Chapter 6: Nightmares
Parings: Naru/Sasu. (pshhh like I write anything else.-_-)
Rating: K-T (first) M-NC-17 (later)
Disclaimer: I do not own the sheer genius "Naruto"; Shippuden of other. The honours go to Masashi Kishimoto and his genius brain that created this masterpiece.
Summary: Remember the summer camp you went to; that quaint place out in the woods, by a lake, sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories and eating s'mores? Well this summer school, sure as hell, isn't that. Three months, Sasuke, teenage delinquents, illegal alcohol, prescription drugs, annoying shrinks, escape plans, a Shitzu from hell, and new relationships; welcome to camp. NaruSasuNaru.
A/N; I'm so grateful to everyone who took time to read this and review but this chap is dedicated to 'Zeus'sSins' and 'Valune' for your great reviews. XD
A/N2: ... I know not a damn person really wants to know about my TV habits but did I mention that I also watch Burn Notice, House, The Closer, Big Bang Theory (I would kidnap Sheldon), Dr. Who and hmmmmm anything with Wentworth Miller (Prison Break "Michael Scofield")
The rain was still viciously hammering the ground while Sasuke was still blankly staring at the white ceiling of the infirmary; his mind obsessively repeating the words the assistant medic, Katō Shinuze had said ten minutes ago; 'Severely strained deltoid muscle.'
He shifted and grimaced; his left shoulder was bandaged insanely tightly. The combined scent of antiseptic gel and the icy muscle relaxant cream were burning his nose but he ignored it in favour of repeatedly mentally slapping himself.
What in the fucking hell was he thinking doing barbell squats with 80 pound weights?
'Trying to outdo the fucking 'I'm-so-perfect', Hyuuga bastard.'
He snorted and shifted again. The steady drum of the rain and the white ceiling was lulling him asleep even though he strongly fought the impulse to submit. Sakura had just left the infirmary with a warm smile and words of comfort; "Don't worry, it happens all the time."
He snorted again. Sasuke wasn't one to fool himself; he knew he was a more brains over brawn person(1), and he knew that any mental exercise in existence thrown at him he could tear it apart in seconds, but lifting weights, doing marathons runs and jumping through tire holes could go to hell for all he cared.
His eyelids bobbed; once...twice...
Absently he wondered about the I.Q results; if they were back and what were the reactions to them. He knew at least five people had scored into the 'genius' category: himself, Gaara, Shikamaru, the Shino guy and damn it, Neji... and if he was right about Kin, she too... she had this... air... to her.
His eyelids closed for a second and he marvelled about how tired he really was. Tired, in more ways than visible; but, with a lifetime of practise and ingrained pathologic denial issues, he wasn't going to let any of it show. He pushed the emotions deep behind an iron clad mental barrier that he had erected years ago to subdue those... feelings and immediately slammed the door.
Right now he had more things to concentrate on.
The Plan.
Presently the plan had three tiers, the plan itself, the back-up plan and a back-up plan to the back-up plan. Yes he was the master of paranoia, so freakin' what?
The guards rotated twice in the morning, twice at midday and twice at night; eight minutes each round and fifteen minutes break between them. They were lightly armed, no guns but night sticks and tasers. As far as he could ascertain there were eight to ten guards; each one clearly trained and very alert.
Two of the teachers doubled as guards; Hayate Gekkō and Genma Shiranui; the English teacher and the History one. His mind circled back to one person he hadn't seen since the first night; the silver haired Hayate Kakashi. It seemed crazy but that name sparked something in the depths of his mind; prodding against something he had maybe heard or saw but had certainly forgotten a long time something years ago.
If he could get through...to the wall...to the generators...to the forest...
His breathing evened out he slowly slipped deeper and deeper into slumber, and before he could consciously realize it he was asleep.
***Dream Sequence***
It was the screams and the heat that woke him.
He was hot.
Everything was hot, scorching. His lungs reacted and he coughed out black air while shooting up in his bed. Black eyes widened as he took in the red flames crawling up the wall and eating away at the oak bookshelf just across from his bed.
