(Author's Note: If you're reading, please remember to review! Warnings and disclaimers apply to all chapters.)
And the Beat Goes On
Chapter 8: Healing
Naruto couldn't reply. He could only stare at Sasuke in shock. Sasuke was. . .protecting him? What was he -
Sasuke smiled weakly, then proceeded to faint. Itachi caught him. Naruto glanced at the older Uchiha. "He needs to go home and rest," Itachi said softly, and Naruto caught a glimmer of worry in his voice.
Itachi turned to Orochimaru. He gestured to Gaara. "Take that to the school nurse. . .Just don't tell her you knocked him out," he added in exasperation.
Orochimaru frowned and hefted the prone boy up off the ground. Itachi did the same with Sasuke. They headed off in their separate directions. Naruto trailed along behind Itachi.
- - - - - -
Kiba slammed the door shut. He really didn't want to be here. The house was run-down, dirty and rank. There were various toys and newspapers and other articles littered across the grimy floor. This place was also noisy. The crying of a small baby and the loud shrieks of a two-year old rent the air. That air was thick with smoke and the fumes of tobacco curled into the air, caressing Kiba's nostrils. He snorted, trying to dislodge the distasteful scent.
He didn't say a word as he ran up the creaky, rotting stairs to his room. A dim yellow light illuminated the hallway. The walls were plastered with a tacky green wallpaper, which was starting to curl away. It had been ripped and torn, spilt and scribbled upon.
The floorboards were in a similar state. They creaked and groaned whenever they were stepped upon. The entire house had an aura of decay and despair.
Kiba threw his books across the room and slammed the warped door of his room. He sat down on the mouldy cot that served as his bed. The sheets were moth-chewed and full of holes. Kiba sat there, glaring at the wall.
They were renting this dump. He still couldn't believe they paid a fat old bastard landlord money to live in this place. It was such a wreck. He would have paid people not to live here.
His family had lived here for about a month and a half. They couldn't afford anything else, not since his father died about two months ago. His mother, the lazy whore, didn't have a job and refused to get one. His father had worked his ass off for the family and then, whatever higher spirit had the gall to go and give him fucking brain cancer.
Kiba had always looked up to his dad. His dad had tried to keep a bright outlook on things. He'd taken a bad situation and tried to make it a better one. His father had given up his dreams of going to college, married the mother of his children and gotten a decent job to support his family. His father had tried to make them respectable, made sure that when they went out, they were dressed well and well-groomed.
His mother didn't give a shit. She was only out for herself. She went on shopping sprees and spent her husband's hard earned money recklessly. Kiba remembered vividly that once, on his birthday, she went out and bought herself a five hundred dollar ring and then blatantly refused to buy him a birthday present. She'd called him selfish.
She never cleaned the house, she didn't cook, she didn't do anything except yell and complain. She slept and she drank and she complained about how she had no money. She cursed her husband and Kiba couldn't help but hate her.
He couldn't understand why everyone else complained. Sasuke had it good. He lived in a nice, big house and he had lots of money. Sakura lived the high life. She was a spoiled, only child. Shikamaru's parents prodded him a bit, but they never asked him to change his little sister's diapers. Ino's family was loving and tightly-knit. Heck, even Naruto had it better than him. The blond loser had Iruka to take care of him and from what he could make of it, Iruka was a complete home-maker.
They thought they had problems. They thought their lives were bad. They bitched and complained, but they never paused to see if maybe there was someone else having as bad a day as they were.
He wiped angry tears from his eyes. People were so arrogant and full of themselves. It made him sick.
- - - - - - - -
Sakura and Ino sat on the floor in Ino's room, giggling. It was one of the rare times that Sakura was actually happy. They were talking about boys and how so-and-so had no fashion sense and in general, very girly topics.
Ino was solemn suddenly, watching her companion. "Hey, Sakura. . ."
The pink-haired girl smiled at her friend. "Yeah?"
"When. . .we. . .uh. . .yanno. Did you. . .like it?"
