a bit like little turds flying in the sky.
Throwing an arm over his eyes as he quietly laughed to himself, Naruto realised just how alone he felt all of a sudden. Not only was his stalker gone for good for a while, but he couldn't even contact any of his friends. He couldn't just show up at Sakura's doorstep and waste time together with her like he used to. He couldn't meet Kiba or Shikamaru or Chouji to go somewhere fun. He couldn't prank call Neji just to annoy him. He couldn't even go to school to distract himself. He couldn't do anything at all. And if he was unlucky, he would never again be able to.
The most important thing at the moment was doing what he had to. Doing what only he could do.
Removing his arm from his face, Naruto slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. After staring at the dark screen for a while, he turned on the device and read over the text message he had received in the morning; the instructions Itachi had sent him. Where to go, at what time to expect Sasuke to show up, how to act. All that had been entrusted to him by the elder Uchiha. His heart began to race just thinking of the upcoming events. He tried to think positively, expecting everything to go smoothly, although deep down he knew it wouldn't go like that. Deep down he knew that his chances at failing were much higher than his chances at succeeding.
"Naruto?" a familiar voice suddenly interrupted the utter silence.
Still lying on his back, the blond turned his head to see whoever had called him, slipping his phone back into his pocket in the process. When he caught sight of emerald eyes, he turned onto his stomach to shoot the newcomer a grin. "How did you find me?"
The other smirked, walking a bit closer. "I will always find you."
The laugh that passed Naruto's lips then was a bit strained. "That's nice… I guess." He turned to lie on his back again, watching the other quietly sit down on the grass beside him from the corner of his eyes. "Hey…" Again, Naruto was staring up at the sky, the sky filled with flying turds, "Gaara…"
"Yes?"
Naruto briefly rubbed his eyes, then slowly sat up to properly look the redhead in the face. "Why are you here?" The smile was gone.
Gaara's expression gave away no specific emotion, like it usually did. The redhead simply sat there next to the blond and stared at him with an unreadable look.
Eyebrows furrowing together, Naruto frowned and hunched his shoulders a bit. What was this? What was going on? Something wasn't right. "You aren't supposed to be here."
"My being here is for your own good." Before Naruto could bark back an exasperated response, a soft sigh suddenly passed the redhead's lips. "I'm stopping you from doing something you will regret."
"This again?" Naruto sighed, having heard this type of thing one too many times over the past few days. "I know what I'm doing!"
The moment Gaara went silent without giving any further reply, Naruto began to squirm uncomfortably, wondering if he had done something wrong. Although he was close to Gaara and he considered him a friend, they were still strangers to each other in a way. It was disheartening. They trusted each other with their lives, yet they had close to no real knowledge of each other.
"I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself."
A sense of déjà vu washed over Naruto at the statement, the blond suddenly reminded of the way Kakashi had spoken to him yesterday. Kakashi had reason to be concerned. How he knew of what the teen was planning was still a mystery to him, but Naruto was sure Kakashi had his ways as a detective of a special unit. What was Gaara's excuse? "What do you know?"
"Enough," the redhead immediately shot back. "I'm not as lenient as Kakashi. If I do not want you doing something stupid, I will stop you. Even if I have to hurt you."
Naruto was on his feet in an instant, briefly dizzy and a little wobbly after standing up too fast, yet his fury remained undeterred. "You have no right to do that! Who do you think you are!"
"Your friend."
It suddenly hit Naruto that this was how Sasuke must have felt back in that alley, confronted by a friend, yet adamant on going through with whatever reckless plan he had formulated. Naruto hadn't been able to understand that way of thinking, that outright refusal, but now the realisation had been all but slapped across his face. He knew how Sasuke felt now and he knew more than anything how Gaara must be feeling right now. No matter how threatening and scary Gaara's passive glare was, underneath that expression he was afraid; terrified of losing a dear friend. "I'm sorry, Gaara."
The calm yet threatening expression on Gaara's face made way for a slight scowl, one that let some of the redhead's anxiety and anger show through. "I am not giving you a chance to decide and I am not trying to convince you to give up. I already know you won't. You are a blockhead like that." Gaara ignored the indignant huff and continued. "I simply do not want you to detest me after this."
"What are you trying to do?" the blond bit out warily, suspicious of the direction this was heading into. Was Gaara seriously threatening him?
"I am protecting you." Gaara slowly rose to his feet as well, looming over the blond despite being the same height as him.
When Gaara took a purposeful step towards him, Naruto took one back. His suspicious glare was locked with Gaara's determined one, the two slowly creeping around each other like two lions sizing each other up. Naruto didn't know if he could take on Gaara in a serious fight. What little talent and skill he had in hand to hand combat was nothing compared to what power Gaara possessed. A power capable of killing.
The next second Naruto found himself on the ground, back pressed into slightly moist grass and calm eyes piercing him like sharp daggers. In the back of his mind he was aware of Gaara's outstretched hand, ready to strike at his neck to knock him out.
Before Gaara could react, Naruto had twisted around enough underneath him to be able to kick against the redhead's stomach, pushing him off long enough for the blond to get to his feet again, albeit slightly dazed. Naruto's thoughts were muddled from the earlier impact of the back of his head against the ground. He backed away to put some distance between them, hoping with all his might he could somehow fend Gaara off long enough until the other was distracted and exhausted enough for him to run away successfully. He knew he had more stamina than Gaara, so this really was just a matter of him dodging the other's attacks long enough.
But Gaara was also faster and more agile than him, which was why Naruto was on the ground the next second again. He caught one of Gaara's hands in his own, frantically reaching for the other one to stop him from striking anywhere that would knock him out. The longer this struggle went on, the more Naruto realised something: Gaara wasn't fighting him with all his power. He really was holding himself back in an attempt not to kill him. If Gaara had been trying to kill him, Naruto would already be dead. Gaara probably had never fought against anyone without trying to kill them, which was why his movements weren't as smooth and fast as they could have been. He simply wasn't used to this type of fighting, which was an advantage to Naruto, who finally succeeded in catching Gaara's other hand.
Now Gaara was hovering over him, both his wrists trapped in Naruto's hands. Naruto could see the thought process in Gaara's eyes, the way he was considering possibilities to knock out Naruto without his hands. Naruto doubted there was any way to do that, seeing how the only thing Gaara's could move freely right now was his head–
Oh…
Gaara seemed to come to the same conclusion in that instant and Naruto could only watch in horror as the redhead pulled his head back, then suddenly slammed it down against his forehead, hard. Naruto's head felt like a bell being hit by a monstrous steel hammer, ringing in white hot pain, pain that seemed to bounce off of the walls of his skull and back inside, before everything blacked out.
The first thing Naruto noticed when he finally came to was that his head felt as though it had been split apart. Several times. With a rusty spoon.
The next thing he noticed was the darkness. No light, no shapes, no sound. Nothing to tell him where the hell he was.
The last thing he noticed was the fact that wherever he was, was cramped. If he moved just the tiniest bit, he would touch walls that surrounded him on all sides. He wasn't in a coffin, was he? Gaara wouldn't go that far, right? He wouldn't bury him alive just to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Or would he?
Somehow, Naruto couldn't help but trust Gaara to do something like that. Only Gaara could think that Naruto was safer inside a coffin than walking around outside and going after a suicidal prick. After some grumbling to himself, Naruto realised that he wasn't lying down, but standing instead. At least he wasn't buried alive. He sighed in relief at that thought, deciding to push at the wall in front of him to try and free himself. Although he doubted he could get out without–
The next thing greeting Naruto was blinding light and a tender kiss from the floor. He had tumbled out of whatever he was trapped in and crashed down face-first. After slowly getting to his feet, all the way complaining about the several bruises he would, no doubt, later have, he finally glanced around to take in his surroundings. He seemed to be in some sort of storage room since there were brooms and other cleaning utensils strewn around him. Apparently, Gaara had shoved out whatever had been in the cabinet and put Naruto in there instead. Looking around again, Naruto couldn't find any trace of Gaara being there. He would have expected the redhead to guard him, make sure he was okay and wouldn't escape.