Nine year old Sasuke grabbed his blankets, crunched his body into a small ball and whimpered. He was so hot. The fire was crawling up his blankets now and a lick of the flame scorched his hand.
He screamed and jumped off the bed landing on the blackened floor and started a panicked crawl. Smoke rose, billowing up and around him, blowing into his face until his eyes clenched themselves together to block out the acrid smoke. He was blind, he couldn't breathe; the smoke was too thick and putrid. His sense of direction was lost in his blind desire to get out.
Sasuke bumped into a wall and a beam of burning wood fell just beside his hand shooting splinted into his hand and face. He screamed again; his skin was burning, his head was spinning, he was dizzy and scalding tears were forming under his closed eyes until he dimly heard a crash and his body was corralled into a pair of arms and his head was buried into a damp shoulder.
A wet cloth was pressed over his face. "Sasuke," Itachi. "BREATHE!"
He gasped in hot air through the cloth and clung to his sixteen year old brother for life. "I'm getting you out of h-"
His conscious mind kicked in and immediately cut off the rest of Itachi's words; he needed to get up. He NEEDED to get away from the fire! The memory!
He need to WAKE UP!
Sasuke shot up in the hospital bed gasping. His skin and hair were damp and his clothes were sticking to him like cellophane.
Bad memory.
BAD MEMORY!
Blindly he got off the bed and rushed over to the basin that was nailed to the wall, turned on the faucet to full force and dunked his head under the stream. The images were still flickering behind his eyes but with strong mental control he pushed the images back into the depths where they had come from.
Pulling back his head he gasped in air.
The damn nightmare.
That damn fucking nightmare. The one he couldn't escape from... the one that haunted him for eight years.
The one that sometime morphed into a vision of his father or Itachi laughing manically at his doorway.
That damn dream.
A small grin crossed his face while his head was flush against the cold porcelain. Absently he guessed what his father would say in this situation, "Repressed memories could lead to psychosis."
Wiping the water from his face with his hand he smiled humorously, "I guess I'm psychotic then father...no more than you were."
He chuckled lowly as his mind flittered to the lyrics of a song ingrained into his psyche. '...I'm supposed to be the soldier, who never blows his composure, even though the weight of the whole world is on my shoulders...'
The door opened and this time it was the blond haired woman who entered with a mild scowl on her face, "Uchiha...you should be resting."
"Yes Ma'am." He replied blankly, "I should...but if you don't mind I would prefer to rest in my room... hospitals make me... queasy."
Her blond brown eyes narrowed while she took a stethoscope from around her neck, "Really, why?"
"Needles." He replied instantly.
She snorted while placing the instrument's diaphragm on his chest, "Take a-"
"-deep breath... I know." He replied quietly while complying.
After a minute she pulled back and murmured, "Well at least your heart isn't murmuring, that's good. Your lungs are fine too but that shoulder is to be handled with care. No heavy lifting or the muscle coul-"
"Rupture." He filled in for her, "and lead to more necrosis of myofibrils(1)."
Her eyes narrowed, "You seem to know an exorbitant amount of medicine young man, may I ask how?"
He smiled slightly and admitted, "My mother was a paediatrician."
"Oh." She nodded succinctly is a 'that-explains-everything-way' and handed him a small bottle of pea sized blue pills, "Pain killers. Take one after every meal. Not with dairy products though."
"That's fine," he replied, "I don't drink milk."
Her stare was enough for him to admit, "I'm vegan...not lacto-ova...straight."
"Have you told the kitchen staff about it?" she asked handing him a sealed bag of sterile bandages.
"Should I have?"
"Yes." She said, "They would've included more vegan dishes into the menu or catered to you specifically."
His head tilted, "I will then."
He was almost at the door when his brows knitted together, "I might be wrong about this... but... are you related to Uzumaki Naruto?"
Her lips quirked. "The resemblance right?"
"Yes."
"Actually yes...he is my nephew's child." She admitted.