Sakura paused and frowned. "I. . .don't. . .know. Ino?"
The blonde girl smiled shakily. "Yeah?"
"Did. . .you like it?"
"I don't know. . ."
Before they registered that they were doing it, they had leaned in close to each other and pressed their lips together. It was sweet, for a moment or two, then demanding and Ino began to dominate. She slid her tongue into Sakura's open mouth. Her hands roamed wildly. She felt the other girl, so different from herself, yet in a way, so the same.
She pulled away from the other girl, who stared at her, as if unsure of what to think. Ino studied her face, the way her emerald eyes shone with uncertainty, the way her hair fell across her face and nearly matched the colour of her cheeks.
A small smile crept across Ino's features. "You're very pretty, you know."
Sakura blushed deeply and whispered, "You're pretty too, Ino."
They sat in silence then, slightly apart from each other, reflecting on their actions and words. Neither spoke, feeling estranged at that particular point in time. Sakura picked at the lint on her sock. Ino suddenly found the ceiling very interesting.
"So," Ino said at last, not taking her gaze away from the ceiling.
"Mmm," Sakura replied.
Ino looked at her friend. "Wanna go to the store and get ice cream?" she asked spontaneously.
Sakura glanced sideways at Ino, then nodded affirmatively. Both girls rose. They glanced at each other and giggled, then departed from the room.
- - - - - - - - -
Shikamaru watched the two girls approach. The two awfully familiar girls. He decided that he needed to hide somewhere. What would happen if Sakura and Ino found out he actually had a job!
Of course, it wasn't by his own choice. His parents had practically forced him to apply and then forced the owner of the ice cream shop to give him the job. They said he needed to learn "responsibility". Truthfully, the job wasn't too bad. There weren't many people half the time and when there was, the customers were generally fairly patient and good-natured.
But if Ino found out he had a job! His whole reputation of being a lazy ass would be ruined! He glanced around, frantically trying to find a place to hide. Maybe they would just go away. . .
"Shikamaru?"
Well. Damn. It seemed that Ino had spotted, and recognized him. The blonde girl practically bounced over to the counter. "I didn't know you worked here!"
Shikamaru slowly turned to face her, his features set in a scowl. Ino continued, regardless. "I didn't even know you had a job! I thought you were too lazy to get a job!"
Shikamaru gave her the patented "I-will-kill-you-painfully-and-slowly" glare. Ino started to giggle. Sakura started too. Ino smirked. "Well, pineapple head, I want a double scoop of chocolate in a waffle cone."
Shikamaru grumbled a bit and sulkily went about getting Ino's order. The blonde turned to Sakura. "What would you like?"
"A banana split, Shikamaru," Sakura giggled, joining Ino in making jibes at the boy.
Shikamaru grumbled more.
- - - - - - -
"Of all the rotten luck. . ."
Orochimaru sighed and stared at the stack of papers that the nurse shoved in front of him. He supposed that if he stared long enough and hoped hard enough, the paper might just burst into flames.
He hated hospitals. Hated them with a passion. They smelt funny and they were always so damn white and clean. The doctors and nurses always gave him funny looks too. He glared every time one walked by.
Perhaps his hatred of hospitals stemmed from the fact he'd been in them several times, having blood taken, or this bone reset, or that one, or his jaw wired shut, or another blood transfusion or -
Orochimaru hadn't been the safest child. He'd fallen down numerous stairs, out of several trees, broke his nose about six times fighting, nearly been thrown out a window. . .
Of course, there had also been several rather traumatic accidents, such as that really bad car accident, which left his aunt dead and him bruised, broken and half dead. There had also been that time his mother's boyfriend had repeatedly closed the door on his neck for trying to hide the adults' drugs.
Hospitals were not nice places. And now, they had forced him to go to one, because that little punk Gaara might have had brain trauma. And they had given him a stack of papers. To fill out on Gaara. And he didn't know shit about Gaara.