Naruto's eyes quickly wandered over to the closed door. Perhaps that one was locked and Gaara was outside guarding him. Huffing to himself about how childish and ridiculous Gaara was being, the blond stalked over to the room's only door and knocked on it lightly with an exasperated frown. "This is stupid, Gaara," he groaned, crossing his arms. "Just let me out. You can't keep me here forever, you know. You'll have to let me out eventually anyway." Naruto waited for some monotonous answer like This is for your own good or I'm just protecting you; things Gaara would say in a situation like this. But nothing came. "Gaara?" Naruto tried again, knocking a bit harder this time. "Hey!" He tried opening the door, pushing down the handle. To his surprise, it opened with ease and he stepped out onto a long, suffocatingly lonely hallway. This looked familiar. Too familiar. "I'm at school?" Naruto wondered aloud, confusion taking over his features. Although it looked different without masses of people rushing through, the fact that this was a hallway in Konoha Highschool was undeniable. "The hell…" Looking around, Naruto still couldn't find any sign of Gaara being around. Had he just left him here?
When Naruto was about to head for the exit, he finally noticed the sticky feeling on his right hand. Upon looking at his palm, he sucked in a sharp breath, his heart immediately beginning to pump painfully in his chest. After a second of staring at his palm with wide eyes, Naruto rubbed his thumb against his other fingers, feeling the sickening wet texture of whatever was covering his hand. A coppery stench filled his nose, making his stomach churn.
There was blood on his hand. But where had it come from? Turning back to the room he had emerged from just seconds ago, Naruto quickly found the source: the door handle. It was smeared thickly in blood, as though someone had touched it with blood-stained hands. It was fresh, still shockingly red on the cold metal. Was it Gaara's?
Naruto finally dared to pull his eyes away from the door, instead focusing on the floor of the tiny room. The floor where a thick blood stain tainted the once off-white tiles. It looked as though someone with a heavily bleeding wound had been dragged over it. The stain stopped right where Naruto was standing, in the doorframe. Whoever had left that blood there had been disposed of.
Had Gaara disposed of someone trying to get to Naruto? Had Gaara killed his stalker? Why wasn't he here? Had he left to hide the corpse?
Naruto almost fell to his knees when a stabbing pain suddenly shot through his head, making him feel as though his head was being split apart all over again. He shouldn't be thinking so hard. It only caused him more pain. Carefully, Naruto touched his forehead, hissing when he made contact with the tender skin. He could feel the bump that had formed and the all too familiar feeling of a forming bruise. In the past, he would have panicked and thought of ways to cover the bruise up so no one would ask questions, especially Iruka. But he didn't have time for that.
The realisation hit Naruto like a sledgehammer to the guts, nearly knocking him off his feet. For how long had he been out? Slightly dreary eyes shot open as Naruto fumbled for his phone to check on the time. It was way past six! He had been out for at least four hours and he barely had fourty minutes left to get to the hospital on time!
Despite Naruto's head feeling as though it would implode any second, the blond put all his strength into forcing his legs to carry him as fast as they could. How was he going to make it on time? The hospital was almost an hour away and he had to be there before Sasuke tried anything!
Itachi's message had informed him that Sasuke would most likely try to attack Danzo when the guards would change shifts, which was exactly at half past six. The guards would be less concentrated, especially this late in the day. Perhaps they would chat with the other guards and pay less attention to what was going on inside Danzo's room. Itachi had told him of several ways Sasuke would try to break in, all sounding more reckless and unbelievable than the last. From breaking in through the room's floor window on the fourth floor, to knocking out the guards with some sort of gas, to getting in through the ceiling by putting a hole in the floor of the room above, they all would get Sasuke inside, which was why Naruto had to be there before the Uchiha even got a chance to try anything. Sasuke would probably try to get in through the window, since that was the most inconspicuous way. How exactly Sasuke would manage doing that without tragically falling to his gruesome death, Naruto couldn't fathom.
Glancing at his phone to check the time, Naruto blanched seeing that seven minutes had passed. How was he going to make it? He was hungry, exhausted, his legs hurt from being forced to stand in a cramped space while being unconscious and his brain was slowly turning into a useless mush. It was a miracle he was even capable of thinking at all in this condition. If not for this burning in his chest keeping him going, this fire fuelling his body to move on, if not for this red hot desire to throttle Sasuke for being such a twat, Naruto would be a slumped mess on the ground, incapable of thought or motion, with a brain of mush and a dead-weight body.
A sudden honking behind him made Naruto stop in his tracks and turn panicked eyes on the car approaching. For a second, his blood ran painfully cold as he was reminded of that eventful night when he had been first chased down by his stalker and found by Kiba; that night that had forever changed his relationship to the Inuzuka. But then he recognised the familiar car and his features brightened just a tiny bit.
The car loudly screeched to a halt next to the blond and after only a second, the passenger door swung open, inviting the teen into the car's dark insides.
"Get in." The voice was gruff and deep, disgruntled.
A certain cold sharpness came along with the words, the harsh tone sending ice-cold chills down Naruto's spine, making him regret ever stopping to get in the car for a second. Although he eased into the passenger seat without hesitation, Naruto couldn't help but feel unsettled. The presence next to him was stifling, almost choking him. "Kyuubi?" Naruto uttered the name quietly, like a whisper in a cold, lonely night. He received no response, no reaction. He felt alone. More than he ever had.
Once the car jolted into motion, the scenery outside flashed by in a blur, houses, trees and people melting together into a hazy mess of colours and shapes. Outside, there was light and freedom. In this car, there was only this cold, tense air that seemed to slowly wrap around Naruto's neck, choking him like a noose.
The ride took only a few minutes and Naruto almost fainted in relief when he could see the hospital in the distance. There were still over thirty minutes left before those guards would change shifts and Sasuke would try something. The suffocating atmosphere of the car had Naruto's mind instantly cloud with doubt and fear. When the car stopped on the sidewalk next to the hospital, away from prying eyes at the front entrance, Naruto tensed in his seat, limbs going rigid. "Kyu–"
"Get out."
Naruto jolted at the quiet, strained tone, as though Kyuubi was only a second away from ripping his throat out. Eyes trained on the redhead's form, watching out for any sudden movement, Naruto slowly reached for the door handle. Gulping, he opened the door, a shiver running down his spine at the muffled noise of it unlocking. He backed away slowly, carefully inching out of his seat. When he was nearly outside, one foot already on the asphalt, Naruto noticed the way Kyuubi's hands were tightly clutching the steering wheel, knuckles white, his arms shaking from the strain. Naruto thought he could hear how Kyuubi was clenching his teeth.
With a small jump, Naruto was out of the car. The moment he felt himself stand on solid ground with both of his feet, he couldn't help but feel relieved, a silent sigh escaping his lips. But then he glanced at Kyuubi's still form again, the way the usually composed redhead refused to lock eyes with him and seemed just a hair's width away from jumping out of the car to gut him. Naruto stared and stared, seemingly unperturbed by the way Kyuubi was oozing bloody murder. He couldn't pry his eyes away from the redhead.
Right then and there, Naruto made a decision. He realised that he had a responsibility.
Naruto could hear Kyuubi already shifting gears to drive off again, engine roaring, but before the redhead got a chance to leave, the blond was in front of the car, stopping the man from driving. With determination burning in his gaze, Naruto stood with his hands placed on the hood of the car, staring Kyuubi down.
Tantalisingly slow, Kyuubi raised his head, his slender hands on the steering wheel clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Cruel red connected with sky blue and the redhead sneered venomously. "What the fuck are you doing?" he hissed through slightly bared teeth, messy bangs nearly obscuring his icy glare.
Clenching his hands on the car's hood into fists, Naruto hesitated for only a second before glaring at the man with a burning determination he hadn't realised he had lacked in all these years. "I'm helping you."
Naruto couldn't let others always help him and do nothing in return. He wasn't that kind of person. He couldn't let other people's effort go to waste and just throw his life away either. He had to get through all this alive and repay Kakashi, Gaara, Kiba, Shikamaru and all of his other friends for always saving him when he had been beyond saving. From now on, that was his purpose. He had promised to go ice skating with Kakashi in the winter after all.
Mind set on forcing Kyuubi to get his shit together, Naruto did the dumbest thing one could do in this situation. He marched to the driver's door, wrenched it open and fixed Kyuubi with a glare. He ignored the way Kyuubi's left eye suddenly twitched and how his eyes suddenly seemed to glaze over, as though he was forgetting where he was. As though he was forgetting who he was.