"...Does he know?" he asked again.
"Probably," she said, "... since I'm the one that got him in here instead of being executed."
*** Room 58, Psychiatric session.***
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto looked up blankly from his seat across the desk, "You're Hatake-san, right?"
The silver haired man smiled slightly while sitting down and handing him a cup of water, "Yes, I am."
"My sessions are with Iruka-sensei so what exactly do you want from me?" Naruto asked slowly ignoring the cup.
"It's not spiked with sodium pentathlon you know.(2)" Kakashi said gesturing to the cup.
"I don't know what that is and I really don't care." Naruto didn't shift a millimetre so Kakashi didn't either; right to the purpose then.
Folding his hands on the table between them he plainly said; "I want to know why you've been pretending for so long."
Naruto relaxed and leaned back into the chair his blue eyes hooded and cautious, "About what?"
Kakashi leaned in, "About what you really are."
Blue eyes bored into Kakashi's, "Enlighten me because I really have no damn idea what the hell you're talking about." He deadpanned.
The psychologist marvelled silently, "Your I.Q score is one hundred and seventy five... that classifies you as a genius."
Naruto's lips twitched, once...twice before he burst into laughter, "Y...Y...you've got to be shitting me!"
Kakashi waited until the laugher panned out, "No... I'm not." He said quietly, "...you are...it's just untapped."
"Genius... yeah right," he scoffed, "... I can't multiply seven to seven to save my life...and I'm a genius."
"They're many types of genius Naruto... not all are mathematicians." Kakashi said, "I've reviewed your test...Naruto the answers you gave on the test are..." Kakashi paused seeking the right word, "...exceptional."
"Exceptional...really," he scoffed, "...to just some ordinary situations... exceptional?"
"Yes." Kakashi replied, "Why don't you believe me?"
"Because," Naruto said, "I have never been the able to meet the basic standard for anything."
'Is that an Inferiority complex?'
Kakashi rebounded, "Like I said...they're many types of genius, some excel in scholarly work...others do well in practical situations like you do... do you know what your learning method is?"
"My what?" Naruto asked blue eyes confused.
"Your learning method...some people learn by listening, some by seeing, and others by doing it." Kakashi replied, "We have to find out your method."
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"I'm not going to lie to you," Kakashi said simply, "...with your scores you are going to be drafted into the military but placement depends on what exactly you are qualified for. The military has two main sections that you can be drafted into; the Analytical and the Physical. Don't get me wrong, each drafted member is trained in both but some are suited to one or the other."
Blond brows furrowed, "Who else scored high?"
"That's confidential."
Silence pervaded in the room for the moment until Naruto looked Kakashi dead in the eye and asked, "You're not here for that alone are you?"
"No." Kakashi said, "This is also a psychiatric session...Naruto...let's talk about this...what happened in Riyadh, Arabia...why did you try to kill your guardian?"
"'Bout time you got to the damn point," Naruto said tersely, sapphire eyes stone hard, "... Kyuubi fucking deserved it...he tried to rape my girlfriend."
"Aaliyah, right?"
"Yes." The name barely escaped out through gritted teeth.
Kakashi scrubbed a hand through his hair. "From what I understand, after your parents died Kyuubi adopted you...when you were six he was drafted into the military and you've both bounced around the world in military bases one after another."
Kakashi placed a sheet of paper between them. "...and according to this you were going to accepted into the Navy when you turned nineteen but then... I can understand if you had reported him to the higher officers but why did you go ahead and poison him with liquid mercury?"
Naruto leaned in and glared, "If you could dig up all that why couldn't you dig up the fact that he was a bastard pretentious sadistic prick and not a damn person liked him..." he flopped back in the chair, "... he was asking for it."
The silver haired man went silent for a moment just allowing the blond to simmer down. "Naruto...what happened?"
"I got tired of his bull shit and poisoned him...made everybody happy too."
Grey-blue eyes narrowed, "...It wasn't only for your girlfriend...was it?"
A nasty smile crossed the Naruto's face, "Now we're getting somewhere."
