I sat silently fuming for the next ten minutes, the seconds creeping by slower and slower as I watched the clock hands move. I could feel Naruto's gaze upon me the entire time, burning into my soul. I chuckled to myself. 'What soul?' I thought. 'I doubt I have any parts left in tack. If there are any, I bet they're blacker than night.' The sound of the heavy door to the nurse's office opening and closing pulled me from my morbid thoughts, at least for the moment. I would often find myself in a dark place when I was alone with myself for long periods of time; I criticized myself more than my abuser did. Maybe it was from the years of being told that I was worthless, and the fact that I now believed it.
"Sasuke," Tsunade started softly. "What happened now?" She turns and looks Naruto over, narrowing her eyes at him. "What are you doing here?" she asks, appearing annoyed.
"Aw, come on granny. I was just helping my new friend Sasuke get some medical attention for his bleeding stomach," Naruto answers her, with a slight pout on his face. "He probably won't show you willingly, but he's got a cut or something and his shirt is soaked in blood."
Tsunade proceeded to cross her arms at me. "Show me," she demanded.
I begrudgingly unzipped my jacket, revealing my now completely blood-soaked shirt. Naruto gasped and Tsunade shook her head. I simply lowered my head and sighed morosely, done with this encounter already. I considered making a break from the door and escaping, but I doubted I'd be able to get past the brick wall of muscle known as Naruto. I had always hated going to the nurse, even more so when I got older, because of my home life. Going to school with cuts and bruises when you're little is easy to play off as just falling on the playground or rough-housing. When you get older and don't play any sports however, explaining without getting someone arrested (exhibit A: what happened a couple of weeks ago) becomes incredibly hard. In its own twisted way, being bullied at school helped to protect the truth about my father; I just played everything off as being done by my idiot peers. Thus, I hated being interrogated by every doctor and nurse I'd ever met, and it didn't help that I was terrified of hospitals in the first place.
"Take of your shirt, Sasuke. I need to assess to damage," Tsunade said calmly, interrupting my thoughts of an escape plan.
I looked between her and Naruto and then shook my head vigorously. "Not while he is in here," I nearly whispered, motioning to Naruto. Part of my refusal was from simply being a shy person, another part because I didn't know him well, but I mostly didn't want the only person didn't know about me (no matter how much he just pissed me off) learning about my complicated life. He was clueless and I wished him to stay that way.
Tsunade turned to Naruto, saying, "You heard the man. Get out." Sometimes I really appreciated Tsunade's supreme rule.
"Tsunade, I won't just leave him. I feel like I'm responsible for him, I'm the one that brought him here," Naruto retorted.
Tsunade's eye twitched as she ground her teeth in annoyance. "Naruto," she started in her business voice, "Sasuke will not let me see what happened to him if you remain in here. So, you have two options: leave now willingly or I'll remove you myself."
"I'm. Not. Leaving." Naruto finished stubbornly. As stupid as he was being, I had to give him some points for not giving up, even if it was obvious that he was going to lose the argument.
A small growl escaped Tsunade's lips before she proceeded to pick Naruto up and carry him out of the room, mumbling, "You're just like your mother," as she went. To my upmost surprise, Naruto put up no fight whatsoever. He simply huffed and crossed his arms; no flailing or screaming as I suspected he would. A minute later Tsunade returned and said, "He claims that he's going to be waiting for you outside. I am incredibly sorry." I shrugged, pretending to be indifferent. In truth, I was pissed. I just wanted to be left alone, why couldn't he avoid me like I had the plague like the rest of the school? "Now," Tsunade started, "let's see what happened. Take off the shirt."
I slowly shrugged out of my jacket and began pulling my shirt off. I grimaced when I felt the skin around the cut separate from being stretched too far apart. I shivered at the sudden cold and wrapped my arms around myself in a futile attempt to keep myself warm (it's hard to stay warm when you're five nine and only weigh about one-hundred fifteen pounds).
"What happened?" Tsunade asked as she began to wipe the blood off of my stomach. I shrugged in reply, not really feeling like talking. She sighed at my lack of an answer, saying, "Well, whatever happened, this cut needs stiches. I could do them, but I don't have anything to numb the area, so you'd feel it all. I could take you to the hospital if you'd prefer."