"Kyuubi…" Naruto began, carefully approaching the redhead. An unsettling anxiety boiled heavily in his guts when he couldn't see Kyuubi's eyes through his bangs, couldn't determine what the other was about to do.
All of a sudden, Kyuubi was out of the car, Naruto stumbling back to avoid being knocked down. Pain exploded in his back when he suddenly found himself being harshly slammed against the side of the car. From the corner of his eyes, he could see something glint in the sunlight. When he looked, his eyes widened in shock seeing a blade fly into his direction.
Instinctively, Naruto reached out his hand to shield himself, a searing pain instantly shooting through his entire arm like a bolt of burning hot lighting. The blade had sliced the skin between his pointer and middle finger, its hilt now in Naruto's grasp, along with Kyuubi's hand.
A sneer suddenly cut through Naruto's momentary panic and anguish.
"You are afraid of me, are you not?" Kyuubi snarled dangerously, crimson eyes wild. "You are afraid I am going to kill you, are you not?"
Hissing in pain when Kyuubi kept pushing the blade into his skin, Naruto struggled to push against the other's hand trying to stab him. "I'm… not…" The blond let out a strained groan, reaching out with his other hand to try and grab Kyuubi's arm to push it away. Instead, his arm was slammed back against the side of the car by Kyuubi's free hand, his wrist now in a painfully tight grip, sharp fingernails digging into his skin and drawing blood. "I know…" Naruto gasped in pain when Kyuubi's blade cut deeper and deeper, blood gushing down his arm, dripping down to form a pool of red on the asphalt, "you're not gonna do it."
"I am killing you right now, you fool!"
"No, you're not." Despite the unbearable pain, despite the panic seeming to surge through his every fibre, despite the blood pooling at his feet, Naruto smiled. The hand around his wrist tightened its grip. "I know you won't…" Another pained gasp escaped the teen, "kill me."
The hand around Naruto's wrist very slowly loosened its grip, Kyuubi's hand holding the knife slowly easing up as well. Naruto nearly released a heavy sigh of relief, although a heavy, deafening fear remained in his stomach like a pile of sharp-edged stones.
The soiled knife hit the asphalt, splashing up blood from the small pool of red.
Slender hands suddenly wrapped around Naruto's throat, Kyuubi glaring at the blond with madness raging in his crimson eyes. The startled teen slipped a little, sliding down the car a few inches, the back of his head loudly knocking against the car with a clank.
"You…" Kyuubi hissed in a hoarse tone, quietly. Tightening his grip around the blond's neck until Naruto began emitting choking noises, the redhead suddenly began pulling the teen forward, only throw him back so his head slammed into the car with a loud metallic bang. Hands tightly wrapped around the blond's neck, he did this again and again and again, the banging sound of Naruto's skull hitting metal growing louder and louder each time.
Naruto's lungs were aching, helpless gasps escaping his mouth, a strange pressure pulling at his face and throat. His eyes were beginning to become unfocused and the hands he had wrapped Kyuubi's arms remained motionless, refusing to hurt the other. Eyes screwed shut in an attempt to block out the pain in vain, he forced one of his eyes open to shoot a glance at Kyuubi. He found nothing but frantic lunacy, detached madness. There was nothing but pure bloodlust in those pools of murderous crimson. Even without him saying it, Naruto knew what Kyuubi was thinking. He could see it in his eyes.
Die…
BANG!
Die…
BANG!
Die!
BANG!
DIE!
"Why do you care about me so much?"
Close to passing out, vision gradually darkening, Naruto noted that his head wasn't being slammed into the car anymore. The grip around his neck loosened barely enough for him to be able to talk. For Kyuubi to know this accurately how much pressure he could and couldn't use was slightly disturbing.
It took a few moments for Naruto to regain his bearings enough to register the question. His sight slowly cleared up again, the strange pressure leaving his face and throat. It was difficult and painful, but he was able to gulp in enough air to prevent himself from dying. When he finally registered the other's question, another smile crept onto Naruto's face. Despite the blood running over his neck and down his back, despite his right hand going numb, despite his world slowly turning black, he smiled. "Because you're my family."
Even with his sight still blurred and slightly unfocused, Naruto saw the brief shock flicker across Kyuubi's distorted features. Those lips pulled into a poisonous sneer suddenly easing up and parting in surprise.
"I killed your family."
The smile widened, albeit shakily. "I know," Naruto mumbled tiredly, exhaustion numbing his thoughts and limbs. "That's why you owe me."
The wind was cold, biting at Konoha's people with its frigid fingers. Like a deceptively gentle caress, it blew across skin as though trying to cut people with thin blades of freezing air.
"It's been weeks, Naruto."
Naruto parted from the sight of his now bandaged hand to glance at Kyuubi, the redhead sitting next to him on the hood of his car. "You're doing good," he smiled, thinking back to the way Kyuubi had carefully bandaged up his hand with the first aid kit from his car just moments ago. The cut on his scalp had been quite shallow and had mostly closed up on its own.
Kyuubi chuckled dryly in response, a weak smirk curling his lips. "Say that to my dick," he groaned, his smirk turning slightly more lop-sided. "It hasn't gotten any action in weeks either."
Unable to keep in an amused chuckle, Naruto bumped his shoulder against the redhead's. "Let's consider this an addiction. If we do, then you're already past the first step."
"Which is?"
"Admitting that you have a problem."
A contemplative look crossed Kyuubi's features, the redhead apparently genuinely considering the matter. "What's the next step?"
"Dunno," Naruto shrugged. "Abstinence?"
"Step two cleared then."
Naruto's small smiled widened into a genuine grin now, even his eyes lighting up a bit. "Then… try finding a new hobby. Like golfing."
"Sure."
"I bet you're a killer at golf."
The pun didn't go unnoticed by Kyuubi, of course, and the man chuckled darkly.
For a moment, Naruto wordlessly savoured the sight of Kyuubi being so relaxed and even a little carefree. After a while, he bumped his shoulder into Kyuubi's again. "I'll come with you, if you want."
Kyuubi remained motionless and silent as he gazed down at the asphalt in front of him. It took some time, but eventually he nodded. "."
With that, the two fell silent again. They quietly sat on the hood of Kyuubi's sleek car, the redhead staring off into the distance with a passive expression and Naruto trying to contain his chuckles.
Maybe now things between them could become normal.
Naruto watched quietly as Kyuubi drove off down the busy street, the blond now a lot calmer than he had been before. The teen still had about ten minutes left before Sasuke would make his move, only little time to settle his chaotic thoughts.
A rumbling sensation in his pocket startled Naruto, before the blond calmed down and pulled his phone out. He had received a text message. A grin immediately came to his face when he read the message and realised who it had come from.
Make sure to come to our rehearsal for the play tomorrow. I'll kick your ass if you don't! Be careful. – Sakura
Something told him that Sakura knew exactly what was going on and was trusting him to solve things. She was probably supporting him in some way though. After all, he hadn't received any calls all day. Kiba called him everyday, even if it was only to talk about random things. He could easily imagine Sakura threatening the Inuzuka to not harass him with calls like he usually did. This kind of support from far away eased the blond's mind a little, helping him calm down.
Taking a deep breath, letting a gush of fresh air flow into his lungs, Naruto tried to make himself relax. When he noisily breathed out through his mouth, he finally let his eyes fall onto his destination: Konoha General Hospital, the place he had spent a few weeks of his life in, the place where lives were lost and new lives were born.
Naruto had to walk only a short distance to get to the side of the hospital that Danzo's room faced and where Sasuke was going to be. At least according to Itachi. Nervously biting at his lower lip, Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets, his head still pounding with a dull ache and his bandaged hand burning in pain. His body felt heavy as lead, but he knew he couldn't stop here when he was so close to reaching his goal. He was somewhat worried about Gaara and how he had disappeared so uncharacteristically, leaving Naruto to his own devices with a pool of blood on the floor, but the blond trusted in Gaara enough to know that nothing had happened to him.