For some strange reason, they kept asking if he was the red-haired boy's father. He didn't look that old, did he? He sighed at the papers and picked up his pen.
"First name. . .Gaara. . ." He paused. "I wonder how he spells that?" He wrote the name down several times, until he decided upon a letter combination that looked about right. He wrote it down on the line. "Middle name. . .Fuck if I know. . ." He wrote that down. "Last name. . ."
Why couldn't Gaara wake up so he could ask him all this crap! It wasn't as if he'd even hit the other boy that hard! Fuming, he chewed on the end of the pen. "Stupid Gaara," he muttered.
Stupid nurse. He'd taken Gaara to the school nurse, who had freaked out and sent Gaara to the hospital. Unfortunately, they'd needed someone to accompany the unconscious student, and not being able to reach Gaara's parents, Orochimaru had been volun-told for the job. Which was why he was sitting in an uncomfortable chair at a smelly hospital at seven o'clock in the evening. The stupid nurse had even had the gall to blame him for knocking Gaara out and the principal had given him about six weeks' detention. "Gah. . .Next time, Itachi can take the poor bastard for medical treatment. . ."
- - - - - - -
Speaking of Itachi. . .
The older Uchiha was currently administering some "medical treatment" to the younger. And by that, it meant that he had put Sasuke in bed, with a couple of extra-fluffy pillows and was currently trying to wipe the gravel out of the wounds on Sasuke's forearms. The younger boy's head was also neatly swathed with bandages.
Naruto sat on the only available chair in the room, nervously flicking his eyes from Sasuke's face, expressionless in sleep, to Itachi's, which was also pretty expressionless. You could just tell they were related.
Sasuke stirred suddenly, making a funny whining noise and attempting to roll over. When he found he was fastened to one spot, he cracked open an eye. "Wha -"
"Just lie still," Itachi said, rather coldly.
Sasuke did as he was told and swept his gaze about the room. He finally settled on looking at Naruto, and it was a kind of funny look, considering Sasuke's eyes were only half open. He looked very tired and pale. His one eye was slightly swollen.
Sasuke winced when Itachi stuck the tweezers into the deep wound on his forearm, pulling at a small rock. Itachi pulled it free and Sasuke whimpered. "Don't be a baby," Itachi told him.
At last, Itachi sat back and claimed he was through with picking the dirt out of Sasuke's wounds. He ruffled Sasuke's hair, or what he could of it, stood and stretched. "Get some sleep," he said and then, he left the room.
Sasuke looked back at Naruto. "C'mere," he said, still sounding half asleep.
Naruto obeyed him. He sat down in the spot Itachi had formerly occupied. "How are you?" he asked, keeping his voice down.
Sasuke gave him a half-hearted smile. "Kind of sick. . .and I ache all over."
Naruto nervously took Sasuke's hand, not sure how the other boy would react to being touched after what had happened. He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Sasuke's forehead, waiting for Sasuke to freak out. He'd heard all sorts of stories about rape victims.
Sasuke coughed. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Don't you. . .not want me to touch you? 'Cause like, that's supposed to be normal or something -"
He trailed off seeing that Sasuke was shaking his head, or attempting to, anyway. The black-haired boy gave him a weak smile. "I like you," he whispered.
Naruto blushed. That was quite a simple statement, but it held so much more potency than anything else Sasuke could have said. It meant that Sasuke trusted him and didn't feel threatened by him, even though most would have refused contact with anyone.
"Stay?" Sasuke asked, suddenly, and opened his eyes as wide as he could. He grabbed Naruto's wrist.
Naruto smiled down at him. "Are you scared?" It wasn't a mocking question - it was supposed to be tender.
Sasuke blushed, looked away, then looked back and nodded. His eyes implored Naruto to remain. Naruto couldn't refuse. This was Sasuke's hour of need and he couldn't dare refuse.
Gingerly, he clambered into the bed, careful not to jolt the other boy too badly. He snuggled up to the injured boy, eager to find Sasuke warm, which he would take as a sign of vitality and strength. The blond didn't know why, but he needed to be comforted, just as much as Sasuke did. He needed to know that Sasuke was still the strong one, the one that would look out for him, make sure he was safe. He didn't think he could be strong.