I was quick to reply, answering, "No, going the hospital is not necessary. I would like you to just do them now, thank you." I knew how much this was going to hurt, but quite frankly, I didn't care. Sadly, my only thought was that I had been through worse pain because of my father.
Tsunade nodded and applied antiseptic to the wound, which stung like a bitch, and then disinfected the needle. Slowly the needle pierced my skin and disappeared for a moment, re-appearing through the skin on the other side of the canyon that was on my stomach. This process repeated over and over until the entire gash was closed. Tsunade finished up by cleaning off the blood that seeped out during the stitching process; then, she applied more antiseptic and a bandage, wrapping my abdomen to make sure the bandage stayed on. After handing me a clean shirt (which was too big), she deemed me ready to leave and get to class that I was now late for. Before I left however, I had a question to ask Tsunade that had been buzzing around in my head for almost the entirety of the time I was in the nurse's office.
"Lady Tsunade, I do not mean to pry, but how do you know Naruto? You seemed to be relatively well acquainted with him," I asked as politely as I could. I wanted to know as much as I could about Naruto before I had to face the tall, muscular boy again.
"I've known his parents since they were kids, and I'm his godmother. He can be an annoying little brat most of the time, but he's a really good kid when you get right down to it," she answered simply. "Now, get to class. You're already late."
I made a disgusted noise and gathered my things, knowing that Iruka sensei, my language arts teacher, would have a fit. Tsunade gave me a pass and I went on my way. Just as Naruto said he would, I found him waiting right outside the door to the nurse's office. He gazed at me with a slightly worried expression, looking me over to make sure I was alright. I felt strange under his gaze, and shifted uncomfortably; I wasn't used to someone looking at me with so much caring and concern. Even when my father was being nice, he never looked at me like that. It was weird.
"Would you stop staring at me, dobe?" I snapped. I didn't really mean it in the way I said it, but being cruel was just my defense mechanism. It had always worked in the past to get people to leave me alone, and I was really hoping that it would work on Naruto as well. No such luck.
Naruto's face shifted into one adjacent to a scowl, and he glared slightly at me. "I'm just worried about your wellbeing teme. No need to get nasty. Come on, I'll walk you to your next class. Lead on."
I scoffed, retorting with, "It's not really walking me to class if you have no idea where you're going. I suggest just getting to class yourself and staying out of my business." I was officially four-hundred thirteen percent done with this day, and I wasn't even to first period yet.
"I'm going with you whether you want me to or not," Naruto said, ending the argument. From what I'd seen of Naruto so far, he was great at ending arguments. He might not always get his way, but the conversation will be over.
I simply sigh and made my way to class with Naruto following right next to me with his hands behind his head in a care-free manor. I found myself staring at him out of the corner of my eye, taking in all his features. He had spikey blond hair that looked effortlessly perfect and extremely soft. His eyes were a vibrant shade of blue I had never seen someone have before, and they were bright and lively. My gaze made its way to his lips, and I couldn't help but think how beautifully they curved into a slight smile as he hummed a song to himself. And his muscles. He wasn't a super bulky guy, but every muscle was well defined and toned, at least from what I could see (I was sure that he had great abs as well). I came to the conclusion that Naruto Uzumaki was completely gorgeous, and, even if it was slightly annoying, he was extremely sweet and caring.
Naruto caught me staring and gave me a small smirk. "Take a picture, it'll last a bit longer," he said, ending his sentence with a wink.
I blushed like mad and replied, stumbling over my words a bit, "I was just thinking how incredibly annoying it was that you've been humming this whole time. Nothing more."
"Oh really?" he said, cocking an eyebrow. "Then why are you blushing?" he asked, leaning in close to me. I backed up as far from him as I could, staring at the ground timidly. I felt trapped, just like I did when my father would yell at me: running away isn't an option, you must stand there and take it. I tensed up, as if expecting a blow. Naruto seemed to notice and backed off, his face softening as he smiled gently at me. "It's alright to stare. There are much worse things than having a beautiful man stare at you."