After slowly coming back to reality, Naruto finally noticed how he had stopped in the middle of an empty area. The asphalt beneath him crunched a little when he nervously shuffled his feet. Hunching his shoulders as though trying to make himself a little smaller, Naruto suddenly focused his attention on the tall greenery a few feet away from him. A few thin trees stood beside the hospital, surrounded by humongous bushes that towered over the blond. They were big enough to be able to easily hide a person. Suspicious all of a sudden, Naruto stalked over to the tall bushes, heartbeat picking up. He sucked in a sharp breath when he immediately spotted a speck of pale skin between the leaves. It didn't necessarily have to be skin, but Naruto still couldn't stop his heart from thumping painfully hard in his chest. When he was a little closer, Naruto could feel his throat go dry when he caught a glimpse of what looked to be dark hair. Trying with all his might to silence his movements, Naruto slowly got close enough to see the figure standing in the shadows of the thick bushes and tall trees. Someone around his own height, dark hair, pale skin. There was no doubt in his might about who this was.
The figure's head suddenly snapped around, parting from the sight of the hospital to lock on to Naruto. At least that was what the blond assumed, but somehow he couldn't shake the feeling that the other wasn't directly looking at him. Naruto ceased all movement, even holding his breath as the figure seemed to search around right where he was standing, as though he wasn't even there. As though he wasn't standing only a few feet away from the other.
Gulping again, Naruto tightly clenched the fabric of his shirt, feeling his own rapid heart beating against his fist, a dull pain constantly pounding in his skull. He straightened up a little, noticing how the other's gaze seemed to suddenly focus on him before flicking away again. "Sasuke?"
The figure jolted, that frigid gaze now settling on the blond.
With growing unease, Naruto watched as the raven-haired teen slowly straightened up, eyeing him with both suspicion and very evident hostility.
"What are you doing here?" the other hissed venomously.
Naruto jumped a little suddenly hearing the other's words, but regained his bearings again quickly enough. "I…" Clenching his fists, Naruto could feel something like a surge of power flowing through his body, something that blew away any doubt, any fear, any insecurity. "I'm stopping you." A fire suddenly erupted in the blond's chest, spreading throughout his entire body and sending tingling shocks to his nerve ends. His expression twisted into a determined scowl before he could do anything against it, his posture shifting to become more imposing.
This feeling was familiar. Naruto suddenly realised that this fire was something that he had naturally possessed growing up, something that had made him who he was. It had been extinguished by Mizuki over time, but the stupid twat in front of him had incinerated it again and given him back part of his identity; this fire of determination, this need to protect his family and friends, the ones he loved dearly.
Walking out of the greenery, a lop-sided smirk splayed across Sasuke's face as he released a dry snort, the teen staring off to side at the hospital building as he shook his head. He stopped quite a distance away from the blond, the smirk slipping from his face much too fast, as though it hadn't even been there in the first place. His expression turned solemn.
"Sasuke, I know how you feel." Naruto briefly considered closing the distance between them at least a little, but decided against it seeing the way Sasuke seemed ready to attack him if need be. "I know that you feel like there's no other way, like this is something you have to do. But that's not true! Let's just leave and find another way. If we work together, we can find a much better solution than this."
Sasuke didn't grace Naruto with any sign whatsoever that he had even heard what the blond had said. Even when the other patiently waited for some sort of reaction, some response, he didn't budge and remained passive.
"Sasuke!" Nothing Naruto seemed to do was getting through to the other, causing the blond to grit his teeth in frustration. "Don't you see that this is the worst possible way to go! There are other ways! I promise I'll help you, just don't do this!" Again, the words seemed to not even be registered by the Uchiha, falling on deaf ears. Anger pooling in his guts, Naruto clenched his hands into fists, his shoulders beginning to shake slightly. "Are you even listening!" he roared, taking a step closer. "At least look at me, dammit!"
Tilting his head back, Sasuke suddenly focused on a window on the fourth floor of the hospital. Before Naruto could even continue yelling, Sasuke suddenly turned his head to stare at the blond.
To Naruto it seemed as though Sasuke wasn't quite looking at him directly. The white medical eyepatch covering his left eye reminded Naruto that the Uchiha was slowly going blind. What if Sasuke's sight was already gone? "Are you really going to go on? Like this?"
The Uchiha briefly clenched his jaw, fixing the blond with a withering glare, the black iris of his remaining eye murky, faded. "Are you insinuating that I'm somehow handicapped?"
Naruto usually would have at least hesitated when faced with that kind of intense glare, but now he couldn't care less. "Of course I am! You can barely see me! How you are going get in there and mur–" The blond's words were cut off by a flash of movement flying towards him, then the cold, chilling feel of metal against his neck.
"You're underestimating me."
With an arm wrapped around the blond's shoulders, Sasuke stood in front of Naruto, his other hand holding a knife against the back of the other's neck. Even though Sasuke was standing right next to him, so close he could feel the side of the other's face against his own, so close that Naruto could hear the other breathing. Even though the heat from Sasuke's body seemed to engulf him, Naruto felt like a thick layer of ice covered his insides. "I'm scared."
"You should be."
"No, I…" Feeling the cold blade of Sasuke's knife pushing into his skin – not enough to cut him –, Naruto hesitated for the first time since meeting the other here. He had to say this, even though he dreaded admitting something like this. "I'm scared of losing you."
Sasuke didn't respond to those words. He remained still as a statue, still holding a cold blade against the blond's neck. Wind howled around the two teens, whistling eerily as it whirled through the trees surrounding them, blowing strong enough to tear off a few leaves and carry them far away.
"I'm terrified of losing you," Naruto continued, trying with all his might to ignore the knife pressing harder against his neck, beginning to lightly cut his skin. "I don't even want to imagine a world where you don't exist anymore. I don't know if I could… If I…" Naruto trailed off, hesitating again. He was exposing himself to Sasuke. He was revealing his innermost feelings and thoughts and he was afraid of this honesty being rejected, of having it shoved back in his face. "Sa–"
"Shut up!" the Uchiha suddenly bellowed, pressing the knife down hard enough to draw blood.
"But–"
"Just shut the fuck up!"
Naruto gulped, feeling a tiny trail of blood run down the back of his neck, again. He could almost feel the tension and anger coming off of Sasuke. The Uchiha's usually closed off emotions were pulsing off of him like a wave of burning heat, scorching Naruto, slowly melting his resolve away.
The coldness of the knife was suddenly gone. Sasuke, with his gaze on the ground, expression hidden by his bangs, stepped away. He created a certain distance between them once again, but the burning heat coming off of him was still making Naruto fell as though he was trying to reach out for someone standing in a hellish bonfire.
And again, Sasuke's cold silence sent a wave of frustration washing over Naruto. "I won't shut up," Naruto eventually barked in a low voice, glaring heatedly at the Uchiha. "You're being stupid. You're not thinking clearly." Naruto closed the distance between them just a little, watching as Sasuke sent him a venomous scowl in return. "Do you think killing Danzo is going to solve anything? Do you think it'll make Itachi happy? Do you think your parents would have wanted you to become a murderer?"
"DON'T!" Sasuke suddenly howled, pointing an accusing finger at the other. "Don't bring my family into this."
"All of this is about your family! Of course I'm gonna bring them into this!"
In an instant, a dangerously resentful look took over Sasuke's eyes, a certain mania in his gaze. "You don't know anything!" he hollered, nothing but rage oozing off of him.
"I know enough!" Naruto shot back, trying to not be reigned in by the Uchiha's anger, to not become just as enraged. "Itachi entrusted your safety to me! He was the one that told me to come here!"
For a moment, Sasuke breathed heavily through his nose, calming down only little. His gaze flicked away from Naruto to stare off to the side instead. "Something like that doesn't mean anything to me," he forced out quietly, voice shaky with barely suppressed rage. "Itachi killed our parents. Our entire family. I don't care about him."
"We both know that's not true."
Still not looking at the blond, Sasuke remained silent once again. He clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, before seeming to calm down. But when he looked at Naruto this time, there was still that scorching heat in his remaining eye. "This does not concern you."
The sentence suddenly echoed through Naruto's head, Sasuke's words reminding him of a time when their roles had been reversed. A time when Naruto was the one who's mind was shut off and Sasuke was the one trying to save him.
"That's none of your business."
"Of course it's my business," Naruto murmured under his breath, not sure if the other had even heard him. He smirked dryly all of a sudden. "You do realise that you sound exactly like I did when I hit rock bottom, right?"