Sasuke was cold. Naruto was startled. Sasuke was like ice. If anybody had ever called other boy cold, it had never been more true. "You're freezing," Naruto murmured, his surprise echoing in his tone.
"Shock," Sasuke murmured back, moving closer to Naruto. He was trying to leech heat.
"Shock. . .why?"
"Pain. . .blood loss. . .The whole idea of the event is beginning to sink in. . ."
Naruto looked concernedly at the other boy and frowned in thought. "You're brother's right. Get some sleep."
Sasuke smiled a bit. "I think I will while I still can. For some reason, I don't think I'll have too many restful nights."
Naruto sighed and rested his head against Sasuke's chest, wishing he could disagree with the other boy.
- - - - - - - -
The nurse raised an eyebrow as Orochimaru skipped over to the desk and slammed a bunch of papers down on her desk. "Finished!" he crowed triumphantly.
The nurse set down her file and picked up the first sheet. She scanned over it, moving her lips as she read each field. "First Name, Gaara; middle name, fuck if I know; last name, Thingamabobit ; sex, flaming homosexual! Birthday, six-nine, sixty-nine. Age, 1,000 000 000 000 000 000 000 or there about. Height eleven feet. Weight, I know this because. . .? Father, Jimbo , mother, Maybelle. First language, freak. Country of birth, Mars."
The nurse frowned and set the sheet down. "Sir. This isn't a game. I need these sheets to be filled out with accurate, realistic information." She glared down her nose pointedly.
Orochimaru shrugged. "That is accurate, realistic information. I know fuck-all about this kid!"
The nurse looked surprised. "Isn't he your son?"
Orochimaru nearly fell over. He swore, if somebody asked him that again, he'd kill them! "No! He's not my son! I'm eighteen! I'm too young to have children!"
Everyone in the waiting room was now staring at him. He turned to glare at them. Hastily, they found other, more interesting things to look at. Orochimaru turned back to the desk, still glaring. The nurse behind the desk looked very, very shocked.
Orochimaru was about to say something, when another nurse appeared from nowhere and said, rather cheerfully, "You can see your son now, Sir!"
This time, Orochimaru did fall over.
- - - - - - - -
Iruka hung up the phone, feeling rather solemn. Kakashi gave the shorter man an odd look. "Well?" he asked.
Iruka frowned. "It's bad," he said. "Itachi wouldn't tell me anymore than that Sasuke got in a fight and Naruto and him were upstairs, sleeping."
Kakashi nodded. Iruka looked at the floor thoughtfully. "I think there's something more to the story. Sasuke isn't the kind to pick a fight, or even get involved in one."
"Do you think somebody was beating Naruto up?"
Iruka shook his head. "Itachi would have told me that."
They were both silent for a moment more. Kakashi sighed and said, "Well. I'm sure they're both quite all right, Iruka. Let's get going."
Iruka looked indecisive, then nodded.
They were headed out for dinner, on the offer Kakashi had extended a few days, or weeks, prior.
Kakashi had actually made reservations at a ritzy restaurant. For some reason, he felt the desire to impress Iruka, and treat him too. It was one of those things that you didn't know why you did it, but you did it anyway.
The more time he spent with Iruka, the more he wanted to spend time with Iruka. He found the other teacher incredibly charming and sweet, even when he wasn't trying to be. Somehow, Iruka just made him smile.
True, he felt a tad mushy and it made him sick, but he couldn't deny he felt some sort of attachment to the other man.
Dinner wasn't special, per se. Kakashi estimated that he spent more time meditating on what he felt about Iruka than actually talking to or looking at the other. It made him kind of mad that he wasn't able to figure himself out, and that he was wasting time with Iruka as a result.
Absently, he sighed.
Iruka looked at him, concernedly. "Is something wrong, Kakashi?"
