Chapter 8

Hinata was awakened by the sun shining brightly into her eyes. She moaned as she blinked her dreams away. She sat up in the bed hastily when she noticed the room she was in wasn't her own room. She was about to make an escape when she finally recognized this place as her sister's room. She pressed her hand against her chest and sighed in relief as she remembered coming to sleep with Hanabi last night.

"Good morning, Onee-chan," Hanabi turned in her seat toward Hinata with a wide smile on her face. She was sitting at her desk and was doing her homework.

"What time is it?" Hinata asked, covering her eyes from the way too bright beams of the sun.

"It's almost noon. You missed breakfast but lunch should be ready soon."

Hinata buried her face into her hands as memories from last night started flowing back into her mind again. She wished she could go back to sleep and never wake up again.

"What happened yesterday?" Hanabi inquired with her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she sat next to Hinata on the bed.

"It was a disaster," Hinata groaned into her hands.

"I figured as much, you never come to sleep with me. Just tell me already, it can't be that bad."

Hinata came out of hiding behind her hands but stayed silent and fixed her gaze on the blanket. Hanabi knitted her eyebrows and impatiently gestured her to start talking.

"Everything was fine at first. Naruto-kun liked my gift and I danced with Kiba-kun, but he tried to kiss me, which was so awkward. After that, I saw Naruto-kun kissing a girl and I got so jealous I got kind of drunk. I don't even drink… Then I did the stupidest thing ever and kissed Sasuke-kun. But the worst was that I passed out and Naruto-kun's parents had to cancel the party because of me. At least I got to bond with his mom a bit, but still, I'm so embarrassed…"

Hinata purposefully didn't mention anything about the stab wounds on Sasuke's upper body and all the information she now knew about him and Naruto. She had promised to Kushina that she wouldn't tell it to anyone, not even her sister with whom she would normally share every single detail.

"Wait, what?" Hanabi's eyes widened in shock. "Are you for real?"

"Unfortunately…"

"I can't believe you actually kissed Sasuke. I'm happy for you but wow, I thought you don't like him like that," she giggled.

"I don't, that's the problem," Hinata sighed. "He's handsome and all, but he's my best friend. I don't think I want him to be anything more. I just couldn't think straight after seeing Naruto-kun and –"

"Wait, wait, so are you saying you like this Naruto guy instead of Sasuke?"

Hanabi never understood why her sister didn't fancy the raven-haired boy. It was painfully obvious he liked her and would be open to moving their relationship forward. In Hanabi's opinion, they would make a good couple, but it seemed like her older sister had yet to realize that.

"Well…" Hinata blushed and started fidgeting with her fingers. "I might…"

"I want to see him. Do you have a picture?" Hanabi asked enthusiastically. She was dying to see the boy that could steal Hinata's heart.

"I can show you his social media account." Hinata had placed her phone on the nightstand last night, so she just grabbed it and started typing his name. Suddenly, she felt like someone had punched all the air out of her lungs. "He blocked me."

Hanabi spotted the hurt in her older sister's eyes. She wanted to comfort her, but she didn't know Naruto and she didn't want to give any false hope to Hinata. So, she decided not to say anything.

Hinata tried to search for Naruto's profile a few more times but it didn't make any difference, she still couldn't find anything. She opened their messages. She could see his profile picture and their previous conversations but couldn't message him anymore. No doubt, he had blocked her.

But why? Was he pissed because he had to call his parents to end the party early because of her? Or was this about him being uncomfortable for what had happened between the three of them? Hinata wasn't sure which scenario was more plausible, but she was certain of one thing. She would need to talk to him about it in school.

"There was another murder last night. I saw it on the news today morning," Hanabi noted, trying to avert Hinata's mind from the boy. Maybe it wasn't the most pleasant topic to talk about, but it was the first thing that came to her mind.

"What? Where?" Hinata snapped her head up in shock and stared at Hanabi with slightly parted lips.

"On Tobirama Square. 21-year-old female, in the same condition as the last corpse. Police are now investigating if the two were related somehow," Hanabi explained briefly.

Hinata gasped. Tobirama Square was awfully close to Naruto's house. She immediately checked her social media feed for more information on the case. She quickly read through some articles about it, but they all said the same as Hanabi, nothing more.

She couldn't believe all this was happening in Konoha. It had been such a peaceful town and yet it was now the third dead body in three weeks. She started shaking, realizing it easily could have been her as she was so close to the location. She was grateful to Sasuke for taking her home by car.

"Father asked us to be careful and never go anywhere alone," Hanabi said as she squeezed Hinata's hand to show her clearly distressed sister some support. Hinata nodded and tried smiling at her, but she failed miserably.