"I don't care," Sasuke immediately returned, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But I do!" Was this how Sasuke must have felt back then? Was this what Sasuke had gone through when Naruto had refused to listen to reason, to believe his friends? Did Sasuke feel this same stabbing pain? "And Itachi does! And Sakura does, Shikamaru does, Neji does, Kakashi-sensei does, heck, even Kiba does! We all care about you, so don't you dare belittle that!"
"This is still my decision to make! It's my life and only I have the right to decide over it."
Naruto could feel tears welling up, had to bite his lip to stop it from trembling. His earlier determination was slowly dwindling, leaving him feeling painfully empty. But then he clenched his right hand into a fist, feeling his nails digging into his skin. The stinging pain cleared his mind, helping him will away this helpless feeling. "Nope," he smirked. "Not gonna let you."
That blind rage returned to Sasuke's gaze instantly. His entire body seemed charged with tension, like a cat arching its back with its fur standing on end. "You–"
"Forget it! I'm not gonna let you." The smirk on Naruto's face broadened, becoming firmer and more confident.
"What right do you–"
"You're important to me," Naruto cut the other off, knowing where Sasuke was going to go with that already. "Really important," he then mumbled quietly, gaze dropping. "So important that I'd rather die than let you throw your life away for something stupid like this."
"Stupid?" Sasuke echoed incredulously. "Stupid? You have no clue what you're talking about! You weren't–"
"I do know what I'm talking about," Naruto protested immediately, suddenly feeling as though he had the upper hand in this.
Sasuke too seemed to notice the shift and went silent, lips pressed together tightly as he sent the blond an expectant glare.
"Danzo ruined my life! Just like he ruined yours." Frowning angrily at the thought of the perverted old man, Naruto scowled down at the ground. "He used his political power to make it possible for Mizuki to adopt me and basically handed me over to a child molester with anger management issues as a gift. As a fucking token of his gratitude for his right-hand man."
Instead of shooting another snarky comeback at the blond, Sasuke seemed to honestly believe Naruto's words and ponder them. He even relaxed a little, eyeing the other teen with a different look now.
"Just… Just stop and think a little," Naruto continued after a while of silence. "Think about what you're trying to leave behind. Who you're trying to leave behind." Carefully, Naruto stepped closer to the Uchiha, desperately wanting to make this distance between them vanish. "You were the one that pulled me out of the darkness I was drowning myself in. I wouldn't have been able to do that without you. I probably would be dead without you. And I don't know if I want to live in a world without you."
Releasing a dry chuckle, Sasuke gave the blond a cold smirk. "Do you honestly think that is going to change my mind?"
"I…" Did he really believe that? What right did he have anyway to lecture Sasuke like this? Only yesterday, he had been considering the possibility of throwing his life away to prevent anything from happening to the people precious to him. Sasuke's motives were different, but in the end, what they were trying to do was the same thing. And looking at Sasuke, the way the other was watching him now, patiently waiting for an answer, as though curious whether or not Naruto could change his mind, seeing this gave Naruto the courage he needed. Now was his chance to get through to Sasuke. Determination shone in the glare he directed at Sasuke. "I know you can't kill yourself," he uttered firmly, watching closely to see how Sasuke would react. "You just won't."
"Why wouldn't I?" Sasuke questioned suspiciously, a bit of anger returning to his presence.
Naruto himself hadn't known the answer to that question. During this entire time chasing down Sasuke, he had never believed in the possibility of Sasuke ever throwing away his life, of Sasuke disappearing from his life. But now, faced with the truth in front of his eyes, the answer came to him easily. "Cause I will die with you if you do that."
Genuine surprise wiped out any other emotion on Sasuke's face for a second. But then something flashed in his remaining eye, madness taking over the taller teen's entire being and seeming to consume him completely. He was in front of Naruto in an instant, grabbed the front of the blond's shirt and threw him to the ground. "Quit spouting shit like that!" he roared as he slammed his knee down onto the blond's chest to keep him down, knocking the breath out of Naruto. Eyes mad, he raised a fist as he held Naruto up by his shirt. "I don't give a fuck about you, so don't act like you know me or have any right to tell me what to–"
Naruto gasped in shock when Sasuke suddenly released him to clutch at his right eye. "Sasu–" His eyes widened in shock when he heard the blood-curdling scream and saw the blood pouring from in between the Uchiha's fingers, dripping down the other's pale check. "No," Naruto gasped under his breath, desperation claiming his heart and clenching it painfully. "No, no, no, no," he repeated over and over, as though chanting. "This can't be happening." Sitting up, Sasuke's knee slipping off of his chest and in between his legs without the other noticing, Naruto grabbed the other's shoulders to keep him steady, wincing when he heard Sasuke moaning and groaning in agony. "Sasuke!" Naruto could feel the pained tremors wrecking through the other's body, could almost feel the pain torturing Sasuke. What should I do?, he asked himself desperately, the question echoing painfully in his mind. What can I do?
The sound of heavy and purposeful steps snapped Naruto back to reality, making him jump in surprise. They were approaching quickly, forcing Naruto to consider running away. He couldn't just leave Sasuke here though. He wouldn't be able to carry him to safety quickly enough either and with the way Sasuke was making pained noises, hiding in the bushes wouldn't save them either. Naruto had to think fast to save them both.
Pushing Sasuke away a little, he got to his feet and pulled the other up with him. Taking Sasuke's bloody hands away from his eye, he wrapped one of the Uchiha's arms around his shoulders and, keeping a hand on the other's waist, Naruto half carried half dragged him to the wall next to them. He carefully dropped Sasuke there, letting him sit and lean against the wall, Sasuke still clutching his bleeding eye and groaning in pain.
Someone suddenly rounded the corner Naruto had come from as well, approaching the two in a fast pace. From the looks of it, he was a guard. His chin-length auburn hair flew around his face as he rushed towards the two teens, amber eyes set in a glare. "What are you two doing here?" he barked.
Sucking in a sharp breath, Naruto slowly turned towards the man that stopped a few feet away from. He gulped, casting a quick glance at Sasuke. "M-My friend needs to see… No, wait um… He has to be examined by a doctor. Something's wrong with his eyes."
The guard eyed the teen with very obvious suspicion, his gaze flicking back and forth between the nervous blond and the groaning brunet. His hand inching towards the back of his belt – towards either his gun or some sort of handheld radio, no less –, he dropped his head back to look up at the hospital, his gaze hardening as he found that the two were right below Danzo's room. "Why are you here and not inside the hospital?" he questioned with a threatening undertone, as though giving a wrong answer would be severely punished.
Naruto gulped again, fear beginning to make his fingers tremble. "Um… well… you see, my friend can't see very well right now," he quickly replied, trying to keep his voice steady. "Something's wrong with his eyes after all. I didn't pay attention for a while because I was talking to a friend who brought us here and he tried to find the way himself. He ended up here and this is where I found him. I'm trying to get him inside so someone can look at his eyes." This guy was definitely one of Danzo's personal guards. No common hospital security guard would carry a gun or be this hostile. He must have come out after hearing Sasuke and Naruto argue so loudly. "Could you help me?" the blond inquired innocently. "I don't know if I can do it myself."
The guard's eyes narrowed in a skeptical fashion, a dangerous glint to his gaze. "Sure." He slowly approached the two, still seeming to expect them to attack him. When neither of them made a move to do so, he helped the blond get the groaning teen to his feet, the two dragging Sasuke towards the front entrance of the hospital.
Naruto remained silent, not wanting to agitate the man in any way. Even Sasuke quieted down a little, seeming to realise how precarious their current situation was. He merely struggled along, releasing the occasional painful moan or hiss. Once they were close to the front entrance, warm light streaming out and muffled voices coming from inside, the security guard suddenly stopped walking, forcing the teens to halt as well.
Naruto shot the man a quizzical look, suddenly wary. Unconsciously, he tightened his grip around Sasuke's waist and the arm thrown around his shoulder. "What's wrong?"
The guard straightened up a little from his hunched down posture, seeming to contemplate something. Suddenly, his gaze shot towards the unnerved blond. "Keep walking and don't say anything. Else I'll be a lot less nice."