The silver-headed teacher shook his head, closing his eyes. "No. Nothing's wrong, Iruka. Just thinking."
Iruka was apparently feeling rather inquisitive. He looked up at Kakashi with his dark eyes. "Thinking about what?"
"You," was the blunt reply.
Iruka blushed and glanced away. "Thinking about me? Why?"
Kakashi looked Iruka in the eye. Iruka stared back, spellbound by the gaze of the other man. "Because. . .I think. . .I think that maybe. . .Maybe I love you, Iruka."
Iruka went terribly red in the face. "Kakashi!" he sputtered. "Stop joking around! That's not -"
Fortunately, Kakashi spared himself a lecture by claiming Iruka's mouth. The brunet made a small, surprised squeak, then completely melted. Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised if Iruka had actually gone and fainted. He pulled back from the kiss, smirking.
He tapped Iruka's cheek with his index finger. "I was being quite serious," he said.
Iruka blushed harder and pressed a hand to his lips. "Kakashi," he whispered.
All in all, one had to admit the scene was like something out of a cheesy romance novel. It was disgustingly sweet and sappy. Fortunately, Kakashi had the sense to dispel this aura by clapping Iruka soundly on the back and exclaiming cheerfully, "Now, let's go have kinky sex in the back of my car!"
"Kakashi!"
- - - - - -
Naruto stirred against Sasuke in his sleep. Sasuke gingerly moved his arm and stroked Naruto's soft hair, trying to quiet the unruly sleeper. He himself had been awake for about an hour or so. Naruto wasn't exactly still when he slept. He didn't want to count how many times he'd been kicked in the last fifteen minutes.
Naruto sighed and snuggled up against Sasuke, a small smile spreading across his features. Sasuke smiled a bit too. Naruto was. . .cute when he was asleep. Sasuke swept the blond's messy bangs up off his forehead, then let them fall back. Naruto yawned and nuzzled Sasuke again.
Sasuke wondered briefly if, that by some odd act of nature he and Naruto had a baby, if it would be as cute as Naruto. He blinked, wondering if loss of blood had really affected him more than he previously thought. Babies and Naruto? He nearly laughed out loud. Somehow, he could picture Naruto in a dress, holding a newborn baby in his arms.
He shook his head. He didn't want to know where the thought had come from. He smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair some more. The blond boy stirred, yawned and finally, opened an eye. "G'morning," he said lazily, putting his head back down and closing his eyes.
Sasuke petted the blond's hair some more. "Good morning. You have soft hair, you know?"
Naruto yawned in reply. "Do you think I'll be allowed to stay in bed all day?" he asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know. For some reason, I think Iruka will be by and force you to go to school."
"Nooooo," Naruto mock yelled. "Not school." The blond curled up, intent on going back to sleep.
Sasuke prodded him. "Hey. Get up. I want to go downstairs."
Naruto waved his hand. "Go downstairs yourself. I'm sleeping."
"You're not sleeping," Sasuke goaded. "And I don't think I can walk. Now I know what you felt like on Saturday."
Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Aha! So the great Uchiha Sasuke admits pain!"
" -except probably worse, because you weren't brutally raped by some psycho who wanted to make you his bitch," Sasuke added, scowling.
Naruto sat up. "I dunno. You're pretty psychotic. And you'd like it if I were your bitch."
Sasuke sighed. "Just help me downstairs? I'm hungry."
Naruto beamed. "That's good! That's very good!" he said excitedly. He nuzzled Sasuke's cheek for emphasis. Sasuke winced. "Oops. . .sorry," Naruto murmured, remembering that both of Sasuke's cheeks now sported angry bruises.
Naruto clambered out of bed and helped Sasuke up. The black-haired boy winced with nearly every motion.
As soon as Sasuke had finally gotten to his feet, Naruto seemed to think of something. "Lie back down," he said.
Sasuke threw him a glare. "Lie down?" he asked, sounding cynical.