The tips of the fingers on Sasuke's both hands were slowly massaging his temples futilely trying to rub away the building tension in his head. It's been two days putting up with his shoulder; he'd lost two days of surveillance. Two days of valuable information needed to get him the hell out of this shithole. Two days of failure...Damn it!
"Dude," Naruto said slowly bouncing a basketball with one hand, "You have a stalker...that Sai guy is obsessed with you."
Sasuke stopped and glanced up at Naruto. Even though he wasn't completely accustomed to it he was slowly getting used to Naruto noticing things before him and stared at the blond perched on the highest seat in the auditorium. In a voice the few people he associated with would call his 'serial killer' voice he hissed;
"Come again?"
Naruto nodded to the left, Sasuke glanced in the direction and saw Sai with a drawing pad balanced on his knees and was deftly sketching. Chances are, based on the quick glances he was shooting over to him, he was drawing his picture.
Black eyes narrowed homicidally. He made to get up but was promptly stopped by Gai entering the room. It seemed the impromptu meeting was about to start. Grumbling darkly under his breath he sat back again.
"Students." Gai said.
Christ! Did the man have to use the sodding bullhorn at every- goddamn- thing?
"It is my pleasure to introduce Lt. Baki Shouko(2) of the Japanese Air Force; he will be teaching Tai Justu, Aikido, Wing Chun and the Jui Jutsu classes."
Sasuke took a moment to look at the man standing beside Gai. Baki was tall and muscled with a bronzed skin tone; half of his face was covered by a loose turban flap and the visible half sported red scars. Clad in full army fatigues he stood in stiff military style, chin up, chest out, shoulders back, legs firmly planted and hands clasped behind his back.
Clearly the man was professional.
"-eport to the training session each during you extracurricular activities time spot. The designated room for the training is Room 89 beside the library."
"He's from Suna." Sasuke didn't shift when Gaara sat quietly beside him, "...he has the tribal markings of the Akatsuki tribe."
Sasuke had come to tolerate the quiet redhead in the past few days noticing that Gaara was, apart from having a ruthless stare and a serial killer voice, had a brilliant, astounding mind and if there was one thing Sasuke could appreciate was a great mind despite whatever the outside package was made of.
"The what now?"
Gaara looked at him with his medicated dull green eyes, "It's an ancient tribe in Suna, traditionally they were a people who made various glass and metal weapons out of Suna's sand but that tradition stopped about a hundred and fifty years ago...but they still have their rituals where the first man child is scarred with hot glass and the wounds dyed with red upon reaching eight days alive."
"That's barbaric." Sasuke sniffed still watching Sai sketch.
Gaara shrugged. "It's tradition."
"You're from Suna, right?"
"Yes." Gaara replied absently.
"Isn't there a facility like this there?" Sasuke inquired.
Gaara smiled slightly, "Yes...but my father didn't want this to leak out...he's the leading candidate for the next Prime Minister of Suna...and I'm his kryptonite."
"Damn," Sasuke said, "That's harsh...what about that brother of yours?"
"Kankuro..." Gaara snorted, "He was my father's mistake...his mother was a drug addict and he took to the same trade... in Suna they call him pharm freak."
Sasuke was confused. "A what now?"
"It means he deals drugs... not the Advil type." Naruto supplied quietly behind him.
Gaara glanced up and maybe Sasuke was seeing things but there was a slight spark in Gaara's eyes.
"You are Uzumaki Naruto, right?"
Sasuke eyes narrowed at the contemplative look Gaara was scouring the blond with.
"Yes." Naruto replied, pushing up from the bench and stretched, "Isn't about time to go back to class?"
"Go ahead. I'll come after" Sasuke said lowly.
The blond shrugged and left. Sasuke immediately turned to Gaara. "What did you see in him?"
Gaara smiled slightly, "...I'm...not completely sure."
(*)(*)(*)
Sociology was a shake-up. They were made to form pairs and Sasuke was paired with Kin.