-x-x-x-x-

Naruto was on his way to school on Monday morning, riding the bus as usual. He leaned his forehead against the window and was thinking about the weekend's events.

Intense anger had captured him after talking to his father that night because he didn't want to stop talking to Hinata. He tried to sleep after she and Sasuke left the house, but he just couldn't. He laid in his bed wide awake for a time that seemed like an eternity, thinking about what he should do. He remembered grabbing his cellphone madly and blocking Hinata on social media without thinking it through twice. Although he immediately regretted it, he left her blocked.

At one point he gave up struggling with his thoughts and let Kurama take over his mind to ease his anger. He checked if his parents were asleep and sneaked out of the house. He didn't have to walk for long before he spotted his victim. It was some girl, probably on her way home from a party.

He didn't even remember her face. He could only recall the otherworldly relief he felt while stabbing her to death. And now, another set of bloody clothes were under his bed next to his bloody shirt. He really needed to find a safe place to throw them away before his mom would eventually find them. He would have some explaining to do otherwise.

Naruto got off the bus when he finally reached the stop for his school. He casually walked inside the building with his backpack hanging on his right shoulder. Only by looking at him, no one would have guessed he was spending the last twenty minutes thinking back on a murder he had committed.

When he finally stepped into his classroom, he instantly spotted Hinata and Sasuke sitting at their assigned places next to each other. Hinata was reading her history textbook preparing for class. Sasuke was just sitting next to her with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked rather bored.

"Good morning, Naruto," Sakura stepped next to the blond from behind and pulled him toward their desk. "I had a lot of fun at your party. It's a shame the neighbors called your parents," she complained while taking her school supplies out from her pink backpack.

Naruto had sent a text in the group chat on Sunday morning. He had told everyone they had to call the party off because the neighbors were complaining about the loud music. He didn't want anyone to know the exact reason behind ending the party early, and it sounded like a credible excuse.

"Yeah, sorry about that, should have kept the music down," Naruto answered with a faint smile as he sat down.

Hinata's body tensed upon hearing Naruto's voice. She acted like she was busy reading her textbook, but in fact, she paid close attention to the conversation taking place behind her.

"Oh, what's that?" Sakura took Naruto's hand and examined the bracelet on his wrist.

"It's a bracelet. Birthday gift from someone special," he answered with a genuine grin. Sasuke turned his head slightly toward their direction. He furrowed his eyebrows in frustration because he knew exactly who gave that bracelet to Naruto. And he didn't want that someone to be called special by someone like Naruto.

"Very cool," Sakura was admiring the thin but stylish gold bracelet with mouth agape. "It really fits you."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan, I like it too," he said loud enough to make sure Hinata would hear it. And she did, her face turning bright red clearly showed it.

Naruto pulled back his hand from Sakura's and stood up as Kakashi-sensei entered the classroom. He couldn't help but stare at Hinata's long, dark blue hair in front of him. The ends of her hair were still a bit curly and he felt an odd desire to touch them, but before he could act on his whim, Kakashi motioned the class to sit down.

The lesson started, but Naruto couldn't concentrate. He was looking out the window and tried to come up with a good plan on how to talk to Hinata without Sasuke noticing.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Hinata lifting her hair as if she was hot, trying to feel some air on the back of her neck. However, when she dropped her indigo locks, she also dropped a crumpled paper on Naruto's desk. Naruto felt Sakura's questioning glance on himself, but he ignored it and folded out the small piece of paper.

Can we talk? 1 kick: no, 2 kicks: yes

Naruto didn't understand this thing with the kicks at first, but he soon realized it was meant as a way of communication, so Sasuke wouldn't be aware of them talking. Naruto slid down a bit on his chair to reach the legs of Hinata's seat and gently kicked them twice. Sakura shot him a puzzled look.

Okay, they had agreed to talk, but how to discuss when and where? Naruto turned his gaze at Sakura, who was still staring at Naruto, trying to figure out what exactly she had just witnessed. Naruto quickly wrote down a message in his notebook and slid it to a position where Sakura could read it.

Wanna talk to Hinata, but Sasuke won't let me. Help?

Sakura looked into Naruto's eyes, trying to figure the situation out. Would Sasuke be angry with her if she helped Naruto? Most probably. Would she have a better chance with Sasuke if Hinata started something with Naruto? Definitely. She scrawled a word in Naruto's notebook.

How?

Tell her to go to the science lab at lunchtime. And distract Sasuke somehow.

That would be complicated, Naruto knew that, but he trusted Sakura's abilities in creating a distraction. The girl must have been thinking about the same thing because she glared at Naruto with knitted eyebrows, seemingly contemplating if it was even worth the trouble.