Naruto nodded. "I want to. . .check you over," he said, sounding almost shy. "Itachi didn't do that," he added quickly, seeing Sasuke's look of incredulity.
"Oh," Sasuke said resignedly and collapsed into bed. In all truth, he was happy to lie back down, for his body was screaming at him for getting up.
Naruto climbed back onto the bed and started to unbutton Sasuke's pyjama top. He fumbled and Sasuke nearly cried out when the clumsy blond drove his knuckles into his chest.
"Sorry!" Naruto yelped, hoping Sasuke wouldn't vent a murderous rage upon him.
Sasuke growled and undid the shirt himself, wincing as the motion sent jolts of pain down his arms. "There," he muttered, glaring at Naruto.
Timidly, Naruto pulled back the cloth. He winced as he looked at the marred skin, which was varying degrees of yellow, blue and black, with some purple hues mixed in.
"Oh, gosh, Sasuke, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used you as a pillow," he whispered apologetically, wishing he could nuzzle the other boy, but he couldn't find a spot to do so that wouldn't cause the other pain.
Sasuke's expression softened a bit. "That's okay," he murmured. "It didn't hurt that much."
Naruto knew he was lying. He said nothing though, and re-buttoned Sasuke's shirt. "Are you still hungry? Good. We'll go get some breakfast now. Here, don't rush yourself! You'll hurt yourself. Careful!"
Sasuke shot Naruto a glare. "Mother hen," he growled.
Naruto blushed. "I just don't like seeing you in pain," he murmured.
Sasuke kissed the top of Naruto's golden head. "That's okay. I wouldn't like to see you in pain any more, I suppose."
- - - - - - - -
In another place, another young boy woke up to two unfamiliar faces. The aura was more hostile in this scenario.
Gaara stared up from his bed, waiting for his mind to register who was glaring down at him. He didn't know who they were.
"Why did you do that to Sasuke?" the first one asked. He had longer hair and an almost effeminate look to him.
Gaara tried to remember. Who was Sasuke? What had he done? Why was everything so fuzzy? He ignored the two strange face looming over him and rolled over. He went back to sleep. Everything would be clearer later.
- - - - - - -
Itachi glanced at Orochimaru. "They thought he was your son?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes!" Orochimaru cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't know where the heck they got the idea from!"
"You're awful young to be having children," Itachi said snidely.
"You're awful young to be a mother," Orochimaru returned.
Itachi looked shock, then angry. "Wha- Mother! What makes you think I would be the mother!" he yelped.
Orochimaru laughed. "Relax, you moron. I was merely saying that if I was a father, you would be the mother."
Itachi rolled his eyes. "So, what you're saying is that you're very devoted?"
Orochimaru nodded vigorously. "Yes! I'm very devoted! And since I am, we should go into that empty room across the hall and . . .do some stuff," he finished with an evil smirk.
Itachi frowned. "You pervert. . ."
Orochimaru pouted. "What! It's one of my whatcha-ma-call-ems. . ."
"Fantasies," Itachi supplied, still frowning. "You are one very screwed up little boy Orochimaru."
Orochimaru smiled. "I know. That's why you love me." He fluttered his eyelashes for effect.
"Ugh!" Itachi cried, backing away. "Don't ever do that again!"
Orochimaru frowned. "Fine."
They fell silent and glanced back at Gaara, who was still sound asleep on his side.
- - - - - - -
Morning light flooded into the room. Iruka stirred, turning away from the invading light that threatened to wake him from slumber.
His nose bumped into something unyielding. 'That's funny,' he thought. 'I didn't think my bed was that close to the wall. . .'
As it turned out, his bed wasn't that close to the wall. In actuality, what he'd rolled into was nothing else than one Hatake Kakashi.
Hastily, Iruka turned over, feeling a heavy blush spread across his features. He was dreaming. He simply had to be dreaming and in a few minutes, his alarm clock would go off and he would wake up. . .
Kakashi yawned, and muttered, "Morning, 'ruka."
He wasn't dreaming. Oh shit.
- - - - - -