Gulping, Naruto nodded slowly, eyes widening slightly when they continued walking. A nervous tremor running through his entire body, he stepped through the automatic doors of the hospital. He could feel his legs begin to shake and Sasuke suddenly grip his shirt tightly. Naruto supposed it was due to the unbearable pain the other was going through. He wanted to nothing more than simply take away Sasuke's pain somehow, to make him feel better, to dispel anything that was weighing him down.
Of course, nothing was ever that simple.
Silently, they passed the reception, ignoring the shocked and concerned looks of the nurses. Seeing how it was a security guard escorting the two teens, they assumed it was okay to just let them carry on. Especially since this wasn't just anybody's bodyguard.
Naruto couldn't stop nervously gnawing at his lower lip, abusing the tender flesh with sharp bites, paying no mind to the pain. All he could think about was steadily placing one foot before the other, moving on without easing his hold on Sasuke and keeping an eye on the intimidating guard. His step faltered slightly whenever those sharp amber eyes would focus on him, only to flick away again. The fierceness of that aloof gaze made Naruto's heart race, made him nauseous even. Or perhaps he was feeling the effects of all the injuries he had sustained throughout the past few hours.
"We're there," the guard suddenly barked, releasing his hold on Sasuke all of a sudden and letting the teen's entire weight drop on Naruto.
The blond barely caught Sasuke, not having expected having to carry the other by himself all of a sudden. His hands were swatted away by the Uchiha though, the brunet slowly straightening up. Although he wavered slightly, he was standing on his own two feet again.
Looking at the door they had stopped in front of, Naruto frowned in confusion. "This is a patient's room," he concluded, seeing the room number and the hallway lined with other numbered rooms. Before he could read whatever was written on the small board next to the room, the guard opened the door and stepped in front of him, blocking the view. Still puzzled, Naruto could do nothing but stare at the man's lean back. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Sasuke trying to make out the person in the room, but seeming to fail. When the blond dared to glance inside, his sight was first blocked by the guard, but upon looking closer, he found another guard standing in the corner of the room. He was lean and fair-skinned, with short black dull hair. A mask covered nearly his entire face, only revealing his thin lips and straight nose. He gave off a calm, level-headed air, very unlike the fierce atmosphere coming off of the auburn-haired guard. Naruto would have eyed the man further, but then a weathered and austere voice spoke to the guard standing in front him.
"Why did you bring these immature punks here?"
The amber-eyed guard briefly turned around to send another scrutinising glare at Naruto, before returning his attention to the man propped up in his hospital bed. "I thought you may want to see them. Particularly the dark-haired one. He matches the description you gave about the perpetrator."
Perpetrator? Naruto wondered, the word making him halt. Then he felt the air being knocked out of his lungs by the realisation hitting him. This was the person Sasuke had attacked, the one he was planning to kill: Shimura Danzo, former leader of a major political party in Konoha and once owner of a hellish children's home. The children's home from which both Naruto and Sai had escaped with the remainder of their childhood thoroughly ruined, even after leaving.
Naruto could feel his blood suddenly begin to boil hotter than lava in his body, threatening to burst through his skin. It seemed to scorch him from the inside out, a burning rage suddenly exploding in his guts. It seemed to only grow more and more, feasting on his boiling blood like a blood-thirsty little demon and spreading throughout his entire body, making him feel a little light-headed, although still alert. He couldn't help but grit his teeth in agitation, suppressing a sneer, hands clenching into fists at his sides, shaking with the effort of not attacking the man on the spot.
This was the man that had ruined his life. This was the man that had handed him over to Mizuki like some article. This was the man that had taken his childhood. His innocence.
Naruto was snapped out of his sudden fit of wrath by the imploring glare suddenly focusing on him. Although half of Danzo's face was covered by bandages, even with only one eye he could still instil a severe uneasiness in the blond. His gaze quickly darted to Sasuke though, focusing on the teen's pale and sickly face. His visible eye narrowed into a penetrative glare, his gaze remaining on the Uchiha for a long time.
"Fu," he suddenly addressed the guard.
"Yes, Sir?" the auburn-haired guard immediately replied.
"Take them away," the man ordered, unfazed by the utter hate oozing from both teens, the amount of which was clearly palpable in the room's atmosphere. So much that even the aloof man couldn't help but stare back at them with clear distaste. "They are nothing but immature little runts. They have yet to understand how this cruel world works."
Although Sasuke was nearly blind, those words visibly affected him more than anything he could have ever perceived with his eyes. His dull eye widened as a wave of fury washed over him, his body tensing, every fibre of his body seeming to be charged with energy, the teen looking ready to charge. Danzo obviously recognised him as the one that had attacked him in the darkness of the night, but he was clearly not taking Sasuke serious. All he saw in the Uchiha was an infantile little kid he did not need to worry about. Only a child.
"Don't you dare belittle me," Sasuke hissed lowly, barely suppressed rage lacing his tone.
"Fu!" Danzo called impatiently, as though ordering his guard to finally swat away an annoying insect. Instead of gracing the two teens with even one more measly look, he picked up a newspaper from his nightstand and began to casually leaf through it.
This display of utter disregard of his presence and capability caused something in Sasuke to snap. The last string of his patience and control snapped, leaving him to succumb to his intense hatred and anger. All he could see now was the man sitting on that pristine white bed.
Kill…
Nothing else existed.
Kill…
Nothing else mattered.
I'll kill him!
A hand wrapping painfully tight around his wrist stopped Sasuke long enough to briefly forget his hate-blinded vision. His murky gaze travelled down his arm, only to find Naruto's hand gripping him. "Let go," he forced out quietly, an under-lying threat in his words.
"No," the blond simply shot back, pulling the other closer to him. "We're leaving," Naruto announced loudly, suddenly turning around and dragging a still weakened Sasuke away with him. He could hear the door slam shut behind him, could hear another page of the man's newspaper being turned, could clearly picture the despicable glint in Danzo's eyes.
"Let me go right now!" Although he tried to wrench his arm out of the other's hold, Sasuke couldn't muster up the strength needed to do so. "I swear I'll gut you and feed your innards to the Inuzuka's mutt if you don't let go right now! What you think you're even doing, you dumb fuck! You have no right to–"
"Shut up for a second!" Naruto suddenly roared, turning around to stare the other straight in the face. "Do you think you're the only one that wants to punch that guy's fucking lights out right now?!" His face reddening rapidly, Naruto could almost feel a vein pop on his forehead with all the blood rushing to his head in anger. "You're not the only one that wants him to die a painful and horrifying death! Get back in line, potato!"
"Did you just call me a potato?" Sasuke questioned incredulously, a bit of surprise mixing into his furious expression.
"Yeah, cause you're acting like one!" Naruto didn't even take note of the other's slightly shocked state and merely continued loudly voicing all his frustration. "What happened to the level-headed 'look at me being an entitled little piss lord' Sasuke I know, huh?"
A sneer dispelled any surprise showing on Sasuke's face, malice and anger shining even in his dull eye and seeming to burn even from within his white eyepatch. "Shut the fuck up!"
"And you calm the fuck down!" Naruto immediately shot back, not backing down when the other sent a venomous scowl at him.
They both stood like that for a moment, staring each other down, both their chests heaving with deep, ragged breaths, their equal hatred and rage seeming to severely wear them out. They were both exhausted and tired, yet they couldn't stop glaring at each other.
Naruto realised that they were both directing their anger at the wrong person. That Sasuke wasn't realising this was testament of how worn out the Uchiha was mentally. "Sasuke…" the blond murmured, expression softening, regret shining in his cobalt blue eyes. Naruto watched as the other's anger eased only a little, Sasuke now eyeing him with a narrowed gaze. "You need to get your eyes checked out." Instead of letting Sasuke argue, Naruto grabbed the brunet's wrist a bit tighter and dragged him down the hallway. He had spent weeks in this hospital and knew where he could find the right doctor to help them. On the way to Danzo's room, his attention had been so focused on both the guard and Sasuke that he hadn't noticed where they were going. Now, finding his way around the winding hallways and many staircases was like a piece of cake.
Relief washed over the blond when Sasuke made no move to resist and simply allowed Naruto to drag him away. It gave Naruto a bit of hope, a little spark of warmth settling in his chest. He smiled to himself, careful not to let Sasuke see.
Stopping in front of a white door with a small, milky glass window, Naruto briefly tightened his grip around Sasuke's wrist, before letting it go. He gingerly knocked on the door, hoping someone was inside, hoping the person he was searching for was inside. "She'll help you," Naruto tried to reassure the other, turning around a little to send the other a strained smile.