The questions were done raffle style, each team to pick out of a paper bag and to come up with an appropriate answer to the situation.
Theirs was; "You find yourself in a strange country; the customs and language are strange and there is no one from your native country, what do you do?"
Sasuke snorted and said dryly; "Well killing someone comes to mind; adopt their personality and play mute."
Kin's head met the desk, her shoulders shaking while chuckling silently. She looked up at him with amused eyes;
"How about doing surveillance for some time," her voice was smoky and had a slight wave-country accent, "... steal some clothes, anything to make a weapon, like a gardening hoe or a hammer, and as much rope or cords as possible. Find yourself a forest; score some food and tie yourself to a tree for safety against the wildlife until you're sure about your surroundings?" she counter proposed.
"What about the language?" he asked surprisingly delighted with her quick mind.
"Go with the mute thing until you find an embassy or something legal or illegal to direct you home...piracy is an option."
Sasuke took a minute to take in her eyes which had just sparked with quick intelligence and wisdom. "...I agree."
Grabbing the pen and the paper pad he jotted down their names and the answers to the question and solemnly turned it in. Returning to his seat he slumped down unto his folded arms and glanced up to her under his bangs.
Time ticked away; until.
"You've been watching me for days." she said quietly.
Damn, BUSTED!
She was talking again; "-ou know...staring at me is not going to answer your questions. Just ask."
He started but settled down a second later, "Are you sure you want to answer them?"
She smiled, her ethereal hazel-green eyes dancing, "I promise to try."
Sasuke glanced around him, quickly judging the surrounding people and if they spoke if anybody could hear them. Again paranoia. Decision made he grabbed the pad of paper before him and scribbled.
"Root?"
Black bangs swished over her eyes, grabbed the pen and wrote, "Maybe...what if I am?"
Sasuke shrugged and replied, "If you are...how did you get sent here... I thought the procedure with caught assassins was immediate execution?"
She looked at him a minute, smirked, grabbed the discarded notepad and the pan and started to sketch something. After five minutes she spun the pad back to him. On the pad in detailed sketch was a picture of Sarutobi Sandaime...the previous governor of Kohona. Under it was, "Not dead."
The previous governor who mysteriously disappeared for two weeks before resurrecting in a medical facility in Canada. The official report was that he was being treated for light stroke.
Three months later he officially retired from the government handing his position over to his second-in-command, a Namikaze, toting 'mental exhaustion.'
Clearly that was bullshit.
She was writing again; "...and I wasn't caught... I was a scapegoat."
"Does that answer your questions Uchiha?" she asked.
"Perfectly."He smiled as he was ripping out the sheet and tearing it up into shreds while thinking, "I was right."
He took another second while his eyes roved over her. She didn't strike him as the type to fawn over him like 99.99% of the females he knew of, so he was going to risk it.
"Kin, right..." she nodded, "Nice to meet you...I'm Sasuke."
What was it with him and stumbling unto these idiots?
One of the twins, Sakon, was up to his usual mischief and terrorising people. This time is was a girl. Sasuke had no particular love for anyone who couldn't defend themselves but this case was different. Big, bulky boys (like Chouji) that could take care of themselves he could ignore, but a diminutive girl who looked like she was on the verge of a heart attack, hell no.
"Let her go."
The silver haired menace, while still holding the girl up against the wall, twisted his neck to stare Sasuke in the eye. "I don't think y-"
"You can think...well colour me fucking stunned." Sasuke sneered his voice dipping to low and homicidal, "If you want to keep the little brains you have let her go now, keep in mind I know seven ways to break your neck, three to permanently make you an eunuch and one to make your heart explode after you take five steps(5)."
Sakon dropped the girl immediately to the ground and with a sneer, that didn't hide the terror in his eyes, left.
Sasuke snorted and held out a hand to the shivering girl.
"T...thank you so much." She said eyes wide but still clearly frightened. "I'm Moegi."
"Moegi, right?" Sasuke said slowly, "You don't look any more than fifteen, why are you here?"