I hid my face from him, (which was now as red as my favorite food: tomatoes) and pushed past him, continuing on to class without another word. That was the second time today he had told me I was good-looking, and I just didn't know what to make of it. Granted, I thought he was handsome as hell, but I had no idea how to flirt back; thus, I opted to stay silent. When we arrived at Iruka sensei's classroom, Naruto and I said our goodbyes, parting ways. I entered the class and gave Iruka my pass, taking my seat and getting out my class materials. I quickly caught up on the lesson and then proceeded to sort of listen to what my sensei was teaching (I already knew what I was doing, it's not like I was missing anything). Coincidentally, I kept finding my mind wandering to a certain loud blond. Part of me was hoping I didn't run into him again, but for the most part I wanted to talk to him as soon as possible. For a reason I couldn't explain, I kind of liked the guy. 'I don't like anyone,' I thought to myself. 'What makes him so special?'
The rest of the morning flew by, and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I never actually ate anything at lunch; I would just take my homework to do or a book to read. I had a whole half a table to myself, so it's not like I inconvenienced anyone by having my books spread all over the place. Even before "the incident" no one really sat by me. If they did, I told them to fuck off and leave me alone. They always did.
Upon entering the cafeteria, I noticed Naruto already sitting at the prep and jock table. 'No surprise there,' I thought as I made my way to my usual spot. 'I bet they're telling him all about me,' I ended bitterly. I opened my genetics books and began working on the homework my creepy sensei, Orochimaru, assigned. After a few minutes of studious work, I was pulled out of my work by someone sitting down across from me. I jerk my head up, glaring, ready to tell them to promptly leave, but I catch myself at seeing who it is. Naruto sat directly across from me, smiling brightly.
"Hiya Sasuke!" he greets loudly. "Whatcha doing?"
I glare, overly annoyed by his loud and obnoxious tone. "Genetics," I answer dryly, looking back down at my book and continuing to finish a mildly difficult problem about eye color heredity.
"Cool, can I see?" he asked with enthusiasm.
"No," I answered coldly, "and leave me alone. I'm busy."
"Please?"
"I already said no, Naruto. Go away. I don't want you in my sight any longer," I answered again, fed up with his pleading. Suddenly, Naruto leaned forward to where he was inches from me.
"That's not the impression you gave me earlier when you were staring at me," he countered in a low voice. I then slammed my hands down onto the table and stood abruptly, making the entire cafeteria go silent and stare.
"I told you to leave me alone Naruto. Go back to your fellow jocks and their bitchy girlfriends," I said, my voice barley a whisper. "I wasn't staring at you earlier because of the reason you think. I was staring because you're a pathetic, mindless jock," I lied. Out of nowhere, Naruto's fist flew at me and connected with my cheekbone with a sickening cracking sound. I fell backwards over the bench behind me because of the force of the strike, hitting the ground hard. The whole cafeteria stared in silent shock at what had happened, and no one dared to move.
Naruto walked over to where I lied on the floor, and quietly said, so no one else would hear, "You shouldn't judge people by their appearances." He then walked back over to the jock table in silence. I stood and shot my famous death glare at anyone who was still staring at me, gathered up all my books, and left the cafeteria. I went to my afternoon classes' teachers and got their homework, saying I didn't feel good and was going home. After I had my work, I simply left and began walking home.
When I arrived at my home but before I went inside, I noticed that the light in the living room was on. 'That's odd,' I thought. 'I don't remember leaving that light on' I shrugged it off and went inside, removing my shoes at the door. On my way through the living room as I was going to my room, I heard someone say in a deep, horrifying voice, "Hello Sasuke."
My face went completely white, and I turned and faced the voice while shaking slightly. Those two words froze my brain with terror and rooted me to the spot. I took a shaky breath and then exhaled, weakly saying:
"Welcome home, Father."
A/N Here it is, chapter three. It's a bit longer than the other two, but that just means more stuff happened. I'm sorry for any errors, and, as always, Naruto doesn't belong to me. Until next chapter, au revior.