Somewhere in his mind though, he already suspected that nothing could be done.
The door swung open to reveal a glaring woman, the blonde towering over the two, exuding nothing but annoyance. "What do you want?" she bellowed with her hands on her hips. Seeing the state Naruto was in, she suddenly seemed to forget her annoyance for a moment. Clicking her tongue, she stepped back to let the teens in. "Get in," she ordered firmly yet softly, slamming the door shut once both were standing in the middle of her office.
Naruto now stood in front of the woman, wary and nervous. In his anxiety he was fumbling with his fingers restlessly. "Granny… I…"
Sighing, Tsunade leaned against her desk that was littered with piles of documents and files. Even the monitor of her computer disappeared between the sheer masses of paper. Some stacks didn't even fit on the table and were strewn around on the floor surrounding the desk. The rest of her office looked like a typical doctor's office, with a simple examination table on the right side and her equipment on the other.
The blonde picked up a steaming cup of coffee from her desk and took a sip, before calming down and looking at the teens with calm features. She seemed to finally take note of the state Sasuke was in, the teen having stood hidden from view behind Naruto. She immediately dropped her cup back on her desk, approaching the brunet and ushering him onto her examination table. "Sit down," she ordered hastily. Once the teen was seated, she cupped his face, turning it and looking at Sasuke's visible eye from different angles. "I'm going to look at your other eye as well." Not even waiting for an affirmative response, she slid off the medical eyepatch to reveal an eye even duller than the other. Tsunade sucked in a breath in shock, brushing her thumb over the brunet's bloody cheek. She pulled her hand back to rub her thumb against her pointer finger, her eyes widening when she came to a conclusion. "You're actually bleeding from your eyes?" Suddenly extremely focused, Tsunade pulled down Sasuke's lower eyelid, watching in utter shock as more blood dribbled out from inside the brunet's lower eyelid. "It's coming from your tear ducts," she mumbled distractedly. "And these cataracts look severe." A scowl suddenly appeared on the woman's features. "Just for how long have you not seen a doctor about these? For cataracts as severe as these to develop you must have let them develop for months!"
"They started developing last week," Sasuke replied flatly, regarding the woman with an unchanging expression of passiveness.
"WHAT?" Tsunade shot up from her chair, making it noisily clatter to the floor. "Not even two weeks?" She received a small nod in return, causing her face to steadily lose colour. "And the haemolacria? The bloody tears?"
"They started at the same time."
Tsunade looked pale as a sheet now, slowly picking her chair back up and letting herself heavily drop onto it. She gulped, pulling a small flashlight from her coat pocket. She used it to examine Sasuke's eyes, seeming to look for any abnormalities. Afterwards, she shone the white light directly into both of the teen's eyes. Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she alternated between shining the bright light into the brunet's left and right eye, her expression hardening with each passing second. "You may suffer from retinal or optical nerve disease. I can't tell for sure though, since your cataracts are very dense and this light isn't bright enough. I'll have to check again later with a brighter one."
"I already know that there's no known way to treat it," Sasuke suddenly cut in, face still passive and uncaring. "This is a common disease in the Uchiha family. Males of my family have been suffering from it for centuries, perhaps ever since this family was founded. It's been called a lot of things, but I mostly know it as Heaven's Eyes. I only know of one other case though where someone bled from their eyes. It seems to be a rare symptom." Sasuke's gaze grew distant for a second, the brunet apparently recalling memories from the past. Whether painful or pleasant didn't show on his face. "And I've never seen firsthand, but I think my brother suffers from it too," he continued, voice lightly lower than before. "Only a doctor from the Uchiha family could have the slimmest chance of treating this specific disease, but since the Uchiha have been wiped out, that is now impossible."
Storing her flashlight away again, Tsunade huffed to herself and lightly shook her head. "I'll definitely have to run a lot of tests on you," she continued, completely disregarding the teen's discouraging statement. "I honestly have no idea what could cause these kinds of symptoms together. Cataracts themselves aren't uncommon and can be treated with surgeries, but the bloody tears coming from your eyes are throwing me for a loop right now. Haemolacria can be caused by so many different things, yet no one really knows any certain cause or effective treatment. There are only three documented cases, none of which have been explained properly. For all I know, they could all be just media hoaxes or fabrications by the people supposedly suffering from it. But now that I'm seeing it for myself, I guess haemolacria is real after all."
The air suddenly felt tense, Tsunade eyeing Sasuke like he was an intriguing and agonising mystery to be solved, while the brunet stared back at her with a certain defiance in his dull and passive eyes.
After a little stare down with neither backing down, Tsunade eventually sighed and backed away from Sasuke, a deep frown furrowing her brows. "I can't do anything unless I perform those tests on you. I honestly cannot diagnose any specific cause right now."
"Are you sure you can't do anything?" Naruto immediately wanted to know, horror and fear swimming in his exhausted gaze.
Releasing another loud and drawn out sigh, Tsunade eyed Sasuke another time, a hand against her chin, before shaking her head. "I don't know," she admitted, her calm expression falling. "First, I'll have to determine how much of his vision is still intact, if it can be saved at all. I'll have to check his visual acuity, examine his extra-ocular muscles, test his depth perception as well as his confrontational visual field and colour vision."
Naruto quietly groaned to himself. "Granny, you do realise that I have no idea what you're talking about, right?"
"I definitely need to monitor his central visual field," the doctor continued mumbling to herself, paying no mind to Naruto's complaints. "Maybe that would explain some things. Can't get around a biomicroscopy either. That should give me some hints. What about a fundus exam? Or maybe something's wrong with his IOP?
"Granny," Naruto groaned again, shooting a worried glance towards Sasuke, who was still patiently sitting on the examination table, staring at the ceiling as though all the secrets of the world were laid out on it.
Snapping out of her musings, Tsunade gave Naruto a once over as well. "You don't look any better," she scoffed, motioning for Naruto to sit on a stool. Her heels clicked against the tiled floor as she briefly rushed away to take out several tools and supplies. "What happened?" she questioned in a hard voice, gaze stern as she stared at the blond.
Naruto gulped, considering keeping his mouth shut, but feeling the need to tell Tsunade about everything that had happened. With Gaara, then with Kyuubi and with Sasuke as well. How Gaara had knocked him out and given him a mean concussion that was still splitting his skull open, then Kyuubi cutting him, choking him and banging his head against his car. He wanted to tell her, but he couldn't get his mouth to open up even an inch. He merely shook his head, earning a look of disapproval from the blond woman.
"Well, fine," Tsunade grumbled to herself, grabbing Naruto's chin a bit too harshly and making him hiss as she eyed him. "Oh, don't be such a baby."
"My head's pounding, Granny!" Naruto complained, having every intention to swat the woman's annoying hand away. "And my neck hurts and my hand hurts and I feel like I'm still bleeding and–"
"Shut up for a second, you brat!" Tsunade not too carefully ran her fingers over the angry red bruises around the blond's neck, her mood visibly plummeting when she noticed their specific shape. "Someone choked you?"
Clenching his jaw, Naruto gulped and remained silent, opting to stare at one of the piles of paper next to Tsunade's desk.
Tsunade released an agitated sigh in return, poking one especially large bruise. Naturally, Naruto flinched in pain. "Who did it?"
Naruto could hear the threat in the doctor's voice, knew that not answering would only exasperate the woman further. Still, he remained silent. There was no way he would sell out Kyuubi like that. People already didn't trust him as it was, especially Tsunade.
Shaking her head at the teen's silence, Tsunade picked up a fresh pack of bandages and began dressing the nasty looking bruises on Naruto's neck. "What else do I have to take care of?" she inquired monotonously.
"The injury on my hand is already bandaged," Naruto mumbled exhaustedly, quickly glancing at said hand. "The back of my head was bleeding earlier. Not sure, but I feel like I have a concussion. Not a bad one though."
Nodding, Tsunade wordlessly cleaned the wound on Naruto's head and dressed it with swift hands. She quickly shone a light into his eyes and asked if he was feeling dizzy. When she received an affirmative response, she released yet another sigh, feeling as though all she was doing was sighing ever since the two teens had come into her office. "You may have a light concussion, so take it easy for a while. You should know the deal."