Please? Naruto added quickly and also drew a heart, hoping it would be enough to convince the girl. Sakura chuckled when she looked into his puppy eyes filled with so much desperation. She eventually nodded and turned away to focus her attention on class again. Naruto felt excitement tingling in his stomach and he genuinely wanted to hug and kiss Sakura in happiness, but they were in class, so he had to calm himself.

He spent the rest of the morning classes contemplating unblocking Hinata. Texting her would be so much easier.

-x-x-x-x-

Naruto was sitting on a desk in the science lab at lunchtime. He was seldom anxious, but now he felt a knot in his stomach. He wasn't sure Sakura could distract Sasuke well enough for Hinata to have time to sneak away. Sasuke was just so fucking overprotective, Naruto had never met anyone like him before. He saw the reason behind Sasuke's behavior, but still. Wasn't he overreacting a bit?

Naruto closed his eyes and folded his arms. He didn't know what to say to Hinata. Sorry for blocking you on social media? Sorry for making you pass out at my party? Sorry for stabbing your boyfriend 5 times when we were children? This was all so messed up.

'Told you to kill the bastard when you still had the chance.' Naruto scoffed at his thoughts.

Lately, Kurama really annoyed him. They had an arrangement not to hurt anyone whom they knew, but somehow, Kurama became fiercer and more reckless in the past few weeks. He wanted to kill more and more people. And the worst, he wanted to kill people Naruto knew.

Naruto couldn't let that happen though. Even though a murderer lived inside him, he wasn't one. However, if he let Kurama kill any of his friends he was sure he would become one. If he let Kurama kill anyone he personally knew, he would be a murderer just as much as Kurama was.

"Can you just leave me alone for some minutes? I don't want you to be around now," he sighed in annoyance.

'What are you talking about? I'm always around. I'm you.'

Naruto rolled his eyes. While he had been taking his meds regularly, Kurama only spoke to him once in a blue moon, and even then he only talked about minor things. At that time Naruto kind of missed his company. However, since he stopped with the meds Kurama wouldn't let him alone. And he usually talked about nasty things. If he disappeared now, Naruto would certainly not miss him.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata stepped into the lab unsurely.

"Hinata-chan, you came," Naruto grinned at her happily and jumped off the desk.

"Yes." She fixated her gaze on the ground. "But I don't think I have much time. You know Sasuke-kun… never mind. I just wanted to ask if we're still friends. I know you have blocked me." Hinata's voice was so silent Naruto almost couldn't hear her.

"Do you still want to be my friend?" Naruto whispered in surprise.

"I don't think you're a bad person, Naruto-kun. What happened with Sasuke-kun is terrible, but I think you've changed, and you –" Hinata couldn't finish, because Naruto hugged her tightly.

She blushed and felt butterflies all over her stomach. She took a deep breath to breathe in Naruto's scent and slowly gained enough courage to put her trembling hands around his waist. It was so peaceful, she could stand with him like this forever. Unfortunately, Naruto broke their hug eventually and stepped back to create some distance between them.

"What's your number?" he asked excitedly as he took his phone out of his pocket.

Hinata told him and she immediately felt a buzz. She pulled her phone out from her skirt's pocket with shaky hands. Naruto had sent him a message.

"I can't unblock you on social media for several reasons, but we can still text like this. You can also call me whenever you want," he jabbered.

"Okay," she nodded and saved Naruto's number. "I… I have to go back to Sasuke-kun, but… talk to you later, Naruto-kun." Hinata let the corner of her mouth curl up in a smile and made her way out of the lab.

After he was left alone, Naruto threw his fist into the air and let out a happy yell. "Yes!"

-x-x-x-x-

Naruto was waiting for his bus in the afternoon while texting Hinata when someone suddenly stepped next to him. He flinched as he felt a petite hand slipping on his waist.

"Naruto," a feminine voice whispered.

"Ah, Shion, what's up?" Naruto stared down at the blond girl standing too close to him for his liking. He tried to move a bit farther away from her but she clung to his waist firmly.

"Let's go somewhere," she murmured, looking into his eyes seductively.

"Eh, it would be fun, but you know, I have to go home to… umm, study."

Well, that was an obvious lie, but he wasn't in the mood for Shion now. After what had happened between them at his party, the girl kept texting him. They had talked even before the party a few times but in the past two days her name constantly popped up in his notifications. Naruto had already told her it was just a drunken moment for him, nothing more, but she didn't seem to get it.

She was beautiful, no doubt about that. However, Naruto just didn't feel a connection with her. He couldn't imagine her as his girlfriend or something like that because they couldn't really talk about anything that wouldn't bore one of them to death. Naruto was wondering why he invited her to the party in the first place. Or why he even had to hook up with her. He didn't really regret it, no, he just wished she wasn't so clingy.