Her auburn head was still bent while dusting off her clothes as she answered, "Shoplifting."
Black eyebrows met his hairline, "Shoplifting...but that a minor off-"
She smiled slightly, "It was a fifty carat diamond necklace."
Holy Shit!
Some quick calculations and the figure that popped up into his head almost made him swoon; 9.5 million US dollars.
No wonder she was in here.
"Just be careful around here." He advised spinning around to traipse back to the mess hall, "Stick to your dorms and don't wander around."
Tai Jutsu.
Five people had turned up; himself, Gaara, Renjii, TenTen and...Neji.
Sasuke clamped his eyes closed; pushing the visions of a pain riddled screaming Hyuuga out of his mind. Not the time.
"LINE UP!" Baki ordered.
A strict line was formed, each person half a foot apart, standing straight, hands clasped behind their backs.
"Tai-jutsu is combination of Shi-Ken, strikes, Taihenjutsu, body acrobatics, Sabaki, sword techniques and Daken-tai, defence techniques."Baki said evenly. "Each one is an art in itself and must be learned completely to master the complete art."
"...but first you need to learn the basics...and that means you need to get in adequate form first...so from now until next week you are going to prove your physical fitness."
Damn it!
"I've learned we have an acrobat within us." His gaze snapped to TenTen. "How long have you been one?"
TenTen straightened up even more, her eyes glinting seriously but a hint of her goofy grin still on her face, "Fifteen years...my family were circus performers."
A small smile flickered across Baki's face. "I should inform you...even though applicable... tumbling isn't going to be used here."
He spun around and glared, "Push-ups...fifty sets...now!"
(*)(*)(*)
Sasuke was going to kill someone.
Pain, annoyance, and homicidal irritation emitted from his person like poisonous radiation. He felt sorry for the next bastard that came across him.
It seemed someone or something was doing him a favour because the next person that slammed into him and dropped his sketchbook into him was Sai.
Sasuke snapped; grabbed Sai by his lapels and slammed him into the wall.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"Going to my room, dickless... obviously."
So not the time to play stupid.
"I meant why the hell are you drawing me?" he growled.
Sai broke his grip and slumped against the wall, dark eyes trying to pull off a wide eyed innocent look; he reached out a hand to brush the tips of his fingers across Sasuke's face; "You don't know you're beautiful, don't you."
Wrong damn move...Sasuke didn't have proximity issues...he had acute contact phobias. He never allowed anybody to touch him deliberately.
He reacted violently and slammed a fist inches from Sai's head, "If I see you draw me again I...will...kill...you!"
He stepped back and dropped Sai to the ground and walked off.
"...You're going to bend over for that dumb blond, aren't you?"
Sasuke paused and by degree turned around. "You're going to regret that." He said darkly.
"Wha-?"
Sai scrabbled to remove the squeezing pale hands that circled around his neck. Sasuke leaned in and whispered, "Even if I did, you would be the last person to know."
Sasuke calmly waited until Sai's face was turning blue until he dropped him second time and walked off smirking at the gasps he heard behind him.
"Asshole."
A/N: Chapter 5 people...some questions answered about Naruto...and some about Kin, Gaara, Kankuro, TenTen and a snippet of Sasuke's history.
*****(*)(*)(*)****
Sasuke is such a walking oxymoron. #shakes head#
*****(*)(*)(*)*****
A/N: 'brains over brawn' person(1)...from 'Valune.' XD. (love it)
(2) 'necrosis of myofibrils.'- Medicine jargon for deterioration of muscle fibre.
(3) 'sodium pentathlon.'- commonly called the 'truth drug'
(4) 'Shouko'- is just another name for Sand.
(5) 'Heart explode after you take five steps.' It is REAL people. It's called 'Dim Mak'... (...too much time watching Kill Bill pt2.#mumbles#)
P.S.S- There is a difference between Hacking and Cracking...it's the intention. Hacking is mainly used to discover faults in programming; Cracking is a deliberate attempt to get restricted information...my dear Shikamaru did both.
Love ya'll
B.P.