"I do," Naruto nodded, remembering how often he had come to Tsunade to have his injuries patched up. That had been at a time when he hadn't completely avoided any form of social interactions.
Although she wanted to do nothing but pound some sense into the silent blond and the passive brunet, Tsunade kept her mouth shut. She had a feeling that no matter what she did, both would go through with whatever they were planning to do. All she could do was hope to notice in case things would go downhill.
Sasuke's hospital room was so agonisingly quiet, the sound of the rain falling outside alone seemed to dominate the world. Heavy droplets splashed against the window, the pitter-patter of the water hitting the glass barely disturbing the utter silence.
Thick bandages had been wrapped around Sasuke's head to cover up his eyes. Whether or not it would help him regain at least some of his sight, Tsunade hadn't been able to predict. While the brunet idly sat on his hospital bed, Naruto rigidly remained on his chair next to him, staring out of the window at the cloudy and gloomy sky. Occasionally, he would glance at the Uchiha, the snow white bandages wrapped around his head, the way they seemed to merge with his deadly pale skin.
"Why did you never go to a doctor when you always knew you were going to get this disease?" Naruto suddenly ask, his voice shattering the silence. "Maybe someone could have found a way to prevent this." Naruto could not understand how someone, especially someone like Sasuke, could just roll over and succumb to fate like that; not even try and just accept something like this.
"Don't talk to me," the brunet replied coldly, showing no sign of even acknowledging the blond's question.
Anger immediately flared up in Naruto's guts, spreading like wildfire throughout his entire system. "Fuck you!" he roared, jumping out of his chair to shout down at the other. "You can't stop me from talking, so I'll keep talking however much I fucking want!" Huffing, he dropped back into his seat and crossed his arms, glaring out of the window in front of him now. "I wonder what we're gonna do about our school play," he mumbled all of a sudden, ignoring the way Sasuke's features tensed in annoyance. "You're obviously out, so now we have to find a replacement for that douchebag cousin. You were perfect for the role, by the way. Especially since he gets slain by me."
"Only after I kill your best friend."
The outlines of a cold anxiety immediately settled in Naruto's chest, slowly wrapping around his thumping heart, engulfing his mind. The words sent an uncomfortable shiver down Naruto's spine. With disturbed eyes he nervously eyed Sasuke, hoping to find something that would dispel this uneasy feeling. Something that would ease his restless mind. Once again, his nightmare came back to him, the sight of a blood-soaked Sasuke among corpses, slowly being devoured by his own darkness.
At this point in time, with things this far gone, what could he do? Was there anything he could do?
A soft knock at the door woke Naruto out of musings, forcing him to take his eyes off of Sasuke and turn around in his chair to look at whoever was coming in. His breath caught in his dry throat when he saw Tsunade step into the room, a solemn and strained expression on her face.
"Granny?" a heavy uneasiness settled in Naruto's guts seeing the foreboding expression on the blonde's face. Something had happened. He could see it in her eyes, the way she didn't meet his or Sasuke's eyes. The way her face was unusually pale. The way her thumbnail looked to be broken, the broken nail testament of her habit to bite her thumbnail in stressful situations. What had her worried enough to cause her to go as far as biting hard enough to break her nail? "What happened?"
The doctor met the teen's eyes, nothing but sorrow shining in her honey-brown eyes. "Sasuke…" Her eyes trailed over to the silent brunet on the bed. She looked to be clenching her jaw, before stalking towards the free side of the Uchiha's bed. Even though the other couldn't see, she waited until the teen turned his head into her direction. "Your brother has passed away."
The bluntness of the statement shocked Naruto, making him suck in a sharp breath. He immediately checked how Sasuke was reacting, trying to see the other's emotions through his bandages, trying to see his covered eyes, trying to see the only thing that ever indicated any certain emotion.
"Uchiha Itachi called the hospital an hour ago," Tsunade continued after a short moment of silence, "but he didn't ask for an ambulance. He told the operator that he was about to die and to send someone to pick his body up. When the paramedics arrived at his apartment, he was already dead."
Naruto couldn't decide whether he should look at Tsunade, who was struggling to maintain her composure, or if he should look at Sasuke, who had lowered his head a tiny bit, shoulders hunching slightly and his face looking tense. "Sasuke?" His careful whisper was met with silence, his nervous eyes trailing up to Tsunade, seeking some sort of help. Something.
"I'll… leave you alone," Tsunade murmured, the clicking of her heels as she left echoing much too loudly in the deafening silence.
Once the door fell shut behind her, the silence was almost choking Naruto, making it hard to breathe, squeezing his lungs, breaking his ribs. He suddenly flinched, a cold shiver running all the way from his shoulders to his lower back, like icy fingers running down his back. Sasuke's expression hadn't visibly changed, but all of a sudden, it was as though Naruto could see through those bandages. What he saw was pure, undiluted hatred pouring from those black eyes. A hatred so intense and dark, Naruto couldn't believe those thin bandages were withstanding the pressure. He wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke's glare suddenly dyed those pearly white bandages an inky black colour. "Sa–"
The Uchiha suddenly jerked forward, clutching the white sheets of his bed hard enough his knuckles turned white. "That bastard," he snarled, voice dripping with poisonous hatred, "I'll kill him. He doesn't deserve to live in this world. That piece of trash needs to die a slow and painful death. I'll show him what it means to mess with the Uchiha family."
"Sasuke!" Naruto barked, getting up from his chair to try and snap the other out of it. He didn't dare grab the brunet, for fear of burning himself with the searing hatred coming off of the other in waves. Slowly, he was understanding what exactly Sasuke's thought process was at this point. While Sasuke continued mumbling to himself, Naruto remembered how they had been dragged to Danzo's room more than an hour and a half ago. In the time it had taken for both teens to be examined and patched up and for Sasuke to be put into a private room, Danzo could have easily ordered Itachi to be killed. That guard of his hadn't seemed like the type to shy away from murder. Was there any way to argue against that logic? Could it be just a coincidence? Going as far as killing Itachi seemed extreme, even to Naruto who knew of Danzo's ruthlessness. "Sasuke, I know what you're thinking." Finally daring to touch Sasuke, Naruto grabbed the brunet's shoulder to slightly shake the other, almost flinching away again when Sasuke's head snapped around into his direction, his hatred seeming to pierce through the bandages covering his eyes. "I know what you're thinking right now," the blond repeated, careful not to let his voice waver. "And I know that this seems too obvious to be a coincidence. I can't believe it's a coincidence either. But before you do anything rash, please just calm down for a second and think. I won't let you sink any deeper than this."
Sasuke tensed like an agitated cat arching its back, lips shifting into a sneer. "You–"
"Shut up! The way you are now, I could easily overpower you! I don't care how scary you look right or now or how much you're gonna hate me for this, but I'm not letting you out of this room until your eyes are fixed and things are really cleared up!" Naruto could easily imagine the look of disapproval on Sasuke's face, that look that promised torment should he get in the other's way. He didn't care though. He would rather fight Sasuke than let him get out of this room to hunt down a man that had two very capable men as his guards; two men that wouldn't hesitate to injure Sasuke or worse. "I met Itachi," Naruto continued in a much softer voice, letting his hand trail from Sasuke's shoulder down his arm and to his hand. He hesitated, but eventually, he took the brunet's hand into his. "He looked kinda sick, now that I think about it." With a little bit of satisfaction, Naruto observed how Sasuke lowered his head, his tense features relaxing a little bit, the Uchiha gripping the blond's hand a little tighter. Unconsciously or not, the small gesture sent a little smile to Naruto's face. "He gave me a letter and told me to pass on a message."
Sasuke's lowered head snapped up suddenly to face the other, lips parting in what had to be astonishment.
Naruto remembered the warmth he had felt in Itachi's presence, that comforting warmth of someone that loved his family dearly. Raising his free hand, with a broadening smile, he poked Sasuke's forehead with two fingers. "Forgive me, Sasuke."
Holy shit, this chapter turned out really long. I wasn't planning to make it this long. The scenes with Kyuubi and Tsunade were improvised ones that I wasn't planning to write in the beginning. I was even thinking about splitting this chapter into two parts, but I thought I should give you a really long chapter for once after always making you wait for so long. Thanks for your patience.