'We could get rid of her easily. Just let me do it, you won't regret it.' Naruto stiffened hearing Kurama's voice. Although, he couldn't deny feeling the familiar excitement building up inside his belly. He tried his best to ignore it, but it was hard. It was getting much harder to resist Kurama's tempting lately. Maybe he should mention this to his therapist.

Shion slipped her small hand into Naruto's bigger one. He shuddered at the feeling and pulled his hand away. Shion's eyes showed she was deeply offended, but Naruto's bus saved him from explaining himself as it just stopped next to them.

"Sorry Shion, I have to go, see you later." He hopped on the bus and let out a relieved sigh.

He now definitely regretted everything that had happened between him and Shion. He figured the girl must have thought they would be together as a couple. However, Naruto was surely not up to that. He honestly felt ashamed of himself because he practically played with a girl's feelings. He always hated this type of guys, but it very much looked like he had just become one of them unintentionally.

'Just kill her off already, jeez. Such drama queen you are.' Naruto wished Kurama had his own body so he could finish him off. Well, technically, he could do that anytime, but that would mean serious self-harm.

During the bus ride home, he was listening to Kurama's disturbing ideas. He realized that Kurama's suggestions had become even darker since they were in Konoha, and he had also become much more violent toward Naruto himself. Naruto sometimes had a hard time defining where his own feelings and thoughts ended and where Kurama's started. His mind was a mix of a little bit of everything lately. A bit of regret, a bit of desire, a bit of innocence, a bit of bloodthirst.

His head was pounding from all the things going on in his head and Kurama intentionally didn't help him figure this all out. He felt alone with this whole situation even though he knew he wasn't really alone with it. Kurama was always with him.

He was so lost in his thought he couldn't recall when he got off the bus and walked home. One minute he was still on the bus, and the other he was standing in front of his home's door. He pushed his right hand against his temple to clear his mind and opened the door.

"I'm home," he yelled as he took off his shoes. Silence. Weird. His mom always welcomed him loudly.

He heard noises coming from the TV in the living room, so he decided to look for his parents there. Minato and Kushina were sitting on the couch, uptight and in complete silence, with their eyes glued on the screen. They didn't even say hi to their son. Honestly, it was kind of an eerie sight, seeing them like that.

Naruto walked next to the couch and looked at the TV. A reporter was talking about the murders in Suna. Oh yeah, the trial was today, he remembered suddenly. He put down his backpack to the ground and sat on the armrest of the couch.

They showed a crowd in front of the courthouse waiting for the verdict. Naruto felt nervousness forming a tight knot in his stomach. The cameras suddenly focused on the young man stepping out from the courthouse and the crowd became livid in an instant.

The boy's hands were in handcuffs and four policemen were trying to push a way for him among the crowd. They tried to keep people away from touching, or more likely, hitting him. Another policeman was supporting him by letting him put his weight on him. The boy's movement suggested he could faint any minute.

A brown cloth was placed around his head, so his facial features couldn't be seen, however, some red strains of hair still escaped the protection of the cloth. Even without seeing his face, he looked miserable. Broken, even.

The cameras switched back to the reporter who was now touching her ear, listening to something attentively. Most probably she was getting some information on her earpiece.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the trial has ended," she started with a serious tone. "Based on reliable sources, we report that Sabaku Gaara, murderer of three men and five women, is the first person in 48 years to receive the death penalty. He is to be immediately placed on death row, awaiting his execution."

The cameras were now focused on his family members stepping out of the courthouse. His mother had to be supported by his father and older brother, while his sister was walking behind them, crying. And the worst part of all was hearing the crowd cheer as they learned about Gaara receiving the death penalty.

Naruto felt his mom squeezing his hand hard. She had tears in her eyes and Naruto also felt tears running down his cheeks.

"I can't believe Gaara will be executed," he whispered with a trembling voice while trying to wipe his tears away.

"It was expected, unfortunately," Minato looked at his son, his eyes were full of sorrow. "I know he's your friend. I'm sorry this had to happen." He stood up and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to express sympathy.

Naruto completely broke down from his touch. He tried to stop his tears, but he just couldn't hold them back anymore. He cried loudly, shouting in pain, his mother crying with him and his father hugging them both.

Author's Note: Well, yeah, I can't say much. The thing is, I was quite surprised that a lot of you are now rooting for SasuHina which made me wonder if I accidentally managed to make Naruto an unlikable character in this story. It wasn't my intention, but I can see where you're all coming from, he's a psycho for sure.

Reacting to what savage6.9 asked: to put it bluntly, yes, eventually. As I can see, the main problem with Naruto is not really his mental illness but that he's disregarding it completely by not taking his meds. I plan on showing more of his inner struggle as he slowly begins to question his own decisions. When we reach that point, the main question will be if it's too late for him or not.